11: Minotaur

As soon as they entered the Gloomy Forest, the two of them saw the familiar monsters, 'Goblins'.

Without hesitation, as they became more familiar with their Martial Skills, the two of them coordinated perfectly to slay all the Goblins.

Delving deeper, they discovered two special Goblins. One was different from the usual grayish-blue Goblins, being fiery red all over, while the other held a strange scimitar, wandering around while commanding other Goblins on patrol.

Jian Wuxie, intending to test it, charged straight at the Goblin holding the scimitar. Just as he reached it and was about to swing his sword, the Goblin revealed a treacherous smile and actually dodged, slashing Jian Wuxie in the process.

Caught off guard and seeing himself injured, Jian Wuxie immediately backed away a few steps, looking at the scimitar-wielding Goblin with surprise.

The Goblin opened its mouth and shouted some gibberish, and the surrounding ordinary Goblins began to encircle them.

"Senior Sister, be careful! This Goblin is much smarter!" Jian Wuxie shouted.

Seeing Jian Wuxie suffer a setback, Xiao Hongyuan immediately stepped forward to help. She cut down the surrounding ordinary Goblins with a few sword strikes and then closed in on the strange Goblin.

Seeing Xiao Hongyuan charging at it, the Goblin immediately roared a few more times, trying to summon more Goblins.

Xiao Hongyuan used an Uppercut, launching it into the air, and immediately began her assault.

Seeing Xiao Hongyuan succeed, Jian Wuxie cooperatively ran behind the Scimitar Goblin, intending to use their old method to kill it.

While Jian Wuxie was running, neither of them noticed the fiery-red-skinned Goblin give a sinister laugh and throw out a ball of fire.

The fire happened to land on Jian Wuxie, instantly setting him ablaze.

As the flames burned, Jian Wuxie's health points continued to drop. Enduring the pain, he first sent the red Goblin flying with a Ghost Slash, then turned and used an Uppercut to launch the falling Scimitar Goblin back into the air.

Xiao Hongyuan neatly landed a few slashes followed by a Ghost Slash; the Scimitar Goblin let out a miserable shriek and vanished into white light.

Xiao Hongyuan couldn't spare a moment for Jian Wuxie, who was still losing health, and ran straight toward the Fiery Red Goblin.

She caught up and killed the Goblin with just a few sword strikes.

Surprisingly, the Goblin left behind a strange red fruit after its death.

The flames on Jian Wuxie had extinguished by now. Feeling like a survivor, he said, "Man, I almost bit the dust in such a trivial way."

Xiao Hongyuan picked up the red fruit and examined it.

[Wild Strawberry]

Restores 110 health points upon use.

Xiao Hongyuan tossed the fruit to Jian Wuxie and asked, "How much health did you lose?"

Jian Wuxie glanced at his status bar and said, "I lost nearly half."

Jian Wuxie took the fruit, looked at its effect, and popped it into his mouth.

"Mm, you know, this fruit is actually quite tasty—sweet and sour," Jian Wuxie chuckled.

Xiao Hongyuan rolled her eyes at Jian Wuxie and said, "Don't be so impulsive next time. You won't always be so lucky!"

Jian Wuxie shrugged helplessly and said, "What's there to fear? At worst, I'll just spend another 100 Spirit Stones to buy a revival coin."

Only then did Xiao Hongyuan remember they were currently just inside a Secret Realm; it was so realistic that she had momentarily forgotten.

After resting for a bit, the two finally reached the boss's territory. They saw a massive Minotaur, five or six meters tall, surrounded by several normal-sized ones, all holding worn-out greataxes that glinted coldly.

The Minotaur Giant Beast naturally spotted the intruders as well. It threw its head back and roared, its massive body bearing down on the two of them.

Xiao Hongyuan and Jian Wuxie were very cautious now. They first retreated quickly and noticed that because of its massive size, the Minotaur Giant Beast wasn't very fast; instead, the normal Minotaurs were a bit quicker.

"Clear out the small ones first!" Xiao Hongyuan commanded calmly.

Jian Wuxie didn't waste any words and immediately lured the small Minotaurs away.

Seeing that the Minotaur Giant Beast had been left a good distance behind, the two immediately began to fight the Minotaurs.

Xiao Hongyuan nimbly darted among the Minotaurs, taking every opportunity to land two sword strikes. Every time the clumsy Minotaurs raised their greataxes, she would lightly dodge them.

Jian Wuxie, however, turned back toward the Minotaur Giant Beast to delay it from joining the battle.

The clumsy Minotaurs were no match for the agile Xiao Hongyuan and were soon cleared out.

She turned her head to look at Jian Wuxie.

Jian Wuxie was using the same tactic as Xiao Hongyuan, relying on his agility to contend with the Minotaur Giant Beast. Seeing the battle over there finished, he shouted, "Senior Sister, this guy is too clumsy! He can't even touch me!"

Xiao Hongyuan gave a light laugh and immediately joined the fray.

Xiao Hongyuan started with an Uppercut, intending to launch the Minotaur Giant Beast, but she didn't expect a massive resistance from her longsword; she only managed to inflict a small wound on the beast.

Xiao Hongyuan shouted, "Be careful! This guy is too big; there's no way to knock him airborne!"

Seeing that it couldn't touch the two, the Minotaur Giant Beast finally grew enraged. It let out a furious roar, raised its two massive fists above its head, and began to charge up power.

Jian Wuxie took the opportunity to frantically leave countless bloody gashes on its body.

Xiao Hongyuan saw this and was about to step forward to attack, but then the Minotaur Giant Beast slammed its fists onto the ground. A massive Shockwave instantly erupted, knocking both of them off balance and onto the floor.

The two felt their heads spinning, unable to even stand up for a moment.

Seeing the two knocked down, the Minotaur Giant Beast immediately reached out its large hand to swat at Xiao Hongyuan.

Xiao Hongyuan didn't even see it coming before she was hit. She cried out in pain and was sent flying several meters, landing on the ground coughing.

The Minotaur Giant Beast was about to pursue, but it was blocked by the recovered Jian Wuxie. A pitch-black Ghost Slash, radiating the Power of Ghosts and Gods, struck the beast, tearing open a massive wound and immediately drawing its attention.

It roared and prepared to use the same trick again, raising its fists high to charge up.

Having learned his lesson, Jian Wuxie immediately ran far away.

The Minotaur Giant Beast slammed its fists onto the ground. Jian Wuxie, who had long since run off, only felt a slight tremor and took no damage. He laughed loudly, "Hahaha, you stupid thing! I won't fall for the same trick twice!"

At this point, Xiao Hongyuan checked her health points. She had lost seventy percent in just two hits, and she furrowed her brows.

Jian Wuxie chuckled, "Senior Sister, look! That guy is almost finished!"

Xiao Hongyuan looked up and saw that the Minotaur Giant Beast was covered in dense bloody gashes and was panting heavily, clearly low on stamina.

Xiao Hongyuan immediately stood up and charged in coordination with Jian Wuxie. After a few moves, Xiao Hongyuan landed a Ghost Slash. The Minotaur Giant Beast shrieked as its massive body collapsed and dissipated into white light.

Suddenly, a flash of purple light caught their attention. An object glowing with purple light flew out from the white light of the Minotaur Giant Beast and landed on the ground.