Ffyr flew fast and deployed a curtain of fire between Faralynn, who was lying down on the floor, and the minotaur with the shield who was walking towards her in an effort to protect the elf.

Matthew used the Anesthesia skill on himself to numb the pain on his belly. He held fast the spear inside of him not allowing the minotaur to pull it off. Using all his strength, Matthew stabbed the minotaur holding the spear on the neck with his flaming sword. Soon the miasma around him started to infect he minotaur's wound and it fell to the ground gasping for air.

When Matthew got up, he was hit on the chest by an arrow that made him take a step back, but it wasn't strong enough to pierce his armor. The minotaur with the halberd took the opportunity to pierce Matthew's belly on the side with the tip of its weapon.

Matthew felt nothing. Not even the blood running out of his wound. He used the same strategy, hold tight his opponent's weapon, keeping it in place, and attack with his other hand.

This time, however, that minotaur let go of his own weapon and took a leap back avoid Matthew's slash aimed to take off its head.

Meanwhile, Ffyr used all her power to keep the other two minotaurs at bay. The minotaur with the shield hid himself behind his shield to ward off the fairy's fire. The other one, the one with the swords, had its face completely burned by Ffyr's fireballs. It was just waiting an opportunity to charge forward against the Fey.

Matthew took a look around and dodged another arrow that flew at him. The minotaur with the spear fell to its knees on the floor holding its burning neck and soon after disappeared in a mist of mana. The other minotaur in front of him was now unarmed with its fists up waiting for a chance to recover its weapon that was laying on the ground next to the spear. Matthew had two bleeding holes on his belly. He knew he needed healing soon or he'd bleed to death.

Faralynn, tried her best to stand up. She drank a healing potion and poured some on the wound on her leg. She looked at Ffyr who kept the minotaurs away from her with her fire spells. But the fairy's movements were slow now. She was running out of mana.

The elf looked at Matthew surrounded by the black mist of the unholy mana. He was bleeding heavily. There wasn't much she could do at that state. But she needed to do something. And it was then that she saw. She had leveled up. Matthew's kill gave her enough XP to level up.

She quickly picked up a level in Mage and the Skill Project Mana. She also put all her free points into the Magic Attribute. That would give her a weapon to help the other two.

She never trained how to cast a Magic Missile, but she already had the Solidify Mana skill. With that and Project Mana she was able to cast that spell. Even as a beginner, it was better than just stand around doing nothing.

Faralynn gathered Mana on her hand, made it solid and projected it at full speed towards the foot of the minotaur with the shield who was slowly getting close while Ffyr's fire was starting to get weaker.

The unexpected projectile hit its base foot making its hoof slide on the stone floor. The minotaur fell head first on the floor. That's when Ffyr took the opportunity and poured all her remaining mana into a fireball and exploded the minotaur's back making it disappear in a mist of mana.

The minotaur with the swords didn't waste time. As soon as Ffyr dropped from the air to the floor unconscious because of lack of mana, it jumped forward to slice the fairy in half. It's sword came down swiftly, but it stopped short of hitting its target.

Faralynn projected a small mana shield around Ffyr protecting her from the blow. The minotaur gave another strike, but Faralynn kept the shield up. However, the elf's low level compared to her opponent meant it was only a matter of time before the shield she was maintaining would collapse.

Then another arrow flew and hit Faralynn on her armor making her fall back. It wasn't strong enough to harm Faralynn, but strong enough to make her lose focus. Ffyr was now unprotected.

The minotaur brought its sword down one more time and, shortly before it cleft the small fairy in twain, its hand was separated from its wrist leaving a burn mark in its place.

Matthew ignored the unarmed minotaur and ran at full speed back to protect his familiar and his friend. The minotaur with the swords screamed in pain by the loss of its hand, but not for long. Matthew plunged his flaming sword in its head setting it ablaze before the minotaur vanished in a cloud of mana.

The sight reminded him of when the Dullahan burnt Harlynn's head, one of the elves that tried to kidnap Faralynn in the Tower of the Dead. Blue flames, or unholy flames, was the conjunction of Fire Mana and Unholy Mana. Two skills that Matthew could use thanks to Ffyr and to his Spirit Magic skill.

The minotaur Matthew left behind armed itself with his halberd again, while the archer tried to hit Matthew again with an arrow, but missing him.

"Ffyr. Can you hear me? Go inside the necklace, you'll be safe in there." Matthew said picking his familiar from the ground.

"Ok…" Ffyr said weakly extending her hand to touch the necklace and possess it.

With Ffyr inside the necklace, Matthew could use his Healing Totem skill healing himself and Faralynn at the same time.

"Can you move?" He asked Faralynn while the two minotaurs approached them slowly reconsidering their strategy.

"Yeah, but my leg is busted. It didn't heal properly." She said forcing herself up again. Her skin starting to be affected by the miasma surrounding Matthew.

Matthew gave her one his guns and drew the other.

"Shoot them." He said at the same moment another arrow flew towards them.

That arrow got him on the arm, but he felt nothing thanks to the Anesthesia skill.

The minotaur with the halberd charged them being met with bullets that weren't strong enough to pierce its Vital Shield.

Matthew then jumped forward to meet the minotaur before it got in range to harm Faralynn.

"Keep the archer busy!" Matthew screamed while his sword met the minotaur's halberd in the air.

Faralynn started shooting the archer making it shoot arrows back at her.

Matthew engaged the minotaur in melee combat.

For a while, they were all evenly matched. But that's when Matthew covered his sword in both unholy mana and fire mana making it glow with blue flames. He knew that a simple scratch with those flames was enough to deal massive damage to a monster.

Unholy flames could only be dispelled by being purified. He was sure none of those two had that skill. Soon the minotaur with the halberd was being engulfed in blue flames by every scratch Matthew gave him during their fight.

That was enough to give him the edge and, with a swift step forward, plunge his sword on the minotaur's chest and make it disappear in a cloud of mist.

Faralynn was out of bullets by now, and was using a solid shield of mana to protect herself from the archer's arrows.

It didn't last long. Matthew was soon over the archer who tried to defend itself from his attacks with its knife. But the archer was much weaker than the other minotaurs. Matthew took off its head with a large smile.

Faralynn fell to the floor with a loud relieved sigh.

"I can't believe we won." She said. "How's Ffyr, Matt?" She asked while Matthew walked towards her.

The red light on his left eye didn't go away. The way he looked at her gave her a cold shiver. He had a creepy smile and his eyes wandered around her body lasciviously.

"Matthew?" Faralynn called for him scared.

"What's the problem, Lynn?" He answered. "Don't you want to celebrate a little? Ffyr is fine, she's resting inside the necklace. It's just the two of us now."

"Matthew." Faralynn's voice went low. She reverted back to her commanding tone she used with Faynn sometimes. "Purify yourself. You're not thinking straight."

"I'm thinking straight enough." Matthew said taking her face on his hands. "I've been thinking about this ever since you kissed me in the hospital that night." He added rubbing her lips with his thumbs.

"Stop it, Matthew. I don't want it. Not like this." Faralynn said with seriously, but with tears starting to flood her eyes.

That was enough. The tears made Matthew come back to his senses. It was not just because she clearly liked him that he could do whatever he wanted with her. "Not like this." He said to himself.

"I'm sorry, Lynn…" Matthew said with a remorseful expression as the Purification light took over his body. "Please forgive me."

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