RTU

Chapter 22 - Familiar Faces

Jessie, weak from using such a powerful spell, stumbled back away from the front lines. Mara helped her on one side to get her out of the way. The walls were starting to crumble. If the Minotaur keeps this up, it will collapse on top of them all. Bu buffed himself for the second half of the fight.

"Why is it showing its perk already? It usually doesn't until its last 10 to 15 percent," whispered Dee. "It's in berserk mode!"

Bu's facial expression had changed. Now, it was the Minotaur's turn to go on the offense. As soon as the roar faded into the distance, it charged at Bu and thrashed swinging both arms, sword and bone hammer. Though its attacks were wild and unpredictable, he manage to find an opening. Bu swung his axe delivering a direct blow to its side. Its health dropped twice as much.

"Everyone! Its defense has dropped, but his attack has gone up. Dee, Mara, Jessie attack now. Don't worry about me. I have enough health to last if you can take him down fast!" shouted Bu.

From behind, Dee set focus and announced, "Cross slash! And now Meteor Sword Dance!"

Jessie drew a circular shape in the air, and the blue hues appeared becoming more vivid as her finger added more details. It soon took form and a spinning wheel with ice shards along the outer circumference appeared above her head. She did a throwing motion with her hand, and it went flying forward with great speed.

Mara healed Bu with all she had to keep him alive, but his health points were dropping quickly as well. The Minotaur was not phased nor did it stumble as it fought relentlessly down to its last hit points.

"This is it!" shouted Bu letting down his guard.

"Bu! Watch out! It won't show you any mercy," warned Dee.

All of a sudden, the Minotaur swung left then right and quickly following after, it rammed its horns into Bu knocking his shield out of the way. Without a shield, Bu would be finished.

"I'm done guys!" Bu announcing in defeat. "I'm done."

Dee ran in front of the Minotaur grabbing its attention. He faced Jessie and called out to her animating his lips for her to see, "Jessie I need fire!"

She nodded and drew two signs from her fingers. It lit up Dee's swords as he came down announcing, "Fire Sword Cross Slash!"

The impact sent the Minotaur flying back landing flat onto the ground. It finally took its last breath as a thin flow of smoke rose from its mouth. The Nano-bots came to take it apart perishing back to the ground. Bu sat down and fell on his back. Sweat poured from his face as he took in deep breaths.

"Level up baby!" Bu exclaimed. He quickly configured his stats as well as everyone else.

Dee walked over and realized that not everything had perished from the Minotaur. He picked it up and stood over to Bu.

"I think you deserve this," declared Dee. He handed it to him.

Bu set focus, and it read, "Heart of the Lion Shield". He put his old one away and equipped the new one. His defense increased significantly, and it even felt lighter.

After they had some time to recover, they proceeded through the tunnel. It wasn't long after their battle that they came to another set of stairs that led up to a square wooden door above them. Jessie placed her finger on her lips.

"Jessie says to be quiet. We are now directly under the Court of Kings. This door opens behind a stone statue of a giant gryphon. The hallway leads to the back room where Derma is located. We need to get there as soon as possible. Only those who were looking to escape would ever stumble on something like this," Mara translated.