Reverse Dungeon

“What are you... Please... go away.”

Keith bit down on his lip as if begging him. His usually impassive face twisted with agony, stripped of its familiar stoic strength.

How old is he, anyway?

The thought came to Ian out of nowhere.

A Holy Knight revered by everyone—not only for his strength, but for his self-control. Because of Keith’s reputation, Ian had never really wondered about the details of his life. They had seemed irrelevant.

But now, seeing him suffer like this, Keith looked younger. More fragile. Almost painfully human.

“How old are you?”

“What?”

Keith blinked. His wet lashes caught the light, glimmering deep gold.

Ian’s frustration flared.

“Your age!”

“Twenty-four...? But please, Lord Ian, hurry...”

Twenty-four?

Ian stared at him.

That was still college age. Three years younger than Ian himself.

He’s just a kid...

The instant Keith tried to turn the blade on himself again, Ian stopped him on reflex.

Blood spread across Ian’s hand.

“Ouch!”

“Lord Ian!”

Keith’s hands trembled as he barely managed to cast a healing spell, closing the wound in Ian’s palm.

It was only a shallow cut, yet it hurt sharply enough to make Ian grit his teeth.

How much pain had Keith been prepared to inflict on himself?

Just imagining it made Ian’s own body ache.

Do I really have to go this far?

But if he did nothing, this kid might actually kill himself.

Ian’s eyes burned.

Is this really the right thing to do?

He did not know.

Still, he pulled his hand away from Keith’s.

“...Hah!”

Keith clutched at his chest and collapsed forward, falling straight into Ian’s arms and pinning him down.

Even then, he forced out a single word.

“...Go...”

“Just heal yourself...”

Ian’s voice broke.

He truly did not want this.

It felt wrong.

He did not even know what would happen to him.

But Ian had made up his mind.

Am I really ready for this?

He still was not sure.

Whatever happened now, he could not help it.

Keith’s body convulsed several times.

Then, all at once, it went still.

Ding!

[Belial’s Curse (S)]

Turns the cursed into a slave of their desires.

The status window appeared as though reminding him of what he already knew, but Ian’s tears blurred the words. He dismissed it at once.

I know that...

What he did not know was how those desires were supposed to be resolved.

Keith’s expression went blank again.

A soft breath slipped from him.

Then a faint light shimmered over his body, and the terrible tension in his movements eased.

He had healed himself.

The next instant, Keith seized Ian with overwhelming force.

Ian flinched hard and grabbed at Keith’s arms, but there was no stopping him. Not with Ian’s strength.

What kind of arms are these...?

They felt like stone.

Ian was still reeling from the shock when Keith’s gaze lowered.

Ian knew perfectly well what he was looking at.

It was something all men had.

So why was Keith staring as though it were something strange and fascinating?

Ian wanted to ask.

But Keith’s depravity did not stop there.

He lowered that holy, beautiful face and crossed another boundary Ian desperately wished he would not cross.

“You’re insane...!”

Ian clapped a hand over his mouth.

The sounds alone were unbearable.

Every touch, every breath, every soft, wet noise made his skin crawl and burn at the same time. He wanted to cover his ears, but if he took his hand away from his mouth, he might scream.

He only had two hands.

What was he supposed to block?

Ian turned his head away.

“Please look at me. Don’t look away.”

Keith’s voice was pleading.

For one foolish second, Ian thought Keith might have come back to his senses. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

He looked.

Keith’s pupils were still red.

Their eyes met.

Keith smiled faintly, as though satisfied, then lowered his head again.

Why is he smiling like that? Damn it, why does he have to be handsome...?

“Haah!”

A cry escaped Ian before he could stop it.

And what kind of cry was that?

What kind of sound was “Haah”?

“Aah! Don’t—don’t do that, not there—!”

Keith moved as if he knew instinctively how to follow the curse’s desire.

Ian abandoned his resolve not to use the skill on him and began casting again.

<Purification>.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Each time the skill struck Keith, light flashed behind his eyes. A cool, cleansing sensation swept through his head, only to sharpen Ian’s image before him with cruel clarity.

Ian, trembling.

Ian, crying.

Ian, still refusing to let him die.

The sight was almost too much.

Desire surged through Keith so violently that it drowned out what little purpose remained in him.

This person.

Shameless. Strong. Incredible.

This unbearably cute person.

He wanted to hear Ian cry out again.

Keith crossed another line.

“You’re crazy...!”

Ian tried to kick him away, but his body would not obey him properly. His strength had drained away below the waist.

“Ah! Aaah! You—you...”

You should thank the game developers for giving you that face...

Ian sobbed.

If Keith had not looked like that, Ian would not have tolerated this madness for even a second.

“Uaaah!”

Something changed.

Ian screamed again.

“Just a moment. I’m sorry. I’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt,” Keith said, his voice strained and earnest.

“Then stop! If you can stop, then don’t do it—ugh...”

“I’m sorry.”

But Keith’s face was so grave, so sincere, so painfully holy, that for one absurd moment it almost seemed as if he believed he was doing something righteous.

Ian cried harder.

Maybe a little more would bring him back to himself.

Maybe if Ian poured more power into him, the curse would finally break.

He wrapped his arms around Keith’s back and forced more of the skill into him.

Keith, meanwhile, continued with grim, cursed diligence.

For a while, there was only the sound of breath, cloth, skin, and the terrible closeness between them.

Ian tried desperately to ignore all of it.

Then Keith spoke.

“It seems ready. It’s soft inside...”

“What?”

“Do you see? Three fingers are—”

“I don’t want to see that!”

“I can’t see. No. It’s not happening!”

“It already is.”

“It’s not!”

“I think more can fit. Ah, Lord Ian...”

“It can’t! It absolutely can’t—ah...!”

Ian shook his head in denial, but his resistance changed nothing.

Keith seemed to think Ian’s body had yielded enough.

And the worst part was—

Ian could feel it too.

How?

How could this happen from just that much?

Was that part of the body always like this?

Was this game secretly an adult game?

Were the developers awake when they made this?

Those lunatics. What kind of cursed gimmick had they added just to earn their paycheck?

And they were outside.

Ian could hear dry leaves rustling beyond the cloak.

Is this actually insane?

As Ian shook his head, Keith moved closer.

His body pressed over Ian’s.

Ian felt himself being forced open past what he could bear.

“Don’t. This isn’t okay.”

“It seems it will be fine. Lord Ian, you excel at everything, don’t you?”

“No! I’m bad at everything! I’m bad at this too—ah!”

“Uh...”

The final boundary broke.

Something far too large, far too impossible, pushed into him little by little.

Ian’s body stretched around it, overwhelmed inch by inch.

Tears spilled from his eyes until Keith’s face blurred beyond recognition.

“Ugh...”

“Breathe...”

Ian tried.

“Uh, hic... Haa...”

Only broken sounds came out.

“Just a little more... let go...”

“I can’t...”

“It’s all right. Just a little more...”

Ian kept shaking his head, but Keith only moved deeper.

He could not tell how far Keith meant to go.

Even through the pain, Ian forced out the one thing he wanted to say.

“You know... once this is over... you’re dead...”

“I feel like I might die now...” Keith’s voice fractured. “It’s too much...”

His words fell apart after that. He said something else, low and breathless, half-coherent.

“Shut up. Please...”

“You always say whatever you want to me... and then tell me to be quiet...” Keith murmured. “I have a mouth too...”

Then Keith kissed him.

Who said you didn’t?

Did anyone ask you to prove it?

Ian meant to think something like that.

But Keith’s tongue slipped into his mouth, and the sweetness of it stole the thought apart.

The tears gathered in Ian’s eyes finally fell.

At that moment, a strange pleasure surged through his mind.

“Uh—?!”