Her nosebleed!

Walking in a straight path, a young man in his mid-teens cautiously sensed his surrounding as his feet made nonexistent noise even upon landing on twigs and leaves in the process.

The way Austin cleared the first four floors was nothing but astonishing for Luna as what measures she set for the initial stages was nothing but impossible for even Hero's party to clear even though they would have been supported by the court magician along with the Royal Order.

On the second floor, the density of monsters increased with the level of them slowly turning folds and rapidly inflicting more and more lethal blows.

Luna has lost count of how many times she almost threw her concealment and was about to jump on the battlefield only to get surprised by Austin's next attack, which left her speechless every time.

Austin's spells weren't otherworldly, but the way he uses them and how he utilizes his surroundings according to his convenience was frightening to the point where Luna checked her memory, whether she left any part of Austin's past where he was trained like this professionally.

Even though it took him almost two days, he successfully cleared the first four floors without receiving any fatal wounds which needed Luna's assistance.

Since he did have a hell amount of healing potion, he decided to rely on himself until he didn't become entirely helpless.

Luna also followed her beloved's wish and didn't interfere at all other than whispering something lovingly in between the floors and whenever Austin halted for a break.

He was continuously adding the stats point along the journey as he got used to his new enhanced powers thanks to the many enemies he was gifted with.

It seemed Luna didn't only enhance the lair but also used her Space and Time Magic to populate the shelter by many folds; as Austin sensed when he compared this amount to the other caves he went or heard, this lair was oddly dense.

But he wasn't complaining, more like he was enjoying this trip because it was the first time he could let go of his restraint and fight like he always wanted to.

For the first time, he wasn't holding his strength, nor was he stressed about the Villain's point at all.

He was being himself.

And he loved this side of his.

**BANG** 

Crushing the head of a minotaur like a watermelon, Austin landed on the ground with his body covered with green-colored fluid which came from the popped veins of the monster.

"Guess I should have packed extra clothing."

Wiping his face and some portion of his abdomen, which was barely exposed by now, he muttered under his breath. Besides his pants, everything from his upper body has been removed by him or scratched by monsters.

Since he never planned to stay days inside the lair, nor did he have a habit of packing such necessities other than meat jerks inside his inventory, he never had an option to wear something different than he already was.

"Sorry, Austin, but I also didn't bring anything with me."

Lied plainly was the beautiful silver-haired bishoujo behind Austin who, despite having tons of clothing in her spatial storage, said such lies not once but twice now.

The reason why Luna lied despite having enough long shawls and shrouders for Austin to wear was that she loved what she saw.

Looking at Austin's bare body, she had lost count of how many times she used tissue paper to wipe her nose. She was ashamed of herself but not enough to let the treat of her eyes get stolen away by a damn piece of clothing.

"It's okay, Luna. I should have prepared myself more."

Scratching the back of his head with a dry smile, Austin assured Luna, only to make later one bring out more of her tissues just because of the casual gesture he displayed.

Suddenly the moving hand of, Luna, as well as the smile of Austin, broke into constant as they sensed a massive presence approaching.

"Hide somewhere, Luna. This time it might go wild."

Without a word, Luna nodded before she concealed herself completely and backed away. Levitating freely in the air, she kept her distance from Austin only to the point where all her senses could keep the focus on him.

Sensing the disappearance of mana from his back, Austin prepared himself.

Stretching his body a little, he took the stance and enhanced his senses to the fullest, to his front from where the heaviest amount of mana was enraging.

It didn't take long before the figure of a heavy monster of more than 2.5 meters in size appeared. The body of the incoming monster was severe enough that it's every tap on the ground sent tremors to the surrounding.

Upon seeing the steady human in front, the monster, which had enough brain to ponder what might be dangerous for its life, halted in its rush as its body finally came out of the shadows.

**HUUUFFFF**

(A/N:- I will regard the minotaur as 'it,' so don't get confused)

Dark brown thick skin covered with countless scars and heavy marks spread over the body along with bushy body hair on its tree branch-like arms and around its crater plate chest. The hulking bull face was exhaling heavy gusts of wind, blowing the leaves of trees nearby. Apart from the ring stuck around its prominent nose, the monster had no metal as a weapon with it.

The minotaur boss affirmed the mana presence from Austin, but since the monster was aware of what the single human had done back in the forest, it didn't rush to attack front on, instead, it decided first to analyze its opponent's might.

**CREAKKK** 

The giant being landed its humongous palm on the trunk of a nearby tree before tearing it apart from the soil in one pull.

The tree was gushed out of the ground like it was made up of foam, before the minotaur, without aiming correctly, threw the whole thing toward Austin without waiting for even an instance.

Austin was well aware of what was happening and what presence of mind his opponent had, so with a smirk, he made his footing more rigid at his place before he activated one of his prominent spells.

'[Silent Steps]'

As the name implies, the skill suggests Austin walks on a path that remains in the blind spot of his opponent. This technique was related to his mind as no physical route was displayed; instead, only a quick map draws inside his mind upon how he could approach his enemy.

The only drawback of this technique was the high number of opponents, the more incredible difficulty it would be for him to pursue.

But when his opponent was a single inhumane, he didn't have to think twice before using the skill as he disappeared from his place instantly.

The minotaur became anxious as it saw the tree passing from the spot where it caught the human standing a second before. Since the speed with which the tree was thrown was nothing to scoff about, the spectacle became even more impossible to believe.

Suddenly the minotaur felt something ominous, but before it could even have moved a single inch, a slight burning sensation spread around the back of its head when it realized that the human had got on its back without even leaving a trail behind.

Austin became breathless when he felt the boss's skin's thickness when he tried to stab his dagger around the medulla (the weak point of Minotaur). He didn't think that a simple stab would kill the monster but still not being able even to inflict decent damage was quite unsettling for Austin.

'Am dead.'

In less than a blink, two sturdy hands tightly wrapped around Austin's torso before he was pulled from the back of the Minotaur to the ground in an instant, along with severe pain in the back of his head.

**UOOOOOOHHHH** 

The bull roared angrily as it finally got its prey in its unbreakable clutch as it stared at Austin, who was lying on the ground, still captive between the palms of the monster.

"Well, screw it!"

Before the monster could have halted its siren of victory, Austin activated his spell without waiting for another second as he knew that any more than this, a certain someone would jump on the scene.

'Breathe of Flame.'

A ring of fire erupted from inside Austin's mouth as he directed a heavy pool of flames toward the Minotaur's face.

**UOOGHHH** 

The monster instantly got up from its leaning position, naturally letting go of its grip on Austin, which the latter didn't miss to attain.

Extinguishing the flames with its hand, the minitour controlled its body before it started looking for its enemy with rage clouding its consciousness, triggering its primal instincts.

Suddenly the creature felt its hind limbs restrained by the movement of the land underneath. In fret of anger, the minotaur, instead of running, started stomping on the ground in counter to the bounds which were clinging up to the thick legs of the monster.

Clouds of dust started emerging from the place where the mad monster was stomping on nothing but the ground. 

Austin waited for such a moment as his communication with the spirits finally stabilized.

'XXXX-XXX-XXXXX'

He commanded the wind spirit to act immediately before the minotaur stops. The lazy souls nodded and went to work as per their contractor's request.

Suddenly the dust clouds around the monster disappeared at an instance as a heavy amount of wind penetrated the surrounding, erasing all the trees and greenery from the specific spot around the minotaur.

The gust was so heavy that the monster, despite being over 1200lbs, couldn't move from its place at all. And since the wind was practically equal from each cardinal direction, the movement of the inhumane was entirely restrained.

**GUUUUOOOOOOHHHHHH** 

Its roar never halted as it felt its body become prohibited from even inching from its position, but the thing was, nothing of its roar came out of the invisible cage that the wind spirit had created around the monster.

And the primary factor was that the cage was solely made of a single gas...

Oxygen.

Cracking his finger, Austin looked at the scene from above as he called out for an item from his inventory for the first time after he started to get the artifacts.

"Let's see what this can do."

A black lantern of much less than half a meter emerged from nothingness as Austin held it in front of his eyes to evaluate it.

The lantern was ignited and burning lazily in the center of the container without any sign of being a weapon.

"I guess it won't burn me."

Taking his index finger inside, Austin felt his finger getting a little hot but not to the point where it could burn his skin. 

Austin took out his finger not so long after, only to get amazed.

A slight burning flame was wrapped on his finger without moving a bit. Even though the wind was harsher this high up, the flame was keeping its texture completely unbothered by its surrounding.

Keeping the lantern back into the inventory, Austin stared at the flame for a second before he directed his eyes toward the still roaring and struggling minotaur.

'Now, let's see what these artifacts are capable of.'

Pointing his finger toward the ground with the thought of letting go of the tiny flame, Austin found the little amber dancing in the air and dropping at a serene pace toward the ground.

Only after 10 seconds did the little amber enter the cage that the air spirits had created before the surrounding seemed to went dead silent.

...

**BOOOMMMMMMMMM** 

A heavy blast that neither Austin nor Luna ever even imagined seeing erupted from the place where the amber landed and created a meteor-sized explosion.

Luna instantly teleported beside Austin before shielding both of themselves with her highest ranking Spell in a blink.

Both humans were covered with a light blue ball of invisible mana as the scene beneath the ball changed drastically for more than a minute.

Austin, along with Luna, saw the scene with their eyes wide in shock as the scenery converted from green covering into nothingness.

At a distance of more than 5 kilometers, the whole forest was blasted away instantly, with the woods outside of the proximity still covered in flames.

The whole thing only happened in mere 3 minutes, but still, the damage inflicted on the entire vicinity was far superior to any of Austin's spells.

However, Austin forgot about one thing...

Looking at the flaming scene and feeling the chills on his back, Austin was able to muster only a single word...

"Uh-oh..."

____________________ 

A/N:- I thought of adding another POV of the outside world, but NVM. The next some chapters will be focused on the fights and the consequences, so look forward to it.