Anemone quickly rushed to Astrape, cutting her loose and bringing her frail body towards the entrance.
"Please, take care of Theseus." Astrape choked out.
It was a three versus one, and if Astrape could somehow quickly recover, then the odds of winning would grow. As the minotaur was being taken over, Father began to heal Astrape. It wouldn't do much in the situation, but it would cause her major wounds to heal and her body to become stable.
Astrape was crying from the unbearable pain as she lay there, Father hanging above her. Theseus rushed over to her side and began to hold her in his arms.
"Everything will be okay, sis. I promise. These strangers and I will take this thing down, and then you will be safe. Just focus on resting in the meantime."
Astrape closed her eyes, causing her brother to get scared. Father then began to reassure him that she had just passed out. In the background, the minotaur was completely taken over; its veins began to bulge as it howled. Anemone and Father both looked at it, and its axe was coming down on the slaver's neck.
It cut clean through, coating the axe in reflective blood as the head rolled towards the group. The scene horrified Anemone, but she quickly regained her composure as this was a life-or-death situation. This wasn't like the boar; this monster could think, it had a weapon, and had two extra limbs to fight with. And it wasn't like the lycanthrope; it was much stronger, deadlier, and massive. It was a perfect mix between their two past encounters and would by far be the most dangerous.
Anemone steadied her breathing as Father split up; they were on mirroring sides of the cavern, reading themselves. Sweat trickled down their necks as they focused on the danger in front of them. Each of them wanted a break from the fighting, time to relax, but the situation didn't allow that. Father grabbed his staff, clenching his hand on the new leather, while Anemone did the same to her wand.
The minotaur seemed to enter a state of acceptance; it no longer fought the pain, its veins stayed bulging as it turned its giant head to the group of people. It no longer was rational in this moment, yes, it accepted the agony, but in the process, it became insane, and was filled with murderous intent and rage. The minotaur raised its axe and slammed it down on the slaver's dead body, which helped the group realize just how insane it had become.
Anemone fired Wind Arrow at the minotaur. It flinched in pain as it locked eyes with Anemone and began to rush rapidly. Until Theseus rushed to the side of the monster with his quick speed, and began to slash at it. The wounds closed faster than they could be carved into the minotaur's body, but over time, it would slowly wear down.
The minotaur dropped its axe on the place where Theseus was just standing. He reacted and dodged, then began to cut the minotaur's arm, enraging it further. Anemone and Father both fired basic spells in the meantime. They began to launch a full-on assault on the monster, but it didn't budge. It just seemed to become more irritated. The minotaurs' axe then began to glow orange, and an intense heat began to radiate from it.
"Magic? Are you fucking serious?" Theseus cursed as he stepped back due to the heat.
The axe fell on him as he dodged. Then everyone watched the stone where the axe hit melt in real time. Anemone fired Wind Blade at the beast while he continued to be cut. The combined effort seemed to yield no results. Everyone continued until the beast changed targets. It ran towards Anemone, using its intellect to uncover the weakest here to frontal attacks was her. Anemone was forced to be helped as her reaction was late. Theseus used his immense speed to rush over, pushing Anemone out of the way. He then lost his left arm in the process.
He tightened his grip in the process while trying to deal with the pain.
'It's nothing like my sisters. Get it together!'
He convinced himself that this type of pain and loss was unbearable. What more could he do? Losing one measly arm, which isn't even your dominant arm, is better than losing one entire person who can continue helping.
He groaned in pain as he stood back up. Father rushed over to quickly close the wound; it took a lot out of Father, but it needed to be done, or it would be a major detriment to the team. Theseus resumed his assault on the beast while Anemone stood up with Father's help. The weakness of the minotaur slowly began to emerge; its thinking speed was incredibly slow. It didn't rely on intuitions; instead, it mainly relied on its own thought process, but since its brain moved sluggishly, Anemone and the others had an advantage in one aspect. While Theseus continued to slice at the predator who roared in anger, he fired a weak water spell.
Almost everyone could use magic; it was quite rare to be born without magic, and even then, you can learn it through hard work or using magic spells, in which all you need to do is infuse mana. Theseus was the same; he could use magic, although it was incredibly weak even for a beginner, it still aided him in his endeavor. He wasn't proud of his magic, which was why he never used it around prying eyes, but in this desperate moment, where not a single large wound had yet to be inflicted and stayed, he needed to. So as he cut he monster, he fired a water ball into the wound, as it was the only spell he could cast in the heat of the moment.
It worked; the wound stayed, the insides of the beast, past the hide, were incredibly weak, and blood began to gush out. The incredibly fast healing predator was finally feeling true pain, though it was at the cost of Theseus' energy.
Mana was connected to life; Anemone could only fire spells a few times a day, and then she exhausted her mana, but if she continued, it would eat away at her life energy. And if someone somehow pushes past the exhaustion caused by overusing magic, they could die. However, most people had passed out by then. Due to this, someone like Theseus with a small mana pool, even compared to Anemone, would pass out within five uses of magic, even the simplest magic.
The battling Theseus began to breathe even heavily. After using magic, the exhaustion washed over him like a tsunami. Though he needed to endure, if he didn't, Anemone and Father Hatheway would have no means of protection. They were doing their job too, even as Theseus cut at the minotaur, Anemone and Father continued firing spells. Anemone used Wind Blade mixed with Wind Arrow, while Father focused on healing them, and fired Water Jet and Water Ball. The trio was making great progress, but nothing seemed to truly damage the minotaur, except the combo created by Theseus.
The minotaur raised his great axe over his head and began to slam it down on Theseus. Theseus dodged by going under the minotaur and then slashing at the Achilles heel of the monster. The monster dropped to his knees as the heel rapidly regenerated. Theseus thought he had an opening, so he grabbed his sword and began to try to pierce the neck of the beast. The minotaur stood up, swinging his free hand around like a whip, throwing Theseus as he became embedded in the wall.
Theseus groaned in pain as he coughed up blood. He put out his arm, pushing against the wall to free himself, and then fell on the floor. Father rushed over to the beaten-up Theseus, sensing the internal injuries, and began to heal him. Theseus looked over the shoulder of Father and saw the terrifying sight of the minotaur, raising his axe with a snarling face.
"Watch out!" Theseus strained.
Anemone in the background was trying to gather mana to fire a wind gust, but if she did, she wouldn't have much mana left and would be useless for the rest of the battle. Regardless, she needed to save her only friend. She waited until the minotaur was about to swing the axe, and then launched the spell. The spell worked, but not the way she wanted. The spell was strong enough to launch the axe out of his hand, but it didn't move the minotaur. The minotaur visibly became enraged and turned towards Anemone, and began to rush at her.
Theseus, still injured, but recovered slightly because of Father, rushed to Anemone's side, putting his sword in the air to block the large battle axe. His weakened state couldn't withstand the immense force, and he was forced to one knee. Anemone backed away, putting some distance between them, while Theseus began to fight again. The battle was coming to an end, both parties were exhausted, and at this point, it was clear that if the group was missing even one person, then it wouldn't have turned out well.
Theseus used his sword to curve the axe to the side of his body, causing the axe to become embedded in the stone ground. He then sliced the sword against the neck of the minotaur, causing blood to spray everywhere. While the minotaur wrestled with the axe to bring it out of the ground, Theseus jumped up to the side of the minotaur, pointing his sword at the head of the raging minotaur. The monster turned his head, and in this moment, Theseus became impaled. The horns protruding from the beast skewered Theseus, causing him to cough up blood. Theseus' life may be ending here, but the battle had yet to, and he wanted to be the cause of this thing's downfall.
Theseus puked up blood onto the beast and stabbed his sword deep into the thick skull, splitting it open and firing a barrage of water balls into the open wound just to make sure the thing died.
Finally, the battle was over, and Anemone was panting from lack of mana. Father felt like he had done nothing; he was there to support, but Theseus still died. Thankfully, Astrape was alive, though she was seriously injured before the fight, causing Father to quickly use a portion of his mana. The beast slowly collapsed, and Theseus rolled off the horn, finding himself near the sleeping Astrape.
"If I may request one thing, take care of my sister. She is a handful, but she is hardworking."
Theseus forced these words out while looking at his sister.
"Of course we will," Anemone replied
Meanwhile, Father collapsed near Astrape, ensuring she was safe, and he began to relax. Father felt fine, both mentally and physically. He did use spells, but not nearly as many as when battling the Iron Boar. He was going back to his roots, purely revitalizing people so that they may get back to battle. It had been so long since it was his main job, so he forgot how truly necessary it was. His main priority now, ever since Lily passed away, was to protect Anemone; he didn't need to heal often as he prioritized deterring threats altogether, but now Anemone was an adventurer, and she was becoming a full-on battle mage. He found himself becoming a battle mage recently, but finally, he was back to what he wanted: to heal and to support.
Father closed his eyes, laying his head against the stone wall, but then he felt an overwhelming sensation of pain in his leg. He opened his dark brown eyes and looked at his leg. He was forced to get a close look at the centipede, which had two large black mandibles, and the body was blood red with small markings, similar to what the strange man had earlier. The centipede was currently eating away at his skin, burrowing into him with immense speed.