Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 65

Field Boss (1)

I slept for a whopping 12 hours straight.

And when I woke up.

For some reason, Misha was drooling while sleeping on my stomach again.

“…….”

Anyway, with plenty of time to spare, I organized my loot.

I checked what was inside the backpack and stripped the rest of the trio of their gear.

Then, I stuffed everything into the expandable backpack.

Thank goodness Misha had an expandable backpack too.

After stuffing all their gear into it, it felt quite heavy, even with the lightweight magic.

‘I guess this is fair compensation for all the hardships we’ve been through?’

Leaving the sleeping Misha, I munched on some jerky.

Well, if she wakes up and gets hungry, she’ll eat it herself.

Whoosh-!

After finishing my meal, I used a wet cloth to wash up.

Ah, I even shaved for the first time in a while.

‘Now I look more like a human.’

After finishing the last of the firewood in the fireplace, there was nothing else to do.

So, I went outside and sat on the rocking chair.

The peaceful grass smelled faintly of blood.

I let my thoughts drift as I basked in the sunlight, slowly closing my eyes.

The image of the religious fanatic with his head smashed crossed my mind in my half-sleep…

‘The entrance should be closed by now, so no worries about that.’

Peaceful.

I’m safe, at least as long as I’m here.

Yeah, that should be enough.

“Bjorn, wake up. You have to eat and then sleep again, or you’ll upset your stomach!”

When I opened my eyes, Misha was shaking my shoulder.

Looking at the clock, another 14 hours had passed since I last checked.

“Come on, even if you’re not hungry, you need to eat quickly!”

isha broke jerky and bread and brought them to my mouth.

I had eaten in between but was hungry again, so I willingly ate.

“Are you going back to sleep, Bjorn?”

“No.”

“Hmm, okay. Oh, right! How did you know that putting people in here lets us stay longer?”

“I read it in a book.”

“…Are you into smart girls?”

“Yes.”

I gave brief answers to her questions while finishing the meal, and then checked the fireplace.
Judging by the firepower, we had less than an hour to go…….

Click.

I closed the watch and stowed it away properly.

Then I began to stretch my long rested body, preparing to leave.

It was too early to celebrate, but my heart swelled with anticipation.

‘The day has finally come.’

The 15th day is about to start.

Meaning, if we can last through today, we can escape this wretched forest and return to the city.

So…

「The Witch’s Hut is now closed.」

「Character is being transported to the Witch’s Forest.」

Let’s stay focused until the very end.

As always.

“Bi, Bjorn! What’s happening?”

“Fuck…….”

It’s not over until it’s over.
****
「The fifth sacrifice has been offered in the hut.」

「The sixth sacrifice has been offered in the hut.」

「The seventh sacrifice has been offered…」

「Special condition – Seven sacrifices have been met.」

「Lord of Chaos, Riakis, begins roaming the floor.」
****
The moment I stepped out of the hut.

I could feel the change in the forest with every sense.

「Field effect – The Witch’s Forest is lifted.」

I could see clearly.

The hallucinations and auditory illusions were gone.

And the surroundings were so bright that I could see far without a torch.

“Bi, Bjorn…?”

The ceiling emitted an ominously bright red light.

And the spectral monsters that used to be everywhere in the forest had completely vanished.

“…….”

The first silence I encountered since entering the Witch’s Forest.

I bent down to touch the ground.

Thud, thud, thud.

A faint vibration traveled through my fingertips.

There was no longer a need to verify further or to deny the current situation.

I knew what was causing this phenomenon.

“…It’s a Layer Lord.”

Layer Lord.

A kind of field boss in monster form.

In the game, they were referred to by the unique term ‘Floor Master’, and each floor had its own Lord.

Most, except for a few floors, would be summoned when a trigger was activated…

“Nyah, but a Layer Lord? Don’t joke with me. I heard there’s no Layer Lord on the 3rd floor!”

“It’s not that there isn’t one. It’s just that the summoning method was kept secret.”

For instance, in the Crystal Cave on the 1st floor.

It was common knowledge that moving in a group of five or more after the third day triggered its appearance.

However, the 3rd floor’s Layer Lord was different.

The royal family and guilds treated its summoning method with utmost secrecy and even passed laws to severely punish those who summoned it without prior notice.

According to a book, about 150 years ago…

“The guild kept it a secret? Why?”

“Because if some lunatic summons it, it wouldn’t just result in a few deaths.”

The Layer Lord of the 1st floor would kill the summoners and then vanish.

But the 3rd floor’s Layer Lord is different.

The Lord of Chaos, Riakis.
「Erosion begins, and all monsters within the floor disappear into chaos.」
「Creatures of chaos awaken from their slumber.」

This one impacts the entire 3rd floor…
「The Lord of Chaos, Riakis, begins to roam the floor.」

Once summoned, it roams the labyrinth, wreaking havoc until it dies.
Worse, it also blocks inter-floor travel.

「Portals temporarily deactivate due to the erosion.」
Escape to another floor becomes impossible.

Explaining this turned Misha pale.

“So, what does this mean? If it was kept secret, why is the Layer Lord appearing now?”

Ah, uh, well…

Should I tell her the truth?

I hesitated for a moment, but the decision wasn’t hard.

“It’s probably because of us.”

Better to make her an accomplice.

Whether she’s a benefactor or not.

It’s more effective for keeping the secret.

“Us? I don’t understand…”

“We burned the bodies in the hut’s stove, right? That’s one of the conditions.”

As I explained kindly, her reaction came with a delay.

“…That was the summoning method?!! Bjorn! What have you done!!”

I didn’t know it would come to this.

Even the books in the library said almost no one knew about it.

The last summoning was, what, 10 years ago?

I thought burning three bodies wouldn’t do much harm.

‘Damn it, who knew someone had already burned four…’

I cursed at the unbelievable coincidence.

But who’s to blame?

In the end, it was my fault for not assuming the worst of the worst.

So, in that sense…

“Misha, can we make a promise?”

“A promise?”

“Let’s agree never to tell anyone that we summoned the Lord of Chaos.”

It wasn’t summoned by a major clan with full preparation.

Many adventurers will surely die.

But if it becomes known that we’re the cause…

‘They’ll surely hold us responsible and demand a price.’

Perhaps realizing her predicament…

“Nyah, we, what do you mean, you’re the one who burned the bodies!”

Misha sharply drew a line.

Her desperation was palpable and every word, usually purred, was pronounced with precision.

I feel a little sad.

Once she treated me like a savior and promised to spend the rest of her life repaying me.

Now, this sudden change in her attitude left me with no choice.

I had to press the issue a bit.

“Do you think the guild will believe that? Even if they do, the outcome will be the same. To appease their anger, the more sacrifices, the better.”

“Ugh…”

Seeing her reaction, I figured I wouldn’t need to threaten her with false testimony or a mutual destruction strategy.

“Understand this and get your mind straight. Even getting back to the city alive will require good fortune.”

“…Got it. So, what should we do now?”

The answer was simple.

“Run.”

We needed to get as far away from this place as possible.

I never imagined we would leave this way, but…

‘Heading there seems the safest for now.’

It’s time to leave the Witch’s Forest.
***
Escaping this detestable forest was simple.

With the [Disorientation] status gone, we just needed to follow the compass in one direction.

The problem was the new types of monsters swarming the entire third floor.

“Bjorn, something’s coming from behind!”

“It’s a Chaos Spirit.”

For your information, these have no rank.

They neither drop magic stones nor essences.

But…

“We need to deal with it and move on.”

Chaos Spirits are aggressive monsters, and once they lock onto a target, they relentlessly follow.

“…Can we handle it ourselves?”

Misha seemed anxious, facing a monster she had never encountered before.

In this place, ignorance is akin to death.

I had learned that through countless deaths in the game.

“It’s strong, but that’s all it has. Probably one elemental attack will make it disappear, so don’t worry.”

“…Are you sure about that?”

“Yes, I read it in a book.”

“Okay.”

Reassured by my explanation, Misha tightened her grip on her holy water-enchanted spear.

She thrust it at the chaos spirit, which was following her slowly.

Boom-!

With one spear thrust, the Chaos Spirit burst apart.

Something like slime splattered on the ground, darkening the soil.

「The Chaos Spirit has been destroyed.」
「The location is being eroded.」

Stepping on that ground would cause continuous chaos damage, but we didn’t need to worry about that.

We weren’t here to hunt the Layer Lord.

After all, it had been summoned less than a day ago.

‘After today, the labyrinth will close, so we can ignore the erosion rate.’

That was the only positive aspect.

Unexpectedly, a Layer Lord had been summoned, but…

[00:01]

The 15th day had just begun.

If we can last another 24 hours, we can leave for the city—

“Help! Somebody, please help!”

Just as we were about to leave, a lone adventurer came running towards us from afar.

No companions were in sight.

But I wasn’t curious about why he was alone.

The dozens of Chaos Spirits trailing him explained his situation well enough.

“Bjorn, what should we do?”

“What’s there to think about? Run.”

I grabbed Misha’s wrist, trembling slightly, and ran in the opposite direction of the man calling for help.

We might have to take a detour because of this, but…

What else could we do?

It was better than attracting the aggro of those creatures.

“Ahh, ahhhh!”

Perhaps he was already at his limit.

A short scream later, I saw the fallen adventurer.

“Save—!”

Damn it, our eyes met.

“Bjorn…?”

“Don’t look back.”

I pulled on Misha’s wrist and kept running forward.

“No, don’t go! Plea- please!”

The despair-laden screams were swallowed by the wind, fading away.

I muttered to myself, as if to reinforce my resolve.

“Steel your heart. If our situations were reversed, do you think he would have helped us?”

“But…! It’s our fault the 3rd floor turned out like this!”

Well, I couldn’t argue with that.

‘Damn it…’

I felt filthy.

As if every facet of my humanity was being dissected.

But even this will eventually become just a fleeting emotion in hindsight.

…Let’s do what needs to be done.

‘This should be far enough.’

We had been heading south for a while before we turned eastward. The forest was riddled with eroded land and the bodies of adventurers.

As more of these sights came into view, I focused solely on moving forward.

Boom-!

Bursting the Chaos Spirits that followed us, we continued for about an hour.

And then, the forest ended.

A vast plain came into view, the landscape opening up before us.

‘I thought it would take at least 7 hours…’

Maybe we were on the eastern outskirts of the forest?

We had left the forest much earlier than expected.

‘Lucky us.’

We quickly crossed the plains and entered the Orc territories.

After a while…

“Everyone, calm down and follow the instructions!”

As expected, the place was swarming with people.

I am adding the next chapters to Patreon to raise funds for the translation and to keep the pace of the chapters up, Patrons will get 2+1 chapter updates every week until the weekend.

P.S- Don’t worry I will keep releasing the free chapters according to the schedule. Thanks a lot