"Grr…"

Kryllo was breathing heavily. His eyes were bloodshot. His eyebrows furrowed heavily. He looked up at the minotaur while stopping the punch with just his open palm while his arm was stretched out in front of him.

The monster growled loudly as it tried to push through with its punch, but it was like hitting an immovable wall.

Kryllo suddenly grabbed one of the monster's giant fingers. He then swung the minotaur sideways and slammed it into the base of the mountain. Large chunks of the ground flew to the air, as a cloud of dirt covered the minotaur.

Kryllo faced toward the monster while standing still, as if he waited for it to do something. A shadow then quickly headed toward Kryllo's direction from inside the slowly dispersing cloud of dust.

It was the hand of the minotaur. It gripped Kryllo's whole body. The monster stood up from the ground. It stared at Kryllo as it tightened its hold on him. Kryllo writhed within the creature's hand while he let out growl after growl.

The minotaur let out a loud howl before hurling Kryllo toward the trees of the forest in front of it. As Kryllo hurtled through the forest, broken trees flew upward in the air.

Inside the forest, Kryllo's body stopped flying after snapping several trees. He was buried under broken tree trunks. After a brief moment, the tree trunks were all blown away. Kryllo was left there standing while hunched. His arms were loosely dangling as he swayed while he walked toward the minotaur again.

After taking a few steps, Kryllo started to dash, and then he turned it into a full sprint, heading straight to where the monster was standing at.

The minotaur was still trying to shake off the effects of being slammed into the ground. It stood gingerly as it stared to the location where he threw Kryllo. It squinted toward the darkness in front of it. In the following instant, Kryllo was suddenly in the air, directly in front of the monster's face.

Kryllo punched the minotaur's snout so hard, the monster crashed into the ground and its body recoiled upward afterwards. It coughed out blood from its mouth as it lay on the ground.

---

"W-what is happening…? I thought he was an archer?!"

Elwyrn looked down at Leonze.

"I-I don't know…! This is my first time seeing this… And it happened after his bow got destroyed…"

Leonze's jaw was wide open as he watched the unbelievable sight.

"That monster's body should be as hard as the Diamede it ate… But it seems like he's hurting it…"

Elwyrn looked back at Kryllo and the monster. Sweat slowly rolled down from his forehead, but he had a slight smile on his face. He had this faint hope of finally getting rid of the monster in their island.

"Hey, you did it! I think you killed that monster!"

Leonze gleefully shouted toward Kryllo.

But then, Kryllo turned his head awkwardly toward Leonze. He then walked sluggishly toward Leonze and Elwyrn. His face was still scrunched up in anger.

"H-hey… Why is he looking at us like that…?"

The relief Elwyrn started to feel earlier disappeared. His hands started to tremble. Cold sweat trickled down all over his face. He knew in an instant. The bloodlust was now directed at them.

"D-don't come near us right now… M-maybe you're still in a bad mood or something… Might be best to cool off for now…?"

Leonze was sitting on the ground when he started slowly crawling backward. He couldn't remove his gaze from Kryllo, as he instinctively knew that the moment he turned around, he'd be dead in an instant.

Kryllo was already halfway between the monster and Leonze when a vicious roar came from behind him. The minotaur forced itself to stand, and then grabbed a chunk of earth from the ground and threw it toward Kryllo.

As the monster let go of the large projectile in his hand, Kryllo was able to dodge by jumping sideways. He then turned around again and faced the minotaur.

The giant piece of earth now hurled unimpeded toward Leonze and Elwyrn. As he saw it coming, Elwyrn was able to jump off from the tree branch he was standing on. He saw that Leonze was still sitting on the ground.

Leonze, sensing his impending doom as the fast-moving piece of ground closed in on him, shut his eyes and turned his head away.

"Get out of there!"

Elwyrn shouted while he was jumping away midair.

A cloud of dust burst around Leonze, signaling that the hurling earth finally hit something.

Elwyrn landed on another tree and stared at the dissipating dust cloud. He gritted his teeth as he thought he should have done something to save Leonze.

When the dust finally settled, Elwyrn saw that Leonze was still sitting on the ground with his eyes closed. He was completely unharmed.

---

The minotaur was huffing and puffing heavily. It was still able to stand up. It then glared at Kryllo with all its ferocity. All of its reddish fur spiked up with tension.

The monster then released a fierce howl and rushed at Kryllo with unexpected speed for its size. It loaded up for another strong punch using its right hand. Kryllo was just standing directly in its way. The minotaur released its punch. Kryllo disappeared from its sight, thus just hitting the ground and getting its hand buried due to the force it used.

The next instance, Kryllo was standing in front of the monster, in level of its chest. The monster could only look down, as he was stuck in place. Kryllo let out an equally vicious roar and punched the monster's left chest.

Mere moments later, Kryllo was covered in blood. He looked up at the monster's head, and then stared at the gaping hole in its chest.

The monster stopped any movement, and it slowly started to fall sideways, when it let out one final growl and swung its other free hand to punch Kryllo.

The punch landed cleanly on the right side of Kryllo's head and neck. He flew sideways and crashed through several trees before being buried in tree trunks and leaves.

The minotaur breathed heavily as it stared at where Kryllo went. Its body then tensed up, before finally falling on the ground face first, its tongue stuck out on the ground.

---

Elwyrn jumped down from the tree and rushed over to Leonze.

"Are you alright?!"

He grabbed Leonze's shoulders and shook him a bit.

"Am I dead yet…?"

Leonze slowly opened one of his eyes and looked around. He then saw Elwyrn in front of him before finally opening both eyes.

"You're alive! H-How? What happened there?"

Elwyrn tightly gripped Leonze's shoulders even more.

"I'm alive? How…?"

"I'm asking you that!"

Elwyrn had a slight smile on his face when he finally released Leonze from his grip.

"I really don't know… Wait… what happened to Kryllo? And that monster?!"

Leonze looked around with such panic. All he could see was the minotaur lying down on the ground, with blood gushing out of it.

"I think he was able to kill it… But he got sent flying toward those fallen trees over there."

Elwyrn pointed at the snapped tree trunks.

"He might still be alive! W-we have to help him!"

Leonze stood up tentatively. When he started to walk where Kryllo should be, Elwyrn grabbed Leonze's arm.

"Wait… You remember what he looked like earlier, right? I don't think it's safe to go near him…"

"Yeah… I guess…"

Leonze stopped walking. Elwyrn then let go of his arm.

Suddenly, they heard a loud sound. The two of them looked around their surroundings. Then, the sound echoed again. And again. It was the sound of someone snoring.

Leonze looked at Elwyrn and then cracked a smile. He pointed his head toward where Kryllo was. Elwyrn closed his eyes and then nodded.

---

Back in the elven village, there were now four makeshift beds. Kryllo was now lying down on one of them. The female elves were now focusing on healing him. Elwyrn was seated on a chair beside a small table.

It was already morning when Aegroth entered the house where the party was recuperating. Leonze followed behind him and also entered the house.

"How are they?"

Aegroth looked down on the four sleeping party members.

"Most of them are out of danger now. Only Kryllo needs to be tended to at the moment. They will need to rest for a few more days, I suppose."

Elwyrn got up from his chair and stood beside the elder elf.

"Can you now explain what happened last night? You were dead tired last night and we let you rest in another house. I know you are well enough to talk now."

Aegroth then turned his gaze toward Leonze.

"Just when I was starting to get cozy with that female elf who was taking care of me. You just had to bring me out here so early in the morning…"

Leonze scratched the back of his head and yawned loudly.

"That female elf you are talking about is my daughter…"

Elwyrn was glaring at Leonze.

"Really? Then I'm glad the two of us had that intense bonding moment last night. Right, Father?"

Leonze smiled genuinely at Elwyrn.