The drive went peacefully, albeit with the intermittent appearance of demons along the way.

Of course, with an Elite Witch squad with him, the monsters didn't even last a second before keeling over and dying.

Although Axel felt that the bodies of the monsters being left behind were wasted, it wasn't like he was strapped for cash anyway. Thus, he could swallow his desire to rush out and collect every penny he could scavenge.

Right then, Rosaria spoke from the passenger seat, holding the map.

"We're entering the Red Zone now. Everyone, keep a watchful gaze in all directions."

"Yes!"

The Red Zone was the area of land outside the witches' control at present. There, monsters could appear anytime, anywhere. Even though they weren't sure how it was happening, they could only adapt to the situation as fast as they could.

Nina kept an eye forward and to the left.

Mimika watched the front-right.

The same went for the rest, keeping an eye on the other windows, the back, and even on the circular opening at the ceiling—the peephole where, normally, a military Humvee would have a machine gun installed.

[Oh? A big one is spawning straight ahead. Contractor, I suggest you swerve out of the way or stop the car.]

Navi's words quickly made Axel pull the steering wheel and stomp on the brake.

"Kyaah!"

The witches screamed in surprise, grabbing those beside them or the seats they were on.

The car came to a sudden stop after spinning for a while. And to the right of the car—the place that had been ahead of them—a large mass of black particles quickly congregated and formed a shape.

A shape that was roughly four meters tall!

"MOOOO!"

The monster roared as it came to life.

All the witches saw what appeared and couldn't believe their eyes. Even Axel was quite surprised at its sudden appearance, despite Navi's warning. "Minotaur… A minotaur spawned!" He shouted.

But what surprised him wasn't the appearance of a familiar folklore beast. Rather, it was the stat panel that he unconsciously checked.

[

Minotaur's Basic Stats:

Strength: 180 (A)

Vitality: 164 (A)

Agility: 88 (B-)

Speed: 20 (E-)

Dexterity: 10 (F-)

Luck: 0 (G)

Intelligence: 20 (E-)

Wisdom: 35 (E+)

Health: 5,920

Mana: 92

]

A strength rating of 180!

In short, this monster was at least five times stronger than Axel.

"C-Cast your curses!"

Nina, snapping back to her senses, roared in command.

At that point, Axel felt a chill run down his spine. He couldn't explain what danger it was, but he stepped on the gas as soon as he could, causing the wheels to spin wildly.

The next moment, the Minotaur's body shot forward and slammed the giant axe it held down over where the Humvee had been a moment earlier. Red earth cracked, and rocks shattered, scattering like birdshot over a wide area. Some even hit and scratched the Humvee's paint job!

"Kuh!"

Axel gritted his teeth and focused on driving around.

The girls, on the other hand, continued casting their curses.

Death Curse, Slow, Blind, and other hexes rained over the monster. However, it didn't budge, as if it were immune to all of it.

"Fuck! Again?!"

Axel cursed, thinking that it had one of his Substitute Dolls once more. However—

[No? Minotaurs have relatively high resistance to spells and curses. That's all~!]

Navi denied it, as if reading his mind.

"Then that's a fucking boss monster!" He cursed once again. "Girls, don't bother with weak curses. The minotaur seems resistant to them! Try more powerful ones!"

"W-We have ritual curses!" Nina recommended as she held onto the car's door. "That should be able to bypass most of the enemy's resistances!"

"Good! Then do that! I'll buy you time!"

Of course, despite his confident voice, what he claimed was hard to achieve.

"MMOOOOOH!!!"

In a single moment, the Minotaur caught up and slammed its axe down once more. Axel swerved to the side in panic, dodging the attack, but almost sending a few witches flying out the window.

"I'm closing the windows!" Axel shouted. "Hold on!"

After waiting a moment, he pressed the button, rolling all the windows up. Even the ceiling was closed, ensuring that no witches would get sent flying outside by mistake, no matter how bumpy their ride is.

The girls themselves weren't paying attention, however.

They were all busy chanting in unison, chaining words that Axel couldn't understand. One thing he was sure of was that it would take a while longer to finish.

Axel lowered the gear, accelerating once more.

However, the top speed of the car was still no match for the Minotaur with 20 Speed. Adding how tall it was, it could catch up to the Humvee in just a few steps. Realizing this, Axel didn't just drive straight but made their path unpredictable.

Swerving left and right, going around, straight—whatever it was, as long as he could keep the distance between them constant.

Thankfully, the Minotaur needed to halt its movements every time it had to turn. It was brief, but a pause Axel could take advantage of nonetheless.

Just as his arms were getting numb from power steering—

"...Rekta Pris Gaunt Helika Juris! Curse of Hell's Punishment, Sixth Circle, Open!"

Together, they chanted the last few words, all their staves pointing at the Minotaur behind.

"Sixth Circle of Heresy: Flaming Coffin!"

At the end of their words, a mystical phenomenon occurred.

The dark skies went even darker as the winds blew strongly. The Minotaur's movements dulled as it came to a mysterious stop, as if its body were held by invisible hands.

Then, from behind it, a gigantic, ominous coffin began to materialize. It was at least twice the size of the monster and seemingly made of hard stone. On its surface, carvings depicting people suffering in eternal flames were drawn.

"M-MOOOO!"

The Minotaur resisted, but it was futile.

Even with high resistance, it couldn't withstand the highest level of curses—the Curses of Hell.

The giant coffin slowly opened, revealing its contents: a flaming hell, burning with blue flames that devoured even souls.

As soon as the coffin opened, a change occurred. Even from hundreds of meters away and inside the Humvee, Axel felt the heat wash over his skin, almost as if he were standing naked beside a boiler!

The Minotaur struggled violently, waving its axe and clawing the ground. It did all it could to escape, but soon enough, the coffin embraced the monster before rapidly closing with a loud thump.

"..."

The coffin stayed still right after.

Axel couldn't tell what happened inside, but it couldn't have survived.

"I-It's… dead…" Nina spoke with a faint smile, seeing the coffin turn into dust and vanish.

However, Axel wasn't stoked.

Looking around, everyone was tired beyond reason already.

'Just one monster, and we're already at our limits. It'd be difficult to reach the fortress at this rate…' he thought.

'For our survival, I… have to strengthen them up first!'

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