The explosion's core detonated, and gunsmoke billowed in every direction.
When Orum charged furiously toward the Minotaur, his first sensation was heat — unbearable, suffocating heat.
The acrid stench of sulfur and the thick, choking smell of charred flesh and blood slammed into him all at once. The air before him churned and rolled like scalding waves, and Orum felt as though he were standing before a blast furnace pouring out torrents of molten iron.
This was the most distinctive trait of infernal creatures: their hearts were rarely made of flesh and blood, but were instead hellish engines — roaring ceaselessly like erupting volcanoes, containing an inexhaustible reservoir of thermal energy.
Pressing forward against the mountain-like oppressive force, Orum charged at the Minotaur. He felt as though he had been thrown into the center of a raging inferno — the very air around him warped and shimmered from the extreme heat.
The only thing preserving his sanity amid this near-boiling heat was the frost greatsword in his hand.
A bone-deep chill, like the breath of an ancient glacier, seeped outward from the ice-blue runes flowing with faint luminescence along the blade's dark surface. Like a coiling frost serpent, that cold energy wound swiftly around every inch of Orum's body, pushing back against the scorching air pressing in from all sides.
The glacial aura radiating from the frost greatsword formed a barrier of frozen air, wrapping Orum within it and shielding him from the searing heat outside.
Within Orum's chest, two powerful hearts pounded like war drums in a frenzy. Surging power roared through his veins like mighty rivers breaking their banks — an unstoppable tide flooding into every muscle and bone.
Sensing that piercing chill approaching, the Minotaur's enormous head swung around with wary aggression, its gaze locking onto Orum — fixing on his blurred silhouette as he advanced rapidly through the heat haze.
Its bloodshot crimson eyes, glinting with savage light, tracked Orum with deadly focus.
"MOOO——!"
The black halberd that had descended with the Minotaur — forged in the depths of hell — had been blown apart in the massive explosion just moments ago, leaving only the front half of its shaft intact.
Even so, the remaining length of that broken halberd was still terrifyingly long — a full two meters.
Even without its legs, the Minotaur's deep-seated, blood-born savagery continued to boil. It let out a guttural, furious roar and launched itself at Orum without a moment's hesitation.
The Minotaur gripped the shattered black halberd and swung it in a savage horizontal arc. The dark halberd-shadow swept toward Orum's skull like a death-laden thundercloud crashing down from above.
In that split second of electric tension, a high, sacred chant suddenly rang out from behind — Ronald, the cleric.
"In the name of my Lord Lathander — thou, whose body hath been seared by the fires of the Inferno, heed the divine edict of holy light: release thy weapon!"
A square violet magic circle blazed into existence beneath the Minotaur's massive frame. An immense invisible force descended in an instant, causing the creature's wild movements to shudder to a halt — as though a thousand invisible iron spikes had been driven through its body, pinning it in place.
Cantrip — Command!
Under the compulsion of the Command spell, the Minotaur's enormous weapon-gripping hand began to tremble violently, loosening against its will as it was forced toward dropping the halberd entirely.
Yet at this critical juncture, the Minotaur's mountainous black muscles — rippling across every inch of its frame — suddenly swelled and tensed. A terrifying raw power erupted, as though it could tear the earth apart, and the creature shattered the spell's hold through sheer force.
Beneath the Minotaur, the violet magic circle representing the Command spell cracked apart like a fragile mirror with a thunderous snap.
Saving throw — success.
The halberd's sweeping shadow surged forward with even greater momentum. With a horrifying shriek of displaced air, it carved a jet-black arc of death and came crashing toward Orum once more.
In that instant, Orum's body lurched to a stop. He abruptly pulled back the momentum of his charge and, with razor-sharp reflexes, hurled himself sideways at maximum speed.
The ferocious halberd missed by a hair's breadth, grazing past the corner of Orum's left eye. The violent gust of wind trailing the massive weapon raked across his cheek like an invisible blade, leaving a burning slash of red beneath his left eye.
The moment Orum retreated and the halberd's swing went wide, a towering figure gripping an enormous black greatsword burst from the side — it was Raygore. Moving with the force of a cavalry charge, like a high-speed train barreling forward, he slammed into the Minotaur head-on with overwhelming kinetic force.
Battle Technique — Charge!!
"BOOM——"
Empowered by the battle technique, the full-speed impact packed the raw stopping power of a heavy artillery shell. The massive black greatsword in Raygore's hands drove into the Minotaur's chest — and instantly, a column of blood as thick as a man's calf erupted in a wild geyser.
Yet Felix, watching from a short distance away, felt his heart drop.
The sternum of a Minotaur was among the hardest bones in its entire body. The black greatsword had only penetrated to a quarter of its length — the overwhelming majority of the impact force had been absorbed and neutralized by the Minotaur's iron-mountain-like frame.
The opening Orum had created, Raygore's full-powered strike — and yet it had only inflicted a minor wound on the Minotaur.
Neither piercing through the creature's body, nor dealing a critical blow to its heart.
And now, Raygore stood at point-blank range before a deep-abyss monster that was about to unleash its most ferocious counterattack.
"RAAAAH——!"
The Minotaur let out a sky-shattering howl of pain. Its primal, savage nature surged to the surface, and it swung a massive fist straight down at Raygore.
Raygore had no choice but to release the greatsword hilt and cross both arms before him, channeling every ounce of strength into blocking the terrifying blow — a punch that crashed down like a siege battering ram.
"THUD——"
A dull, bone-shaking impact thundered through the air. The once-solid plate armor buckled and caved inward on the spot, crazing into a web of gut-wrenching cracks.
From inside Raygore's armor came the dense, rapid sound of fracturing bone — crack crack crack — an unknown number of bones shattering all at once, enough to raise goosebumps on anyone who heard it.
Then came the second blow. Then the third.
Blood poured from Raygore's mouth and nose. Stars exploded across his vision. Even with the formidable constitution of a half-orc body, faced with this terrifying weapon of war summoned from the depths of hell, he was no more than a porcelain doll being crushed beneath a sledgehammer.
This was the absolute physical dominance of size and strength. The sheer disparity meant that a warrior, after landing a single attack, could not even survive the monster's retaliation — they would simply die on the spot.
At that razor's edge of life and death—
"Whoosh——"
A dazzling ice-blue lance of light shot from behind at blinding speed, tearing through the scorching air with a bone-chilling cold.
It hit the Minotaur's eye socket with pinpoint precision. A massive explosion of frost burst open on impact, instantly shredding the Minotaur's face into a bloody, ruined mess.
Cantrip — Ice Blade!
Across the formerly iron-hard black bull-skull, frost erupted like a thousand stabbing knives, piercing through the thick hide and shattering flesh, exposing pale-white bone beneath shredded sinew.
This timely rescue from Felix gave Raygore the precious moment he needed. He fell back three steps, moving outside the Minotaur's reach.
Then Raygore reached back with an arm bent nearly to the breaking point and drew a heavy black iron shield from his back, raising it before him.
The next instant, a burst of brilliant golden radiance blazed to life, flooding Raygore's battered body with warmth.
"In the name of my Lord Lathander — soothe the wounds of this flesh. Holy light flows, and pain recedes!"
As Ronald's solemn, powerful chanting echoed across the battlefield, a cascade of golden brilliance fell from above like a waterfall, enveloping Raygore completely. Every inch of torn flesh and every shattered bone throughout his body began to mend at a frantic pace beneath the golden glow.
Within moments, Raygore had shed his critical injuries and reclaimed his ability to fight.
1st-Level Spell — Healing Word!
This was the formidable power of a healing cleric — so long as their mana did not run dry, they could perform something close to a miracle of resurrection, restoring the vitality of injured frontline fighters and sending them back into the brutal fray.
At the same time, Orum's silhouette had already circled around to the rear of the Minotaur's enormous frame. He gripped the frost greatsword with both hands, planting his feet hard against the scorched earth.
Bugbear sinew power erupted. Orum's body launched upward like a rocket.
In that instant, his arms felt like a reservoir swollen with ten thousand tons of water — an endless, catastrophic violence filled every single muscle fiber to bursting. Tendons of steel were driven to their absolute limit, and then all of that pure violence was released in a single sword strike that split the air apart.
Slash!
[Title: "Goblin Slayer"]
[Effect 1: All of your slashing damage receives a 10% damage bonus.]
But—
Under the Minotaur's powerful battle instincts, in the very instant the frost greatsword's slash began, it suddenly lowered its head, presenting its hardest bone to meet the blade.
"CLANG——"
A tremendous metallic crash rang out like the collision of gold and iron.
An irresistible shock wave — one that seemed as though it would shatter bones outright — surged violently up through the blade, nearly drowning Orum's arms in a numbing tide.
Orum could feel it clearly: striking the Minotaur's skull with that sword was exactly like striking a cast-iron anvil.
The hardness was simply beyond imagination.
"The Minotaur's bones... are actually this hard?!"
In the same instant that Orum's pupils contracted in shock, the Minotaur counterattacked.
This time, the target of its fury was Orum — the one who had just delivered that slash.
The world before Orum's eyes seemed to be swallowed by darkness. The mighty black halberd came sweeping toward him once more.
The halberd released a piercing, ear-splitting wail as it tore through the air. Its speed was extreme, yet it packed enough force to cleave mountains and split boulders.
At this fatal moment, Orum was still in midair — no footing to borrow, no angle to dodge. He had become a stationary target.
"I can't block it with the frost greatsword — if I try, the sword will shatter."
Sensing the aura of the halberd's swing — an aura fully capable of smashing stone — Orum immediately reached his conclusion.
If the frost greatsword shattered, the Ice Hawks Company would lose their only weapon capable of inflicting devastating damage to the Minotaur.
In that fraction of a second, with thoughts flashing through Orum's mind like lightning—
A jet-black figure burst forward from the side without warning. It was Raygore. He raised the black iron shield like a towering mountain and threw himself in front of Orum.
"BOOM——"
The black iron shield absorbed the halberd's colossal impact, letting out a shrieking metallic cry of anguish. The shield face caved inward with great violence, and multiple cracks split across its surface almost simultaneously.
And this had been nothing more than a quick, lightly-committed swing from the Minotaur.
Had the creature wound up for a full-powered blow, the halberd would likely have sheared through both the shield and Raygore's arm in one stroke.
"ROAR... DIE!"
After trading fierce blows with both Orum and Raygore, it seemed the Minotaur had finally, furiously, grasped who they were — the very ones responsible for triggering the explosion that had blasted off its legs.
As the rage within the Minotaur climbed to a wild peak, its already-massive muscles swelled like rapidly inflating balloons. The face torn to a bloody ruin by the earlier blast bared a row of stark-white teeth, dripping thick, yellowish mucus and blood.
This hellish sight was enough to send an ordinary person into shock so profound they might lose consciousness on the spot. Even seasoned adventurers standing before it could freeze in fear, their bodies locking up and refusing to move.
Watching the Minotaur close its openings and prepare to unleash its next savage assault, Orum felt a cold weight settle in his chest.
Then a rumbling, thunder-like voice rose from beneath Raygore's brutal iron mask:
"Orum. Watch for my signals."
To Orum's astonishment, there was not the slightest trace of tension or panic in Raygore's voice. That preternatural calm made it sound less like he was locked in a death struggle with a terrifying infernal monster, and more like he was quietly reading a newspaper in a library.
Orum cast a quick glance at Raygore. The black plate armor covering him had been stained a deep, sickly red — drenched in blood — some belonging to the Minotaur, some unmistakably his own.
"He's right — coordination is the key. Only then can we find the opening for a killing blow."
Orum understood immediately. He knew exactly what tactic Raygore had in mind.
The next moment, Raygore's plate-armored silhouette shot forward like a cannon shell, charging at the Minotaur head-on — heedless of the black iron shield shattering again with a wailing cry, launching into another charge.
Under Raygore's high-speed impact, the Minotaur's halberd had barely begun to build momentum before its attack rhythm was broken.
In the instant the Minotaur's enormous body was staggered by the collision — knocked off-balance and lurching to the side—
Orum materialized like a shadow given form to slaughter, appearing without warning at the Minotaur's flank. The frost greatsword swept out in a glacial arc of ice-blue radiance, laced with frigid killing intent and bone-piercing cold — and came slashing down across the Minotaur's neck.
The Minotaur's neck had already lost the better half of its flesh and blood to the massive explosion earlier. Only half the muscle and connective tissue remained to brace the stark white cervical vertebrae.
The slash landed. The frost-enchanted greatsword carved through with overwhelming force, slicing into the Minotaur's thick hide and driving into its pale neck bone with a tooth-aching, stomach-clenching crack!
In that instant, for the first time in its slow, dulled consciousness, the Minotaur perceived the true threat of death — cold and absolute, as tangible as a blade.
In its raging and chaotic mind, whether Orum, Raygore, or the distant Ronald and Felix — they were all no more than insects to be crushed at will. It only needed to unleash its violence, and it would annihilate them all.
Yet this insect named Orum, wielding a weapon of bone-deep cold, had actually inflicted a wound threatening its very life. This was the greatest humiliation and affront it could conceive of.
"ROAR!" The Minotaur let out a bellowing snarl and twisted its head with reckless fury, about to swing the halberd in its hand and tear apart the insolent insect holding the frost greatsword.
Yet in the very moment the Minotaur began its enraged turn—
A tremendous force struck from behind. Raygore, using the black iron shield as his point of contact, poured every ounce of his body's strength into slamming down the Minotaur's thick, weapon-gripping arm — forcing it to the ground with raw, crushing pressure.
At this moment Raygore's eyes had turned bloodshot red. Every muscle in his body felt as scorching hot as heated iron. A ferocious, all-consuming rage surged from the deepest part of him, spiking every fiber of strength in his frame to its absolute ceiling — so intense that the skin across his body seemed on the verge of splitting open.
Innate Skill — Berserker Rage!
Entering Berserk state: maximally overdrafts physical strength, significantly diminishes pain sensitivity, and grants immunity to mind control, charm, and fear effects.
The Minotaur swung its fist in a wild punch. A battering-ram blow crashed into Raygore's chest. Plate armor burst apart. Brutal pain crashed over him. Raygore coughed up a mouthful of blood — yet the force holding the Minotaur's arm pinned to the ground did not loosen by so much as a fraction.
Golden light blazed once more as Ronald's Healing Word descended again, swiftly mending the grievous wounds racking Raygore's body.
In that same instant, Orum swung his second slash. His third. His fourth.
"CLANG——"
"CLANG——"
"CLANG——"
The tooth-rattling peal of metal meeting bone rang out again and again. The Minotaur's thick neck bone — a pillar of near-mineral hardness — finally surrendered: just under half of it had been hacked to pieces, and fragments of white bone mixed with crimson flesh exploded outward in all directions.
"DIE!"
The Minotaur let out a world-shaking roar of desperation. Hellfire erupted from its gaping maw. In an instant, the colossal mountain of its body ignited from head to toe in raging flames.
Infernal fire, hot enough to melt gold and dissolve iron, blazed like a dragon of annihilation — swallowing the Minotaur's own body in an instant, and consuming Raygore with it, engulfing him utterly in the conflagration, the flames searing every inch of him.
Under the ferocious heat, Raygore's plate armor twisted and warped, and the all-permeating infernal flames licked hungrily at exposed flesh, charring his entire body to scorched ruin.
Had Ronald not cast Healing Word yet again in that moment, Raygore would have been reduced to a blackened husk on the spot.
"MOOO——"
The Minotaur burst with a sudden explosion of raw force. With a howl of pain and rage, it hurled the flame-wreathed Raygore — as carelessly as flinging a burning sack of grain — with tremendous force.
"CRASH——" Raygore's body slammed into the ground, blasting a crater into the earth on impact. Battered by the relentless chain of injuries, he seemed to lose consciousness entirely, collapsing into the flames as they writhed and twisted across his charred body like serpents.
Felix had no choice but to fire off an Ice Blade, detonating a massive eruption of frost above Raygore's body and extinguishing the fire completely.
"In...sect..."
The Minotaur's eyes fell on Raygore — the half-orc lying not far away, his fate unclear. The fury within the creature burned hotter than ever. It wanted nothing more than to grind Raygore's body to pulp right this moment.
But there was still Orum, behind it — the lethal threat holding the frost greatsword — still unresolved.
The Minotaur's massive frame pivoted toward him. With no one in its way to interfere, it meant to kill Orum right now and be done with it.
But in the instant it turned in fury—
The Minotaur's eyes went wide.
There was nothing behind it.
Orum's figure had vanished into thin air.
At the same moment, the Minotaur felt something land on its broad, thick shoulders.
Had the Minotaur been able to react even a heartbeat sooner — had it turned its head just one second earlier — it would have seen this: Orum, standing squarely on its shoulder.
In this instant, the frost greatsword in Orum's hands had changed. Beyond the original flowing ice-blue runes, the blade now bore an additional layer of cascading, iridescent light — seven colors swirling together like the surface of a living jewel.
That seven-hued radiance was brilliant and breathtaking, as if a timeless river flowing through ten thousand planes had been distilled into the steel. Every color that had ever shone upon the world blazed across that blade at once.
Orum himself was encompassed within a shimmering cosmos of light. Countless orbs of iridescent luminescence materialized from nowhere, orbiting him like stars paying court to the moon.
Within each orb danced a thumb-sized silhouette with delicate, translucent wings, offering Orum the blessings of their life-force.
["Life's Concerto": May be triggered once per day. When you call upon the forest fairies to fight alongside you, they bestow upon you their blessing magic — for 1 minute, all of your attributes are greatly enhanced, and every attack you deliver carries additional mixed elemental damage!]
---
"What... what in the world is that?!" Ronald stared at Orum, now swathed in seven-colored radiance, and his mind went completely blank.
He had never witnessed a blessing magic of such overwhelming magnitude — a power like a vast ocean descending from the heavens, pouring itself into an adventurer who had not yet even obtained a class.
Felix's gaze held less shock than Ronald's — because he had heard Orum mention the matter before, of that great and exalted Fairy Sovereign.
"The Dryad Goddess... Vilanestrae." Felix silently mouthed the deity's name, and something complex passed across his expression.
The gifts that this fairy goddess of the Court of Mirth had chosen to bestow upon Orum — Felix had already witnessed their generosity firsthand.
But the cost? What would the price be?
---
Now, a violent storm of mana swirled around Orum.
His presence surged in the span of a single breath, climbing to its absolute zenith — like a legendary divine sword finally unsheathing its full brilliance, radiating a sword-light that would draw the gaze of the gods themselves.
The blessing granted by "Life's Concerto."
The explosive might bestowed by the Bugbear Sinew.
The attribute bonus granted through Battle Technique — Thrust proficiency.
The slashing bonus conferred by "Goblin Slayer."
All forces, in this one moment, converged entirely into the frost greatsword in Orum's hands.
The potency of this sword strike was unprecedented — stronger than anything Orum had ever attempted. It had reached the very pinnacle of what he could achieve, and broken through into an entirely new realm.
"DIE!!!"
Orum's gaze was utterly cold — glacial stillness crystallized at the depths of his eyes. He crossed his hands around the hilt of the seven-hued frost greatsword and swung in a single horizontal slash with everything he had.
"CRACK——"
The Minotaur's thick neck bone — rivaling hard stone in its fortitude — finally released a heart-stopping fracture sound, and snapped completely through.
The monstrous, savage bull-head wrenched free from the body. It traced a blood-soaked arc through the air, spinning away by the force of momentum.
A geyser of blood erupted skyward like a crimson column. The massive headless body still thrashed and struggled — even the catastrophic wound of decapitation had not been enough to fully kill it.
The Minotaur's terrifying vitality meant that even after suffering the theoretically fatal injury of a severed head, it needed only to press the head back against its neck to achieve a complete recovery.
So, without a moment's hesitation, Orum fixed his gaze on the Minotaur's head as it spun high through the air, poured all of his strength into both arms, and struck again.
The frost greatsword carved three frigid, razor-sharp arcs of ice-blue in succession — three upward-sweeping slashes, one after another, from below.
Accompanied by the wet crack of rupturing flesh and a spray of blood, the Minotaur's severed head was sliced into four pieces.
Death, absolute and irreversible.
---
[You have slain 1 Minotaur.]
[Stage reward available for collection: Minotaur Skeleton.]
[Next stage reward:]
[Slay 10 Minotaurs — unlock Minotaur Monster Organ: Advanced Tier.]