The Barbarian was taller, physically bigger, and stronger in every way, her muscles seemingly chiseled out of stone. Comparatively, Hao Xuan who was around 2.2 meters tall right now was already a head smaller (9 to 10 centimeters) but because he had used up so much vital blood energy, he looked emaciated and malnourished which made him appear even weaker standing in front of her.
It looked like a scene from an R-rated version of 'The beauty and the beast', only Hao Xuan was playing the beauty's part in this series of unfortunate events.
Hao Xuan tried his best to resist but her hands were stronger than steel and wouldn't budge no matter how much he tried to push them away. She pinned him against the same tree he was resting under a few minutes ago and smoothly loosened the pale robe thahad t he just put on.
Before Hao Xuan could realize what was happening, his upper body was exposed and the barbarian was inspecting every inch of it, manhandling him like a child.
Seeing as there was no way he could overpower her, Hao Xuan instead opted for a different approach.
"L-Lady we can talk about this okay? There is no need for this! You are very beautiful, I'm sure there are tons of men after you! Pl-Please just give them a chance!" he said pleadingly and for a moment, she paused to meet his gaze.
"Alright. I will give you one chance to redeem yourself. Tell me the truth about who you are and why you are here, and I will treat you with respect."
Hao Xuan let out a breath of relief, "Thank you! My name is Hao Xuan, I came here by accident. I don't mean you any harm so if you let me go I will get out of your hair and we never have to think about this ever again. Huh? Deal?" he said with a forced smile.
She looked at him right in the eye for a few seconds before letting out a defeated sigh.
"Half-truths. That's the one thing I hate the most in men. Either lie or tell the truth completely, why mix the two?"
Hao Xuan's pupils constricted, "N-No I'm not lying-" he shook his head trying to explain but she cut him off.
"Then how are you speaking the forgotten language? And this fluently? The number of people capable of such a feat can be counted on two hands."
'Forgotten language?!'
Hao Xuan just now realized that they had been conversing in the Beat World's language. It had a few similarities to the local language spoken here but the differences were far too many. In the heat of the moment, he completely forgot about it.
"Th-That's because I found an old grandpa selling this book for cheap. I just bought it for fun but once I tried reading it automatically taught me the...language...haha...ha," Hao Xuan tried to explain but by the end even he was shocked at how bad of a lie he had come up with.
The Barbarian's brow furrowed tightly and Hao Xuan could see the seething storm of outrage brewing within her gaze.
*Sigh*
Seeing the look in her eyes Hao Xuan gave up completely and made one simple request, "Damnit, fine. Just...be gentle...okay?" he said weakly and closed his eyes. He sounded like a young maiden on her wedding night and the scene was frighteningly similar too.
For some reason the Barbarian gulped and even her own heart started racing lightly upon hearing that. She, who was brimming with confidence a moment ago suddenly slowed down seeing his troubled expression.
Under the moon-less light, the two stayed like that for a few seconds, her towering figure standing over him like a giant.
"What are you waiting for? Just do it quickly!" Hao Xuan cried out with his eyes still tightly closed, making her break out into a smile for some strange reason. She reached out and grabbed the robe hanging from his waist.
"Fhjrogn? Urhe aohe taoa laki?" a loud voice came from somewhere nearby, speaking in a foreign language.
Hao Xuan suddenly opened his eyes and yelled as loudly as his fragile body would allow it, "HEL-mmfp," but was stopped by her hand. A second later the trees nearby shook and several silhouettes landed on them.
Each one at least 1.5 to 2 times bigger than the female barbarian and dressed in much the same way. Hao Xuan who was hoping to be rescued was instantly disheartened. They were her own people.
Seeing them, they all jumped down and surrounded them. One of them came forward and smiled towards the female Barbarian, "Fhjrogn, yeun asa lao kalunda? Eosi ya!"
Hao Xuan couldn't understand their language at all but a sudden prompt showed up on the top left of his vision.
"Unknown language detected."
"Cross-referencing available records..."
"Match Found. Accuracy: 73.86%."
"Translating..."
A real-time translation of the conversation taking place between the Barbarians popped up at the bottom of his line of sight, like subtitles.