I Was the Supporter of a Popular Dungeon Streamer, but the Power Harassment Was Too Much, so I Quit. I’m Useless Anyway, so It Shouldn’t Be a Problem, Right? Huh? The Views Are Dropping Like Crazy? - 17

Chapter 17: Life or Death Struggle

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I pulled out a healing crystal, a holy potion, and a water bottle from my backpack.

I forced the holy potion into Kisaragi’s small mouth, then poured water from the water bottle to make her swallow the potion down. This would stop the encroachment of magic corruption.

Next, to prevent her external wounds from worsening, I activated the healing crystal and placed it in Kisaragi’s hand. I used 【Presence Concealment】 to make her presence faint and deployed 【Luminous Path Shield】 in front of her. The entire process took about four seconds.

I stepped away from Kisaragi and faced the Minotaur. Escaping with Kisaragi was impossible. I had to buy time until Abisu arrived…! With my current strength, I could handle the Minotaur’s attacks. If it was just stalling for time, I should be able to manage somehow!

“…!?”

The Minotaur thrust its fist forward—not at me, but at Kisaragi, who was protected by 【Luminous Path Shield】.

Did it instinctively realize it couldn’t land a hit on me? Was it trying to use Kisaragi to lure me into its attack? This thing… It really was cunning…!

“Like hell I’m letting you!!”

【Luminous Path Shield】 was nothing more than a temporary measure. At best, it could block a single hit from this Minotaur. If it followed up with its left fist after that right punch, the barrier wouldn’t be able to stop it. I threw myself between Kisaragi and the Minotaur, extending my prosthetic right arm. This was a desperate gamble. My prosthetic might get destroyed in a single hit. But I had no other choice.

Fist met fist. A thunderous impact. The air seemed to burst apart.

“Guh! Nnhh…!”

A numbing shock ran through my entire body, but my prosthetic showed no signs of breaking. It had successfully stopped the Minotaur’s punch. Good! I could turn this into a battle of strength! If my power was superior to it, I could push through and win…!

“Get blown away…!!!”

“GUGYA!?”

I slammed my fist into the Minotaur’s, knocking it back. It staggered two steps in retreat.

“【Dragon Chains】!!”

I activated my chain magic with my left hand. The chain shot forward, sinking its fangs into the Minotaur’s right shoulder.

(Shrink!)

And then, I retracted the chain, launching myself through the air to close the distance. Using that momentum, I drove a right straight punch into its face. The Minotaur spewed red blood from its nose and collapsed onto its back. I clung to it with the chain and prepared to land another punch to its face—

“BYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”

“Gh…!!?”

A deafening roar exploded in my ears. The sheer force of the sound made me instinctively stop my attack and cover both ears. Taking advantage of the opening, the Minotaur got back up and knocked me away with a forceful chest bump.

I crashed back-first into 【Luminous Path Shield】, which was still standing in front of Kisaragi. I had no time to feel the pain. Kicking off the ground, I closed the distance with the Minotaur again. From there, it was a battle of sheer instinct.

No tricks, no strategies. Just a pure brawl. Dodging, blocking, countering, attacking. Over and over, relentlessly.

“UOOOOOOOOOOOORAAAAA!!!”

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!”

What the hell is this thing!? Its movements aren’t like any other monster’s. It’s almost like… A boxer.

It threw well-balanced strikes using its entire body. Its evasive ability was incredibly high. It even executed combinations of jabs and straight punches like a boxer would.  This thing was no ordinary aberrant.

I knew it. You’re really strong after all, but still…!

“I’m not the old me anymore..!”

I’ve become strong now and right here… I will…

“Take you down!!”

I drove my right fist into the Minotaur’s cheek. We were both covered in blood, but in terms of damage, the Minotaur had taken the worst of it.

“【Moonlight Thunderstrike】!!”

A crescent-shaped bolt of lightning shot from my left hand and struck the Minotaur in the face. I wasn’t expecting much damage, but the flash would blind it at least. I lunged into the opening created by the flash and drove my right fist into the center of its chest. A Minotaur’s heart was in the same place as a human’s. Even if it was an aberrant, its vital points shouldn’t be any different—

“What the…?”

A hard sensation. Something as tough as diamond met my hand. I grabbed the solid object and wrenched it out.

“-!? “

It wasn’t a heart, it was a sword. A purple sword, still covered in the Minotaur’s flesh. This feeling… No way—

“An OOPArt…!?”

An OOPArt inside a monster!? Impossible. OOPArts had properties to exterminate monsters. There was no way a monster could still be alive with OOPArts nestled right inside of it.

“GAAAAHH!!”

“What!?”

Meaty tendrils burst from the Minotaur’s wound, lashing around the OOPArt in my hand and pulling it back inside its body. I could feel the Minotaur’s energy flow centering around the OOPArt. Considering that it had been in the place where a heart should be, and there was no actual heart, the OOPArt was likely serving as its heart.

This thing was just too abnormal in all senses!

“Hamura-san!!”

Kisaragi screamed. I had been shaken by the OOPArt’s presence inside the Minotaur, just enough for its backhand to slam straight into my stomach due to my carelessness.

“Urgh!!”

The impact sent me flying, crashing into a rock wall ten meters away. Not a fatal hit. I could still stand. A few bones had definitely cracked, but I could still fight.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…”

The Minotaur plunged its hand into its own chest and pulled out the OOPArt sword. It twisted into something sinister, the blade that had once been human-sized expanding into a massive greatsword fit for the Minotaur’s grip. Its blade turned pitch-black. A dark energy pulsed from the OOPArt, flowing into the monster. That confirmed it. The OOPArt was supplying it with energy.

That thing was its power source. If I destroyed the OOPArt, the Minotaur would stop, or maybe even die. But OOPArts were fundamentally indestructible. That meant my only option was to tear its body apart until it couldn’t fight anymore. Luckily, it didn’t have any regeneration abilities.

“A monster using an OOPArt? That’s just cheating…!”

I didn’t have the luxury to hold back either. I had to do this. I had to use my trump card, the five-character spell, 【Phantom Formation Mastery】.

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