Ch.5Minotauros (4)

I had just left my mother’s warm embrace a month ago, and already an ogre had invaded my territory to play.

For five years while living in my mother’s territory, I rarely saw ogres, yet within a month of moving here, one challenged me for territory. Of course, I enjoyed ripping off both arms of the mini ogre that came at my chest, holding it firmly.

It was so satisfying that the ogre cried tears. Feeling pleased by this reaction, I ate one of the arms I’d torn off right in front of it… But when it looked at me like I was some kind of monster, I felt bad and just started chewing on its head.

While eating the ogre that had looked at me like I was a monster, I suddenly felt drowsy. In my previous life and throughout my five years here, I had never fallen asleep while eating… but I dozed off while eating the ogre.

Falling asleep during a meal? I thought I must have been very tired, but when my [Beast Sense] started alerting me, I swung my arm slightly in that direction and caught something with my claws.

Then came a loud scream as something warm splashed over my body, and an unpleasant energy swirled around me.

The warm liquid felt nice at a comfortable temperature, but when I sensed that unpleasant energy, my instincts whispered to me. Kill whatever was spreading that energy immediately. I felt that instinct was right, and at that moment, my eyes opened.

“Muooooo———!!!!!!”

When I opened my eyes to kill that disgusting thing, what I saw was a bald man with a crippled arm…? He seemed to be in the middle of treatment, blood pouring from his arm as he tried to reattach it. Behind him were a woman who looked like a mage, an archer, and a dirty dual-wielder.

Seeing this, I realized I had been attacked, and decided to deal with the most troublesome one first—the mage. She didn’t even resist as I approached, so I just picked her up and swallowed her whole. Next time, I should probably discard the staff before eating.

Next was the cleric emanating that disgusting energy.

I crushed the shiny-headed one—who seemed to want to attract the gods’ attention with his gleaming head—with my palm. Blood splattered on my hand like tomato ketchup.

Seeing this, I thought it was gross and wiped my hand on the ground.

It still didn’t clean well, which made me sad, but I decided to wash it later at the stream and turned my attention to the plate armor in front of me. The person was bleeding profusely, seeming unwell… Thinking I should put him out of his misery, I tossed him into my mouth.

Since he was wearing plate armor, I figured I needed to chew thoroughly. As I was chewing, the archer regained consciousness and began attacking me with strange arrows.

Freezing arrows, static electricity arrows, flame arrows that would trim my fur, and more—all sorts of things, but none could penetrate my skin.

Since he wasn’t running away, I sent the archer to join his party members in my stomach. All that remained was the dirty dual-wielder… but that bastard had already fled. True to his nature, he didn’t care about his dying companions and ran away without looking back.

I chased after him and caught him, and with a crunch—!! all the bones in his body shattered. With all his bones broken, he couldn’t escape, but just to be safe, I crushed his head and threw the corpse into the forest.

* * * * *

When I returned home after my meal, I was greeted by a bearskin rug. Unlike my mother who collected weapons, I ate my prey where I caught it, so this place was literally my bedroom, and this bear rug was from the previous owner.

When I arrived here a month ago, there was a fire-breathing bear living here, but I ate it and took over the cave. I never got to sleep in my contracted home in my previous life, so this was truly my first real home across both lives!

After returning to my sweet home, I opened my status window.

‘Status Window’

『 Race: Minotaurosu

Status: Healthy

Abilities: Strength – S

Agility – B

Endurance – A

Intelligence – C

Wisdom – B

Unique Trait: Latel’s Gene

Attributes: Beast Sense

Elements[Thunder]

Monstrous Strength

Indomitable』

My strength is S! According to the status window explanation, C is the strength of an adult human male, B is that of orcs and trolls, and A is the strength of minotaurs and ogres. But I exceeded that with S! My strength rivals that of cyclopes, who are said to be descendants of giants.

Additionally, Elements is an ability that allows me to control one of nature’s attributes, and I could control electricity. Of course, my proficiency is still low, so I can’t call down lightning, but I can wrap my arms in electricity for attacks.

The effect of Monstrous Strength is very simple. It increases my strength by one level. That’s probably why my strength is measured as S instead of A. And Indomitable simply states “does not break,” so I’m not sure what that means.

Still, because I trained hard and took many hits when I was young, my endurance is high, and my other stats are quite good too. I think this makes me fairly strong. Looking at my status window and thinking “not bad,” I drifted off to sleep.

* * * * *

A man and a woman walked through the forest. Despite their casual stroll-like appearance, the forest rustled with each step they took. After walking for a few minutes, they came across a skeleton.

With tattered clothes, dual swords on its back, and a golden necklace around its neck, these were the only clues to who this person had been.

“Are these the dual swords?”

The woman nodded in response to the man’s question. Then, in an instant, the corpse was sucked into a pouch at the man’s waist. After storing the corpse, the man surveyed the surroundings.

This person’s party had come to hunt a minotaur. But the fact that a Gold-class party hadn’t returned and only this one’s corpse was here meant… they had failed to subjugate the minotaur, and the others had been eaten.

There were no signs of battle here, so this dirty dual-wielder must have fled. Looking around, they could see broken trees, suggesting the minotaur had pursued him.

“What should we do? Shall we subjugate it before leaving?”

The man pondered the woman’s question. If it could wipe out a Gold-class adventurer party, it must be either a variant or an experienced minotaur. The materials from such a creature would be valuable…

“Let’s just check it out first. If it’s a special specimen, we’ll capture it; if not, we’ll send another Gold-class party.”

Nodding at his words, the woman summoned a wind spirit and sent it out to scout. After waiting for a few minutes, the spirit finally returned, having apparently found the minotaur.

“Yes. Indeed… You say there was a crimson-black bull? Not blood-stained but its natural color… It doesn’t seem to be an ordinary minotaur.”

Minotaurs are usually light brown or black. But crimson-black…

“Master, it appears to be a special specimen. The crimson-black fur was visible even from a distance.”

“Then we’ll capture it before leaving. Ashtel, prepare yourself.”

And so they set off to meet the minotaur.

* * * * *

I woke up to the sudden alarm of my [Beast Sense]. I’d been having fun lately, eating challengers to my territory, and wanted to ignore it and rest, but this sensation couldn’t be ignored, so I prepared for battle.

I stretched my body and muscles. Then as I came outside…

There stood a man and a woman.

The woman was an elf, possibly a slave as she wore what looked like a slave collar. And the man who appeared to be her master… was he some kind of chuunibyou? He wore an eye patch, had one arm wrapped in bandages, and carried no visible weapon.

I didn’t understand why such people would be a threat to me, but my [Beast Sense] had always saved my life since childhood, so I trusted it and remained vigilant.

I pulled one leg back, placed my hands on the ground, and positioned my head forward—the minotaur’s greatest, strongest strike.

The charge.

Simple but effective, a minotaur’s massive body, solid skull, and our pride—unbreakable horns—create tremendous pressure on enemies.

“Ashtel, what is it doing now? Why is it suddenly in a crouching position?”

“I’m not sure what a crouching position is, but that’s the stance a minotaur takes before charging. Be careful.”

“Ha, as if I need to worry about the charge of some A-class cow…”

With those words, I charged. It seemed this guy was underestimating me, but inflicting maximum damage while he was off guard would make things easier later.

Boom—!!! Boom—!!! Boom—!!!

Each time I leaped forward, the ground shook with a boom—!!! boom—!!! The guy, seeing me charging with tremendous noise, displayed an annoyed expression and deployed a barrier.

“Water Shield”

A water barrier formed in front of him. The elf remained beside her master since he wasn’t leaving, but she looked anxiously at me as if wanting to flee… My horns collided with his shield.

Splash———!!!!

His Water Shield vanished futilely as my horns aimed for him.