Aether managed to push the minotaur backwards after reflecting the clever away with his rapier, Aether quickly turned to Lucas and grabbed him and leaped away from a safe distance, "Stay there, I'll handle this" Aether said as he put Lucas down and slowly walked towards the minotaur confident and brave to face a strong monster.
Aether analyzed the minotaur and tried to think back to what he learned about minotaur's. Minotaur's have tough skin and their horns are almost impossible to break off, they love to charge at people and when they charge at someone it's impossible to hold them back so it's a good idea to dodge out of the way, Aether took a deep breathe and within moments he leaped into the air and thrusted his rapier multiple times rapidly but all he did was puncture the minotaur's chest, after Aether notice there wasn't any damage he quickly leaped back after doing his attack.
"Damn, I've killed a minotaur before, but that was when I had my Focus with me, this time I have to find a way to kill it without my Focus" Aether thought to himself a bit panicked as the minotaur took a turn and ran towards Aether and swung the clever downwards, Aether quickly jumped up and the clever only hit the ground and within moments Aether landed on the blade of the clever and ran up towards the blade and leaped into the air and thrusted his rapier as hard as he could into the minotaur's chest.
The rapier managed to pierce through the minotaur's skin, but since a rapier is such a thin but sharp weapon, it really only left a tiny hole in the minotaur, Aether took notice and realized that a tiny hole is nothing and the minotaur grabbed Aether's head and threw him back into a wall, Aether coughed up blood as he impacted into the walls of the cave but he regained his consciousness and stood back up quickly but heavily injured, "That was close, he could have crushed my head there but didn't do it luckily, my rapier won't do much damage unless I make bigger holes in it's chest" Aether thought to himself preparing for the minotaur's attack again.
Lucas was cowardly watching in the corner of the cave, he was frightened for the first time in his life, he couldn't even lift his hand to even help Aether with the battle, his only instincts is how Aether is able to hold his own against a minotaur and how is Aether stronger than Lucas?
Meanwhile in the battle, Aether was rapidly thrusting his rapier at the minotaur, and with a lucky hit, Aether managed to stab one of the minotaur's eyes, the pain was excruciating and the minotaur raged in pain and Aether took the chance while the minotaur had to adjust to it's pain to leap towards Lucas and ask him a favor.
"Lucas, I need your help." Aether asked as he looked at Lucas noticing he was scared for his life, Lucas gritted his teeth and yelled "Why the hell should I help you!" Lucas yelled, Aether frowned a bit but responded backing, "I need your help, I can't defeat it alone. Trust me, I can defeat it and get us both out of here if you lend me your strength, otherwise we'll be killed." Aether said holding his hand out to lift Lucas up from the ground.
"How dumb can you be! I hate you, I bullied you and embarrassed you in front of the entire school! Yet you're saving me! Just what the hell are you trying to achieve!?" Lucas said with frustration, it was clear Lucas hated Aether but he was confused on why Aether would save Lucas, someone who had bullied him so many times, this could have been a time to get rid of Lucas, but instead Aether decided to save the one person who despises him the most.
"Listen, I know you're scared and I know you want to get to safety, all I'm asking is that you cast spells from a distance, I'll take care of the front. We live depending on if you help or not, it's skin is very tough for me to pierce, but I know your fire can at least wear it down. So it's now or never!" Aether said as he assumed a battle stance and quickly dashed towards the minotaur.
Lucas gritted his teeth and with a bit of motivation from Aether, Lucas picked up his wand and slowly stood up, he gripped his wand and began to chant a spell, "DAMN IT ALL!!" Lucas yelled as he casted a fireball towards the minotaur, unexpectedly the fireball hit the minotaur, it left a big impression on the minotaur and Aether's eyes widened open to see Lucas cooperate, Aether smiled and went all out stabbing the minotaur as hard as he could while the minotaur was a bit stunned.
Aether's rapier was actually making its way into the minotaur, since Aether was able to channel his strength into his stabs, it was starting to be easier for Aether to actually injure the minotaur, "Lucas! I need you to aim for his left wrist the one where his clever is!" Aether demanded and Lucas nodded angrily and launched his spell towards the wrist and as it hit it was smokey, but within minutes after the smoke cleared Aether appeared out of the smoke and pierced the rapier into the minotaur's left wrist, the minotaur dropped his clever and Aether kicked the minotaur back while his rapier was in the left wrist of the minotaur.
Aether quickly took the minotaur's clever and raised it in front of him, a serious stand off began and the minotaur got down on the ground and slammed it's fist into the ground and started to use it's two arms as legs and began to charge towards Aether, the plan was to kill Aether with it's horn and Aether didn't hesitate, he got into a stance and as the minotaur kicked it's feet off the ground charging towards Aether, he did the same and kicked his feet off towards the minotaur.
Aether with all his rage let it all out in the final strike with the minotaur's clever, both of them made it super close to each other and Aether swung the clever down and both of them ended on the opposite side to each other, they both stopped in place for a second, Lucas's mouth opened and was hoping Aether hadn't lost.
All of a sudden the minotaur's body split in half and splattered blood everywhere and Aether fell to the ground but kept himself up a bit with the handle of the clever, he was desperately trying to catch his breathe as he had finished the battle. "H-he killed it...without even using magic" Lucas thought to himself as he fell to the ground on his knees and dropped his wand, he looked down on the ground and clenched his fist "How the hell is he so strong!" he thought to himself before Freya and Professor Viper had made it down to them, Freya ran towards Aether with Lithia and she had a worried expression "Are you okay Aether?! What happened?" but Aether was too injured and exhausted to speak, but Lucas yelled from across the cave "He slayed a minotaur all by himself! What the hell is he!" Lucas said with a scared voice. "That's hard to believe, a person who can't use magic defeated a high level enemy? Pfft, don't make me lau-" but Professor Viper was cut off by Lucas "I'm not lying! He really did kill a minotaur by himself!" and Professor Viper looked at the exhausted Aether, he was a bit shocked but still didn't believe Lucas that Aether defeated the minotaur by himself.
"Tch, Freya take Aether to the nurses office. Lucas you are to explain to the headmaster what had happened, I want a full report!" Professor Viper demanded and the two of them nodded, Freya wrapped Aether's arm around the back of her neck and helped him walk back to the entrance. "Thank's Freya" Aether smiled a bit bloodied after the battle, Freya turned her head to him and smiled.
An hour later the four of them made it out and the students celebrated for their return, Akira walked over to Freya and Aether and he asked what had unfolded, Aether was unconscious but Freya explained to Akira that Lucas had traveled down to the seventh floor and encountered a minotaur, Aether took on the minotaur and saved Lucas and even slayed it by himself apparently.
Akira's eyes widened open, he was intrigued and bought the story, he headed back to where he was standing and everyone awaited orders from the Professor, "Alright everyone back to class! Freya you're going to take Aether to the nurses office and Lucas go to the headmaster and report back!" Professor Viper demanded and the two of them started to follow their orders.
Lithia jumped on top of Freya's head and made herself comfortable on top of her head and they both of them headed to the nurses office with an exhausted and injured Aether...
After three hours after the huge battle had unfolded, Aether slowly opened his eyes, everything was blurry but his eyes adjusted and his vision was back to normal, confused on what happened when he was passed he questioned where he was, he looked around and realized this was the nurses office, Lithia woke up and saw Aether was awake and jumped onto his lap and she started to scratch him gently happy to see Aether was okay, Aether lifted up Lithia and smiled at her "I'm okay, sorry I worried you Lithia" Aether said as he held her close to his chest.
Minutes later the nurse opened the door to his room and walked in "How are you feeling?" she asked Aether. He took a moment to take everything in and looked at his right hand and saw it was bandaged up, "You cracked the bones in your hand, It would seem like you used your entire strength to kill that minotaur, It's impressive." the nurse smiled.
"Looks like I won't be dungeon hunting for a bit" Aether said with a awkward smile as he petted Lithia with his bandaged hand, the nurse told Aether he could head back to class if he was feeling alright to walk again, but she said he's not allowed to enter the dungeons for at least four days, but because of this Aether will be rewarded two hundred points from the assignment but also saving a classmate from his death, and Aether will additionally gain forty total points because of his injuries.
Aether's eyes widened open and was happy he got his points, a lot of points just because of his extra efforts and kindness to protect his classmate and to even slay a massive beast down, he stood up with Lithia in his arms and thanked the nurse as he headed back out to the hallway.
Meanwhile Professor Viper barged in the headmaster's room, "Headmaster Orion! Why is Aether in our academy! Explain now!" Professor Viper yelled at Headmaster Orion as he sighed, "Even without magic, the boy is exceptional to the academy. You underestimate the boy Viper, he is stronger than you think." Headmaster Orion explained.
"I do not believe that he slayed a minotaur all by himself! Lucas must have killed it but didn't admit to it!" Professor Viper said, explaining his reasons why Aether possibly didn't kill the minotaur all by himself, but Headmaster Orion shakes his head in disagreement,
"If you don't believe Aether can take on a minotaur by himself then why don't you challenge the boy? Test him on something, and I'll even make a deal with you." Headmaster Orion suggested, and Professor Viper grinned, "What is this "deal" you strike?" Professor Viper said a bit interested.
"You can test Aether on anything you want, but if he beats you in the test he will earn a total of twenty points, but if he loses you may do as you wish with him." Headmaster Orion explained and Professor Viper agreed to this deal, he turned around and grinned and said one last thing before he left "Very well, I shall test the boy." Professor Viper laughed and he opened the door and left the room.
Headmaster Orion thought for a bit "He'll humble you pretty quick Professor Viper..." Headmaster Orion grinned