Chapter 192 - Unexpected Guest
The next day.
After several hours of struggle, Theo and his friend had finally arrived in the corner of the fourth floor, finding a six-foot-tall rhino. Its body was covered with fire to the point they couldn't find any of its skin. However, the intense heat from the rhino warmed up their skin. They noticed the reason there wasn't any monster in this space other than him was due to the heat.
Ellen's Ice Magic might prove to be useful in this battle, so Theo said, "Alea, Sihan, take care of him from the front. Phyrill, Laust, go hit the rhino from the side. Ellen and I will help you from behind. We're lucky to meet a Hero Rank Monster without any bodyguards."
They agreed with Theo and moved to their position.
Seeing the intruder, the rhino rose from the floor and covered his face and horn with fire. This combination not only would tear someone open, but it might also melt their organ once hit by the rhino.
To that end, Sihan came to the front with his shield and used it as a second sword. He then decreased his speed right before the rhino's eyes and hit his horn with his shield.
Clink.
The collision ended in an instant with Sihan getting blown away. It was to be expected since the latter didn't use his Frenzy and the rhino's overall strength was stronger than the mammoth, who only relied on good defense and body weight.
He rolled a few times on the ground and stopped.
Before the rhino managed to run him over, Alea appeared next to it and struck its neck.
"Inch Slash."
The rhino had expected this to happen and formed a spinning fire that burst out to her sword, blasting it away before she could complete her swing. Luckily, Alea's grip was pretty strong, so the sword didn't fly. Instead, she was pushed several feet back.
This time, Phyrill made his move and used his Lightning Step to close their distance before using his head to strike the rhino on its stomach.
As one would expect from a C Rank Skill, it had the same effect as when Theo hunted the E Rank monsters with his Magic Bullet.
The moment Phyrill's translucent green helmet struck the rhino, it momentarily swayed to the side.
The rhino even took one second to understand what was going on by looking at Phyrill, seeing his "Jade Head" skill.
Theo then appeared on the side and used his Magic Bullet, cloning it to forty Magic Bullets. All Magic Bullets then hit the rhino from the side.
Theo realized one of the flaws of his Clone Magic Bullet this time. Before the Magic Bullets were able to hit him, the Magic Bullets had evaporated, meaning he couldn't allow the clone Magic Bullets to hit something.
Only the remaining ten real Magic Bullets somehow hit the rhino on the body. The shock wave from the explosion slightly scattered the flame covering his body, revealing its jade black skin.
"Ellen, freeze the fire please," Theo shouted, noticing that they might be able to kill the rhino if they managed to put down his fire. After all, the rhino's skin wasn't as strong as the mammoth's.
"Roger." Ellen agreed and stepped in front of the rhino while tapping the ground with her staff. "Frosty Misty."
A white freezing-cold mist appeared from beneath her feet before the latter moved out of the way.
The rhino didn't have the time to stop and charged right through it, only to find that the freezing temperature extinguished his fire and lowered his body temperature in an instant.
Laust then took this chance to kill the rhino.
"Water Moon Wave."
A crescent-shaped blue sword wave flew inside the freezing mist and turned into an ice wave instead of water. The ice then hit the rhino on the neck and blew it away from the mist.
Remembering the agreement they had with Theo before leaving the castle, their eyes turned greedy in an instant, wanting to kill this monster as soon as possible.
Seeing that competition was inevitable, Alea decided to stand by and watch what would happen. After all, she had killed a Hero Rank Monster and it wouldn't be fair if she continued to hunt for another one unless necessary.
Sihan, Phyrill and Ellen approached the rhino at the same time. And Theo quickly shouted, "Thanks."
Twenty Magic Bullets appeared on top of his hand and his clone, which he summoned a moment ago. He knew that his challenge would turn them greedy, making it a perfect opportunity for him to take this chance.
The three realized and glanced at him, knowing that the Magic Bullets would hit the rhino first before they could kill him. Though, there was no guarantee that Theo could kill it and the rest should be able to take advantage of that wound to kill the rhino, but… Things turned unexpectedly.
If everything went well, they would be able to kill the rhino in this one clash, but fate certainly liked to play a prank with them.
Before Theo released his Magic Bullets, he, who was near the wall, suddenly sensed something behind the wall.
"What?!" Theo widened his eyes and leaped to the front while looking at the wall behind him. His Magic Bullets were in disarray before disappearing into thin air.
Everyone was surprised by his action, but they needed to focus on the rhino, only to find themselves unable to do it after hearing a loud bang on the wall.
It was so loud that it made them understand the graveness of this matter.
Alea and the others tried to use their Awareness to check on the wall and found a huge body moving toward them. It wasn't supposed to happen, but they soon saw a five-foot-wide snake emerge from the corner, crawling to them.
In that instant, Theo knew that the snake was none other than the second Hero Rank Monster that should reside on the fifth floor.
The miscalculation Theo had made was the fact that if he could find someone's presence through the wall, the Hero Rank monster should be able to do it as well.
With his experience, he knew how intelligent a General Class Monster was. And there was a possibility that the monster could actually sense them with their own Awareness.
Theo hurriedly turned around and shouted, "Enemy!"