But the creature did not reach Boran.
Matteo chest-slammed into Boran, his arms wrapping around the Turkish boy’s torso. He allowed the force of his momentum to push both him and Boran out of the creature’s path. There was a burst of wind on Matteo's back as the monster narrowly missed him. He felt a slight tug on the back of his shirt, as though something had tried to gain purchase on his clothing, but had missed.
Both he and Boran crashed to the forest floor. The breath was knocked out of Matteo, but he was quickly on his feet, his adrenaline numbing his pain for the moment. He heard a shot, followed by a growl.
Emiri had managed to get off a single shot and, from the creature’s reaction, she had managed to hit something.
“What the heck?” shouted Boran, getting up on his knees and bringing up his Silversky. “That was no beginner-level creature.”
Matteo shook his head. “That was a Minotaur.”
“A what?” Boran yelled, this time with his eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Even Emiri had turned to look at Matteo with shock-filled eyes.
A loud roar grabbed everyone’s attention, and Matteo found himself hearing sounds and movements all around him. A broken branch to his right. Leaves rustling to his left. Quick, thumping footsteps somewhere ahead of him.
The creature was toying with them, Matteo realized. He saw Boran and Emiri react to each sound, turning their weapons in the direction of every sound. Matteo’s breath came in quick exhales, as though he had just run a marathon.
They were trapped prey, that much Matteo understood. All the creature had to do was wait until exhaustion took the trio over. They couldn’t sit there all day, jumping at shadows and sounds. Or the creature could simply swoop down on them, and then what? Would they be ripped apart? What were the rules on dying in this world?
Besides, the creature was a Minotaur. Even with the three of them against it, they might not have a chance to come out victorious.
Minotaur. Level 3 creature. Found after players exit the beginner area of Midgard. Definitely not something a new player should face. Strength: Tough skin. Weakness: Heat.
“What is a Minotaur doing here?” asked Boran. Matteo could see that the young boy’s bravado was quickly slipping away, panic taking its place. He couldn’t allow that to happen.
The Minotaur bounded out of the forest to Boran’s left. Standing at fifteen feet tall, the creature was pure muscle. Fur covered its lower body, extending all the way to its hooves. This time, the beast had chosen to charge head first. Matteo watched the creature’s bull head, with long curving horns the size of a human forearm, aim toward Boran, its intentions quite clear. Glowing yellow eyes were focused on the Turkish boy, and if he did not step out of the way, there was only one end awaiting him from this encounter.
Boran was quick. He didn’t try to use his rifle this time. Leaping into a front roll, he came up on his knees and used the brief seconds he had gained to turn around, rifle ready to take the shot. The Minotaur was faster. It ran past Boran, missing the chance to plunge its horns into the boy’s body. Immediately, it skidded to a halt, sending leaves and dirt flying into the air. With a loud growl, it leaped at Boran, its hand raised above its shoulder like it was about to swat a fly. The hand came down. Boran reacted quickly again, using his rifle to deflect the blow.
The Minotaur’s hand came into contact with the weapon and Boran was thrown back, crashing against a tree nearly ten feet away. A shot rang out and a dark spot appeared on the Minotaur’s forearm, spraying a quick burst of black ooze into the air.
The Minotaur roared and looked in Emiri’s direction. It raised its hands to cover its face. A split second later, another dark spot appeared in its palm, spraying more black ooze.
Leaping to a tree nearby, the Minotaur climbed up its trunk like a speeding monkey. Bullet rounds struck the tree where the beast had been a mere second ago. While Emiri was good with the weapon, the Minotaur was faster.
Matteo watched the creature reach a considerable height and then leap into the forest, disappearing from view. At least, until its next attack.
Wasting no time, Matteo ran up to Boran. The young boy was getting to his feet, using the tree to balance. Matteo heard running footsteps behind them and Emiri appeared on the other side of Boran, her hands immediately resting on his back and tears glistening in her eyes.
“I’m okay,” said Boran, offering a grin despite panting heavily. “Now that was a challenge.”
Emiri gave him a light punch on the shoulder, to which Boran responded by rubbing the area in mock pain. The brother-sister duo immediately had their weapons ready. Matteo scanned the trees, hoping to catch a glimpse of something.
“I don’t understand,” said Boran. “We are not supposed to meet challenging monsters this early.”
“Have you faced any creature while you were here?” asked Matteo.
“We have,” said Boran, “but just your beginner-friendly beasts like Goblins or Draugr.”
A roar sent both Boran and Emiri aiming their weapons in different directions, as though they might get lucky and spot the monster. Matteo saw a shadow pass quickly between the trees. It seemed that Emiri did, too, since she quickly aimed and fired at the spot where she’d last seen the shadow. A small burst of flame from the muzzle sent the bullet whistling at supersonic speeds until it found the trunk of a tree and the forest was silent again.
Matteo, on the other hand, discovered a flash of inspiration. He stared at the barrel of the rifle for a few seconds before speaking to both Boran and Emiri. “Listen. I know this might sound crazy, but I need both your weapons.”
When he didn’t hear a response, Matteo turned around to see both siblings giving him a worried look. He noticed that they had angled their weapons slightly toward him.
“Listen,” said Matteo, continuing despite the unenthusiastic reaction he had received. He faced the forest, not risking showing his back to the Minotaur. “I need you both to trust me. We don’t have time.”
“What makes you think we want to do that?” asked Boran.
“Because I know how to kill it,” Matteo promised.
There was no response. Matteo wanted to turn around, but he felt the muzzle of the gun pressed against his head.
“Are you kidding me right now?” asked Matteo.
“No,” said Boran. “You are not going to trick us.”
Another roar ripped through the silence of the forest, but the muzzle did not move. Matteo didn’t dare turn around.
“Look,” said Matteo, raising his hands. “Whatever you’re thinking about me, I assure you that it may just not be true.”
“I’m going to use you as bait,” said Boran, the word ‘bait’ coming out as a snarl.
The third roar came from somewhere much closer. Yet Matteo could still feel the circular opening of the muzzle.
“Look out for the monster,” said Boran, speaking to his sister.
Matteo heard footsteps to his right and soon, Emiri appeared in view, her Silversky held out in front of her. She had barely made a visual sweep of the forest in front of her when Matteo heard the snap of a twig above them. A single branch fell to the ground just in front of where he stood.
When the trio looked up, they saw a muscled shape with a bull’s head looking down at them.
The Minotaur leaped. Boran was the first to aim and get a shot off, but the bullet that struck the creature’s chest did nothing to break the law of gravity. The Minotaur continued its descent. Matteo jumped out of the way, now that Boran’s weapon was no longer pointed at his head.
With a crash, the Minotaur landed where Matteo had been standing not a split second earlier. The creature spread its arms wide and roared, a challenge to anyone to dare try and attack it. Boran heeded its call. Before Matteo could shout a warning, the boy had trained his weapon on the Minotaur’s head and fired a single shot. The result was not as expected. Instead of opening a wound, the bullet simply bounced off the creature’s face.
Bor
an looked stunned, but he quickly reoriented himself. Before the second shot could go off, the Minotaur knocked the gun out of the young boy’s hands, a look of pure fury on its face. Emiri aimed, her eyes briefly flicking to her brother in concern before focusing on the beast again. She let off a shot, aiming for the Minotaur’s forearm. The bullet found its mark, but this time the creature did not wait to issue a challenge. The Minotaur moved toward Emiri, its head bent low and its horns acting like double spears. Despite Emiri’s quick reaction to jump out of the way, the Minotaur was faster.
Boran’s ‘no’ reverberated through the forest, his cry a weak attempt at a warning. The horns found their target, embedding themselves in Emiri’s abdomen. The Minotaur stood upright, and lifted the young woman, her gun falling to the ground near its feet as it sent her flying through the air. Emiri bounced off a tree trunk, taking the force of the impact on her back instead of her face, and crashed to the ground dozens of paces away.
Her brother’s cry of anguish was a mixture of pain and rage. Boran began firing his weapon, tears clouding his eyes and his aim. A few bullets found their mark, hitting the Minotaur’s legs and torso.
Matteo knew that the brother’s fate might just mimic his sister’s. Already running toward the creature, he yelled out a “hey!” as loud as he could. He guessed that when a victim was far away, the Minotaur liked to charge. Which meant that staying close to it would likely encourage a different result. Matteo hoped that he was right.
When the Minotaur turned to face him, Matteo was already a few feet closer to it. The creature raised its hand, attempting to swat him out of the way like it had done to Emiri.
Matteo almost bent to a crouch, feeling the hand brush against the ends of his hair as it missed its mark. He grabbed the weapon, held it in his hands like a javelin, and waited. When the creature turned in his direction, he rammed the muzzle of the weapon into the Minotaur’s chest wound and pulled the trigger.
A spray of black ooze burst out, some of it plastering on Matteo’s face. The Minotaur clutched its chest, a roar of pain escaping its mouth. Seizing the moment, Matteo shoved the muzzle of the rifle into the creature’s mouth and pulled the trigger again. The gun was yanked out of his hands as the creature’s head snapped back. Even though Matteo had let go of the weapon, he wasn’t quick enough to avoid the pull. He fell forward on his knees and hands, immediately looking up at the muscular creature in front of him.
The Minotaur simply stood there, the gun still hanging out of its mouth like a long cigar. Matteo thought for a moment that the creature was bulletproof inside as well as outside its head—until it tipped forward like a falling tree. Matteo moved out of the way, allowing the beast to topple face-first beside him, one of its horns less than an inch from his cheek.
Matteo began breathing heavily, realizing that he had come close to losing his life. He wondered if that would be a trend that would continue as long as he lived in this world.
Running footsteps tore his attention from the creature. Once he was on his feet, the characters ‘0XP’ hovered in the air in front of him, as though his very eyes were projecting them. They glowed in a leaf-green color. The number began counting up, going from 0XP to 20XP faster than Matteo’s mind could follow. When the characters reached 50XP, a neon-blue ‘LEVEL 1’ flashed for a couple of seconds above them. When they reached 150XP, a LEVEL 2 flashed briefly.
The numbers finally stopped at 200XP, hovering for a few seconds before disappearing from Matteo’s vision. He closed his eyes and shook his head, feeling disoriented from the experience.
When he felt balance return to his senses, Matteo began walking toward the siblings. Emiri was on her feet, arms draped over Boran’s shoulders. The young woman seemed to have experienced a miracle of sorts. Or perhaps that was the rule of this world. Matteo understood that if flashing images of Experience Points was possible, then perhaps Emiri might just have a certain amount of health left before death came knocking at her door.
“How did you do that?” asked Boran, his eyes wide with wonder—and was that a hint of fear?
“You mean, kill the Minotaur?” asked Matteo, trying to be certain. When Boran nodded, Matteo took a deep breath before answering. “Minotaurs are weak to heat. I noticed that your weapons had quite a bit of muzzle flash, which is a good source of heat. All I did was make sure that the heat entered the creature’s body. That’s why I had to push the muzzle into an open wound.”
“Wow,” said Boran, looking clearly impressed. “You came up with that while fighting that thing?”
Matteo hoped that he didn’t sound too vain about his victory. “Well, I did know about the creature’s weakness. But the rest of it, yes.”
A new message flashed into Matteo’s vision.
MONSTER KILLED: MINOTAUR
REWARD EARNED: MINOTAUR HORN
When his vision cleared, he found the siblings looking at him with curiosity.
“I have been having this vision,” said Matteo. “Messages.”
“Like you’re playing the video game?” asked Boran, seeming eager to launch into an explanation.
Matteo nodded.
“I don’t know how that works,” Boran confessed. “All I know is that this world is real. I am still not sure how they have added the rules of a video game, going so far as to make us see stats and progression.”
Matteo heard a sound behind him. Turning around, he saw the Minotaur disintegrate into black ash, the dust disappearing into the air. When nothing was left of the creature, a crystal horn the size of a forearm lay on the ground. Its glassy texture revealed a swirling mass within it, like liquid that had a life of its own. Ribbons of aquamarine and jade danced beneath the outer surface, writhing like a nest of snakes.
When Matteo walked toward the crystal horn, he heard Boran call out to him.
“Not so fast, my friend.”
Some part of Matteo’s brain told him what to expect, but he did not want to believe it. Yet, upon facing Boran, he realized his denial was mere hubris.
The Silversky in Boran’s free hand was pointed at Matteo. “I’m sorry,” said Boran, pursing his lips and looking more excited than apologetic, “but that belongs to me now.”
Level 3
Six months ago, Matteo had wrestled with a Goblin.
In the game world, the forest surrounding the beginner town of Valhalla, like an enormous green moat, was always teeming with new players, all trying to get used to the rules of Axis Mundi. Matteo had made many friends. At least, as far as friendships went in an online world, where most relationships ceased to exist after players disconnected.
Matteo, along with his party members, would often hunt the little green creatures with pointy ears, since they were one of the few creatures that would roam the forests. They were not difficult to find or kill. Their presence was to allow new players to familiarize themselves with the various controls and features of the game.
In the real version, Matteo had just fought a Minotaur. A creature of that strength was found after someone exited Midgard.
Then there were the people he traveled with.
Matteo had companions he could rely on to help him wipe out an entire horde of Draugr. Or look for hidden chests of treasures that promised rare items, but mostly only threw out cosmetic accessories. Or even just gain experience to increase power.
Matteo could never have imagined that, upon returning to the forest he associated with teamwork and safe space, he would be met with hostility.
That he would be a prisoner.
The siblings had returned to their earlier positions, one person in front of Matteo while the other followed him behind. This time, Emiri took the lead, since her reaction time wasn’t what it was before. She walked almost a dozen paces in front of Matteo, ensuring that even if he moved quickly, he wouldn’t be able to grab her. Not that he ever would. Emiri had retrieved her weapon, which had been lying close to the Minotaur Horn. She had her gun clutched in both hands.
Boran walked b
ehind Matteo. The brother had ordered him to only look forward and clasp his hands behind his back. That way, not only could Matteo not move his hands without alerting Boran, but he also didn’t know what the brother was up to or how far behind he was walking. Sometimes, Boran’s footsteps sounded closer, while at other times, it was as though he had fallen behind. Matteo imagined that the brother was doing this intentionally, to keep him from planning anything.
The trio walked in silence for a better part of an hour. At least, it seemed like an hour to Matteo. For all he knew, they could break out of the tree line and glimpse the town of Valhalla waiting for them.
“I thought we were teammates,” said Matteo, hoping to find out more about his fate.
“We will find that out soon, won’t we?” retorted Boran.
“What would you say if I did indeed join the Shockers?” asked Matteo, using the nickname attached to anyone part of Zeus class.
There was no answer. Matteo focused his attention on the forest around him. He noticed Emiri darting glances around her, as if she expected a giant muscular creature with the head of a bull to leap out of a nearby thicket.
“How long have you been mute?” asked Matteo.
Emiri stopped dead in her tracks and turned around, fixing him with a surprised look.
“It’s not difficult to guess. You didn’t even so much as utter a shout when your brother was—”
Matteo heard the quick steps behind him getting louder, but he could not predict the blow that fell to the back of his head. His vision exploded into multicolored stars. He knew he was falling forward, but his brain was focusing on many things—the pain, loss of balance, the sudden physical shock spreading throughout his head.
Matteo found himself on his knees, his palm pressed against the base of his skull. He saw Boran’s feet enter his vision on his left.
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