Surviving game as a barbarian Episode 729

Traitor (3)

Ricardo Lühensprache, the commander of Orcules.

He is the owner of a floor lord’s essence and the special ability of Nullification.

Given how absurdly overpowered he is in PVP, even I consider facing him a massive burden.

‘But…It was only because my scheme worked back then that I managed to get out.’

He’s with Amelia right now…?

No, even worse…

[Bret Chi, El, Diez Detran]

“What did you just say?”

“Point 4-7… L… combat has begun…”

Combat… has started?

Thump—!

My breath caught as my heart clenched. I wanted to rush straight to the military platform and head for District Four. However, a part of my mind began weighing the practicalities.

‘Taking the military lift to District 3, and then getting from there to District 4…’

It would take at least three hours.

And that’s a minimum estimate assuming I did nothing but run without a single battle.

Sure, if I think optimistically, there’s a chance Amelia might manage to evade and hold out until then, but…

Thump—!

I already know.

That’s nothing more than wishful thinking.

Realistically, surviving for that long while facing a monster like him in the middle of enemy territory is next to impossible.

Therefore, I made a swift decision.

‘I can’t go there personally.’

Even if I left now, I’d be too late anyway.

I wasn’t giving up; that was just the way it was.

Right. So then…

“Sector 4-7… two intruders, retreating.”

Think.

“Sector 4-7, requesting pursuit support.”

What can I do to help without going there myself?

“Astarotta.”

“Speak.”

“Can you make a request to the Fifth Wall Corps? Tell them to start as soon as possible—we can’t wait until morning.”

“…I’ll pass it on, but don’t expect a favorable response.”

“That’s fine. Just tell them to start as early as they can.”

“Understood.”

With that, Astarotta stepped out of the building to contact the District 5 corps.

And then…

“What… are you planning to do…?”

Raven asked cautiously, sensing my tense expression.

I did not know whether it would work, but I conveyed my intent as clearly and concisely as possible.

“I’m going to draw their attention.”

“How?”

“The Barbarian way.”

“…I guess I’d better brace myself.”

The explanation was extremely vague, yet Raven seemed to understand what I was about to do just from that.

“Yeah. Get ready. This might end up being tougher than anything we’ve faced so far.”

“…Haa.”

Despite her sigh, Raven’s eyes burn with resolve.

After that, I anxiously eavesdropped on the transmissions. And once Astarotta returned, I told him what I intended to do as well

“It doesn’t look like it has much to do with the plan to kill the chancellor, which concerns me… but that’s not my responsibility. The burden of accountability is yours.”

“So you’ll help?”

“I simply follow orders.”

He was neither friend nor ally, but those few words gave me tremendous peace of mind.

Man, the King of the New World really left me with one hell of a gift.

“So what are you going to do with this woman?”

“Hmm…”

What should I do with her?

“…Hey, Mister! You’re doing it again! You don’t have to scare me like that—I’m not going to do anything weird, okay? Yeah?”

I smirked at Vivian’s insistence. “I’ll take her with me. I need constant updates on how things are going.”

“Then can I at least put a minimal safety measure in place?”

“Huh…? Sis…?”

“I told you, don’t call me that.”

“A-ah! R-Raven! A safety measure? Hehehe… r-really, you don’t need to do anything like that!”

“Don’t worry. It’s not dangerous. As long as you don’t get any funny ideas.”

With that, Raven pulled something out of subspace — a pill about the size of a thumbnail.

“Here. Swallow it with some water.”

“I should at least know what it is—”

“I’ll tell you after you take it.”

“N-no, still, it’s something I’m eating, so I should know wha—”

“Mr. Jandel, doesn’t it look like she’s getting funny ideas?”

The look in Raven’s eyes told me it was time to back her up. “I think I agree,” I said, taking a menacing step toward her.

“I think so too.”

“Ahh! Fine, okay! I’ll eat it! I’ll eat it!”

She quickly swallowed the pill Raven handed her.

Gulp—!

It’s good that it worked, but something feels off.

“Why is she so scared of me?”

I don’t think I’ve threatened her that much.

“P-put the hammer down! Please! I’m scared to death!”

Ah, right. I did smash some guy called the “Lighthouse Keeper”’s skull right in front of her.

Sssshk.

Once I lowered my hammer, she seemed to regain her composure and her usual cheerful voice.

“…There. I took it, okay? Now tell me. What was that? Poison or something?”

“Oh, please. You think I’d feed you something as cliché as poison?”

Well, I definitely thought it was poison.

An evil organization feeding some kind of Pill to martial artists to brainwash them.

“It’s just a standard magitech device.”

“Magitech…?”

“You know magi-engineers, right? One of them made it. It was even supplied to the military, so you don’t need to worry about its safety.”

“…No, I mean, what kind of magitech device is it?”

Vivian’s voice became increasingly restrained as she tried to get answers. She was overwhelmed by Raven’s general aura and the obvious imbalance of power.

However, Raven’s expression did not change at all as she pulled out something that looked like a remote controller.

“See this button?”

“Y-yes…”

“If I press this, the thing you swallowed explodes. Inside your stomach.”

Vivian was left speechless by the simple, matter-of-fact explanation, and I merely nodded in acceptance.

She had a point calling poison old-fashioned.

After all, putting a suicide vest on a hostage is a modern strategy.

It felt much more… sophisticated.

“Hmm… you don’t understand? That’s strange. I mean, if I just press this button—”

“I understand! I got it! So just put that back in your sub-space already!”

I quietly watched Viviane’s reaction. She did not seem to be acting. In fact, she appeared to fully believe what Raven was saying.

Looks like I won’t have to worry too much about her betraying us.

After neatly tying up a potential loose end, I revealed my plan to Raven and Astarota. Thankfully, Astarota did not oppose it.

“So, in other words, you’re planning to cause a huge mess,” he summed up.

“Then, is that an ‘okay’ from the Royal Family’s perspective?”

“His Majesty gave the order. It’s not a formal permission, but I won’t stop you.”

“Good to hear.”

I got his approval without much trouble and left the building with a lighter heart. As I passed through the gate connected to District Eight, that familiar worry surfaced again.

‘Even I’m feeling nervous about this one.’

If I’d had more time, I might’ve come up with a better plan, but this was the only thing that came to mind right away.

“Raven, get ready.”

“Huh? O-oh, yes…!”

At my command, Raven conjured a massive fireball in the air, completing the first step of preparation.

Right, so…

Fwoosh—!

Let’s make a real mess of this.

“BETHELL—RAAAAAAA!!”

A mess big enough to draw in anyone and everyone.

***

 

I had seen a burning city only twice in my life.

The first was Orcules’ terror attack on the Imperial Capital of Karnon a few years ago…

Fwoooooosh—!!

And the second was now

Dash, dash!

The city was burning.

More precisely, I was running through the burning streets of District Eight. The flames were spreading at an incredible rate.

We were adding fuel to the fire.

It wasn’t a metaphor; we were literally pouring oil on the fire.

「Alluva Raven has cast Level 4 attack magic [Water Cannon].」

A thick stream of water, like something from a fire truck.

「Alluva Raven has cast Level 6 support magic [Property Conversion]」

By chaining spells together, Raven transformed the stream of water into a stream of oil.

With the wind perfectly adjusted, the entire street was swallowed by flames in an instant.

Sure, it feels like my skin is about to roast, but…

「Fire Orb activated.」

「All continous fire-type damage over time within a 15 m radius is reduced by 50%.」

Honestly, I had been making pretty good use of this for quite some time.

“Run!!”

The flames grew so large that we no longer needed to add oil, and instead of covering the cracks we missed, we focused on moving faster.

‘It seems… it was a good choice.’

The plan was to draw the Noarkans’ attention by starting a fire in District Eight, which they currently occupied. I could not tell whether it was going well, but there was one clear benefit.

[Grroooowl…]

[Grrrk…]

Fire is the natural counter to corpses.

The Corpse Collector, who had received heavy investment from Noark for this war, had scattered a legion of corpses throughout District 8. Simply by setting them ablaze, the corpses he had spent so long preparing melted away in an instant.

Of course, higher-level corpses have resistance to flames, and Noark’s forces stationed in District 8 rushed in to suppress the fire, but…

Crunch—! Crunch—!

Those issues could be solved with pure physical strength.

Given how things were unfolding, I could not help but wonder,“…Why didn’t the royal family just burn the place down from the start?”

“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”

“Would I ask if I knew?”

“…Any sane person would understand that even if you retake it by burning it down, there’d be nothing left afterward.”

“Ah…”

…Yeah. Put that way, it does make sense.

 

District 8 isn’t exactly a strategic stronghold, and from the royal family’s perspective, they wouldn’t want to reclaim a city district just to take it back from the Noarkans.

‘Then again… if I weren’t in this situation, I wouldn’t even have considered setting it on fire either.’

Despite Astarotta’s approval, I could still be held responsible for burning the city later on.

The best option would have been to quietly pass through enemy territory with Vivian and regroup with my allies.

But…

‘What’s the point of regretting it now?’

Of course, the world was never going to revolve around me or what I wanted.

Crunch—!

As I continued forward, smashing up burned corpses and Noark soldiers who were practically corpses themselves, Vivian suddenly shouted from behind after listening to the comms.

“Troops stationed in District 5 heard the news and are coming this way for backup! Ah, it sounds like the Vice-Captain isn’t coming because he has to hold the front line!”

“Tch… so I drew some aggro, but not enough for them to drop everything and rush over here?”

“Forget that. What’s the news from District 4?”

Even as I organized my thoughts, I repeatedly checked for news about Amelia.

“There’s no word that the fight is over, and it sounds like the pursuit is still ongoing!”

Hah… I see.

Still, the fact that the chase is continuing means…

‘This still isn’t enough aggro, huh?’

That said, I’m not too worried.

Drawing aggro—

Fortunately, as a barbarian warrior, this is the area in which I excel and have the most experience.

“Um… Mr. Jandel? Why are you smiling like that?” Raven asked in a worried voice.

I responded with a grin on my face. “I just thought of a good idea.”

Let’s worry about the consequences later.

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