Ch.38Full-Scale War (3)

I watched the red light rise into the sky rather than fly toward me, then turned my attention back to the chain man.

The chain man had experienced his chains being ineffective and himself being dragged during our previous engagement. Now he gathered all the chains wrapped around his body into one mass, forming something resembling a flail.

“I call myself Battle Maniac. Well, it’s not my real name, just something convenient to go by. Are you a participant too?”

This guy was openly revealing his identity.

He seemed to have figured out that I was a participant. But when I remained silent, Battle Maniac spoke again.

“Well, I don’t care whether you’re a participant or not. What matters is that you’re my enemy.”

With those words, Battle Maniac swung the flail he was holding. As I raised my hand to catch it, wanting to test how destructive the chains might be…

The flail moved like a living creature, crawling up my arm and striking my head.

After hitting my head, the flail returned to its form of countless chains, emitting black mana and beginning to strangle my neck.

The chains spun wildly, rotating as if trying to sever my head… But my skin, strengthened by my trait [Predator Ratel], easily deflected such attacks.

When I tried to reach out and grab the chains despite having them wrapped around my neck, he clicked his tongue in frustration and withdrew the chains that had been strangling me.

“You’re not an ordinary Minotaur. Then how about this!”

The chains Battle Maniac was holding grew larger, becoming the size one might use to restrain giants.

“Giant Chain!”

The massive chains came down as if to crush me. I dodged to the side and surrounded my legs with lightning to rush at him, but…

“Ha! Did you think I wouldn’t anticipate that?”

The chains, which had been slow due to their size, suddenly accelerated and bound me just as I reached Battle Maniac. Black mana surrounded them as the chains began to tighten around me.

“Die like this, monster!”

To the guy who shouted triumphantly as if he had won…

I began to escape his restraints by enlarging my body. As the chains made creaking sounds and gradually spread apart, I gained enough space to move my arms and grabbed the chains.

Crunch—

The giant chains, unable to withstand my grip strength, gradually crumpled. Battle Maniac injected more mana to increase the chains’ durability, but…

I also discharged lightning, electrocuting him through the chains.

“Kuh!”

For just a moment, a brief instant when his strength weakened from the lightning shock, I pulled on the chains.

Battle Maniac released his grip on the chains, but I used the lightning flowing through them to grab him and yank him toward me.

“AAAAARGH!!!”

The lightning burned Battle Maniac’s body as he was dragged toward me, and I opened my mouth wide—aimed at his lower body as he flew toward me.

As soon as Battle Maniac’s lower body entered my mouth, I bit down, leaving only his upper body. He ended up just like the elf he had killed earlier. I wondered how he would react.

Would he still resist despite losing his lower half, or would he resign himself? He could probably survive without his lower body since he could use mana.

Battle Maniac, despite losing his lower body, attempted to resist by surrounding his fist with mana and punching my nose.

“Die, you monster!!”

True to his nickname, he had fighting spirit. Finding it admirable that he didn’t even scream and still punched my nose despite having half his body severed, I bit down, leaving only his neck.

Crunch—

* * * * *

The red light rose into the sky and burst with a bang. The light illuminated the surroundings brightly enough to be visible from far away, and there were people who responded to it.

As soon as they saw the light, they began moving using their fastest means of transportation.

Ghost left the command post and moved quickly on a ghost ship, Tamer rode his fastest white tiger, and Lizardman moved by swinging through trees like a monkey.

The first to arrive was Lizardman, who had been closest to the location.

“Kruk… no one… visible. Where… did they… go?”

The flare was still emitting light in the sky, but when he arrived below it, there was nobody there.

He had ignored the elf he’d been fighting as soon as he saw the light shooting up, but where had the person who fired the flare disappeared to?

It was clear that a battle had taken place here. The ground was devastated, and all the trees had been uprooted.

Lizardman, unable to find his comrade who had fired the flare, looked around to identify the enemy.

The opponent was probably a giant monster type. Something that could devastate the land to this extent must be a Cyclops.

Thinking this while searching for clues, Lizardman spotted huge footprints. The massive hoof-shaped prints, which looked like those of a horse, had left deep impressions in the ground due to their weight.

The difference from horse hooves, however, was that the front part of these hoof prints was split into two. Seeing this, he recalled a conversation from a month ago.

“Mino… tauro… s”

The bull monster that Ghost and the Commander had talked about. Hadn’t Ghost said he couldn’t guarantee victory against it?

According to information requested by the Commander from headquarters, it was a disaster-class monster that had annihilated the Silphin Kingdom’s subjugation team. It had even exchanged blows with the Slut and survived. Facing the appearance of such a monster, Lizardman heightened his senses to their maximum.

As he took out his spear and searched for the monster that might be watching him from somewhere, Lizardman heard a sound.

The sound of metal clashing together along with something being chewed. Crunch— crunch— it sounded like something tearing and eating.

As he approached the sound with disbelief, Lizardman realized that a black rock was blocking his path.

Having no choice but to find another way, he turned his head left and right, and his eyes met with Battle Maniac who was lying on the rock.

Battle Maniac was lying on his side, staring at him with unfocused eyes. While Lizardman was staring blankly at Battle Maniac’s bizarrely strange appearance…

He realized something was wrong with where Battle Maniac was. He had made eye contact while lying on a rock that was at least 5 meters tall.

If he was lying on a rock, his body should be visible, but all Lizardman could see was his neck and face. At that moment, the object he thought was a rock moved.

Battle Maniac’s face disappeared. And then the sound of something being chewed—crunch—crunch.

Hearing that sound, Lizardman tried to quietly retreat from the spot.

Slowly, very slowly.

If Battle Maniac had died in this short time, it would be certain defeat without Ghost or Tamer. Therefore, Lizardman decided to slowly back away and wait for them.

Crack—

If only it hadn’t been for this branch.

“Mmmmm?”

The Minotaur slowly moved toward the source of the sound.

As the sound of boom—boom—echoed, Lizardman quickly hid behind a tree and managed to avoid being spotted by the Minotaur.

But it was uncertain how long he could remain hidden. So he waited for the Minotaur, planning to launch a surprise attack and then flee.

The Minotaur was approaching his location very leisurely, befitting its size.

Like a monster from a horror movie, very slowly.

The boom—boom—sound grew louder in Lizardman’s ears.

The creature approached sniffing the air, and finally reached near the tree where Lizardman was hiding.

Just as Lizardman was about to thrust his spear for a surprise attack…

CRASH!!!! CRACK!!!

The Minotaur was faster. As if it had detected his location by smell, it attacked precisely behind the tree where Lizardman was hiding, knocking it down.

But Lizardman didn’t panic, dodging the Minotaur’s attack and throwing his spear in mid-air to strike its hand.

Thunk—!!

The sound of penetrating the Minotaur’s skin was heard, but it was shallow. Even though he wasn’t using his full strength, it was surprising that his spear couldn’t properly penetrate just one hand.

Realizing why Battle Maniac had been defeated, Lizardman fled without looking back.

Judging that attacking unprepared against a creature that had apparently captured Battle Maniac instantly would be suicidal, Lizardman began to leave the area at his maximum speed.

And thunder caught up with him.

Rumble—

At that sound, Lizardman immediately changed direction. His wild instinct warned him that he would die if he didn’t change direction now, and trusting that instinct…

CRASH!!!

The Minotaur, which had instantly caught up behind him, swung its fist at where Lizardman had been, shattering the ground.

The lightning wrapped around its fist traveled through the ground targeting Lizardman, but thanks to his quick footwork, he was able to avoid being electrocuted.

Battle Maniac probably met his end in a similar way. He was strong against human opponents but weak against monsters like this.

The Minotaur continued to move while making thunder sounds, but it seemed to only move in straight lines, making it easy to dodge.

Just when he thought he could hold out until his comrades arrived while depleting the creature’s stamina…

CRASH!!!

Lightning struck around Lizardman. His long spear acted as a lightning rod, causing lightning to strike him, and the sudden bolt electrocuted him.

“Nnnngh…”

Unable to defend himself against the sudden lightning strike, Lizardman crashed face-first into the ground while running.

The pursuing Minotaur appeared, and seemingly satisfied with Lizardman embedded in the ground, it bared its teeth and grinned.

The Minotaur picked up the grounded Lizardman with its finger and examined him from various angles. It was like it was contemplating how to kill him.

While pondering whether this beast-like creature was really a participant…

MOOOOO!!!

A 5-meter Minotaur, smaller than the 9-meter one, charged with a body tackle. But the attack from the 5-meter creature, which only reached the 9-meter one’s waist, didn’t cause any damage.

It seemed like it was trying to target the legs to break the stance, but the 9-meter Minotaur didn’t budge. The surprised 5-meter one continued to push forward, but…

The 9-meter one grabbed the 5-meter one’s head and crushed it with just one hand. As if declaring itself the only Minotaur in this area, the 9-meter Minotaur stepped on the 5-meter’s corpse and roared.

MOOOOOOO!!!

That intense roar contained Fear, and many small animals lost their lives to it. Birds flying in the sky fell to the ground, and squirrels carrying acorns died instantly.

Having created such a scene, the Minotaur seemed satisfied and turned its attention back to Lizardman, but Lizardman had already escaped from its grasp.

Perhaps it had lost hold when the 5-meter one had collided with it, but Lizardman was now riding on the back of a large lion, leaving the area.

Seeing this, the Minotaur let out a deep sigh and began moving again.

* * * * *

“To think my Minotaur was defeated in one blow… Can we capture that monster?”

The figure riding the tiger, Tamer, asked Lizardman. The tiger looked very tired, as if it had run all the way from its territory to here.

“It’s… a monster. Battle Maniac… seems… to have been… quickly… defeated.”

“Then… We’ll need Ghost to join us too. It’s been a while since I’ve hunted such a strong monster, but can we do it?”

“Don’t… know. Need… to contact… Commander… for troop… deployment. Need… Minotaur… weapons.”

“Currently the communication device isn’t working, so I’ll use a messenger bird to tell the Commander to prepare. Where do you plan to lure it?”

Lizardman pondered this question. Since that monster was large, if they went to the open field where their army was stationed, it would have even more freedom to rampage.

“We’ll… go… to the… first… entry point… where… the Sword Masters… are.”

They began preparing a trap to catch the Minotaur.