I Became a Barbarian Warrior Who Hid His Face in a World Where Everything Was Reversed

Chapter 34: I want to go to the second floor (6)

On the far end cave on the third floor of the anthill, I cautiously followed the hobgoblin to a small storage room.

I poked my head in and peered around. There were no swords, spears, or other weapons, but an assortment of armor, precious metals, and even copper and silver coins.

‘Found it.’

And then I saw a shining helmet in the corner.

Good, it’s Zirnier’s helmet.

Next to it lay my axe, worth 17 silver coins, and my breastplate, worth 40 silver coins.

The only hobgoblins in the storeroom were the two who had just entered.

I cautiously crouched down in the hallway by the cave entrance.

‘Hit them as soon as they come out.’

I planned to rush in to strangle their necks after they dropped the items they were carrying as they leave.

Luckily, there were no hobgoblins running up and down the corridor. They were all busy f**king.

The cacophony of men’s moans and hobgoblin calls echoed frantically through the caverns.

‘Here we go.’

Thirty seconds later, I heard the hobgoblin emerge from the storage cave, and I saw a shadow. It was so close now.

Just as I was about to pounce, the shadows shifted in a strange way.

The hobgoblin had stepped out of the cave, right in front of me, and started swinging her arms out to the side like a baseball batter.

‘Shit. I’ve been spotted.’

The judgment was swift. It turned out the hobgoblin had been blindly wandering around, rummaging through things all this time.

There was no way she would suddenly act like that. Did she know I was following her, to catch me off guard and ambush me in reverse?

‘As expected, there’s a world of difference between a first-floor goblin and a seasoned one.’

Sure enough, a blade appeared from within the cave, following the trajectory of his swing. It was a pole with a sharp blade on the end.

Ka-ang-!

The blade struck the wall of the cave, and the sound of iron and stone clashing echoed through the cave.

The hobgoblin who had struck the cave wall with her club shuddered from the vibrations that traveled through the polearm. I lunged at her, not missing a beat.

“Ker-!”

It wasn’t just one hobgoblin; the hobgoblin standing next to me was about to swing her axe at me. It was a close call.

I dodged the axe with a swift Agility 17 move and punched her in the temple.

-Pfft!

Her increased height and weight didn’t send her flying like the goblins on the first floor but it did enough damage, as the creature staggered for a moment and lost her grip on the axe.

I reached out, caught the falling axe, and swung it at the hobgoblin.

-Zzzzzzzzzz!

A steaming axe mark was left on the nape of the hobgoblin’s neck.

‘Tough skin.’

I swung with full intent, but fell just short.

Still, the hobgoblin didn’t scream and fell to the ground, still clutching the spear.

“Ke- Keruk⋯”

The Hobgoblin shuddered, having just lost a compatriot, and I was about to take care of it.

“Keruk?! Kekekeke!”

“Kerrrrrrrrr!!!”

I could hear the shouting from outside.

The mating sounds had stopped, and the panicked hobgoblins had come out of their cave.

‘It’s because she hit the wall with the spear, damn it.’

It was a little loud.

That’s fucked up, by the way. I’ve seen dozens of caves on the way here.

If that many hobgoblins came this way, I’d be done for.

The noise from the battle would be uncontrollable, and the hobgoblins on the first and second floors would come running. Then there’s really no answer.

“Ke, ker-”

Suddenly, I saw the hobgoblin beneath me.

At the same time, a brilliant idea flashed through my brain.

It was a good, if slightly embarrassing, idea.

For a goblin with nothing but men, d*cks, and sex on her mind, this would work.

Ka-ang!

I brought the axe down right next to the hobgoblin’s face.

“Feels good! Yuck!”

I shouted as loud as I could. Loud enough to echo throughout the cave!

Fuck. I’m so fucking ashamed, is this how I’m supposed to live.

Ka-ang!

“Ack, it feels good!”

Of course not, I have to live before I can do anything.

The hobgoblin on the ground below looked dumbfounded.

It’s hard to read her expression when she’s a monster. But what if I brought the axe to her throat?

“Kerrrrr! Kekekekekekek!!!”

The hobgoblin was quite perceptive. It seemed to know what kind of reaction I wanted.

“Kekekekekek! Kerrrrrrrr!”

“That feels so good!”

Ka-ang! Ka-ang!

The man’s loud voice echoed loudly over the hobgoblins’ chanting and axe strikes on the floor.

The cries of alarm from outside faded away.

“Kerrrrrrrrrrr!”

It was like, “Oh, they’re just having sex? They’re playing in the other room. We can’t lose either⋯”

“Kerukkeruk!”

As if on cue, the next cave next door began to emit a tremendous chorus of chirping. Apparently, it was quite stimulating.

Once it got louder, it started to spread throughout the three floors of the anthill. It was a battle of the sexes.

“Oh, help! Help! Help! Heh-”

“Pow pow pow, more pow pow pow, more pow pow pow!”

The men who bowed down to the pink drug also reacted violently.

“I’m sorry. I’m too busy to save you right now, but if I think of you, I’ll come and get you.”

I delivered an apology and disposed of the hobgoblin below.

Well done, my voice partner. I sent her on his way in one fell swoop, painlessly.

I then searched the warehouse. No t-shirts or pants in sight, but plenty of armor, which was the most important thing.

I grabbed Zirnier’s helm and donned my breastplate. I also grabbed my battle axe, Grumpy’s dagger, gaiters, and backpack.

Once I had my things, I noticed the other equipment lying around.

‘It probably belongs to the captured men.’

I don’t know when they were captured, but I could put it to good use.

Very little of the armor was my size, but I managed to grab a pair of tight-fitting arm guards.

I also got a rolling round shield for my left hand. It’s made of wood, but it’s a hundred times better than nothing.

After I finished looting, I searched the backpacks.

Hard stone bread⋯ moldy bread⋯just in case, and a map? Not an artifact, but it’s a map of the fifth floor.

What I needed most right now was food. I hadn’t brought enough food because I was aiming for the second floor in the first place.

Even if I made it through the fifth floor, it would take me two weeks to get to the first floor, even with the bare minimum.

I definitely needed food to last that long. Hunger and fatigue were the two biggest dangers in the Labyrinth.

Still, I searched through all of the other packs and found a week’s worth of food and water. Even if I ate as frugally as I could, it seemed unlikely that I would last more than two weeks.

‘⋯I’ll just have to survive.’

I thought to myself, happy to have this much for now, and opened the map.

It wasn’t as good as the armored knight’s artifact map, but it was of decent quality.

The map was showing the approximate locations of the fifth floor.

I checked my location first. I wasn’t sure exactly where, but there was an area circled and marked with a star.

[Where we need to go! Target: Shaman Hobgoblin’s staff!]

With the words Hobgoblin Village written below it.

Leaving the plaza on the first floor of the anthill, there was a series of cave passageways that led to a straight line that would take me out of the Hobgoblin Village.

‘The problem is, the Hobgoblin Village doesn’t end there.’

The fifth floor was spacious. It was large enough to feel strange and bizarre.

On the map alone, there were five monster villages, including the Hobgoblin Village, the Kobold Village, the Mud Golem Village, and more.

‘Four more villages this size?’

This was terrible news, but the good news was that the Hobgoblin Village was the closest to the end of the fifth floor.

And at the end of the fifth floor, there was a picture of a fountain.

[Healing Well!]

Drawn like a hospital or a hill sign, with a green cross on it.

– To the fountain on the fifth floor!

Suddenly, I remembered Derucio’s words.

‘⋯What the hell is a fountain?’

A water fountain. A sculpture usually placed in a park or something. A fountain in a labyrinth? That’s too out of place.

What the hell is a fountain, and why did the asshole decide to go there while the party was half-destroyed?

The fountain. Derucio. Injuries. A party member on the verge of death. A note that says Healing. Back to the fountain⋯

‘Is there something in the fountain, a means of restoring party members?’

Even if it does, there’s one more thing that doesn’t make sense.

‘You can’t specify where you want to fall from a transition trap.’

If you take the fifth floor transition trap, it will drop you on the fifth floor, but the location is completely random, just like a portal.

You could fall into a Hobgoblin village, you could fall into a Kobold village, or you could get lucky and fall into the fountain.

But it’s 100% luck. There’s no way that asshole would put her future in the hands of a fountain.

The sneer in her eyes as he glared at me was not the sneer of a loser running for her life.

It was the face of a hound looking to strike back.

‘But the party was only half full.’

If Derucio’s party had been at full strength, it would have been understandable if they’d fallen through the transition trap. They’re fifth-level explorers, so they must have gotten through the layers somehow and reached the edge.

But I sent two lackeys to the edge of the Jordan River, and Derucio herself was half-cut to pieces.

How could they make the decision to go all the way through the fifth floor, where there are five monster villages, and head to the fountain at the edge in such a situation?

‘Did they have something, a means to get to the fountain in one fell swoop?’

If she didn’t think so, then it doesn’t make sense that she would make the decision to go to the fifth floor in that situation.

I put all my theories together.

‘If Derucio’s party had the means to travel to the fountain on the fifth floor in one step, and if the fountain is supposed to heal injuries⋯’

I shake my head slightly, but my guess is vaguely correct.

It’s an uncertain guess with a hole in it, but it’s the best I can do with the little information I have.

It’s a bit of a tense feeling and questions hung in the air.

Questions I’d felt as soon as I woke up on the fifth floor, but hadn’t been able to resolve.

‘What about me, why was I unconscious?’

I’d always felt a strange sense of floatiness and unfamiliarity whenever I crossed the portal, but it hadn’t been enough to cause me to pass out.

Was it simply a transition trap? No, I doubt it. Grumpy said she fell into a transition trap on the third floor, but she didn’t say she lost consciousness.

So, was it just the fifth floor? That’s a bit ambiguous, too. Isn’t it just one of the labyrinth floors? What’s so special about the fifth floor?

⋯ Now that I think about it, based on the information on the map, the fifth floor is unusually large, has monster villages, and has a fountain, which is an unusual gimmick. It’s definitely not your typical labyrinth floor.

‘Something⋯ something I don’t know, something I’m missing.’

I wonder why I fainted on the fifth floor.

Do other explorers faint, or just me, and if so, why?

[◆ Blessing of ???]

A blessing full of question marks caught my eye. A blessing that gives me strange thoughts and a creepy feeling every time I look at it.

And maybe, just maybe, a blessing I’ve had since I was on Earth.

But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t put it together.

‘⋯I don’t know. For now, let’s focus on survival.’

I tamped down the endless speculation and doubt.

‘How do I get down to the ground floor, through the passage, and out of the village?’

***

No hobgoblins have come to the warehouse. Except for the two I killed, not a single one has ever come here.

So I stayed in the warehouse for a day or so.

I slept in the darkest corner I could find in case I was spotted, and ate small portions of bread to keep me going.

Occasionally, I poked my head out of the cave to observe the goblins, and I learned a few things about the Hobgoblin Village.

‘There are no traps inside the village.’

The hobgoblins were carelessly running, walking, bumping into walls, falling, and otherwise doing whatever they wanted in the village.

But the traps didn’t even show any signs of being triggered.

Outside of the village, who knows, but at least it was assumed that there were no traps inside the village.

‘Hobgoblins sleep in the morning.’

The sounds of mating continued throughout the night.

I checked Diana’s watch and realized they’d been f*cking until roughly 5 a.m., then fallen asleep and woken up around 12 noon to start the day again…which meant they’d f*ck again.

‘They take turns staying guard.’

At the end of the plaza on the first floor, in front of the long walkway leading to the outside of the village, a hobgoblin stood guard.

On average, they take turns every three hours.

‘Each shift takes about five minutes, so if I want to escape, I should aim for that.’

According to my accumulated maps, the passage was about two kilometers long.

No matter how fast I was, I was bound to get caught trying to escape but as with all things in life, there are only a few places where you can react immediately to an incident.

It’s four in the morning. I could still hear the goblins fucking. But they would soon be asleep.

‘Escape time is 8 a.m, when the guards change.’

That’s when the troops will be in their deepest sleep, and when their guard will be at its weakest.

If I could strike then, I might have a slight chance of escaping.

I killed time, waiting for the right moment. My backpack was packed, my gear was on, and I was ready.

At 6:35, I was just about ready to descend to the second floor of the anthill.

“Kererererererererererererer!!!”

What the fuck.

I snapped out of my reverie at the loud yelling.

“Hey you fucking guard hobgoblin, shut the fuck up!”

“You’re really fucking with the men. I envy you, goblin. Goblins don’t get punished for raping men, do they?”

“Get a grip, do you think you’re an outlaw or something?”

“Gregor, you’re an explorer of the third floor. Watch closely and learn. See how the top party on the seventh floor hunts.”

“Yes!”

Five women were caught in my perception.

The town’s ruler, the Shaman Hobgoblin, immediately appeared at the sudden abnormality.

“Hmph. That looks like an expensive staff.”

“The 5th floor shaman hobgoblins carry a special staff that magically embodies the mating pheromones of monster males. Asking for something like that to be retrieved, the client sure has questionable tastes.”

Judging from the conversation, the explorer was after the Shaman Hobgoblin’s staff.

There are many ways to make money in the Labyrinth. Killing monsters, fulfilling quests, and farming items like artifacts.

‘But why now?’

“Kerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”

The Hobgoblin Shaman shouted and then the third floor—no the entire Hobgoblin village began to shake with a tremendous vibration.

The hobgoblins stretched out in the cave, jumped up and ran to answer the shaman hobgoblin’s call.

“Krek, Krek!!!”

The hobgoblins began to move in unison, like an army in a midnight raid.

They started running to grab their weapons, just as a soldier would grab his gun in an emergency, somewhere, obviously, where the weapons were stored.

I looked around.

‘This is the weapons room.’

“Krelek! Krek!”

“Krelek!”

Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo.

Footsteps, tons of them, were rushing toward the warehouse where I was hiding.