Chapter 21 - Are Minotaurs strong? (Patreon)

When Kael and Bella reached the Dungeon’s 15th Floor, Kael immediately brought a hand to his nose. The unpleasant smell was even stronger now, making him extremely uncomfortable. Bella noticed and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I can smell it again. The smell of something dead and rotten. Something moldy.”

“That’s strange. I can’t smell anything.” Bella began to feel extremely concerned about the situation. How could he be smelling something that she couldn’t? In fact, nobody else could smell it either.

Bella made a point of asking the adventurers they encountered whether they could smell anything strange, but they treated her like an idiot.

“I can smell something strange on every floor, but ever since the 13th Floor, all I can smell is this rotten stench. It’s disgusting.” Kael shook his head and said, “But don’t worry, I can ignore it.”

“Let’s move forward quickly. Maybe the smell will disappear once we reach the next floor.”

“That might be the case,” Kael agreed.

Bella quickened her pace, and Kael followed her. He wasn't using his ability recklessly anymore, just as he had promised. Now, he only used it when fighting.

And only when necessary.

Because of this, Kael was conserving a great deal of magical energy. Even though his Teleportation ability didn't consume much magic, using it too many times would eventually leave him exhausted.

Now that he was conserving his magic, the risk of becoming exhausted had decreased.

Minutes passed.

The first monsters Kael encountered on the 15th Floor were creatures he had fought before: Hellhounds. They were enormous wolves capable of using fire magic, and they traveled in packs.

Bella stepped forward to face the group of four Hellhounds, and Kael decided to do nothing. He watched as Bella effortlessly slaughtered them. She moved so quickly that it was difficult for Kael to follow her with his eyes.

‘Even though I've already reached Level 2... She's almost Level 4, isn't she?’ Kael couldn't accurately gauge Bella's strength. All he knew was that she was far stronger than him.

Their Levels were simply too far apart.

After Bella killed all the monsters in less than two minutes, Kael noticed more of them approaching. They were coming from behind.

He sighed and said, “I'll take care of those three coming this way.”

“All right.”

Kael teleported in front of the group of three Hellhounds. Before they could react, he sliced off the head of the monster in front.

The other two monsters tried to hit Kael with their flames, but he teleported away and reappeared behind them, easily slicing through the body of one and killing it.

After teleporting once more, he killed the third Hellhound.

Kael had finished his fight even faster than Bella, who watched him with curiosity.

Their eyes met, and Bella thought, ‘I wish I had that ability for myself...’

####

Time continued to pass, and Kael hadn't encountered a single Minotaur or Ligerfang. It almost seemed as though Bella was deliberately avoiding those monsters. However, that wasn't the case. Even Bella was surprised.

It was quite common to encounter Minotaurs on the 15th Floor, but they hadn't found a single one so far.

‘We'll reach the 16th Floor soon...’ Bella thought, looking rather pensive.

However, a minute later, they finally encountered a Minotaur. The moment Bella spotted it, she stopped walking and raised her hand to signal Kael to stop.

Kael halted and looked ahead. The Minotaur was several meters away, standing completely still. It hadn't noticed the two of them yet, which surprised Kael.

‘I thought they had good senses.’

“What do you want to do? Do you want to fight it, or should I take care of it? Like I said before, it'll be easy for me.”

“I want to do it,” Kael said confidently, taking a step forward.

Kael glanced at his blade, which was stained with blood, and smiled.

“I already told you I don't like that smile.”

“Don't worry. Everything will be fine.”

Kael didn't walk toward the Minotaur. That would have been foolish.

Bella was startled when Kael suddenly disappeared. Every time Kael teleported, a gust of wind burst outward in all directions.

Bella's hair was blown backward, and her eyes widened.

A sudden chill ran through her entire body.

She felt that something was wrong.

‘Got you!’ Kael shouted in his mind.

He was in the air, behind the Minotaur, aiming directly for the back of its head. However, before he could strike the monster, something came flying toward him.

It was so fast that Kael couldn't teleport away. His mind went blank.

Fortunately, the first thing to be hit was his sword. The impact sent him flying through the air, and he immediately teleported back to Bella's side. He rolled across the ground.

“Cough... Cough...” He coughed, and a little blood trickled from his mouth.

“Are you okay?! There isn't just one of them!” Bella clicked her tongue and helped Kael to his feet.

His entire body was aching terribly. He didn't even know what had hit him.

Kael looked down and noticed that two of the fingers on the hand holding his sword were broken. There was also a deep cut on his arm.

With the taste of blood in his mouth, Kael asked, “What was that?”

“You weren't paying attention to your surroundings, just like I told you to.”

Bella hadn't noticed the second Minotaur either, so she felt guilty.

“I'm sorry. I made a mistake too,” she said, standing up and drawing her sword from its sheath. “Stay here and rest. I'll take care of this.”

Bella disappeared, and Kael heard a strange roar from one of the Minotaurs.

He tried to recall what had happened in his mind.

But everything had happened so quickly that he couldn't remember.

“I couldn't even teleport in time. I could have died.” A chill ran through Kael's entire body.