"Get the f*ck down!!"
The moment the blood-red blade intent had been created by the Minotaur's life force, Nial knew that something bad was going to happen.
The back of the Prometheus Originals was turned towards Nial, Sam Anderson, and each of the other Originals.
Many had regained their consciousness, and even more were attempting to get up from the ground.
Nobody wanted to get killed while lying on the ground. The Originals didn't want to die yet, certainly not in a way that involved getting stomped under the feet of the Minotaur and its pressure.
They wanted to decide on their future, and how their life was to progress.
However, just when some of them had gotten up from the ground, Nial's warning echoed through the surrounding area and reached everyone.
Everyone heard him, but only some followed his order immediately.
Nial had spoken with an authority known to be made use of by the highest authorities of the military and the powerful leaders of the various organizations who participated in the conquest of Juna.
That was why some Originals acted on Nial's order without another thought.
Meanwhile, others looked around first, just to see that the Mutant Minotaur was about to execute an attack in the direction of the five Prometheus Originals…in their direction!
Thus, most of the other Originals immediately jumped to the ground. They didn't even think of blocking the attack that was bound to reach them because everyone was able to perceive that the blood-red blade intent was not something they could survive.
Even the Prometheus Originals' presence seemed insignificant in the face of the blood-red blade intent.
And the moment the Mutant Minotaur executed its final blow, their fear turned into reality.
The three Heaven's Gates members, who had been the closest to the Mutant Minotaur, were the first ones to be killed.
Their body was cut apart the moment the Mutant Minotaur released the blade intent in a horizontal blow.
In an instant, the three-meter-long blade intent had enlarged. It turned into a lethal attack that was not only ridiculously fast and passed through the surrounding area in an instant but it also killed everyone, who had ignored Nial's warning.
And the worst was the fact that the horizontal blade beam was more than twenty meters in width!
More than three hundred Originals were killed in an instant, while more than two thousand Originals, who had been cowering on the ground, lost their consciousness once again.
They collapsed the moment the pressure of the blood-red blade beam brushed past them. It knocked them out, and many were even injured by the pressure that had weighed on them but they survived.
Surviving was the most important, and the three Prometheus Originals of the Heaven's Gates hadn't been capable of achieving this!
Their bodies were nearly cut, their guts spilled out of their abdomen, blood dyed the ground red, and their eyes turned lifeless. Regret could clearly be seen in their facial expressions as their bodies involuntarily stiffened.
Despite being considered the strongest existences mankind had, the three Prometheus Originals had died, just like that.
From a total of six Prometheus Originals, their current number was reduced to two as four had died while facing the Mutant Minotaur.
This was devastating for mankind's growth, but there was still hope. After all, only four Prometheus Originals had died, not all of them.
Even the Mutant Minotaur had succumbed to its inevitable fate.
Meanwhile, there was no sight of the Sacred Knights leader and his subordinate.
Nial was one of the first, who was able to get up from the ground.
Everyone was cowering on the ground, their hands covering their heads, thinking that there might be another attack. However, Nial could clearly sense that all the threats had been eliminated.
In a surrounding radius of more than 1.5 kilometers, there was not a single beast that could threaten them.
'Looks like even he was afraid to die. He released the limiter on his strength for a moment, and transported himself and his subordinate away.' Nial thought after clearly understanding what his [Mana Sense] had perceived the moment the blood-red blade intent had been released by the Mutant Minotaur.
The Sacred Knights leader knew that he would have died while facing the attack head-on. He didn't have much mana left, which was why he could only survive by removing his limiter temporarily.
However, even if it was not a problem to save himself in this way, it was still surprising that the Sacred Knights leader had rescued his subordinate as well.
He was bound to be questioned why he didn't rescue the Heaven's Gates members if he could grasp his own subordinate.
The Sacred Knights leader was likely to be asked about how he survived, and why he didn't destroy the blade beam instead of fleeing with his subordinate.
At least that was what Nial presumed the others would ask the Sacred Knights leader.
'Well, it is not like he cannot explain that easily. Running away is much easier than facing such a bloody attack head-on. Nobody will expect him to have the power to block the attack, after witnessing the entire fight.'
After giving it some thought, Nial changed his point of view about the situation.
His entire body ached heavily because of the pressure of the blood-red blade beam. It had been a powerful attack that had been even stronger than the Sacred Knights leader's Tarnished Holy Spear.
And that is when Nial realized that he had to get up from the ground.
It was pointless to keep cowering on the ground and to expect another of these terrifying attacks to reach them.
'Even if we don't have six Prometheus Originals left anymore, it should still be feasible to kill Prometheus beasts if we were to encounter another one.
The Minotaur was far stronger than any of the Prometheus beasts I've seen in the Darkness God's memories.'
Nial might not have seen many memories of Prometheus ranked beasts, but there had been one or two that he remembered.
That was why he knew that there wouldn't be a problem for the Sacred Knights leader and his subordinate to kill an ordinary Prometheus ranked beast.
'Well, it is not like we should face more of them for now. The Minotaur should have had its territory in and around Juna, so we'll be fine.'
Nial's heart began to race when he recalled the terrifying strength of the Minotaur. However, they had survived so he had to calm down.
The Sacred Knights Leader had returned out of nowhere once again. Many Originals looked at him in confusion, wondering where he had disappeared to.
However, only he and his subordinate knew the truth.
Even Nial could only recall that a portal had opened in front of the Sacred Knights leader and that it had disappeared a quarter of a second later.
It had been a fraction of a second before the blood-red blade beam had cut through the three members of the Heaven's Gates organization, and the portal had transported the Sacred Knights leader somewhere else.
He had shortly returned, which was a good sign for the other Originals. They felt reassured that, at least, two powerful Originals were still willing to fight.
It was even better than the Sacred Knights leader, the strongest of the six Prometheus Originals, had survived.
His face was pale and it looked almost as if he would collapse at any moment but he was still alive.
However, his exhaustion was not enough to break his will and force his body to shut down.
The Sacred Knights leader walked over to the body of the Mutant Minotaur. His eyes were ice-cold as he looked at the monster, whose corpse lay on the ground just like any dead body would.
"Well, then let's see, who the hell created an anomaly like you." He merely mumbled before lashing out with his longsword.
The longsword penetrated the Minotaur's chest and the Sacred Knights leader worked for several minutes on the beast's chest, cutting through its hide and flesh.
But once he was done, he was holding the beast's mana core, where he could take a good look at the engravings on the Mana core.
'Huh?'
Instead of having multiple abilities, there was only a single engraving on the beast's mana core. This was quite confusing, even more so considering that the engraved symbol was something the Sacred Knights leader had never seen before.
'Why is the Mutant Minotaur's head engraved on the mana core?'
While the Sacred Knights leader was confused, Nial was also able to perceive the engraving on the mana core.
He was not bothered about the missing abilities that were supposed to be engraved on the mana core.
Rather, his attention was on the Minotaur head symbol, causing an expression of interest to appear on his face.
'It is entirely different to the Ankh, but oddly enough I can perceive quite a few points in which they resemble each other.'
Nial was interested in the Minotaur's mana core, and he would love to inspect it up close. Unfortunately, the Sacred Knights leader stored the mana core in his spatial ring before Nial could do anything.
This was truly sad, and quite a disadvantage for Nial.
However, there was nothing he could do about it.
'Either way, I now know that I'm not the only one with symbols engraved on my mana core, or the Odyssey seed, to be precise.' He could only think while trying to appease himself.
While Nial was trying to ease his mind, the Sacred Knights leader had turned in Kirlia's direction.
Her eyes were fully focused on the corpses of her organization's Elite of the Elite.
Never would she have imagined that they could die, neither in the future nor today.
In her eyes, they had always been the strongest existences all over Jundra. With their help, several transportation circles and isolated buildings had been constructed in the wilderness.
It had allowed them to make traveling through the wilderness easier.
To Kirlia, the three Prometheus Originals that had joined the conquest of Juna were her idols.
Yet, those idols were now dead, and only two out of six of the strongest Originals had survived.
The result of the first fight to reclaim Juna had been terrifying, and Kirlia felt as if even more trouble awaited them.
However, when the Leader of the Sacred Knights spoke to her, she snapped out of her daze as her head turned to the young-looking man.
"You belong to their organization, don't you?" He first asked, pointing at the three corpses before he continued to speak.
"Take their corpses and spatial rings. Do whatever you want with them. If your superiors have questions don't even think about coming to me.
You saw the fight as well. Answer their questions once we return from the conquest, and don't dare to bother me!" His eyes were ice-cold and the Sacred Knights leader's exhaustion was wiped away for the few seconds in which he stared at Kirlia.
He made it clear that he didn't want to be bothered by anyone, and that he wouldn't answer any questions. Everyone who was conscious had witnessed the fight, so they might as well answer possible questions.
"Now, I need some rest. You guys can clear Juna or do whatever you want. There is no more Prometheus beast to harass you, let alone something like that fucking Minotaur." He stated before bending down to pick up the Minotaur's body, which he stored in his spatial ring, not minding the others.
Just when the Sacred Knights leader finished speaking, Sam Anderson's head subconsciously turned toward Nial.
'He also said the word 'Prometheus' before…Does he really know more about the next rank? Should I…? No, or maybe?'
**
If you want to support me use your golden tickets and powerstones.
You can also visit my pa treon: Pa treon.com/HideousGrain
More character images and nice chats about the HideVerse:
https://discord.gg/EdsDgFVWwZ
Link also in my description.
Do you like it? Leave a review and add it to the library!