Chapter 69: Level 500 Minotaur.
"If it's holding a weapon, then it has at least the sense to fight somewhat properly, do we stand a chance against an armed monster with such a high level?" Usami asked first, as the current lowest level she saw herself as the weakest link in the party.
"There is no shame in walking away from this one, we can wait until it leaves-"
"You be silent." Arla looked around at Morn who had spoken up. "I have stayed my tongue for the sake of the heroes and the morale of the unit you command, but I cannot turn a blind eye to your blatant cowardice and constant interference, Morn."
"I am simply looking out for her well-being-"
"I am a part of the heroes'party before anything else, the whole reason I'm doing this is because I want to go back home, if I don't get stronger, how the hell do you expect me to succeed?" Usami countered, usually she would have been fine with his input, but considering her status among the heroes, all that man had done was berate and discourage her, the training he had promised never happened, and he had continuously visited her without mentioning anything again.
"If I can hit it with pulsar then it'll be a wrap, right?" Dina asked, getting back on track and Arla shook her head in the negative.
"The only reason that worked on the eldritch was because it has extremely low resistance to magical attacks as a being made of magic itself, while I do admit that [pulsar] is far more powerful than your current level allows; if this other creature has the sense to swing a sword not only would it probably dodge it with a level of 500, but [pulsar] might not kill it at all, and that is without even mentioning that it is too taxing on your mana, one use and you can no longer fight.
"Too risky, hm?" Dina sighed and started activating one spell after the other.
"We have to meet it halfway if we want to prevent any casualties- ugh!" Bruce stepped forward, but his legs almost gave out on his first step, the eldritch had terrified him, but everyone was convinced this new monster was more dangerous, his confidence was at an all-time low.
"I'm fine," he looked at his mentor who was already reaching to catch him if he fell. "...I'll get over it."
"Have you thought of anything?" Eris looked at Han, and he nodded and looked at Arla who was the more experienced fighter.
"If it's using a sword then it has to be a melee type, going on that assumption, Arla's suggestion that it might have high magic resistance becomes valid, but we don't know yet, the best option we have currently is to bombard it with different types of attacks and then adjust our plans based on which attack-type does the most damage, so even though we're clearly outclassed we don't have a choice but to be close to it.
"So your plan is to blitz it?" Arla stared at him, and he nodded. "Hmm," she put her hand to her chin in thought and then looked at Sol, but to no surprise he was already asleep on his horse. "...for that to work, you would still need to be fast enough to dodge its attacks, one swing and you probably get cleaved in two." She looked at Han again, who had seen her hopes of Sol helping get dashed.
"I can do it," Ikaris slightly raised her hand. "The plan is simple, but it is by far the best option, I make a bold forward attack, and then retreat to the skies out of its reach-"
"-Why you?"
"I'm far faster than any of you are!" Ikaris snapped at Dina who was going to reject that idea. "If you want to blitz that creature then I am the most qualified to do so, do not worry about my level being as low as yours -I am already 204 I can handle myself."
"Fine," Han rubbed his head. "Fine, just... don't die to this one mob," He gestured to her, and Sol barely peered an eye open and stared at him.
"Leave worry of my safety to my master." Ikaris raised a brow as she turned and fell into a running stance right there before them. "I need someone to verify and send back word; Sara, stay within my shadows and be careful."
"Understood." Sara walked from behind Sol's horse and vanished within the body of Ikaris's shadow.
"We're coming with you though!" Eris reached out to touch Ikaris, but the goddess spared one glance to the healer and clicked her tongue.
"I have already said it, but this creature has noticed us, it is now on the path toward us, and running alongside you lot makes for an interesting event but you are all slow." Ikaris stated, and in a flash of white from her divine magic she was gone.
"H-holy shit!" Han covered his eyes when the kickback of her sprint had a delay of a few seconds before the ground where she stood suddenly exploded toward them. "What the hell was that!?"
"[Godspeed]." Sol answered, gaining their attention. "It pushes the body of the user to a heightened level of stress and sacrifices their stamina for an incredible level of speed otherwise unattainable by normal means, She's been working on using it for a while now." He sat up watching as Ikaris rapidly approached the creature.
"Among those present, the only ones who can safely learn it are Eris who has a strong healing factor with a heightened tolerance for pain, and Bruce who has naturally high defences, anyone else who tried would suffer bone fractures and severe muscle damage, or worse." He looked at Usami.
"Fuck..." Han stared at his hands. "So you're saying we're too weak...?"
"Far too weak." Sol nodded.
"I could never dream of moving this fast physically!!" Sara who had latched on to Ikaris's shadow and had remained in the gap between the darkness and reality had small cuts appearing across her skin as Ikaris's speed continued to multiply.
Now close enough to see the beast, Ikaris summoned a sword made of her Arkadian mana and slightly slowed down. "I could probably fight this all on my own, but with the little mana I have it would be a tiring task even if I stacked the damage..." She vanished for a few seconds, entering a realm of speed that caused the maid to scream in terror. "Once again, I have a need to grow more strength!"
"If I am to do this properly and defeat the demon god then I need an attack potency close to that of master after he won against the demon god on Atla," She sped up again.
It stood a staggering ten feet tall, a large muscular creature with the head of a bull and fur covering its humanoid body, holding a broadsword as it ran toward the mass of mana it had sensed.
[Minotaur: Level 500]
[Cross impact!]
Before it even realised something was coming it's way, the minotaur suffered a shallow gash across its neck.
It roared and spun to see what had attacked it, but as Ikaris slightly slowed down a giant white X made of volatile mana seemed to appear out of nowhere.
It only had a fraction of a second but it still managed to raise its broadsword and try to chop the attack in half, but before it could do so, [cross impact] exploded in its face creating an instant ball of burning mana that sent quakes through the ground all the way back to the others.
"Holy shit, that's way more powerful than the last time she used it, even with lady Lyra's help!" Eris stared at the destructive attack before Sara suddenly appeared next to her with her arm bleeding after she had slightly peeked from within the shadow cast by the attack to get a look at the creature before the moment of impact.
[Heal]
"Level 500, minotaur, it has no magical abilities and is purely melee; high resistance to magical attacks, high resistance to melee attacks, high stamina and incredible strength, Sara knelt in their presence while Eris healed her broken arm and the wounds across her body.
"Did it attack you?" Usami asked, staring at the shattered armour on Sara's shoulder that slightly revealed her breast.
"Nay, Lady Ikaris's speed caused my arm to break when I tried exiting her shadow." Sara had a trickle of sweat rolling down her chin. "She is indeed scary...!" Sara and everyone else looked toward Ikaris's side again and watched shocked as another giant [cross-impact] appeared and exploded like a nuke.
"It's so far away, but I can still feel the heat..." Dina hid her face from the light of the explosion and floated upward.
"Dina-"
"You guys should stay out of this one." Dina looked down at them. "I can help her if I keep my distance, but the rest of you would just be getting in the way." She gestured to them, and Arla nodded in agreent.
"It burdens me to say this, but most of her attacks have long outpaced my most powerful, my presence there would be of little help as well, and as the strongest among my peers that leaves a very large gap between the [minotaur], Dina, Myself, and then the rest of you," She looked at her fellow captains.
"Can we leave it up to you?" Han asked Dina, staring and expressing his worry through his body language.
"Just wait for the good news!" Dina spun and released the restraints of her activated spells shoting off into the air toward Ikaris and the minotaur.
"Is this truly okay, master Vestic?" Arla turned to Sol as soon as Dina was out of sight.
"It's going to be a hard fight for the two of them," Sol smiled.
"It's going to be pretty fun, actually."