Hitman with a Badass System

1219 Legendary Minotaur II

As Michael and Gaya cautiously navigated the maze, Silvaris's voice once again filled the space around them, echoing off the walls with a mocking tone.

"You know, the Minotaur is not just any beast. It's an ancient one, feared even by the gods. It can crush gods and suck their souls, just like the other ancient beasts," Silvaris's voice taunted them from the unseen speakers.

"Even the mighty gods have those they fear, those stronger than themselves. The gods don't dare cross paths with the ancient beasts. It's always amusing to see that everyone, even the so-called omnipotent gods, has someone they're afraid of." He continued, his tone dripping with disdain for the gods.

Hearing him, Gaya just rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath. "Great, a soul-sucking, god-crushing monster. Just what we needed." Her voice carried a mix of sarcasm and frustration.

Silvaris laughed, a sound that seemed to reverberate throughout the entire maze. "You should consider yourselves lucky. Not many get the chance to meet a creature as magnificent and terrifying as a Minotaur. Enjoy your encounter, if you survive, that is."

"Shut up, Silvaris! Your mind games aren't going to work on us," Gaya shouted back, her voice laced with irritation. "We'll deal with your Minotaur and then come for you."

Despite her anger outburst, Silvaris's voice continued to ring out, filled with arrogance and self-admiration. "Do you ever wonder how I managed to trap a Minotaur in this maze?" Silvaris boasted, his tone oozing arrogance. "After all, I am the greatest thief there ever was."

Growing increasingly annoyed with Silvaris's persistent taunting, Gaya couldn't help but respond. "I hate this fucking clown constantly in our ears," she grumbled, her voice tinged with vexation.

"Think again," Silvaris prodded, enjoying the game of wits.

Gaya sighed, her patience wearing thin. "I don't know, you must have built this damn maze around its lair or something," she guessed, trying to piece together the puzzle Silvaris was laying out.

Her response seemed to amuse Silvaris, who let out a chuckle that reverberated ominously around them. Meanwhile, Michael stayed focused on navigating the maze, his senses alert for any signs of the Minotaur or further traps. He knew that getting caught up in Silvaris's mind games could be distracting, and they needed to remain vigilant and ready for whatever challenges lay ahead.

"Good guess, but wrong," Silvaris's laughter echoed through the maze once again. He then revealed the true origin of the Minotaur in his maze. As the Goddess of Monsters, Gaya reacted with immediate anger and disgust. Her voice was filled with a mix of outrage and disdain for Silvaris's cruel actions. The idea of someone stealing and manipulating a creature in such a way was abhorrent to her.

"You sick fucking bastard. If you were still alive, I'd hunt you down to the ends of the world for this." She spat out, clenching her fist tightly.

However, Silvaris's response was only another round of laughter, showing no remorse for his actions. "Fun fact about Minotaurs, they fiercely protect the place they grow up in and kill anyone who dares to intervene. And that's exactly what you are doing right now."

The revelations from Silvaris, though infuriating, provided valuable insights into what they were up against. The Minotaur was more than a mere ancient beast. Rather, it was a creature with a deep connection to its surroundings, making it an even more formidable opponent.

"Please tell me you have a plan to kill it when it comes barging through the walls any second now," Gaya whispered to Michael after Silvaris's voice faded away.

Michael's expression grew contemplative as Gaya's whisper reached him, asking about a plan for when the Minotaur would inevitably confront them.

"It's an ancient beast. That complicates things," he admitted, his brow furrowing. His mind flashed back to his encounter with an ancient centipede in the Celestial Valley. There, he had used a swarm to overpower and kill the creature, obtaining its collarbone to craft the God Slayer. But here, in the depths of Silvaris's maze, there were no swarms to exploit, no environmental advantages to leverage against the Minotaur.

"There's a reason why gods don't mess with ancient beasts," Michael added, his tone indicating the gravity of their situation.

"If I had entered my godhood, I could have done something." Gaya, reflecting on her own potential, said with a tinge of regret.

Michael sensed the truth in her words. As the Goddess of Monsters, Gaya would likely have some influence over such creatures, yet her powers were still dormant, locked away until she ascended to her rightful status.

Deep down, Michael knew that even if Gaya had achieved godhood, controlling an ancient beast like the Minotaur would require her to reach higher levels of Godhood, something she was yet to attain.

Faced with these realities, Michael realized they had to rely on his strategic thinking and the system's capabilities to overcome the Minotaur. As Michael and Gaya continued their cautious advance through the maze, the tremors under their feet grew stronger, and the sound of the Minotaur's mooing intensified. "I think we're getting closer to it," Gaya noted, her voice tinged with a mix of apprehension and readiness.

Just then, Silvaris's voice echoed once more through the maze, carrying a tone of amusement mixed with disdain. "There's little chance you could even harm the Minotaur without the rest of the adventurers and their idiocy," he taunted.

His voice paused for a brief moment before adding, "Unless, of course, there are gods in this maze. And those gods might be you two."

"How the fuck did he guess that?"

"Darling, you underestimate me and my knowledge of gods," Gaya, taken aback by his deduction, couldn't help but retort. He then began to explain, his voice dripping with contempt for the divine beings.

"Gods are the greediest creatures of all. They wouldn't stand aside, knowing the vault of the greatest thief has been opened. They steal worship energy, and just like that, they'd steal valuables too. Their greed knows no bounds."

As Silvaris continued, his hatred for the gods became evident. "They parade around, claiming to be benevolent and just, but at their core, they're nothing but thieves, hoarding power and treasures for themselves." he said before going silent for a few moments.

"As for how I knew you are gods, it was a simple guess after noticing those black flames of yours. Even as a mere sliver of a soul, a great thief like me recognized them as the Dark Flames, a primordial flame."

Michael, who had remained silent and unresponsive to Silvaris's provocations, finally spoke up. "Then you must know who I am and what god I am," he said, his voice calm yet carrying an underlying sharpness.

Finally, Silvaris's laughter, which had been echoing through the maze with an air of mockery, shifted to a more serious tone. "Yes, I know who you are, God of Darkness. And if you are the God of Darkness, then the lovely lady beside you must be the Goddess of Monsters, Gaya."

The revelation that Silvaris had deduced their identities didn't seem to surprise Michael or Gaya, but it did affirm the level of insight and cunning the thief possessed. It was clear that Silvaris, even in his diminished form, was a formidable figure, one who had managed to gather significant knowledge about the gods and their powers.

"Looks like our cover is blown," she remarked with annoyance.

"But there are things that even the primordial flames like your Dark Flames cannot hurt, especially when your flames are still at their weakest form," he explained with a tone that mixed information with taunting.

"Minotaurs, along with many other ancient beasts, are resistant to even primordial flames. So if you think you can just burn it down, you're out of luck." Silvaris continued.

"I'd love to see you try, though. It's always entertaining to watch gods struggle against something they can't just incinerate." His words carried a mocking edge.

As they were listening to his taunts and moving forward, the ground beneath them suddenly trembled more violently, and cracks began to spiderweb across a nearby wall. The growing intensity of the tremors signaled that the Minotaur was drawing nearer.

Silvaris's voice echoed one final time, the anticipation in his tone palpable. "Now, it's time for you to meet my beauty."

Michael and Gaya braced themselves, aware that they were about to come face to face with the Minotaur. As the walls around them began to tremble violently, Michael quickly moved before Gaya. "Stay back," Michael said and prepared to enter the system interface to search for a strategy to defeat the Minotaur.

The walls before them shook with such intensity that it seemed as if something colossal was banging against them from the other side, creating an expanding network of cracks. Dust and small debris began to fall from the ceiling, adding to the growing sense of impending danger.

"Holy shit, this thing's gonna bring the whole place down!" Gaya exclaimed, her eyes fixed on the increasingly unstable wall.

Then, as abruptly as it had started, the tremor and the shaking stopped, leaving an eerie silence in their wake. "Any second now, that wall's going to explode, and that beast is going to come charging through." Gaya predicted.

Then, they waited with their muscles coiled in anticipation. After a few seemingly interminable moments, Gaya began to doubt her prediction. "Am I wrong?" she started to say, but before she could finish, the wall before them erupted in a shower of stone and dust.

Through the gaping hole in the wall stepped the Minotaur, a towering and terrifying sight. It stood massively tall, its muscular body covered in coarse, dark fur. Its eyes glowed with a menacing red light, and its horns, large and sharp, seemed capable of impaling even the sturdiest of foes. The Minotaur snorted, its breath visible in the air, and its every move radiated primal power and ferocity.

"Fuck, it's huge." Gaya couldn't help but raise her voice upon seeing the beast in all its terrifying glory.