Ch.2Minotauros (1)

The white light enveloped me for who knows how long.

One second? One minute? One hour? I couldn’t grasp the exact concept of time as it simply flowed by. And finally, with the feeling of entering somewhere…

Moooooo—

It seems I’ve been born as a cow.

* * * * *

When I opened my eyes and looked around, the pungent smell stung my nose—it seemed to be a cave where beasts lived. Around me… bones were scattered everywhere, and weapons of dead people were gathered in one place.

And I, who thought I was born as a cow, was indeed a cow, but not an ordinary one.

A Minotaur.

A monster from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and face of a bull. A monster born between a human and a bull, growing instantly to devour people indiscriminately, eventually trapped in Labyrinthos and killed by Theseus.

That seems to be what I am now. I have human hands, and my lower body has hooved feet.

‘They said Grancia, so it’s not Greece… So am I a minotaur from a fantasy novel?’

In fantasy novels, there are monsters modeled after Greek mythological creatures like the minotaur. With tremendous strength and physique, they overwhelm other monsters, and their power surpasses that of ogres.

‘So… is that good? At least I’m not a tiny insect like an ant or worm, so that’s fortunate.’

While I was comforting myself with that thought, I heard sounds from outside the cave.

Thud— Thud— Thud—

Something big was approaching, judging by the heavy footsteps. As I tensed up, not knowing if it was friend or foe…

Thud—!!!

The figure that finally appeared was a minotaur. Seemingly the mother of my body’s original owner, she waved her hand at me.

Moo—

I waved back at her. Fortunately, she didn’t seem suspicious even though the contents had changed to me… but when the mother minotaur put down what she had brought, I felt nauseous.

What she brought was a human corpse. And there were also corpses of what seemed to be goblins—small, ugly creatures.

Moo—

The mother pushed them toward me. Is she telling me to eat this? The goblin corpses are disgusting enough, but a human corpse? As someone who was human until just now, I couldn’t possibly eat a human corpse.

When I shook my head to refuse, the mother seemed angry and pointed at the corpses while shouting.

Moo—!

When I shook my head again, the mother minotaur seemed to make up her mind and picked up a corpse. Then… she forced my mouth open and made me eat it.

“Moo!? Moo–! (What!? Don’t–!)”

But despite my resistance, she forcibly opened my mouth, put the human corpse in, and made me chew by opening and closing my mouth with her hand.

Crunch— Crunch—

The human corpse was—surprisingly delicious. They say carnivorous animals don’t taste good, but the human corpse tasted like pork.

The meat tasted like pork, and the blood felt like drinking tomato juice… it was better than expected.

After chewing once, the human corpse looked extremely delicious. Since I’m a minotaur now, isn’t it okay to eat it? After eating one, I ended up consuming all the food she had brought.

After eating until I was full, I started feeling sleepy. As I was nodding off, she hugged me… it felt like being in a warm mother’s embrace… it was strange to feel something I’d never experienced before—a mother’s embrace—from a cow monster, but I soon fell asleep.

* * * * *

About a month has passed since I came to this world of Grancia. I haven’t been counting the days, but the sun has risen and night has fallen about 30 times, so it must be around that long. What I’ve learned since coming to this world is that, as the Host said, this is a fantasy world.

When I went out briefly at night in my mother’s arms, I was shocked to see two moons. And there were goblins, gnolls, orcs, and even trolls here!

The corpses my mother brought were mainly goblins, orcs, gnolls, and occasionally trolls and humans who entered this forest.

And…

‘Status Window’

『 Race: Minotauroso

Status: Infancy

Abilities[Locked]: [Growing…]

Unique Trait: ??? [Locked]

Attributes: Beast’s Sense

??? [Locked]

??? [Locked]

??? [Locked] 』

When I thought about the status window while looking at the mark on my hand, ability stats appeared from my mark like a hologram that only I could see.

What I learned from there was that status windows exist like in games, and that I wasn’t a pure minotaur.

Minotauroso.

This baseless name was the species name created by the combination of a minotaur mother and a bovine monster called Mad Bull.

Perhaps the minotaur genes overwhelmed the Mad Bull genes, as I was born with an appearance that looked only like a minotaur. And the only open attribute was…

【Beast’s Sense】: As a beast-type monster, the Mad Bull has the ability to detect danger to its herd and can sense when danger approaches itself.

The Beast’s Sense, a trait of the Mad Bull, is essentially a danger detection ability… but how does it alert me when danger approaches?

Even after a month, there hasn’t been anything dangerous because I’ve only been eating the food my mother brings in the cave. What danger could there be when even monsters don’t enter this cave because of my mother’s scent?

While looking at the status window and training my body for a while, I noticed it was noisy outside. I wondered if my mother had returned, but I couldn’t hear her distinctive footsteps. Then…

‘Intruders!’

The only ones who would fearlessly come to a place like this would be monsters on par with my mother or…

Humans.

Coming here means they can either defeat my mother or they’ve come to capture me. Not wanting to be caught off guard, I found a weapon among those my mother had brought that would be suitable for me.

A staff about 1 meter long, appropriate for my current height of 1.5 meters. It was probably originally a spear or an axe handle, as there were mangled metal pieces attached to what seemed to be the upper part.

I gripped it and pretended to sleep… and heard footsteps approaching me.

“Ha, this cow brat is sprawled out sleeping even though it’s midday. We came all the way to the depths of this Demon Forest to catch this brat and its mother!”

“Quiet…! If this thing wakes up, it’ll be troublesome to subdue it again. Luna, could you cast a sleep spell?”

“Yes… Please wait a moment.”

And one set of footsteps gradually approached. Apparently thinking I was asleep, they seemed to relax a bit and came quite close to me… but as a result, they suffered painful damage.

Whoosh—!!!

Crack—!! Crunch—!!

“Kyaaaah!!!!”

When I thought they were close enough, I swung the staff roughly in the direction of the sound, and it was a hit—a woman’s scream was heard.

The crunching sound suggested a serious injury or instant death. Thinking I should press on before the intruders regained their composure, I got up and charged headfirst.

“Mooooo!!!”

“Tch, dodge!!!”

The intruders easily avoided my charge. As expected of those who came to capture my mother, they were much more agile than I thought.

Anyway, if I rushed at them, I would soon be subdued and become my mother’s weakness. Making a quick judgment, I threw the staff I was holding at the woman who was writhing against the wall and ran away.

Swoosh—!!

“Ugh! Biram, block the spear! Asheet, pull Luna out—if she’s alive, heal her; if she’s dead, help me chase that thing!”

Three of the four intruders moved nimbly, excluding Luna, the woman who was pinned to the wall by my staff. Escaping them and leaving the cave, I howled loudly to call for my mother’s help.

“Moo—!!”

“Tch! That thing has intelligence! Biram! Shoot an arrow to disable its legs!”

At those words, a man named Biram, who had somehow caught up, nocked an arrow. Impressively, while running, he managed to aim and release the string, and in an instant, the arrow flew toward me.

At that moment, perhaps Beast’s Sense activated, as it kept warning me that I absolutely must not be hit by that arrow.

But that’s easier said than done. I lowered my body and rolled once, blocking the arrow aimed at my ankle with my ribs instead of my leg.

“Moooo——!!!!”

“Hit in the stomach! It’s coated with paralyzing poison, so it’ll collapse soon!”

But these guys had anticipated even that and prepared poison. Thinking that Beast’s Sense was accurate, I tried hard to move my feet, but…

My body gradually became numb, and it didn’t feel like my own anymore. Eventually…

Thud—!!

My body could no longer endure and crashed into a tree. I tried hard to move my feet to get up, but my body didn’t seem to respond. My mind was clear, and I thought I could move, but my body disagreed—soon, I slumped from leaning against the tree to lying on the ground.

Thud–!!

“Ha, you said this was definitely a calf, right? But it was able to run around even after being hit with expensive paralyzing poison that would knock out even a troll?”

“Well—, it’s probably some variant or something. How long does this paralyzing poison last?”

“Even a troll can’t move for half a day when hit. Even an adult minotaur can’t move for 30 minutes… since this calf has some resistance, it probably won’t be able to move for about 2 hours.”

“Good, the mother minotaur must have heard its cry, so we should start moving…”

Thud… Thud…

Crack—!!

But contrary to their expectations, the mother minotaur was right beside them.

Mooooooo——!!!!!!!

The rage of a mother whose calf had been attacked descended upon the intruders.