The beast emerged from the crystal with a loud roar, allowing William and the others to take a good look at it. The creature was pure red in color, with a pair of meter-long twisted horns on its head that could easily rip someone to shreds.
Its expression was of pure fury, cursing the one that sealed its Cultivation and trapped it in a crystal for hundreds of years.
[Bestiary] Volcano Minotaur: +1 PP
The Minotaur sensed something and looked in William's direction. Its eyes showed a glimmer of intelligence, then it prepared a fireball in its mouth to counter the massive fireball William had launched.
William's giant fireball clashed with the Minotaur's, creating an explosion that rocked the cavern walls. The shockwave emerged, knocking the Cultivator Duo backward a few meters.
The Minotaur glared at William, not expecting him to launch such a powerful attack. It prepared three consecutive fireballs, launching the only spell it knew at William with great precision.
It didn't bother targeting Bernard and Grey, as it remembered the duo from the previous day. Even with its Cultivation reduced to the middle stages of the Golden Core Realm, they were no match.
William extinguished the fireballs with a spray of water, then increased the pressure of the Water Element to the maximum, cutting through one of the Minotaur's horns.
The Volcano Minotaur roared in pain and held its head as the right horn fell to the ground. Its eyes turned red and it started to bulk up, but William didn't give it the chance. The source of thɪs content is novel⟡fire.net
With another spray of high-pressure water, William sliced off the Minotaur's head, watching as its body touched both knees to the ground and fell forward without another noise.
-Defeated a Volcano Minotaur: +6 PP
Bernard looked at William with wide eyes. He made it look so easy! If I hadn't fought the Volcano Minotaur before, I would have thought it was a pushover!
Grey was also surprised, but mostly impressed. He had used the Water Element against the Volcano Minotaur before, but its flames greatly surpassed the strength of his Water Magic. William was different. His Affinity must already be C Rank, or maybe he was a Manamatus and it's B Rank!
Grey wasn't wrong, William's Water Affinity was currently C Rank, but the Celestial Manamatus Title made it almost as strong as A Rank Water Magic. Not only that, but his Beast Slayer Title made him do more damage to Magical Beasts, stacking the effects quite well.
A few moments passed, but there was no pedestal raising from the floor, nor was there a mysterious voice. William was confused, but Bernard and Grey knew exactly what this meant.
"The trial isn't over!" they shouted to William in unison as a high-speed spray of water closed in on William's position.
Their shout brought William back into battle mode, noticing the water closing in on his position. He chose not to dodge, calling Mana of the Earth Element to his fingertips while the water splashed harmlessly off his Forcefield.
He looked at his opponent, a deep blue Minotaur with horns curved in reverse.
[Bestiary] Ocean Minotaur: +1 PP
Let me guess, I have to fight one for each Element.
William sighed. This trial was too cheesy for his tastes. He would rather be fighting a thousand Core Formation Beasts than one Golden Core at a time. At least that was more Potential Points!
He spread salt over the floor of the caverns, then waited for the Ocean Minotaur to launch a water-based attack. He didn't have to wait long, as it conjured another ball of Water Mana to its mouth and prepared to fire.
William raised a wall of Earth in front of him, deflecting the water and causing it to spread on the ground. He flooded the area with some Water Mana of his own, then used the Lightning Element to burn the Ocean Minotaur to a crisp.
-Defeated an Ocean Minotaur: +6 PP
Another one down. Alright, who's next?
William looked at the pair of Cultivators who were standing idle while he fought. "Are you two just going to watch me or are you going to help?"
Bernard and Grey felt awkward. William's words weren't wrong, they were very useless right now.
"We aren't even on the same side! It was your choice for entering the trial!" Grey shouted.
"Oh, we aren't? In that case I should just kill you now, right?" William's words made the duo turn pale.
"No of course we're on the same side, right Grey?" Bernard quickly said while Grey nodded quickly. If William could kill multiple Peak Golden Core Minotaurs with such ease, he would definitely have no problem killing the duo that weren't even from a renowned Sect.
William dropped the matter. He wasn't willing to lose Humanity over this pair, who were obviously no threat to him. As long as they didn't see anything they weren't supposed to, William didn't mind the added difficulty of the trial. He could use this as Elemental training.
Two Minotaurs spawned.
[Bestiary] Air Minotaur: +1 PP
[Bestiary] Ground Minotaur: +1 PP
He tried using the high-pressure water to cut off their heads like the Volcano Minotaur, but he only managed to kill the Ground Minotaur. His attack didn't land on the Air Minotaur the first time, and a successful second attempt only sliced through a small portion of its skin.
It seemed the other two Minotaurs were weak to his Water Element, but the Wind-based Air Minotaur was a bit more resistant. He switched Elements, finding Lightning Magic to be more effective.
It seems the Wind Element makes them a flying-type, huh? William joked. He wondered if using the Ice Element would also be effective, much like a game he used to play.
He tried it out, calling some Ice Mana to his fingertips and launching an Ice Spike at the Air Minotaur. The Minotaur responded in kind by unleashing a series of Wind Blades that cut the Ice Spikes in half. They fell to the ground harmlessly, but William used the opportunity to create a giant fireball that burned the Minotaur to a crisp.
Eh, who cares about type effectiveness when you can just throw another fireball?
-Defeated an Air Minotaur: +6 PP
Another 12 Potential Points in his pocket, William was ready for more. The earnings were low, but he couldn't complain. It was better than in the Sect when he would only gain Potential Points when he won competitions or created new spells. This was a lot less work.
"Can you two actually do something now? There will probably be three of them soon, and I can't fight them by myself." William called out to the pair of Cultivators nearby.
Actually, he could fight all of them himself, but that would require revealing even more abilities than he already had. He could tell by Bernard's expression that it wasn't the greatest idea to reveal his Ice Element, the sixth one he had shown so far.
Grey nodded silently, "I can create Intermediate Arrays. Will that be enough?"
"Then get to work. I need a hundred Confinement Arrays on that position." William pointed to the area where the Minotaurs spawned every time.