He scrambled to his feet, running towards the nearest corridor as he lost his sense of direction in that panicked moment. As he glanced back, the steel-armored Minotaur gave chase like an enraged bull, grinding its hooves against the bitter flooring as it charged behind the fleeing adventurer.
There was no doubt that it would catch up to him before he could escape into one of the many rooms of the cold labyrinth; its teeth snapped and its hammer drug across the ground violently.
Bastian spun around to face it, quickly retrieving a pair of bright, orange gemstones, squeezing them in the palm of his hand.
'Let's try this…It should work,' he thought, more as a stray hope.
Holding the colorful gemstones, he summoned the precious invocation once more, "Levin!"
The immediate sensation of pressure on his bones, and the burning sensation through his veins nearly drew a yelp from his lips. It was clear that the continuous use of the volatile spell was too much for him, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
The supercharged gems shuddered in his hand, cracking at the seams as they seemed ready to pop any second.
It came close to snatching him up; the enraged Minotaur of black steel lunged itself towards the adventurer just as the charged gems were tossed forth.
"—C'mon!" Bastian urged, placing his faith in those small stones.
A flashing radiance scattered its light through the charged gemstones, releasing a hissing sound as the orange stones stopped just in front of the Minotaur's snout before—
BOOM
Light engulfed the room with a rapid expansion of heat, parting the cold wind as an explosion of volatile flames burst from the shattered gemstones.
The coiling flames reached out, grazing his body in that split-second with their newborn destruction.
"Ngheuh—!"
The young man curled up as the shockwave blasted him back, feeling weightless as heat flooded through the frosted chamber. His limbs shook and waved around without any control as the hot wind threw him, taking the breath from his lungs as he bounced against the ground.
"Haaah…!" He drew in a breath into his aching lungs, discombobulated by the explosion as his ears rang and his head throbbed.
The potency of the explosion dwarfed the usual result multiple times over, leaving embers fluttering in the room as melted ice curled into steam.
"Hah…Hah—ngh!" He winced, only realizing just then what his body had sustained.
As he placed his palm against the slick steel below, a jolt of searing pain caused him to retreat his limb.
With his blurred vision, he looked at his right hand, finding the sleeve of his coat burned away and torn, revealing his burned arm.
The skin on his hand was peeled and reddened, trembling as blood dripped from it and onto the steel tiles beneath him.
'—Too much. "Levin" supercharged those fire gems too much. I…I almost killed myself. I'm alive, barely—I think,' he thought.
He was surrounded in a cloud of smoke, coaxing him to cough as the air he breathed was laced with embers and dust. As he questioned the state of the beast that took the full-force of the supercharged gemstones, the sound of metal scraping met his ears.
It was a nauseating revelation, witnessing the smoke wave around as something pushed it from within; a giant figure lifted itself, looming a daunting silhouette through the mixture of ash and frost.
Like a behemoth of steel, it rose again, exuding a sharp breath from its nostrils that pushed away the billowing smoke.
'...You're kidding…' He thought, feeling his stomach drop.
It was nearly unscathed; the armored Minotaur only wore a few burns and scratches on the parts of its body uncovered by its metal exoskeleton, though only looked more angered than wounded.
Though he felt confused at first as to how the amplified explosion hardly had any effect even with a direct hit, he quickly remembered where he stood.
'This is the eleventh floor—the threshold where those that aren't blessed cannot pass. I shouldn't apply logic to it,' he realized.
As he stood there, looking up at the personification of strength itself that loomed over him like an augury of death, he found himself deprived of strength. He couldn't even feel the burning sensation clinging to his arm, nor the aching throughout his bones as blood dripped from his nostril. What he did feel was the helplessness that gripped his body; a reminder of everything he lacked.
'I'm not special. I don't have great strength like some, or magical talent like others. I don't have the support of one of the Divine. In the Tower of Yggdrasil, I'm a nobody,' he believed.
Still, even as he lamented his hubris by venturing to the eleventh floor, he found himself remembering the last encounter he had before leaving that day. The gift his uncle had given him, and the words he was burdened by; a belief in himself that didn't allow him to simply lay down and accept his fate.
'That's right. Even if it breaks my bones and tears my flesh, it's better than dying. Don't be scared of the pain now–and burst,' he reminded himself.
As he looked up at the mountainous hammer that the minotaur had hoisted into the air in preparation of flattening him, he once more flexed his aching body.
"Levin!" He screamed, pushing his throat as it felt as if it were tearing.
It was a rush of adrenaline he found himself having trouble adjusting to each time, as though his body awakened as if shocked by electricity. The warmth of it shot through his body, from head-to-toe, causing his heartbeat to triple in that short time frame.
'Focus it in your legs–like the first time!' He urged himself.
As the colossal hammer descended, the instinctual reflex to move out of the way condensed the heightening surge to the young man's legs. It felt as though a single jump would spring him atop a mountain, or a single step guiding him across a valley–though neither were his goal.
'--Go!' He commanded his body.
Before he could be flattened by the brutal monster's weapon, he crouched down before leaning back and kicking both of his feet off of the ground. It was as if an explosion of wind pushed off of his feet, propelling him backwards rapidly through the corridor behind him.
"Ghhn–!" He immediately winced, feeling the bones within his legs cracking as his flesh bruised.
It was anything but a graceful usage of the magecraft, though it put distance between himself and the titanic beast. As he landed harshly, finding his back slamming against the wall at the end of the black steel corridor, he found that the minotaur wasn't wasn't wasting any time in pursuing him.
"Ruagh–!" It roared as its thunderous steps echoed through the frost-laden dungeon, narrowly fitting its burly shoulders through the corridor as it ducked its head.
Bastian quickly picked himself up in an attempt to flee, though found his legs buckling as he dropped back down, wincing, "Nrgh…!"
'Shit…! My legs, it feels like my bones are fractured—it doesn't matter. I have to keep moving—now!' He forced himself.