Well, let's get to work on that C-ranked promotion request.

I know it's because you told me to, but you're suddenly very motivated.

　The holiday is over, and the next day I immediately received a request to promote to C rank.
　Now I'm heading to the place where the requested target to be defeated is located and moving with the magic carpet.

''I'll have to hunt for the magic stone again. I'll be told anyway then, so I thought I'd raise it as soon as possible.''

You're going to do it again...

　I'm sure I'll be hunting a lot more in the future to collect the magic stones. If I bring in the rewards of defeating them all the time without raising my rank at that time, they'll ask me to raise my rank again.
　From the association's point of view, the more high-ranked adventurers we have, the better, and I wonder if we'll be troubled if we can't stay at a low rank.
　There's a possibility that we'll be going to other cities in the future too. And it's not a bad thing to be a high-ranked adventurer then.

''So, what is this C-rank promotion request about?''

Well, I'm told you've got to take out ten Minotaurs.

That should make things easier for you, shouldn't it?

　This time the request is to defeat the Minotaur. It's not a simple matter of defeating one of them like last time, but a whopping 10 of them.
　The Minotaur is the one we encountered on our way to the capital before. They're heading towards Brunne.
　But still, is it finally becoming more difficult to raise the adventurer rank?　I think it's a steep rise compared to the last one. I guess they're trying to make it a step up from here.

●

'Wow, the guy you ran into the last time you were coming to King's Landing, he came from here?

It's a little hard to fight, don't you think?

It can be tricky getting caught between them, can't it?

　The place we arrived at appears to be a ruin with a number of round stone pillars standing on it.
　It's a short distance away from the road leading from Brunne to Sting. This is where the last one came from.
　Unlike the other hunting grounds, it is separated from the others by a stone wall or something. There are a few minotaurs in the visible range.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to get out of it.
　Like Noll said, it seems like we should not rush in and take them down at our usual rate.
　They also have a skill called "rushing" and the walls make it difficult to fight inside.

Let's just guide them one by one and take them down individually.

Then I'll magically lure you in.

　So this time I'm going to destroy each of them one by one with a long-range attack.

　I spotted the minotaur away from the other individuals and asked Estelle to quickly attack it with magic.
　The minotaur that was hit came running towards me, screaming.
　If I'm doing this at random, the others will come running too, and it's a pain in the ass.
　Unlike the last time we encountered it, the minotaur's body is surrounded by a trace amount of red aura.
　Is that a skill rush?

　The minotaur is caught beautifully, and Noor catches it with his shield first. When it stops moving, I stab it with a crowbar and gouge out its body.
　Thanks to my enhanced equipment, I am able to stab the crowbar with a speed that is incomparable to before.

　The minotaur screams and stumbles under my attack, and Noor, who had been receiving the attack, also begins to fight back, and soon the minotaur falls.

'Alright, that's good,'

The last time I saw a frogman, it was much harder.

That was annoying...

　The Minotaur is supposed to be strong too, but compared to the Frogman, this one is easier for us.
　Its large size makes it an easy target to attack. That's why they may be a little dangerous when attacked, so be on your guard.

Oh, brother. I'm sure you'll be able to find something strong.

Hmm?　What is that....

　When I had defeated a few of them like that, a kind of dangerous-looking fellow came walking towards me from inside.
　It was smaller than a normal minotaur, but its body was even more toned down. In his hand was not a stone axe, but an axe that was probably made of iron.
　Something glowing like lightning occasionally leaks out of its body.

　.........It looks really strong.... For now, let's take a look at the status.

　------.
Asterios Race:Minotaur
　Level: 60
　HP: 105,000
　MP:0
　Attack Power:3000
　Defensive Power:1500
　Agility: 160
　Magic Resistance:30
　Intrinsic Ability Thunderbolt
　Skills Rush　
------　

　...What?　What the hell. It's funny that someone like this is in the hunt for a C-rank promotion request!
　This is the first time I've ever seen an attack power of over 3000.

''I never heard of this guy...''

What's the matter with you, brother?

　Estelle and the others, who haven't seen the status, are looking at my reaction and are wondering.
　
　Okay, let's run.

Just do it!　Let's just run for it!

Okura-dono!　It's too late to run away!

　Noll said and held up his shield and sword.
　When I looked at the direction Asterios was coming from, I saw that he was running because we showed a pretense of escaping, even though he was walking just now.
　It's a red aura, darker than the Minotaur, and it's running furiously while gouging the ground.
　It's impossible to escape now............................that's super fast.

'I'll hold them back, Esther, get away!　Don't mess with me too much this time!

All right. I'll give them some backup.

　I decided to let Estelle run backwards and confront her with me and Nol.
　If she gets attacked, it would be fatal. I'm not sure we should let her fight at this point, given her magical resistance.
　I'm going to have her apply some enhanced magic to us before she escapes.
　I'm going to have Nohl act as a shield to catch that rush, but maybe this will help.

　Asterios' head, which had been gradually closing in on us, finally collides with Noll's shield.
　With a dull sound of thuds, they compete with each other, sinking the ground they are stepping on.

''Ungh.............nwa!

"Nole!

　She was screaming in painful endurance when Asterios bounced her head up and blew her away.
　Asterios stood in front of me, his nose gushing with pride. Then he stared at me with his red eyes.

　I was dumbfounded by the unexpected event of Noor being blown away, but Asterios raised his axe, and I came to my senses.
　Then I managed to avoid the axe and thrust the crowbar into my body as a counterattack.

''Ababa-baba!

Okura-dono!　Get away from me, there is!

　The moment I thrust the crowbar into it, my whole body convulses and I can't move. I tried to let go of my hand, but my body wouldn't move as it should.
　What is this?

　And the moment Asterios raised the axe again, the spasms in his body disappeared.
　But when he tried to move, his body wouldn't listen to him and he couldn't move quickly enough.
　Just when I thought this was bad, Nol came running in and smashed the guy's face with his shield and blew him away.

'Ta, thank you..... Could it be because of an inherent ability?'

It's a relief that there's only one of them.

　Apparently, except when attacking, that guy's body is protected by a lightning bolt with an ability called thunderbolt.
　It seems to disappear when attacking, so we'll just have to counterattack there to defeat it.

　As Noll said, this thing was now coming towards us on its own.
　I shudder to think that there was another Minotaur in this one.

''Okay, we'll take it down ourselves.

Yes, sir!

　Now that we know how to attack that blitz, we start to fight back against Asterios.
　I invite him to attack while I draw his attention with my wind-bracelet wind-attribute attack.
　Then, when I raise my axe to attack, I run away as fast as I can, while Noll slashes at me from behind.
　This time he begins to target Noll, but the moment he tries to attack as well, I stab the crowbar from behind.

　I repeat this in turn, steadily but steadily cutting down on my energy.
　After a while, he starts to stagger, so I take out a piece of paper I had in my pocket and stick it to this guy's head from behind.

'Nole!　Get off!

　It's an explosive ticket that I stuck on it.
　He tells Noll to leave and reminds him to explode.
　Then the back of Asterios' head explodes and he stumbles. He detonates it again, and this time it rolls to the ground.
　He detonates it again, and this time the whole thing explodes. On top of that, the spot where Asterios had fallen is covered in black smoke.

　He was weak and this should have taken him down. It's a moderately awesome explosion, isn't it?

'Hmmm.......looks like we've defeated it.

Okura-dono!　You can't be too careful!

"Huh?

　I responded to Noll's shout and looked toward the smoke to see Asterios swinging his axe at me, ready to throw it at me.
　I quickly prepared the lid of the pot to block the thrown axe, but I couldn't hold it in, and my body floated away.

"An, duh, vae!

　He seemed to have avoided a direct hit, but he was blown away and rolled on the ground a couple of times.
　My whole body hurts. It hurts like hell. I'm about to cry.

''Okura-dono!　Are you all right, sir!

Oh, Noll I'm feeling lightheaded.

Well, I'm glad to see you're all right, sir. You should drink this.

　Noor immediately ran up to me and lifted my head as I lay on my back to drink the potion out of her bag.
　We had given each of us a potion in our respective bags beforehand.

　Thank God........what?　What's up with Asterios that Noll is here?

Phew, thank you. Hey, hey!　What's wrong with him?

Oh, you can't move, sir!　If it's that, it's being handled by Estelle.

'Oh, come on, Esther's handling it, isn't it bad?　I'm going to help you quickly... what?

　I tried to get up, but Nol held me down.
　I was impatient to hear that Estelle was handling it, but when I looked over, I saw that Asterios was tied to the ground and unable to move.

'What's going on with that thing...'

"Okura-dono was attacked and is angry, sir. Get out of the way, Noor, he told me that I couldn't kill him, so I backed off...

　I looked at Estelle and saw a purple aura emanating from her entire body.
　Well, I don't think so, but did you use your skills?

　As she waved her wand, a magic circle appeared around her side.
　And as the magic circle began to shine even brighter than usual, the flames gathered and compressed into a sphere and shot out at Asterios.
　The flames, which were gouging the ground, engulfed Asterios and sent him flying into the distance with the minotaur at his back.
　A little while later, there was a tremendous explosion, and a mushroom-shaped smoke rose in the sky.
　We should be farther away from the point of impact, but the wind is coming to us in the aftermath of the explosion.

'Ugh.........

Yes, I agree with you...

　Completely overkill.
　The magic to sew it to the ground would have been broken if it was in a normal state.
　However, she seemed to have used her skills to forcibly tie it down.
　Smoke billowing up in the distance.......what is the point of impact?　

Brother.

'Yes!　What is it?!

Don't do anything that would worry you too much, okay?

　Esther's face as she walked over to me is a straight face. She doesn't have her usual teasing expression and looks seriously angry.
　Seeing that expression, I decided to avoid making her angry in the future.