Chapter 43: A Worthy Opponent
An extremely fierce battle was happening at the moment inside the Arena and the surrounding minotaurs were cheering and banging their weapons on the ground in support of their favorite fighter. Some of them even started infighting with the supporters of the other side.
Kahn was astounded by the strength and merciless fighting style of these contending minotaurs. Especially the reigning champion of the arena. Because unlike all the Minotaur he had seen so far, it was far brutal, more intelligent and extremely well versed in the fight. It always defended itself properly and intentionally let out openings just to reel in its opponent to attack. That way, it would quickly throw it off balance and make a powerful strike of its own. The red minotaur however was no weakling.. The ferocious attacks did give it an edge in this fight to the death.
Kahn didn"t dwell on looking at this battle and quickly started luring out the remaining minotaurs using the overly noisy arena as a way to kill the enemy so many will not notice that their comrades went missing one by one.
Finally, the result of the match was in front of everybody. The seat of the champion would still be held by the yellow minotaur..
RAAARRRRR!!
Loudly roared the minotaur and banged its chest with fists and displayed his strength and authority. The battle was indeed a very close call and the yellow minotaur had won by throwing its shield on the opponent at the critical time to disorient it and then swinging its giant battleaxe to cut the head of the opponent in the end.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
"Nice. Thanks for being such a showman." joked Kahn as his voice spread in the entire arena. He was currently sitting on top of a slab-like structure just above the throne of the yellow minotaur.
"A human?! How did you get inside here?!" growled the Minotaur.
"Don"t worry.. I made sure no one disturbs our little chat." spoke Kahn without any worries. He wasn"t surprised to see the Minotaur speaking because even the Half-Lord rank Silver Kobold spoke so why couldn"t a Lord rank Minotaur.
The next second, he jumped inside the arena and stood before the giant yellow minotaur, taking his sword out of his s.p.a.ce ring and pointing it towards the reigning champion.
"Care for a battle?" asked Kahn and let out a slight smirk.
"Hahaha. You seem quite foolish for a human. Even though I don"t need it.. Can"t you see that you"re surrounded by me and my kin? How do you plan to leave this place alive? Hahaha!" bellowed the minotaur in mockery. The fellow minotaurs then started laughing and grumbling as well.
"I guess you"re right. How about we make sure that no one disturbs us?" proposed Kahn and suddenly dozens of black figures started jumping out of his shadow.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
One by one, many giant figures landed on the ground of the arena and started filling in this wide s.p.a.ce which neared about 200 meters in total length.
"What... What is this?!" shouted as the Minotaur Boss saw Kahn"s army of pitch-black soldiers.. Omega and the Six Generals being the spearheads of this group.. But what shocked it the most was seeing nearly 40 of his own kin mixed in this army.
Kahn walked in the front and stood like the leader of this army.
"Don"t worry.. They"re not for you. They"re for them." announced Kahn.
"Finish them all!" he commanded and his army charged at the surrounding minotaurs that were enjoying the thrilling battle not too long ago.
"You wretched insect! You dare come in my domain and attack my kin in front of me!" roared the floor boss and grabbed its giant shield and charged at Kahn and his army of black soldiers.
The remaining 18 or so minotaurs raised their weapons and dashed towards their enemies without a care for their lives.
BANG! CLANG! THUD! STOMP!
An extremely fierce battle took place in a matter of seconds and the swarm of black soldiers and the minotaurs clashed against each other.
The Minotaur floor boss was so fierce and extremely powerful that just one attack from its giant battleaxe was enough to shake the ground and split it in two for 5 meters with a single swing. It hacked 3 of Kahn"s soldiers in just one wave while crushed 2 by bashing his giant shield on their heads.
[Finally.. A worthy opponent.]
Omega and the other subordinates targeted the group of minotaurs, engaging and luring them away and leaving Kahn free to fight the floor boss.
Just when the floor boss was cleaving through the enemy soldiers, a swift swing landed on its shield as he was forced two steps backwards..
It finally saw the attacker who even made the giant body of his trembling and nearly making his hand go numb.. The minotaur warrior gazed at the front and saw a man holding a giant sword nearly 5 feet long.
"Your opponent is me." spoke Kahn and activated War Dominance for the first time since last week.
The pressure released from him was many times powerful and more oppressive than it ever was before. Since Kahn"s level rose by quite a lot, so did the density and chaotic nature of his War Dominance aura.
A Lord rank monster was comparable to a Beginner Grandmaster rank fighter. The established difference that came between the ranks was already obvious to him. Because even if he was 10 levels higher than a Grandmaster rank opponent, there was still a 50% chance that he"d lose because at the end of the day; experience and quality of your skills always defeated someone who had superficial mastery of their combat skills and techniques.
The minotaur boss released some sort of skill and its foot on the ground, a loud sonic boom exploded from the area and the nearby 20 meters of ground was shattered into pieces. Kahn who was standing inside this range nearly lost his balance and was thrown backward just with the ripples of this stomp.
Before he could regain his footing, the minotaur boss charged at him and swung the shield at his head.
CLANG!
Kahn was thrown 3 meters back after he blocked the attack with his sword just in nick of the time.
His hands trembled after bearing the brunt of the impact. The boss then dashed towards him and swung his battleaxe at him horizontally.
BOOM!
Kahn was thrown 10 meters away and he rolled in the ground.. Almost losing the grip on his weapon. Before he could even get up, the boss minotaur jumped right on top of Kahn who was still lying in the dirt.
"f.u.c.k!"
CRACK!
The ground cracked as soon as the feet landed on the ground. Kahn used Side Hopper and barely managed to evade the attack in the last second. He quickly stood on his feet and took a defensive stance again.
It had been barely 10 seconds and he was already pushed back, thrown away and even nearly squished like a grape under the attacks of this minotaur floor boss. He had finally met a monster that completely dominated Kahn in terms of combat style.
He quickly activated Defense Fort.i.tude and a tangible shield-like aura surrounded his entire body. This was Templar exclusive skill which raised the user"s defense by twice and attack power by half.
CHING! CLANG! DING!
The dungeon boss attacked Kahn repeatedly over and over as all this human in front of him could do was defend.
"Puny human! You dare to challenge me in a fight?! Let this arena be your final grave!" bellowed the minotaur and swiftly bashed its giant shield against the barely standing human.
BOOM!
Kahn"s entire body was thrown against the nearby wall and he caved in pain.. his bones felt like they nearly cracked from the impact.
Blergh!
Kahn coughed a mouthful of blood as his body fell on the ground, barely managing to lift his head as his eyes blurred and nearly losing his sight.
[A stun skill?] he questioned as he felt some sort of status effect affecting his body.
At this moment, the battlefield was no different than a pool of blood. The red and black blood filling the surrounding area far from where Kahn & the floor boss were fighting.
BAAAHHHHH!
Screamed the last surviving minotaur as Omega ripped its heart out with his claws and tore out a big check of meat from its neck with his large fangs. As the body landed on ground, he looked at the surroundings and found that all the remaining enemies were killed while they had lost a dozen of their soldiers that were part of the Legion.
His gaze quickly shifted towards Kahn, his master. At this moment, Kahn was defending and being pushed back by the attacks of this dungeon floor boss.
Omega quickly dashed towards the minotaur to protect his master. Currently, he was the only one amongst Kahn"s soldiers who could fight this dungeon floor boss on even terms.
[Don"t interfere!]
Omega heard a command in his head and stopped his charge and stood in bewilderment. His gaze landing on his master.
The minotaur"s battleaxe glowed red again and it was going to perform its ground spitting axe attack.
BANG!
Kahn used his sword to block the brutal attack again and nearly got decimated in the ground.. His legs almost giving up and then he was flung backwards again.
He threw up another chunk of blood from his mouth as he was nearly splattered to pulp from the glowing axe and if not for his sword being made of Mythril, he would"ve but cut into two pieces.
The battle was already won as currently only the Minotaur boss was left and Kahn"s soldiers could easily kill it with their large numbers. But still, he was adamant about facing it alone.
Kahn barely had the strength to get up at this point.. His trembling hands were bleeding, his arms and legs were cut in few places, there were plenty of bruises on him while half of his face was covered in his own blood.
He adjusted his footing and grabbed the sword tightly with both of his hands and challenged loudly..
"AGAIN!"