Chapter 278: Maze-Runner

Aether quickly summoned Voidpiercer, running to his side as the beast rushed to him with its giant horns ready to shatter his ribs into little pieces.

He was lucky, the minotaur didn’t seem to hold a weapon as it did in the stories he read about, its giant axe or hammer.

Of course, that didn’t mean he was totally harmless; he would be insane to say that.

Every part of its body was a weapon.

The beast passed him with little distance, reacting to the monster, Aether quickly gripped his sword, ready to strike the minotaur’s leg.

It was one of the only things that would give him a big advantage. After all, if he was able to slow it down, he was going to have an easier time dealing with it.

Yet as the sword was about to pierce his target, Aether saw it, the backhand of the monster coming for his head, but while he had seen it, it had been too late for him to react; he had already committed.

“Shit.”

A minotaur’s strength is one of its biggest prides, probably able to smash skulls with little effort. So to say that it was hard to hurt was an understatement.

Aether hit the wall, his vision spinning slightly from the impact.

He shook his head, quickly regaining himself as the first thing he saw was the sharp horns of the monster.

There was no point in blocking or trying to parry the attack.

The sheer difference in physical strength was way too high.

So the only thing to do…

Was to run.

Aether quickly lunged out of the attack, scraping his hands against the ground. Looking back, the monster seemed to have gone straight into the dirt, but because of how soft it was, there was hardly any effort needed for the beast to take its horns out.

’Really convenient for you!’

Getting up from the ground, his breathing was already heavy. Had he gotten too weak? He hadn’t fought a being more powerful than him in a while. The last had been Denial, but he knew his weaknesses.

This wasn’t the case this time.

The beast slowly turned to him, smoke coming out of its nose as it was slowly breathing.

Taking a look at Kade, the boy seemed frightened. But of course he was, his teacher was getting beaten badly by a monster. He also couldn’t help in any way, with a wooden blade, it was going to be impossible, plus, there was no way he was either stronger or faster than the beast or Aether.

So what was the point, not to mention his leg limiting him?

So he was going to have to do this all alone, without anyone helping… but what can he even do? Since the fight started, he had only been running, and it’s not like he was close to doing any damage.

Although it had been close to killing him many times, it had already hurt him quite badly.

Looking around the room… he got an idea.

Aether started running, but not towards the beast, but rather… the torches, trying to put them out.

The beast had no idea what he was trying to do, but neither was he going to let him do so.

But he knew that.

“Kade! Turn the torches off, I’ll keep it distracted.”

The boy staggered, knowing how dangerous this was; his life would be on the line, any mistake and he would be dead.

…

And yet he nodded.

Turning his attention back to the beast, Aether quickly dodged one of its punches, which was meant to hit his head. Probably crushing it and causing his blood to spill out like a broken drink.

He just needed to distract it.

Once all the torches were gone, not only would it not be able to see, and he would. His buffs would work.

Before the monster could take back its hand, which had hit deep into the wall, Aether clenched his hand and used it to propel himself onto its back, where he prepared to thrust his rapier into its neck, but the beast quickly swatted the blade out of his hand with its other arm.

If Voidpiercer hadn’t been chained to him, it would have been over. But still, his palm had almost gotten skinned from the friction with the handle.

Aether quickly commanded the chains to retract, his hand gripping the blade again, his blood spilling onto it, and after that, he jumped off the minotaurs’ back.

Had this interaction done anything for him… well, by what you could see, no.

The monster had not gotten hurt at all, while he could hardly keep his blade in his hand due to the pain.

But… it had gotten darker.

His hands were shaking heavily, but the beast didn’t leave him any time to regain himself, as he was already coming from him. And even if speed wasn’t its strong point, it was in no way ’slow’.

Seeing the monster try to grab him, Aether had wanted to dash away, but he couldn’t, and looking at his foot, he knew what had happened. He hadn’t landed properly when he had jumped off the monster’s back, and because of that, his ankle had broken.

’Well, that isn’t good.’

Aether felt an overwhelming pressure capture his head, and he tried to get out of the monster’s grip, but the more he tried, the stronger it got, and before he could try anything, it threw his head into the wall.

Luckily… it was dirt, so even if it had hurt like hell, it wasn’t stone… if it had been, he would have definitely died.

Aether felt his blood drip from his head, but at the same time, the monster had let go of him. And yet, as he took himself out of the hole they had created in the wall, another punch was ready for him… and he didn’t have time to react.

…

…

…

But then the room was devoured by darkness.

…

“Amazing…”

Aether said as he leaned back just enough for the attack to pass by him, and not wasting any second, he climbed onto the monster’s back, thrusting Voidpiercer right into its back… and this time, he had been too fast for it to react.

Its scream echoed through the room, and all the passageways… he was sure it could even be heard from above.

Trying to get him off, it swung its arms around, but now… they seemed slower. Aether slid down the monster, thrusting the blade into its leg, trying his best to immobilize it.

Yet after doing so, the monster started stomping his feet, causing him to fall off. Luckily, he was able to get out of the way before it could stomp him.

And now… it was going to have to find him.

…

And it wasn’t like it was going to be easy.

…

Or that was what he thought since the monster turned right to it… Yet at the same time, he noticed something… its eyes were closed… it wasn’t relying on its vision, but rather its other senses.

Aether felt his world crumble as the horns of the beast headed towards him. Could he try to evade? His foot was broken, so he couldn’t step out of the way, so then he could try to move his body slightly out of the way… that wouldn’t work, since even if he evaded the horns, the beast would just run him over.

…

’Damn it!’ Aether thought as the horns got inches away from stabbing him.

…

Yet with the corner of his eyes… he noticed a flame… one that turned into a ball of fire, hitting the beast right in the side of its body, and smashing it into the wall.

Aether had no idea what had happened, but this was an opportunity he wasn’t going to waste.

He clenched Voidpiercer deeply, taking a step forward… his foot was in absolute agony, screaming into his head, and causing his ears to buzz, but if not now, then when?

As his foot planted deep into the ground, he turned roughly, as the blade left his head, only stopping when it found the monster’s head.

…

…

[You have killed a Reader Demon, Minotaur]

Aether let a small chuckle out as he fell to the ground, resting his back against the wall.

A Reader class, all that to kill a Reader class… it just went to show… that even with good equipment.

The thing that mattered most was the Class and Rank.

In theory, it was great, it made it so a Reader can’t use a Breaker blade and kill everything.

But at the same time, making it so that upgrading your equipment constantly wasn’t always needed.

Of course, the equipment still mattered a lot, but in a battle against two Readers… what mattered most was the rank.

…

But was it the time to think about this?

Aether took out the shard from his pocket, his hand shaking as he stared at it.

’He had done it.’

…

It was quiet… and yet he could somehow hear someone scream his name.

…

Oh, right.

Kade.

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