Monsters didn’t have Unique Racial abilities under normal circumstances. Racial abilities were something only highly intelligent lifeforms could attain.
Even then, the chances of having one were extremely low. Humans, for example, weren’t born with Unique Racial abilities. On the other hand, all Lionhearts were born with the innate ability to manifest and control flames.
But the Blood-eyed Minotaur was different. Even if the Blood-eyed Minotaur was on the same level as intelligent races, it shouldn’t have been born with a Unique Racial ability!
That was why Michael and the others never thought that the Minotaur might have manifested a Unique Racial ability. At most, they had considered the possibility of the Minotaur going Berserk and thought of a few strategies but that was already it.
Berserk was a rare ability a Minotaur could use as long as it met certain requirements. However, Berserk was not an ability that initiated a transformation. It wouldn’t change the color of the Minotaur’s hide to a deadly crimson, or make the Minotuar’s body exude black smoke.
The Unique Racial ability utilized by the Blood-eyed Minotaur was something different, it was something far more dangerous – something Michael and the others never expected to encounter while fighting the Minotaur.
Burning Life- a Unique Racial Ability that provides a tremendous amount of power if utilized properly.
It turned the injuries all over a berserker’s body into power by depriving the user of his ability to sense pain. The more injured the user was, the more lethal the granted power, and the stronger the pain immunity.
At the same time, Burning Life turned overwhelmingly negative emotions such as pure hatred and wrath into power by combining the user’s life force with the overflowing emotions before they would be converted into energy. The energy would be used to transform the user’s body into an existence of immense power.
The Blood-eyed Minotaur exuded black smoke from all over its body as it looked menacingly at Michael. It expelled the tincture that had spread through its body and nullified its effect easily.
However, that was not something Michael could pay any attention to right now. The disfigured corpse of a Cavalry Rider was lying right next to the Blood-Eyed Minotaur. Blood was splattered everywhere, and the mashed head of the young Cavalry Rider fell to the ground with a thud.
The Blood-eyed Minotaur’s menacing smile widened. It sneered and slashed the battle-axe at the dying Battlehorse, thrashing it viciously as more blood splattered through the surrounding area. However, neither Michael nor the Blood-eyed Minotaur paid any attention to that.
Michael dashed ahead with full speed and uncontrollable anger gleaming in his eyes.
Yet, before he could even cross a distance of more than five meters, the Blood-eyed Minotaur had already reacted. It tilted its battle-axe to squeeze it through the gap between the ground and the Battlehorse’s corpse, lift it up, and used some strength to throw the brutally thrashed horse at Michael.
One moment, Michael was able to see the Blood-eyed Minotaur clearly, the next moment a severed horse shot toward him like a cannonball.
Michael had to move quickly. He dispersed Seron Voulge and dived to the side, and rolled on the ground to jump up again.
His head flicked to the Blood-eyed Minotaur’s previous position and Seron Voulge manifested in his hands once again. However, the Blood-eyed Minotaur was gone.
Screams of terror and groans of pain to his right informed him about the Minotaur’s new position. A group of Warriors and Vanguards were fighting valiantly against the Minotaur. But before they knew it, their bodies were sliced apart and their intestines ripped out of their mangled bodies.
They collapsed to the ground and died miserably in the next following seconds. But the Minotaur didn’t pay any more attention to them.
It was faced with the Heavy Armored Elephant, which charged at the Minotaur at full speed. The Minotaur was too late to twist the heavy battle-axe and behead the Heavy Armored Elephant. However, it could still react in time to not get brutally injured.
The Minotaur released its battle-axe and grasped the Heavy Armored Elephant’s tusks, accepting the charge head-on.
The 13-ton-heavy Elephant slammed its body hard upon its opponent, pushing the Blood-eyed Minotaur a few steps backward. But the Heavy Armored Elephant couldn’t overpower the Minotaur anymore. Instead, the Heavy Armored Elephant’s charge was forcefully slowed down.
Tiny, spider web-like cracks spread across the Heavy Armored Elephant’s sturdy tusks as the Blood-eyed Minotaur utilized more of the strength that coursed through its bulging muscles to halt the charge of the Heavy Armored Elephant forcefully.
The power surging through the Blood-eyed Minotaur after it used Burning Life was terrifying. It was high enough to show everyone in Michael’s army how powerful a Tier-2 Monster could be.
The Minotaur threw the Heavy Armored Elephant aside and was about to use its battle-axe to slice the Elephant apart when it realized that its weapon had disappeared. It faintly recalled having let go of it, but the battle-axe was nowhere to be seen.
And now it saw a woman covered in whitish-silver fur standing where the battle-axe should have been lying. A long striped tail swished behind the woman as she spun a silver spear around her body. She moved with grace, and it seemed like she was not serious at all. But the wild pressure she radiated, and the energy surging through her body indicated the opposite.
Tiara was one of the first to realize the transformation of the Blood-eyed Minotaur, but she couldn’t do anything to stop it from occurring. They didn’t expect the Minotaur to be able to use Burning Life.
It was nobody’s fault.
Unfortunately, that didn’t mean the corpses would regain their vigor and stand up again.
The soldiers, whom she had trained for weeks, had been killed with a single attack. She couldn’t even react in time to block the Minotaur’s battle axe as it arced through the air, cutting armor, flesh, and bones like a hot knife slicing through butter.
Even if she had been able to react in time, she wouldn’t have been able to block the attack. Instead, Tiara would have turned into another corpse.
It was their great fortune that the Heavy Armored Elephant charged at the Minotaur fearlessly and that the Minotaur let go of the battle-axe at the same time. This allowed Tiara to act swiftly, pick up the battle-axe and store it inside her War Rune’s storage space. Then, she initiated Plan G and activated her Soultraits.
Her physique and presence changed the moment she activated her Soultriats. Bloodlust glinted brightly in her eyes, and her wild instincts surfaced. Slowly, she lost control of her reasoning and rationality. The only thought left in her mind was her uncontrollable desire to tear apart the Minotaur.
Everyone was struck with fear when the Minotaur killed several warriors and two Vanguards with a single slash. However, now that Tiara made her move, the warriors regained some of their wavering confidence.
They began to move as well and surrounded the Blood-eyed Minotaur.
Even if it was terrifyingly powerful, Burning Life should have increased its Agility and Strength in exchange for terrifyingly high consumption of energy, Stamina, and a decrease in its defense.
The Minotaur’s body was searing hot and so was the black smoke the monster exuded, but it still had several injuries all over its body. No matter how resistant one was to pain, if the body was on the brink of destruction due to too many lethal injuries, one would collapse.
The Minotaur was still a living being, and not a machine, after all!
Michael was also on the move, and so was everyone else. The Archers and Crossbowmen released their projectiles in an attempt to worsen the Minotuar’s injuries, but the searing hot black smoke repelled most projectiles.
Meanwhile, the Earth Mage and the Water Elemental Mages began to move as well. They began chanting the incarnation for their higher-ranked Spells.
The Berserker and Knights stepped forward as well. They stood by Tiara’s side and waited patiently next to their Commander to charge forward into the battle once the command rang out.
Fear glimmered in their eyes, and they could barely control their trembling bodies, but they were ready.
Tiara bent down to the ground, the finger bones of one of her hands cracking as claws grew out of the tips of her fingers. They dug deep into the ground in front of her as she looked up at her opponent.
Tiara lowered her body closer to the ground, imitating the stance of a ferocious tiger, while pressing the silver spear against her side.
The Minotaur reciprocated her movements. It lowered its head, its hooves pawing across the wet soil.
Then the two ferocious opponents charged at each other.