kscans

Chapter 135 - Lightning

From the very first step, I was at top speed.

I shattered the stone floor and sprinted towards the Minotaur. Two seconds to engagement. I slammed my sword down with all my momentum.

My downward diagonal slash collided with its upward diagonal axe.

A deafening roar echoed. My attack, wreathed in wind and fire, was easily parried; worse, my entire body was sent flying upward.

As I was launched high enough to nearly touch the ceiling dozens of meters above, I gritted my teeth against the pain in my arms and looked down.

---A flash of lightning shot past.

My brain processed the information captured by my [Spirit Eye] at almost the same instant the wind pressure hit me.

My body was thrown sideways, but as I looked up, I saw the Minotaur shattering the night-sky-patterned ceiling with its feet.

"■■■■■■■---!!"

The monster leaped down with an inhuman roar. I caught its gravity-fueled battle axe with my two-handed sword.

In that moment, the scenery vanished. No, I was the one who had been sent flying. By the time I realized it, the stone floor was right beside me.

"Guh, aah!"

I blasted wind at maximum output to decelerate. Still, my momentum didn't stop, and due to my diagonal angle of entry, I skidded across the floor.

A huge cloud of dust billowed up, the soles of my feet tore up the stone tiles, and the tip of my sword scattered sparks.

Without a moment to breathe, the white monster charged through the dust cloud. Its sweeping battle axe once again collided with my two-handed sword.

I unleashed all the wind and fire from my blade. Propelled by a jet-like thrust, our blades locked for a brief moment.

Our clashing weapons slid past each other, axe and sword cutting through empty air. A section of the colosseum's spectator seats was sheared off by the flame-wreathed wind, while the ground exploded as if from a bombing run where the battle axe struck.

I didn't fight the shockwave; I used it, launching myself upward. I rose about thirty meters in a single leap, then immediately reversed direction. Wrapping my feet in wind, I stomped down.

Like a single arrow...!

I charged. It was the same move the Minotaur had just used. My descent, fueled by the wind and fire blasting from my blade, reached just shy of the speed of sound in a split second.

An acceleration so intense it felt like my limbs might shatter. I poured every bit of it into my slash and brought it down on the monster's head.

The golden battle axe met my attack. For the first time, the monster also gripped its hilt with both hands.

With just that, its weapon stopped dead. But a deafening roar shook the air as the ground beneath it shattered.

The already heavily damaged stone floor completely collapsed and was blown away. As my vision was filled with stone and dirt, the golden axe flashed.

A powerful impact on my blade threw me out of the dust cloud. I managed to land on my feet in the spectator seats, but the impact pulverized the magnificent stone-carved benches.

"Guu...!"

My whole body ached. I used my sword as a cane to keep from falling to one knee. I could feel my cracked bones and torn muscles mending. I gritted my teeth, but I had no time to close my eyes.

Already, the Minotaur had launched itself like a cannonball.

Its thunderously swift legs were difficult to track even with [Spirit Eye]. With a boom and shockwave like a meteor strike, it too leaped into the spectator seats.

The white giant charged without pause. Its two-handed battle axe swung in a horizontal arc.

I blocked it, catching the axe between my sword and the crumbling spectator seats, stopping it just before it could cleave my torso.

"■■■■■■---!!"

With a roar, the Minotaur pushed forward. Pinned between the battle axe and the stone floor, my legs sank up to my knees.

And then, it sprinted. I endured, using wind and fire to keep from being pushed over, my body carving a trench through the spectator seats.

The Minotaur tore through the vast colosseum's seating in an instant. As a finishing touch, a kick slammed into my side as I withstood the crushing force between its axe and the stone.

Instinctively, I leaped away to reduce the impact. A cracking sound echoed from my breastplate, and my ribs groaned.

"Kah...!?"

Breath escaped me. Thrown into the air like a leaf in the wind, the Minotaur pursued.

Its human-bull face twisted into a ferocious grin, intent on beheading me in mid-air.

Don't... underestimate me...!

I wrapped my left arm in wind and slammed it against the air, forcing a change in direction. The monster's blow missed, leaving its defenseless back directly beneath me.

To that spot, I delivered a full-power spinning slash. Fire drew an arc in the air, striking the white giant.

It's hard. It doesn't even feel like I'm cutting flesh...!

The Minotaur was slammed into the exposed dirt ground. I attacked again from above, but my blade, which should have struck its left shoulder, still failed to cut through the meat.

Fresh blood flew, but it was nothing more than a shallow cut. The monster roared in anger and swung its axe wildly.

I retreated in a 'Z' pattern, dodging.

My eyes, finally starting to adjust, dealt with the relentless pursuit.

A half-hearted attack won't be fatal. I'd need to land a single, decisive blow, one for which I'd have to risk my own life.

If I'm going to aim, it has to be the throat, mouth, or eyes. I have to bypass its armor of fur and muscle and inflict a guaranteed mortal wound.

As I retreated, my thoughts racing, [Spirit Eye] issued a warning.

Immediately after, numerous arms shot up from the ground. I narrowly avoided them as they tried to grab my limbs like sentient things.

Then, stone walls suddenly rose up from my left and right. They formed a straight line connecting me and the Minotaur, sealing off any lateral escape.

"■■■■■■!!"

"This bastard..."

Labyrinth terrain manipulation. So it really is this monster...!

It stomped the ground and charged, its sharp horns gleaming. If I took that head-on, even if I blocked it, the follow-up axe swing would surely cut me in two.

---In that case, I don't need armor.

I partially dismissed my [Arcane Gear]. The helmet, the breastplate, the gauntlets, the greaves—all jettisoned.

The expanded field of vision, the reduced weight—it was only a slight difference. My body had already surpassed the common sense of the time before the 'Day of Awakening.'

And yet,

"Hyaah...!"

That slight difference allowed me to dodge straight up.

A gale whipped past me as the giant passed underneath my somersault. I stomped on the faintly magical wind and accelerated.

In the dust cloud, the white bull monster dug its feet into the ground and turned to face me.

It forcefully twisted its body, taking a counter-attacking stance.

The monster raised its axe high, ready to strike me as I charged straight ahead. In terms of speed, the latter was slightly faster.

The crashing battle axe gouged the earth. I was bathed in the resulting dust cloud---and though my forehead was cut, I was still there.

By cutting my wind acceleration, I had thrown off the monster's aim, and the axe passed right in front of me. I stomped on its golden hilt and drew back my blade.

I focused all my mana into the tip. With Concept Interference, I mixed fire and wind, creating a synergy.

My target: the monster's neck!

"OOOOOOOOOHHHHH!"

I unleashed a thrust. I sent the tip of my blade racing towards its neck, which was covered in fur as long as a winter coat.

Its left arm moved to stop me, but it was too late. My blade would surely reach its throat.

But the fur stopped it.

I cut the skin. I pierced the flesh. But it was shallow. It didn't even reach the bone, let alone any vital blood vessels or its windpipe.

The monster's eyes, which shone like overly bright starlight and had no whites, narrowed. As if it were laughing.

My blade was caught. Its right hand, which had been holding the axe, formed a fist. To kill me, who had discarded my armor, its bare hands were more than enough.

I glared at its face, savoring the taste of victory.

Then die laughing.

"EXPLODE!"

A flash of light pierced the white body.

The fire and wind contained at the tip of my blade combined, becoming a heat ray. Not like the one I had fired at the monsters along the way, but a true heat ray.

My blade shattered, and the recoil sent my body flying backward. I bounced off the ground several times before stopping, on one knee.

My breath ragged, I turned my face toward the monster.

It was obscured by a cloud of dust, and I couldn't see its form.

But I could see it.

"..."

I clamped shut my mouth, which had opened wide in search of oxygen, and sent mana to my [Arcane Gear].

The armor and the hand-and-a-half sword were reconstructed. I gripped the blade in my right hand and swung it to the side to check the feel of the hilt, and just then...

The monster's form appeared, tearing through the billowing dust cloud.

"■゛■゛■゛■゛■゛■゛---!!!"

A roar of rage. The earth, the air, the ceiling shook.

Blood gushed from its neck, yet the Minotaur glared at me with its shining eyes. Its limbs showed no signs of convulsion or weakness.

An ordinary creature would have died from having its carotid artery or a major nerve incinerated.

But that thing was a monster. It was not a mere beast.

We glared at each other, readying our weapons. A standoff lasting several seconds. At some point, blood had started to trickle from the corner of my mouth. The taste of iron filled my senses.

I don't know if it happened when I was kicked in the side, or when the axe swung down at close range just now.

The rush of adrenaline had reduced the pain to a level that just made me want to cry, but it seemed a broken rib had pierced my lung. It appeared to have healed already, though.

My dulled sense of pain slowly began to return to normal. Not yet. I couldn't afford to sober up yet.

But it wasn't all bad. As my sense of pain returned, my five senses, and even my sixth sense, became sharper than usual. The feel of my own breath, the sweat trickling down my cheek, it was all irritating.

A part of my brain was thinking with extreme calmness.

At this rate, I can't win. The same attack as before won't work again.

The only chance of victory is the arrival of reinforcements. Just as my eyes have grown accustomed to its movements, it's only a matter of time before the Minotaur adapts to mine.

I have allies who can fight. The moment I thought that...

"Hey, Sana-kun."

My hearing, raised to its absolute limit, picked up her voice.

"---Would you do me the honor of a dance?"

Before I could comprehend the meaning of those words...

"■゛■゛■゛■゛■゛■゛---!!"

The monster's roar interrupted my thoughts. It unilaterally declared the start of the second round, and its golden battle axe glinted.

"Kuh...!"

I have to stop her. But this monster charges relentlessly, as if I'm the only one in its sights.

In the midst of an exchange of blows like walking on thin ice, I caught a glimpse of her.

In the colosseum, now a shadow of its former self, on a section of the spectator seats that had barely retained its shape.

Standing there, her silver hair fluttering, I thought I saw her smile.

"Was that too hard to understand? Then let me rephrase. Fuse with me and fight. I'm sure you don't wish for his death either. Our interests should align."

Stop.

"I don't know if you can hear me, Kyou-chan-kun, but this isn't an act of desperation."

Stop.

"It's a gamble for my own survival as well."

Please stop.

I can't go to her. The white monster's fierce assault continues, and if I don't focus on defense, I'll be long dead.

Those movements, that gaze. There's no doubt. This monster has already adapted to my movements...!

Immediately after deflecting a downward axe swing diagonally, a body blow was delivered. I instinctively jumped back, but I was a split second too late.

My breastplate cracked, and the impact forced all the air out of my lungs.

"Gah, aahh...!?"

I was sent flying, bouncing off the ground, and in my spinning vision...

I caught sight of the monster rushing towards me, and her, standing in the spectator seats.

"Well? What is your answer, Fräulein?"

---The spirit, its face inorganic.

Pulled the string just once.

"Very well. Then let us dance until we go mad."

In the shattered spectator seats of the colosseum.

There, upon the earth---a 'moon' manifested.