The Mechanical Era - 184 The Minotaur
Carson accepts Herrold’s revolver, holding it in his right hand while keeping his own revolver holstered. Now fully supplied with gunpowder, percussion caps, and bullets, he travels further into the cave, leading the way as he held the torch that provided light.
They light up the torches on the side of the walls, allowing the ones behind to catch up. Their ears start to pick up the sounds of metal clashing together. Along the way, they take down some of the few remaining creatures that stayed behind, before entering the area in which the knights and beast fought.
The soldiers entered the room and looked at where they were going to fight. The area was lit by a giant fire on the ceiling. The dirty stone floor was with the corpses of singefurs, demonic bats, and one larger corpse of a minotaur, stripped of its armor and weapon, and its head decapitated.
In the center of the room, surrounded by knights, was the remaining Minotaur itself. The Minotaur was another beast spawned out of the minds of the ancients. From its tales, it was a beast that was treated with love and companionship. However, as it grew older, it became a threat to society, as its animalistic brain took over.
It was made out of 2 muscular horse legs, the chest, and arms of a muscular man, with 3 fingers on each hand, and a bull’s head with huge horns and a violet mana crystal on the forehead. It stood 10 feet tall, and its skin and fur were brown in color. On both its hands, it held giant axes, one that come from its fallen comrade.
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“EVERYONE! SPREAD AROUND THE BEAST AND FIRE! WE ARE HERE TO WEAKEN THE BEAST TO RELIEVE THE KNIGHTS!” Carson ordered. The soldiers understood and moved to form a circle, keeping a good distance from the others and the minotaur itself.
Carson keeps the lit torch inside a hole and takes out his other gun. The exhausted and injured knights, upon seeing the musketeers arrive, leave the scene. After Carson aims his gun at its face, he starts to pull the trigger and fires his shots. The soldiers, upon hearing the shots, took aim and fired as well.
The bullet manages to penetrate the iron armor and enter the body of the beast, However, thanks to its extraordinary healing abilities, it managed to regenerate as quickly. It then starts to chase down Carson, who was the one managing to fire the most amount of shots.
It ran towards him with bloodlust. Carson starts to run to the side while firing a few more shots. The minotaur, despite being much larger, manages to catch up and swings both his axes at Carson.
Thwack! Thug!
The axe nearly slices Carson’s head off. Thankfully, he ducked and dodged the attack, and managed to run a great distance. The other troops, now piled up into one group, aimed at the Minotaur and fired upon the beast.
This move turned the beast’s attention to the other soldiers. Seeing that they have piled up, it started running towards them. The soldiers immediately separated, forcing the minotaur to force on one of the soldiers.
The soldier, upon seeing the giant creature headed towards him, trips and fall down to the ground. Dust flies over, and the man screams in fear. The beast raised his axes, ready to strike him down.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The shots from the dual-wielded revolvers landed on the demon’s back and arms. It distracted the beast long enough to make it turn around to Carson once again. Carson, upon making eye contact with the beast, started to taunt it.
“Come on you ugly bastard! Can’t you manage to take down at least one of us?”
The minotaur was visibly fuming at his comment and started to charge toward him. It gave out a mighty roar, before swinging its axes at Carson. This continued for a few minutes, and the minotaur was distracted, weakened, and taunted by the soldiers.
Meanwhile, Herrold arrives with his soldiers, carrying potions, food, and water alongside them. They tend to the exhausted and injured, who were able to catch a break after hours of fighting.
They hand them the potions, allowing them to heal back up to full health, and regain their strength. They were then given food and water, to quench the thirst and hunger that have accumulated in the battle.
After they have been treated, Herrold confronts them. They were all told to turn their attention to Herrold, who stood straight and strong.
“Is everyone replenished? Did everyone get their food, water, and potions?” he asks. The knights nodded.
“Good. Now, I assume that you are all in a condition to fight? We still have to take that thing down.” The knight all look at each other, holding long faces in silence. Herrold noticed what it was; reluctance and hesitancy.
These knights, after fighting for a long time, had had their morale demolished. All that they desire the most right now, is to head back home safely. Herrold however, could not accept that and decided to give a speech to boost their morale.
“Men! Listen to me! You have all fought so hard, and got so far! You have all managed, after working together, to take down a powerful beast all by yourself!
That is one less demon that could terrify your fellow citizens! One less threat to our family and friends. One step closer to attaining victory over the demons.
Knights! This is not the time to back down! The beast has grown sloppier and weaker! This is our chance to take it down once and for all!
Don’t you want to see it eliminated? To make sure that it won’t hurt anyone else ever again? If so, then you shall stand and fight! Just like your ancestors have, and just like how your descendants will too!” he shouts. The knights, after all looking at each other, finally agreed to stand up. After doing a few stretches, their all entered the area where the demon resided.
By this point, the demon had become far weaker. Its swings had slowed, and it was seen breathing heavily. Although it had managed to regenerate, the bullet stuck inside its body had made it harder to move.
The knights took this opportunity and strike back with vigor. With their spears, swords, and bows, they all pounced on the beast together. A few aimed at its hands, and quickly disarmed it of its large axes. The others aimed toward its chest and heart, where it was most vulnerable. Another group cast fireballs, scorching water, and earth attacks at it, while a final few simply waited for the right time to strike.
The Minotaur screamed in agony, as it slowly suffered under the knight’s brutal attacks. As soon as it lowers its guard, the knights with the swords swoop in, cutting its head off with a clean slice.
…
It had been a few minutes since the battle was over. The soldiers, upon carefully taking off the large violet stone on its forward, brought it over to the caravan, where it can be sent back to the rural town.
There were many questions surrounding why such a powerful beast was here, protecting his area from any human that dare come inside and explore. Carson, Herrold, along with knights and 2 soldiers, wandered further into the cave.
“The minotaurs were guarding this tunnel?” Carson asked one of the knights.
“Yes, sir. They were protecting this area. It used to be filled with singefurs, but they came over to help the Minotaur to fight us, so I don’t think that there are any left here.”
“What the hell are they mining for?” asked Herrold.
“We don’t know sir. There is only one way to find out,” the knight replied. The group travels further into the mine, lighting up torches and looking around. On the ground were more rails, held up on the wooden plank sleepers. Pickaxes were seen scattered around the place, and not a single minecart was to be seen.
Carson, upon looking at the stone walls, spots something interesting hanging around the walls. A small black crystal just mined enough to be picked up from the stone walls with his hands.
“What do you think this is?” Carson asks while picking up the black crystal.
“Don’t know. Looks cool though,” Herrold replies. The knight, upon seeing the crystal, stays silent.
“What is the matter? Is there anything wrong?” Carson asks the knight.
“Sir… I think I know why it was there,” the knight responds. This immediately catches the attention of the two, who now become curious.
“Really? Why?” Herrold asks. The knight points to the crystal.
“That crystal… that is a void crystal.”
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