The mutated orange portal churned violently in the middle of the plaza, casting a harsh, unnatural glow over the shattered buildings.
The towering eight-foot-tall beast let out a deep, gut-wrenching roar that rattled the windows of nearby storefronts.
It was a Feral Minotaur, its dark purple veins throbbing against blood-red muscle mass.
Unlike the mindless Iron-Horned Bulls that simply charged forward in straight lines, this creature’s burning red eyes scanned the plaza with unsettling awareness.
Ferals had a certain amount of intelligence. Not enough to outsmart humans, but enough to hunt more efficiently than ordinary monsters.
Oscar stood on the two-story balcony of the flower shop, his crossbow already loaded. He did not waste time staring. Aiming straight at the beast’s skull, he pulled the trigger.
SHOOO!
The black iron bolt tore through the dusty air, guided with flawless precision toward the creature’s left eye socket.
CLANG!
A sharp metallic sound echoed across the street. Sparks flew into the air as the bolt struck the creature’s forehead.
Instead of sinking deep into its brain, the arrow shattered into pieces, barely leaving a tiny white scratch on the monster’s thick gray hide.
The Feral Minotaur did not even flinch. It slowly turned its massive bull head toward the balcony, its crimson eyes locking directly onto Oscar’s position thirty meters away.
’Shit,’ Oscar thought, his eyes widening slightly. ’Its raw defense is way too high. Ordinary iron bolts can’t penetrate its hide.’
Before Oscar could load another bolt, the beast bent down with horrifying agility. Its massive clawed hand scooped a small, jagged piece of cracked pavement tile from the ground.
The rock was no bigger than a golf ball in its giant palm.
Oscar almost felt like laughing at the sight. Throwing a tiny pebble from thirty meters away? What a stupid creature.
However, the moment the Feral Minotaur whipped its arm forward, the air whistled with a violent, deafening screech.
The small pebble tore through the air, expanding rapidly as it closed the distance.
By the time it crossed twenty meters, the tiny stone had enlarged into a massive, heavy boulder the size of a compact sedan.
"What the fuck!" Oscar yelled, his instincts screaming at him.
He dumped all his agility into a desperate side dive, leaping off the edge of the flower shop balcony just as the giant stone arrived.
BOOM!
The boulder smashed into the second-story building with explosive force. Stone bricks, shattered glass, and wooden beams disintegrated into flying shrapnel.
The sheer shockwave of the impact slammed into Oscar mid-air, throwing his body violently across the street.
He hit the asphalt hard, rolling three times before crashing against the metal tire of a parked electric bus.
"Cough!"
Oscar spat out a mouthful of dark blood, clutching his ribs as a sharp pain flared through his chest. His coat was torn, and dust covered his arms.
-5 HP
’Holy fuck. Don’t tell me I will die if it reaches 0.’
[Affirmative.]
’Damn.’
He should invest a few free points into constitution. He didn’t want to die in one shot. Still, how had the pebble enlarged its size?
’What kind of bullshit move was that?’ Oscar groaned, wiping the blood from his chin as he pushed himself up against the bus. ’A pebble turning into a flying boulder?’
[Warning: Feral-tier monsters and above possess active Traits, similar to Hosts.]
’Ah, fuck me,’ Oscar cursed under his breath, grimacing as he took a deep breath to stabilize his chest.
Before he could process his physical pain, a system interface screen flared with a glowing golden border, hovering right in the center of his vision.
[System Quest Triggered!]
[Quest Objective: Subdue the Feral Minotaur.]
[Path to objective: Dominate the target through its highest attribute.]
[Quest Reward: 2,000 Evolution Points (EP).]
Oscar stared at the quest description, his mind working fast.
This was the exact same quest structure he had encountered when dealing with Brad.
But there was a critical difference. When he fought Brad, he could choose to ban any of the attributes.
Here, the system explicitly demanded that he dominate the Feral Minotaur through the monster’s own superior attribute.
To break a monster’s innate resistance, he had to beat it at its own game.
’System, scan the beast’s attributes!’ Oscar commanded internally.
A fast diagnostic panel opened up, analyzing the dark purple aura radiating from the distant Feral Minotaur.
[Target: Feral Minotaur (Bronze Rank)]
Trait: Enlarge
Highest Attribute: Intelligence
[Target Intelligence Stat: 14]
Oscar stared at the number in complete disbelief.
"Intelligence?!" Oscar nearly shouted aloud. "It’s a giant, bloodthirsty bull monster! How the hell is its highest stat Intelligence?!"
What kind of absurd, twisted luck was this? He was worried for a moment that it would be strength or constitution.
If that were either, he would have no choice but to abandon the quest and flee the area. But now...
Oscar checked his own Intelligence stats.
[Name: Oscar]
[Level: 10]
[Intelligence: 12]
[Unassigned Stat Points: 5]
He had accumulated five unassigned stat points from leveling up five times during his bow massacre earlier.
Since reaching Level 10 gave one point per level up, he had sat on them until now.
His Intelligence was 12, while the Feral Minotaur’s Intelligence was 14. The monster was precisely two points ahead of him.
’Allocating points now,’ Oscar thought without hesitation. ’Put three points into Intelligence!’
[Command Received.]
[3 Unassigned Stat Points allocated to Intelligence.]
[Current Intelligence: 15]
A cool, sharp sensation washed over Oscar’s brain, instantly clearing the fog of physical pain from his cracked ribs.
His perception of the battlefield broadened dramatically. His Aimbot lock-on range expanded from thirty meters to thirty-seven meters in an instant, and the chaotic movement of dust and debris in the street seemed to slow down in his vision.
Now, his Intelligence stat was 15, surpassing the Feral Minotaur’s 14.
’Hehe. System, let’s ban...’
Across the street, the Feral Minotaur had just grabbed another jagged piece of stone from the pavement, preparing to throw another lethal boulder toward him.
Suddenly, the monster froze mid-motion. Its dark purple veins flared violently, and its red eyes widened in confusion, then panic.
[Target Trait Override Successful!]
[Host has gained temporary control over Target’s physical parameters.]
Oscar felt a subtle mental tether connect his mind directly to the monster’s neural network, similar to how he stripped Brad’s defensive buffs earlier.
The Feral Minotaur tried desperately to flex its muscles and raise its arm, but its body completely refused to obey its brain.
’Lower all bodily defenses,’ Oscar commanded through the tether, his eyes cold as ice. ’Disable hide reinforcement. Set defensive output to zero.’
The dark purple light pulsing across the monster’s skin instantly vanished.
The thick gray armor plates covering its throat and head softened, losing their metallic sheen and returning to basic, unprotected flesh.
The beast let out a low, pathetic whimper, stuck entirely in place like an immovable statue.
Oscar stepped out from behind the electric bus. He raised his Ironbite Crossbow with a steady left hand, his right hand pulling the heavy string back and seating a dark iron bolt into the track.
The Feral Minotaur could only watch in terror as the small human walked calmly into firing range.
SHOOO!
The crossbow string snapped forward. The iron bolt whistled through the air, traveling in a razor-straight trajectory guided by the absolute precision of his Aimbot.
SPLAT!
Without its hardened defense trait active, the iron bolt sank completely into the creature’s left eye socket, punching straight through bone and shredding its brain core.
The eight-foot-tall Feral Minotaur stiffened for a second, then collapsed forward like a felled tree, its giant head smashing hard into the stone pavement with a loud crash.
Dark blood pooled quickly around its skull, staining the cracked road.
A cascade of golden and blue system screens immediately flooded Oscar’s vision.
[Feral Minotaur Killed!]
[Experience Gained: +200 EXP]
[Note: Max level reached for Class change. Gained EXP will be banked until Class Awakening is completed.]
[Unique Class Quest Progress Updated!]
[Requirement: Kill 10 Feral-tier monsters in one shot without taking damage.]
[Current Progress: 1 / 10]
[System Quest Completed: Subdue the Feral Minotaur!]
[Quest Reward Granted: +2,000 Energy Points (EP)]
[Current EP Balance: 2,500 EP]