Amy was quick to get her party into formation, even as she took into account the positions of the minotaurs. There were three of them, two female, the st one a futa, but they were all level thirty-five and armed with axes. Having the one on their fnk wasn’t ideal, but she’d pnned for this. Eri looked pretty excited, as she blocked the Futa Minotaur on the rear, trading several blows in quick succession, while in front Mara had locked down both attackers, giving Tammy the chance to score several gncing blows. None of which did anything more than score a few shallow cuts.

  Not that Amy would have expected more. Minotaurs were cssified as B-rank monsters, and the only reason they weren’t A-rank was due to their below-average magical abilities. Outside of reinforcement magic, they typically couldn’t do much but it didn’t really matter that much. Minotaurs were famous for their naturally tough skin, it was like living steel able to turn bdes and bounce arrows. Add in the reinforcement magic and the fact they commonly learned skills like nature’s embrace and you ended up with a race that was naturally hard to kill. Minotaurs were also physically imposing, in more ways than one.

  The image of that huge dick fshed unbidden in her mind, and she gulped. Why was she thinking about that? Question unanswered she pulled a specially selected arrow and nocked it in her bow, several orders already on her lips. A minotaur might not be an easy foe, but she had already had a pn in mind. If they couldn’t win in a single blow, she’d bring them down with a thousand cuts.

  Magic flowed from her hands and into her bow and arrow, the blunt tip began to glow an ominous green just seconds before she released it. With an audible crack it shot forward far faster than it had any right to, and then smmed into a minotaur, catching her in the shoulder mid-swing of her axe and hitting with the force of a boulder. Her axe swung wide as she staggered backwards, giving Mara a chance to counterattack. The Dwarf girl stepped in, her sword fshing thrice as it bit into the tough steely hide of the minotaur. Only for her fourth strike to be blocked by the other minotaur.

  Amy had expected that however, and was already nocking her next arrow. Her spell Force Arrow, was a powerful spell that added a significant amount of blunt force to every arrow and was particurly useful with blunted arrows. Its counterpart was Piercing Shot, which used magic to greatly improve the penetration of an arrow allowing it to go through armor that would have otherwise deflected it. Given her subcss of magic archer, she’d put a lot of practice into both, but for now she was going to save her more expensive arrows. In case she needed them against something tougher than these minotaurs. These were the first monsters they’d encountered, there was bound to be tougher foes deeper within this byrinth, best to save her best tricks for when she needed them, rather than expend them right away.

  Her next shot struck just as true as the first, but this time it was almost instantly followed up with a second aimed at the other minotaur. Both were staggered by the powerful ranged blows from her bow, leaving them open to Tammy and Mara’s bdes. The two took full advantage, their bdes gleaming with mystical light as they channeled powerful skills.

  Amy looked away, to check on Eri who was still guarding their rear from the Futa minotaur. What she saw was a dance of blows as the girl dodged an axe swing, then slipped into the guard of the rger minotaur to score a series of light hits, barely heavy enough to do more than score shallow cuts. Seemed she was doing alright, and Aidera was keeping an eye on both fronts. Amy focused back on the pair to the front of their formation, new arrows at the ready.

  Misaki paused for a moment to look over her notes, before gncing back to the battle. She was paying more attention to Amy and company at the moment, since all Mira and company were fighting were a few spiders. The two groups had taken different paths, so both were interesting, but at the moment she was most interested in the battle with the minotaurs. Reading about them and seeing them in action were entirely different things. Sure the system entries had told her they were basically walking tanks, but now that she had a few and in battle she could really see what the system meant.

  Idly she noted down how effective Amy’s arrows seemed to be. As demons, her minotaurs were resistant to magic, but that didn’t mean anything against magically enhanced arrows. Her mind raced as she considered the implications. Could she use what Amy was doing in a trap? Wait!? Didn’t that fortified towers trait say something about enchanted bolt throwers? Right right, it did, and now that she thought about it there were a few traps that mentioned things like that.

  Blinking, she focused back in the fight. The two minotaurs in the front were covered with minor cuts and scrapes, wounds taken from blows inflicted by the two front liners. Amy’s arrows were hitting with such force that neither one could afford to use their more powerful skills, and the two frontliners were putting a lot of pressure on them. Misaki took some quick notes on how that was working, maybe she could apply something simir with her monsters? Ideas raced through her mind for better utilizing her minotaurs, then her gaze fell on the one in the rear and she shuddered. Why the fuck did they have to rarely spawn as futas? That giant dick ruined their beauty and it was ugly.

  She took a breath, to calm herself, it was fine. Thankfully they didn’t have balls, if she thought of it as a giant oversized clit that helped. Even if it pinly wasn’t when she looked at it. For a moment she wondered why she had such a problem seeing them, she used to have one in another life, even if tely every time she dreamed of that life she was a girl. Misaki had a few thoughts on that one.

  Forcing the wandering thoughts from her mind, she refocused on the battle, making new observations. Her minotaurs were holding up decently well considering, but it was clear their second css wasn’t really helping. Of course she wasn’t entirely surprised, Lactation Mage was a lust css focused primarily on breastmilk and to a lesser extent boobs. Really good when getting up to some sexy fun, but not so useful in battle, certainly not at the low level of 35. Perhaps if they were at a higher level the story would be different? She made a note to look further into the css, buy some more books on it.

  Amy rexed a bit as she watched the final minotaur fall. The battle had been grueling and long but Aidera was already tending to the scrapes and bruises they took. Mara sat slumped on the floor beside Tammy, while Eri was ft on her back panting with a satisfied grin on her face.

  Taking a breath, she let them do as they will, she knew her companions could use the time to catch their breath and thankfully she didn’t see any additional monsters moving to engage. Three minotaurs had been difficult enough and she didn’t relish fighting another so soon. Squatting down, she retrieved a few of her arrows and began looking them over. The first one had a nasty looking crack in the shaft, useless, but the arrowhead looked fine.

  Removing it from the shaft she gave it a closer inspection. Checking for any cracks or deformations to indicate if the metal had started to fail, but she couldn’t find one. Pocketing the arrowhead for ter use, she checked the next arrow. Running her hand along the smooth wooden shaft feeling for any cracks or splinters, but finding none. The wood was still straight when she sighted along it, a good shaft. So she checked the arrowhead, it looked pristine in the light she had. Marking it as good enough to use, she returned it to her quiver, moving on to the next arrow.

  The process was pretty familiar if mindless work, which gave her enough of a mind to watch the passages. Nothing showed itself, and it wasn’t long before Aidera plopped herself down beside her, several arrows in hand. “Found a few of these.”

  “Thanks! How’s our party look?”

  “Pretty good actually, Mara just needed a little rest, her armor and skills kept her from taking so much as a scrape. Tammy didn’t get hit either, Mara doing a good job shielding her. Eri actually needed the most attention, but nothing serious. Just a few shallow cuts and a bruised boob.”

  Amy blinked, “Her boob got bruised? How’d that happen?”

  “She got herself punched in the chest, how else?” responded Aidera a few snorts escaping her, just before she broke down into full out ughter, “You should have seen it!”

  Amy giggled as she pictured what happened, then sobered, “Yeah that probably hurt, boobs are rather sensitive.”

  Aidera nodded, “Yeah, yeah, but I still find it hirious.”

  Eri popped up, “In that case you won’t mind me punching your boobs, would you?”

  An audible pop filled the air, as the wolf girl cracked her knuckles. Aidera gulped, “Um, I...”

  Amy looked between them, the tension in the air felt thick. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, as her mind raced. Every beat of her heart thundered in her ears, as images of a brawl fshed before her eyes. Lump in her throat she opened her mouth to speak, just as ughter hit her ears.

  As the tension drained from her, the world came back into focus as Eri giggled, “You should have seen the look on your faces!”

  Amy smiled, no brawl today, it was a good day. She gnced at the two frontliners, just as Kei made herself known. Amy had noticed her vanish in the fight, but the cat girl was a scout not well suited to fighting minotaurs. Then again her jewel slicing skills might have worked against the futa. “Find anything?”

  Kei settled down beside her, took a look around and then nodded, “Yeah there is a puzzle room just up ahead. Doesn’t look like a main path, maybe a treasure puzzle?”

  Amy grinned, “Nice work! How’d it look?

  “Didn’t sound that hard. Pque said we had to list out three letter words without repeating a character.”

  Amy gnced at the girls beside her, “What do you two think?”

  “Sounds interesting,” responded Aidera, “Tammy, Mara you two feeling better?”

  The girls nodded and the group moved deeper into the dungeon. Following Kei’s guidance. While she might not have been able to help with the minotaurs, she’d taken the time to locate traps and scout ahead. Allowing them to move at a quicker pace.

  Reaching the puzzle room proved quite easy, aside from a run in with a fresh trap, courtesy of an Arachne demon.

  Amy stepped into the room, and drew up to the pque to read it. Quickly noting that Kei had been right, it was a word puzzle, but not that hard. It even started them off with the first word done, ‘Cat.’

  Amy turned to the group, “Alright, who wants to try the puzzle first?”