小嫂子的味道

The Minotaur increased the pressure behind his sword, Spene let out a battle cry—or rather that's what it should've sounded like, but it was more like a pained groan. His veins bulged out, and his skin tensed up, he felt as if his body was being crushed between two heavy rocks.

The Minotaur kept increasing the force, and it seemed like it would crush Spene anytime now, but it suddenly pulled the chopper back and raised it up in the air.

The pressure was lifted from Spene's body all of a sudden; he sensed a tingling stir inside his nose and throat, before he could do something blood dripped from his nostrils, his eyelids felt heavy, and the whole world danced before his pupils.

Then he sensed something rising up inside his stomach, as if that something was slowly climbing up his throat, a second later he vomited blood.

His vision went blurry—he saw one object as two, and his senses of direction, weight, and gravity were also messed up.

The Minotaur looked down at him as it prepared for another blow, the air split apart as it swung its chopper down at Spene.

Spene saw his death closing in on him, he was able to see the attack coming, and he knew he should run or dodge it; he wanted to dodge it. But his body wouldn't move; either his muscles were heavily damaged by that last attack or he was just too scared to even lift a finger…or maybe it was both?

The blade dropped and completed the swing, but when it should've sliced Spene it only crushed and shook the ground; just before the moment the chopper could cut him, Spene forced his body to its limits.

After all, it was not that he couldn't move…he had to move.

If he wanted to live then he had to keep his composure even when he was just a brink away from death. The adventures in the world didn't face life or death situations very often these days since the government managed most of the monsters' population and made sure that they didn't harm the civilians—only in remote areas which were out of their reach needed the help of adventures to shield themselves, just as the Gannett town.

Thus, this was Spene's first time—standing at death's door, but he still had that human instinct of survival left inside him; the same instinct that saved him just now.

This yet again proved that no matter how the environment changes, the core of humans will always remain the same. As for whether it was a good or bad thing…each had their own opinion on that.

After Spene safely secured his stance to the side, he saw that the huge chopper was stuck in the ground and the Minotaur for some reason screamed in agony. At first, he wasn't able to tell why this was happening—for once he'd never attacked this one, but he soon understood when he looked over to its right arm.

An arrow was stuck there and almost busted the Minotaur's entire shoulder. "Are you alright? Get yourself together!" someone said, it was the same person who fired that arrow and without a doubt, Spene knew it was Favian.

If Spene hadn't gotten away from his place, even then he wouldn't have died since Favian had fired his arrow long before the Minotaur moved his chopper; maybe he'd have suffered some injuries but still have lived.

One more thing that Spene wasn't aware of was that all this time when he'd lost his concentration and was on his knees with his guard wide open, it was him—Favian, who kept the other monsters from charging at him. In short, if it wasn't for Favian, Spene had died long ago.

"Yeah, I'm fine…more or less. Thanks for your help."

"What do you mean thanks, huh? This was the payback for the time you saved me—back on the last floor. If you wanna thank me, then better survive through this fight and then prostrate before me, Hahaha," Favian chuckled as he greeted Spene with a refreshing smile.

Spene smiled back and showed him a thumbs up before he rose to his feet, shook his head multiple times, and then slapped his own cheeks to get a hold of himself. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's do this!" he mumbled and stared at the Minotaur who was still struggling to pull its chopper from the ground.

"Let me show you how a sword is used; just because it's big doesn't always mean that it's better," he cracked another one of his cheap double-meaning jokes even when there was no one to hear them—no, maybe there was…the Minotaur.

​ He roared a battle cry again—and this time it wasn't a groan. Dashing toward the Minotaur he stepped on its 5 feet long chopper, the Minotaur threw a punch with its right hand, but he jumped, and propelling over its arm he landed on the Minotaur's neck.

"Go fuck yourself, you don't stand a chance against the king," with that he raised his sword high and, with the tip first, drilled it fully inside the Minotaur's head.

The sword kept going inside until only the hilt was left; the Minotaur's body went numb soon after, as its eyes turned pure white. It lost its balance and fell; grumbling the ground as it crashed.

Spene jumped off its lifeless body and landed on the ground. His confidence was boosted, and he had a new, refreshing mood. But like an experienced adventurer—a self-proclaimed one, he didn't let the excitement control him.

Turning around, he saw that there were already new monsters waiting for him, or—wait a second! They weren't waiting for him, instead, they charged right at him as Favian set them free.

"Fine, come at me," even though he didn't want to admit it; the excitement and arrogance were controlling him.

Holding his sword against 2 orcs and 1 kobold, he screamed his heart out as he leapt toward them.