Only I know that this world will end – 048 | Sousaku – 創作

VS　Minotaur

――The twenty-fifth time.
Akira, awakened by the Return from Hell, exhaled slowly.

(……Finally, here I am.)

Akira whispered in his mind as he clenched his fist.
Then he turned around behind him and opened his mouth to Nao, who was there.

"Nao-san."
"You surprised me. Did you know I was here?"

She was probably surprised that Akira, who had until then stopped moving, suddenly turned around.
Nao's shoulders shook with a jolt as she raised her voice.
As Akira stared at Nao's face, a smile appeared on his lips.

"…………Thank you very much. Your words are what got me to this point. Without you, I would have given up on everything at that moment."
"――――What? "

Nao gazed at Akira with a deep crease between her eyebrows.
Perhaps she was wondering about Akira, who suddenly said such a thing.
Knowing this, Akira stood up from his seat with a smile on his face again.

"You don't have to know right now. But when all this is over, there's something I want you to hear."
"You want me to hear something? What's that?"
"……Right now, I can't tell you. But I'll be sure to tell you when I kill that guy."
"Kill? ――――Hey, Ichijou!! What did you mean by that?"
"I'm going."

Akira interrupted Nao and left the company.
Behind him, Nao was shouting Akira's name in a hoarse voice, but Akira did not look back until the end.

"Alright then."

Akira let out a few small words as he left the company.
He already knew where he had to go.
He should be preparing a weapon, but there would be no weapon in this world that could compete with that monster.
In that case, it would be quicker to engage in a physical battle instead of relying on weapons.

(Right, I need to remember to assign the points.)

"Status."

Mumbling, Akira brought up the screen.

――――――――――――――――――
Ichijou Akira 25 years old Male Lv1 (30)
Stamina：３７
Strength：７７
Endurance：７６
Speed：７１
Magical power：６
Luck：３１

Earned points：１０
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Unique Skills:
・Return from Hell
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Skills
・Physical strengthening Lv２
・Analysis Lv１
・Magic Circuit Lv１
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Damage bonus
・Goblin races ＋３％
・Wolf races ＋３％
・Plant-based monsters ＋３％
・Beast monsters ＋５％
――――――――――――――――――

Akira glanced over to his status on the display and quickly reached for the points characters and used all his points to acquire a new skill.

"Alright."

Akira nodded at the screen that appeared after he finished assigning points.

(……Now all preparations are complete.)

Now all that was left was to put everything he had into it.

"Phew…………"

Letting out a breath, Akira walked slowly.
The scenes that passed by him were unchanged as if they were rehashed from that day when he first experienced his Return from Hell.

The people he passed on his way out of the office and along the way.
A young man laughing drunkenly in the entertainment district, passing by on his way home.
A couple having a loud lovers' quarrel that echoed through the residential area at night.

Everything, everything was the same. Nothing had changed, everything was the same as on that day.
Akira slowly walked down the street, taking in each scene with a sense of déjà vu, until he finally arrived at the place.

Under the electric light illuminating the alleys of the residential area.
It was as if it had just been spawned in that very spot. A monster with an ox head and human body stood there, carrying a battle-axe as tall as a man.
――Ding. And so, the screen appeared at the same time that Akira identified the figure.

――――――――――――――――――
This is the monster that previously defeated you.
A quest will be generated.
――――――――――――――――――
C-class Quest: Minotaur will start.
The condition for clearing the quest is to defeat the Minotaur.
――――――――――――――――――

Number of minotaurs defeated ０/１

――――――――――――――――――

"――――Hey."

The minotaur noticed Akira's presence as he called out to it.
The Minotaur looked at Akira as if asking "Who on earth are you?", Akira then gave a small smile, threw off his jacket, and readied his fists.

"I'm here to pay you back for everything you've done."
"Fushrrrrrrrrrr…………"

The minotaur scoffed at Akira's combat readiness.
Its grin was as if it was mocking Akira's figure.

"…………"

Akira exhaled slowly, staring at that smirk.
His limbs were trembling. His body, mind, and soul remembered that pain and fear.
Quickly, run away, screamed the survival instincts within Akira.
Akira's rational mind restrained him as if asking if he wanted to die again.

"――――――! ! "

All of which Akira contained by clenching his back teeth with as much strength as he could muster.
Even now that he had become accustomed to death, he was still afraid of dying. Unable to bear the pain, the thought of that agony made him want to vomit right now.

――――But still.

He already knew that if he did not defeat this monster here and now, there would be no future ahead for him.
He was aware that if he did not defeat this monster, the people of this city would surely be completely annihilated.
He couldn't just back out. The future that he desired was just ahead of him.

"Phew…………"

Exhaling slowly, Akira timed himself, and in one swift motion, he kicked the ground and dashed out.

"Haa! "

A high kick was unleashed as soon as he entered into a face-to-face match.
The kick swung through the wind, failed to strike the minotaur, and went through an empty space. Just before Akira's kick reached it, the minotaur drew back and ducked.

"Buumooooooooooo!! "

At the same time, the minotaur let out a cry and swung the battle-axe in its hand as if to unleash a counterattack.

"――Sh! "

Just before the axe reached him, Akira crouched and ducked.
It was an instinct that he knew only because he had encountered the minotaur many times before.

"――――! ? "

The minotaur blinked in surprise at the battle axe that cut through nothing.
Apparently, the minotaur was certain of its victory with that one blow.
Akira clenched his fist and struck with all his might toward the exposed abdomen of the Minotaur.

"You know how many times I've been killed by you?! "

The fist sank deep, striking the minotaur's abdomen.
Akira's strength was now 77. In contrast, the Minotaur in its unstrengthened state had an Endurance of 78.
The status gap that had been so wide apart was almost nonexistent now.

"Gu, ah."

The Minotaur's voice leaked out as the fist slammed into it.
The first and definitive damage inflicted.
That response brought a smile to Akira's lips.

(It's working!)

Immediately, Akira clenched his other fist to give chase.
But the minotaur had no intention of taking the same attack so easily.

"Buoooooooooo!! "

The minotaur shouted and swung its arm to repel the approaching Akira.

"――Sh! "

Akira, sensing the attack, immediately leaped back and retreated to his rear.
The minotaur's arm passed by to where Akira had been standing just before, causing a tremendous wind roar.
Akira blocked the wind pressure by covering his face and immediately jumped to the side and rolled on the ground.
――Immediately after, the concrete ground cracked upon the tremendous impact.
Akira quickly realized that it was the battle-axe wielded by the minotaur that had struck the ground.

(Shit, it's still hard!)

In his mind, Akira clicked his tongue.

(Its strength in its unstrengthened state was 190 ...... I believe? My Endurance is 76, so I should expect to die at the very first blow I take.)

Currently, Akira's only status that came anywhere close to the Minotaur's was strength.
Although he might be able to win the fight if he continued to attack without taking a single blow, it was still a tough fight.

"Damn."

Akira, who had just raised his body, immediately jumped back again to the back.
It was only an intuition based on the fact that he had been killed by the minotaur for so long, but the experience had barely held Akira's life together at the moment.
Immediately after he jumped back, the minotaur, its voice raised, swung its arm in a sideways swipe.
But as he did so, the minotaur's fingertips grazed Akira's body, and he was blown away by the impact.

"Gah――"

Akira's breath was caught as his body was violently slammed against the concrete block wall.
At the taste of iron in his mouth, Akira clicked his tongue.

"Shit."

Akira spat out blood mixed with saliva and immediately rolled to his side.
Immediately after that, a tremendous wind pressure whacked Akira's body and blew him away again.

(…………As expected, this is my limit.)

If they kept it up, he would be killed again.
Akira instinctively knew this.

"Haaa……"

Exhaling, Akira stared at the minotaur.
The minotaur looked at Akira, who was lying on the ground, its mouth twisted into a sneer.
It was an ugly smile, ridiculing humans to no end.
As if to instill despair, the minotaur approached Akira with slow movements.

"Uuuuuuuuuoooooo! "

And then, as if confident of its victory, the minotaur roared.
It swung the battle-axe in its hand, and put all its strength into its arms in order to tear Akira's body in half.
It was then that Akira muttered these words.

"『Dash』"

――Ding.

――――――――――――――――――
Skill：Dash has been used.
Remaining effect time: 60.00 seconds.
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As soon as Akira whispered those words, a screen appeared.
Immediately after, his shadow fluttered.
No, Akira leaped out of the way with such quickness that it made it feel that way.

"Oooooooooooo!! "

Akira shouted and jumped toward the minotaur's arm.
He then kicked its arm, which was holding a battle-axe, with all his might, and changed its trajectory dramatically.
The battle-axe being swung through the air ripped straight through the open space with its trajectory altered.
Akira kicked the ground further and launched himself at the minotaur, which had been knocked out of its stance by the impact, and then swung his clenched fist at its abdomen.

"Gah――"

The minotaur's breath stopped, and its body collapsed.
Akira immediately jumped up, kicking the ground, and swung his heel down to the tip of its nose.

"Oooooooooooo."

The feeling of bones being crushed, and the screams of the minotaur echoed through the residential area at night.
Akira looked at the minotaur with a smirk at the damage it had surely suffered.

"……Alright, now then."

At his words, the minotaur bellowed in fury.
It was a roar that signaled the beginning of a full-scale, life-and-death battle between the two opponents.

――――――――――――――――――
Dash Lv１
・Active skill.
・Consumes the user's Magical power and increases the user's Speed for one minute. The value to be increased is fixed at the value of his Magical power status post consumption x Dash's skill level x 10.
・Currently, the amount of Magical power consumed to use the skill is 1.
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Damage bonus in progress:
・Beast monsters ＋５％

ToC