42 – Suddenly I ended up with another slave
In a certain room inside the abandoned castle, the sound of a man and woman merrily drinking and exchanging pillow talk could be heard.
The interior was luxuriously decorated and sitting untidily on one of the expensive embroidered sofas was a tall man. If one were to witness this, you wouldn’t believe this place was abandoned.
His black eyes were as deep as the night, his face was that of rhinoceros and his exposed chest had a large tattoo on it.
The man with the exposed chest had a vulgar smile on his face as his hands traced over the curves of a female servant. The woman in question blushed fiercely when the man took a swig from the bottle in his hand and forced her to drink it with a kiss while starting to rub her large breasts.
“Kuku!! My familiars are telling me that someone is close to my grounds. And one of them seems like an elf. What a catch, hehe. Another wanna be hero in search of justice. They’ll just end up in my collection.”
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“So this is the place?”
“Yes. according to my intel, the slave trader is making this hideout.”
As we headed towards the lord’s castle, we passed by a huge building that was crumbled to the brink of ruin.
There were guards on the outside.
Nana and I quickly jogged past that place to avoid them and walked into the southwestern section where we could sneak in the castle. Nana is surprisingly mobile. Judging by her gear she has some combat experience, but most likely she is a sub-DPS. Meaning I’ll have to do the heavy lifting.
“Look, Yufi. I found a staircase. Maybe this leads to the basement.”
The castle was indeed fancy and definitely didn’t feel abandoned. Yet this place is empty. What’s more, the deeper we follow this staircase, the more blood I smell. Once again, my nose isn’t near that of a dragon, but I am proud to say that my olfactory sense is greater than regular humans. This place reeked.
“Who the hell are you guys? Intruders?”
Suddenly along the corridor a large man with a rhino head blocked our path. He was rather tall, and coupled with his exotic clothing he looked different from everyone else I’ve seen so far.
The beast had his lecherous eyes on both of us, and it was clear from his unsteady walk and red cheeks that he was drunk.
“Hehehe, hey there pretty ladies! You got a fine body don ‘cha? How ‘bout you keep me a little company.”
His appearance and manner of speech made him out to be a mere thug, but the clothes he wore seemed well made. He really looks like a bad guy. His fine clothes might be from all his slavery business. But even his pants didn’t hide the bulge in his pants.
“Okay, starting from today both of you are my women.”
A feeling like a headache ran through my brain. I could feel something off, but I shook my head left and right and managed to regain my senses. What the hell did he just do?
There was a lack of light in this place due to it being underground and the torches that lit this place were far apart from one another. As a result of the lack of visibility, it seemed as if I was staring into an abyss.
When I turned towards Nana, I saw her unsteadily walking into the abyss as if something was drawing her in.
“Nana?”
I called out to her in a low voice but she didn’t react at all.
“Didn’t work on both huh? In that case, knock out that gorilla woman.”
Nana suddenly turned around and swung her sword at me. I instantly block her slash with my hand enveloped by Energy Link Manipulation. If her weapon was a few grades higher it would have sliced my hand.
“Nana, what the hell are you doing? You’re attacking the wrong person.”
“She’s not wrong, dumbass, now hurry up and die. I don’t mind fondling the breasts of a freshly killed woman.”
“What the hell did you do to her?”
“Hey, do you think you have the luxury to look away?”
Crap. Nana continued her slashes. My first reaction was to naturally dodge her slashes. And that’s because she imbued her sword in flames. Is it because of her state? Seeing her sword blocked with bare hands, she quickly wrapped it in flames.
Is she under a spell? If that’s the case… then…
“[Dispel Force]!”
Whatever is wrapped around her with this she should…
“Kek, you think something like that would work?”
“What!!?”
This is bad. Dispel Force is a level 80 skill that will clear any 3 buffs or status effects. But… it had no effect. Nana did a powerful vertical slash towards me. I can’t break that spell.
“Fuck!”
I caught her blade in between my palms but the flames were hot and when she released them I got engulfed and pushed back by them. Ugh. My hands are shaking. How the hell am I supposed to fight without fighting? My voice won’t reach her.
Slash after slash, thrust after thrust, Nana seemed restless in her pursuit. I had no choice but to dodge. This corridor is pretty small which limits my mobility. Should I knock her unconscious and kill the rhino? No. I can’t be careless. Even if I kill that bastard there’s no guarantee Nana will wake up. In this case… there’s only one thing to do. Counter whatever spell is controlling her with something stronger. It should be alright as long as nobody finds out.
“Enough games.”
I turned serious for a moment, used my Rift Walk to get behind her and immobilized her. I pinned her against the wall and drove my palm in her stomach. A bright purple light was generated. And when the light show was over, I let Nana go.
“Oi, what the hell was that? Hey elf girl, hurry up and finish her.”
Nana’s hands did tremble a bit, but she could not lift her sword against me. And that’s because…
“As master of the Slave Seal, I order thee… return to your normal self and purge whatever force has corrupted you.”
“Kyaaa!!”
Electric sparks covered her entire body. Nana screamed with all her might until the sparks faded away.
“Wh-What?”
“Nana, are you alright?”
“Sorry, my mind just drifted for a moment…… I… I can’t believe that happened. This vile person… to try to make me see my dear friend as an enemy….”
“Kuh… so you bitches are going to oppose me? Guess I’ll need to kill both of you.”
Two white beasts simultaneously leaped to the ground floor from someplace above. The two beasts were large, two-meter long tigers with slightly phosphorescent tails. They were troublesome monsters to deal with due to their ability to create illusions of themselves that confused their targets.
“Ghost Tigers!?”
Nana’s and my shouts echoed simultaneously through the area.
As if they were waiting for that signal, the two beasts lowered their stances before pouncing at me with their fangs bared.
I immediately spun around and drew Aetherius to block one of the beasts and I shoved my fist in the other's face.
I heard a dull sound as one of the Ghost Tigers was sent flying with a groan. My quick counterattack seems to have resulted in a critical hit.
“Huh!? So you’re not just pretty faces? Then how about this!?”
The man was momentarily surprised at my unexpected actions before he resumed his laughter and waved his hands.
A group of two-meter tall Ogres were the next monsters to step out of the dark abyss.
“You probably are here cause you wanna know what happened to them? The elves I keep company. Kukuku, were they experimented on with magic tools like the rumors say? What inhuman torture did they undergo? Were mothers separated from their children? How long did the men go before embracing the women? Kikiki.”
The flames of rage quickly consumed Nana’s face.
“Youuu……!!?”
As the rhino dude continued to taunt us, flames erupted from Nana’s sword once she was pushed beyond her breaking point, illuminating this place in a crimson glow.
“Rest assured, I’m no monster. Why would I reject the holes of a big breasted woman simply because she’s an elf? Kikiki. Children are tight, but a hole is a hole.”
Nana was about to burst. So I had to step in again.
"Nana, I command thee, quell thy anger. Besides, against these many opponents you would only end up losing your life."
In reaction to my command, the flames around the sword started to settle down.
"Hey, rhino head. You made one big mistake here."
"Hou? And what's that?"
"You managed to piss me off."
My red eye starting glowing in the darkness. Just this time… I will truly be a… Nightmare Valkyrie.