Act 4: Labyrinth of the Evil God

Act 4-1: Strategy of the Evil God

In the central mountain range that separated the main continent to east and west, there was a vast plain, called Minon, that was located on the west side. Right at the center of the Minon plain was a certain labyrinth, and deep inside that Labyrinth, two evil Gods were quarreling.

「WHAT?! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY, ZARXIS?!」

「Let go of me… Labrys… Dammit…」

Zarxis was caught from his head, and lifted just like that. And the one who did so was the evil God with a pair of giant horns growing from his temple, the Evil God Labrys.

Labrys’ current appearance was that of a normal human, except for the pair of horns growing from his temple.

He had a muscular body and a big head with a thick jaw. He looked like the human embodiment of violence.

But, that wasn’t Labrys’ real form.

His real form was worlds apart from his human appearance.

Labrys was a divine being who belonged to Elios, a man who was hailed as the Evil God by Elios’ Gods.

Zarxis who just returned from Rox Kingdom reported what happened back then to Labrys. At first, Labrys only listened with a bored expression, but he suddenly grabbed Zarxis’ head the moment he heard him talking about the relationship between the Hero of Light and Goddess Rena.

As one of the pillar Gods of Earth, Labrys’ brute strength was amongst the top.

Zarxis, who had just regained his physical body, was no match for Labrys.

And the way Labrys lifted him up caused him so much pain.

「Humph!!」

Seeing Zarxis wailing in pain, Labrys let him go as if he had lost interest in him. It was definitely not out of pity. After all, the Evil God Labrys wasn’t the kind of person to show mercy.

「GUHA!」

Zarxis moaned painfully as he fell on the ground. His pitiful figure was a far cry from when he was feared as the Death God.

Even Zarxis himself hated his current weak self.

「It’s just… As I said… Rena has a lover. and that person is the one called the Hero of Light…」

Labrys trembled in fury upon hearing that.

「DAMMIT! RENA IS MINE! I’M GOING TO KILL ANYONE WHO DARES TO TOUCH MY WOMAN!」

Labrys shouted angrily.

Hearing that, Zarxis thought of a question.

（Since when did Rena became his woman?）

Zarxis knew that Rena was amongst one of the three most beautiful Goddesses in Elios. And though not as much as Modes, Labrys’ real appearance was still ugly from a human perspective.

Thus, Rena would definitely reject Labrys.

Actually, Labrys wasn’t the first one to make such a claim, many other male Gods claimed that Rena was their woman. Moreover, every single one of them was competing secretly, claiming that they’re Rena’s lover.

That’s why there was a huge uproar in Elios when there was news about Rena having a lover.

And the name of her lover was Reiji.

A male human called the Hero of Light.

He was an enigmatic human who came out of nowhere, not even Zarxis knew where the Hero of Light came from. But, there was no doubt about his strength, he might be as strong as Oudith. Not to mention that he was handsome on top of that.

And it wasn’t just limited to Elios, he became the hot topic amongst the Goddesses in this world.

Since Labrys had always been hiding inside his labyrinth, he didn’t know about the Hero of Light and other outside news. That’s why he only got angry now after he found out about all of this after hearing it from Zarxis, who had just returned from outside.

「I ORDER YOU, ZARXIS! BRING THAT HERO OF LIGHT TO MY LABYRINTH!!」

Labrys ordered so with a haughty tone.

（Why do I have to follow his orders?）

Even Zarxis was annoyed by Labrys’ attitude. In the first place, Zarxis wasn’t Labrys’ subordinate. But, as someone who didn’t belong to Elios, and was hostile towards Modes, Labrys was someone he wanted to recruit as an ally.

Moreover, Zarxis had been using the labyrinth as his hiding place, thus he couldn’t refuse Labrys either.

Not even the Gods of Elios dare to wander inside Labrys’ labyrinth.

Even though it was inside a labyrinth, the room in which Labrys resided was a gorgeous, spacious throne room. If he had to be honest, Zarxis felt that such a gorgeous room was wasted on a brute man like Labrys.

But, the power of the labyrinth was boundless. It was built by dwarven craftsmen and increased Labrys’ power to a whole other level. The labyrinth, which was created by the combination of dwarven magical skills and special materials, was really strong.

Labrys was really powerful inside his labyrinth but he was also a coward who was afraid to go out.

「It’s easy for you to say that but, why do you think I can bring the Hero of Light to this place when I barely have any information about them?」

Since Labrys couldn’t go to the Hero of Light to kill him, the only solution was to order Zarxis to lure the Hero of Light into the Labyrinth. Zarxis felt that Labrys was way too timid for a divine being.

「That’s right! Can’t you do it, Zarxis?! Here, I’m invincible! I don’t know what kind of guy that Hero of Light is, but my ax will definitely cut him to pieces in this place!!」

Labrys took out his ax as he spoke. It was a huge enchanted ax called the Labrys’ double-headed ax. Coincidentally, that very ax was also his holy crest.

Labrys swung his ax to cut the empty air. When the ax hit the ground, the shock caused by it shook the entire labyrinth. Even though Zarxis wasn’t the target of the ax, the tremor caused by the weapon alone was enough to make him lose his balance.

Zarxis propped himself up and brushed the dirt on his cloth.

He could only regain his body after he sucked a large amount of life force from humans.

Previously, Zarxis’ body was destroyed by Modes who betrayed them. Though he managed to survive, albeit barely, his body was in shambles. Thus, he had no choice but to absorb a vast amount of life force to repair his body.

And though he managed to take such a life force out of humans, the efficiency was far too poor due to the difference between their rank of existence. Things would be easier for him if he could suck an angel’s life force, but seeing that he was hostile to both Modes and the Elios Gods, he wanted to keep a low-profile for a while.

That’s why he couldn’t afford to aim for a divine being.

Thus, Zarxis had no choice but to use the inefficient lower being’s life force.

His prey was mainly humans.

So far, Zarxis had sucked up the life force of humans in several kingdoms till they were ruined, and escaped from the watchful eye of the Elios Gods by sacrificing the other monsters.

During the incident in Rox Kingdom, he had planned to dump all the blame on the Striges. But, he ended up meeting Modes’ subordinate, the Dark Knight, right in there, which means that Modes had pretty much confirmed Zarxis’ survival at this point.

In addition, the Hero of Light’s women had seen him too.

In short, his survival had pretty much been reported to Elios too.

Thus, Zarxis wouldn’t be able to harvest life force as easily as before. And yet, he would die in his current condition unless he sucks the life force from others. He couldn’t afford to suck small amounts of life force.

He had no choice but to absorb a large amount of life force at once to complete his revival.

Zarxis then remembered the Hero of Light. He had felt a tremendous amount of life force from him.

（Should I just absorb his life force? Doing that will quicken my revival.）

Thus, Zarxis decided to obey Labrys since he could reap a benefit from that too.

「I understand. I’ll lure the Hero into this labyrinth. But don’t forget that you still lost against Modes even inside your own labyri—」

「DON’T UTTER MODES’ NAME!!」

Labrys shouted loudly.

His body was trembling nonstop.

（He might try to bluff with his act, but it’s making it even clearer that he’s still scared of Modes.）

Zarxis stifled a laugh, feeling slightly better after the previous fiasco.

The man called the violent God was a pampered child at heart.

「Don’t worry, Labrys. That guy won’t come for you. You should think of how to defeat the Hero right now. Rena will definitely come to her senses once you defeat the Hero. And she will realize who’s the most appropriate man for her.」

Zarxis said so just to fix Labrys’ mood.

Anyone would realize it was mere flattery, but a muscle brain like Labrys wouldn’t notice that.

「You’re right, Zarxis! Indeed, the one most suited for that Goddess is none other than me, Labrys.」

Labrys laughed heartily. It was hard to believe that he still trembled in fear just a moment ago.

Zarxis heaved a sigh upon seeing that.

（Now then, what kind of method should I use to lure that hero into this labyrinth?）

Zarxis started to make a plan.

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