System's POV

Roland's gaze never left his opponent's body, doing his best to read its attack patterns.

Just like Derek, he had also secretly watched the video of Zion's battle with the Three-Horned Minotaur when he had free time, dissecting the battle to the best of his abilities.

What he noticed was that whenever the Minotaur raised its arm, Zion was already making his next move to evade it.

Because of the younger man's uncanny ability to predict where his enemy was going to strike, Roland, Joshua, and Derek thought that Zion had the ability to see a few seconds ahead in the future.

This ability was not unheard of, and some Wanderers do possess it.

However, he had seen the teenage boy's information that was readily available to the public, and there was nothing in it that stated that the teenage boy had the skill Future Sight, which a handful of Wanderers possessed.

——————

Name: Zion Leventis

Age: 13 Years Old

Race: Human

Skills: None

Items: None

Avatars: None

— Rank Ban

— Skill Ban

— Item Ban

— Avatar Ban

Unique Abilities: Universal Language Proficiency.

Beast Companion: Tiona.

——————

Those were the updated information that the public knew of Zion Leventis just before the war in the Rigel Continent began.

Aside from his age changing, nothing else had changed, which made everyone believe that the Legendary Rookie would forever remain a Rookie.

And yet, not only did this Rookie bested him in their duel, Zion even fought against a Three-Horned Minotaur with Rianna, defeating it with relative ease.

As if proving that it wasn't a fluke, he decided to challenge two of these monsters at the same time, and once again emerged victorious.

Since that moment, Roland had acknowledged the teenage boy's strength. He did his best to observe the other party so that he could learn from him.

And to a certain extent, Roland was starting to develop the ability to read his opponent's body language, giving him a faint idea if they were going to attack and what they were targeting.

After countless trials and errors, this ability was being slowly refined in Roland's consciousness.

Although he still hadn't grasped it fully, it was enough for him to hold off the Three-Horned Minotaur without dying to it.

He even had the leeway to pay close attention to his surroundings in order to see if his allies were in danger or not.

Unlike Derek, who was unable to see much in dim light, Roland didn't have this problem.

He had the ability Dark Vision, allowing him to see in dim and dark places.

The only downside of this vision was that, when activated, he couldn't discern any other colors aside from the color gray.

But that was more than enough for him to see everything in his surroundings, preventing him from tripping like what happened to Derek earlier.

'I need to be faster,' Roland thought. 'I need to be stronger!'

When the Minotaur made an overhead slash with its axe, the young man knew that an opportunity had presented itself.

After narrowly evading the attack, he immediately executed a slash aimed at the Minotaur's hand that was gripping the handle of its weapon.

His sword drew blood, but the wound wasn't deep enough because he had hastily executed his sword strike without adding more power to it.

Still, it was his first successful counterattack, boosting his confidence a bit.

'Good, I just need to keep this up,' Roland didn't know that a grin had appeared on his face the moment he saw the anger on the Minotaur's expression.

Earlier, it was just looking down on him as if it was simply playing with a toy that it had found.

The look of ridicule and contempt had now disappeared, replaced with an anger of being humiliated by the insect that had managed to make it bleed.

Its attacks became fiercer and more powerful, preventing Roland from taking any risk, forcing him to evade and go for the defensive.

The stamina training regimen Thirteen had improved both his speed and stamina.

Seeing that its attacks weren't working, the Three-Horned Minotaur unleashed one of its Trump Cards.

After its strike didn't land on its target, it unleashed a breath of fire that ranged six meters.

It believed that it was enough to kill or cripple its prey because it timed it perfectly.

But Roland didn't fall for this trick.

He had already died dozens of times during his previous training simulation in this breath attack, so he already knew the signs when the Minotaur was going to unleash it.

The moment the Minotaur unleashed its Fire Breath, Roland also prepared his own attack to disperse it.

"Tempest Slash!"

A blue crescent blade emerged from Roland's sword strike, cutting the breath attack in half, buying enough time for the young man to distance himself from it.

Seeing that its attempt had failed, the Minotaur roared in anger and was about to do a follow-up attack.

But before it could do that, it saw a golden flash at the corner of its vision, forcing it to take a step back.

A moment later, a golden spear descended from the sky, sending a shockwave that made the monster skid on the ground.

Roland's Dark Vision automatically deactivated the moment the golden flag fluttered in front of him, dispelling the darkness.

A second later, another flag descended, and this time, it was a silver flag that shone just as brightly as Diana's banner.

"Sorry, we're late," Diana said as she ran towards the Minotaur with her sword glowing in the darkness.

"Now, the real party will begin." Derek laughed as he positioned himself behind the Minotaur, making the latter give the Swordsman a cautious glance.

Suddenly, a fireball hit the side of the Minotaur's body, making it stagger.

"I'm also here," Erica said as she looked down at the Minotaur from the sky.

Behind her back were wings made up of flames, making her look like an avenging angel from hell.

Shana, Joshua, and Mildred also arrived at the scene and looked at the Minotaur with determined looks on their faces.

Roland, who could feel the same emotions they were feeling, smiled as he took a fighting stance.

"Are you now ready for Round Two, you oversized bull?" Roland asked the Minotaur, who was now about to experience the might of his party.

Instead of answering, the Minotaur shouted a war cry of defiance, not backing down in a fight that it believed it could win.

Back then, the Hero Party would have already felt despair after hearing this war cry. But now, they no longer felt like they would lose to a Monster who had forced them to undergo the most inhumane training in their lifetime.

"Enough talk," Erica said as she summoned a Firebolt in her hand. "Time for some Beef Barbecue!"

All her friends agreed, and they attacked the Minotaur at the same time, avenging the time that their party was almost wiped out from the face of the world because of a creature that surpassed their expertise.

Thirteen, who was watching from the training room, clicked the stopwatch in his hand and made it start counting the time on how long the Hero Party would take to defeat the Three-Horned Minotaur, which had been a part of their recurring nightmares at night.