Chapter 1

Chapter 1 The Unique Monster 1 On the tenth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth, in the space known to humans as a boss room, a minotaur yawned into existence. It was a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man, and it bore an ax in each hand. Its horned head swayed back and forth, its eyes opening slowly as they adjusted to the light. The space was dim in comparison to the world outside the labyrinth, but it was still a bit too bright for the minotaur, who had spawned mere moments ago. A certain scent crept into its nostrils. The minotaur was overcome with an immediate sense of longing, confident that whatever the scent led to would slake its fervent desire. It peered into the depths of the cave, and there, it beheld a small lake. Being a monster, it knew nothing of the word lake. Its instincts told it, though, that this was what its body was seeking. The minotaur charged toward the water. It fell to its knees and gazed upon the lake’s surface, studying its reflection. The damp, refreshing air further inspired its thirst. The minotaur then plunged its entire head into the lake and gulped down large mouthfuls of water. The liquid coursed throughout its parched body, hydrating its cells and filling it with strength. It lifted its head, sending up a spray in the process. It then sucked in a deep breath and exhaled, blowing a slight gust across the dim cavern. It lowered its head to the lake and drank some more. This cycle of drinking and gasping for air was repeated three times. At last, its thirst was quenched. This, however, did not fully satisfy the minotaur. Having addressed one need, a new craving immediately bubbled to the surface. Humans knew this sensation as “hunger.” The minotaur’s entire body was racked with the feeling. It stood and turned away from the lake. The creature was enormous in stature. All monsters of the labyrinth were born into the world fully grown. It didn’t take long for the minotaur to spot the cave’s entrance. Perhaps there would be something in that direction capable of satisfying this new craving. It lumbered toward the mouth of the cave, but when it tried to pass through, it was overtaken by a strong sense of discomfort. Its footsteps ceased. Despite its best efforts, the minotaur was unable to take another step forward. It could go no farther than this point. This was the first lesson its body would teach it. But if it could not leave the cave, then how would it sate its hunger? The minotaur paced around the boss room. It walked and walked and walked, but its hunger would not fade. In truth, the feeling grew only more intense with each passing second. The minotaur groaned and thrashed its head, saliva flying from its mouth, before returning to the lake and sitting down by the water. It hoped that the site of its first drink would provide succor for this new irritation. The maddening hunger and the pain in its stomach would not relent, though. It was torture. And the minotaur hated it. The minotaur hated the world that had given birth to it, and it hated itself for being so enfeebled by its desire. 2 Monster was not a scientific term that referred to any type of creature in particular. It was simply a label humans used to refer to creatures they viewed as threatening. Strictly speaking, there was no clear distinction between what made a creature an animal or a monster. No one would call a rabbit a monster, but jackalopes—creatures that resembled rabbits with antlers—were seen as such. Even so, both could be eaten, and there was not much of a biological difference between the two. What set jackalopes apart was their odd penchant for aggression toward humans. For people who lacked combat prowess, a brush with one could even turn deadly. This detail solidified their monster status. Creatures that humans didn’t understand—or creatures that were ominous or frightening—were also referred to as monsters. There were other beings that earned the “monster” tag that would never be considered animals, such as ogres, orcs, goblins, and kobolds. It was undeniable, however, that they were living creatures. There were even many cases where these beings would build their own peaceful spheres of community far from the presence of humans. In contrast, there also were monsters that could not be considered living, such as ghost- and demon-type monsters. These types of monsters did not grow larger as they aged and were incapable of producing offspring. No matter where they appeared, they brought pain, death, and disaster to humans. There were legends that spoke of the origins of ghosts and demons. The stories often connected them to some malevolent deity. These monsters, typically, were extremely repulsive and inflicted harm on people by attacking them with magic or curses. Many could also use a host of deadly poisons. But what about monsters that appeared in labyrinths? Ogres, orcs, goblins, and kobolds could all be found in labyrinths, but these were not born of a mother’s womb. They were spawned from the walls themselves. After they were killed, they would respawn sometime later, but their replacements would be wholly different individuals, with none of the memories or experiences of their predecessors. Monsters in labyrinths were born fully grown and did not change or evolve. They did not have sexes or genders, and they could not mate or produce offspring. This was why monsters in labyrinths could not be considered living beings and were often called “magical creatures” or “cryptids.” In the labyrinth, the types of monsters that spawned on each floor never changed. This was true for the monster in the boss room as well. A minotaur spawning in the tenth-floor boss room of the Sazardon Labyrinth meant that the previous boss had also been a minotaur. It had been killed by a human. Humans explored the labyrinth to kill monsters. When they did so successfully, they received money, weapons, potions, and more. The weapons that could be obtained from monsters in labyrinths were far superior to anything one could procure outside and were sometimes made of rare and expensive materials. Labyrinths were often bursting with treasure. That was why humans regularly ventured inside to explore and slay monsters. Sometimes people died in battle, but the promise of unparalleled wealth often motivated them far more than the fear of death deterred them. Doing battle with monsters in labyrinths also helped people grow stronger at an accelerated rate. In turn, becoming stronger enabled them to fight monsters on even deeper floors. Triumphing in battle against the monsters at lower levels rewarded them with even greater wealth and experience. For the sake of growing stronger… For the sake of growing richer… On this day, too, humans would boldly step foot into the Sazardon Labyrinth. 3 Erina was a female adventurer. A year ago, in the town of Micaene, Erina had visited a temple and made an oath to the earth goddess Bora. She had received the holy occupation of adventurer and was given an adventurer medal to match. The holy occupations of knight and thief also allowed one to explore labyrinths. Adventurers, though, could obtain the Map skill, and they experienced faster growth within labyrinths compared to other classes. The magical storage system to which they gained access, commonly referred to as a Bag, was also appealing. Making an oath to the earth goddess was common practice for anyone who used a sword, like Erina. Receiving your holy occupation from the goddess Bora granted you divine protection that slightly raised your physical attack and defense. It also increased the amount of health you were able to recover. “Well, if it isn’t Erina.” “Oh, hey, Logis.” “Are you going in alone today?” “Yeah. I left my party.” “You did, huh? Well, at any rate, you sure polished that leather armor to a brilliant shine.” “Thanks.” “Good luck in there.” “Yeah, you too.” Four days ago, Erina had left her adventuring party. They were nice people to be around, but they lacked ambition. They had no desire to delve into the deeper floors of the labyrinth anytime soon. Erina wanted to become an adventurer so she could make more money. She needed every coin she could get her hands on in order to buy back her family’s farm. If she could accomplish that goal, then her father’s health would improve, and her mother’s smile would return. This was a special day for Erina. This was the day she would become a C-rank adventurer. There were multiple ways to earn rank C. The first was to raise your level to 21. Once an adventurer reached level 21, they could then increase their rank to C by returning to the Adventurers Guild and receiving a prayer from someone with the Oath skill. You could also increase your rank through the simple accumulation of achievements, regardless of your level. However, it was said that the achievements required to reach rank C were quite difficult, and not even the Adventurers Guild was sure what kind of jobs you needed to complete. For that reason, raising your rank by amassing achievements was imprecise and time-consuming. However, there was a special way of reaching rank C in the town of Micaene. That method was to defeat the boss of the tenth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth, the minotaur, by yourself. Normally, the boss of a floor had strength on par with the monsters two floors below it. For example, the boss of the fifth floor would be as strong as the monsters that roamed the seventh. The minotaur, however, was stronger than the monsters of the eighteenth and nineteenth floors, despite being the boss of the tenth. And disappointingly, you got very little experience for defeating it. Occasionally, a blessed bastard sword of moderate worth would drop, but the probability was very low. To make matters worse, the bosses from the eleventh floor onward would sometimes award skill drops upon defeating them, but the minotaur did not. The reward for killing the minotaur was simply disproportionate to the difficulty of the fight. No one knows who discovered the rule that defeating the minotaur in a solo battle allowed you to be promoted to C rank or when this had first occurred. Nevertheless, it worked without exception upon receiving the oath, so Erina was thankful for it. Though she had stable work as a guard, becoming a C-rank adventurer was still a far more lucrative option. There were some missions that could be accepted only by people C rank or higher. If feeding yourself was your only concern, then D or E rank was sufficient, but in order to make enough money to have any sort of savings, you needed to be at least rank C. Erina put her right hand to her left breast. Her leather armor was shiny from being polished with oil for half a day. A charm was sewn into the breastplate on the left side. It was the earth goddess Bora’s charm, imbued with a blessing of safety. Next, she checked her belt. The pouches on it contained two yellow potions, five red potions, and one blue potion. The yellow potions had not been cheap, but Erina would need them for the fight against the minotaur. The minotaur was a difficult opponent, but Erina was aware of its abilities and fighting style. A veteran adventurer had told her all about the fight after she treated him to a beer. As long as you remained calm, victory against the minotaur was possible. Defeating the minotaur in a solo battle might have become a qualification for C rank because it tested your ability to draw intel from more experienced adventurers. You could pay to obtain some information at the guild, but that would not have been nearly as detailed as the data she’d received from the adventurer. At Erina’s level, the minotaur was not an opponent she could defeat without thorough advance knowledge of the fight. 4 Erina stepped into the Sazardon Labyrinth. For some reason, entering it gave her a strange sense of ease. That was probably due to her adventurer designation. Some jobs, including knights, adventurers, and thieves, could receive a variety of benefits when they entered the labyrinth. The most useful of these was potions. Red potions recovered your stamina and healed injuries. They even possessed the incredible ability to regenerate lost body parts. Blue potions restored spirit power, which was needed to use magic and activate skills. Yellow potions healed paralysis, petrification, and other status effects. Green potions cured poisoning. For the most part, the powerful blessings of these potions did not manifest outside the labyrinth. Potions could be found only in labyrinths and were ineffective elsewhere. That rule applied to more than just potions. Many of the powerful weapons and armor obtained in the labyrinth increased your attack or defense, enhanced your physical abilities, or gave a variety of other effects. These effects were called blessings, named for the grace of the gods. Blessings typically worked only within labyrinths. Occasionally, word got around about a weapon or piece of armor with a blessing that functioned in the outside world, but that was very rare. Items such as those were incredibly valuable. Erina’s footfalls were light as she sped through the stone corridors. The physical abilities of adventurers were slightly enhanced when they entered a labyrinth, and she was making use of that. I can do it. I can do it. I can defeat the minotaur! Erina had heard that the holy occupation of adventurer hadn’t existed for very long. The adventurer designation didn’t have as storied a history in comparison to jobs like knights, merchants, or woodcutters. She had also heard that this land had existed for many years before someone discovered the phenomenon of levels. She couldn’t imagine a world without adventurers, and it was even more difficult to believe that there had ever been a time when people were unaware of levels. Because neither of those was ever going away, the world of the past was totally irrelevant to her. Erina utilized the power of the blessings to increase her true strength. She’d steadily saved up money and purchased a high-quality sword, then trained hard to become proficient with it. There was no way she would lose to monsters that knew nothing but brute force. In that, Erina had full confidence. 5 Erina was able to breeze through the first five floors without fighting anything at all. The monsters of the labyrinth tended to flee from opponents significantly stronger than they were, so the inhabitants of the first five floors didn’t approach her. She had to deal with a few fights on floors six through eight, but she defeated the monsters without issue. She suffered a few scratches but no injuries. The monsters dropped some bronze coins and one red potion. She thought about putting the red potion into her Bag. Instead, she placed it in a pouch on her belt so she could quickly access it in case of emergency. She rested on the staircase leading down to her penultimate destination and ate a meal she had prepared beforehand. Then, it was time to finally take on the ninth floor. The monsters on this floor were orcs. These were hideous creatures that had an appearance somewhere between man and beast. Supreme strength and resilience were trademarks of this race. Orcs were no match for Erina in a one-on-one fight. However, they had a habit of roaming in packs of two or three, which could make this floor tricky. Fighting two at once was difficult, and fighting three simultaneously was something she definitely wanted to avoid. Luckily, orcs were slow runners. Erina planned to take advantage of that and speed through the floor without the need to fight. She knew the path to the tenth floor very well. Just as she hoped, she was successfully able to sprint through the orcs without engaging. She didn’t have much longer to go until she reached the tenth-floor staircase. She then nearly crashed into an orc she had failed to notice. Shoot. Erina dashed forward, cut a light gash into the orc’s arm—which held a simple club—and then ran around it. She could feel the orc chasing her, but if she could just reach the tenth-floor staircase, she would be safe. The monsters could not perceive the staircases. That meant the monsters of the ninth floor were incapable of descending to the tenth or rising to the eighth. Wha—? Oh, come on! Right in front of the staircase she was about to fling herself down, a party of three adventurers was fighting a lone orc. She briefly considered ducking around them to get to her destination. If she did that, though, the orc chasing her would end up joining the fight against the adventurers. If that kind of thing was reported to the guild, Erina’s career would go up in flames. Shit! Erina stomped her feet on the hard stone floor of the labyrinth, sharply about-faced, and raised her sword aloft. She then dashed toward the orc and swung her blade down. The orc’s right hand was sent flying, cut clean from the arm. But that did nothing to slow its advance. She dodged nimbly to the left but couldn’t avoid the orc’s large body entirely, and her right leg collided with the orc’s right leg. Losing her balance, Erina felt her left shoulder crash into the stone wall. The orc also seemed to have fallen. She had no time to think about her pain. Orcs had a very dull sense of pain and could easily ignore grievous wounds in a fight. Feeling slightly dizzy, she turned around to face her enemy just before it flung itself at her. Erina didn’t panic. She was accustomed to fighting orcs and felt no fear looking at their hideous faces. Her sword plunged into the monster’s throat. Even then, it continued to charge at her. The orc’s rampage served only to push the blade deeper, and the beast soon stopped moving altogether. The light left its eyes. Five bronze coins clinked as they fell to the ground. The orc had vanished from existence. “Phew…” She leaned her back against the stone wall and caught her breath, then peered deeper into the corridor. The party of three had just finished off their orc. Erina picked up the five bronze coins, retrieved the red potion from her belt, and downed it. Her unsteady vision stabilized, and the pain in her shoulder faded. The three adventurers looked toward Erina. She knew one of them. “Hey, Jansen.” “Erina! Are you by yourself this time?” “Yeah. I’m gonna go on ahead.” “Oh, wow. You’re actually doing it?” Erina came to a stop after walking past them and turned to face Jansen. She gave a slight nod and then descended the staircase to the tenth floor. 6 The monsters of the tenth floor were gray wolves. The items they could potentially drop were of decent quality: silver coins, red potions, and even blue potions. They also had a rare chance of dropping yellow potions. Yet, in spite of that, this floor was not well-liked. A one-on-one fight with a gray wolf had an appropriate difficulty for the tenth floor. Because they moved through the corridors quickly, though, and because they could hear and smell opponents from far away, you could easily find yourself surrounded if you took too long dealing with one. The gray wolves were also much more efficient when acting as a pack, so facing several at a time heightened their threat significantly. For these reasons, many adventurers tried to avoid combat while making their way through this floor. There were two types of items you could use to skip this floor, and both were popular products at the guild. The first was dummy bait. It was just synthetic meat imbued with a scent, but the wolves loved it. Throwing the artificial bait distracted the wolves, allowing you to head down a different corridor. Real meat wasn’t as effective because the wolves would gobble it up in one bite and get right back to chasing you. Poisoned meat didn’t work, either, because the wolves were good at sniffing out poison. They would simply ignore it and attack you instead. Even the dummy bait wasn’t perfect—the wolves would still attack you if you got near them, so this method was nothing more than a momentary distraction. The other product people used was a scent pouch. These released a smell that the gray wolves hated, which caused them to keep their distance from you. It didn’t work as reliably as dummy bait, but at the very least, it greatly reduced the chance of finding yourself cornered by wolves. It was a popular choice for people who wanted to pass through the floor with minimal hassle. Erina was one such person, and she had a pouch with her. However, she ended up being unusually lucky—she reached the boss room without encountering a single gray wolf. I made it. It’s almost time. All right, stay calm. I just need to stay calm. One could see the area outside the boss room while inside, but the opposite was impossible. You couldn’t hear anything while outside, either. The boss room was an isolated space. Erina gathered her breath, readied herself, and strode confidently to the site of her long-awaited battle. 7 The room was much more spacious than she had anticipated. This was Erina’s first time in the tenth-floor boss room, and even though she had heard about it, seeing its width and height for herself made her breath catch in her throat. It should have been impossible for the boss room’s ceiling to be so high, considering the distance she’d descended from the ninth floor to the tenth. Once she passed through the entrance to the room, Erina had entered a distorted space. The minotaur…isn’t here? Oh, it was. It was sitting on the bank of a lake located farther into the room, but with its back turned to Erina, it looked like a giant boulder. The boulder stood up and turned around. It’s huge! Is it a unique monster?! The species of monster that appeared in each boss room was always the same, and their strength was always the same, too. But the individual monsters did have slight variations. They could be marginally taller or shorter, and their color could be darker or lighter. If you were to closely measure them, some would probably have ended up being a touch faster or stronger than others. But those differences were usually small enough to ignore. In rare cases, though, an extremely strong individual would spawn. That would make for a difficult fight, and should the adventurer win, they would make a name for themselves at the guild. These oddities were called “unique monsters,” and they had a high probability of dropping rare items. For that reason, when word would get around that a unique monster had spawned, adventurers would go rushing to fight it. Erina could still turn back. If she was to step away into the corridor, the minotaur wouldn’t be able to follow her. Boss monsters could not leave the boss room. Why am I being so timid?! I can’t chicken out now! Erina clenched her teeth and braced herself, fixing her eyes on the minotaur. Upon noticing her, the creature charged toward Erina. RAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH! Erina let out a beast-like war cry and ran toward the minotaur herself. She was immediately taken by the exhilaration of battle, all her fear disappearing in an instant. I’ll kill it! I’ll slay the monster and finally get what I’ve been working so hard for! The minotaur wielded a short ax in each hand. It hefted the one in its right overhead. Okay! Looks like my info was right! She had heard the minotaur was right-handed, and in most cases, it attacked with its right hand first. Erina slowed her advance. Right now, Erina’s sole focus was the minotaur’s right hand. The minotaur’s first move was always an attack with an ax. As long as you paid attention to its right arm, the attack was avoidable. Erina decelerated even more and drew her sword. She gripped the handle with both hands, lifted the weapon forcefully over her right shoulder, and used that same force to bring it down. The minotaur swiped at her with its ax in the same moment. Erina’s blade landed a cut near the minotaur’s right wrist, and then she jumped to the left. The severe blow to its hand didn’t weaken the force of the minotaur’s swing at all. While letting out a deep moan, it swung its ax through the space where Erina’s head had just been. The sheer strength of the attack sent a chill up Erina’s spine. If it can’t hit me, that power means nothing! With the minotaur’s arm stretched out after swinging and missing, Erina brought her sword down on its elbow. With an irritated growl, the minotaur lifted the ax in its left hand. So it’s the left hand this time, huh? All right. Come at me! This time, she dodged to the right, then struck a blow at the minotaur’s left arm. The minotaur drew back its elbow before thrusting its right arm, ax and all, at Erina. She dodged to the left and took the opportunity to swipe at its outstretched right arm. Stay calm! Just stay calm! It’s strong, but its attacks are really simple. I can dodge them all if I pay close attention. The minotaur bellowed in frustration, took a deep breath, and lurched backward. It then tossed its head forward and charged with its two horns pointed at Erina. She safely jumped out of the way. The minotaur turned slowly, and Erina glared at it coldly. All it can do is swing and thrust its axes or charge at me with its horns. I’ll just keep dodging its attacks and slashing at its arms until it can’t wield its axes anymore. The minotaur continued flailing its axes and not much else. As Erina dodged from side to side, she started gaining more and more leeway to attack. The ground beneath her feet was a little uneven, which made movement a bit difficult and occasionally almost got her hit by an ax. Now and then, fragments of stone kicked up by the minotaur’s feet struck her through gaps in her armor. But none of the minotaur’s direct attacks connected. Their offensive and defensive trades continued for a while longer. Erina was dripping sweat, and her breath was heavy, but she hadn’t been injured. The minotaur’s arms were shredded and bloody. If you just stayed calm and watched carefully, you’d realize how unsophisticated the minotaur’s attacks were. Its swipes were quick, but its windup was slow, making it easy to predict the trajectory of its weapons. It was sluggish transitioning from one movement to the next, and its gait was awkward. Now that Erina was looking at the minotaur with a cool head, she realized it was only a little bit taller than she was. Her nervousness and fear when she’d first seen it had probably created the impression that it was taller than it really was. This was no unique monster. It was just an ordinary minotaur. She dodged a lunge from her opponent and ended up in perfect position for an attack. Now! Erina swung her sword with all her might for a weighty slash attack. It sang through the air. On impact, there was the unsettling noise of bone being severed. The minotaur’s left hand was sent flying through the air, still holding its ax. I win! But her celebration was premature. She had let her guard down. The monster swung its now-handless left arm at her, hitting her hard in the chest and sending her crashing into the stone wall behind her. The minotaur lifted the ax in its right hand. Erina shook her head to get her bearings, then kicked off the wall and jumped out of the way. Hearing the sound of stone being smashed to bits by the ax behind her, Erina ran forward ten steps, pivoted to face the minotaur, and took a moment to catch her breath. Here it comes! She reached for the belt at her waist and attempted to pull out a potion. She was going to drink a yellow potion to cure her abnormal status. But she was having trouble grabbing it. She looked down at her belt. The pouch was broken. All her potion bottles had shattered when she was thrown into the wall. GROAAAAAAARRRRRR!! The minotaur let out a tremendous roar. The whole cave shook. Erina lost all courage to face her enemy and was awash with a feeling of hopelessness. This was Warcry. Warcry was a special attack minotaurs possessed. It sacrificed a third of the user’s remaining stamina to inhibit their opponent’s movements for a limited amount of time. The minotaur swung its right ax. She tried to jump out of the way, but her fear prevented her from dodging the attack completely. Erina was slashed across her chest. Realizing she no longer had any chance of winning, she started to flee. “The minotaur is a slow runner.” “If you run as fast as you can, it won’t be able to catch you when you try to escape.” She recalled the veteran adventurer’s words. Her sword felt heavy in her right hand. Had it always been this heavy? She thought about dropping it but quickly decided against that. If she lost this sword here, she’d have no choice but to quit being an adventurer. The sword was the one thing she couldn’t lose. The minotaur was chasing her. It was closing in. Erina ran, fighting desperately for her life. When she was just a few seconds from the entrance, though, she tripped over her own feet and stumbled. The minotaur roared, and she felt a gust of wind against her back. A sharp pain flared up in her left ankle, but she ignored it. Rolling like a barrel, she managed to tumble through the entrance and out of the boss room. Panting heavily, she looked down at her left leg to see that her foot was gone. It had been severed by the minotaur’s ax. Erina produced a thin rope from her Bag and tied it tightly around her leg to stop the bleeding. She was in the labyrinth. If someone passed by, she could ask for a red potion, which would not only save her life but also regenerate her lost foot. For now, her life was not in danger. It was then that Erina noticed the tears falling from her eyes. They weren’t because of the pain, though. She was just grateful to be alive. 8 The moment that creature entered the room, the minotaur learned it was not alone in the world. When it turned to face the intruder, it felt a violent sense of hatred. No, hatred was not the right way to describe that feeling. If you had to encapsulate what the minotaur felt toward the female adventurer in a word, hostility would probably be most fitting. Its hunger intensified. But this was slightly different from the hunger it had felt earlier. A different sort of craving. A craving for victory in battle. The minotaur’s instincts were ordering it to do everything in its power to destroy its enemy. The creature was slightly shorter than itself. Nevertheless, it was projecting clear animosity toward the minotaur. The minotaur let that aggression wash over it, feeling a twinge of excitement at this chance to act on its destructive impulses. Building up power in its right arm, the minotaur raised its ax. It hadn’t even realized it was holding an ax until that moment. And not just in its right hand but in its left as well. It had no idea how long it had been holding them. Probably from the moment it was born. The axes felt comfortable in its grip, and it liked them because they made its attacks deadlier. The minotaur swung the reliable weapon in its right hand down at the approaching enemy. The fragile interloper should have been crushed from the force of that blow. But the attack missed. Next, it swung the ax in its left hand. That also missed. It swung its weapons over and over again. It missed every single time. Not only could it not land a hit, but the frail enemy was landing weak nicks on its arms. The individual cuts did not hurt. The pain came gradually, though, as the lacerations on its arms accumulated. That negative feeling intensified. The minotaur’s frustration was growing. It tried charging the creature with its horns multiple times. The enemy dodged each of those attacks as well. Its arms were being torn to ribbons by the enemy’s sword. It put extra force behind its next blow in an attempt to crush its enemy once and for all, but this strike, too, failed to connect. The enemy then cut off the minotaur’s left hand. After that, the adversary stopped moving. The minotaur swung at the enemy with its left stump, landing its first direct hit. The intruder was blown backward and crashed into a stone wall. The minotaur followed up by swinging the ax in its remaining hand, but the enemy just barely dodged it, and the blade ended up slicing air before taking a chunk out of the wall. The enemy ran to put some distance between the two of them. At that moment, the minotaur’s instincts took the reins. It inhaled deeply, thrashed its head about, and activated the skill that humans knew as Warcry. The minotaur’s skill caught the enemy, weakening and overwhelming it with fear. Swinging its ax, the minotaur hoped for a finishing blow, but its prey had turned its back on the battle and was trying to escape. Anger welled up within the minotaur. It immediately gave chase. Soon. Soon it would catch its enemy. Soon it would kill its enemy. The creature stumbled. The minotaur lifted the ax in its right hand and brought it down hard. That swing connected and carved off a piece of the intruder’s body. Just as the minotaur was about to finish it off with its next blow, the enemy escaped through the cave entrance. The minotaur had no choice but to leave it at that. 9 On the other side of the entryway the minotaur could not traverse, the fragile enemy was lying facedown on the ground. Eventually, it began treating itself. The minotaur wanted to kill. It wanted to kill this creature. But it could not cross the threshold. Just as a fish cannot swim through the air or a bird cannot fly beyond the atmosphere, a boss monster is incapable of leaving its boss room. That did nothing to abate its desire to kill, though. Its hunger only grew stronger and stronger. The massive minotaur was in a rage, wanting more than anything to settle this fight. For that reason, it had to advance. It had to pass through the entrance and into the corridor. With its every bodily instinct pushing back against the step it was trying to take, the minotaur persevered and eventually managed to force its right foot through the threshold and out of the room. Its foot sizzled, burning hideously. The pain and shock caused it to drop its ax, but the minotaur did not stop trying. It pushed its right hand through, which also sizzled and bubbled as it burned. Its shoulders, head, chest, and legs all seared as it forced itself through the entrance. Its face was horrifically distorted; saliva poured from its mouth, but it never stopped pushing. Its eyes were scorched as well, rendering it virtually blind. Had the minotaur had been able to see, it surely would have noted the female warrior’s face plastered in horror, incapable of anything more than shaking her head from side to side as she gawked at the demonic figure traversing the barrier—a feat that should have been impossible. “No way… There’s just no way…” The minotaur did not understand the language of man. It did, however, grasp that these words were an expression of fear. They also helped it zero in on the location of its target. Could the minotaur hear the clattering noise? Could it hear the sound of the female adventurer’s teeth chattering? Its face now horribly disfigured and melted from the scalding, it extended its remaining hand toward its prey. The fist, blackened from carbonization and oozing bodily fluid, opened suddenly and grabbed the female warrior’s breastplate. The minotaur then hoisted her into the air, pivoted its own collapsing body, and slammed her face into the stone wall. The warrior’s head was smashed flat. Skull fragments, blood, and gray matter exploded from the ruined space above her neck. Her body immediately disappeared. Only her sword and a variety of items remained. Her scattered flesh and bone vanished soon after that. In the labyrinth, even humans faded away after death. The minotaur fell to the ground, still holding the breastplate in its right hand. Its body was blackened, shrunken, and emitting a foul-smelling smoke. This monster’s very short life was about to come to an end. Even then, the minotaur raged in its mind. More! Give me more, more fighting! Give me stronger enemies! Give me power! Give me enemies to kill and more power! These were likely what its thoughts would have been if translated into human speech. It was at once delusional, hateful, and pleading. It was a cry from the bottom of its heart, expressed clearly despite the lack of words. At that moment, a voice echoed in the minotaur’s mind. Thy plea shall be granted. The minotaur did not understand the language of man, so of course, it did not understand what that voice had said. However, it knew it was being addressed by a very powerful being. The earth goddess Bora’s charm was embedded into the female warrior’s breastplate. The voice the minotaur had heard was the same one that had spoken to the female adventurer when she’d prayed for divine protection in the temple of the earth goddess. A faint light the color of the earth enveloped the minotaur. The monster heard the sound of a gentle breeze, and in the blink of an eye, its skin and hair were regenerated. It returned to its original form, even regaining its lost left hand. Actually, this was not quite its original form. Its body was slightly larger and stronger than it had been before. This was the phenomenon adventurers knew as a “level-up.” Through the divine protection of the goddess Bora, the experience points the minotaur gained from killing the female adventurer were converted and applied to the minotaur’s set growth rates, resulting in a level-up. This event also restored the recipient to full health. The minotaur returned to the edge of the lake, gulped down some water, and drifted off to sleep. It was said that the monsters of the labyrinth were born from the stone. They looked like living creatures, but this was not the case—they were nothing more than pale imitations. The straightforward proof of that was the fact that they did not grow. Even if by level-up, the phenomenon of a monster evolving in the labyrinth was very unusual indeed. On this day, the Sazardon Labyrinth had birthed a unique monster.