Chapter 14

***

“Big Brother. We’re still in the maze, aren’t we?”

“Beats me. Robertian shouldn’t have forgotten setting up monsters.”

“Maybe they got caught in a trap. Among the traps I’ve seen so far, there was one with a very deep hole. Wouldn’t a monster be stuck there if it really fell?”

“It could be.” Cyan agreed at Ciel’s thought

“Thanks to our mother, we learned how to deal with traps. The other guys couldn’t have possibly had such skills. Especially Eugene, he’s a country bumpkin. He probably wouldn’t even know what a tower is.”

“It would have been fun to meet him on the way.”

“Hey, what’s fun? He’s our enemy”

“But we don’t have to fight and compete.”

Cyan bit his lips at her words.

“…but that could be overlooked. That wizard didn’t prohibit us from fighting each other. So, if I meet him, I’ll fight him.”

“Can you win?”

“When I lost back then, it was because of carelessness. If we fight again, of course, I will win!”

“Really?”

“Of…course!”

He may have said so, but Cyan wasn’t sure of winning deep inside.

He recalled the pain of being beaten by Eugene. Subconsciously, his body trembled at the horror.

Maybe it was because he was thinking about ghosts all the way that he became so nervous.

“Don’t talk to me, Ciel.”

Cyan glanced at her younger sister and looked ahead again…

“I need to concentrate!”

When her brother’s gaze against her was gone, Ciel stuck out her tongue, made a face, and then silently laughed.

Suddenly a bloody woman walked out of the alley.

Cyan opened his eyes wide and screamed.

“Ahhh!”

His scream could be heard over half of the labyrinth.

Dira wanted to try to catch him off guard, but the scream of Cyan threw her off and she also screamed in surprise.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

The two screams echoed throughout the whole labyrinth.

Ciel laughed at the sight.

After screaming for so long, Cyan came to his senses and pulled out his sword.

“Dira! How dare you surprise me!”

“Well, I’m more surprised!”

He is the youngest son of the main family. And because of the situation of the Branch Family, she did not dare to speak to Cyan rudely. She jumped back. Her thought of catching them off guard has long gone.

“Why are you surprised?”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“You are the one who surprised me!”

“Don’t lie!”

Dira felt like she was going to die of injustice. All kinds of traps, monsters, and giant trolls she saw on the way here. No matter how outstanding she was, being heavily beaten was inevitable. That’s the reason why she looks like a bloodied woman right now.

“You are sabotaging my search…! How dare you surprise me?! Yeah, don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to? You must have scared me and tried to sneak attack!”

“No!”

That was true. But she can’t bluntly say it right now. She turned away. She heard Cyan calling her and shouting “Comeback.” But she just ignored them and then run away.

“Big Brother, she’s running away!”

“How dare you!”

Cyan was genuinely angry. How dare she make him scream in front of his sister! This was really embarrassing!

He felt like Eugene’s sudden attack was better than being in this kind of situation, at least he could reason why he lost. So he can’t forgive her. Cyan ran after the Dira.

Ciel was laughing as she chased after Cyan. No matter how long and fast the legs and arms of Dira were, she couldn’t be faster than the twins who already trained Mana. The distance between them is getting narrower.

Gargis, where’s this bastard?’

“Gargis!” Dira shouted at the top of her lungs.

However, Gargis was facing a troll, so he couldn’t hear the voice of the Dira amidst the continuous roars.

“Don’t run away!”

“I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“But why are you running away?”

“You’re going to bother me!”

“That’s right!”

Cyan shouted.

The answer of Cyan almost let her lose her balance. If Cyan was alone, she could fight back. But, there was Ciel. Moreover, she can never win with a body full of wounds.

‘Eugene.’

Where’s this bastard?

Because her mind was elsewhere, the running Dira stepped on a trap.

Coooooong!

The floor started going down.

Dira saw that the two were still following her, without any ounce of hesitation she jumped at the shout of Cyan.

“Dira!”

She managed to jump over the hole and landed on the ground with her butt.

“I told you not to run away!”

Cyan stopped at the sudden trap and shouted. Dira took a breath and dashed forward again.

“Big Brother!”

Cyan look at the trap for a moment. The end is so deep that he can’t see it. Moreover, there was quite a distance from the other side.

Do they have to go back and find another way? Cyan hesitated, pondering for a moment.

Then he saw his sister’s eyes looking forward. Cyan chewed his lips. He can’t be humiliated anymore.

“Argh!”

Cyan shouted and jumped above the trap. The mana spread all over his body and made a long-distance leap.

“Ciel! You come too! I’ll catch you!”

“Yes!”

Cyan opened his arms wide with determined eyes. But Ciel jumped the trap without Cyan’s help. They are twins who have learned the same thing since childhood. If Cyan can do it, of course, Ciel can do it too.

“…you’re really my sister.”

Cyan lowered his arms awkwardly and resumed his pursuit of the fugitive Dira.

The run didn’t last long and stopped.

It was the same case with Dira.

“… Boss Monster.”

After a fierce run, the three reached the center of the maze.

On the far side of the road, there was a huge cave blocked by walls. In the middle of it sat a monster much bigger than a troll.

“Why did the three of you come together?”

Eugene, sitting with his back against the wall, tilted his head and asked.

“…what are you doing here?”

“What am I doing? I am sitting down.”

“Why?”

“I’m just wondering who would come first.”

Eugene grinned as soon as he answered.

His eyes were full of mischief.

“Who’s first?”

Cyan’s expression crumpled up. This is because Eugene’s words sounded like he was mocking him. Eugene was the first to break through the maze and arrive at the center.

“Dira came first.”

“She’s been running away!”

“Why did she run away?”

“That’s…”

It was a question he didn’t want to answer.

He screamed because he thought there was a ghost. He was ashamed and angry so he tried to scold her…

To explain it, Cyan himself must admit that he screamed because he was afraid of ghosts.

“Dira… insulted me.”

“You really love the word insult.”

“When did I insult you, Cyan?”

Dira shouted with an expression full of resentment. If the surprise attack was successful as she expected, she wouldn’t feel this injustice.

“That pampered boy overreacted. We just ran into each other!”

“You scared me on purpose!”

“I never did that! On the contrary, I was more surprised by Cyan’s scream!”

“I… I didn’t scream.”

Cyan clenched his fist with his ears slowly becoming red.

“I just… I just screamed in anger. You’re gonna… Yes! Dira, you tried to surprise me!”

“…I didn’t.”

“You hesitated for a second! I’ve seen you roll your eyes. You really tried to surprise me?! How dare you surprise me and sneak attack!”

“Oh, really! Ahhh!”

She shouted out in frustration and resentment. Cyan opened his eyes wide when she imitated him.

“Why are you talking down to me! I’m the son of the Main Family and I’m a year older than you!”

“You keep insisting when I just said no!”

“Another informal speech…”

“Stop.”

Eugene didn’t want to hear that childish argument anymore. He was not even interested in what insult Cyan received was.

“Anyway, I am the first one to come.”

“You’re the first one to come.”

Ciel grinned and pointed out.

“Yes, I was the first to come.”

“…what do you want?”

Dira asked after glancing at Eugene.

She remembered their conversation after dinner. Perhaps he…?

Was he waiting here… because Eugene wanted to challenge the Boss Monster alone?

“I want to propose a deal.”

Eugene said with a smile.

“…deal?”

“I can fight the monster and win. But if I defeat it quickly, I will feel sorry for you who have come all the way here.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

Cyan roared. He was clearly insulting him. He didn’t scream like before, but he was angry at Eugene.

What about Ciel? She didn’t feel angry or insulted. However, the situation was so funny that she glinted in anticipation of what would happen next.

“Let’s be fair, in the order you came.”

“You’re… you’re talking out of your mind, aren’t you? Did the monster hit you in the head while you were coming all the way here?”

“I dodge it. So, I’m perfectly fine.”

Eugene didn’t stand up from his sitting position and looked up at the Dira.

“If you don’t think you can win, you can give up. It’s your choice.”

Give up? Dira’s eyebrows twitched. She came all the way here through that hardship. She felt it was ridiculous to hear the word ‘Deal’ already, but the word “give up” made the Dira even angrier.

“I won’t give up!”

“It’s hard to fight it alone”.

Eugene laughed like he just heard a joke. Dira looked back at the Boss monster with a trembling shoulder.

A muscular giant that can be clearly seen from this distance. It’s bigger than the troll she barely runs away from earlier. The biggest characteristic of the giant monster was the head of a bull.

A minotaur is a monster that will most likely appear in a labyrinth. However, this Minotaur was not as monstrous as from the fairy tale, but it was still scary looking at it closely.

Dira swallowed her dried saliva while looking at the giant horn of the Minotaur.

‘… Gargis, why isn’t this bastard coming?’

In the first place, Gargis and her wanted to work together to fight the Boss Monster. However, Gargis did not show any signs of coming. Dira looked at Eugene just in case.

“I’m going to fight after all of you.”

“…you’re so crazy, aren’t you?”

Cyan was so dumbfounded listening to their conversation. He can’t stand it anymore.

“Don’t talk about dogs! Don’t think I’ll never defeat a cow like that!”

“If you defeat it, I’ll call you brother forever.”

At the words, Cyan hesitated for a moment. He will hear him calling him brother forever. The Young Cyan found that proposal very attractive.

“…don’t take back your words later.”

“I won’t.”

After hearing Eugene’s answer. Cyan sat up. Then he breathed and guided the mana in his body. He was quite tired of coming all the way here, so he wanted to recover as soon as possible.

“Minotaurs…”

It was also the first time he saw a Minotaur. He had heard many stories about Minotaur in a book he read randomly for several days. It was a monster with no special weakness, but it is not a monster that couldn’t be defeated.

Great strength and toughness. That’s a natural feature for a mid-to large-sized monster of that size. It is not as regenerative as a troll, nor is it as monstrous as Ogre.

Moderate strength, moderate intelligence. The Minotaur, seen in Cyan’s eyes, was a monster that he could hunt without much difficulty.

But to Dira this was different. She tried easing her trembling heart while she squat down. Her hand holding the spear was trembling. She had defeated a lot of monsters like Orcs, but she never hunted such a big monster yet.

It was said that Minotaurs are the top predator of the trolls.

The monster is indeed similar to a troll. But despite that, she couldn’t imagine her victory. Even before coming here, she couldn’t even land a strike on the troll she pass by before.

“… Ahhh”

However, she could not back down here. Then she grabbed the spear and ran toward Minotaur.

Minotaur raised himself before Dira and narrowed the distance.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The giant was fast. Trolls were not as fast as this monster was.

The figure standing on both feet is bigger than the troll.

Minotaur turns his head. The cow that Dira knew was cute because of its bright eyes, but Minotaur’s eyes were filled with only creepy light.

Minotaur waved its hand.

At the sight of the Minotaur, Dira threw her spear.

Bam! The big hand easily broke her spear.

‘I knew it would break!’

The face of the Dira is distorted.

Before she knew it, the hand of the giant monster was now above her head.

Dira reacted immediately. She jumped sideways and avoided the attack. Then she swung the broken spear toward Minotaur’s side.

She hit it, but the attack she just did was from an unstable position so it wasn’t very powerful.

Minotaur just ignored the attack of Dira without making a single sound of pain.

“AHHH!”

Big fingers are wrapped around her body. Dira screeched and tried to escape somehow.

Death!

Her gut was telling her how dangerous her position was?

Is this the end? That’s outrageous!

Dira closed her eyes tightly.

However, Minotaur did not do the terrible things as Dira imagined. It did not crush her body or stamp her into the ground. Instead, it threw her into the center and toward the entrance of the cave.

Bam!

She could feel her bones breaking. Dira groaned in pain on the floor. Her whole body aches because she flew from quite a long distance and fell.

“You lost, so stay back.”

“It hurts…”

“Of course it hurts.”

“Why did it throw her and not beat her?”

Ciel had a face full of confusion. She didn’t want to see a cruel scene in person, but the Minotaur’s behavior wasn’t what a monster would do.

“That’s not a real monster.”

Eugene replied.

“There’s no reason for it to kill us. The moment it got us on its hands, it is our loss.”

There is no reason to instill unnecessary trauma in young children. Watching the situation, Cyan finally put on a relaxed smile.

“Huh. Why did you rush? Did you think you could defeat Minotaur?”

Dira couldn’t answer, she just hugged her aching body and groaned. Cyan passed by Dira with a sneer.

“Sit here and watch it with your eyes wide open. The blood of the Main family is at a different level than you are!”