CHAPTER 38: CHAPTER NO.38 ARTEMIS VS BERSERK MINOTAUR (1)

"Would you believe... natural talent?"

Her eyes narrowed further. The arrow in her bow flared dangerously bright again.

Shit.

Like, what the hell does she want from me? A confession? A name? I don’t even know who the hell she is, and I sure as hell don’t know why I’m still awake when the rest of New York is taking an involuntary nap on the asphalt.

My tongue felt heavy, my heartbeat rattling against my ribs. Her gaze wasn’t just looking at me—it was dissecting me, peeling me apart layer by layer as if searching for something buried under my skin.

"All men are the same."

Her words sliced through me sharper than the bow she was holding. The way she said it—final, absolute—like she’d already written me off.

My jaw tightened. Lady, I don’t even know your name, and you’ve already shoved me into the same dumpster fire as every other guy?

"Hey, lady! Listen here, you can’t just lump me in with every guy on the planet." My voice cracked halfway, but I forced it steady. "I don’t even know who the hell you are, and already you’ve decided I’m guilty of... what, existing?"

Her eyes glinted like sharpened moonlight. "You breathe. That is enough."

I clenched my fists so tight my knuckles whitened. The weight of her presence pressed harder, every bone in my body aching like it wanted to snap. I wanted to shout, to curse, but my throat burned too dry. My chest heaved with shallow breaths, Sovereign Haki sparking against the pressure like a candle flame in a hurricane.

"You talk like you’ve got the whole world figured out," I said hoarsely. "But you don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve been through."

Her lips curled in faint disdain, like my words were gnats buzzing in her ear. "There is no need to know. The corruption of man is absolute. Every beast, every horror, every bloodstain on this earth is born from you."

For a heartbeat, my mind blanked. And then it hit me. Her bow. Her silver eyes. Her venom toward men. A goddess—one who despised men enough to level a city just to erase them. I’d read myths like that back in my old world. Names flickered through my head, none sticking, but one suspicion coiled in my gut.

"...You’re not a demon, are you?" I taunted.

Her head tilted slightly, silver hair sliding across her pale cheek. No answer. Just silence.

The Minotaur let out a guttural groan, chains of invisible force straining as it twitched. Her hand twitched on the bowstring, but her eyes never left me. Not once.

"You should not exist," she murmured. "Not with that flame inside you."

I swallowed hard, words tangling in my throat. "Well... too bad. I exist. And I’m not going to apologise for it."

Her eyes narrowed, the arrow flaring blinding white. My body screamed at me to move, to dive, to do something—but I couldn’t. My muscles were lead, my lungs fire.

But—

"THAT’S IT!"

The words tore out of me before I even realised I’d spoken. My chest burned, my veins thrummed like molten fire, and something inside me snapped loose. Conqueror’s Will surged—not the clean, steady hum I’d felt before, but raw, jagged, like a live wire sparking against water.

A shockwave ripped out from me, invisible but undeniable. The pressure she’d smothered me with cracked for an instant, like glass under too much strain. My knees straightened against the weight, my spine locking rigid, my teeth bared in defiance.

Her eyes widened. Just barely. But I saw it—the first fracture in her perfect, untouchable expression.

The unconscious bodies around us didn’t stir, but the Minotaur did. Its massive horns shuddered, its chest heaved in a violent gasp, and it bellowed so loud my eardrums buzzed. Chains of silver light frayed and snapped, one after another, as if my outburst had given it permission to rage.

The goddess’s gaze snapped away from me for the first time. Just a flicker, but enough. Her bow still glowed, arrow nocked, but her attention shifted toward the beast breaking free.

The Minotaur’s roar shook the pavement, dust spraying from shattered concrete. Its eyes burned red, foam bubbling from its maw as its body ballooned with berserk fury. Whatever leash she’d wrapped around it was unravelling.

And in that heartbeat—just one—I could finally breathe.

PAW! PAW!

The Minotaur’s hooves slammed into the cracked asphalt, each strike detonating like a piledriver. Dust and sparks erupted from the ground, the shockwaves rattling through my bones. The street groaned under its weight, fissures spiderwebbing out with every stomp.

Its breath steamed, thick clouds rolling from its nostrils, hot enough to make the air shimmer. The chains of light holding it shrieked as they tore apart—splinters of radiance scattering like broken glass before dissolving into nothing.

The beast was free.

Its eyes, blood-red and boiling with madness, locked on the silver-clad figure floating above. The goddess.

And for the first time since she appeared, she wasn’t entirely composed. Her bow still glowed in her hands, but her eyes narrowed, her lips pressed thinner. Like she hadn’t expected the Minotaur to break loose under her restraint.

I staggered back, dragging the limp bodies of the girls with me, my muscles screaming with effort. My mind whirled between two equally horrifying facts:

• A goddess who wanted me dead.

• A berserk Minotaur that looked like it wanted to chew through steel for breakfast.

And both of them existed in the same ten meters of space as me.

Fantastic.

The Minotaur bellowed again, louder than before. Its roar tore through the silence like thunder ripping the sky in half. Drool sprayed from its tusked mouth, sizzling against the hot concrete. Then it charged—straight at her.

The goddess didn’t flinch. Her fingers pulled the bowstring back, the arrow of light sharpening into a spear of pure annihilation. The glow painted her face in harsh brilliance, all cold fury and divine judgment.

The moment the Minotaur lunged, she loosed.

The arrow screamed through the air like a falling star.

It didn’t just cut through space—it burned it away, though it was morning, I saw the moon for a second there as night splitting open in a white-hot line.

The Minotaur twisted mid-charge, muscles bulging, and slammed its horn upward. The arrow of light met bone.

The impact detonated.

A shockwave ripped outward, flattening cars, shattering windows in every building lining the street. The ground buckled beneath my knees, a crater ripping open where they clashed. Light and blood sprayed together, the air tasting like ozone and iron.

And both of them roared.

The goddess’s eyes flared, her expression tightening with disdain as she drew another arrow from nothing. The Minotaur’s muscles bulged, veins snapping dark across its hide as it forced its massive frame forward, absorbing punishment that should’ve vaporised it.

I could only watch, my chest heaving, sweat dripping into my eyes, as divine judgment and berserk rage collided just meters away.

And all I could think was—

If either of them turned their attention back to me, I was dead.

I stumbled back, dragging the two girls behind me as the Minotaur slammed its hooves against the pavement again, sparks flying where claw met asphalt. My heart hammered so hard I could feel it in my throat. The air between the goddess and the beast shimmered with tension, every strike of light and shadow making the world feel like it was bending in impossible ways.

Her arrows weren’t just weapons—they were judgment made tangible. Each one that struck the Minotaur hammered through its thick, scarred hide, but the beast didn’t go down. Not entirely. It staggered, twisted, and yet still came forward, fury raw, eyes blazing red like molten metal. She loosed another arrow, and another, each one slicing through the Minotaur’s defence with divine precision—but somehow, it kept moving, muscles trembling and bleeding but refusing to collapse.

I could see the strain on her. For a goddess, she moved with flawless grace, yet her posture had a subtle tension now, the kind that spoke of someone being tested. Her pale eyes flicked toward me for just a heartbeat, and I felt her irritation burn like ice across my skin.

"You..." she muttered, voice low, sharp, almost like a hiss of silk over steel. Her fingers flexed around the invisible bowstring. "...how...?"

I didn’t answer. Didn’t dare. I couldn’t. Sovereign Haki was still flaring faintly in my chest, keeping me upright, keeping me alive, but it was nothing against this. Nothing against her.

The Minotaur roared again, blood dripping from the jagged wound where her last arrow struck, and lunged forward, tusks aiming for the goddess’s heart. She tilted back slightly, arrows of light weaving around the beast as if reality itself obeyed her will. Each impact splintered the ground, each swing of its massive limbs sent concrete cracking into dust.

I gritted my teeth, clutching the limp bodies of the girls tighter. My mind raced, searching for anything I could do—anything that might give me a fraction of an edge. But I had no system access to summon help, no spells, no weapons... only my wits and my stubborn, infuriating defiance.

And yet, as I watched, something flickered in her expression again. That same fraction of hesitation from before, when my Conqueror’s Will had flared. The goddess’s jaw tightened, and for just a fraction of a second, the Minotaur’s charge slowed, its momentum breaking against the invisible wall of her aura.

Then the next arrow came, searing through its shoulder, ripping through sinew and flesh. The beast screamed, stumbling back, but the thick hide absorbed most of the blow. It was still alive. Still fighting. Still threatening.

I swallowed hard, muscles locked, eyes darting between them. My heartbeat sounded deafening in my ears. Every instinct screamed get out of the way, but the street was a maze of debris, bodies, and sparks. One wrong step and I’d be shredded by divine force or slammed into the concrete by that berserk monstrosity.

She loosed another arrow. This time, it struck true, embedding deep into the Minotaur’s chest. It staggered violently, roaring in agony, yet it didn’t fall. Its hooves dug into the ground, claws scraping cracks into the asphalt. Its eyes, wild and red, were fixed not on her, but somewhere beyond, as if it could smell the life that had awakened it.

My stomach dropped. Something about this... this wasn’t normal. That Minotaur wasn’t just a mindless beast. Even under her assault, even drugged and restrained, it had will. It had intent. And right now, that intent was raw, animal rage.

I gritted my teeth. "Stay down..." I muttered under my breath, though it was nothing more than a whisper to the chaos around us. I could do nothing but watch, powerless, as divine wrath and primal fury tore the street apart around me.

Her movements had become faster, more precise, almost surgical now. Each arrow ripped through muscle, yet she didn’t seem to overextend. Every shot drained her aura slightly, I could feel it—the cold, suffocating weight didn’t leave entirely, but it wavered. She was straining.

The Minotaur’s hooves slammed again, sending me sliding back over broken glass and asphalt, the girls’ unconscious forms barely clutched under my arms. My body shook from the effort, from the raw tension in the air, from sheer terror and awe.

And then... something shifted. The Minotaur let out a strangled scream, one that rattled my chest, and lurched forward, clawing at the ground to pull itself toward her. Its breathing was ragged, frothing, yet there was a spark of defiance—an unwillingness to be erased, even under this goddess’s judgment.

Her eyes flared, bright as a star, and the bow hummed with energy that made my skin crawl. The next arrow she nocked glowed brighter than the last. Her lips pressed thin, her gaze flicked to me once more, and I realized—I wasn’t the target now. Not yet. But if the Minotaur survived much longer, if her patience broke... that arrow might as well be pointed at me anyway.

I swallowed, heart hammering, and gritted my teeth. "Just... hold together a little longer," I muttered under my breath, voice hoarse. "Don’t... don’t die before I even figure out what the hell is going on."

***

Stone me, I can take it!

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