Chapter 4

A Duel with the Heavenly Blade

1

Having finished fighting in the depths of the labyrinth, Percival began his return trip to the surface.

Just because he was going back up didn’t mean he could let his guard down, as he had to slip through many corridors containing strong monsters on his way. The climb would also make for good training.

Percival reached the forty-ninth floor and decided to take a food break.

This was a worthwhile expedition.

I made it all the way to the ninety-sixth floor, and I even mastered using Ende’s Shield against large monsters.

There were five treasures handed down in House Mercurius.

Alestra’s Bracelet, which eliminated magic.

Kaldan’s Dagger, which protected its wielder’s body from status ailments and poison.

Raika’s Ring, which shot offensive magic.

Ende’s Shield, which reflected physical attacks back at one’s opponent.

And Bolton’s Charm, which absorbed magic and granted the power of invisibility.

Percival changed up which treasures he used depending on the floor and devised fighting styles for each.

If he fully utilized the powers of the five treasures, he might have been able to make it to the one hundredth floor. However, he would have been unable to defeat the monster that served not only as the boss of that floor but of the labyrinth as a whole: the metal dragon.

In truth, it would have been difficult for him even to beat the basilisks and hydras that roamed the one hundredth floor.

That’s why Percival was steadily working on increasing his strength and studying how to use the treasures of his house.

He would venture down to the heart of the labyrinth someday. There, he would defeat the metal dragon.

He would do it alone, without anyone to ruin his enjoyment of the battle.

It was almost as if his only motivation in life was thrill-seeking.

If he had just joined a party, he could have taken down the metal dragon a long time ago.

It’s not that he had never searched for companions with which to explore the depths. He had, but it had never worked out for him.

He’d had a powerful sorcerer, a proficient healer, and the kind of fighter skilled enough to put others at ease.

But the battles with them were inelegant.

It wasn’t just winning that was important to Percival—the grace of combat mattered, too.

What Percival was looking for was a highly polished, sharp fighting style. Winning without that would not satisfy him.

He was unable to find others who shared this same goal, so he was still alone. That didn’t bother him, though.

Done with his break, Percival stored Alestra’s Bracelet and Kaldan’s Dagger in his Bag, took off his boots, and changed into a pair of Fool’s Boots.

Fool’s Boots were a type of cursed item that lowered your physical abilities significantly when equipped. Percival used them for training.

The monsters on the floors from here on would not attack Percival. Labyrinth monsters fled from opponents significantly stronger than themselves.

Percival was exhausted from his fights on the deeper floors, but fortunately, he had no external injuries. He would be able to leave the labyrinth without drinking a red potion.

Red potions healed your wounds and removed exhaustion, but leaving those things to natural recovery led to faster growth.

He intended to use the Fool’s Boots to give his body a harsh workout on his way up through the remaining forty-nine floors.

Percival stowed his favorite sword and attached a blade of simple make to his hip. It was very blunt, but he didn’t mind. There wouldn’t be any more battles on the way back up. He was only using it because he couldn’t consider running without a sword at his hip during combat training.

He would see his wife and kids after he emerged from the labyrinth. Once again, he would drink in their cherubic expressions when they saw that he had returned safe and sound.

Percival whipped his tired body back into shape and began to run.

2

Now on the eighth floor, the minotaur sensed something flying toward it. It quickly tried to block it with its right ax but was too slow.

It turned out to be a knife. The blade pierced the minotaur’s abdomen but did not penetrate its muscle very deeply, falling to the ground with a clank.

“Giii, giiii!”

A monster half as tall as the minotaur and covered in thick hair was staring at it with hate in its eyes. Humans called this monster a goblin.

Two more goblins charged at the minotaur from behind the one that had thrown the knife. There was one on the left and one on the right, and they held a club and sword respectively.

The speed of their approach was slow compared to the gray wolves. They were also rather awkward on their feet.

The minotaur tried to stop the attacks from sword and club with its right and left axes, respectively.

The goblin on the left suddenly twisted its body, however, and struck the minotaur’s right ax with its club. This distracted the minotaur, and the goblin on the right took the opportunity to attack its lower abdomen with its sword.

The minotaur recoiled quickly, and the goblin’s blade only lightly pricked it.

The minotaur roared with displeasure.

It did feel anger toward the strange creature that had wounded it, but it was even angrier at itself for failing to dodge such a sluggish attack.

The minotaur’s rage summoned and amplified its true strength.

It lifted its right ax with incredible force and brought it down, splitting the goblin open from the top of its head down to its chest.

The minotaur followed that with a horizontal swing of its left ax, too fast for eyes to follow. The goblin’s head flew from its shoulders.

The goblin that had thrown the knife turned and tried to run, but the minotaur chased it with unbelievable speed for its size and kicked the small monster in the back. The creature was sent flying into the stone wall, brains and bodily fluids splattering in every direction upon impact.

This did nothing to quell the minotaur’s rage. It surrendered itself to this anger, wandering the corridors and violently butchering every goblin it laid eyes on.

The goblins always moved in packs of two or three. They were unskilled fighters, but their assaults were coordinated. Those attacks didn’t pose even a slight risk to the minotaur, but they were a good change of pace from the monotonous fighting style of the orcs, and they taught the minotaur the importance of reading your enemy’s moves.

They dropped bronze coins and cheap-looking weapons, but after it had killed some unknown number of them, one of the goblins dropped a red potion. The minotaur was about to keep walking without picking it up like it usually did, but then it suddenly stopped.

A scene flashed in the back of its mind.

It saw a human drinking one of those red things.

That human was injured and weak, but after emptying one of those, it regained its strength for battle.

The minotaur bent over to pick up the red potion, then placed it in its invisible storage above its left shoulder.

It found the boss room and walked inside, but it was empty. Just a short while earlier, this floor’s boss had been defeated by the adventurers.

It had come across humans twice, but they’d run as soon as they’d seen it, so it hadn’t given chase.

There would be no point in chasing after creatures that didn’t even try to fight.

As it roamed the floor, the minotaur eventually found the next staircase.

If it went to another floor, it would find new enemies. The minotaur understood that by now.

But its hunger would not be sated. It had no idea how to achieve satisfaction.

3

“It was on the eighth floor this time?”

Logan received some eyewitness information. Everyone working at the guild knew that he had an interest in any information related to the minotaur, so this was delivered to him right away.

“I see. So they saw the minotaur and immediately fled to the surface.”

The beast was apparently alone. There was no sign of anyone nearby controlling it.

They also said the minotaur did not attack.

“Hmm… What does this mean…?”

Logan also investigated the items left behind by Paja, Sharlia, and Raystrand.

From the small number of potions that remained, he could infer that they’d had a long and hard battle, but he didn’t understand anything beyond that.

“Could those three really have had such a hard time against the minotaur? To the point where they were all wiped out…?”

No matter how strong this minotaur happened to be, they should’ve at least been able to bind its movement and run. In the worst-case scenario, even if one or two of them went down, someone should have been able to escape.

Assuming some trouble had actually led to their deaths, what in the world could have prevented Paja from leaving behind any information?

Was it really the minotaur those three had fought?

Logan just couldn’t wrap his head around the situation.

4

Now on the seventh floor, the minotaur sniffed the air.

It sensed something strange. What was the source of this peculiarity?

Right there.

It was a rock on the wall of the corridor. There was something weird about it.

The minotaur stared at it intently.

It was definitely strange.

The minotaur lifted its right ax and swung it down onto the perplexing stone.

It shattered.

It was a rock slime.

When camouflaged with the wall, rock slimes became so hard that adventurers at an appropriate level for this floor couldn’t put a dent in them. It was only once the camouflage was removed and they became gelatinous that they could be attacked. But the rock slime’s high defense was no match for the minotaur’s overwhelming force.

It left behind a red potion.

The minotaur picked it up and quickly dropped it into the invisible space above its left shoulder.

It smashed four or five more rock slimes as it prowled the corridors and then sensed something around the corner ahead of it.

Humans. Three of them.

The minotaur prepared itself.

5

Nesco was a level-25 amateur. She had formed a party with the swordsman Rondo and the sorceress Halbara, who specialized in enchantment magic. They were planning on exploring the twenty-eighth floor and were currently on their way down.

Something’s here!

She immediately came to a halt and gestured to her party members to stop as well.

Nesco had the skill Perception, which allowed her to sense nearby presences, so she was advancing through the labyrinth ahead of the other two. Whenever they came across an enemy, she would move to the rear.

What she sensed ahead of them did not seem like a monster one typically encountered on this floor. She carefully crept forward and peeked around the corner.

It was a minotaur.

She was stunned to see something that clearly should not have been there. Her shock quickly turned to fear.

It knows we’re here!

She had heard rumors that a strange monster resembling a minotaur had appeared, but she hadn’t taken them seriously. Now that it was right in front of them, she was panicking.

She thought she saw the minotaur’s eyes light up as it stared at them.

Nesco pulled a Vunkar Arrow from the quiver on her back, nocked it in her bow, and jumped around the corner.

The monster ran at them.

Nesco worked frantically to suppress her fear, aimed an arrow at its abdomen, and fired.

The Vunkar Arrow hit the monster and exploded.

“Run! We’re going back!”

Nesco sprinted in the direction from which they had come. Rondo and Halbara ran after her.

6

Those three humans didn’t seem very strong.

Still, the minotaur didn’t like the weapon that human had used, so it decided to chase after them and kill its assailant using that same weapon.

The minotaur was able to dodge the thing the human had shot at it. Its reflexes had improved significantly since it fought the three adventurers in its boss room.

Nevertheless, the weapon did end up hitting its right ax and detonated on impact.

The explosions produced by Vunkar Arrows were small but powerful.

The minotaur’s fingers were blown off its right hand, and the ax was sent flying.

It stopped for a moment to collect its ax but realized it couldn’t pick it up because of its missing fingers. When it turned to eviscerate the humans, they had already run around the next turn in the corridor.

The minotaur looked at its right hand. It was incapable of a good fight with its hand in that state.

Suddenly, it had an idea. It set its remaining ax on the ground and then put its left hand to its shoulder.

It pulled out a red potion.

The minotaur tossed the vial into its mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.

The fingers on its right hand immediately began to regenerate.

It drank another, and the regeneration rate increased.

If the three humans had seen this, they would surely have been astounded.

Potions worked only on humans. Even if you made an animal or a monster drink one, it would have had no effect. That was common knowledge.

But the red potion had just healed the minotaur.

After receiving the goddess Bora’s blessing and becoming an adventurer, the minotaur became capable of receiving potions’ effects.

Humans used strange tools. The minotaur had become aware of that.

Regardless of how weak one was, the tool it was wielding could empower it to take down a stronger opponent.

The minotaur could not afford to be careless.

7

The monsters of the sixth floor were red bats.

The tiny monsters fluttered around and barely made a sound. The minotaur had a lot of trouble hitting them.

After a while, it eventually stopped taking large swings with its axes and instead started swatting them with small swipes of its upper arms. The latter strategy was much more effective.

The bats died easily if a hit connected.

It didn’t even need to be a direct hit—just grazing a bat would kill it.

The bats’ claws, fangs, and screeches couldn’t damage the minotaur at all.

Most of the time, the red bats dropped two or three bronze coins. Red potions were rare.

The minotaur picked up a red potion and drank it.

Its exhaustion faded, and its minor injuries vanished.

Just as it was thinking of moving on to the next floor, though, it encountered an interesting enemy.

8

Percival ran nimbly through the tenth, ninth, eighth, and seventh floors. His speed was astonishing given that he was wearing a pair of Fool’s Boots.

Huh?

When he reached the sixth floor, he noticed something strange on his Map.

Map was a skill given to adventurers that presented the areas of the labyrinth they had visited as a map they could see in their minds. Once their Map skill level increased, it would also display the monsters or people on that floor.

Kaldan’s Dagger, which was currently stored in his Bag, awarded another incredible feature. Just by equipping it, you received a detailed map of the floor you were on even if you hadn’t yet explored it, and you could see the locations of all monsters and people.

This floor was supposed to have only red bats, but his Map revealed an enemy that seemed rather powerful. It was near the staircase to the fifth floor.

Percival felt a passing curiosity, but because he really wanted to get out of the labyrinth quickly, he decided to ignore it. He would probably cross paths with the monster for a moment, but by the time it noticed him, he would already be on the staircase.

Just as he was about to enter the stairwell to the fifth floor, though, he felt a bloodlust emanating from behind him. He turned and drew his sword.

A minotaur?

What was the boss of the tenth floor doing here?

This didn’t make sense. But labyrinths never made sense.

Without thinking deeply about it, he turned the sword in his right hand toward the enemy and began his assault.

He didn’t even think of drawing his favorite sword from his Bag. He didn’t deem it necessary. He expected to win this fight with a single blow.

Percival attempted to stab the minotaur in the heart, but although his blade sank deep into the minotaur’s chest, it stopped before reaching its true target.

Huh?

The monster had just barely avoided a lethal blow.

Not even the faintest hint of a smile remained on Percival’s handsome face, but his eyes lit up.

Looks like I’ll be able to have a little fun with this one.

All thoughts of exhaustion vanished from his mind.

9

When it saw the new human speeding toward the staircase, the minotaur suddenly became very angry.

It was angry at the human for ignoring it.

That anger turned to bloodlust.

The human then turned and stabbed it with his sword.

That attack was too fast to dodge. The minotaur was able to pull back slightly, but the weapon cut deep into its chest, and the wound began to bleed profusely. The pain was accompanied by rage and…joy.

This opponent was stronger than any it had encountered so far. His strength was on a completely different level.

The human’s sword was just long enough to call a longsword, and it was surprisingly thin.

For a moment, the minotaur felt something resembling fear.

This was the first time it had experienced this emotion.

Before long, the feeling gave way to anger.

Getting fired up, the minotaur attacked the swordsman.

Faced with this new, powerful enemy, it was finally able to forget the hunger that had plagued it from the day it was born.

10

To Percival’s surprise, he wasn’t able to kill the minotaur right away. He had fought a minotaur before. His memories of that fight were working to his detriment.

A slash attack that should have cut off its arm was instead repelled by its thick muscles, leaving only a light wound.

His attacks were obstructed repeatedly by the minotaur’s unexpectedly quick ax swings.

He could probably end the battle instantly if he pulled even one of his blessed items out of his Bag, but this monster was surprisingly intelligent and quick-witted. It didn’t seem like it would give him that chance.

As a result, Percival had no choice but to do what he could with this longsword.

But that was okay, because this would make for a fun challenge.

However, no matter how many times he slashed at the minotaur, it did not lose its fighting spirit. It seemed to only get fired up even more.

I can’t panic.

Time to try the new techniques I’ve been working on.

He swung his sword in one arc after another, vertical and horizontal, big and small.

The monster gradually lost the room to counterattack and was driven back toward the wall.

Just as Percival was thinking he would end the battle any second, his knee suddenly gave out.

Shoot!

Even with his superhuman strength, his stamina still had a limit, and his body was giving way to exhaustion.

Percival unleashed a string of quick slash attacks.

The minotaur backed up half a step. As soon as it did, Percival jumped away.

He then slipped his left hand into a small pouch at his hip.

He was reaching for a red potion.

11

The human’s form was beautiful as he swung his weapon.

This minotaur’s entire body was being lacerated by the man’s brilliant swordplay, but it was surviving by focusing on guarding its vital points.

He then changed his strategy, unleashing a diverse range of attacks in quick succession.

Counterattacking became difficult, and the minotaur was steadily pushed backward.

Just as it was thinking that it could not retreat any farther, the swordsman’s posture collapsed for a moment. He quickly recovered and came at the minotaur with a series of quick moves.

The minotaur took half a step away and collected itself.

The swordsman then created distance between them by leaping backward, and his right hand reached for the pouch at his hip.

The minotaur advanced on the human, using both axes to flick stones at him from the ground.

The swordsman deflected three rocks with his sword and two others with his left hand.

He did not allow any of the other stones to so much as graze him.

However, the item he had been trying to extract from his pouch with his left hand had fallen to the ground.

It was a red potion.

The minotaur realized his opponent must have been tired.

It did not reach that conclusion through any kind of conscious analysis—it simply sensed it.

The minotaur decided it would not give the swordsman a break.

It approached the human while he was busy fending off the rocks, planting itself at the outer reach of its axes.

It planned on maintaining that position.

The minotaur with its axes had a slightly greater reach than the swordsman with his longsword. If the minotaur swung its axes unabated while maintaining this position, its opponent would be forced to prioritize defense and would have trouble attacking.

The swordsman tried repeatedly to gain some separation, but the minotaur obstructed him each time.

Every now and then, the minotaur would allow one of the human’s large swings to connect with its side in order to throw off his timing.

The swordsman should have been under duress from this unexpected turn in the battle, but instead, a slight smile seemed to be dawning on his ever-expressionless face.

The swordsman adjusted his strategy.

He gave up on creating any space between them or using his red potion, instead meeting the minotaur at its desired distance and aiming for the beast’s throat and heart.

The force behind his blade was tremendous.

The minotaur did not fall back, not even when its face was slashed. If it moved away at all, it would have to extend its arms too far, weakening the power of its ax swings.

Its chest was painted with blood, but it would not give ground for any reason.

As long as the minotaur held this distance, no matter how much skin and flesh the swordsman scraped off, he would be unable to cleave through its thick chest and reach its heart.

The minotaur’s entire body was now covered with blood. The swordsman was also stained deep red from the fountain gushing out of the minotaur’s chest. Blood was even falling into the man’s eyes, but he did not close them for a second.

They continued like this for a long time with the swordsman fighting toe-to-toe with the minotaur, but the swordsman did not allow an ax to connect with him even once.

This human is very impressive.

If what the minotaur was feeling toward its opponent had to be expressed in human speech, it would probably have been something close to respect.

But humans had limited stamina. After slashing the minotaur’s arms with a chain of particularly threatening attacks, the swordsman’s breath became ragged, and his movements slackened.

The minotaur’s right ax then sank into his right shoulder.

The swordsman stumbled.

His eyes had not lost their strength, but dark bags had formed around them from exhaustion.

The minotaur held its breath and continued to strike, then landed a rare direct hit on the swordsman’s blade, repelling his attack.

He had probably lost the strength to properly evade.

The minotaur continued pressuring the swordsman until he eventually fell.

It swung its left ax and severed the swordsman’s left leg at the knee.

The minotaur took one step forward and aimed for the human’s torso with its right ax.

The swordsman interrupted that by quickly slashing the minotaur’s left leg, throwing it off balance. He then cut the beast’s throat with impossible speed.

The minotaur was able to twist its neck just enough to avoid a fatal wound, but blood began gushing out, raining down onto the swordsman’s lower body.

The minotaur’s blood and the swordsman’s intermingled to the point where it was no longer possible to differentiate between the two.

Having lost its balance entirely after the strike to its neck, the minotaur began collapsing onto the swordsman.

As it was falling, it was aware that another swing was zeroing in on the back of its neck, so it drove its left elbow into the swordsman’s right hand.

The sword merely grazed the side of the minotaur’s head.

The minotaur suddenly noticed its opponent was holding a potion in his left hand.

The same potion he had dropped earlier.

The minotaur had no idea when he had found the time to re-collect that.

It could not afford a moment of carelessness with this human.

The minotaur used its right hand to knock the vial away, causing it to shatter against the wall.

The minotaur quickly adjusted its grip on its right ax and swung it around its back.

The sword sang as the minotaur repelled a strike with its ax.

The swordsman pulled his weapon away.

The minotaur slammed its elbow into the swordsman’s chest and used the recoil from that blow to regain its feet.

The tip of the sword passed right in front of its throat.

The swordsman, now on the ground, didn’t even try to rise. He had probably lost the stamina to do so.

He closed his eyes and laid his sword on top of himself.

The minotaur tried to shuffle around to the swordsman’s head.

Without a sound, the sword swiped at the minotaur, visible only as a trail of light. It almost felt like it had happened in slow motion.

The sword executed a beautiful sweeping motion.

It cut halfway through the minotaur’s right ankle.

The beast tried to locate the weapon, but it had somehow returned to the swordsman’s chest.

The minotaur, the human, and the ground around them were all soaked red and black. Despite that, the sword shone a bright silver.

The swordsman appeared to be sleeping, but if the minotaur carelessly went near him, it would probably be instantly assailed.

The swordsman had formed an arc around himself as beautiful as a full moon, inside of which he was completely safe.

The minotaur did not know what to do.

If it just waited, the swordsman would eventually die.

All it had to do was prevent him from using a red potion.

Waiting was probably the right move.

Suddenly, it laughed at its own foolishness.

I’m an idiot.

What I’ve been seeking is not victory.

What I seek is battle.

What I seek is a stronger me.

I’ve found an incredible enemy who is able to overpower me even on the verge of death.

Don’t die.

Torment me for even a bit longer.

The minotaur circled around to the swordsman’s head while being careful of the sword’s range.

It was racked with pain and bleeding all over its body.

It did not have much stamina left, either.

Aiming at the swordsman’s head or heart, however, proved impossible.

It was the sword.

As long as the blade existed, he could not be defeated.

His sword had become his life.

Wary of the weapon, the minotaur stepped into his enemy’s range.

Clink!

The sword lashed out at the minotaur’s legs with pinpoint accuracy, but the minotaur caught it between its axes, pinning it. When it tried to pull back, the minotaur twisted its axes with all its strength, shattering the blade.

The swordsman opened his eyes halfway and stared at the remains of his sword.

The minotaur drove its ax into the man’s heart.

His body spasmed, and he coughed up blood.

The swordsman looked at the minotaur. There was no anger, fear, or hatred in his eyes.

While returning the swordsman’s gaze, the minotaur severed his head from his shoulders.

The minotaur’s body began to change.

It was another level-up.

Its wounds disappeared.

The minotaur then gained a fearsome amount of strength.

It regretted that the injuries inflicted by the swordsman disappeared so quickly.

So this was what swords were capable of.

He had been an excellent enemy, and this was a satisfying victory.

The swordsman disappeared, leaving behind a great many items. He must also have had a storage system.

Feeling a deep sense of satisfaction, the minotaur picked up a bracelet and a shortsword and put them in its own Bag.

The bracelet and shortsword were actually both engraved with elite seals of ownership, applied by a human sorcerer. The seals meant that no one other than the proper owner could store these items in their Bag. What the minotaur had just done should have been impossible.

Tons of red potions had fallen to the ground, and the minotaur collected them and put them in its Bag as well.

Its injuries had been healed, but it was mentally and physically exhausted. Its head also felt hazy.

The minotaur returned to its room on the tenth floor.

It drank water from the lake, then slept like a rock.

When it woke up, it drank again.

It felt replenished in mind and body.

Its combat strength had increased significantly, to the point where its former self could not compare.

Its intelligence had increased more dramatically than anything.

Monsters had low intellect by nature. Minotaurs’ intelligence was particularly paltry, even among monsters.

As the minotaur leveled up, though, its intelligence increased, and its knowledge, understanding, critical thinking, memory, problem-solving ability, and more all improved exponentially. Its thoughts were now clear, and it could recall the events that had happened from its birth until now in vivid detail.

It recalled its battle with the swordsman, and it understood more deeply that it had won a battle it had no business winning. It replayed the actions of the swordsman and its own repeatedly in its head, evaluating them.

He had been a tremendous enemy. His skill had been astonishing.

The minotaur seared into its mind the beautiful arcs the swordsman had cut through the air with his sword.

A short while later, the minotaur left its room.

It soon encountered two wolves.

They threw themselves at the minotaur, but it slashed at them with an ax, barely expending any effort as it killed both instantly. It was hard to believe these enemies had once given it a hard time.

The minotaur yet again ascended the stairs.

It likely wouldn’t encounter any strong monsters if it kept going up, but it decided it may as well see how far it could go.

The swordsman had been going up, after all. What kind of place had been his destination?

The minotaur decided it wanted to see for itself.