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chapter 145




Perhaps it gave them some semblance of comfort.
Upon opening the door, Kang Oh’s party was greeted by the sight of a large, normal room. None of the same, tedious forked roads or walls were in sight.
Maaa!
Uau!
Two minotaurs shrieked from within.
One of them possessed glimmering, golden horns, and wielded a double-bladed axe of the same color! It was also more than 4 meters tall, with bulging muscles and red tattoos covering its body.
The other looked much the same, but the color of its horn and its weaponry differed; its horns were silver, and it wielded an axe in either hand.
[You have discovered Minotaur Brother, Gold Horn.]
[You have discovered Minotaur Brother, Silver Horn.]
[You are the first to discover them.]
Took long enough; they’d finally encountered the dungeon’s boss monsters.
There were even two of them!
Kang Oh’s eyes gleamed.
‘Two brothers, huh… It reminds me of the Ricardo brothers!’
The Ricardo brothers were bosses in Warlord.
The Butcher, Ricardo Horn and the Human Sweeper, Ricardo Embry.
In life, they were fallen knights that were guilty of pillaging, arson, and mass murder. After they died, they became Doom Knights.
‘They’ll probably have some sort of combination attack up their sleeve. And killing one of them will probably make the other go crazy.’
At least that’s what the Ricardo brothers were like.
If you killed one of the brothers too quickly, then you wouldn’t be able to kill the other, as they would become way too powerful to deal with.
Therefore, the key to beating them was to spread the damage evenly between the two brothers, and then kill them at the same time.
‘Now that I think about it… If need be, I can use that method too.’
Kang Oh suddenly had a good idea.
There was a unique way of defeating the Ricardo brothers. Could he possibly use that method against the Minotaur brothers too?
‘If things don’t go as planned, then we can use that strategy. We’ll start out normally.’
Kang Oh, who’d finished organizing his thoughts, said, “Mr. Sephiro.”
“Yes?”
“The bosses are brothers. There’s a chance that if you kill one of them, then the other will become impossibly strong.”
“We should spread the damage evenly, and then finish them off simultaneously.”
“Can you see an enemy’s HP, Mr. Sephiro?”
If a player wanted to see a monster’s HP, then they needed a special skill or spell.
“Yes.”
However, Sephiro’s Lasselpino Bow showed him his opponent’s HP. As expected of a SS-rank masterpiece!
“Eder and I will each take on one of the minotaurs, and then we’ll rotate halfway through.”
Kang Oh’s attack power far surpassed Eder’s. They obviously had to switch midway; if they didn’t, then Kang Oh’s minotaur would die too quickly.
“So all I need to do is take on one, and then switch when you give the order!”
Eder clenched his fists.
“Please tell us when to switch, Mr. Sephiro. We’ll follow your orders.”
“Understood.”
“They’re brothers, so they may use a combination attack. We’ll have to fight them to figure out what it is.”
Eder and Sephiro nodded their heads.
“They probably have the Life Steal ability too.”
Every monster here had the Life Steal ability. Thus, it was likely that the boss monsters possessed the ability as well.
“It’s hard to imagine, but they may be able to steal our skills or spells.”
It wasn’t an impossibility, especially when he considered the Mash and the Jungk.
“Mm.”
Sephiro and Eder’s expressions simultaneously stiffened.
“Can we win?” Eder asked carefully.
“We can,” Kang Oh said confidently in an attempt to uplift them.
“It’ll prove to be hard to fight,” Sephiro said quietly.
“I’m not exactly sure whether it’ll work or not, but I have something up my sleeve.”
“What is it?”
Eder’s eyes gleamed.
“It’s…”
Kang Oh explained this trump card that he was referring to.
A short while later…
“Oh, it’d be huge if that worked.”
Eder’s expression brightened.
“But will it really work?” Sephiro asked.
“Isn’t it worth giving it a try?”
Kang Oh grinned.
“I suppose it is,” Sephiro agreed.
“I don’t think there’s anything else to talk about. Let’s do our best; give me a ‘We can do this!’.”
Kang Oh stretched out his hand, and Eder and Sephiro placed their hands on top of it.
“We can do this!”
* * *
Thud!
Thud!
Eder stomped onto the floor twice, casting the Ruined Ramparts and Rusty Sword curses.
Uah!
Maa!
The Minotaur brothers screamed.
“Eder, you take the silver one. I’ll handle the gold one.”
“Alright.”
Kang Oh and Eder rushed at their respective minotaurs.
Then, Gold Horn swung its two-handed axe at Kang Oh.
Whoosh!
“Yeah, nice to meet you too!”
Kang Oh bent over.
The minotaur’s double-bladed axe passed through the area where he’d once been.
However, the blow was so powerful that winds raged in the nearby area.
“Tch.”
Kang Oh had originally intended on dodging its blow and then counterattacking, but was prevented from doing so by the intense, raging winds. He couldn’t keep his balance, so he gave up on attacking and just grabbed onto the ground with both hands.
Whoosh.
Once the winds calmed, Kang Oh immediately swung his demon sword, but Gold Horn was already ready for its next attack.
It swung downwards, the strike so powerful that it almost threatened to cleave the world itself in two.
Unable to swing his sword, Kang Oh was forced to throw himself out of the way.
Boom!
Its axe struck the ground.
Mau!
Gold Horn yelled in joy, as if it were happy that it could finally fight a worthy foe, and pulled its axe out of the ground.
Kang Oh used that opportunity to catch his breath and get back into position.
‘As I thought, it ain’t easy.’
The ordinary minotaurs that roamed throughout the labyrinth were strong, but the golden horned minotaur was a boss. Thus, it was only natural that it’d be even stronger.
‘Still, I can’t afford to lose.’
Kang Oh let out a ferocious roar.
Kuhaang!
Baramut’s Roar!
Kang Oh had three gears: Baramut’s Roar, Gluttony, and Devil Trigger!
He’d shifted into first gear by using Baramut’s Roar.
Arise, power of a tiger!
His chest became warm and his body was filled with energy.
“Haahp!”
Kang Oh forcefully kicked off the floor. He charged right at Gold Horn like a cannonball!
Kang Oh and Gold Horn…!
The two entities clashed once more.
* * *
The blade of Silver Horn’s silver axe glimmered as it was swung.
Whoosh!
Clang!
Its right-handed silver axe struck Eder’s skull shield.
“Eek!”
Eder gritted his teeth and tightened his core as he withstood the minotaur’s attack.
Then, the minotaur swung with its left-handed axe.
Eder positioned his shield askew, pushing the axe to the side, and then rolled forward.
Bam!
A silver axe lay in the area where he’d once been! The minotaur’s axe left a groove in the ground equal to the size of the axe’s blade.
Then…
Sephiro let loose an arrow. However, the arrow almost seemed alive and zigzagged towards its target.
Homing Arrow!
He was aiming for Silver Horn’s forehead!
But Silver Horn, who was still healthy, wouldn’t let something hit its forehead so easily.
It deflected the arrow with an axe.
‘I thought you’d do that!’
Sephiro immediately notched another arrow.
However…!
Silver Horn suddenly swung an axe at Sephiro. Although they were so far away that the attack had no way of hitting, the minotaur did it anyway.
But then, something unexpected happened.
Boom!
Once the silver axe struck the ground, the floor was demolished and a giant wave came straight for Sephiro!
‘This is…!’
Sephiro figured out what skill it’d just used.
It was Earth Slash, a skill used by many players!
“Tch!”
Sephiro threw himself out of the way and used the Absolute Evasion skill. It was an indispensable Archer skill that allowed a player to dodge any one attack with certainty!
It did, of course, have a downside; while it was an amazingly useful skill, it had an extremely long cooldown time.
In any case, Sephiro’s use of Absolute Evasion had kept him from getting hit by the Earth Slash.
“Phew,” he sighed in relief.
‘I should be wary of counterattacks while I shoot at it.’
He notched another arrow and shot at Silver Horn.
Triple Shot!
At first, the three arrows flew in different directions, but then headed for Silver Horn’s vital spots.
Euu!
Silver Horn fiercely swung its axes, deflecting the arrows.
In the midst of that…
Eder struck the top of its foot with his mace.
Heavy Blow!
His attack produced a small explosion, resulting in shards of light falling from the minotaur’s foot.
“How’s that feel!?”
Eder raised his voice. He’d finally landed a successful attack.
Then, Silver Horn unrelentingly swung its twin axes and pushed Eder back.
Its axes rained down upon Eder’s shield!
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Eder withstood the onslaught again and again and again.
* * *
Whoosh!
The golden axe cleaved through the air.
Its axe was followed by mighty, raging winds.
However, Kang Oh steadfastly planted his feet, withstanding the wind, and then swung his sword.
Swish!
The jet-black blade cleaved through its washboard abs.
Euma!
Upon impact, Gold Horn glared daggers at him, laid its axe sideways, and swung as if it were chopping down a tree.
‘Tch.’
There was no place he could go to avoid the low attack.
Kang Oh positioned his sword vertically and blocked its strike.
Clang!
A shrill, metallic ‘clang’ resounded throughout the room. At the same time, Kang Oh felt the immense force of the blow.
Ultimately…!
Kang Oh went flying, forcing him to roll onto the floor.
In the process, shards of light spilled from his body.
As expected!
Gold Horn absorbed the shards of light. As anticipated, it possessed the Life Steal ability that stole an opponent’s HP.
‘Does it also have the ability to steal my skills or spells too?’
Kang Oh stood up and nervously watched Gold Horn.
Fortunately, it continued to attack normally.
“They can life steal, but I don’t think they can take your skills or spells,” Kang Oh yelled.
You needed to relay important information to your allies!
Whoosh!
The giant axe came flying at Kang Oh, and a black haze arose from it.
This was the Suppression skill, which doubled one’s attack power when using a downward strike!
Danger, danger!
Hyper Intuition was warning him.
‘Let’s advance!’
Gold Horn’s stance was wide. While this would increase the power of its attack, it would also leave it exposed!
Kang Oh chose to advance, rather than safely retreating or moving to the side; although dangerous, it would give him the most reward.
He pushed right into Gold Horn!
Thud!
The golden axe struck the ground!
The latter part of the axe briefly scraped Kang Oh’s back, causing a giant shard to burst from his body.
Then, Gold Horn absorbed the shard!
‘I’m willing to take some damage to strike a fatal blow!’
Kang Oh saw its defenseless stomach and abs.
Swish.
He swung upwards like a rising black dragon!
Plus, Tempest Tiger erupted from his sword and pounced on Gold Horn!
Boom!
The golden aura struck true, and the tremendous force caused the minotaur to shake.
Euuu!
For the first time, Gold Horn let out a cry of pain.
Whoosh.
Then, a whirlwind engulfed the minotaur.
There was a chance that he’d get caught in the whirlwind too, so Kang Oh quickly moved to a safe location.
Of course, he didn’t forget to use Slash on its side as well!
“Hoo.”
Kang Oh, who’d reached a safe location, caught his breath and stared at the whirlwind.
However…!
Swoosh!
All of a sudden, the whirlwind was sliced through and an Earth Slash came through.
Plus…!
He saw Gold Horn using the same posture he’d just used; it had swung its sword upwards, from down low to up high.