Blade Forest – Labyrinth (8)

The dungeon master was getting antsy.

He’d tried various things to develop the labyrinth. He made monsters breed to create offspring from those produced by the core, and he even tried to dominate the monsters of the Blade Forest with the core’s power. However, while he could achieve meaningful results, he never got the outcome he wanted.

Something was always lacking.

This time was no different. The dungeon master realized he’d been emotional. He was too angry at the magician and horse-head who had killed all the monsters he’d painstakingly created. So, he wanted revenge. That’s why he had a Gankan mate with a human bitch.

Still.

Even if it was emotional, the experiment was still an experiment. If this experiment proved that humans could give birth to monsters, he could just kidnap more human women and mass-produce monsters.

But something started to go wrong. The short-lived bitch was suffering more than he expected. When he had monsters mate, it went quietly without a moan, but the short-lived bitch was screaming and foaming at the mouth.

The dungeon master, who thought she’d just take whatever he shoved in, panicked and stamped his feet when his precious test subject was about to die.

And watching that vulgar sight, something boiled up from deep inside him. His lower body felt stuffy, and his heart rate increased. He’d only experimented with burly monsters until now, but experimenting with a humanoid test subject that resembled himself aroused his lust.

Of course, the little devil, who didn’t even know what sex or masturbation was, couldn’t objectify his physical state, and more than anything, a chaotic mess that would overwhelm his rising lust was waiting for him.

“D, short-lived bitch…? You’re still alive, right…?”

She was drooling with hazy eyes. Her belly, which had been swollen like a balloon, had returned to its normal size, but the semen she’d spilled on the floor hadn’t disappeared. He couldn’t bring himself to step on the pool of semen with his bare feet, so he couldn’t easily approach her.

“Keueung…”

But he had to save her first. She was his only test subject. He hadn’t even confirmed if she was pregnant. The dungeon master grabbed Yujin’s protruding arm and started to move her to his room.

“Short-lived bitch…?”

He put on Mana restraints and leaned her against the wall. Yujin, drooling semen and panting, looked so lewd and pathetic that he felt sorry for her. But that kind of sympathy was an emotion that a Demon should never have.

The little devil slapped his cheeks and brought a pile of leaves. It was the leaves he used to check if monsters were pregnant. If he put it in their mouth and the leaf turned blue, it meant they were pregnant, and if it stayed the same, it meant they weren’t.

He put the leaf in Yujin’s mouth, who was still unconscious.

‘Blue…!’

It was blue.

The dungeon master cheered at the success of the experiment. If he just brought more human women, he could create monsters without borrowing the core’s power.

Except for the fact that what was inside Yujin’s belly wasn’t a Gankan’s child, but a human’s child. No, even the expression “something inside her belly” wasn’t right. To be exact, there was nothing inside Yujin’s belly. Nothing at all.

Yujin’s belly would probably never grow. Aileen had given up the growth of her body for the sake of her mother’s pleasure. She didn’t want a mother who was anxious about the fetus getting hurt. She couldn’t put up a barrier every time semen came in, and it would be troublesome in many ways if she came into the world like that.

A complete abandonment of the body.

The only thing that could prove Aileen’s existence was the mental world where her ego resided.

Thanks to that, no matter how fucked up Yujin’s body was, Aileen wouldn’t be affected. As long as Yujin didn’t die, Aileen would be fine.

Instead, she was promised a complete body by the World Tree three months later―

‘…Should I keep her alive until she gives birth?’

―The little devil didn’t know that story.

The dungeon master, unaware that he was counting his chickens before they hatched, pondered over what to do with Yujin, resting his chin on his hand. Gankan was a monster powerful enough to destroy all the monsters here. If she was carrying the offspring of such a monster, she was worth keeping alive.

‘For food… I guess I can just give her what I eat…?’

Blade rabbits that he could hunt a little further away. If he just peeled off their sharp skin, they were just like regular rabbits, and they were easy to hunt, so he used them as his staple food.

However.

The dungeon master didn’t have the strength to carry the rabbit meat.

‘…Can I do this?’

Yujin was just the beginning. If he kidnapped more women in the future, he would have to manage all those short-lived ones by himself. His head started to ache. He didn’t have the power to command trolls like Gaolise, nor did he have a proper master-servant relationship like Artania and Parsih.

The dungeon master felt a slight regret, wondering if he should have picked up the core. He should have just stayed hidden as he always had, instead of doing this. His shoulders drooped.

“No, no…!”

If he kept wavering like this, he would remain a little devil forever.

He steeled his heart and glared. Someday, he would grow the labyrinth and reign as the master of fear like other Demons. The little devil, with his grand dreams, brought the boiled rabbit meat and placed it in front of Yujin.

“E, eat this!”

Yujin’s eyes opened.

* * *

“Ugh…?”

It didn’t take long to escape the hell of pleasure and pain. It was just one ejaculation, and as soon as he reconstructed the torn flesh, he quickly regained consciousness.

I squinted and looked ahead. I tilted my head at the bitter smell of meat and lowered my head. Then, I saw raw meat swollen with water.

“E, eat this!”

A familiar voice.

The dungeon master, squatting in front of me, held out the meat as if he were feeding a pet rabbit. Just by looking at him, he was the rabbit, not me, but his hair and clothes were snow-white, just like a rabbit. Anyway.

I struggled to lift my trembling arm to pick up the raw meat. But because of the restraints binding my arm, it didn’t move easily. I struggled for a long time, but eventually gave up eating the meat and slumped down. In the process, it got covered in dirt, so I didn’t even want to eat it.

“…You eat it.”

I shook my head and leaned my head back against the wall. What am I doing? I never thought I’d mate with a horse in my life. Well, it wasn’t a real horse, but a monster… I couldn’t deny that it was a horse-shaped monster.

A moment of clarity always comes after pleasure. I closed my eyes and took a cold breath, filled with extreme self-loathing and exhaustion.

“Why aren’t you eating!”

The dungeon master got angry when I rejected his kindness. I opened one eye and showed him the restraints binding my arm. Because of this, I can’t even pick it up, let alone eat it. That’s how I appealed to him.

“I, I won’t untie you even if you beg!”

Then what do you want me to do. Heu. I smiled and closed my eyes. Since Gankan has to run at full speed for 10 minutes to get here, Kamier’s rescue team will arrive in about two nights. I’ll have to play hostage for a while. My legs, um. I guess I should reconstruct them. I racked my brains, wondering how I could play a more natural hostage.

At that time.

“T, then! I’ll feed you!”

The dungeon master’s shrill voice struck my ears.

“…?”

…What did I just hear?

I straightened my head and opened my eyes. The dungeon master was tearing the dirt-covered meat into pieces with his hands and offering it to me.

“Open your mouth! You inferior short-lived one!”

No, if you tell me to eat meat covered in dirt― Ah, um. Geez. Whatever. I’m not going to die from eating it. I didn’t think that stupid Demon would put poison on it.

“…Nyum.”

“Have you finally decided to eat?”

I opened my mouth and put the meat in. The stuffy dirt and the raw meat’s unique bitter and tough texture filled my mouth. I frowned, but diligently chewed the meat. I unintentionally ended up eating dirt, but

If I eat the meat this diligently.

“E, eat the next one too!”

He tore off another piece of meat and offered it to me.

The dungeon master smiled brightly and fed me the meat. His smile was so innocent that I couldn’t refuse. He looked like an angel, not a Demon. The dissonance was no joke. I, who was diligently passing the raw meat down my throat, mumbled and asked.

“…You’re nice.”

“W, what?!”

“You even feed me, and you don’t kill me right away.”

I left out the part about forcibly mating me with a monster, but anyway. What kind of Demon feeds a test subject? Compared to Gaolise, who threw pig slop and didn’t even come to check on me, he was an angel.

“I’m not nice!”

“…Puh.”

“Don’t laugh! I’ll kill you!”

“Really?”

“Ugh… Just eat this!”

His face turned bright red. The dungeon master seemed to be sulking, and didn’t answer no matter how much I talked to him. He just mechanically tore off the meat and shoved it into my mouth. A competitive spirit arose, and I asked a question that he couldn’t ignore.

“Hey.”

“….”

“Why did you build the labyrinth?”

The hand tearing the meat flinched. It was his weak spot. I took this opportunity to dig in more persistently.

“Even if you build something like this, it’ll be quickly subjugated.”

“….”

“If I die, soldiers will come. If soldiers don’t come, knights will come. If knights don’t come, an army will.”

“….”

“They’ll come to kill you.”

A confirmed destruction. As with all labyrinths, if they have no economic value, they are quickly subjugated by humans. That’s why there are so many labyrinths in secluded and remote areas. They hide and build up their strength as much as possible without being discovered, then attack the humans. That’s the standard.

But the dungeon master here revealed himself too quickly. The fact that a subjugation force is being formed even though the labyrinth isn’t complete says it all. It seems like he lasted quite a while by causing a monster wave in Pahellen… But even considering that, it won’t be long.

‘I, I.’

He finally opened his mouth.

I didn’t miss the opportunity and dug in deeper.

“Aren’t you scared?”

“…Eu.”

“What did you do before building the labyrinth?”

The dungeon master pondered. He licked his dry lips and clenched and unclenched the hand holding the meat. He stayed still like that for almost three minutes. I waited patiently. The seed of anxiety had already dug into his heart. If I left it alone, it would eat him up on its own.

And finally.

The ‘boy’ who was neither a dungeon master nor a Demon. He hesitated and asked me.

“Y, you won’t make fun of me, right?”

“…I’m in this state, who am I going to make fun of.”

I was raped with my legs cut off, it would be more fortunate if you didn’t make fun of me. The boy nodded at my playful words.

“Deer, or rabbits. H, hunting. Eu…”

“…Humans?”

“O, only corpses. Eating them. I lived hidden, but.”

Why am I saying this! The boy shouted. He squatted in the corner with a gloomy face. I quietly watched the boy. He did nothing but scratch the floor with his finger. It seemed like today’s work was over. He fed me, and he finished the experiment. It didn’t seem like he had anything else to do.

He muttered in a small voice that only I could hear.

“…Can I survive if I run away now?”

That weak voice wasn’t something a Demon, whose desire had even obscured death, would utter. I asked the boy back with a truly serious face, without any teasing.

“…Are you really a Demon?”

The boy didn’t get angry. Rather, he buried his face in his knees and said in an even more sunken voice.

“…I’m a little devil.”

“Little devil,?”

Little devil.

I quietly waited for the next words.

“…A Demon who hasn’t yet materialized his desires.”

“What’s the difference between that and just a Demon?”

“Demons get stronger as their desires grow. But, I, I… I don’t want anything. I can only wander around without a goal.”

“….”

“I thought something would change if I built a labyrinth… But this isn’t it either.”

The boy muttered in a voice as small as an ant, looking at the core embedded in the middle of the laboratory.

“…I shouldn’t have picked up something like this.”

I didn’t feel sorry for him. He would have to take responsibility for the citizens of Pahellen who died in the monster wave. Still, I couldn’t erase the thought that occupied a corner of my mind. It’s just a thought. I had no intention of justifying this boy’s actions. Even humans become corrupted into Demons when they are tainted by Mana, wouldn’t the opposite be possible? If he broke his horns and erased all his Mana, would he be any different from a human? That was the thought.

“Heuk….”

The boy couldn’t hold back his depression and sniffled.

“….”

I gave a bitter smile. I was already holding back, but… If you show me this kind of appearance, there’s no way I can hold back.

My sadism is boiling. I can picture a scene where I mold this boy to my will and destroy him. The boy has karma, so there’s no aftermath. I don’t have to take responsibility like Clark. Then there’s only one thing I have to do.

“I…”

In my own way.

“…Shall I help you?”

I just have to destroy him.