RMGCFW — Chapter 114 - The Great Monster Presents Treasures

"So that's how it is."

Smoke drifted through the air as Banxia stopped his relentless slashing.

The instant he pulled back, the goat head of the three-headed monster erupted with a staggering surge of mana. Every wound across its body sealed shut, restored as though nothing had touched it.

"The goat head heals, the wolf head curses, the turtle head handles long-range water magic — and the body itself is inscribed with high-purity magic resistance runes." He stepped forward at an easy pace, pieces clicking into place. "A combination like this would give even the top mages in this world serious trouble."

The labyrinth was packed with monsters designed to counter magic. Expensive, rare Magic-Sealing Ore lined its walls. And now this creature, built from the ground up to be a mage-killer...

"Seems like this labyrinth was a trap," Banxia mused. "Something the Unified Empire built a thousand years ago, specifically to target a certain mage."

Though from the look of it, the labyrinth had never actually served its purpose. It had been abandoned for some reason before it could, left forgotten until the seal failed and dragged it back into the world.

At his words, a figure surfaced instantly in Frieren's mind. The name slipped out in a murmur.

"Serie..."

As the teacher of Flamme, who was Frieren's own teacher, Serie could perhaps be called the strongest mage in this world. The disciple Serie had produced alone had become the founding ancestor of human magic. And Serie's own power was unfathomable. No one knew just how strong Serie truly was.

What everyone did know was that Serie's reputation among humans was not great. To outsiders, Serie looked practically like a battle maniac, a thousand years ago, Serie had worked through nearly every notable human powerhouse there was. Even the warrior heralded as the strongest in history had been no match.

Serie never killed them. But to humanity at the time, it had been devastating all the same.

With a disaster-class existence like that walking around, it was no wonder the Unified Empire had gone behind Flamme's back to develop something like this, a place that was a death trap for ordinary mages.

"Awoo!"

The wolf head threw back its jaws in an earth-shattering howl. The curse energy surging through its body had reached the absolute limit.

And yet the human before it hadn't moved. Hadn't flinched. Hadn't even blinked.

The sleep curse might as well have been a breeze grazing past his ear.

How...

Even the strongest human party that had ambushed it a thousand years ago, attacking while it slept, had only barely held against its curse under a priest's protection. Every single one of them.

But this human...

The monster studied the figure in front of it, unease deepening the longer it looked.

What the hell is this thing?!

Not a single trace of Battle Aura anywhere on his body.

Which meant his resistance wasn't coming from combat techniques built on Battle Aura training. It was pure physical resistance. Raw.

Its hypnotic curse hit on two fronts, body and mind simultaneously. This human had activated neither mana for defense nor Battle Aura.

"..."

At this moment, the human before it was the ultimate garbage final boss. The monster had burned through its entire toolkit, and this freak hadn't shown so much as a sliver of a health bar.

"Slash."

A single word. Then the slashes came crashing down again, relentless as a falling sky.

The three-headed monster threw more and more mana into its recovery, leaning entirely on its astonishing regeneration to stay upright, committed now to grinding this out to the bitter end.

Logic held that the more powerful the technique, the more energy it burned. It refused to believe this human could outlast it.

After a while, the three-headed monster fell into despair.

This man apparently had no concept of running out of mana.

The slashes didn't slow. Didn't stop. Showed no sign of ever stopping.

Before long, the monster's mana had fallen below half. It was an ancient creature, alive since the mythological era, and the reserves it had built over that span were almost unimaginable. Yet even that vast pool was showing cracks.

"Human! Stop!" the turtle head bellowed.

"Hmm?" Banxia blinked.

This beast-shaped thing could actually talk. Same tier as the big boss back in the Lova Labyrinth, then.

Its lifespan must be enormous.

"Stop! There's no reason we have to tear each other apart like this!" The wolf head this time.

Banxia said nothing. He just kept slashing.

If it was begging, it was close to breaking.

"Human! We can make a deal!" The goat head's voice came out sharp and urgent, distinctly female.

"A deal?" Banxia lowered his hand.

"..." That small pause was all the three-headed monster needed. It sucked in a breath.

The goat head rushed into healing, slowly pulling the shredded flesh back together.

The turtle head picked up the thread:

"That's right. We have a collection of magical items humans made, we'll give you all of it. There's no reason we need to fight to the death here. Spare us, and everything is yours."

"Monsters are best at lying."

Before Banxia could respond, Frieren walked over, straining under the weight of the Magic-Sealing Ore tucked under her arm. She didn't elaborate. She didn't need to.

Banxia already knew better than to take the monster at its word. He settled back into his hand-blade stance.

"Frieren's right."

"Wait! Human!" The goat head's panic spiked.

Their mana couldn't take another round of this. "We aren't lying!"

Banxia said nothing.

Seeing his hand-blade about to come down, the goat head lurched, and heaved a ring up from its stomach.

"This is one of our treasures. A Mana Recovery Ring. Wear it and your mana regeneration doubles. You're a mage too, aren't you? For a human mage, this is a top-tier treasure. Spare me, and it's yours."

Banxia glanced at the elf.

"For a mage, that is indeed a very good treasure." Frieren didn't deny it.

"Good." Banxia nodded, and slashed.

"Human—!" The wolf head howled in pain. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"She paid a treasure to buy her own life. I never said anything about sparing the two of you."

"You—" The turtle head and wolf head both fixed him with furious glares.

But he was already settling back into the hand-blade stance, so they swallowed every word of it.

The monster churned from within. Two heads, two rings, spat out and offered up:

"A Magic Resistance Ring and a Defense Ring. Both from top-tier smiths. Is that enough?!"

"Three monsters, each carrying a ring that symbolizes human marriage." Banxia didn't answer. "Disgusting."

The wolf head finally caught on, he was goading them on purpose.

"Human! Don't push your luck! We have a trump card too! Back us into a corner and neither you nor that elf walks away clean!"

As the wolf head spoke, the turtle head had already begun gathering power, making it clear this was not a bluff.

➤ Next: Battle Against the Three Monsters