The Maze of the Bull

Cyrus felt stronger than before, feeling the power surge from the shackle as Fenrir moved up into the Delta Tier. But his new requirement for evolving again was way higher.

[Delta Fenrir CM: 0/800]

[Fenrir's HP now adds an additional point from every point in your health stat from base.]

[Fenrir's HP: 19/19]

But he didn't care that it was going to take much longer. The moment he looked at his stats his smile got bigger. For Cyrus was brimming with joy at the sudden boost, for he noticed that he accidentally made his stats all even without meaning to.

[STR: 9 (4)]

[DEX: 9 (4)]

[STM: 9 (4) Physical/Elemental DMG resistance: 9% (4%)]

[INT: 9 (4)]

[HP: 8/24]

[CEP: 10/24]

Chase walking back down the hallway, his hands covered in blood and flicked his hands causing the blood to fly off. Cyrus looked at Chase with amazement and concern for if he had to go up against this man, he would likely die. Having cleaned off his hands, chase walked over to the door. As soon as he placed his hand on the door the usual pop up came up.

[Floor Cleared!]

[A loot chest will spawn!]

Just like last time, a chest of low tier seemed to manifest in the middle of the dome. Chase turned around to see it, "That wasn't there before, why is that here?" Cyrus walked over and opened the chest. The windows told him he got 1 more skill crystals and 250 Rune Coins. Increasing his total to 800.

"These appears whenever I clear a floor. They offer me coins or some other useful items." Cyrus said, which made chase curious.

"Do they always appear? These coins aren't from my family's trove correct?" Cyrus walls over and manifests one coin in his hand. Showing it to Chase he inspected the coin. "These are unfamiliar, so definitely not from our vault. How strange, someone must be watching you progress and rewarding you whenever you climb higher." Chase made a pretty good guess he thought, but that wouldn't change the fact he couldn't get these gifts. Pushing the door open revealed a portal, which puzzled Chase.

Cyrus walked over to the portal, "This is how we progress forward. Walking through these portals are what allows us to move to new floors." Cyrus walked through and Chase followed.

"But this isn't supposed to be here. No portals other than the main one in the chamber of the ruler of this castle." But as he stepped through he saw a room with many pathways. Cyrus was already looking about as Chase exited the portal.

Cyrus had used his heightened sense of hearing and smell to determine what way they needed to go. He caught the whiff of an animal of some kind. Not knowing exactly what manner of beast existed here, he wasn't keen on finding out. Although with his desire to get stronger was pulling at him to go and fight the unknown beast.

Chase looked around and went to a wall with written words on them. They were covered in dust and cobwebs so he dragged his hand along it revealing the words.

"Oh," he said reading it, "Cyrus, we are going to need to hurry and deal with this beast while we can." Turning around Cyrus noticed Chase, but then a huff of air came down one of the tunnels. The scent passed their noses as they both knew something was coming.

"I guess that is too late to act for it knows we are here, follow me." Chase gestured first Cyrus to follow him. Not knowing what kind of beast it was, Cyrus trusted Chase's knowledge of the castle's secrets. They traveled down tunnels, going around corner after corner. Chase was looking at something that Cyrus was having trouble deciphering so he couldn't be sure what he was looking at.

"What are we running from?" Cyrus managed to ask, "Can we not deal with the creature?" But Chase didn't even stop moving to respond.

"We need to find the orb that his held here before we can deal with Taurus." Cyrus wondered who this Taurus was, but Chase answered his thought like he read his mind. "Taurus is a demon that roams the halls of the Underground, he protects the Orb of the Bull. He is unable to be killed while the orb remains in its magic circle." This didn't sit well with Cyrus, not only did they have to find the orb, but they had to avoid an invulnerable bull demon from catching them.

When Chase rounded a corner he stopped then went back the other way grabbing Cyrus. As they returned around the corner they had just came Cyrus' increased hearing had finally picked up the stopping hooves coming from where Chase was going. A very large hand had reached around the corner and the sound of snorting and panting could be heard. Peeking around the corner, Cyrus saw the massive creature who stood taller than Whisper. It's muscular body and large arms were massive.

It's head came into view and looked towards Cyrus' direction before being pulled behind the wall. Chase had his finger to his lips as he held rock in his other hand. As they heard sniffing Cyrus didn't move for fear of alerting it to his presence. A large hand had been placed down on the ground while the it was still snorting.

Before it could round the corner to see them, the sound of a rock hitting a wall was heard echoing down the hall. Chase had thrown the rock to cause the Taurus to look up and suddenly to sound of thundering hooves passed them. A rush of wind billowed passed them and Cyrus had his eye wide from the speed of the beast.

When it was clear the creature was gone Chase gestured for him to follow. Cyrus looked at Chase and whispered, "How is something that big that fast?" Chase continued down the tunnel he where Taurus came from.

Chase whispered back, "The orb in the circle is what is giving him that speed. Anything he hears is a target no matter who it is." Chase continued to lead Cyrus down many twists and turns. If Chase wasn't with him he would be lost for days in this maze of the Underground.

The sound of Taurus in the distant tunnels rushing around and making horrid sounds as it charged around the maze. It's thunderous steps could be heard no matter where he was. Making it difficult for Cyrus to discern where it was coming from. But Chase seemed to know when he was coming.

They would repeat the same trick a few times, but there were moments that there was just a single turn and Taurus was coming. Cyrus pointed up the wall and the scales the wall. Cyrus using the chain to pull him up to then hold himself in place. While Chase would dig his fingers into the wall and climb up.

Taurus would sometimes run passed or stop and look about the ground. Cyrus believed he was pretty stupid to be tricked and deceived by tricks. Taurus let out that horrid yell again which made Cyrus cover his ears. It sounded like train screeching to a halt as it ran over hundreds of screaming men. It sent a shiver down his spine for he wouldn't ever like to get caught while it powered up.

Zipping off Taurus vanished in a cloud of dust. They slowly would descend the wall to reduce their sound of landing. Moving on their way Chase had sighed in relief as he saw something.

"We are finally getting close to the orb, we just need to go a little further." They decided to hurry along at a quiet pace. Rounding just a few more corners they came to a large room. Domed in shape with a pedestal in the center with an orange orb. It was surrounded by a magic circle that would slowly rotate counter clockwise along the ground.

"There it is!" Chase said as they hurried over to it. But stopping just outside the circle, "Argh! This cursed circle is a protective barrier prevents anyone from going through it." Cyrus looked at the circle and inspected the symbols and runes. As he went to touch it it felt like a solid wall and a screen popped up.

[Would you like to take down the barrier protecting the Orb of the Bull?]

Out loud Cyrus said, "Yes!" The circle of magic started to dissolve, destroying the barrier as his hand went through. Chase looked at Cyrus amazed and shocked by what he did.

"How? The mage that created that circle of magic is a high court wizard! It couldn't have been so easy as to..." that is when they heard the sound of Taurus let out that roar. It was coming for them. Cyrus ran over and grabbed the orb. It vanished into his inventory and just as he removed it from the pedestal Taurus had managed to reach them.