Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

Chapter 45: To the minotaur's kingdom (7)

'Clank!'

"Ugh--!" Owen's spear clashed against the minotaur's fist, effectively making his arms tremble upon the force.

"General Owen!" A mage from behind shouted and cast a strength buff on Owen.

Owen's entire body glowed yellow for a bit, before he managed to push the minotaur back a few steps.

"Arise, my golems!" He shouted, and from the ground emerged 10 earth golems in different shapes and forms.

'ROAR!'

The minotaur thrashed around as a few lion golems pounced at it and bit its limbs. It swung its axe towards the owner of the golems to kill him off, but another bigger golem took the hit instead.

"Now, soldiers!" The huge golem hugged the minotaur's axe tightly, locking the minotaur's hand movement. Owen immediately gave the order to attack, and the minotaur was swarmed with attacks from all sides.

'Thud!' The first minotaur fell lifeless on the ground.

The soldiers let out a relieved sigh, but Owen didn't miss a beat and immediately charged towards the next minotaur in line.

'ROAAAR!'

The second minotaur pounded on its chest a few times before it swiftly charged towards Owen. Just before they crashed into each other, Owen sidestepped to his right, letting the minotaur run past him and straight into his huge golem.

'CRASH!'

The huge golem and the minotaur collided, shattering the former's body into pieces and blocking the latter's vision.

"You die here!" Owen took this chance to cut off the minotaur's toes. And with one loud roar, the minotaur fell on its knees.

"I got you, general!" Another soldier used her ice magic to pierce the minotaur's head using an ice spear, effectively ending its life.

"General, behind you!" Owen's squad leader shouted as he ran towards Owen.

Owen reacted fast and immediately dodged the incoming axe from a new minotaur while slashing a huge, vertical wound on its entire forearm.

'ROAAR!'

"Tch. Onwards, my soldiers!" Owen bellowed while he charged towards the horde of minotaurs, and everyone soon followed suit.

Spears clashed against axes, and shields clashed against fists. The battle lasted for a while without anyone stopping even for a bit to catch a breather.

Surprisingly, the minotaurs were slowly pushed back against the soldiers' continuous advances.

"Keep going, everyone!" The squad leader shouted.

"Protect the healers! We got a lot of wounded people here!" Another one cried out.

"Let's charge!" The squad leader ran towards the minotaurs who were slowly backing off.

Owen was about to join the charge, when he noticed something was a bit off with the minotaurs. The minotaurs who were aggressively charging against them a while ago, was now slowly backing off.

'Are they retreating?' Owen thought as he raised his spear, ready to attack.

'Wait. No.' He stopped on his track right as he was about to launch his spear.

His eyes went wide the moment he realized that the minotaurs weren't retreating. The bloodlust was still apparent in their eyes, and they weren't even struggling that much.

"Everybody stop! It's a trap!" He immediately shouted with horror.

"Huh?"

'Pssht!'

Alas, it was too late and arrows showered those who charged too early. The minotaurs had pulled a hidden string, activating the trap and successfully injuring the soldiers.

"AAAHH!"

"Urk! Wh-what!?"

"UAAGH! It burns!"

"Save me!"

Screams echoed throughout the long hallway as some soldiers started to fall down. Those who were lucky enough to be saved by their armors hurried back while they tried to keep avoiding the incoming arrows.

"Fall back!" Owen shouted, beckoning them to get out of harm's way, "healers, quick!"

"Yes, sir!" The healers immediately approached the injured and used their healing magic on them.

'Cough! Cough!'

"Sir! Something's weird! Our healing is having trouble keeping up!" Kang Hayun, who was healing a soldier, said to Owen.

Owen checked the arrows on the ground, and to his surprise, it was slimy all over.

"It's probably poisonous! Everyone, cover yourselves up as much as possible! Healers, try using our medicinal herbs!" Owen commanded, and Hayun nodded.

"Damn it... We are way too outnumbered now..." Owen cursed under his breath.

'ROAAR!'

Now that the trap had been launched, the minotaurs were ready to attack again. The minotaurs started to charge at the disorganized soldier, when suddenly, a 'splat' sound was heard, followed by the minotaur's scream.

"That's--" Owen looked up to see a winged man with a gun flying above them.

"Tch. Don't rush in like idiots, that'll cost you your life!" General Enzo frowned and fired 2 more shots at the incoming minotaurs, hitting them right in the head.

'ROOOOAR!' The minotaurs screamed as their head slowly melted off.

"Soldiers, attack!" Owen immediately followed up and used this momentum to kill the minotaurs.

"I'll lure them away. Split them up and defeat them one by one." General Enzo said as he flew towards a different direction while firing more shots, melting another minotaur's head.

Some of the minotaurs roared with rage and followed after him, while some of them stayed behind to fend off Owen's army.

"General Enzo, watch out!" Owen shouted, alerting general Enzo of the incoming rocks that were thrown at him by a minotaur.

"Ugh--!" The winged general spun around, narrowly missing the huge rocks, "tch. This is why I don't plan to fly in this maze. These barbarians are great with anti-air defense, even though all they do is throw some rocks."

'Pew! Pew!'

General Enzo flew away while he continuously fired shots after shots against his pursuers. Even though he managed to kill a few minotaurs, but they just kept coming and kept throwing rocks against him. After a while, he finally managed to gain a considerable amount of distance between him and Owen's group.

Fortunately, that reduced the number of minotaurs that the others had to face. The horde had started to split ways, and it was looking better for them.

'Thud!'

"Ugh--!" General Enzo winced as a rock hit his left wing. He immediately stabilized his flying and fired a few more shots at his attacker.

'ROARR!'

One of the minotaurs hurled another batch of rocks at him, and two of them ended up hitting general Enzo on his right wing and shoulder, which caused him to falter.

"You damn cows!" He cursed while he fired more shots, killing 2 minotaurs at once.

'ROAR!'

Suddenly, a minotaur crouched down, and its friend used its back to jump towards general Enzo. The minotaur jumped so high that even general Enzo had a surprised look on his face. Before he could react, the minotaur already had him in its fist.

"Damn you--" he immediately pointed his gun at the minotaur's face.

'Click.'

"Huh?"

The minotaur in front of him was still perfectly unscathed, and was now opening its mouth wide.

"Damn it, I ran out of ammo."