CH 16

“Then, let’s go for round two, shall we?” (Kei)

I gave up the broken hoe and held the knife in my right hand and the machete in my left.

Intelligent creatures think about the movements of their enemies, unlike creatures that move by instinct. We had previously told the Minotaur aloud each and every one of our moves.

As a result, the Minotaur adapted its way of fighting with us based on our words. It is difficult to move flexibly once you have decided how to fight like that. This is especially true if it has less information than it did before.

On the other hand, we just have to work together without mentioning the next move. It may be difficult under normal circumstances. But we are siblings who have lived in support of each other for a long time, so there is no problem.

“Then, let’s go.” (Kei)

That was the first thing I announced and closed my mouth. No more words are needed.

As soon as the Minotaur exhaled, I closed the distance with my feet. It’s a gait that I did occasionally in the days when I did aikido, and since there is little up and down movement, it’s hard for him to react to my approach.

First, I thrust lightly with my knife, and then, like before, I dodge the attack by watching its eyes, muscles, and breathing. Because of my short reach, I can’t reach the throat or the face, but I have more variety in my attacks.

As I dodge, I throw in a few additional feints. Monsters without intelligence don’t attack by watching their opponent’s movements before feinting. But because they are intelligent, they can be fooled. This is especially true of Minotaur that has only power but no combat experience.

We attack more and more often, hurting areas that are easily stressed when attacking. If we find a gap, Haru will hit it from behind me and move away. My close combat attacks and Haru’s hit-and-run attacks. The legs that support the heavy, muscle-packed body and its hands that support its weapon are getting more and more wounded, and even the Minotaur is getting tired.

“[Chain]”

After seeing the Minotaur wobble for a moment, I buff Haru. Then, I run alongside the Minotaur, Haru swings her bat and I run past Haru. Removing a potion from Haru’s pouch and throw it in front of the Minotaur.

“Hyaaa!” (Haru)

As Haru shouts, her attack hit the Minotaur squarely on its head that is multiplied by [Chain] and it made a heavy thud.

Even a Minotaur will collapse if a bludgeoning that shakes its brain is received by its head. At the moment it staggers. However, the Minotaur that does not fall down. It tried to right its posture by putting one foot forward and stepping on the ground just before it falls.

The potion I threw earlier is rolling in the place where its foot I stepped on. The potion bottles are ridiculously hard as long as the potion is inside. And the shape of the bottle was cylindrical.

The foot rolls with the bottle and the Minotaur’s stance collapse doing a crotch-splitting split.

“Giyaaaa!” (Minotaur)

For the first time, the Minotaur with its legs forced wide open by its own weight screams.

“Ugh, that hurts.” (Kei)

The ax fell from the Minotaur’s hand due to the intense pain is kicked away while making sure to not hurt our foot. So the Minotaur cannot pick up the weapon.

“Hey.” (Haru)

Haru punches it in the back of the head from behind, and it falls down easily. And there waiting for it is my knife and machete. I slashed both eyes before the Minotaur could guard against it. Robbing its sight. The Minotaur lost its mobility and vision can no longer win.

I went around without making a sound and inserted the knife into the cow’s neck with all my strength. As I moved away from the cow, I stepped on the handle of the knife and plunged it deep into its neck.

“Urya.” (Haru)

Haru swung the bat as hard as she could at the knife, hitting its handle.

“Gaa, aah!” (Minotaur)

The knife that was blown away by the bat cut off half the head off the Minotaur’s neck and rolls on the floor.

It’s not possible to live like this. The blood spurted out of the open neck, not even allowing it to scream its last breath.

It twitched and jerked as if spasming for a few seconds and then simply disappeared in a mist.

Some items fell from where the Minotaur died, and a magic circle appears at the end opposite the entrance.

“”It’s over!”” (Kei & Haru)

The two of us threw out our weapons together and raised our hands in a victory cry.

At the same time, I collapsed to my knees. My knees trembled. No, it’s not just my knees. My joints are shaking. That’s how exhausting the battle had been. After I calmed down, sweat began to pour out of me like a waterfall. Before I knew it, my underwear was soaked with sweat.

“I was scared.” (Haru)

Haru crawled towards me and hugged me, so I hugged her and patted her on the head. After doing this for a while, when she seemed calm, and I desperately moved my legs, which had gradually stopped shaking, and started checking the dropped items.

The ones dropped were two silver metal cards that were more beautiful than before. Two black cards like it. There was a golden card and two rings with purple decorations.

I collected all of them for the time being, and when I got on the magic circle, I was transferred to a familiar room without any choice. The room behind the boss room. It was made exactly the same as the last time. I knew that no monsters would come here, so I placed the items and dealt with them as usual.

Some of the cards didn’t turn into mist even if I held them, and those items turned into mist when Haru held them. I ended up with one silver and one black card. Haru had one silver card and one black card, and we had one more gold card.

Next, though, I pick up the ring, which is all that’s left. I put it on my middle finger, and it gradually changed in size and fit tightly. Haru’s finger was thinner than mine, but it fits perfectly as well.

“Wow!” (Haru)

Haru suddenly shouted in surprise, and when I looked at her, I saw that she was holding a weapon that looked even more violent than the nail bat she had been using as a weapon. A weapon with a handle and a thorny sphere at the end. It’s a weapon you don’t see in real life, but it’s often used in fantasy. The Morning Star.

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“Brother, this is heavy.” (Haru)

But it seemed to be a lot heavier than the previous weapons, and Haru, who had consumed all of her strength, could barely lift it.

“So where did you get that weapon?” (Kei)

Well, the question isn’t the Morning Star, but where it came from. There was no such thing around. Hull hasn’t moved from her spot either.

“The ring had a small magic circle on it. I channeled the magic and a weapon came out. Like this, oh.” (Haru)

The Morning Star, which had been in her hand until a moment ago, turned into mist and was sucked into the ring when Haru poured magic power into the ring. As expected, Haru was surprised by something unpredictable.

“Then what is this?” (Kei)

After standing up, I gently put my hand forward and let the magical power flow through the ring.

“Bro-Brother, a Death God.” (Haru)

It’s exactly what Haru said. The weapon that came out of my ring was a scythe. A scythe with a huge blade and a long handle, as if a god of death owned it.

The center of gravity is overwhelmingly close to the front, probably because the blade is so large, and it seems difficult to use unless you hold it in the middle of the handle. When the magical power was applied again, the scythe disappeared into the ring.

“This is all the treasure I got, as usual. The rest is just some metal cards that I don’t understand. So, let’s go home, Haru. As for weapons, we have no choice but to use machetes.” (Kei)

“Yeah. We can’t use any other weapons anymore. Do you have any weapons?” (Haru)

As Haru said, our weapons were destroyed in the battle with the Minotaur. My hoe was broken, my knife and Haru’s bat had their blades snapped off at the base and the baseball bat was shattered by the impact on the Minotaur’s neck. My knife broke from the handle.

The crowbar, which was used as a core was now bent and battered.

“I’m weaponless, and even if there are monsters, we’re only going to go through one level, so we should be fine.” (Kei)

After quickly collecting the dropped items, I joined hands with Haru and headed for the magic circle to return home. However, she was running out of energy and couldn’t stand up, so Hal and I drank half a potion each.

Since there were no lacerations or wounds, the potion’s recovery power was used to restore our strength. We recovered enough to be able to walk easily, so we quickly did. So we immediately transitioned. There was a goblin in front of me, so I kicked it, and was it blown away and became mist.

It looks like it’s getting stronger again. I feel that our level has risen again in the Minotaur battle.

We return to the basement and take off our equipment as usual.

“Brother, I have something to say.” (Haru)

Haru suddenly turns to me without taking off her gear and gives me a serious look.

“Listen. We’ve learned a lot. I would like to talk to you.” (Haru)

Haru seems to be planning on talking about something troublesome. But, I just tilted my head with a self-assured expression and chuckled as usual.