novelraw Chapter 144: The Giant Minotaur
Chapter 144: The Giant Minotaur
'Master, that… that might be the scummiest thing I've ever seen you do,' Kimi said.
Liona didn't say anything but I could tell that she agreed.
As for Gon, she seemed to be glad that I had finally gotten rid of Gary. It seems that having been a part of the war against the demons with her original owner in the past has molded her to hate demons, so although what I did was kind of despicable, she didn't mind.
"Don't you think it's for the greater good I killed him?" I asked as I picked up the demon core and placed it into my pocket. "Now I'm able to understand the demons and can read the ancient texts."
'I mean… when you put it like that, sure,' Kimi responded.
Liona was easy to convince and as soon as Kimi showed signs of swapping sides, she began immediately praising me for thinking two steps ahead while she was still trying to analyze the first step.
"Honestly, if I had a nickel for every time that I got lost inside a cave in this dimension, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but it is strange how it's happened twice," I muttered as I picked up a pebble and tossed it onto a trap.
Waiting for the trap to finish attacking the pebble, only once it stopped did I continue my walk down the narrow corridor.
There were no more branches as I traversed the place.
The walls in this single corridor also mimicked the walls in that room where Gary had met his demise due to his terrible luck.
This corridor stretched on longer than it had any right to. I was starting to get bored with the lack of action. There was the occasional trap and monster here and there but for the most part, I was safer than a baby in its mother's arms.
So bored, I even hummed a couple of songs to myself and was joined by Liona, who would mumble whenever it was a song that she didn't know.
Then, after what must've been over an hour, the air surrounding me changed.
It was subtle, and a regular human might not have noticed the subtlety, but I could feel that it was not only warmer but the air was thicker as well. There was also this faint metallic tang in the air that I could smell.
Is that the smell of blood?
Dried and aged blood that had been left too long in the open.
There was this pressure I could feel in the distance. It also felt like someone or something was watching me.
"Great," I muttered. "Love that for me. I was starting to get bored." It might come off as sarcasm, but I actually meant what I had just said.
Picking up my pace a little bit, I couldn't wait to see what was awaiting me on the other side.
The walls around me began to widen the deeper I got. It was a gradual growth and there was barely any difference from the start to here, but it was large enough now that someone with claustrophobia wouldn't piss their pants.
The ceiling had also risen and now, three of me could stand on top of each other's heads without bumping into it.
At a certain point, I crouched briefly and ran my fingers along the ground.
I then looked at my finger and noticed that there wasn't a single speck of dust.
I wonder how this place is so clean?
"Even if this place doesn't get much traffic, at the very least shouldn't it be building up dust and whatnot just by the passage of time?" I pondered as I stood up and continued heading forward.
'Perhaps the labyrinth has some sort of self-cleaning feature,' Kimi replied.
"...Maybe."
As the feeling of being watched grew more and more, I could suddenly feel a low vibration that would pulse through the floor beneath my shoes.
It was so faint that even I almost missed it but when it came again, stronger this time, it was impossible to miss.
"Footsteps," I uttered. Ones that didn't belong to me.
My hand that was gripping Gon's hilt got a little tighter. Although there was no panic rising in me, there was nothing wrong with being a little more cautious now that I was about to enter the mouth of potential danger.
Then out of nowhere, the straight path suddenly curved towards the right.
I stopped just short of the turn and listened to what was around the corner.
There was the sound of footsteps, but I could also hear the sound of breathing. The breaths were heavy, deep, and even… wet?
A voice in my head was telling me to turn back but I shook it off.
Not happening. We are going to see this through. I didn't come here for nothing. Are you guys ready? Just in case?
My three artifacts who were awake at the moment all responded with an astounding "yes".
Taking a slow breath, I steadied myself and stepped around the corner only to immediately stop.
The corridor opened into this wide chamber that was easily the size of a small arena. The ceiling arched high above and was supported by these large pillars.
In the center of it all was a minotaur.
Of course it was. Even the universe was unoriginal. Perhaps the shitty god wasn't as bad as I had made him out to be.
Tensing my muscles, I could sense how strong the creature before me was. Preparing myself for the large beast to charge at me, the attack never came.
As I got a better look at the minotaur as it was pacing back and forth, its massive hooves thudded against the stone floor in that same rhythmic pattern I had felt earlier. Despite how tall the room was, its horns nearly scraped the ceiling with every turn.
In one of its hands, it was—
Is it holding a book?
I blinked once, then twice. Was I seeing things? Perhaps the walk in that corridor had made me crazy after being bored for so long.
"…What?" I uttered subconsciously.
The book wasn't minotaur-sized. It was the size of a regular book that I would read. It turned the page with extreme care, using the very tip of its fingernail to lift the corner as if it were afraid of tearing it.
Perched awkwardly on its face, slightly crooked due to its snout, was a pair of small, round glasses. Well, small for the minotaur's face. If I were to stand in front of it, it would probably be as tall as me, if not taller.
I blinked again.
"...Que?" I uttered in Spanish this time around. That's how confused I was.
Then, it stopped pacing. It slowly lowered the book down to its waist area and turned its head towards me. Perhaps this was when it would start charging me.
Its eyes locked onto mine, and there was a brief pause where neither of us made any sound.
Then, in clear, perfectly fluent human language, even more fluent than Gary, it spoke to me. "Ah," it said, voice deep but oddly calm, "the visitor has finally arrived. Welcome to my humble abode."
I froze. I froze so hard that I might as well have been an ice statue made by Diana.
"You… you talk," I said.
The minotaur adjusted its glasses with a small push. "Yes. Very observant of you. I can talk. That's how you're able to understand me and that is generally how conversations work. Two people talking."
"No. I mean… You speak my language. How?"
My grip on Gon loosened just a fraction. I wasn't letting my guard down just yet, but knowing that I was able to converse with this monster made me feel a little more comfortable.
"Did you think that because I'm this size that I would be another mindless monster ruled by my primal instincts?" it asked me.
"...I mean, I guess so."
"A common stereotype," the minotaur replied with a sigh, closing the book with a soft thump. "And not entirely undeserved, I admit. So don't worry. I don't take any offense to your train of thought."
Tucking the book under its arm, I was surprised that the book didn't shatter into pieces so thin that it wouldn't be visible to the naked eye.
It took a few heavy steps toward me.
I didn't move even though every instinct in my body was screaming at me to dodge, to prepare, to do something for the danger that I was about to be in.
But as if it could sense my instincts, the minotaur stopped a good distance away, making no move to attack and far enough that it would have to walk further ahead to reach me.
Tilting its head down to continue meeting my eye, it said, "My apologies for getting so close. It has been quite some time since I've spoken to a human. I didn't think I would ever see one again. Would you mind posing for me later so that I can draw you?"
"...Maybe."
After a moment, I introduced myself formally. "...Bell. My name's Bell."
The minotaur nodded. "A pleasure to meet you, Bell. You may call me… Tavros. That's the name I gave myself many years ago."
"Nice to meet you too," I replied automatically.
Am I really exchanging pleasantries with a giant bull-man right now?
To say that this was the last thing on my list of what I expected to find would be an understatement.
There was another moment of silence as I observed how large he was, and he seemed to have been observing the features of my body that made me distinctively human.
Then I gestured vaguely at him, wiggling my fingers in the direction of the book and his glasses, "So… uh, what's… what's up with the…"
Tavros glanced down at his book, then back at me.
"Oh. The book?" he said, as if only just remembering how out of place the small book looked in his possession. "When you're alone in a place like this for so long, you pick up hobbies over the years. I've become quite the avid reader to help pass the time. My glasses are just… they're purely aesthetic to be frank. I don't really need them to read."
"Right," I said. "Naturally. As one does."