Minotaurs Go Better with Labyrinths!

Kashu Animusphere

LV.1

Strength: I(0)→F(324)

Endurance: I(0)→I(74)

Dexterity: I(0)→G(217)

Agility: I(0)→G(222)

Magic: I(1)→E(415)

--Magic--

--Skills--

Loki flipped the table in a fit of rage.

Having barely suppressed her nearly explosive curiosity, the evil goddess once again put on a pained expression and nearly flipped the table.

There was no other reason—Kashu's rate of improvement was simply absurd!

He had only spent one day wandering around the dungeon, yet he had gained over 1,200 points of proficiency?

No!

If she counted the time this brat had dawdled in the morning, he had not even spent a full day in the dungeon!

"Hey, brat, tell me honestly. Are you really human? Not some monster wearing human skin?"

Kashu turned his head with a subtle expression, glanced sideways at Loki, and answered calmly.

"Judging by my biological structure, I am indeed human."

Loki waved the parchment she had just finished translating and clicked her tongue in amazement.

"Hah, if people from another world are all like you, then no matter what, I've gotta go over there and take a look."

Kashu took the parchment and gave it a quick scan. His brows furrowed slightly in confusion.

"The fastest-improving stat, Magic, has only reached E-rank?"

"What did you just say?! Listen to yourself! Does that sound like something a human would say?"

"Only E-rank? If other adventurers heard that, they'd cry right in front of you!"

Loki somehow produced another bottle of liquor, chugged down several gulps, then began explaining basic adventurer knowledge to Kashu.

The Falna did indeed accelerate growth, and adventurers could gain proficiency through frequent training.

But!

There was always a but!

Raising one's ability values had never been easy for adventurers.

Normally, anyone who could raise their ability values by several dozen points in a short period would already be a rare genius fought over by every major Familia.

And the further one progressed, the slower their ability values increased.

Even the Sword Princess, the most exceptional member of her Familia, had not improved as freakishly fast as Kashu when she first received her Falna.

Something's off... Even if this brat's a monster who can bulldoze through the tenth floor alone, his gains shouldn't be this outrageous.

This isn't just strength earned through training... It's more like... divine blood awakened some possibility that had been dormant inside him?

Loki habitually narrowed her eyes, then took another huge swig of liquor and waved a hand carelessly.

"Forget it, forget it. My Familia's full of kids with things they can't talk about. One more won't make a difference."

Kashu paused slightly. He had already prepared an entire explanation, but Loki had unexpectedly given up her questioning so readily.

This evil god from Norse mythology seemed rather different from the image he had held of her.

"I need maps of the floors beyond the tenth, preferably reaching the eighteenth floor. I heard adventurers have opened shops there, and I'm interested."

At Kashu's request, Loki's face immediately fell into a troubled expression.

"Maps, huh..."

Though her Familia was one of Orario's two kings, she had always been a hands-off chief deity and had never bothered with trivial matters like dungeon exploration.

Now Finn, the captain responsible for coordinating everything, had taken the main force on an expedition. Where was she supposed to find maps?

"Right!"

Loki suddenly slapped her thigh and pointed at a building beside Twilight Manor.

"There. That's our library. It's packed with the Familia's exploration records and intelligence gathered over the years. Maps, monster data, whatever you need—it's all there. Go find it yourself!"

"Understood."

Kashu nodded, put away the parchment, and turned toward the library.

But just as he was about to step out the door, he abruptly stopped and looked sideways at the god still drinking away her worries.

"Loki, is there some kind of surveillance equipment on Babel Tower?"

"When I came back at dusk, I felt someone watching me. It was unpleasant, like someone had looked me over from head to toe."

"Surveillance? Someone watching?"

Hearing that, Loki set down her bottle. The drunken look vanished from her face at once as she nodded.

"I think I know what's going on. Don't worry, brat. Leave it to me."

After Kashu disappeared through the doorway, Loki roughly wiped her mouth. A sinister grin, completely unlike her usual playful smile, appeared on her face.

"Looks like that lovesick fool has her eyes on him. Old friend, don't push me into tearing things apart with you!"

After digging through the vast sea of materials in the library and finding the information he needed, Kashu entered the deep dungeon once more beneath the faint morning light.

This time, his target was the safe floor in the middle levels—the eighteenth floor.

Yes, a safe floor.

After carefully reviewing the records, Kashu realized he had been too presumptuous before.

The dungeon was not dangerous everywhere. On certain floors, such as the eighteenth, monsters did not spawn. It was like a safe zone in a game.

That was precisely why daring adventurers had opened shops there, creating a small supply hub.

"Running into the middle levels on the second day after receiving my Falna... Other people would definitely think an adventurer like me has a death wish."

The self-mocking words had barely left his mouth before they were scattered by the chaotic gusts pouring from the passage ahead.

Wrapped in a torrent of magic power, Kashu shot through the underground tunnels along the route he remembered like a cannonball fired from its barrel.

It was a small trick he had only recently mastered.

He released the vast magic power within him without restraint, turning it into brutal propulsion.

Not only could this power greatly increase his strength and speed, it could also effectively reduce damage and even allow him to hover—or fly—for brief periods!

Kashu's grand, utterly undisguised method of travel naturally drew the attention of countless monsters like a lighthouse in the night.

Within a rocky cavern passage on the seventeenth floor, heavy panting rose and fell like drumbeats pounding against the stone walls.

The shadows writhed as hulking bull-headed humanoid monsters, their muscles knotted and their forms savage, slowly emerged. Their tough reddish-bronze hides reflected a cold gleam beneath the phosphorescent light.

Minotaurs.

One of the iconic monsters of the dungeon's middle levels, renowned for their immense strength and sturdy defenses.

Kashu stopped. With a loose grasp of his right hand, a platinum longsword gleaming faintly instantly condensed into existence.

With interest, he studied the monsters before him, now restless from his intrusion.

"Minotaurs in a labyrinth?"

"Unexpectedly, after coming to this world, these monsters are the ones that best match their descriptions in mythology."

"Moooh!" ×N

They could not understand human speech, but that did not stop the savage bulls from sensing the provocation and threat radiating from the being before them.

They let out deafening roars one after another, their muscles bulging as they lowered their heads. Their thick hind legs kicked powerfully against the rocky ground, sending gravel and dust flying.

The Minotaurs became streaks of rampaging black shadow and charged Kashu as a group!

For a brief moment, the sight reminded him of the equally fearless kobolds he had once faced.

"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood to play with you right now."

Wind King's Hammer!

Kashu did not even dodge. In a posture even more violent and ferocious than the monsters', he swung his longsword, wrapped in invisible wind pressure.

The slash tore through the air with a piercing howl, instantly turning the menacing Minotaurs—and the rocky ground beneath their feet—into fragments scattered through the air!

Yet that devastating instant kill seemed to touch some taboo, thoroughly enraging the dungeon itself.

Thump, thump—!

First came a dull, powerful sound, like the beating of a giant heart, suddenly echoing through the entire cavern.

Then the sound of cracking walls erupted in rapid succession like popping beans.

The cavern walls were splitting and writhing in every direction.

More Minotaurs were being born in groups, forming at an unprecedented speed.

The instant they appeared, their scarlet eyes locked tightly onto Kashu, filled with a desire for brutality and destruction.

In an instant, the dungeon had multiplied a number of powerful monsters far beyond normal!

This was a hopeless death trap capable of instantly swallowing and crushing even the most experienced adventurer party!

It was, in the truest sense—a monster feast!

Yet faced with this terrifying scene that would make anyone recoil in fear, Kashu showed not the slightest trace of dread. Instead, the corner of his lips rose, and unprecedented excitement flashed in his eyes.

"What, the dungeon has a temper too?"

"Since you're all so enthusiastic, I'll stay and have some fun with you!"