Vs. Beef
"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRK!!"
"Shut up, you piece of shit."
The minotaur had only been rolling its eyes when I kicked it earlier. Now, after a single gut punch, it started whining like a baby. At the same time, my head cleared a little and I began regretting what I'd just said.
[My dear! No matter how angry you are, you must watch your language!]
'Shit. No one heard that, right?'
The dueling arena's systems were down thanks to someone spilling tteokbokki. Thanks to that, my voice hadn't been amplified, so the spectators couldn't make out what I was saying. Their faces all said the same thing: 'How the hell is he still alive?' They clearly hadn't understood a word.
However, the expressions on Hye-ji and Jung Ayeon, who were standing right by the arena, were different. Their faces showed a mix of two emotions: worry for me, and a hint of suspicion.
'They heard, didn't they? Those two?'
[Not everything, but they probably caught some of it. Elsia, at least, seems to have missed it.]
'Let's hope she didn't hear. Anyway, time to deal with the beef in front of me!'
At that moment, the bald professor shouted at me.
"Hey! Student! Do you have any idea how much money went into bringing that thing here? Don't injure it!"
"Professor! Please calm down! It's an academy student!"
"You idiot! You just don't know how valuable it is!"
The bald professor was pointing at me and throwing a fit just because I'd landed one gut punch.
[He's completely lost it. It's his own lab's fault, yet he's blaming the one who hit the monster.]
'Whatever. There's plenty of meat on it. I'm getting the full beef course today.'
[Oh! The Busan full course was fake, but the beef full course is real!]
Of course, that wasn't my concern. My life was on the line here.
Meanwhile, the minotaur had stopped its whining. It took its stance and charged at me again, horns lowered. This time it hadn't regressed—the number above its head hadn't changed.
[Will you block it?]
'I'm going with Horn Grab Kick... I mean, Horn Grab Ni Kick.'
But there was one fact I'd momentarily forgotten. This beast had enough intelligence to regress. Right before it could ram into me, the minotaur suddenly decelerated and hurled its axe into the air. The sudden slowdown meant I didn't have enough reach to grab its horns. Half a step. Just half a step short.
As my hands sliced through empty air, the minotaur clenched its now-empty fists and slammed them into the ground.
'Ah, fuck. This bastard just used Alistar's WQ.'
[At least it doesn't have Flash, does it?]
The ground shook and my balance wavered. A devastating punch from the minotaur came crashing down toward my head. I hastily reinforced my right hand and struck its forearm. I avoided a direct hit, but because I couldn't properly brace myself and my body reinforcement was incomplete, the bleeding from my fingers got worse than before.
To make matters worse, I was now sprawled defenselessly on the ground. This wasn't good.
At that moment, the axe the minotaur had thrown earlier fell back into its hand like a magnet. It immediately began swinging the axe at me.
—THUD!!!
I rolled to the right just in time to see the minotaur's axe slam into the spot where I'd been lying. It had struck so hard that the blade was buried deep. The minotaur tried to yank it free.
An opening. The moment I saw the axe stuck in the ground, I sprang up and stomped on the handle with my foot. The minotaur tilted its head in confusion.
"GRRRK?!"
"You already used all your skills, you beef bitch!"
I stomped on the minotaur's hand gripping the axe handle with my other foot and launched myself upward. I reinforced only up to my right elbow. Just as I was about to bring it down on the minotaur's head, the number above it increased and a mirror shard appeared.
The future showed the minotaur raising its head and impaling my body with its horns.
'Ah, those fucking horns are such a pain.'
[If you're not lovers, you should break them.]
'They're a charm point in romance fantasies, so why the hell are they a kill point for me?!'
Back to the present. I forcibly canceled the body reinforcement that had reached my elbow. The unnatural cutoff in the circulation from my heart to my elbow and back sent pain shooting through my body. Blood burst from my elbow. At least my arm hadn't been severed. I could still fight.
I recalled the direction the minotaur's horns had been aimed in the future I'd seen before regressing. I positioned both hands in advance. The charging horns came straight at me, and I grabbed them tightly with both hands.
Once again, the red number above the minotaur's head increased. It looked flustered, as if this shouldn't be happening. I didn't have time to savor the moment. I loaded up my right leg, reinforced up to the knee, and drove a knee kick deep into its face while yanking on the horns.
—CRACK!!!!!!!
"GRRRRRRRRRK!!!"
"No! My research sample!"
"Watch your mouth!!"
But I wasn't about to waste this hard-earned opening. I reinforced both arms and my back this time. The price was another severe hemorrhage from my right arm.
[Can you still use your right arm?]
'It's fine for now.'
Ignoring the fountain of blood, I continued. With my knee still buried in the minotaur's face, I yanked both arms back with all my strength. To shake me off, the minotaur dropped its axe and started pounding my sides with its fists.
—THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
"GRRRRRRRRRRRK!!!"
"AAAAAARGH!!!! You black angus bastard!! Who the hell takes anabolic steroids and lives this long?!"
[Hang in there! You're almost there!]
Every punch made my body ring. Bones creaked, muscles screamed. My breathing grew ragged and my vision started to blur. But I didn't let go. I couldn't stop here.
And finally, my efforts bore fruit.
—CRRRRRRRRRACK!!!!!!!!
"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRK!!!!!!"
I'd ripped out both of the minotaur's horns that had been such a nuisance.
"Getting ingredients for ox-head soup is a real pain in the ass."
[From now on, just buy it instead of making it yourself.]
"AAAAAARGH!!! What did you do to my test subject, you bastard!!"
I kicked the minotaur's face with my left foot and pushed away. Since I didn't need the horns, I casually tossed the pair into the electric field. They might have been proud partners and lifelong companions to the minotaur, but to me they were just trash.
The minotaur was tearfully stroking the empty spots where its horns had been, as if this were all a dream. As if this moment were a lie. But the horns didn't grow back. Then it saw me throw them away like garbage and flew into a rage, charging at me on pure instinct.
"GRRRK! GRRRRRK! GRRRRRRRRRK!"
"Why the hell are you going into rage mode now?!"
[My dear! When it's in rage mode, its meat will be more tender!]
'Really?'
The minotaur's movements were far faster than before. The silver lining was that its attacks had become much simpler. The moment it passed me, I picked up the double-bladed axe that had fallen to the ground. As it charged back at me, I spun once and brought the axe down with full force.
However—
—WHOOSH!
The minotaur didn't dodge. It didn't even regress. Instead, it took the blow head-on with its body. And that was the correct choice. Its body, hardened by rage, rendered the axe's damage nonexistent.
Of course, I hadn't predicted this. Because the minotaur hadn't regressed.
'......'
[......]
'......You said its meat would get tender.'
[......I'm sorry. This isn't like Monster Hunter.]
'Fuck.'
I took a clean hit to the head. The force was so great that I flew even farther than when I'd sent the minotaur flying. I crashed into the ground.
[My dear! Snap out of it!]
'Cough. That CC landed perfectly. Everything's spinning like crazy.'
[At least your head is hard enough that you only got stunned.]
"Yes!!! Go, my Azi! Finish him off!!"
"GRRRRRRRRRK!!"
"You motherfucker!! You called a calf the King of Cows even in this situation!!!"
It was the professor who'd been hoping for my death from the start. Responding to him, the minotaur yanked the axe embedded in its body out with a tough-looking motion. Actually, there was nothing tough about it. The axe hadn't been buried that deep to begin with.
Axe in hand, it slowly approached me, aimed at my neck, and raised the weapon high into the air.
'Please stop! You US Prime bastard!!'
[You have to move!]
But contrary to my desperate wish, the axe came down mercilessly. In a resigned state of mind, I shook my head as hard as I could so that the blade would hit my head instead of my neck.
"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRK!!!!"
—SWISH!!!!!
The minotaur swung the axe with all its might. The moment the blade collided with my head—
—CRACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The double-bladed axe shattered into pieces. It wasn't completely painless—I felt a slight sting in my head.
'Sniff. It really stings.'
[......How the hell do you take that and only end up saying it stings?]
The spectators, of course, found this completely unbelievable.
"....Jung Ayeon. Shinwoo just broke a steel axe with his head, right?"
"....Indeed."
"......"
"......"
".....What about that Kanf bitch?"
"She passed out a while ago."
Both Hye-ji and Jung Ayeon had red numbers rising above their heads. Many others did too, silently.
The most shocked of all was the minotaur itself.
"GRRK?.....GRRK?"
It just tilted its head, completely baffled by the situation.
Not missing this opening, I picked up a broken axe fragment and carved a large X-shaped wound into my right palm. Then I charged at the still-dazed minotaur like a bullet.
"GRRRRRRRRRRK!!"
It finally snapped out of it and swung both hands to stop me. But my fist reached its solar plexus faster than its hands could move, driving deep into its gut with my fully reinforced left arm.
—THUD!!!!!!
The powerful strike pierced through thick muscle. This time the minotaur couldn't even scream—it just wheezed. At that moment, the number above its head increased and another mirror shard appeared. It looked like a final desperate struggle, but I didn't bother looking. I was confident I could win without seeing it.
Instead, I stepped forward and thrust out my fully reinforced right arm.
"Make the meat tender!!"
"Stop!!!!!!!!!!"
[Make it thick and juicy!!]
"GRR...GRIIK."
My outstretched right palm. Before it could touch the minotaur's body, Cheonma's teaching flashed through my mind.
— Gather the leaking energy into a single point.
Something was leaking from the wounds across my entire arm. It was a single translucent haze. Its form was incomplete, but it felt like it would open a path forward.
At that moment, another fountain of blood erupted from my right arm. Some of my fingers were bent in directions they shouldn't be. My arm trembled as if proving its limit. I could even hear something snapping, but—
I could still move.
[Finish it!!!]
'Die!'
Finally, my palm touched the minotaur. At that instant, I felt something condense and explode. At the same time, a sharp pain shot through my palm. The wound I'd carved into it burst open wide.
The price was steep, but the effect was certain. The minotaur's body that had been in contact with my palm exploded. Its upper body was literally blown to pieces. Chunks of meat that had once made up the minotaur's body flew through the air before falling to the ground one by one. The only part that retained any semblance of its original shape was the minotaur's head, attached to a nonexistent torso.
"Ah......my research..."
The bald professor collapsed to the ground in despair. Ignoring him, I kicked the remaining lower half into the electric field. The protein mass touched the violently sparking field and something sizzled. The electric cage that had trapped me disappeared.
What remained was the minotaur's lower half, nicely browned and giving off a savory aroma. The smell made hunger wash over me. Without thinking, I spoke.
"Chuck flap... it melts in your mouth."
[You should have buttered it before grilling the lower half.]
'It's a shame there's no sirloin since the upper body is gone.'
It was a victorious moment that made me really crave beef.