Chapter 217

The Aspirants all stared in absolute horror at what stood before them.

A monstrosity. A monster indeed.

They didn’t need to engage it in combat to understand how immensely powerful it truly was.

Each heavy breath the creature released was visible in the cool air of the cavern, a rhythmic puff of steam that spoke of its internal heat.

The mace it held in its hand was pointed downward, its jagged head digging into the earth; it had likely been dragged the entire way here, which explained the haunting screeching sound they had heard earlier.

Forget the intimidating appearance, however—Ray was instantly horrified by the grim reality his system was displaying directly before his eyes.

[Inspect]

[Name: Minotaur]

[Rank: King Rank]

’Fuck.’

Quickly searching through his memory, it didn’t take more than a second for the information he was looking for to surface.

The beast rankings.

He recalled Sony’s lecture in an instant, the hierarchy of danger etched into his mind.

At the base of the rankings were the Monster rank, followed by the Awakened rank, then the Advanced rank.

Above those sat the King rank, the Emperor rank, the Legendary rank, the Tyrant rank, and finally, the apex—the Demon rank.

Defeating an Advanced rank beast had been a desperate struggle earlier; but now, a predator a full notch higher on the scale was standing right in front of them, built like an impenetrable tank.

They were surely dead.

The beast scanned their pale faces for a moment. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Its glowing eyes rested on each one of the Aspirants, who were currently too paralyzed by fear to move even a muscle.

In order to defeat a creature of this caliber with any degree of ease, a Captain was surely required.

This kind of beast was far above their current pay grade.

"Ha-Has anyone scanned it yet?" Chloe whispered, her voice trembling with barely contained terror.

Hearing the question, Ray snapped out of his daze and looked around the cavern.

Van was still so deeply focused on his technical task that he hadn’t even noticed the arrival of the monster.

The others remained frozen, unknowingly holding their breaths as the beast’s predatory gaze scrutinized them one by one.

Releasing his held breath in a sharp exhale, Ray roared:

"It’s a King rank beast!"

"....."

There was a moment of profound silence as everybody shuddered at the rank reveal.

If their hope of defeating the monster had been slim based solely on its appearance, their situation now felt totally hopeless after hearing its official classification.

But that shout was a mistake on the Tribrid’s part.

The moment he cried out, the beast’s eyes drifted in his direction, locking onto him with murderous intent.

Tring!

[Hostility Detected]

[Quest Alert]

[Description: The Minotaur King ranked beast is definitely pissed by the fact that a bunch of weak humans disturbed its peaceful slumber and another annoying human shouted at it. Now it wants to rip you all apart.]

[Quest requirements: Survive!]

[Survival level: Less than fifteen percent]

[Rewards: ???]

’Less tha—!’

Before Ray could even complete his thought, the beast had already moved.

It was faster than both werewolves in the group, blitzing between the stunned humans to appear directly before Ray in a single, terrifying heartbeat.

Its mace was lifted high above its head like a blacksmith’s hammer, ready to crush steel into scrap.

The boy’s eyes widened in pure, undiluted horror as his heart pounded frantically against his ribcage.

Whooosh—!

The hammer descended from above with deadly, whistling speed.

It was mere moments away from reducing the Tribrid’s head into a bloody pulp.

There was no time to dodge. No time to avoid the strike.

He didn’t even have time to organize his thoughts as all he could do was stare at the dark metal descending toward his skull.

But amongst them all, one person was quick enough to snap out of her daze.

The moment the beast had shifted, she had already regained her focus as frost crept up around her hands at an astonishing rate.

With a fierce, desperate thrust of her palms, a wave of ice rushed toward the mace, swiftly encasing the menacing weapon and freezing it in place for a fraction of a second.

It was just enough of a window.

Lightning crackled around the boy’s feet, allowing him to dart six meters away just as the frozen mace shattered the ice and descended upon his previous position.

Ice shattered into shimmering splinters as the heavy weapon connected with the earth, reducing the stone into mere debris as a cloud of dust rose up instantaneously.

The impact was followed by a loud bang that was resonant enough to shake the teens out of their dazes immediately.

Everybody finally came to, including Van, who had been completely occupied until that moment.

The moment the mace had been inches away from hitting the ground, he had already lifted his head with a triumphant smile on his face, but that expression froze the instant he laid eyes upon the monstrosity.

Ray reappeared six meters away, panting heavily from the visceral fear of almost losing his life.

He had been terribly close to meeting his end at the hands of the creature.

The others quickly assumed their battle stances almost immediately, though they were unsure whether they even had any genuine chance of injuring the beast, let alone defeating it.

This was especially true for Kai, who remained dangerously low on meta-force at the moment.

With a fierce, gutteral roar that shook the teens’ eardrums, the cloud of dust was dispelled immediately to reveal the deadly beast flaring its nostrils and huffing in rage.

Turning around to face the youths, it lifted its mace above its head for a second while staring at them one by one with predatory intent.

Van’s eyes widened as he rose to his feet in a state of panic.

’Damn it! I just made a breakthrough and we are faced with this?!’

Time seemed to slow down for a second as the Aspirants cast quick, silent glances at one another.

Then—

Nock! Whistle!

An arrow flew forward with deadly speed, guided by a telekinetic force that propelled the projectile at double its normal velocity.

Seeing the arrow heading its way, the Minotaur swatted it away with its mace, an action which blocked its view for a brief second.

The next moment, Felix was already positioned directly in front of the beast with his hand cocked backward.

Then, with a mini bang, he swung his fist forward, smashing it into the beast’s abdomen with the full force of a charging bull.

Fissures snaked through the ground for a moment as the beast slid backward for a second, moving no more than two feet before coming to a full halt.

"Come on! No need to fear! We can do this! We need to stay alive and escape this damned place!" Felix bellowed, his arms and thighs bulging incredulously as he tapped into his primal strength.

With an explosive bang, he shot forward at double his previous speed, closing the distance in the twinkle of an eye.

His hands curled into deadly claws, which he swung toward the beast at a blazing speed.