Ch.106The Minotaur of the Wilderness Finally Awakens

Khan showed no reaction even as his axe was severed.

Like a machine that only moves when commanded, he made no response without orders.

“We blocked it!”

“The hero’s miracle has unfolded, so we should be able to respond! With that size, targeting the head is our only option! Everyone, climb aboard!”

Khan turned his head to look down at The One, seemingly checking who had cut his axe not once, but twice.

Rumble…

“He’s spotted us! We’ll break through forcefully, protect the front!”

“Light! Become our shield and illuminate our path! Holy Shield of Light!”

“I’ll increase our speed! El Rio’s blessing!”

“Protect Shield!”

“Barrier Boost!”

Though inferior to Uldur’s Shield once used by the Saintess during the Holy War, the best defensive spell available to a Cardinal-rank spread across the front of The One, while the hero used El Rio’s blessing to further increase the ship’s speed.

It wasn’t possible to move like the divine knights of old who became light itself on the battlefield, but the 200-meter-long vessel’s speed increased incomparably from moments before.

And the defensive magic cast by the few surviving mages would block attacks, if only for a very brief moment.

“Hands coming from both sides! He’s clapping!”

“Ice Breath!”

“Black Spot Explosion!”

As Khan’s thick hands rapidly approached The One, Bug and Lee Juyeon stepped forward.

Bug created an ice drake behind him, creating a scene as if a real dragon was unleashing its breath.

Meanwhile, Lee Juyeon activated a skill modeled after solar black spot explosions that generate heat approaching 6,000 degrees—the original form of Agni’s black flames.

Had it been a real solar flare, everyone present would have suffered fatal injuries from the intense heat, but what she created was merely an imitation.

The black flame storm, generating heat of nearly 2,000 degrees, succeeded in slightly delaying the advance of Khan’s palms.

Crackle…

“We broke through… Damn! Lightning!”

Captain Abes rejoiced at breaking through the palms, but the threat wasn’t over yet.

This time, black lightning began emanating from Khan’s body.

The lightning discharged from his mountain-like body soon became a lightning storm that struck those flying toward Khan’s head.

“Hnngh—! God Slayer—!!”

“With Lord Uldur present, how dare you use such a skill name—!!”

“I’ll kill you before those Uldur cult members.”

Cain, standing at the front with his eyes closed and wielding a massive greatsword, opened his eyes wide and swung his blade at the approaching lightning storm while calling out his skill name.

Of course, his inappropriate skill name inevitably earned him the enmity of both the Uldur and Agni cult members.

CRACKLE—!!!

God Slayer—the skill Cain used even at the cost of making enemies of Juyeon, Lepin, and Baxter.

Though it was merely a technique of infusing his greatsword with demonic energy and swinging with all his might, its power was unbelievably strong for a mortal wearing the mask of a demon.

The black lightning storm that was about to engulf them was blocked by his sword strike!

Though Cain received no blessings or miraculous power, his decision to use demonization power at the cost of abandoning those things made perfect sense.

“Well done! Now that we’ve passed the chest… Woooah—!!”

BOOM!

Just as they avoided the lightning storm, a thick hand with crimson skin swung down toward The One.

Fortunately, they managed to avoid the attack thanks to Abes’s inspired driving, but the ground below wasn’t so lucky.

CRASH—!!!

“Is this for real…”

With just a swing of his arm, the overwhelming mass and force created a powerful pressure wave that cracked the ground below.

While some were distracted by the explosion from the ground, the reason for Khan’s arm swing became apparent.

RUMBLE——!!

A massive meteor, burning from the friction heat of breaking through the atmosphere, was falling toward The One.

“Damn—! Is he confident he won’t die even if a meteor falls…!!! Intercepting!”

Click—! RUMBLE—!!

All the elemental ballistas on The One’s deck and some magic cannons turned toward the meteor.

Normally they couldn’t destroy such a meteor, but with the airship’s capabilities and the hero’s miracle blessing this miraculous vessel…

“Fire—!!”

Thump-thump-thump!

Whoosh!

With the sound of ballista fire, heavy mana projectiles launched from the magic cannons toward the burning meteor.

Hiss…!!

Arrows enchanted with water and ice attributes flew toward the meteor, helping to reduce its heat somewhat.

Most arrows disappeared, unable to withstand temperatures approaching thousands of degrees, but with the continuous barrage, some eventually reached the meteor…

BOOM——!!

The magic cannons fired at the meteor showed the true power of mana projectiles as they engaged in a power struggle with the meteor.

Rumble—!!

Twenty magic cannons versus a giant meteor.

Despite being weapons made by humans, the magic cannons managed to hold their ground against the natural disaster, but…

BOOM!

“Ugh! Captain! Two magic cannons have self-destructed from the strain!”

Eventually, man-made objects couldn’t withstand the natural disaster and began collapsing one after another.

Starting with two magic cannons, chain explosions occurred, and all the cannons pushing back the meteor collapsed as it struck the Holy Shield of Light.

BOOM—!

With a cracking sound, the Holy Shield of Light held for just a brief moment, but after all, a defensive spell cast by a Cardinal who was neither the Pope, Saintess, nor Hero crumbled helplessly before the natural disaster.

“Excellent, Cardinal Baxter.”

As Cardinal Baxter’s defensive spell shattered along with all the defensive magic cast by the surviving mages, a clattering sound came from somewhere.

The sound disappeared in an instant, becoming light that flew toward the meteor.

CRASH——!!

The light that flew toward the meteor successfully shattered it with tremendous impact, saving The One.

Meteor fragments rained down on The One and flew toward the ground with fierce momentum, but they had finally reached an altitude of 7,000 meters—level with Khan’s face.

“What… the?!”

But upon reaching Khan’s face level, they discovered a shocking fact.

Khan, since his seal was broken until now…

As if he had never opened his eyes, both eyes remained closed as he merely turned his head toward them.

“Hey… stop joking… Are you saying we’ve been fighting someone who’s been asleep this whole time? Shit…!!”

“That’s even better! He can’t properly respond anyway, so let’s kill him while we have the chance! Turn the ship!”

The One, smaller than Khan’s face but unbelievably massive for something made by humans, turned to reveal the magic cannons on the port side.

Twenty-six massive magic cannons with barrels over three meters in diameter targeted Khan’s head, and the elemental ballistas installed on the deck also turned to aim at Khan.

“What are you all waiting for! Let’s hit him with everything at once and kill him!”

As Captain Abes ordered, all participants, including the hero, prepared their ultimate techniques.

Lee Juyeon created a black flame spear on her hand, wrapped in dark flames so intense that the spear’s true form was barely visible, and began compressing the flames that swirled like bandages around a wound.

Bug unleashed the full power of his core, which took the form of the Ice Drake that once ruled the Ice Mountain Range, creating a massive ice spear. The spear emitted cold that rivaled the chill of hell, gradually freezing the titanite alloy deck of The One.

And Cain continued infusing his greatsword with demonic energy. Made of solid adamantium, the greatsword absorbed the black demonic energy and became increasingly darker—so dark that the blade would be invisible at night.

Cardinal Baxter knelt in prayer, seeking to share the power of his god Uldur with everyone.

The hero, like Juyeon, created a spear of light and continued infusing it with light, enhancing its penetrating power enough to pierce the brain of that massive being.

“Fire!”

“Lord Uldur!”

Twenty-six magic cannons emitted light, and 119 elemental ballistas continuously fired arrows at the center of Khan’s head.

Cardinal Baxter’s prayer strengthened the bodies of Bug, the hero, and Jerome.

“Die——!!”

“Divine Punishment!”

“El Zeria’s Red Trajectory!”

And from their hands flew a black spear, a sword strike, a blue ice spear, and a red light spear.

All attacks flew in one direction—toward the center of Khan’s head.

The location without horns, presumed to be where the brain was located.

The energy emanating from each technique was so powerful that even that monster couldn’t survive if hit by all these attacks.

The attacks approached Khan’s head, and thoughts of victory filled their minds.

THUD——!!

Just as they imagined, all attacks successfully penetrated Khan’s head. The massive head exploded from the magic cannon and arrow attacks, and the head that was even larger than The One disappeared before their eyes.

“Did… did we win?”

“That easily?”

A victory even they couldn’t believe. How could they win so easily?

Despite facing a monster that could have killed them all without difficulty, it seemed the seal hadn’t been properly released, and the creature died while still asleep.

As if to prove their thoughts correct, the massive body transformed into light and disappeared.

“We won—!!”

“We’ve won!”

While all the survivors raised their hands celebrating victory,

The participants alone couldn’t rejoice and looked around with serious expressions.

“Did anyone hear a death notification?”

Cain asked as their representative, but all participants present just shook their heads.

“Then… what exactly did we kill?”

Bug muttered, unable to understand the situation, but the others also didn’t know and resumed their battle stances with serious expressions.

“Why are you all looking so serious when we just killed the monster…”

As the hero, the only non-participant among them, looked at them with incomprehension,

BOOM—!!

“Waaah—!”

“Kyaa!”

Something landed on the bow of the ship, suddenly tilting it and causing everyone to struggle for balance as they looked toward the bow.

There stood a 10-meter-tall minotaur with four eyes and four horns, covered in black lightning and stones, looking down at them.