The light novel changes this part. The monster introduced in the last chapter is changed to Backbeard in the light novel. Don’t ask me as for why. Enjoy.

The Preceding Hero VS The Ancient Monster Beholder

Its name is 『Beholder』.
Nicknamed 『Dogezaemon』, 『The One That Gazes』, and 『G.o.d of Inescapable Perception』, it"s a monster of ancient times said to have lived since the age of the G.o.ds.
In the battle between the G.o.ds and the monsters, it was a monster that killed the entire Ancient Dragon army that was led by Dragon King Vafumunt.
It was said that it was destroyed in the end by the Dragon King, so it wasn"t a monster that should be in a place like this.

「Why is a monster like that here!」

Yuu felt every hair on his body stand on end.

It was a sharp shiver, as if a cold shining knife were tracing its way down his back.

Faster than he could think, Yuu thrust Rave into the ground, extended his hand into the air, and was about to call out his Sacred Sword, but he stopped himself.

(In a place like this……I can"t use the Sacred Sword!)

In this labyrinth that had walls in every direction, using the Sacred Sword would instead become his own shackles.
The Sacred Sword contained enough power within it to scatter a destructive shockwave to the surroundings just from swinging it.
If he were to use something like that, the labyrinth would collapse and probably bury them all alive.

Making his extended hand into a clenched fist, Yuu clicked his tongue once, pulled Rave out, and started running.

(I can"t exactly compete with it but……It"s not like it"s stronger than Vafumunt, right? In that case, there"s a chance of winning!)

Covering a distance of 20m in one breath, he raised his sword overhead at the floating Beholder.
Having broken out into a run due to the idea of victory going to the one who makes the first move, Yuu"s speed, maybe due to his childish figure, was far slower when compared to his usual speed, making his 『Shukuchi』 fall short.
However, even with that, that body that had long surpa.s.sed that of an ordinary person"s body had exceeded the Beholder"s reaction speed, and the raised overhead sword placed a large injury on the Beholder"s spherical body.

But,

「Wha……Gofuh!?」

A hole the size of a tennis ball opened wide.
From that hole, a large amount of fresh blood spouted out.

「Yashiro-san!?」

While listening to Bernadette"s bitter shout, Yuu noticed the opened hole in his own chest.

「Rrahh!!」

With a roll, Yuu extending one hand and did a forward somersault from his slanted posture, jumped up from directly below the Beholder, and fired off a decapitating slash just like that.
However, the raised overhead sword went *Whoosh*, leaving behind the sound of cutting wind and only cut the air.

「Was that, Warp!?」

Noticing the Beholder with its eye closed appear as if it were crawling out of empty s.p.a.ce at the edge of his vision, Yuu kicked his leg up, changed his posture in mid-air, and became upside down.

「TSK! What the h.e.l.l is up with this thing!!」

The moment he was about to try and change his posture, Yuu saw a portion of his own forelocks suddenly get blown off as if it were trash, got down with one hand, did two or three backflips, and took some distance from the Beholder.

The eyeball tentacles that grew out from places on the Beholder"s head had caught sight of Yuu even while they were wriggling about.
As Yuu and the Beholder glared at each other, being cautious of the other"s moves, *Dosu*, there was a thick sound and an arrow had pierced through one of the tentacles.

「! So it was you, Fiona!」
「Isn"t that, obvious?」

In the middle of the Beholder"s shout resounding through the labyrinth, Yuu saw an archer that had taken a stance with a wooden bow and was broadly grinning.
The one that had smashed their stalemate was the Elf with mean looking eyes, Fiona.

With a *Gyorori*, the large eyeball and all of its eyeball tentacles turned towards Fiona. Next, the Beholder closed its large eyeball, and then, as if it were hiding into empty s.p.a.ce, *Zuzuzu*, it warped.

「Fiona! Behind you!!」
「I know!」

Taking an arrow out from a tube and the bowstring to its limit, Fiona jumped out of the way.
When she did, a dull beam of light that was fired from a tentacle eyeball pierced through the place that Fiona was just standing at.
In an instant, the floor exploded, and a flash enveloped the vicinity.

「Now it has a destructive beam!? What the h.e.l.l is up with this guy!」

While Fiona was rapidly firing arrows, Yuu was on the lookout for the "something" that went through his chest in an instant.
While running in a zigzag, he got closer to the Beholder.

「Yuu! It"s most likely the tentacles!」
「I bet it is!」

Just like the beam that was fired from the eyeball that was attached to the tip of the tentacle, that un-seeable something must have been fired off from the tentacle.
Changing his target from the Beholder itself to the tentacles overhead, Yuu rode fast.
When he advanced a distance of dozens of meters with a few steps, several of the tentacles with eyeb.a.l.l.s attached to the tips caught sight of Yuu.
When he leapt to the right as if he were repelled the moment their gazes intersected, the ground of the place that he was just at a moment before, without exploding or anything, simply scattered away.
Yuu didn"t overlook the tentacles that moved at that time.

「……I see, now I"ve seen through it!」

The destructive beam and the something that extinguished the floor just now were performed by different tentacles.
And then, those tentacles didn"t show any actions other than those.
The beam firing tentacle would only fire beams, and the tentacle that performed a vanishing phenomenon would only perform the vanishing phenomenon.
The tentacle that was in his eyes at the time his chest was pierced through was exactly the tentacle that extinguished the floor trying to kill Yuu just now.

「If I"m not mistaken, then this is……!!」

First, he would cut down the tentacle that was the most dangerous, the tentacle that caused the vanishing phenomenon!

「U, oohhhhh!!」

It pierced through his right shoulder, but without minding it, Yuu made a battle cry. While his legs and his cheeks were sc.r.a.ped and blood splashes were made, Yuu sprang upon the Beholder.
His short physique jumped up, and the moment he tried to swing down the Magic Sword, Yuu noticed an uncomfortable feeling in the right half of his own body.

「It has petrification……!」

The arm that he had raised overhead had literally become rock and couldn"t move. Judging that his own right arm had become useless, Yuu smashed his right arm, gripped the Magic Sword, and threw it like a boomerang.

Moving forward while cutting the wind, the Magic Sword sliced off the aimed at tentacle and some other tentacles all together, then kept going and pierced into the ceiling.

「Yuu……!!」

Fiona fired off pursuit magic at the Beholder that raised a scream, maybe due to the pain. The arrow of invisible gale that was fired off without an aria was fired at the Beholder while scattering wind into the surroundings, and just before it was about to hit, 「Pakin」, it disappeared together with sound like that of something being broken off.

「A sensation similar to when the Transfer Formation was erased……There"s no mistaking it, it has made magic powerless……」

Although she was disturbed by how magic was made powerless, deciding that she should use her bow and arrow if magic wouldn"t work, Fiona didn"t stop her attacking hands.
Making *Dosu dosu* sounds, her arrows pierced into the Beholder, but since they weren"t doing any significant damage, they were inadequate to stop the Beholder that rushed an attack on Yuu as if it were in a fit of rage.

But,

「To think that you"d be the one to come out……ooRAAH!!」

Yuu struck a fist into the part that would be the Beholder"s chin with his right arm that should have been smashed, then he rotated his body and kicked the Beholder away with a spinning kick.