Minotaur?

Li Yu was a little disappointed. He wandered around to get familiar with the city, then, when it was about time, headed to the market to buy groceries and go home to cook.

By the time Li Yu got home, it was completely dark. After cooking and eating, he went back to browsing videos.

As time passed, Li Yu was engrossed in his videos when an explosion suddenly rang out near his home.

The explosion startled Li Yu. He hurried to the window and looked toward the direction it had come from.

"Natural gas explosion?" Li Yu frowned as he watched flames shoot into the sky.

After thinking it over for a moment, Li Yu decided to go take a look. He grabbed his Tang Dao and rushed out.

The area where Li Yu lived was full of ordinary homes. Because of the explosion, quite a few people were watching from nearby.

Some, like Li Yu, headed toward the explosion. Without exception, they all carried weapons.

It seemed everyone had the same idea: they wanted to see if they might encounter some kind of monster.

Li Yu completely concealed his presence and kept to the darker areas as he made his way forward. As a result, hardly anyone noticed him.

He quietly approached the scene. Before he got close, he heard the sounds of fighting, which made him quicken his pace.

The explosion had taken place in a small park, a favorite spot for the elderly and children. The park wasn't very big, about the size of ten standard soccer fields.

When Li Yu arrived, he saw a group of people surrounding a nearly three-meter-tall bull-headed creature on a basketball court.

Li Yu froze when he saw the creature. It wore armor and wielded a giant axe.

"A Minotaur?" Wasn't that a monster from Greek mythology? A bull-headed man!

Watching the group struggle to take down the Minotaur, Li Yu quietly backed away.

More and more people joined the fight. Everyone was hoping to get a share of the Minotaur.

Some people at the scene had already been injured, but the Minotaur was still handling them with ease.

It was clear from this just how powerful the Minotaur was. It wasn't something Li Yu could take on right now.

Li Yu retreated to an empty spot farther away and continued watching. The explosion had drawn more and more people to the scene.

He could already hear sirens. The Patrol Squad would probably arrive soon.

If the others still hadn't taken down the Minotaur by the time the Patrol Squad arrived, then there probably wouldn't be anything left for them.

Since he couldn't join the fight, he might as well take the opportunity to secretly learn a few things.

Quite a few people had joined in this time, including mages and martial artists. What a great opportunity to learn! Li Yu couldn't afford to miss it.

Kenkeiko activated. Li Yu began carefully observing the various techniques used by those fighting.

It would be even better if he could learn some more talents. Good or bad, Li Yu didn't care—he'd take whatever he could get.

Unfortunately, Li Yu didn't manage to learn any talents after that. Had his eyes turned their noses up at them?

The strange feeling left Li Yu baffled. Seriously? Could his eyes really reject those talents?

Or perhaps those people hadn't displayed their talents clearly, unlike Kato Megumi and Yukino Yukinoshita, who had demonstrated theirs right in front of him?

Just as Li Yu was pondering the question, the corner of his eye caught a familiar figure.

Asuna Yuuki... Li Yu was surprised to see her. Did she live nearby too? She had come here as well.

Li Yu hesitated, but didn't go over to greet her. Instead, he continued hiding his presence and focused on learning.

She could stay right there. He didn't want anything to interrupt his study of the magic. By now, quite a bit of magical knowledge had already entered Li Yu's mind.

The feeling of knowledge flowing into his brain was addictive, so he wasn't interested in figuring out whether she lived nearby.

"Gah!" Just as Li Yu was concentrating on learning, a faint sound came from the shrubs beside him.

The sound immediately snapped Li Yu out of his thoughts. He turned toward where it had come from.

Through the park's dim lights and the darkness of night, Li Yu spotted a short creature crouching in the bushes.

It was trying hard to conceal itself, as if afraid someone might spot it. Its entire body was curled up in the low greenery.

Li Yu's eyes lit up when he saw it, but he quickly calmed down.

Was there only one? Or were there several? And what kind of monster was it? Although Li Yu knew something was hiding there, he had no idea what it was.

After thinking it over for a moment, Li Yu remembered Asuna and quietly left.

With no information to go on, Li Yu figured it was better to find someone. Asuna was right here, after all. The two of them should be able to handle it!

Asuna Yuuki was also standing at the edge of the crowd, watching them surround the Minotaur. To be honest, she really wanted to join in.

But there were too many people, and everyone wanted to kill the Minotaur and claim its Magic Stone.

That had made things at the scene rather chaotic. If she barged in, she'd probably upset everyone, so she could only suppress her eagerness to give it a try.

As she watched, someone suddenly tapped her on the shoulder. Her hair stood on end, and she instinctively moved away, her right hand immediately reaching for the hilt of the sword she carried.

"Li Yu?" Asuna was stunned when she saw who had tapped her shoulder. She hadn't expected it to be Li Yu.

"Come with me!" Li Yu gestured with the blade in his hand, said that, and turned to leave.

Asuna frowned at the sight, but after a moment's thought, followed him.

She quickly caught up to Li Yu and looked at him in confusion. "Li Yu, where are we going?"

"I found a monster over there, but I don't know how many there are. Let's work together and take care of them!" Li Yu quickly explained.

Asuna's eyes lit up when she heard that. She immediately replied, "Okay!"

There was a hint of eagerness in her voice. After all, she had never fought a monster before, and now she finally had the chance.

At the same time, she felt a little nervous, afraid that she might run into a monster she couldn't defeat even if she gave it her all.

Li Yu led Asuna Yuuki to a corner of the park. Once they got there, he slowed his footsteps and quietly set his scabbard aside, drawing his weapon.

Seeing what Li Yu was doing, Asuna immediately realized they had reached their destination. She silently drew her sword and followed close behind him.

When they were nearly close enough, Li Yu gave Asuna a meaningful look, showing her where the monster was.