Chapter 96
[Domesticated Minotaur]
A giant bull humanoid stood at the center of the coliseum, and its thunderous battle cry pierced through the cheers of the roaring crowd. In front of the beast stood a small, single-horned demon.
“So that’s the magic beast from the labor camp...” Esil said.
“Looks that way,” Suho said.
Not only was the beast immensely muscular, but it was walking on two legs like a human. The Minotaur snorted fiercely, ready to charge at Suho. The only thing holding the beast back was the magic shackles it was bound to.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“Who? Me?” Suho chuckled in response.
“It may be tamed, but the strength of a Minotaur is beyond imagination. Its pain tolerance is tremendous thanks to its thick hide. If things get tough, don’t think twice and call us all out,” Esil said, concerned about the fight ahead.
Summoning shadow soldiers would blow Suho’s disguise as a demon, and the revelation would lead to every demon in the coliseum attacking him all at once. Normally, Suho could replenish his forces from the corpses of his enemies, but the situation changed when facing demons.
[Mana is contaminated and cannot be extracted.]
Demons could not be extracted into shadow soldiers, which meant Suho had to fight every demon in the arena with the soldiers he had.
Despite Esil’s concern, Suho continued to smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll hold out as long as I can until the Tyrant King decides to show up.” It can’t be worse than Ammut’s daily training. The thought of having to do another daily quest as soon as he returned was enough to make his skin crawl.
Meanwhile, oblivious to Suho’s intentions, the demon guards smiled as they stared out from afar.
“Look at him. Who cares if he’s a demon noble? He looks so weak.”
“He probably only has one horn because some demons drained the blood right out of him. Or... He could have taken blood from a noble and turned into this weird mutant demon.”
The chief guard was watching Suho intently, without any hint of complacency. “Start with one. After five minutes, send two. And after another five minutes, send four.”
“But sir, do you think he’ll last that long?”
“Morons. Why do you think we are sending out Minotaurs?”
The demon guards nodded in agreement, realizing his concern was for naught.
The beasts had been domesticated by the demons and were fed and raised in labor camps, but facing their true nature as wild beasts was a horrifying prospect.
“Minotaurs are inherently cruel and barbaric creatures. They like to take their time crushing every bone of their prey with overwhelming violence, mashing the flesh until it turns mushy. Only then do they finally consume their food.”
Regardless of Suho’s true identity, their duty was to make this execution as lengthy and horrific as possible.
“The wait is over! The execution shall resume!”
Coinciding with the announcer’s call, Minotaur’s shackles were released.
The gigantic beast took no time to charge toward Suho with ferocity.
It’s fast! Suho thought.
A cloud of dust rose as the Minotaur’s massive fist dropped toward Suho’s head. The common stereotype of large creatures being sluggish was immediately disproven. The ground where Suho had stood caved in under the terrific force.
The strike was the first of many, as the Minotaur punched indiscriminately in all directions. The spectators in the stands were awestruck by the carnage. They were used to seeing them as docile beasts pulling carts, so they were shocked to witness their true, terrifying nature.
This is exactly the reaction we want from the slaves, the chief guard thought.
Pleased with the slaves’ response, his men lit up with satisfaction.
But then...
The Minotaur, sensing something amiss, suddenly lifted its head while its fist was still plunged into the ground. From the thick cloud of dust about it, Suho was coming down toward it with his swords drawn. The beast swung its massive arm in his direction, creating a shockwave that shot forward.
“Dodge!” Esil shouted.
Suho twisted in midair, and he lightly stepped on the Minotaur’s fist before leaping higher. My reaction speed wasn’t bad here. His eyes sparkled like a butcher receiving an entire cow.
“Wow!”
“How did he dodge that?”
Cheers erupted from the stands. Despite the overwhelming size difference, Suho was putting up a good fight, and the slaves were now cheering him on.
Just then, Suho moved behind the Minotaur and thrust his sword into its shoulder, but the hellsteel longsword bent instead of piercing.
A demon guard burst into laughter. “Look at that!”
It was impossible to pierce the Minotaur’s thick skin with such a worn-out weapon. They had deliberately taken him to the armory to produce such a clownish display.
Having anticipated this, Suho redirected the bent sword and stabbed the Minotaur’s eye. A loud wail echoed throughout the arena. The Minotaur roared with pain as it began thrashing about. The creature violently tried to shake Suho off its head, but Suho held on tightly to one of its large horns.
He was barely holding on, but he raised his other fist with a smile. “This is going to hurt a bit.”
[“Title: Wolf Slayer” has been applied.]
Wolf Slayer was a buff that enhanced all of his stats by 40 percent when fighting against beast-type monsters. Suho channeled all his strength into a single punch and drove it at the creature’s face.
In an instant, the Minotaur’s vision blurred, but it had no time to recoup as another strike quickly followed.
“You are one tough cow!” Suho shouted as he repeatedly punched the beast as if to test how much the beast could endure.
The Minotaur was being bombarded with an endless rain of overwhelming violence, and eventually, the beast’s face began caving in.
“What is going on?” A demon guard sprang from his seat in shock.
The Minotaur was dying without even being able to scream.
“Quick, send two more! No, four more!” the chief guard commanded, and the gate holding the others opened all at once.
Watching the one-sided battle from a distance, the ant’s eyes narrowed like a waning moon. “They are stronger than I initially thought. The Young Monarch must be pleased.”
Still holding onto the horn, Suho stood atop the fallen Minotaur and looked up. He grinned at the sight of four more beasts charging toward him. “The more, the merrier.” He decided to unleash his true power. “Gray, it’s time for Divine Possession.”
[“Pet: Gray” has been bound to the Shaman.]
Swoosh!
Suho’s hair began to turn silver.
“Wow! Single Horn is...”
“Is he a demon that can transform?”
“I’ve never seen one that can change their hair color like that before!”
However, the commotion in the stands came to a sudden halt.
Suddenly, a massive presence opened its eyes behind Suho.
[Rakan salivates at the sight of prey rushing forward.]
The charging Minotaurs suddenly felt an unknown yet instinctual fear as they approached.
[Effect: “Fear” has been activated.]
[The target’s stats are reduced by 50% for one minute.]
The charging Minotaurs noticeably slowed down. It seemed that their domestication had made them more vulnerable to fear. Unaware of their reduced strength, the beasts desperately pounded their fists to shake off the ominous sensation holding them back, resulting in a ruthless rampage. Shockwaves created by their thick, muscular arms filled the air, and a heavy cloud of dust engulfed the coliseum.
The excitement in the stands intensified.
[Skill: “Iron Body Technique” has activated.]
Cutting through the dust, a Minotaur was suddenly flung backward. It was quickly followed by another Minotaur flying into a wall. A third Minotaur hit the wall, and it slowly rose, shaking its dazed head.
“What’s happening inside all that dust?”
“What’s going on?”
As the demons watched in disbelief, the dust settled just in time to reveal the colossal silhouette of Single Horn.
“How did he get so big?”
Every demon in the arena was shocked to find that Suho had grown as big as a Minotaur, having used Giant’s Armor.
His size now matched the Minotaur, and with his hands cloaked in black energy, he grappled one of the beasts. Standing squarely up against it, his eyes locked with the beast’s as his lips curled into a smile.
“You’re pretty strong, aren’t you?”
The beast roared in response.
“But what can we do?” As Suho’s strength suddenly intensified, the Minotaur panicked and collapsed to its knees. “You see, I’ve been hitting the gym pretty hard lately.” Seizing the moment, he raised his fist and crushed the Minotaur’s body, and the beast collapsed without making a sound. Suho then bent down and began ruthlessly pummeling the beast into mush.
The crowd was captured in stunned silence. Seeing Suho’s overwhelming prowess reminded the older demons of a notorious demon they had once known.
“V-Vulcan...” a demon muttered. That brief utterance spread like wildfire in all directions.
They whispered his name as their eyes widened in horror.
“Now I remember! The demon’s horn...”
“It looks just like Vulcan’s, the Demon of Greed!”
The long-forgotten creature of immense stature flashed through the demons’ minds. Vulcan was known for being the greediest of all demons, who possessed destructive power.
“G-good heavens. It’s true...”
“It’s Vulcan! Vulcan has returned!”
Afraid that the situation could spiral out of control, the demon guards shouted at the top of their lungs to try to calm down the confused slaves.
“No, you fools! Vulcan is dead! He died a long time ago in the Monarchs War!”
“He’s similar but different! No, very different! He only has one horn.”
As this chaos continued, a sigh of resignation escaped the chief guard’s lips. “Good heavens... Who knew Vulcan had a hidden son?”
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