Week 2 (5)
Week 2 (5)
Wh-what the hell?
I flinched and stumbled back in panic for a moment.
It was such an blatant moan that even amid their bickering, there was no way they could've missed it, and in an instant, Valerie and Kali stopped talking, their piercing gazes stabbing right into me.
My mind went blank like it'd been bleached, and I lost the human ability to speak, just babbling incoherently.
"Uh, n-no, th-that, ack?"
"...Master-nim, just to be sure, what the hell did you do?"
Valerie approached me quietly, her face scary as hell as she asked.
They bickered a lot usually, but maybe they had some camaraderie as comrades, or perhaps they were just grilling me because we were fighting for our lives and I pulled some shady shit in the middle of it.
But damn it, I was innocent.
O-of course, I did touch her... but it wasn't with any intentions like that, and it wasn't even that kind of touch to begin with.
Ray was still trembling all over, breathing raggedly.
The only thing that came to mind was that her Desire was nearly at 80%...
"I didn't do anything, okay? I'm so wronged here, don't go grabbing innocent people like that?"
Hearing that grilling actually made me so indignant that the words just poured out.
When I denied it vehemently, Valerie looked a bit flustered in turn, pouting and grumbling.
"Ah, forget it then. So why the hell is she acting like that?"
To that question, all I could say was I had no idea.
Finally snapping out of it from our arguing, Ray let out another "Hiiik" and swallowed hard.
"Haa, haaah."
Then, still breathing heavily, she cautiously tried to stand up.
Her legs were shaking like a newborn baby goat's— no matter how you looked at it, she wasn't in a normal state.
"You okay? If you're not feeling well, you can rest a bit before we..."
"...It's stuffy."
Ray, her face flushed bright red, turned her head toward me and suddenly fiddled with the cloak draped over her shoulders.
Stuffy? What is?
I was so stunned I couldn't even respond, and then Ray, still heaving roughly, suddenly undid the knot on her cloak.
"Wh-whoa, whoa?"
The pitch-black cloak slid off her shoulders like it was licking them.
Of course, her pitifully trembling pale skin was fully exposed in the process.
I could only freeze up right there.
In the midst of it, my eyes automatically scanning her up and down was just the sad instinct of a man that I couldn't help, and maybe sensing my gaze, Ray's eyes gleamed.
What was it... a bit sinister, kinda.
"It's stuffy, so... I'll take off the cloak. That cool, right?"
With her face beet red, the only thing left on Ray's body was a black bikini that was way too skimpy even for underwear.
Valerie, just as flustered by the sudden action as I was, yelled out.
"Hey, hey! Pick that up and put it back on right now, got it?"
"...Says the one dressed to the nines."
"Urk, urgh."
But in response, Ray shot back by glaring and pinching a sore spot.
Valerie was basically in underwear herself—just a tank top that was no different, topped with a short jacket—so with nothing to say, she hesitated and backed off.
It went without saying we hadn't pointed it out, but Kali, who was bound in Rope Bondage and kept squirming whenever she got the chance, had nothing to say either.
"And anyway, this cloak barely has any protective function. Wouldn't it be better to ditch it and move more nimbly?"
On top of that, this woman, with a face that anyone could see screamed "sexy," was surprisingly logical.
While I fumbled for a rebuttal and couldn't find one, the cornered Valerie shrieked.
"Hey! No matter what, you're a girl—aren't you embarrassed?!"
"Yeah, not really."
Ray, having completely seized control of the atmosphere on her own terms, brushed off even that last desperate attempt with stoic ease, leaving Valerie with nothing more to say as she grumbled something and clutched her own collar tight.
Meanwhile, I stayed frozen solid, staring up at the sky.
As expected inside the Labyrinth, there was no moon or anything, just a pitch-black sky like ink, without a single speck of light.
Yeah, calm down.
I was in a monster-infested demon cave right now, where one wrong move could cost me my life.
How dare I entertain any distractions when I should be solely focused on everyone getting out alive—
"Master?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are you staring at the sky like that?"
But as if to say no way, a voice dragged my gaze back to the ground.
The moment I reflexively looked down, I scanned Ray's body filling my vision like a full-body scan.
And the single thought that popped up?
Ah, men are such fucking sad creatures.
Just lowering my eyes a tiny bit from her face, and there was that overflowing symbol of femininity asserting its presence like a ripe fruit—how the hell was I not supposed to look?
Naturally, my blatant stare was completely seen through by Ray, no doubt.
She even playfully tugged at her bra strap, making me swallow hard without realizing it before I finally judged that I couldn't keep playing along like this.
This wasn't just "affected by the Labyrinth" levels—this was straight-up inside the Labyrinth.
Even if I didn't know this mode well, I knew what kind of game Tombstone was.
Step into the zone of madness here, and the odds of escaping? Extremely slim.
I shook my head vigorously and raised my tone needlessly.
"Uh, if you're okay with it, let's get going already. Staying in one spot too long is dangerous, yeah."
"Heh heh."
Even as I desperately averted my eyes, Ray let out an excited giggle, who knows what for.
Then she picked up the cloak from the floor and roughly shoved it into the backpack I was carrying.
I barely managed to dodge her sly attempt to sidle up close in the process.
Valerie, who had been repelled by Ray and was following quietly behind, muttered in a voice chilled to ice.
"...Goddamn it, seriously."
"Ray-ssi is, well, kinda different from the image I had in mind..."
At Kali's mutter, Valerie shot back a look of utter disbelief.
Sure enough, it wasn't something for someone who was twitching around bound in Rope Bondage on their first expedition to say.
*
—He's watching, he's watching...♥
Ray felt the thrilling shivers running through her body and gave a faint smile.
It wasn't something she forced; her lips just naturally curved up.
Even as she walked ahead, she could feel the glances sweeping over her body from behind.
Maybe because she was a swordswoman to begin with, her senses were sharp.
She fiddled with her sword hilt to forcibly stay calm, worried she'd start walking awkwardly from being too self-conscious.
The dungeon interior wasn't exactly cool, but it was refreshingly temperate, and every time a lukewarm breeze brushed her skin, Ray shuddered with an inexplicable pleasure.
This was all a first for her.
Walking around outside with her skin this blatantly exposed, and showing it off to a guy she wasn't even that close with.
She kept repeating to herself in her head that it was the Labyrinth's influence and unavoidable, but that magic incantation couldn't fully dilute the shame rising alongside the dull pleasure from her lower belly.
To put it bluntly, Ray was completely in heat.
She was just barely holding back from stripping everything off with the last thread of her rationality.
"Ah, Kali-ssi. You see that over there?"
"Mm, that's the real deal. You can tell even from afar. That faint blue mana glow... it emits that light when it grows exposed to mana for a long time."
"Let's hurry and harvest it. Just in case, Ray-ssi and Valerie-ssi keep watch around... Ray-ssi?"
"...Ah, yeah."
Wh-whoa, that was dangerous...♥
At the sound of Master calling her name, Ray barely snapped back to her senses.
She'd been just about to unconsciously slip her hand between her legs.
Am I crazy?
I absolutely can't do this kind of thing in a dungeon.
Regaining a bit of her reason for the moment, Ray vowed that to herself while slapping her cheeks pap pap.
Of course, it didn't occur to her that Master was watching from behind, but whatever.
This was all because of that weird tree monster from earlier.
Ray naturally replayed the recent memory.
The thin woman's voice that had whispered in her ear, fanning her Desire like a bellows.
Thanks to that decadent tone force-feeding her head with vulgar talk she'd never heard before in her life, Ray had been pushed right to the brink of losing her mind.
Once the thing was defeated, the Whisper cut off abruptly, but by then Ray had already been barely enduring the surging arousal.
That was why even Master's light touch had made her act so pathetically.
"Heh, nice find. You've got sharp eyes, Master."
"Well, I can't help in combat anyway. Gotta make up for it by spotting stuff like this."
At Master's humbly modest voice, Ray finally pulled out of her thoughts and let out a heated breath.
A weird feeling mixed with the self-loathing surging back in.
Am I some pervert who enjoys men's stares?
She'd never thought that way once in her life.
Naturally, since she'd always wrapped herself up tight in thick armor.
Maybe it was the rebound from that.
Her heart pounding just from showing a bit of skin—well, actually not a bit at all—had to be because of that.
Ray decided to go with that explanation.
It wasn't entirely nonsense, though it was about a million miles from the truth.