episode_0036

Creak.

With a huge horn, a height that seemed to exceed 5 meters, a body resembling a cow’s head and a human’s body, and feet with hooves of a cow, the monster was called Minotaur.

The size of Minotaur was such that it could swallow Lian and all the slaves in the shadow it created.

The host screamed and shouted as they burst out.

Clang.

In between, there were those who dropped their swords in fear.

“How, how can we defeat this, it’s impossible!”

“We’re all going to die, we’re going to die! I don’t want to die!”

Two terrified slaves, trembling with fear, began to run towards the passage they had come from, screaming. At the front, Minotaur, who had been eyeing Lian, suddenly raised its head.

Fleeing in front of an excited predator meant nothing other than asking to be killed.

Thud! Thud!

Minotaur lightly rolled its feet and then, as if it had springs attached to its feet, leapt into the air in an instant. It jumped as high as the height of the huge arena and landed in front of the fleeing slaves in a hurry.

“Ahhhh..!”

“Sa, save us -…”

Thunk, swoosh!

The double-edged axe held in one hand tore the two slaves apart. In an instant, they were split in half and died.

Plop.

Banthol, who was holding the sword with trembling hands, collapsed to the ground. The large slave also looked absent-mindedly while holding a shield.

“Ho, how are we supposed to defeat that? It’s impossible!”

Banthol, overwhelmed by the fact that death was imminent, shouted in an angry voice.

Normally, when humans are filled with fear, anger rises to survive. It was a function to survive, but now it was useless.

“Krrr.”

Banthol’s shout only stimulated the excited Minotaur, covered in blood. Minotaur’s gaze was fixed directly on Banthol.

“Eek?!”

Bantol tried to crawl backward, screaming. His body was tensed up, writhing on the ground.

“Uuuuu!”

“Hahaha! Kill him, kill him!”

In an instant, jeers at the dead slave and the audience’s voices urging to play with the slave and then kill him echoed through the arena.

“Throw him! Throw him high!”

“Hahaha! Rip his throat out!”

Overwhelmed by the surrounding noise, Bantol felt as if everything in the world was trying to kill him.

Thud, thump.

The Minotaur, its eyes bloodshot due to drugs, exhaled heavily and approached slowly, as if playing with prey that couldn’t escape.

Ah… I’m going to die.

As Bantol and the other slaves had this thought, a nonchalant voice was heard.

“Why does that get blurred but not my body? Oh, is it because of the organ with eyes?”

Lian passed by Bantol and walked forward. Her casual stride towards death seemed as if she was just taking a walk.

“Woohoo! Don’t kill that feeble one, sell her outside for use!”

“Scrape off her delicate face!”

Looking younger than the other slaves and possessing a beautiful face that would likely make many women jealous in the future, Lian’s approach toward the Minotaur prompted all sorts of vile remarks.

Calls to sell her body were common, and there were even cruel suggestions to peel off her facial skin. Every spectator in the arena anticipated Lian’s gruesome death.

“Ah, be quiet for a moment. I’m about to do it soon, you see?”

Ignoring the surrounding jeers completely, Lian seemed preoccupied, muttering as if having a conversation with someone.

When the Minotaur got close enough to almost reach out, Lian raised the sword she held in her hand.

“Where… how should I do this?”

Lian swung her sword carelessly in the air, a thoughtless action that seemed like a toy flashing in a playful manner.

“Crunch!”

The Minotaur chuckled at the foolish gesture of its prey and raised its axe. No, it intended to raise it.

Swoosh.

A small line appeared on the Minotaur’s torso, a clean cut as if made by a cutter knife.

“…-?”

The Minotaur looked at Lian with wide eyes and a bewildered expression. Had it been hit? Its gaze was rolling on the ground.

“Vague.”

As Lian murmured, the Minotaur stuck out its tongue and fell silent.

“…”

The spectators in the arena were left speechless, their mouths agape at the unexpected scene.

Shaaak!

The Minotaur’s waist was cleanly sliced diagonally, revealing a cross-section and spraying blood. On the ground lay the Minotaur’s head, shoulders, and arms sprawled out.

The sharp scent of blood signaled the Minotaur’s defeat.

“Waaaaah!!!”

A tremendous roar shook the ground explosively. The announcer, belatedly regaining composure, spoke in a trembling voice.

“T-The youngest gladiator has defeated the Minotaur in one strike! A new star is born!”

Amidst the excited announcer’s voice echoing, the cheers grew louder, almost drowning out the announcer.

“Eating picky won’t make you grow tall, will it?”

Lian, paying no attention to her surroundings, lightly tapped her talking dark sword, saying that the Minotaur’s blood didn’t taste good.

“[It’s because your blood is too delicious!]

The dark sword grumbled with a deep sound. In response, Lian grinned and said,

“Uh… thanks?”

[Profit…!]

Ignoring the sword’s grumbling, Lian looked back at the path she had come from.

“I need to go back to Iris quickly.

The game ended sooner than expected, but still, anything could have happened.

Someone might have tried to attack Iris while I was gone, or she might have gone to a restaurant because she was hungry and picked up something to eat.

To Lian, Iris was no different from a newborn baby left on the riverbank.

“Now, let’s have an interview with the miraculous gladiator…”

With an excited voice that he couldn’t hide, the host rode a strange flying carpet and headed towards where Lian was.

Lian, filled with worries about Iris in his mind, didn’t notice the approaching host and headed towards the corridor past the Minotaur.

“Uh? I…I can’t just go like this, can I?”

He heard the flustered voice of the host from behind but ignored it. In the world of comedy, it’s natural for residents to run toward their goal once they’re fixated on one thing.

If you try to stop a running resident of the comedy world…

“Ahh!”

You end up flying like that host.

“What just passed by?”

Thinking very much like a resident of the comedy world, Lian passed through the corridor. Perhaps because of his tremendous achievement, no one stopped him.

***

Thud!

“Iris!”

“…!”

Iris, who had her head buried in the bed, opened her eyes wide and quickly raised her head. After checking my face, she got up from the bed and came over in a hurry.

I reached out to grab Iris’s hand right away.

“Sorry, I’m late -”

Before I could finish speaking, Iris threw herself into my arms. I froze in the same posture as when I reached out my hand.

“Ugh…”

Iris cried, pressing her face against my chest. My mind, which had been as stiff as a rock, suddenly snapped to attention at the sound. I urgently grabbed Iris’s shoulders and pushed her away.

“I-Iris, are you crying?!”

There are beings in the world that should not be provoked. Among them, the first is a child, and the second is a woman. Especially if you make a pretty woman cry, it’s better to dive off a cliff for a better life.

Iris is a beautiful girl. It’s a terrifying existence. On top of that, she’s even the original protagonist!

Making such a being cry was like saying death was right around the corner.

“Was Iris… an assassin?”

Thinking that, he left Iris alone and walked to the center of the room, kneeling and sitting down.

“Mother, your son will go first.”

He shed tears as he brought the sword he held in his hand to his neck. To escape from the cruel cliché that might happen next, he had to show this kind of expression.

“…?!”

Iris approached in an expression he had never seen before and swiftly took my sword.

“Oh! Finally to a proper human – …Kyaah! I-Is this, by any chance, sacred power?! Let me go! You son of a god! Kyaah!”

The demonic sword, which had been excited about entering the hands of a proper human rather than someone abnormal like Lian, screamed.

Afraid of losing a useful weapon like this, I reached out to Iris and said,

“Nice one, Iris. Quickly give that to me.”

Upon hearing that, Iris hid the sword behind her back and shook her head vigorously.