Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 412
Bad Blood (2)
Enemies surge from all directions.
And our expedition force held them off with defensive formations.
“Kill them…!!”
“Hold them off!!”
It felt like playing a tower defense game.
Well, there are obvious differences from a game.
In most defense games, hordes of enemies with only melee abilities rush at you.
But now?
Whiish—!
A rain of arrows poured down.
“Revive Ascender!”
Dark magic.
BOOM—!
And an array of elemental skills—lightning, frost, fire.
Typically, mages would handle this kind of ranged assault.
But our mages are currently using every ounce of their remaining mana to complete the mass teleport spell.
So, there’s only one solution.
To ensure these ranged attacks don’t reach the fragile units in the rear.
「Your character has been hit by [Seeping Chill].」
All we can do is endure.
[The next cold damage you receive will be doubled, and your cold resistance temporarily decreases based on the damage taken.]
[Lightning damage exceeds magic resistance and lightning resistance]
[Your character is now in a ‘Moderate Paralysis’ state.]
[Your character has been hit by [Piercing Light]…]
[…]
The burden quickly accumulates in my body.
But even so, I use my enlarged body as a shield to form a wall at the front.
Grit.
Clenching my teeth as if I might bite my tongue.
BOOM—!
I take the attacks pouring from the front with my body.
Not just me, but all the vanguards are doing the same.
[Benjamin Orman has cast [Moon of Purification]
[All status ailments on your character are cured.]
[Nialo Campbell has cast [Blessing of Light].]
[All healing effects received by your character are increased…]
[…]
The support of the priests is constant, but not enough. They have earned the right to borrow the power of the gods in exchange for their faith.
Because reviving the dead is the domain of the gods.
“…Might!!”
There are no screams in our deaths.
“E-everyone, fall back!!”
Might Million, the warrior of the second team positioned to my left.
Thud—!!
A sharp stone spear flying in a straight line pierces through his shield and penetrates his heart… no, his upper body.
“No…!!!”
There’s no need to count down. His death is instant.
As if to prove his death, the holy lights that were embracing his body quickly scattered around.
For a damned reason.
Swoooosh—
Because the dead cannot be the target of skills.
“M-Might…!”
An archer from his team rushes forward, desperately trying to pull the stone spear from his lifeless body.
A reckless and foolish act.
It won’t come out even if he tries, and even if it does, he won’t come back to life.
‘…Were they friends?’
Well, that’s not what’s important.
“Emily, I’ll be back for a bit.”
“…What?”
I curtly informed her and moved slightly to the side, grabbing the archer by the scruff of his neck.
And…
“Stop this nonsense and get back.”
—I throw the Archer toward the rear where Akuraba is stationed.
Thud—!
With the sound of him collapsing, an angry shout came from behind.
“…Wh-what are you doing! M-Might is…!”
“Might is dead. He died to save you all.”
“…!!”
Might Million.
He clearly saw the stone spear flying toward him.
He could have dodged.
No, with his physical abilities, he surely could have avoided it.
But he chose to block it.
[E-everyone, fall back!!]
Protecting his comrades.
That was his role.
Of course, he probably didn’t expect it to turn out like this.
He might have thought he could withstand it at least once.
Well, in such a chaotic battle situation, it’s hard to realize from seeing it just once—that that rock spear was a top-tier Level two essence skill.
…Perhaps he knew and still blocked it.’
Even if so, we cannot know the truth.
Probably forever.
“So stay back. From now on, I’ll take this place from here.”
“…”
“Emily! Join up with the second team!”
Since the only warrior of the second team died, I filled the vacant spot.
I’m effectively covering the space that two teams had to hold by myself…
Rather than being annoyed, I feel relieved.
‘It’s fortunate that I’m big.’
I thought about using [Transcendence] to further enlarge my body, but I gave up.
I can’t keep just getting hit forever, can I?
[Damage taken and reflected damage from Probabilistic Counter are doubled.]
I tried taking a hit experimentally, and it seemed I could endure even if the damage doubled.
[Due to the authority of the Transcendent, the inherent ability of the skill is unlocked.]
[The damage immunity effect from Probabilistic Counter disappears, but the activation chance is fixed at 100%.]
As soon as I activated [Transcendence], with clattering sounds, skeletons rose behind me.
And then…
[SCREEEEEECH—!]
They return every skill I have taken with my body to the enemy.
“W-what’s that!”
“What, what the hell?!”
“It’s a Gachapon! The Gachapon Essence!”
“What? But that skill shouldn’t activate like this…!”
The enemy is thrown into chaos as their own attacks are reflected back.
‘Should’ve activated it earlier.’
Indeed, the best defense is a good offense.
When I braced myself for taking more painful hits and activated [Risk Burden], their offensive decreased.
Thanks to that, it was easier to fill the vacant spot by myself.
Okay, now we just need to complete the teleport…
“…Out of my way, you trash!”
A man steps forward, leading a group of enemies who had been hesitating to approach.
Even seeing him again makes me feel like vomiting.
“Regal Vagos is here!”
“The Dragonslayer…!”
He has come.
***
BOOM—!
Explosions erupted.
Cries of panicked comrades.
Screams and splattering blood.
In the battlefield filled with all sorts of noise, a silence fell.
The surroundings were still noisy, but at least that’s how I felt.
Probably the same for that guy as well.
“…”
“…”
We silently stared at each other from a distance.
‘Could it be that he recognized me?’
Just as that thought crossed my mind, he opened his mouth.
“I told you back then.”
“…”
“Even death won’t save you.”
So, he did recognize me.
Looks like he has regained his memories.
Seems he doesn’t care that I’ve revealed the Gachapon essence or that I’ve gotten shorter.
Alright, shall we greet each other after a long time?
“That’s an expensive-looking sword.”
I lowered my gaze and looked at the sword hanging from his waist.
“Did you come to give it to me again?”
His reaction was immediate.
“You bastard…!”
His hands trembled with rage.
But what can I do?
There are still more things to make him angry.
“How much longer until the magic is completed?”
“…One minute!”
Since voice control is disabled, that answer was heard by everyone.
“Well, there you go—”
“One minute is enough.” Regal Vargos
At that moment, he dashed toward me.
[Regal Vargos has cast [Advanced Acceleration]
[Regal Vargos has cast [Afterimage]
A combination of skills that dramatically boosts his agility.
But things are different now.
Last time, we met in Larkaz’s Maze.
‘He’s much faster.’
This must be his original output with his base stats.
But it doesn’t matter.
BOOM—!
Because I’m not who I used to be either.
“…!”
His eyes narrowed as his sword clashed with my shield.
It’s obvious what he’s thinking.
“Did you think holes would appear like before? This isn’t inside that maze.”
He didn’t answer and swung his sword once more.
[Regal Vargos has cast [Holy Blade].]
A white light shimmered along his sword blade.
But this time was the same.
Boom—!
Now that I can handle aura, it’s no different.
“How is it that you’re still the same?”
That’s fortunate.
I was wondering if he had gotten stronger over the past two years, so I was going to test him out.
“You bastard…!”
As I continued to block his sword attacks for a while, I pushed him away with my shield as if swatting a fly.
Well, my strength stat is higher now.
Overwhelmingly so.
“…Ugh!”
The Dragonslayer, caught off guard by unexpected resistance, staggered backward in surprise.
Then someone shouted from behind.
“Ten seconds left!”
Meaning the magic circle is about to be completed.
“I’ve seen enough, so get lost now.”
“…”
“You’re now weaker than me.”
He seemed quite shocked to hear such words from me, and he didn’t respond at all.
I wondered if he was stunned, but that wasn’t it.
Just in case, I slammed my hammer down, but he quickly dodged.
BOOM—!
I smacked my lips as I looked at the hammer embedded in the ground.
If only the number of enemies wasn’t increasing, I could have settled this bad blood here.
“Schuiz! Hurry over here!”
As Amelia’s voice came from behind, the magic circle on the ground began to emit light.
The teleportation magic had been completed.
The warriors at the front, including myself, hurried to the center.
“You think I’ll let you go…!”
What’s he saying? What can a guy like you do if you don’t let us?
The real pity is on our side.
“Youuuu!!”
“Lord Bagos! If you stay there, you might get caught in the mass teleportation magic!”
The guy, who was about to rush at me in anger, hesitated at his subordinate’s advice.
Tsk, if only he’d come a bit closer, we could have taken him with us via teleport and ganged up on him.
Swoooosh—!
As I arrived, the magic circle emitted an even more brilliant light.
“See you next time. Take care of your head until then.”
Then, the multicolored light flashed.
****
Flash—!
As the light that filled my vision faded, my sight returned.
The first thing I saw was the massive, lifeless trees.
An environment almost identical to where we were a moment ago.
Well, that’s natural.
It’s impossible to skip over the field with a single mass teleport.
“…There’s no one here.”
The western part of Deadwood, one of the central fields of the Dark Continent.
However, I don’t feel any signs of people around.
Probably because all the forces that were here were mobilized to catch us.
“Priests, hurry and heal the wounded. We’ll depart as soon as the healing is done.”
We had overcome a hurdle, but since we had no time to rest leisurely, we took a brief moment to regroup before immediately resuming our march.
Not south where our allies are, but north.
Dragging my weary body forward, I reluctantly ask the question I’ve been dreading.
“…Casualties?”
“Three dead in total.”
So, besides that guy who was next to me, two more were lost.
In that short time.
“So, the deceased are? Who are they?”
Kaislan then gave an accurate report in a bitter voice.
“Might Million, Fiona Amos, and Nialo Campbell.”
One warrior from the second team.
One priest from the fourth team.
And even a mage from the third team…
“A mage was killed…?”
“It seems he was hit by a stray attack after the Dragonslayer and his men joined in at the end. The magic circle was nearly complete, so there was no problem with the magic.”
Damn that useless Dragonslayer bastard.
Grit.
Our expedition, which started with thirty people, had now dwindled to twenty-five.
The team with the most casualties was the third team.
Including the traitor Pike Neldaine and now the mage who died in this battle, their numbers had decreased to four.
“The second team is also in a precarious state. Million, that friend was the team’s only warrior.”
Akuraba’s team, which focused on firepower, is also unstable.
Though they can temporarily use three summoned trolls as the vanguard, but that summoner woman of hers was more of a heavy damage dealer anyway.
“We need to adjust our formation.”
“It seems so. At this point, no one will insist on keeping the old ways.”
Until now, during movement, each team acted at a certain distance apart.
We thought it would be more efficient this way, unless it was a special situation like the attack on the Eye of the Sky or the one that just happened.
But we can’t continue like that anymore.
We need to become a true expedition team, not just an alliance of multiple teams.
“If you allow, I’d like to reorganize the formation by dividing roles…”
“I’m fine with it. Our team members will understand. I’ll leave the formation to you, so discuss it with the other team leaders and decide.”
“Understood. Then I’ll get to it.”
Although my first impression of Kaislan wasn’t great, he turned out to be quite a useful asset.
Shortly after I gave the order, he reorganized the teams into a single force.
He placed job classes with lower physical abilities in the center, surrounded by archers, swordsmen, and the support types.
Their role in battle was protection.
During movement, they would carry those who lacked stamina or were slow walkers.
“Ha, I’m already exhausted as it is…”
“S-sorry.”
“It’s fine. Can’t be helped. Just make sure to heal me well if I get hurt later.”
Surprisingly, those who ended up being treated like mounts didn’t react too badly.
They knew themselves.
That to survive, they needed to make efforts to maintain this group.
“Mister… please take care of yourself. If you need my help, just shout loudly.”
“You take care too. Don’t do anything dangerous.”
Anyway, because of this, our team also had to split up.
After all, I’m a warrior in the tank position.
Naturally, I have to be at the front.
“You all are really close.”
As we resumed our journey with the new formation, Ravien, who was positioned behind me, spoke.
Hmm, come to think of it, I have something to say to her too.
“Thank you.”
“…What?”
“For holding your position when the Dragonslayer appeared.”
Ravien is strong.
Depending on the situation, it’s not an exaggeration to say she’s a step above Amelia or Erwin in normal circumstances.
If she had acted rashly back then, there might have been injuries or even deaths among our team.
“I’m not foolish enough to not distinguish between public and private matters.”
“That’s a relief.”
“……”
Since there wasn’t anything else to talk about, the conversation ended there.
And after some more time passed.
“Let’s take a short break!”
Before our stamina reached its limit, we took a timely rest.
“Ah! Finally!”
As soon as the march stopped, all the members collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, but one man was different.
“Excuse me…”
A man with dark circles under his eyes cautiously approached me.
“Sven Parab.”
In other words, the Goblin Mask.
He’s quite a curious fellow.
Judging by his fighting, he doesn’t seem to have high combat skills, yet he strangely never gets injured.
“What’s the matter? Not resting?”
At my question, he replied in a somewhat anxious voice.
“Well, actually…”
“If you have something to say, say it quickly. I need to rest too.”
I said with a hint of irritation in my voice, and he closed his eyes tightly and said to me.
“Well… can’t we keep moving without resting?”
“Not rest…?”
At first, I thought it was nonsense, but thinking he wouldn’t say it without reason, I changed my attitude.
“Do you have a reason for saying that?”
“No, it’s not that…”
“Isn’t it?”
“It’s just that, for some reason, I feel uneasy… Ever since you said we’d rest, I can’t breathe properly. And my heart feels like someone is poking it with a needle.”
…What is with this guy?
Making people feel uneasy for no reason.