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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Reversed World: The Barbarian Who Hid His Face Chapter 19
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"Aaaaargh!"
A scream of agony echoed through the Labyrinth.
I gripped the axe tighter and brought it down. I’d intended to finish her in one blow, but my aim was slightly off. It struck her collarbone instead of her neck.
"You, you goddamn bastard—!!!"
Deluna abandoned her gentle tone, spitting out a vulgar curse.
A strange energy began to coalesce in her hand. It was hot. The surrounding temperature felt like it shot up instantly.
Instinctively, I retrieved my axe and pulled away from Deluna.
'What is that? Fire?'
My judgment was correct.
Just before I retreated, flames erupted from Deluna’s hand, and a fireball slammed into where I had been standing.
Magic. I had known of its existence from listening to explorers talk at the tavern, but this was my first time seeing it with my own eyes.
The flames blazed fiercely. Damn hot. If I took a hit from that, I’d instantly become Nam Su-jin barbecue.
"You, you fu— *gasp*..."
"Sister! Are you alright?!"
"Hey, you bastards! Do I look alright to you?! What are you doing?! Go kill him, now!"
"Yes— *gasp*!"
The guy who was answering while embracing Jeremy got a fist to the jaw and collapsed.
Jeremy, having popped out of the woman's embrace, scurried over to me.
"I, I did it!"
"Yeah. Good job. Now go put some clothes on."
I avoided looking at Jeremy as much as possible, tightening my grip on the axe in one hand and the dagger in the other.
"Avenge our sister!"
"How dare he stab us in the back!"
Who tried to stab whom in the back first? And your sister isn't dead yet.
Four women charged, each with their swords drawn.
It definitely felt different from fighting goblins.
Unlike goblins, whose height, weight, and appearance were all pretty much the same, there were tall ones, medium ones, and small ones.
In short.
'It’s hard to get a read on them.'
The trajectory of a tall one’s swing was different from a small one’s.
Of course, everyone handles a sword differently.
When people of varying heights and builds mixed together, it was hard to grasp the flow of combat. This must be why group attacks are so effective, I thought.
CRACK!
'Then just subdue them before I can figure them out.'
The overwhelming difference in physical ability made it possible. Even if my reaction was a step slow, I could overcome it with reflexes and agility.
I pulled the axe out of the tall woman’s neck. There was a strange resistance, and I felt the sensation of slaughter at my fingertips.
"G-gasp, gasp... W-what is that bastard? How can he take someone’s neck in one go...?"
"It’s not just about strength. Why is he so nimble?"
The combatants were clearly flustered at a glance.
They clearly had the advantage in skill and experience, but the physical difference was widening the gap.
"What kind of man, goddamn it, is like that...?"
And to a man who was clearly beneath them. In stamina, strength, and agility, all of it.
It was probably quite a shock for the women of this world.
But that was their problem. I refocused on the fight.
I subtly cast my gaze towards a corner of the battlefield.
Deluna came into view, pressing her hand to her neck as if to staunch the bleeding, while extending her other hand towards me.
........................
Her lips moved rapidly, as if she were speaking, but I couldn’t hear a single word.
'Is she casting a spell?'
An unknown energy was gathering in her hand. It was twice as large as before.
If I let that complete, things would get pretty difficult.
As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I moved immediately and threw my dagger.
THWACK!
*Gasp*!
Deluna, with the dagger embedded in her abdomen, stared wide-eyed. Well, who told her to cast with her eyes closed?
Her concentration must have broken, as the unknown energy slightly dissipated. I was about to go finish her off when...
WHAM!
A sudden kick sent me tumbling to the ground. I had momentarily lost focus on Deluna, too.
"G-get off me!"
"No. I won’t let you!"
CRACK!
Aaaaargh!
But I didn’t just take it. As I was sent flying from the kick to my gut, I grabbed the guy’s calf and plunged my axe straight into his thigh.
CRACK! THWACK! CRACK!
From his thigh, up to his abdomen, and finally to his skull.
I embedded axe marks all over his body, like gruesome kiss marks.
As I cleared away the cumbersome corpse, my eyes met with the dead man’s, his brains oozing out.
......
For a moment, my stomach churned, then the nausea abruptly subsided.
My head grew cold. At the same time, my body began to heat up with a strange fervor.
Don’t think about anything. Focus on surviving right now. Swing the axe one more time. That’s how I live. I have to live first to find my sister, or find a way back, or do anything at all. So hurry and swing that axe! Behind you!
CRACK!
Aaaaargh!
I slammed the axe into the shin of the guy approaching from behind.
Before he could even fall, I pulled the axe out again and aimed for his neck.
CRACK!
By the time he hit the ground, his head was no longer attached to his neck.
"...Heh. You crazy bastard..."
I clutched my heart, which felt like it would burst from beating so fast, and stood up, spotting Deluna muttering a lament in a defeated voice.
The unknown energy that had been gathering in her hand had already completely dispersed, nowhere to be seen.
"If I’d known he was such a crazy monster, I never would have messed with him..."
The one who freely beat people and sold them into slavery called me a monster.
"H-heek! Stay back! Don’t come any closer!"
Deluna, her former calm and audacious demeanor gone, began to struggle pitifully as she tried to escape.
'Fine. Monster or whatever, I don’t care.'
I can become something worse than a monster if it means achieving my goal.
"You, do you know who’s above me? Huh?! Do you know?!"
"Don’t care, you bitch."
CRACK!!!
I brought the axe down.
***
"Ah..."
Densi, who had regained consciousness after fainting, dazedly looked around at the blood-soaked surroundings.
She was dead. The master who had demanded unilateral loyalty and obedience for over a decade.
And not just her. Everyone who had consistently subjected Densi to violence under the master’s command was dead as well.
Densi felt an unknown emotion stirring in her chest.
A complex feeling she had never experienced before.
A jumble of emotions swirled, confusing her mind, but one thing was certain.
This feeling was not one of sadness or melancholy, but closer to ecstasy or elation.
WHOOSH—
Densi felt the magic embedded in her soul change.
The Slave Binding Magic. The spell that forced a slave to exist as a slave, now swayed precariously, having lost its tethered master.
She wasn’t completely freed from slavery. She had merely lost her master for a moment.
'No time...'
The Slave Binding Magic, specially modified to prevent harm to its master, would claim the slave’s life if a new contract wasn’t formed with a new master within three hours of the previous master’s death.
But this was inside the Labyrinth. There was no way she could find a new master right away.
Even if she did find one, they wouldn’t be a normal master.
'Even if I managed to get out of the Labyrinth and rejoin the organization, it’s obvious I’d just be exploited under some woman like Deluna again...'
Was there any value in living such a life?
"Densi."
At the familiar voice, Densi’s shoulders twitched. Instinctively, her solar plexus throbbed and ached.
Automatically, she recalled what he had just done.
The image of him casually burying his axe into someone’s neck, and the fierce battle he waged, tearing into them like a wild animal.
Turning around, she saw him standing there, covered in blood, holding an axe from which fat and red flesh dripped.
SPLISH...
Without realizing it, all strength drained from her body.
Densi had experienced her share of rough encounters, but his current appearance exuded a different kind of intimidation. She couldn’t help but wet herself.
She felt her underwear grow damp, and the floor began to puddle around her.
"Huh."
His expression was hidden by his helmet, but she knew he was looking at her.
He let out a disbelieving chuckle, then pointed the axe at Densi.
Immediately, Densi realized.
Ah. Right. I still want to live a little longer.
Just moments ago, she had briefly considered death, but it was indeed a foolish thought.
Seeing her body trembling uncontrollably like this, it was clear she desperately wanted to keep living, even if it meant a wretched life as a slave again.
"Whose side are you on?"
...Whose side, he meant.
'Does he mean, I still have a choice?'
"You told me to run away from that puppet. Why did you do that? For what reason?"
It must have been a question for him. Why someone who had once tried to sell him into slavery, and even tried to rape him, would try to help him.
Densi’s face flushed.
'H-how am I supposed to say something like that...!'
It was certainly not a proper reason. In fact, Densi herself had only recently realized it.
However, Densi touched her neck.
She felt the collar he had bound with magic rope.
Even though a month had passed since that incident, Densi hadn’t removed the collar.
Until now, she had put off taking it off for reasons like 'it’s a hassle' or 'it’s kind of a fashion statement'... but only now did she understand the true reason.
"P-protecting my master... is a slave’s duty..."
"...What?"
SLITHER—
Densi knelt and bowed her head to him.
It was like a prostration. She held out her palm above her head.
On her palm lay the handle of the collar.
With her forehead pressed to the ground, trembling, she offered her lifeline.
"Please... be my master."
A slave contract cannot be broken by the slave’s will alone, unless their slave price is paid off or the master frees them.
If she made the slightest mistake, she might never escape slavery until her death.
To another. To this man, she offered everything, even her life.
As a woman, an immense sense of defeat and humiliation washed over her, but this quickly transformed into an indescribable, overwhelming pleasure.
And above all, Densi knew.
What kind of face was hidden beneath that helmet.
'Even better...'
Honestly, it was a profitable deal.
***
"Stop messing around and tell me what you really mean. Make it easy to understand."
"...One way or another, I’m destined to be a slave. I suppose it’s better to be under a man than to be exploited by a woman..."
"You should have just said so from the start. You haven’t changed a bit; you’re still the same perverted sex monster I first met. But you’re a hundred times better than those creepy, bitchy women. Okay. You’re hired."
SNAP!!
Densi’s collar snapped taut.
***
A woman, who had been asleep in the quiet darkness, opened her eyes.
Immediately, her gaze fell upon thousands, tens of thousands of dolls.
The woman gazed at a doll whose strings had just been severed, then closed her eyes again.
"A bug has died..."
How dull.
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