Vol.3 Ch.54 - Minotaurus encounter

One by one, the impromptu meeting room we decided on got progressivelymore filled as the scattered party members reconvened. Before long,everyone was silently sitting around as we all waited for someone to breakthe ice. I was too angry at them for trying to force me and Marina to havesuch… relations, and they knew that. In a way, I’m glad that no one’sspeaking up, because knowing them they’d probably just blurt somethinginsensitive out like nothing happened, so who cares?“A-Ahem,” Sullivan cleared his throat, “I would… like to apologize to Luerr, Mr. Grimheart. What we did was uncalled for.”“Why so distant all of a sudden, Sully?” I egged him on by calling him by hisnickname with a shit-eating grin in the hopes that it would provoke him.“Sull-?! Ah, heh… Y-You’re right, Lune, we’re f-friends after all.” He triedto sound friendly, “There’s no need to feel so… distant.” He averted his gazeaway from mine.“My ass we are!” I got up from my seat, “I have tons of friends and not asingle one has tried to make me have sex with a mentally underdevelopedgirl!”“Whoa there, let’s not phrase it so badly.” Linus tried to sit me back down,“Marina over here said she consented, and her body is the same age asyours.”“You’re all sick in the head!” I shouted back, packing my things to leave theroom.“Hey, dumbass, sit the fuck down!” Miss Lionheart ordered me, “I personallydon’t care at all what your story is. We’re just following the Book’s orders tomake sure we get out of here alive!”“Exactly!” Sullivan chimed in, “That’s why me and Genevra had s-se…” Hebit his tongue before he could finish his sentence, but everyone knew what hewas getting at.“Oh my, is that the only reason you embraced me, Sully?” Miss Lionheartteased him, “But you were so forceful, I was convinced there was more toour relationship…”“U-Uhhh! W-Well…” He was put on the spot so he fumbled over his words alittle before Marina interrupted us all.“Helloooooo Yelloooooo! Why’s everyone making such a fuss?” She asked.“Well, the others tried to make us do something we’d regret.” I tried my bestto explain our situation to the carefree Marina.“But I’m incapable of feeling regret!” She said, “No matter what happens,I’ll always be as happy as a clam!”“Even still, the same doesn’t apply for me, so please keep that in mind.” Iexplained to her my reasoning behind this, “I have a loving girlfriend who Iplan to propose to soon, and our baby daughter. They’d both be devastated ifwe allowed this to happen.”“I dunno, but I don’t really care either.” She remarked with an indifferenttone.“Speaking of Marina,” Sullivan pointed out, “what are we gonna tell theITA? Or even her family for that matter? We can’t just leave her like this.”He seemed to be a bit distraught from her new carefree personality, which issomething I can at least appreciate about the guy. He may be a bit difficult totalk with, but it seems he cares for his teammates at least.“Well, we have two options.” Sullivan spoke up, “We can try and get herback to normal, or leave her as she is. Personally, I’d take the former of thetwo.”“Let’s just try our best to get out of here alive first.” Miss Lionheart said,“We can worry about her state of mind later.”“Genevra, we can’t leave her like this!” Sullivan tried persuading her.“Oh come on, Sully! As a self-proclaimed experienced adventurer, youshould know firsthand that our lives take priority. Time is of the essence, wemustn’t let ourselves get buried by the snow outside!” She lashed out at him.Again, it seems we’ve hit an impasse. No matter what choice we take,someone is gonna end up unsatisfied with the decision. I don’t really trust anyof them (safe from Marina), so it’s best if I come up with something beforesomeone else does.“Let’s just advance to the next floor for now, we’ll try to get Marina back tonormal during our stay here. If she returns to her senses then it’s all the better,and if not I’ll take her back to Great Hiana to try and get her back to herfamily.” I suggested.I didn’t like the idea of sending her home and ending her adventuring careerearly, but it seems we have no other choice. She’s safest at home, after all, soI can at least guarantee her safety if we go through with this plan. Plus, it’s asort of middle ground where both sides should be satisfied.“Does that mean I get to see Mom and Dad again? Hooray!” Marina jumpedwith joy as she gave me a hug (Really, if she didn’t have the body of anadult, I’d adopt her).“Yeah, I like that idea. Let’s go with that.” Sullivan agreed with my plan.“Hmph! Whatever, as long as we get to continue with this dungeon raid.”Miss Lionheart scoffed.“Great, now that everything’s settled…” I tried to enter the door to the nextfloor.“Hold it there, kiddo.” Old Man Linus suddenly spoke up, “You forgot toexplain one thing to us. How did you burn that rope we tied you up with?”Looks like they caught on to my Spark ability. I guess it was only a matter oftime before someone found out, but having it be these guys is pretty rottenluck.…Crap, now that I think about it, I used Spark once again to free myself ofthe rope, didn’t I?“I uhh, I had matches with me. I used those to set the rope aflame.” I tried touse the same old excuse I always use.“We stripped you naked, remember?” Sullivan looked me in the eyes, “Youweren’t carrying any matches on you.”Foiled again…“You used the power of a Red Iro, didn’t you?” Miss Lionheart suddenlyrevealed my secret.Everyone (including me) looked at her with our eyes wide open. They startedquestioning her about what she was talking about, but I was more sowondering how she knew about Spark.“My sister has a Red Iro. Every time she would get a bit too angry, she couldproduce fierce flames from the palm of her hands seemingly from thin air.”She spoke calmly, “It’s something she learned at a tender age, but since itwasn’t common knowledge, our family kept her talent a secret from theworld in fear of her getting taken away from us.”We stared at her for a few seconds before Sullivan broke the silence in theroom.“Phah! What’s up with that!” Sullivan started laughing at the prospect,“Flames from her palms? Quit it with the hilarious jokes! Besides, Lune’sobviously a Green… Iro…?” He pointed to my bright red eyes as Idemonstrated Spark to them.“Wha-!?” Old Man Linus broke out in a cold sweat as he looked on with theothers in pure bewilderment.“This is something I’ve learned recently, and I certainly can’t spew fire outlike your sister, Miss Lionheart, but I can control this much.” I said as I putthe flame out from my fingertip.“Wow! That’s incredible, Big Bro Lune, you’re so talented!” Marina praisedme.Big Bro… Lune? Hearing her call me that is kind of weird…“Don’t call me that.” I rejected the nickname flat out.“Why not? Everyone here is my Big Bro or Sis, cause we’re all a bigfamily!” She proudly professed.“Even me?” Old Man Linus asked about his title.“You’re a Grandpa!” Marina said, still smiling.“I’ll take it.” He said with a distant gaze and a tear in his eye.“Ahem, in any case,” Sullivan shifted the topic back to me, ”Why didn’t yousay anything about this amazing power? It would’ve made our journey waymore convenient!”I wasn’t sure if I should tell them the reason or not. I did vow to keep thesecret to my grave, but if I don’t be compliant with them then I’m afraid mygrave might be right under me pretty soon. That said, I took a deep breath andsaid with a trembling tone:“Because… Because this very power killed a very dear friend of mine.” Iremembered Carter’s face, “From that day I swore to never use it, but itlooks like my body uses it subconsciously to get me out of sticky situations.”The room went quiet, the air suddenly felt heavier. I didn’t intent to makethem feel bad, but it appears they at least believed me when I said this. Did Imake the aura in the party awkward? Yes. Does it clear my name whilstsimultaneously making them feel bad? Certainly. All in all I think I made theright choice on this one.They stood there for a solid minute trying to think of a proper way to saysomething before finally leaving the matter be and quietly walking throughthe door to the next floor with me.***We were now nearing the end of the dungeon, or at least we thought so, as theBook was starting to mention the outside in its predictions. Everyone wasexperiencing a mix of happiness, hatred, love and desire towards thedungeon. On one hand, a couple (Sullivan and Miss Lionheart) was born, butMarina lost her sense of danger (although she doesn’t feel all too sad aboutit). Old Man Linus and I are slowly starting to accept a lot of bad things,making it look like we’re both going crazy (or were we crazy from the start?In any case, I know he was.)The room we entered was very large, almost too large. So large, in fact, thatwe couldn’t see the exit to it no matter where we stood. A layer of somethingfog-like gently covered the floor of the room, making the room feel way moreominous than it should be. In reality, it’s just a normal room, albeit withabnormally large dimensions.One thing that was apparent, though, was that the room was very warm. Wehad to actually take off our coats from the heat. I have no idea what’s keepingthis room so warm, but even without my coat, I could still feel sweat startingto drip from my forehead.“Lionheart,” Old Man Linus suddenly addressed her, “what does the Booksay?”“Ugh, let me see…” She stopped to read the Book.“A fearsome foe awaits the protagonist’s party as they traverse throughthese pits of Hell.”“Oh, we’re in Hell now? Cool.” Sullivan said nonchalantly.“Hold on, does it say anything about this Fearsome Foe of ours?” I asked herto read through it once more.“Nope, zilch.” She closed the book before using it as a napkin to wipe thesweat from her skin.“Hey! That Book’s a priceless artifact, be more careful with it!” Sullivantried to reprimand her, but to no avail.“I’m sure you’d agree my sweat only adds value to it.” She said seductively.He gulped as his face went flush, but I’m not sure if he was blushing from theheat or something else entirely (damned lovebirds…)We made some more small talk before arriving at the door with surprisinglylittle issues. No foe or anything, but strangely enough we decided not to enterthe door just yet. Instead we sat down and awaited its arrival.“We can’t press onward before this fearsome foe is dealt with!” We allagreed unanimously. To this day I still have no idea why we didn’t just leavethe room…One minute, two minutes, half an hour, two hours… We waited and waitedbefore we saw any signs of a monster. We were getting antsy by now, andwere ready to beat up any living creature that came our way, be it fearsomeor not.Just then, we saw a Minotaurus from afar. It was a giant, bull-like being thatstood upright on its hind legs. Yes, it’s bipedal, and very dangerous. If it sawus, we’d most definitely be in trouble, which can only mean one thing.“There it is! The fearsome foe from the Book!” We screamed out as weexcitedly picked up our weapons and ran towards it.Look, cut us some slack. The heat was getting to us, and we weren’t reallythinking clearly.As soon as the Minotaurus spotted us, it roared with all its might, bringing usback to our senses as we realized just how stupid we were acting. Runningwasn’t an option, as a Minotaurus is (surprisingly) faster than a human. Wehad no other choice but to fight it somehow.“Guess I can finally try out my sword!” I said as I ran to slice it up.*DINK*The weapon did almost zero damage to it.“Wha-!?” I quickly got thrown to the side by the Minotaurus, “Why didn’t theweapon do anything? It’s made of Titanium, damn it!”The others who heard this collectively facepalmed as they reminded me“Titanium swords are merely replicas meant to look shiny, dumbass!”The reason they never mentioned this before is because I never actuallypulled it out of my scabbard. Guess I’m the idiot this time, but why didn’tthat damned clerk mention anything about this? WHO NEEDS REPLICASWORDS?!?Before I could get crushed under the Minotaurus’ deadly hooves, MissLionheart pulled me aside with an Instarope. To think it could be used likethis, she must be really good with ropes…“Don’t die now, idiot, we need you alive if we want the Book’s propheciesto come true!” She said without breaking eye contact with the deadly beast.“Don’t worry, I’ll handle this!” Sullivan said as he readied his bow andarrow, shooting it precisely in the right eye, “There! Just one more left!”He tried firing off a few more arrows towards its remaining eye, but thebeast quickly learned his tricks and protected his good eye. Looks likeblinding it isn’t an option.Just then, Old Man Linus jumped on its back and started bashing its head inas much as he could. But how did he manage to jump on it without gettingspotted?“Heh, I didn’t shoot its right eye for nothing!” Sullivan smirked as heanswered my question, “The Old Man snuck up on its right side, its blindspot!”I was pleasantly surprised, these guys are actually capable! But this praisewas short lived, as the Minotaurus quickly shook Linus off its back. Its headwas so bashed in that it hardly retained its shape, it was gruesome how itwas still alive despite its brains being completely turned to mush.“I thought if we blinded and dazed it, we could escape, but it looks like wearen’t as lucky.” Linus said as he picked himself up from the ground.Something you should know about Minotauri, they don’t die from blunt hits.No matter how much you disfigure, dismember or otherwise harm them,they’ll live on and simply regenerate after a while and come back. The onlyway to kill it would be to either drown it or burn it.“Lune, it’s covered in fur! We can set it aflame with your Spark ability!”Miss Lionheart snapped her fingers as she turned to me, “I don’t knowanything about that friend of yours, but if you were really friends, then I’msure he wouldn’t mind you using it. It’s a gift, not a curse, dammit!”Who are you to be talking in Carter’s stead? You have no idea what he’dsay! No, wait…What she was saying is something I knew full well. Carter’s probablylaughed at me from the heavens every time I tried to use Spark but opted notto. Even still, I vowed not to, so… why am I nodding my head inagreement? Why am I running towards this beast with flames in my hands,ready to kill it as brutally as possible? Why is… the crackling of firesinging its terrifying song once more?***We walk to the door leading to the next room. Everyone is praising eachother for a job well done as we greet Marina, who stayed still like a goodgirl as the fight raged on. We thanked her for taking care of our stuff, but shequickly noticed something.“Big Bro Lune, why are you crying?” She asked.Everyone turned to realize the tears dripping from my face. If they didn’tknow any better, they’d laugh at me for being a crybaby, but they simply gaveme a group hug in order to try and cheer me up.“I’m sorry for forcing you to do this.” Miss Lionheart quietly said, “But therewas simply no other way.”“You did well, champ.” Sullivan chose to praise me, “If it’s alright with you,I’d like you to one day teach me how to use this gift of yours. I mean, if youcould learn it, then its surely not something you’re born with!”“Listen, kid, I have nothing but respect for you.” Old Man Linus looked me inthe eyes, “You are someone who is worthy of their title of Adventurer. Wearit proudly, I’m sure your friend is proud of you.”I wasn’t expecting this, like, at all. For these guys to actually treat me likethis? It’s unheard of! Well, it’s not like I’m crying because I broke my vow.In fact, I think they’re right about Carter wanting me to use this. He wouldalways have me use it as a party trick, laughing and cheering as if it’s themost fun he’s had in his life. No, I’m crying because I don’t know what’sgotten over me.I didn’t feel a single bone in my body as I leapt to attack the Minotaurus. Ididn’t even flinch as it yelped in pain, its flesh melting in the palm of myhand. I saw what was happening, I could process it, but I couldn’t feel it. Itwas as if someone else was controlling me entirely. It felt… disgusting. Assomeone who values their own freedom, it felt like I got violated by myinstinct for self-preservation.“Gasp! Everyone, you’re wounded all over!” Marina looked on at ourwounded state in horror, “I can’t let this go on! Everyone, sit down and letme patch you up!”“No offense, Marina, but we don’t really trust your nursing ability-” Sullivanwas interrupted midsentence.“Shut it, Big Bro Sully! I may not look it, but I come from a long line ofworld-renowned doctors!” She said, proudly lifting her chest up high.We turned to Miss Lionheart, who quickly flipped through the pages of theBook as if it were common sense.“Surprising as it is, what Marina said turned out to be true, as after ashort break, the protagonist and her party felt better than ever.”… We’re in your care, Nurse Marina