The minotaur opened its eyes.
There was air. It was as stale and muggy as ever, but the minotaur was thankful it could breathe.
The minotaur had reached the blue stones just before it ran out of strength, and it was moved to the next location. It then fainted.
It inhaled as it lay collapsed on the ground. Its rough breathing gradually settled, and it got up once its strength had returned to its entire body. The minotaur then saw it was standing on red stones.
It was not in bad condition. Its right ankle that had been bitten off by the monster in the water had been restored.
This room was smaller than the ones before it. It was a little less than sixty paces from one end to the other. The floor was even and covered with coarse white sand, so there was nowhere to hide.
It did not see any enemies. There were only two fan-shaped boards, facing each other from the right and left edges of the room. If a human saw them, they might have thought they looked like giant seashells.
The boards were crooked in shape. They were smooth and shiny and released a beautiful, flickering light.
There was a jewel in the center of the room in between the two fan-shaped boards. It was enveloped by a light that appeared either white or silver, or perhaps pink or purple.
The minotaur was bare-handed. It had lost the weapons it was holding in the previous room. It drew a wide longsword from its Bag and stepped off the red stones.
The red jewel quickly released a flash of intense light. The minotaur readied itself for a fight, but the jewel once again went quiet.
It looked at the fan-shaped boards and noticed something that had not been there before.
Shadows.
A shadow as big as the minotaur itself was imprinted onto each of the boards. Beyond the size, the shape of each also somewhat resembled the minotaur.
The shadow on the right roused and began to move. It gradually swelled and then forced its way out of the board.
It was an exact copy of the minotaur. Even the weapon it was holding was the same.
It walked toward the minotaur.
The minotaur walked toward it.
What the minotaur had thought was white sand actually seemed to be either cast-off skin of small creatures or small broken bones.
Once its opponent was in range, the minotaur lifted its sword high and struck. Its opponent did the same thing, and their swords collided.
The monster’s strength, speed, timing, and the way it swung its sword were all exactly the same.
The minotaur unleashed three consecutive attacks, and its opponent fended them off.
Its opponent then unleashed three consecutive attacks, and the minotaur parried them as well.
They both took one step back to collect their breath.
We have the same strength.
At that moment, the shadow on the left board also came to life. It, too, was an exact copy of the minotaur and was holding the same weapon.
It looked like the minotaur had to fight two imitations at the same time. The minotaur did not once consider the disadvantage it was at, facing two enemies with its same abilities and equipment.
The minotaur’s attention was directed toward the heads of the two fakes.
They both had only half of their right horn. The same as itself.
Seeing that filled it with an unreasonable, violent anger.
The enemy nearest it struck at the minotaur. Fighting spirit burned within the minotaur, and it forced the enemy back.
The other enemy was approaching.
After the minotaur had the enemy in front of it on the back foot, it leaped backward to give itself plenty of room and then used Burning Breath.
A few seconds later, the two enemies both used Burning Breath as well.
These enemies can do the same things as I can.
They can also return my attacks.
But they can’t move at the exact same time as me, and the way they swing their swords and blow their breath is not exactly the same. That means they are imitating me while each attacking in their own individual way.
As the minotaur analyzed the enemies, they approached and entered its space.
The minotaur moved the longsword in its right hand to its left and drew its Zweihänder from its Bag. The Zweihänder was longer and heavier than the longsword that was now in its left hand.
The two enemies also pulled out a Zweihänder.
The minotaur appeared to lick the handle of the Zweihänder, and then it instantly entered Berserk Mode.
The two imitations also entered Berserk Mode.
Berserk Mode was a state that significantly increased the user’s attack power in exchange for significantly decreasing defense and intellect.
It slashed at the first enemy with the Zweihänder in its right hand. The enemy blocked the attack with its longsword.
The minotaur slashed with the longsword in its left. The enemy blocked it with its Zweihänder.
The second enemy attacked from the left. It struck the minotaur’s back with the Zweihänder it was holding in its right hand.
The attack was strong enough to kill, but the minotaur jumped forward to lessen the impact of the blow and then swept the Zweihänder in its right hand horizontally from right to left.
The minotaur’s jump carried into the space of the first enemy, which stooped down to avoid the Zweihänder and then thrust the longsword in its left hand at the minotaur’s abdomen.
The minotaur had no way of dodging it. The longsword stabbed deeply into the center of its abdomen.
The minotaur threw its Zweihänder at the second enemy on its left. The enemy failed to dodge, as if it had not expected the minotaur to throw its weapon in that circumstance, and the sword pierced its right thigh and threw off its balance.
The minotaur then walked toward the enemy that had pierced its sword through its abdomen, and it stabbed the longsword in its left hand through the enemy’s throat.
The enemy was slow to respond, as if it had not expected the minotaur to move toward it while willingly deepening its own wound.
The enemy was holding its Zweihänder in its right hand, but that weapon was not fit for attacking an opponent who had charged into one’s space, and the second enemy was also blocking its sword. Not letting go of the sword that was stabbed into the minotaur’s abdomen was what sealed the enemy’s fate.
The minotaur buried the sword in its left hand deeper into the enemy’s throat. It twisted the sword and tore open the throat, then put its right foot to the enemy’s abdomen and used the strength of its leg to push it away.
The minotaur regripped the longsword with two hands and tried to attack the second enemy, which had gotten up and was moving to attack. The enemy was a hair too quick, however, and slashed the minotaur’s throat with its Zweihänder.
Even for the minotaur, that attack was strong enough to be fatal. Especially with its defense weakened due to Berserk Mode.
The minotaur lost strength and began to fall, and the enemy lifted its Zweihänder up high. Likely to deliver the final blow.
But the minotaur held its ground firmly and swiped the longsword from right to left with both hands.
The attack was so fast and powerful that one never would have thought the minotaur was suffering from a nigh-fatal wound.
The enemy tried to quickly bring its Zweihänder down. The minotaur was holding its longsword with both hands, and the enemy was holding its long and heavy Zweihänder with only its right hand.
Before the enemy’s sword reached the minotaur, the minotaur’s blade cleaved the enemy in half at the abdomen. The enemy’s top and bottom halves collapsed to the ground.
Once the two enemies were completely dead, the jewel in the middle of the room shattered.
Berserk Mode ended.
A level-up occurred and healed the minotaur’s wounds.
Its significant injuries had been healing to an extent before the level-up occurred. When the minotaur had drawn its Zweihänder out of its Bag, it also pulled out some immortal flesh, and it ate it throughout the battle.
Immortal flesh was an item that could be obtained from hydras on the one hundredth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth. If consumed in a labyrinth, it would cause the user for a short amount of time to enter a state in which they would revive even after death. It would not give the immortal effect if consumed outside of labyrinths, but it would grant an extremely powerful recovery effect.
Red potions did not work in this strange place the minotaur was in. Some of the skills it had gained did not activate, either. For that reason, it was not confident that the immortal flesh would work, but it had put some in its mouth just in case and ate it when it felt death was unavoidable.
The minotaur thought for a moment that, in the end, it was the flesh that had made the difference between victory and defeat, but then it immediately rejected that.
They had no anger, no fear, no joy.
They had never met a powerful enemy. Never learned. Never grown.
Even when my heart was filled with anger, their hearts were empty.
They only had their attack raised and their defense lowered.
There was no way I was ever going to lose to them.
Even so, the strength of the enemies in this place increases significantly every time I advance.
I wonder what I will encounter next.
As that was going through the minotaur’s mind, it picked up its Zweihänder, put it in its Bag, and stepped onto the blue stones.