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Death is a Suggestion 4. Minotaur
🕑 Added 2024-09-13 00:54:15 +0000 UTCLetting out a hideous roar, the minotaur charged. Kai led the charge, with Levi and Jake close behind. Brooke pummeled it with fire from the rear. It charged through the flames. They caught in its fur and flickered around its body, but it didn’t let the heat or the pain stop it. With all the power of a linebacker on steroids, it charged for Kai.
Kai met its charge headlong. Planting his feet, he raised his sword to meet its horns. The minotaur twisted its head as it closed in. Its lower horn dropped under Kai’s stance, tip charging toward his stomach.
Levi darted in. He spun around and struck at the minotaur’s feet as it ran, striking at its ankle. Blood spurted. The minotaur stumbled, just for an instant.
At the last second, Kai sidestepped. The minotaur jerked its head upward, intending to gore him, but its swing met no resistance. Between Levi’s cut and Kai’s feint, the minotaur stumbled. Its hooves slipped on the blood-slicked grass, and it fell.
“Now!” Levi shouted.
He, Jake, and Kai all charged the prone beast. Levi stabbed at its neck. The thick fur absorbed the weight of his strike. He barely slashed its skin, and its muscles deflected the rest of the attack. Grimacing, he yanked his sword back and stabbed for the eye instead.
Before his blade could reach, a hand swept through the air. It smacked Levi back. He threw himself with the blow, somersaulting across the grass. He bounded back to his feet, arresting the rest of his motion by grabbing the earth.
“Help!” Jake screamed. The beast had him in its fist. It lumbered back to its feet, squeezing Jake the whole time. Jake punched its hand as hard as he could, but the minotaur barely seemed to notice his blows. And why would it? He had no angle, no base from which to punch.
Kai stood cooly back, watching as the minotaur climbed to its feet.
Levi grunted. “Not gonna help, huh?” He charged in.
The minotaur raised Jake to its mouth. It opened its jaws. Hot, fetid saliva dripped down Jake’s neck. Jake flinched away. He lifted his hands, ready to meet the minotaur’s jaws.
“Brooke! The eyes!” Levi shouted.
“On it!” A fireball slammed into the minotaur’s face.
The minotaur staggered. It lowered Jake and batted at its face with its free hand.
Levi leaped into the air, striking upward at the same time. He sliced into the minotaur’s fingers. Blood surged out, and two meaty fingers fell away.
The minotaur roared. It released Jake. The man fell to the ground with a thump, breathing heavily. Levi grabbed his arm and jerked him backward. Even as he did, gold light coiled around him, healing his wounds.
“Recover. When you’re ready, rejoin the fight,” Levi ordered. He released Jake and charged back in.
The minotaur stood. Its eyes glowed red. It swept its gaze across the field, searching for the one who’d burned it. It found Brooke, and its eyes narrowed.
“Nope,” Levi said. He struck at its legs. Like its neck, the thick fur around its thighs blocked a serious blow. Levi twisted his nose. He bounced back and redirected his blow upward, seeking out the minotaur’s human, unarmored chest. A red slash appeared. His blade shuddered off its ribs, barely doing more than a scrape.
The minotaur stomped forward, closing in on Brooke. Kai still stood to the side, watching.
Levi glared at him. “Hey, Hero! You waiting for a personal invitation, or what?”
Kai ignored him.
“Alright, no help from Captain Fuckwit, got it.” Levi charged in again. The minotaur swung its arms carelessly, aiming a backhanded blow at him. He ducked the swing and closed in. Its ribcage stood at head height, its armpit well over his head. Ignoring both of those, he grabbed his sword in both hands and sunk it into the minotaur’s gut.
Blood spurted out. The hot liquid splashed over Levi’s face. He closed his eyes on reflex. The second he did, his heart sunk.
Uh oh.
There was an enraged roar, and then a semitruck caught him in the chest and launched him across the field. Levi tumbled. There was no three-point landing, no somersaults. He fell, rolling like a ragdoll. Earth sprayed around him. Rocks bit into his bones. He slammed into a tree, and for a second, the world went dark.
Get up.
Levi forced his eyes open. A blurry world wobbled before him. He rolled over, and his ribs screamed. Biting back a scream, he got his arm under him. His legs trembled. The slightest twitch sent searing pain through his hips. He couldn’t climb to his feet. He could barely push himself up.
He gritted his teeth. His eyes narrowed.
Get up.
Gold light shone around him. It sunk into his body. A horrific crack sounded from his hips, and a surge of vomit-inducing pain charged up his spine. Levi grunted. He forced himself up. He stumbled to his feet.
Across the field, the minotaur closed in on Brooke. Jake threw himself into its legs. It staggered slightly to the side. Brooke fled, barely dodging its charge.
Levi stabbed the ground. He forced himself up. Yanking his sword out of the ground, he staggered toward the minotaur. His legs clicked when he walked. One leg was definitely longer than the other. Nonetheless, he forced himself to a run. “Hey, fathead! Over here!”
The minotaur ignored him.
Levi scowled. He grabbed a stone off the ground and threw it at the minotaur. “Asshole! Look here!”
The minotaur turned, slowly. Red eyes glared Levi down.
He laughed. His hips clicked again. Pain washed over him. He paled, and he looked down as bile rose in his throat. With effort, he swallowed, and forced a grin. “That’s right. Come here, big boy.”
His legs were the same length, now. His ribs still hurt, and he bled from a thousand nicks and scrapes, but he could stand. Stand, and hold his sword.
Across the way, Kai stalked closer.
Before the minotaur could charge, Levi did. It lifted its hands as he grew close, preparing to slap them down on his head.
Levi grinned. “That’s right, big boy. Biiiiig hug.” He sprinted faster, clutching his sword hard.
Roaring, the minotaur rushed to meet him. Its hooves pounded the soil. Its eyes locked onto Levi. It slammed its arms toward him.
Levi threw himself at the ground. In a baseball slide, he slid under it. He thrust his sword up from dead underneath it, plunging it into soft flesh. Using the force of his slide, he ripped through the fur and flesh alike.
The minotaur let out a roar like never before, a roar that verged onto a scream. Blood poured down. It staggered and dropped to its knees. Those huge hands clutched its undercarriage.
Behind it, Levi jumped to his feet. He laughed and closed in again. “Wear clothes, idiot.”
A flash of silver. Blood flew into the blue sky. The minotaur’s head slipped to the side, sliced off its shoulders.
Level Up!
Class advancements available!
Kai stood on the far side of the minotaur, his sword held high. Slowly, he stood, lowering his blade.
“Mother fucking kill steal!” Levi shouted, legitimately angry for a single second. He pointed at Kai, his hand trembling.
Kai looked at him. He crossed his arms. “Cooperate, or don’t. Weren’t you the one who said that?”
Levi closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. He managed a smile. “Yes, that’s right. Cooperation. Motherfucking kill stealer wants to talk about cooperation? Fucker who sat on the sidelines and did none of the work, then swooped in and took the bulk of the EXP. That piece of shit wants to talk about—”
Cold metal pressed against his neck. Kai stood beside him, his sword leveled. “One more word.”
“Levi!” Colin shouted. Gold light poured into Levi.
Levi’s jaw worked. His body trembled. With visible effort, he swallowed his words. “Right. Yeah. I’m good. We’re all good. We killed it, yay!”
Kai snorted. He lowered his sword. “Never forget who your betters are.”
Levi twisted his nose. He glared at Kai’s back. If looks could kill, his would have. After a second, he ripped his eyes away. “Whatever.”
Colin ran to his side. He looked Levi up and down. “You’re alive?”
“Yeah. Somehow.” Levi paused. He looked at Colin.
“W-what?”
“You know, I’ve been thinking. It strikes me that if I want to survive in this world, I’m going to need to get strong very, very, very fast. The amount of shit I talk without thinking… I’m not going to survive long unless I’ve got hella stats.”
Colin nodded.
Levi nudged him. “You aren’t supposed to agree. You’re supposed to say, ‘no, Levi, you’re a reasonable person who talks a reasonable amount of shit.’”
“He isn’t going to lie to you,” Brooke said, walking by. She knelt next to the minotaur. “Damn. This thing is huge.”
“You only realizing that now?” Levi asked.
She snorted. “I was a mile from combat for most of it. And when I was running, I wasn’t exactly taking the time to measure its limbs.”
“Fair.” Levi opened his status sheet. Let’s not let Kai the asshole ruin my good time. Speaking of. It’s time to Class Up!
Levi | 18 | Lv 10
Class: Soldier (Class Up Available)
Str: 10
Mag: 11
Dex: 11
Spd: 15
Def: 9
Res: 9
He twisted his lips. I did get over one stat per level a few times, but it wasn’t notable enough to really think about. Whatever I choose for my Class Up, I need something with an actual stat focus, not flat +1 in everything every level. All this worthless stat spread is garbage.
He clicked on Class Up Available. A menu appeared before him.
Five Classes Available from Soldier
Two additional Classes Available from Personal Affinities
Soldier II
Captain
Swordsman (Side Class)
Fighter (Side Class)
Beast Master (Side Class)
Black Dagger
Shadow Caster
He sighed. Instantly, he dismissed the first five classes. Soldier was a trash class. He didn’t need the second tier of it. Captain didn’t sound like much of an advancement. As for the other three, they were side-classes. Jake even had one of his options. He didn’t want to waste his progression sidestepping into a second basic level class. Especially not when his trash talking habits would doubtlessly lead him to conflict.
Which left him with the last two. Black Dagger and Shadow Caster. Both sounded promising, since he wanted to class up to something with stealth. Darkness and shadows were both associated with stealth.
Did the System hear my wishes? Is that what it meant by ‘personal affinities?’ He pulled up the description for both classes.
Black Dagger
A first promotion Assassin class. Move with stealth and speed. Close in on your opponents and hit their weak points from the shadows. High growths: SPD, DEX, STR.
Shadow Caster
A first promotion Mage class. Strike from the shadows. Step through darkness. This caster class offers mobility and stealth, as well as ranged strikes. High growths: SPD, DEX, MAG, RES.
Levi pinched his chin, thinking. Both offered stealth. Both had more limited growths, which meant higher growth in that particular stat. When it came down to it, though, the answer was obvious. “I can already do assassin shit with my own two hands, so why would I pick that one? Plus, magic.”
Without hesitating, he chose Shadow Caster.
Class Up!
Minimum Stats granted.
Minimum stats? For free? Levi pulled up his sheet.
Levi | 18 | Lv 10
Class: Shadow Caster
Str: 10
Mag: 15
Dex: 12
Spd: 15
Def: 9
Res: 12
[Basic Swordsmanship]
You have basic skill with the sword.
[Shadow Manipulation]
Freely manipulate your shadow. The shadow must cover the same surface area as your shadow, but can otherwise be freely reshaped. Your shadow has the consistency of weak cloth, and can be used to lift and manipulate objects weakly.
[Shadow Step]
In shadow or darkness, your speed is doubled and visibility is halved.
Levi whistled. Damn. Soldier really has shit for stats. Getting one point in everything is nice, but if I got that many stat-ups for changing to a new class, then I was really getting trashed this whole time. One point per stat was worse than average, clearly. This absolute bullshit. Giving me a shit class… does this world’s god hate me, or something?
Did I do something to insult you, god? Levi paused, then shrugged. Okay, yeah. Probably did.
He lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. His shadow changed shape, taking on the form of a fist lifting a giant middle finger. He grinned. Reaching out, he grabbed at the grass. The shadow wrapped around the grass and pulled at it. A few strands of grass twisted out of the ground.
Not the strongest, but I do only have one level in this class. Once I hit higher levels, I assume it’ll grow stronger. He glanced at his stats. Or if he got more points in Magic, which would also come with more levels. Either way, he needed to level up and get stronger.
“Congratulations!” Captain Tash stepped onto the field, clapping. She smiled. “You’ve all Classed Up, right?”
“Yep,” Levi said.
“Then let me congratulate you a second time, on your graduation.” She gestured, and a steel carriage rolled toward the field. “Climb in. You are no longer constrained to this barracks. From today, you are free to fight on the field of battle.”
“Right. Free,” Levi muttered.
Colin nudged him.
He eyed the carriage. It was a smart move on the country’s side. While they were all still tired from killing the boss, ship them directly to the front lines. Made it almost impossible to break out on their transit there. I wasn’t planning to break out in transit, but I wasn’t afraid to improvise. Seems like they’ve already counter-moved against my not-a-plan.
He shrugged. Didn’t matter, ultimately. He’d figured they’d have a plan for transit, whether it was a teleportation spell or some kind of restraint. After they got to the battlefield, though, that was the time to strike. When the army was too busy fighting its literal war to spend all its brainpower on keeping him and the other ‘heroes’ restrained—that was when he’d break out.
Of course, if he’d been given the chance to break out, he would’ve taken it. He wasn’t picky. But he hadn’t expected it.
Kai narrowed his eyes at the steel carriage. He clicked his tongue.
Levi glanced over at him. He chuckled under his breath. Lone wolf thought he was going to break out in transit, huh? Small brain planning over there.
He clapped. “Let’s hop to it, then. No time like the present.”
“I’m glad you agree. Rations will be served on the carriage. You can sleep on it, as well. When you wake, you’ll be exactly where you need to be.” Captain Tash smiled. She gestured toward the carriage.
“Right now? Can we go grab our things?” Brooke asked nervously.
“No use for your things on the battlefield. After you defeat the Demon King, they’ll be waiting for you,” Captain Tash promised.
“…Waiting for you in the traaaaaash can,” Levi sing-songed.
Colin nudged him again. Brooke shot him a nasty look.
“The friendly and safe trash can of love,” he quickly amended.
Unbothered, Captain Tash clapped. “Shall we?”
Levi shrugged. He walked toward the carriage.
Kai stepped forward, blocking Levi’s way. Saying nothing, he stared Levi in the eye.
“Yo, kill-stealer, you blocking now, too?” Levi asked.
Kai narrowed his eyes. He still said nothing.
“Move, bitch. Get out of my way.”
Silence. Kai stood before him like a rock.
“Some of us have places to be.” Levi twisted around Kai.
A hand snaked out. It jabbed toward his neck. He threw himself forward, somersaulting into the carriage. Inside, he flipped Kai the bird in dramatic fashion. “We aren’t all soft-brains like you.”
The veins on Kai’s forehead bulged. His teeth ground.
“He means, not yet,” Colin murmured softly, pushing by Kai.
Kai’s eyes widened. Understanding flashed through them, then confusion. He glanced at Levi, but immediately looked away, knowing there’d be no clarification coming from his direction.
Brooke stared over her shoulder at the barracks. Reluctantly, she stepped into the carriage. Jake followed her. Captain Tash slammed the door shut and slapped a lock on it from outside. The second the lock shut, a green light encased the carriage. It glittered for a moment, then faded.
“What was that?” Brooke asked, concerned.
“Probably a spell to lock us in.” Levi sat back against the wall and shut his eyes. What he needed right now was to rest. Gather his strength. Once they got to the battlefield, everything would be hectic. He’d have no time at all. He needed to use this scrap of time to its full potential.
“Does that not worry anyone else?” Brooke looked around the carriage, her eyes wide.
Jake gave her a nervous smile. “Sure, but what can I do?”
Colin glanced at Levi. Levi winked and gave him a thumbs-up, then went back to sleeping. Kai stared intently at Levi, something between hatred and fear burning in his eyes.
The carriage rattled down the road. With no modern shock absorbers or wheels, it was a bumpy ride. A cold wind blew through the barred windows. As the sun set, the carriage itself grew cold. There were no cushions or blankets on the bare steel benches. Kai sat up awake all night, staring out the window. Jake and Brooke laid head-to-toes on the floor, trying to sleep. Colin leaned against the wall and shut his eyes, but barely caught any sleep. Levi, meanwhile, slept soundly. He laid against the corner like a ragdoll, dead to the world.
Dawn broke. Brooke resumed her seat on the bench. Groaning, Jake climbed to a sit and rested there, rubbing an aching back. Kai jerked awake, then sat back, playing it off like he’d never been asleep. Ahead, smoke rose to the sky from dozens of separate campfires. They broke through the treeline and came out into a vast, empty plains. Tents rolled over the hills. Closer to them, white tents clustered close to a walled city. On the far side, hundreds of yards away, a second army camped in red tents.
Distant mountains encircled this flat valley. They thrust up, forming a bowl. Behind them, the walled city sat in the foothills, but ahead of them was nothing but flat land.
The white army lined up in the field, defending the city. The red army lined up in answer, facing the city. The carriage rolled merrily along, jolting toward the front of the line. At last, it reached it. With a jolt, it came to a halt.
At last, Levi woke. He yawned and stretched. “That was a good sleep, huh?”
Everyone else in the cabin glared at him. Even Colin sighed tiredly.
A soldier walked to the back. He unlocked the rear door and threw it open. “Everyone out. Line up in front with the other heroes.”
“Other…?” Brooke asked. She climbed out of the carriage and looked around.
Levi followed her out, hopping to the ground. A sparse line marked the very front of the army. In front of the spearmen, in front of the shieldbearers, they stood. One per company, loosely strung across the front. And in the very middle, five slots stood empty.
Levi giggled. “We’re in danger.”
The soldier pointed. “Line up with the others.”
Levi winked at Colin. Doing a quick visual sweep of the field, he took up the spot closest to the left edge. Following his lead, Colin stood beside him. The others finished the line, Kai next to Colin, then Brooke and Jake.
“I was right, but I’m not happy,” Levi informed the man to his left.
The kid looked up sharply. Deep in his empty eyes, a shadow of horror flickered. He gave no indication that he’d heard Levi’s words. Numbly, he faced front again.
“War. War never changes,” Levi rumbled, deep in his throat. He swung his hands, clapping them together when they hit. “Damn. I’m actually kind of nervous. You know, I always avoided this position. This one, right here. The frontlines. You tend to die.”
Colin glanced at Levi, his eyes wide with fear.
“We won’t, but you know. The general ‘you’ tends to.” Levi gave him a reassuring nod.
Colin’s nervous look didn’t change.
Levi glanced over his shoulder. Spears brandished at his back. The full might of the army awaited him from behind. Yep. Not getting away right now. He turned back to face front. The army on the other side bristled with shining steel, all of it pointed at him. Don’t like that view, either.
One battle. Just one battle. As long as we survive this, we’re home free.
The bugles sounded. From the rear, an authoritative voice shouted: “March!”
The army lurched forward. Those glittering spears lowered, pointing at the backs of Levi and everyone else. The other ‘heroes’ started walking.
Levi shook his head. He looked over his shoulder, making eye contact with the soldier directly behind him. “I really hate being right.”
The soldier stared back. Eyes cold. Uncaring.
“Right, right. Marching!” Levi put his hands up. He shook his head. “Not even any armor? We’re totally disposable, aren’t we. Bet they’re already summoning another batch.”
“You have to earn armor,” a voice rasped from his left.
Levi turned. The boy behind him managed a shaky smile. “If you do well, they might give you a piece of armor.” He patted his chest. A shiny breastplate protected his vitals.
“Sounds like a raw deal to me.”
“It’s not so bad, once you get used to it.”
“You’re really convincing me, Mr. Thousand-Yard-Stare.”
A hollow laugh. The boy faced forward once more.
On the far side, horns echoed their bugles. The red army marched to meet them.
Comments
Tom C
Warming to Levi now!
