Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

When Kaizen and Linus felt the wind of a storm on their necks, they dared not move an inch. The sound of heavy breathing and the scent of animal could only mean one thing: the Minotaur was there, behind them.

Slowly, their eyes met, and as if they could understand each other without exchanging a word, they both turned quickly, ready to face the Minotaur, but they saw nothing but darkness. Their gasping breaths were still loud.

“Who’s there?” Kaizen asked.

He didn’t get an immediate answer, but suddenly a shadow emerged from the darkness of the hallway, and this shadow was gigantic, easily ten feet tall, and it was coming toward them. It was the Minotaur, a creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull. The monster was at least twice the size of an ordinary human, and its skin was so thick that ordinary swords could do no significant damage.

Kaizen and Linus looked at each other and both smiled, finally understanding why the ring no longer worked. They had arrived exactly where they wanted to be, they had found the Minotaur they were looking for. But just as Linus grinned and prepared to face the creature, a large, spiky club struck him, throwing him with staggering force against one of the cavernous walls of the hallway. Linus didn’t even have time to react.

Kaizen watched helplessly as his friend was thrown with such force that the walls shook. And immediately, all of his survival senses went on alert. He had imagined the Minotaur to be a powerful creature, considering all the effort they had put into finding it, but the Minotaur was definitely on a level above normal.

eαglesnᴏνel ‘That speed and strength… This thing is at least Mythic Rank!’ Kaizen thought as he looked at the monster in front of him.

With renewed courage, Kaizen slid his fingers through the system interface, quickly opening the inventory and equipping the Eye of Storm sword, preparing to fight.

The Minotaur had no conscience, no fear, so it approached Kaizen without bothering to analyze him first. That was the main difference between a monster and a player.

The Minotaur’s sharp fangs shone in the bluish light from the torches in some parts of the hall.

Kaizen quickly dodged the club coming at him and connected with a blow to the creature’s leg, but his sword simply slipped through the creature’s hard skin, unable to pierce it. At that moment, Kaizen realized that his chances of victory would be slim if he tried to fight as he did against all monsters, and this realization reminded him of the challenge he had faced a few minutes ago.

Not everything my eyes see at first glance should be taken as truth. He said to himself.

First, he should find out what the enemy’s weaknesses were, and then take action, otherwise he would just be wasting energy.

With that in mind, Kaizen moved quickly, circling the monster, looking for an opportunity to attack. Linus was still recovering on the ground, and though he was not bleeding, he looked dizzy.

The Minotaur continued to advance, slamming its huge spiky club into the walls of the hallway, creating huge cracks. Kaizen jumped to avoid a blow and attacked the monster’s back, but the sword again did no damage. Frustrated, he backed away again as the Minotaur turned to attack him again.

‘A weakness. I must find a weakness.’

As Kaizen quickly retreated, he deliberately created a space for the Minotaur to advance and continued to watch its movements carefully. He realized that the monster was very agile and its attacks were devastating, but its intelligence was too limited, perhaps to counterbalance it. So while deftly dodging another attack attempt from the Minotaur, Kaizen noticed that the creature had a gap in its armor: the back of its head.

With this in mind, Kaizen devised a plan of attack. Waiting for the right moment, he ran toward the Minotaur.

Obviously, the Minotaur was attempting to attack him with his club, but Kaizen dodged and used the club as a ramp to climb up as he ran, and with a quick swing, he struck the vulnerable part of the monster’s head with his sword. The eye of the storm shone brightly, and to Kaizen’s surprise, the sword pierced the Minotaur’s skin, inflicting considerable damage.

[You dealt 670 damage.]

The Minotaur howled in pain and shook its head violently, trying to throw Kaizen off.

Defeating such a powerful Minotaur would certainly not be an easy task. So Kaizen and the monster continued to fight, and although his sword was unable to pierce the Minotaur’s tough skin in most places, Kaizen knew of one spot where attacks were effective, and by using <Giant’s Lungs>, he was able to achieve a speed that allowed him to dodge the furious blows of the staff and the creature’s sharp fangs.

As he fought, Kaizen also began to notice some of the Minotaur’s movement patterns and realized that there was a time when the monster would drop its guard, when it was absolutely certain that it was going to land a blow. With that in mind, Kaizen began to take advantage of those opportunities to keep hitting the Minotaur’s weak spot, the back of its head.

Most of the time, Kaizen’s blows didn’t do much damage, but the creature roared euphorically in pain and continued to fight.

To make matters worse, the situation in the hall was getting worse. The Minotaur’s numerous powerful blows to the walls and floor created cracks so deep that they damaged the very structure of the place, and every time he missed a blow, the place shook more and more.

Kaizen knew that this could not go on for long. He had to find a way to stop the fight before the hall collapsed and ended everything. Then he had an idea.

He observed that when the Minotaur delivered a powerful blow, he would raise his club high before it hit the ground. Using this information, Kaizen waited for the right moment, and when the monster raised its club for the final blow, he ran toward the Minotaur, leaped toward the club, used the momentum to jump to a height above the monster’s head, and struck the creature’s wrist with his sword.

In other attempts, attacking any part of the Minotaur’s skin other than the back of its head was useless, only this time Kaizen used <Deep Cut>.

[You dealt 750 damage].

The Minotaur let out a loud howl as it felt the Eye of Storm rip its left wrist from end to end, ripping off the hand holding its only weapon.