Arete and the others have to ride their horses to the dense forest. Although their speed had to be limited by the blocking shrubs and trees, the forest did prevented the minotaurs from reaching them easily.

Annoyed by the blocked visuals, the minotaurs roared loudly, waving their giant axes and chopped the pine trees into pieces in one blow.

Charging and thumping on the ground, they leaped, and they surrounded Arete and the others in instant. Roaring louder and louder, the horses were scared, prancing in fear, as if they understood the roars.

The strange roars turned into cries…

Kill… kill… us… please…

When one of the minotaur advance towards Pryne, Arete aimed her spear, sliding herself in front of that minotaur. The momentum of the charging minotaur hit the sharp spear head and it stab through it on its forehead, killing that minotaur in instant.

KILL ME!!!

The minotaurs roared louder, and in frenzy, they charged towards the ladies. Agave triggered her thyrsus, firing multiple projectiles towards the minotaurs, buying some time for them to escape from the ambush. But the tiny projectiles are like insects bite to those beasts. They tried to pull and break the sharp gold wires that tangled them.

“My precious!!!” Agave cried, feeling bad when her beloved weapon was destroyed.

The lead minotaur leaped in front of Pryne, roaring loud, scaring Peggy into a panic prance.

“Lady Pryne, the Teleios of Eretria! You’re going with me!” The minotaur said in Aster’s voice. The monster pulled the lady down from her horse, grabbing her by one arm. Pryne screamed and struggled. It stuck a piece of broken pine to her mouth.

Matea dashed towards the lead minotaur. It noticed her and swung the axe towards her head. She went down, dodged the attack and set Blackie to kick the minotaur. Trying to avoid the horse plus the swinging momentum of its axe, the minotaur lost its balance, fallen to the ground. Pryne was released.

Agave immediately pulled the lady up to her brown horse, while Arete stabbed the spear to the minotaur’s head. But she missed it as the minotaur grabbed the spearhead with his hand.

“They are coming!” Agave shouted, as the other minotaurs were getting closer to them. The gold wires unable to tangle them further.

"PLEASE! KILL ME!” The lead minotaur cried in Hector's voice. Hector’s soul was trapped inside that minotaur. It turned the spearhead, twisting the spear that loosen Arete’s grip. The minotaur swung the spear, sending a force through the spear handle, hitting on Arete’s chest. The force sending the skinny lady flew out of Aethon, hitting a nearby pine tree.

The angry minotaur continued its roar, bending and breaking Arete’s spear into two pieces. And then throwing one towards Matea, and another toward Agave.

Agave hitting away the flying spear with her partially broken thyrsus, while Matea dodged the on which was on her way.

Pryne picked up the wounded Arete and carried the lady on her back. Trying to get to the panicking Peggy and Aethon, the other minotaurs finally broke the gold wires that tangled them. Reaching towards the two blondes. Arete, with her chest still in pain, blew a whistle, sending Aethon to kick the minotaurs away from them.

Those minotaurs might be monstrous with their horned bull heads, but their human body unable to take the strong hind kicks of a horse.

“Damned it! I’ll make you into beef souvlaki!” Agave hit the minotaurs that were trying to attack her with her thyrsus. While Matea continued to slash the bull heads off their necks with her short sword.

“There’s too many of them! We must escape!” Arete shouted, pressing her injured chest, she pushed herself up to Aethon after Pryne jumped right back to Peggy.

“Please! Ma’am! Please kill us!” Hector’s voice continued to echo.

Screaming in agony, Arete dashed Aethon towards the broken spear with the sharp spearhead. Pulling it out and use it as a shorter spear, she stabbed a lesser minotaurs through the eye.

“Please release us! Madam Arete! Kill us!”

Arete realised that those minotaurs were attacking them not by their own will.

“HECTOR!” Arete shouted.

“Complete your mission! You fools! Else tonight more dinner will be served to you all!” The other voice came out from the lead minotaur. It continued to roar, its both hands pressing on its bull head as if the body was trying to pull its own head out of it.

While the lead minotaur was not aware, Agave send Brownie to stomp on it.

“Damn you! Dinner, you say! How about mince beef!?”

The lead minotaur swung his large axe towards the brown horse and they have to back off. The axe momentum hit the smaller pine trees, cutting them down in a single blow. But the tree fallen and hit some of the lesser minotaurs. They tried to craw out from the fallen tree trunk.

Getting tired of slashing heads, Matea lifted Blackie to prance, continuously kicking on the dry rock nearby the fallen pine tree.

“Yeah, Mate! Make me some beef souvlakis!” Agave shouted.

“Matea! We’re in the summer! You idiot! Just go!” Noticing what she was doing, Arete shouted.

“Kill us…” The roaring continues and their words troubled Arete.

Warriors… they were once our warriors… They should have died in their glorious battle, defending our beloved homeland.

Arete cried loudly, sending Aethon into prance and hitting the dried rocks. Until the friction created sparks of fire, igniting the pine leaves.

The fire travels through the saps on the broken skins of the trunk. Setting the whole fallen tree a blaze.

The fire then burned the hair of the minotaurs bull head. They roar louder and louder. They have to ride out of the forest as quick as possible. Pine forest in summer can be dangerous when an uncontrolled fire burns.

The lead minotaur grabbed Aethon’s legs, trying to stop Arete.

“We… refuse to submit to their orders. So they… they took our body, and put a bull’s head on us. Thinking that they may control the body of strong warriors. But the bulls are imbecile, so they made the creature ate our souls to gain some intelligence. We… we ate each other… the weaker ones became our dinner. But the soul remained. Trapped… seeking a way to escape this treacherous hell…”

Hector’s voice faded away as the fire burned his head. Slowly it released Aethon, and they have to leave the forest to the open field. The fire spread and burned the minotaurs alive.

“It seems like horses are better than bulls…” Aster’s voice continued, as the lead minotaur tore away the burning bull’s head, revealing his head underneath. The body belonged to Hector, but Aster’s head was stitched on top of him. He angrily stared at those ladies, galloping their way out of the burning forest. He knew his human body unable to reach to them, but he was strong enough to escape the fire all by himself.