Day 481-490/Day 486

Day 486 / The Sixteenth Day
Today, I continued to make good progress with the Golemkrat.
　As before, there were monsters that attacked us on the way, but as I got closer to the ground, they became weaker and I was able to kill them easily.
　If I throw a 【Blood Draining Spear】, most of them will sink with a single blow. If I use a magic rifle, I can kill them instantly with a headshot.
　It was easy and good, but I was a little dissatisfied with the fact that as they got weaker, their taste diminished.
　Even though they were of the same species, the ones I killed at greater depths were obviously more delicious.
　It's okay that I'm catching a good amount of fish, but in the future I might be less dissatisfied if I mixed up the fish I caught in shallow and deep water.
　However, there are exceptions to the rule even in shallow areas, and it seems that there are places where there are monsters that are clearly stronger than others at the same depth.
　There was a section of the road that was paved with mortar and concrete, a complete change from the natural rock walls.
　Stone lanterns emitting light at regular intervals were embedded in the sky above, illuminating a hideous painting made of stacked red and black brick-like materials.
　It seems that the structure is designed to lead those who enter it astray, like an ancient ruin, and without the grandfather gnome's guidance, it would be difficult to get out of the labyrinth.
　It seems that this section is called the 【Underworld Palace】.
　There were no traps here, but there were monsters more powerful than the others roaming around.
　According to the grandfather, the Doom Minotaur, a bull-headed demon with the head of a bull and the waist of a minnow, has a strong human body and a huge double-bladed, two-handed axe.
　The black and purple bristles that are intricately entwined cannot be pierced deeply by a blood-draining spear, and the thick black skin and high-density muscle armor underneath are strong enough to move without worrying about being attacked by enemies.
　It is more than four meters tall and is filled with an overflowing life force.
　The two-handed axe in his hand was a kind of magic item that attracts objects around him. It's a very simple, but troublesome ability, because if you try to avoid it at the last minute, you might get hit by more than you expected.
　All in all, it can be said that it is like a humanoid tank.
　In addition, considering the size of the labyrinth's passageways, there was almost no other choice but to face the Minotaur head-on, further increasing the level of danger.
　Fortunately, there were only a few of them, so it would be possible to avoid them and move on if I were prepared.
　I pushed forward, killing the Doom Minotaur head-on, even though it would take a lot of effort to defeat it.
　The Minotaur was supposed to be a monster I had never seen before.
　But I knew it. Even if I don't remember it, my body remembers it.
　A fearsome thunderous swing of the axe. The deadly kick that loomed before me. The vicious headbutt that was delivered over and over again. The rush that comes at you with your huge body working at its maximum capacity.
　The way to slice through body hair as hard as metal fiber. The way the thick skin prevents the blade from slicing. How to penetrate dense muscles that cannot be pierced. A structural weakness that can inflict a fatal wound.
　I hunt every Doom Minotaur I encounter as if searching through lost memories.
　However, the Doom Minotaurs were weaker than I remembered.
　The Minotaurs I knew were not like this.
　So I went deeper and deeper in search of stronger Minotaurs.
　On the way, I talked with the family of five and decided to attack them instead of going through them before heading to the surface.
　In between defeats, I opened treasure chests in various places to collect hidden treasures and scraped together the few pieces of memory I could remember.
　When I reached the hundredth body, I had reached the deepest part of the mountain.
　It was a spacious and mysterious dome-shaped space.
　On the top of the dome, there was a complicated mural that looked like a map of the Underground Palace of the Underworld, and in the center of the mural, which indicated that this was the deepest part, there was a large mineral ore that shone like the sun.
　The walls are covered with gears and devices of various sizes, and bismuth crystal-like objects that shine in rainbow colors and show complex and bizarre geometric patterns.
　The floor was also covered with bismuth crystals, and where the floor would have originally been flat, there were countless protrusions and terraced steps.
　It was as if some developed civilization had been swallowed up by mineral-based organisms.
　In such a space, a bull-headed demon Minotaur stood up from a throne made of something like bismuth crystal and looked at us as I entered.
　It was more muscular than any Minotaur I had ever seen, and it was huge.
　He was more than six meters tall, and the golden horns on his head were thick and twisted sharply, and his muscles were clearly visible.
　The color of the skin covering the muscles is as black as darkness, and there are glowing red lines running all over the body, as if burning like lava.
　The hair on his body is white, and there is not a speck of dirt on it.
　The green eyes that look at me are infinitely clear, with a light that only seeks pure combat.
　In his long, thick hands, he held a double-bladed, long-handled black axe as tall as he was, with a black mist rising from the blade.
　And a belt and a waist minnow that seemed to be made of bismuth crystal and had as much presence as the axe, which was probably a powerful magic item.
　It was an imposing figure, like the king of the barbarians, and the sense of weight that stretched across his body just by confronting him stimulated an emotion, along with an unintentional choking sensation.
　The Minotaurs are stirring in the【Underworld Palace】.
　According to my grandfather Norm, the minotaur that sits in the deepest part of the palace, waiting for intruders, is called the "Doom Death Minotaur King".
　Faced with this Minotaur, an enemy that is distinctly different from the countless prey I've hunted in the past, I have only one thought.
　I want to eat it. It's a pure feeling, like the feeling you get when you see the best food.
　This feeling, which was the driving force behind her overcoming the harsh training and which was also the basis of her own life, would not change even if I lost my memory.
　The Minotaur roared in response as I rushed out with my vermillion spear in hand.
　I felt that I had heard a roar similar to that roar somewhere else.
　I wondered where I had heard that roar that shook my soul and pierced my entire body.
　But no sooner had I remembered when and where I had heard it than the spear and axe collided head-on.
　The tremendous impact devastated his surroundings, and I realized that he could not afford to think about anything else.
　For now, all I could do was concentrate on what was in front of me.
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PLACE TRANSLATIONS ABOVE THE BAR. THESE ARE THE RAWS, LEAVE THEM HERE. CLICK EXPAND TO VIEW THEM.
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“十六日目”　／　“四■八■六■目”
　今日もゴーレムクラートで順調に進んで行く。
　コレまでと同じく道中で襲い掛かって来るモンスターもいるが、地上に近付くにつれて弱くなっているのか、簡単に仕留める事が出来ていた。
　【血抜き槍】を【投擲】すれば大抵が一撃で沈んでいく。マジックライフルでもヘッドショットを決めれば即死させる事も出来る。
　それは手軽でいいのだが、弱くなると味も落ちていくのはちょっと不満だった。
　同じ種族でも、より深い場所で仕留めた個体の方が明らかに美味しいのだ。
　それなりに量は獲れているのでいいのだが、今後は浅い場所と深い場所で仕留めた個体を混ぜていった方が不満は軽減するかもしれない。
　ただ浅い場所でも例外はあり、同じ深度で見れば明らかに逸脱した強さのモンスターが居る場所もあるらしい。
　天然の岩壁だけだった道中から一変し、モルタルやコンクリートのような建材で舗装された一画があった。
　一定間隔で発光する石灯が天上に埋め込まれ、赤黒いレンガのような建材を積み重ねて描かれた禍々しい絵を照らしている。
　古代遺跡のように入り込んだ者を迷わす構造になっているらしく、祖父ノームの案内が無ければ抜け出るのも一苦労しそうな迷宮だ。
　ここは【断冥の地下宮殿】と呼ばれる区画らしい。
　ここには罠の類は無い代わりに、他よりも強力なモンスター達が徘徊していた。
　祖父ノームによれば“”というらしい、頭部が牛で腰ミノ姿の強靱なヒトの肉体を持ち、巨大な両刃の両手斧を持つモンスターだ。
　複雑に絡む黒紫色の剛毛は【血抜き槍】程度では深く刺さらず、その下にある黒く分厚い皮膚と高密度の筋肉鎧は敵の攻撃を受けても気にせず動けるほど頑丈だ。
　身の丈は四メートルを軽く超え、溢れんばかりの生命力に満ちている
　そして手に持つ禍々しい両手斧はマジックアイテムの一種なのか、周囲の物体を引き寄せる効果があった。ギリギリで回避しようとすると思った以上に引き寄せられて直撃するかもしれず、地味だが厄介な能力である。
　総合的に見て、まるで人型戦車のような存在だと言える。
　加えて、迷宮の通路の広さを考えるとミノタウロスと真正面から対峙するしかほぼ選択肢が無く、危険度は更に上昇していた。
　幸いな事に数は少ないので、準備すれば回避して先に進む事は可能だろう。
　そんな討伐に手間のかかるドゥーム・ミノタウロスを、しかし真正面から殺しながら突き進む。
　ミノタウロスは初めて見るモンスターの筈だ。
　だけど俺は知っていた。記憶に無くても、身体が覚えている。
　恐るべき雷鳴の如き斧の一振りを。眼前に迫る致命的な蹴りを。何度も繰り出される凶悪な頭突きを。巨躯を最大限に稼働させて迫る突進を。
　金属繊維のように硬い体毛の斬り方を。刃を防ぐ分厚い皮膚のそぎ方を。突き刺さらない高密度の筋肉の貫き方を。構造的に致命傷を負わせられる弱点を。
　失われた記憶を探るように、遭遇するドゥーム・ミノタウロスを全て狩っていく。
　しかし記憶にあるよりもドゥーム・ミノタウロス達は弱かった。
　知っているミノタウロスはこんなものではない。
　だからもっと強いミノタウロスを求めるように奥へ奥へと進んでいった。
　途中からは五人家族とも話し、通り抜けるのでは無く攻略してから地上に向かう事にした。
　討伐の合間合間に各地に眠る宝箱を開けて眠る秘宝を収集し、僅かに思い出す記憶の欠片を掻き集めていく。
　そして丁度百体目となる時、俺達は最深部にまで到達していた。
　そこはドーム型の広々とした、不可思議な空間だった。
　天上には複雑に入り組んだ【断冥の地下宮殿】の地図らしき壁画が描かれ、最深部であるココを示す中央には煌々と太陽のように輝く大きな鉱石鉱物が埋め込まれている。
　壁面は大小様々な歯車や何かしらの装置が埋め込まれ、その上を虹色に輝き複雑怪奇な幾何学模様を見せるビスマス結晶のようなモノが覆っている。
　床もビスマス結晶のようなモノで所々覆われ、元々は平坦な床だっただろう場所に無数の突起や棚田のような段差が出来ていた。
　どこか発展した文明が、鉱物系生物に飲み込まれてしまったような光景だった。
　そんな空間の中で、一体のがビスマス結晶のような何かで出来た玉座から立ち上がり、入って来た俺達を見る。
　これまで見たどのミノタウロスよりも筋肉質で、かつ巨体だった。
　身の丈は六メートルを軽く超え、頭部の金に輝く牛角は太く鋭く捻じれて伸び、全体的に筋肉の一つ一つが視認できるほどハッキリと凹凸がある。
　はち切れんばかりの筋肉を覆う皮膚の色は闇のように黒く、溶岩のように赤く燃えるように輝く線が全身を走っている。
　体毛の色は皮膚とは逆に白く、汚れ一つ見当たらない。
　こちらを見る緑の眼はどこまでも澄んだ色で、ただ純粋に戦闘を求める光が宿っている。
　太く長い手には身の丈程もある一本の両刃で長柄の黒斧が握られ、斧刃からは黒い靄のようなモノが立ち上っていた。
　そして強力なマジックアイテムだろう斧と同じくらいの存在感のある、ビスマス結晶で作られたようなベルトと腰ミノ。
　蛮族の王が如く堂々とした姿であり、対峙しただけで身体に伸し掛かる重圧感は、思わずゴクリと喉がなるほどの息苦しさと共に一つの感情を刺激する。
　ミノタウロス達が蠢く【断冥の地下宮殿】。
　祖父ノーム曰く、その最深部に座して侵入者を待つこのミノタウロスは“”という。
　これまで無数に狩って来た獲物と一線を画す、敵であるミノタウロスを前にして思う事は一つだった。
　喰ってみたい。最高級の食材を前にして思うような純粋な感情だ。
　過酷な訓練を乗り越えてきた原動力であり、自身の根本にもなっているその思いは、記憶を失っていたとしても変わらないらしい。
　朱槍を手に駆け出し、それに反応してミノタウロスが咆哮する。
　その咆哮に似た轟きをどこかで聞いている気がした。
　魂を震わせるような、全身を貫くようなそれを何処で聞いたのだろうか。
　しかしそれがいつどこで聞いたのかと思い出す間もなく、朱槍と斧が真正面から衝突する。
　凄まじい衝撃が周囲を蹂躙し、余計な考えを抱く余裕は無い事を理解した。
　今は目の前の事に集中するだけである。
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Category:Novel
Category:Articles that needs cleaning
Category:Re:Monster ~ The Dark Continent ~ Vol. 2