I’m the Only One With a Different Genre

36 – The Power of the Cursed Sword

Creak.

A giant horn, a height of over 5 meters, a body of a human with a bull’s head, and hooves of a bull, the monster they had to face was a Minotaur.

The size of the Minotaur was enough to swallow Lian and all the slaves within the shadow it cast.

The booming cheers and the commentator shouting.

Clang.

In the midst of it, there were those who dropped their swords in fear.

“H-How can we possibly win against something like this?”

“I’m going to die, I don’t want to die!”

Two terrified slaves, overwhelmed with fear, screamed as they ran towards the passage they had emerged from. The Minotaur, who had been eyeing Rian at the front, lifted its head sharply.

Fleeing in front of an excited predator could only mean one thing – a plea for death.

Thud! Thump!

The Minotaur lightly rolled its foot, and as if equipped with springs, it effortlessly soared into the air. Leaping as high as the towering height of the massive arena, the Minotaur landed right in front of the fleeing slaves.

“Aaargh!”

“P-please, spare -“

Thunk, shaaak!

The double-edged axe it held in one hand tore the two slaves apart in an instant. They were cleaved in half and fell lifeless.

Squelch.

Bantol, trembling hands clutching a sword, who somehow hadn’t managed to escape, sank to the ground. Even the bulky slave with a shield wore a vacant expression, having lost consciousness.

“H-how… How can we defeat such a thing? It’s impossible!”

Bantol, gripped by the imminent reality of death, shouted in a voice filled with both fear and anger.

Normally, when humans were overcome by fear, anger surged within them as a survival mechanism. It was a function that existed for survival, but now it seemed utterly useless.

“Heh.”

Bantol’s cry only served to further excite the Minotaur, covered in blood. The Minotaur’s gaze focused directly on Bantol.

“Eeek?!”

Bantol screamed and tried to crawl backward. His body moved in spasms as if struggling on the ground.

“Woo-woo-woo!”

“Hahaha! Kill him, kill him!”

Voices jeering at the instantly deceased slave and the audience’s cries urging to play with the slave before killing echoed through the arena.

“Throw him! Toss him high!”

“Hahaha! Rip his throat out!”

Surrounded by the pouring sounds, Bantol felt suffocated. It seemed as if everything in the world wanted to kill him.

Thud, thump.

The Minotaur, with eyes reddened by some concoction, exhaling breath through its nostrils, approached slowly. It looked as if it intended to play with prey that couldn’t escape.

Ah, I’m going to die.

As the realization of impending death struck Bantol and the bulky slave simultaneously, a calm voice resonated.

“Why does my body get pixelated, but not my head? Oh, is it because of the organ with eyes?”

Rian passed by Bantol, heading towards the front. His casual stride towards death made it seem like he was just out for a stroll.

“Whoa! Instead of killing that feeble one, sell him somewhere!”

From Noble mtl dot com

“Scrape off that spongy face!”

Lian, who looked younger than other slaves and possessed a beautiful face that seemed destined to make many women weep in the future, walked towards the Minotaur, and all sorts of vile sounds echoed around.

There were demands to sell his body, cruel suggestions to tear off his facial skin. Every spectator in the arena anticipated Lian’s gruesome death.

“Ah, – quiet down a bit. I’ll finish this quickly, you see?”

Lian paid no attention to the jeers around him, muttering as if engaging in a conversation with something.

As the Minotaur reached a point barely within arm’s reach, Lian raised the sword he held in his hand.

“Where… like this?”

Lian swung the sword carelessly through the air. It was an insincere action, devoid of any technique, much like a playful gesture with a gleaming toy sword one might find in a corner.

“Szzk!”

The Minotaur, ridiculing the foolish antics of its prey, raised the axe. No, it attempted to.

Swoosh.

A small, clean line appeared on the upper body of the Minotaur, as though neatly cut with a box cutter, leaving a pristine mark.

“…- ?”

The Minotaur stared wide-eyed at Lian with a dumbfounded expression. Had it received a blow? Its gaze wandered aimlessly.

“Vague.”

As Lian finished his muttering, the Minotaur stuck out its tongue, its breath cut short.

…

Witnessing an unimaginable scene, the audience in the arena remained speechless, their mouths agape.

Swish!

The Minotaur’s waist was cleanly sliced diagonally, showing a cross-section as blood spurted out. On the ground lay the Minotaur’s head, shoulders, and arms, sprawled in sections.

The pungent smell of blood signified the Minotaur’s defeat.

“Wowww!!!”

A thunderous roar erupted, shaking the ground as if in an earthquake. The announcer, belatedly regaining composure, spoke with a trembling voice.

“T-The youngest gladiator has felled the Minotaur in a single strike! A new star is born!”

Amidst the heavily excited announcer’s voice resonating, the roar grew even louder, almost drowning the announcer out.

“Does not eating properly keep you small?”

Lian, paying no heed to the surroundings, tapped the cursed sword, murmuring that the Minotaur’s blood tasted bland.

“[It’s because all your blood is tasteless!]”

The cursed sword whined, expressing dissatisfaction. In response, Lian chuckled and spoke.

“Um… Thank you?”

[Profit…!]

Lian turned away from the eerie sound of the dark sword and looked back at the corridor he had come through.

‘I need to return to Iris quickly.’

Although the match ended sooner than expected, there was still a chance that something might happen.

During that time, someone might have appeared trying to attack Iris, or he could be so hungry that he went to a restaurant and picked up something to eat.

To Lian, Iris was no different from a newborn baby exposed to the market.

“Well then, let’s interview the miraculous gladiator…”

The host, unable to conceal his excitement in his voice, rode on a strange flying carpet through the air towards where Lian was.

Lian, whose mind was filled with worries about Iris, didn’t notice the approaching host and passed through the corridor, past the Minotaur, toward the passage.

“Uh, wait… shouldn’t I just go?”

A confused voice of the host from behind was heard, but Lian ignored it. In the world of comedy, it was natural for the residents to run towards their goal once fixated on one thing.

If you get in the way of a running comedy resident.

“Uwaaah!?”

You’ll end up flying like that host.

‘What just passed by?’

With a thought that was very much like a resident of the comedy world, Lian passed through the corridor. Perhaps because he achieved a tremendous result, no one stopped him.

***

Bang!

“Iris!”

“…!”

Iris, who had her head deeply bowed on the bed, widened her eyes and quickly raised her head. Checking my face, she got up from the bed in a flash.

I immediately reached out my hand to hold Iris’s hand.

“Sorry, I’m late -…”

Before I could finish speaking, Iris rushed into my arms. I froze in the same posture as when I reached out my hand.

“Ugh…”

Iris rubbed her face against my chest and made a crying sound. The spirit that had been frozen like a rock snapped back to attention at that sound. I urgently grabbed Iris’s shoulders and pushed her away.

“Oh, Iris, are you crying?!”

There are beings in the world that should not cry. Among them, the first is a child, and the second is a woman. Especially if it’s a pretty woman. If you made a pretty woman cry, diving off a cliff would be a better choice for a fulfilling life.

Iris is a pretty girl. An intimidating existence. Moreover, she is even the original protagonist!

Crying for such a being meant that death was imminent, as if it were saying that the end was near.

“Was Iris… an assassin?”

With that thought in mind, he let go of Iris and walked to the center of the room, kneeling and sitting.

“Mother, your son will go first.”

Bringing the sword he held to his neck, he shed tears like dew. To escape from the cruel cliche that might unfold in the future, such expressions had to be shown.

“…?!”

In an expression Iris had never seen before, she swiftly approached and snatched the sword away.

[ Oh! Finally, to a proper human— …Gah! I-is this, by any chance, divine power?! Let go! Release me! You, accursed god! Aaargh! ]

The cursed sword, which had been excited about falling into the hands of a proper human rather than someone abnormal like Ryan, screamed.

Afraid of losing a useful weapon, he extended his hand to Iris.

“You’re a good girl, Iris. Quickly, give it to me.”

Iris hid the sword behind her back and shook her head vigorously.