I cancelled the summoning of my kusarigama with a smile and continued on my journey like nothing had happened, ignoring the wound in my back that was now leaking blood on the ground behind me, leaving a trail.

I had high hopes for this passageway. It had to be the one.

Suddenly, I stopped in my tracks before shifting my gaze upwards and moving my head from side to side, my head filled with thoughts. I had been wrong about these things before, but never before had I felt so sure that a minotaur was close.

"You wanna come out and play?" I asked patiently with a soft tone of voice with my hand behind my back as I shifted my weight from side to side. "Hello? I'm talking to you. Stop hiding," I said and proceeded to wait for a while. Then the joints in my hands and wrists tensed as I abruptly shouted, "Face me!"

Finally, the minotaur showed itself with an aura of disgruntlement and shock. I had gotten so used to these things that I was now able to read their emotions as if they were human.

I stood in place without so much as summoning my weapon and waited for the minotaur to strike first.

The minotaur saw his opportunity and raised his battleaxe, going for an overhead swing.

'How boring,' I thought, having seen the exact same move countless times before.

Then the swing came, but I still didn't move. It was only when the battleaxe was just about to split my head in half that I moved my right hand and slammed the blade of the battleaxe with my palm, creating a sound that resounded throughout the passageway and causing the battleaxe's trajectory to change just enough for it to hit the ground right beside my left arm.

I looked at the battleaxe that had sunken into the ground on my left before directing my eyes to the minotaur that was staring at me with its wide eyes that were filled with darkness.

I stared back for a few seconds before exploding forward and jumping up to meet the eyes of the minotaur before I shoved my hand elbow-deep into its throat.

Despite my obvious physical advantages, I couldn't be too careless and got myself into a safe position after taking my hand out of the minotaur's throat, preventing it from grabbing me in a desperate act of vengeance.

I briefly watched the minotaur collapse before continuing on my way down the passageway. As I walked, I licked some of the minotaur blood on my hand with a neutral expression. 'What a hassle.'

It took a while of walking and turning around corners, but eventually I arrived in front of a large door with engravings on it, I didn't bother to pay any kind of attention to.

I pushed the door open relatively easily and found an enormous white room on the other side.

I walked in, the door disappearing shortly after my entrance. Then my expression grew solemn as I gazed at the dinner table filled with all kinds of food that had just one seat in front of it.

The time I had been in The Ruins had undoubtably been the worst time of my life, but even then, I had always had people eating with me in front of that specific table.

The moments we enjoyed in this place were real. It hadn't all been bad before, but now there was nothing left. Everyone was dead. I was the only one left, and everybody knew I wasn't the one who made those moments great. I had just been lucky enough to have such great people with me.

"Aagh!" I groaned as I sat down on the ground, far from the table, and buried my face in my hands.

This place was cruel. Much more cruel than the outside world. The outside world wasn't very accommodating either. No matter where you went, there was always crime, disease, and suffering.

'I wish... I wish that there was a paradise,' I thought before realizing the full ridiculousness of my sentiment and laying down on the ground and spreading my arms before laughing as hard as I could.

The laugh sounded forced even to me, and I quickly stopped, the echoes dying down soon after.

Then I rose up and looked at my hands, which were covered in crimson blood; some of it had dried up already. 'Even if there was such a place... I wouldn't be welcome.'

I forgot such thoughts for the time being and decided to head to the bathroom to wash my hands and shave my facial hair.

After entering the bathroom, I walked up to the sink with my gaze low and washed my hands in a relaxed manner, enjoying the peaceful moment.

That was until I looked up at the mirror.

I gasped as my gaze met that of the man in the mirror, who had white hair and hazel eyes that had a glowing red dot in the middle of both his pupils.

I stared at the reflection for a few more moments as I breathed deeply, my mind completely silent for once. Then I put my hand on my face to make sure it was really myself that I was seeing. Once that became clear, a smile spread across my face, even though I felt more like throwing up than smiling. "I should've known... It's in my blood, after all."