The Demon, Taurus

Taurus stood at the entrance of the dome and panted. It looked in their direction and slowly started to approach. Chase brought up his fists in a form of stance like mixed martial arts fighter. While Cyrus drew his blade which increased his STR and INT to 12 (6). Having balanced stats was a good accident for him. Since his abilities were still halved, he had to be careful. Chase called out to Taurus.

"Taurus, you don't want this fight, you will fall to our combined strength." Taurus just huffed and stood to his maximum height of 12 feet tall. Every one of his steps sent ripples through the ground around his hooves. Getting hit by him would possibly be instant death.

Taurus snorted and spread out his arms wide, making his hands like big nets to catch them. Cyrus knew he had to think of something to avoid the attack or even deal good damage to the brute. 'The question is if my blade will even hurt him.' Cyrus thought before getting into a low stance.

He thought about summoning Fenrir with his larger body. But he risked having Fenrir hurt or potentially killed. Chase saw Cyrus hesitating to use his powers, 'Maybe he thinking of how to best tackle Taurus.' Which he wouldn't be wrong in that assumption for Cyrus was thinking about using the Skill Crystal in his inventory and hope it gave two points or three points. For it seemed like a random chance when he examined the Skill Crystal when he obtained it.

Taurus snorted and stomped his left hoof dragging it back kicking rubble behind him. Both Cyrus and Chase knew he was getting ready to charge. With the orb removed, Taurus wasn't as fast to zoom the entire maze several times over like before. Cyrus needed Fenrir's help, he also wanted to summon the Hatchling, but it was still weak and hadn't evolved yet.

Fenrir was summoned, bursting forth from the purple flames that called him to the world. Seeing the large demon bull in front of him, he decided to transform into the bipedal werewolf form. This allowed more freedom of movement and claws to grip and move with. Standing over Cyrus he growled and got ready to attack. That is when Taurus released a puff of air and rushed forward.

The massive wingspan of Taurus made it difficult for Cyrus to avoid if he wanted to run to the side and dodge out of the way. But instead of trying to run, he decided to dash forward. His stats may be no match for Taurus when it comes to that obscene strength it has. But had to meet him head on or else he would be caught by his hands or arms. Even if he were to jump over there little guarantee he would actually make it over.

As Taurus and Cyrus neared each other, Fenrir and Chase circled to the side. They both didn't have a problem with their speed. Just before Taurus began to close his arms, Cyrus had prepared to use the Devouring Chain. Entering a sliding motion near Taurus' large head and horns, barely able to fit under that massive body and large hooves. As Taurus charged past he used the chain to latch onto the bull's back. Gaining his 2 CEP from it attaching to Taurus, he activated his Enhance (Focus) to his muscles. It didn't have an effect to explain why his stats weren't impacted for it seemed to be from his training with his mentor, but he could feel his muscles react and double his normal strength. But it did have an interesting effect.

[STR: 24 (12) for 1 Minute, all damage is doubled While Enhance (Focus) is active!]

[DEX: 18 (9)]

[STM: 18 (9)]

[INT: 24 (12)]

The moment he slashed the Withered Dragon Sword against Taurus' skin. Splatters of blood had quickly stopped as it was cauterized from the fire damage. Having left a deep wound on Taurus' back had caused him to forget how far he was going and charged right into a wall. Before they impacted the wall, Cyrus had leapt off Taurus and landed not too far away. The sound of the bull's horns jamming right into the wall and the resounding grunts and groans from the pain on his back and the discomfort from being stuck.

Chase looked at the moment Cyrus had damaged Taurus, for an attack to slash through his toughest muscles on his upper body was impressive. However, Taurus began to slowly stitch his wounds closed. Cyrus groaned, but Chase knew that the damage remained, it was more to prevent continuous damage on Taurus' body. As Taurus struggled to remove his horns from the wall Chase had went forward and slashed at the back of the bull's knees.

This caused Taurus to stumble and had difficulty standing. Chase didn't want him getting up for the moment so he could have a word with Cyrus. Walking over to him Chase began to speak, "Don't worry, your damage is still there and it effected him pretty bad. His body is just repairing the damage but not able recover the lost blood. The more he bleeds, the moment he can be defeated." Cyrus looked at Chase then to Taurus, wondering why this demon bull was named.

"He is not a bad creature is he?" Cyrus asked and Chase nodded his head.

"Taurus is a being trapped in this maze and the moment someone enters, he enters a rage. All except my father who keeps him company. So I would prefer we not kill him, but slow him down and tire him out." Chase looked at Taurus who was already healing from the two swipes the back of his knees. "I wouldn't want to kill him, if we can help it." Cyrus looked at Taurus who had finally broke out of his spot out of the wall. Turning towards the two men who were discussing how to defeat Taurus without killing him.

The easiest way to defeat Taurus was to kill him and be done with it, but the harder way was to bleed him out to wear him down. Which surprisingly a special quest had popped up.

[Quest: Spare the beast known as Taurus!]

[Reward: The Trust of a Vampire, a special item from the Vampire Vault, ???]

The moment he saw the quest, he knew it was a better option than killing Taurus. He looked towards Fenrir and knew the look he was receiving. With a sigh Fenrir stretched out his fingers and rushed in. Increasing his INT and STR from his Enhance allowed for all of Fenrir's attacks to be much stronger. All the attacks that done just as Taurus had turned were again to his legs. They were hard and strong from his size and powerful muscles. But the moment he was cut by Fenrir's claws it had left marks of dark blood.

Taurus went to swipe his large hand at Fenrir but missed as he used a Vanishing Step to avoid the attack. Then just as the momentum of Taurus' swing had finished, several new cuts had been done to his arm. It seemed like the cuts were deep from the sheer speed alone as Fenrir appeared near Cyrus and Chase. Fenrir's fur seemed to wave like as if a breeze had been gazing his fur. That is when Cyrus knew it was possible to wear Taurus out.

"I can make this promise to weaken but not kill Taurus, but I hope he himself will be grateful." Chase heard Cyrus say these words and a smile appeared on his face. Revealing his fangs, Chase then began to run forward, happy that someone was willing to do something so difficult. He had promised himself that he would reward Cyrus anything from the Vault, his trust and possible loyalty, and something else special.

But for the moment, they still needed to make sure they could bring Taurus down. With their buffs running low they decided to blitz Taurus with speed and power. He couldn't do the Vanishing Step like Fenrir, but they would make it hard for Taurus to get a bead on them. While Chase also came in and they would slowly bring down his HP. Which was a very large amount of almost 2000 max HP. However, the attacks from before and the ones chipping away at Taurus' massive health pool.

[Taurus' HP: 1832/2000]

More attacks were coming in and deal more chip damage, while Cyrus dealt with the massive hand situation.

[HP: 1341/2000]

Taurus was having trouble keeping up with Fenrir and Chase for a good 20 seconds. This was bad for Fenrir for his time limit was about up. They had to use up every ounce of time they had, for they needed to bring down his HP even further. Cyrus and Chase were seeing that he was slowing down, which was a good sign.

[HP: 957/2000]

This was when Fenrir's Vanishing Step had ended, he backed away and created some space to not get beaten by his slow moving hands. Cyrus had been getting tired striking Taurus, even Chase looked lightly winded. They however didn't want to stop, for Taurus was getting slower and slower.

"Grrrruuuugggghhhh..." Taurus let out a weak bellow as he stumbled with an attack. Cyrus had seen this and went in for a strike, connecting a good hit as he had just acquired a skill unlock with his weapon.

[Sword/Dagger Skill Unlocked!]

[Bleeding Edge lvl 1: Your attacks leave behind wounds that cause their blood to slowly drain from their body. Subtracting 1% of the target's total health every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Heavily armored individuals are more resistant to this attack.]

This is exactly what he needed right now. Cyrus dodged another slow attack from Taurus as he activated the new skill. His blade coated in a red energy as it landed on Taurus' hand. The cut wasn't deep or even threatening, but the effect had taken place. Taurus began to slowly lose his HP every two seconds.

[HP: 937/2000]

[HP: 917/2000]

Cyrus then hit him again and again with the same attack, the effect stacking only 3 times before maxing out. For he could notice the skill stopped working and not refreshing the count down until one timer had gone out.

[HP: 857/2000]

[HP: 797/2000]

[HP: 737/2000]

That is when Taurus had finally became woozy, swaying from side to side. The bleeding effect seemed to do it's job. For it seemed that the creature with the bigger the health had a worse bleeding effect. He wondered how it could be upgraded, or leveled up. Cyrus would have to discover it somehow if he wanted to use more abilities. Some skills didn't come with levels for they were just as is. But for something like his Bleeding Edge, he hoped he could upgrade it.

Taurus had finally collapsed to his knees, his body shaking from the blood loss. Cyrus and Chase stood over Taurus looking down at him. "Recover and get well Taurus, you don't deserve to die for you able to live thanks to Cyrus' choice. I would not have liked to kill you my friend, so please rest." Chase placed a hand on Taurus' head, having made the large bull close his eyes and fall flat on the ground.

Cyrus and Chase looked at one another and sighed with relief. The message of him completing the quest had gone through.

[New Objective: Follow Chase to Castle Galihath's Vault!]