"W-what did you see?" Avery asked.
"A minotaur." He answered.
The girls looked just as shocked as Ace.
"You can't be serious!? Here?" Asked Sage. But Ace shook his head and said, "Sadly I'm not kidding. He was not only a lot larger than us, he has a proper weapon as well."
"Then do we just leave?" Asked Avery.
"I counted again and I saw six kobolds and the minotaur." He said and looked at the group.
"Do we only prioritize killing the kobolds for the experience and then leave or do we leave straight away?" Asked Lia.
"Let's vote on it." Said Ace, "I'm for it." The girls looked at each other with different expressions, each one showing a different feeling.
"I'm for it." Said Sage. "I figure, since we're already here, we might as well kill the kobolds. I hardly doubt the minotaur will fit in the hall."
Hearing what Sage had to say, Lia agreed to their idea as well, "Alright let's do it." The group turned to Avery to see what her choice was. "There is no need to do it if you don't want to." Said Ace.
"The dungeon will reset tonight and we'll be able to kill more kobolds tomorrow."
Avery's hand squeezed the bow she was holding and breathed out heavily. "Okay, let's do it." A grin appeared on Sage's face. It seemed to Ace that she was like him in that she always wanted to do the proactive thing.
They moved back to the room again. Ace told them he would be the bait on the way and they all agreed. He was the rogue after all, and much faster than the rest of them.
Once back at the room, Ace looked at the girls and they all nodded with their weapons drawn. Ace counted down for himself, "1... 2...3!" and jumped in. He ran up towards the first kobold and slashed it's throat. The wound was critical and the kobold was soon lying on the ground dead. The rest of the kobolds noticed him and started running towards him. His mission complete, he turned for the hallway again but his heart sunk.
"What the fuck is that doing there!" A large gate blocked the exit. He had two choices, either stay and fight or run towards the next room. Having made his choice, the goal was the next room. In a full sprint and heart beating faster and faster, his head became cold when another gate blocked off the exit. Behind him, he heard kobolds chasing after him.
Ace quickly dashed out of the way from the first kobold and stuck his dagger into it's neck. Having some breathing room, he checked to see if the minotaur had opened it's eyes, but to his relief it hadn't.
Another kobold running towards him, Ace quickly countered and struck back. His practice against the previous kobolds ands koboary had given him enough experience to deal with small and fast creatures in a quick manner.
Killing the last kobold, he swallowed hard and saw how the minotaur's eyes opened. Having experienced this kind of thing before in-game, he ran towards the chest to quickly grab whatever he could find in it.
He needed to be quick before the minotaur figured out the situation. As the minotaur stood up and took it's first two steps, Ace opened the chest and saw a scroll with unknown runes on it. For the first time since the beginning of the new world, a menu popped up.
[Do you wish to learn skill scroll: Hemorrhage? Y/N]
Ace quickly read the menu and thought "YES, YES, YES!" as the minotaur had taken another two steps and was now heading in his direction. Looking back at the monster which towered over him, he quickly opened his skill book.
>Active Skills
[Dagger Strike] Applies extra damage with daggers
>Passive Skills
[Rogue Affinity] Increases Agility by 5
[Pressure Point] Deal 5% increased damage on critical hit
[Hemorrhage] Bleeding is 25% increased
Reading the description of [Hemorrhage], he felt a bit better. But the feeling of hopelessness was still looming over him. Turning his full attention to the giant minotaur before him, he raised his dagger as the minotaur roared and slammed its fist down at Ace.
Ace quickly jumped out of the way and went to cut its tendons within reach but wasn't expecting the minotaur to counter him by simply kicking at him. They ended up trading blows, Ace which landed a [Dagger Strike] above his left hoove and the minotaur kicked him hard into the stone wall.
The force of the impact left him breathless. His lungs were burning and his entire body aching. It felt like something built up in his throat. Gathering himself quickly, he jumped out of the way to avoid the incoming punch from the minotaur.
The minotaur's fist smashed into the stone wall and with quick reflexes, Ace cut into its right hand leaving the minotaur roaring again. Ace noticed the bleeding from his first cut and dared grin a little bit. However, that grin quickly subsided when he saw the minotaur go for the large axe.
Steadying himself once again with a cold sweat spreading over his entire body. The minotaur turned to face him and went to hack at him with the axe straight away. Jumping away just in time to avoid the cleaver smashing into the ground, Ace landed the jump with a roll and ran towards it's second hoove.
Once again, he cut into the tendon which made the minotaur roar and go down on one knee. Ace saw his chance and ran towards it's throat but he didn't notice the axe which seemed to come from nowhere. Noticing it last minute, he did his best to avoid the swing but was still hit on the side of his body, cutting up his flesh.
"AAARGH" He yelled out in pain as blood started running from his entire left side. His throat was dry and the grip he had on his dagger was becoming loose. With determination, he continued stumbling towards the minotaur's neck. Another punch came his way. With no way of dodging because of the wounds, he readied himself for the pain to come.
And pain he felt. The punch sent him flying over, scraping up the wounds he sustained. Ace watched as the mad minotaur tried to raise but it's legs wouldn't listen to him.
"How does it feel, fucker!" Ace yelled in anger standing back up to the best of his ability. The minotaur distracted for a second with its legs, Ace saw his chance to once again stumble towards it's throat.
Ace managed to get close enough to cut the minotaur just as it turned it's attention back to ace. [Dagger Strike] landed in the minotaur's left side of the throat. A gurgling roar together with horns flailing about hit Ace and he once again went flying.
Ace couldn't do anything against it. His body wasn't listening anymore and his breathing became heavy. His back was touching the cold wall as he lay there, watching the minotaur slowly bleed to death. Somehow, through all that brown hair, it was noticeable how much blood it had lost.
The more time passed, the more sleepy and cold Ace felt. He was about to close his eyes when a blue light showered over him, together with a reinvigorating feeling, giving him enough strength to keep his eyes opened and awake.
To his disappointment, the refreshing feeling didn't last long. He watched the gate which had fallen behind him open up again and the girls running into the room. He tried to make out their faces but the blood had gotten into his eyes.
Sage saw him lying in the corner and ran to him. Ace's vision had become to blurry to make out the details but it looked like they were crying. He closed his eyes but his eyelids were forced open again by something. The next thing he saw was the roof of the dungeon. His sense of touch seemed numb.
His eyes closed once again.