Rank 1

Accidents during raids were nothing out of the ordinary.

No matter how long you’ve played or how much know-how you’ve accumulated—no, rather, it’s because I’ve played this game for so long that I know it all too well.

Accidents are, by nature, unavoidable.

The very design of the game [Dungeon & Stone] was built that way from the start.

In combat, accidents are bound to happen, and those accidents always involve the ‘death of a companion character.’

That was simply how the game worked. You replaced fallen allies, pressed on towards the Gate of the Abyss and refused to let casualties slow you down.

Like now.

[Snictura has cast Seed of Destruction.]

[Seed of Destruction].

Seed of Destruction was Snictura’s basic ability, dealing unavoidable damage to a random enemy within range.

Even if it was only a basic ability, it still belonged to a Level 1 monster. Its power was absurd, and it was especially devastating if the target wasn’t a tank.

“Uh?”

A brief cry of confusion came from somewhere behind me.

Boom!

An explosion followed a second later.

Who got hit?

I had no idea, but I didn’t look back. My job was to prevent the situation from getting any worse, so I lifted my shield and charged straight at Snictura.

‘It has slipped out a little’

Realizing that Snictura had drifted slightly away from the center, I forced the monster back into position. Only after taking that emergency action did I hear who had been hit.

“Commander, Mr. Tersia was hit!”

Lilith Marone’s cry was filled with urgency.

Tersia…?

My heart dropped for a moment.

Tersia? Wait, she said “Mister”…

Marone would call Erwin “Miss Tersia,” not “Mister.” And since Elementalization was still active, there was only one person that could mean.

Beleg Shusia di Tersia.

Erwin’s maternal uncle and a new clan member who had joined our clan for the sake of obtaining the Stone of Resurrection.

“He took a potion, but his condition is bad!”

Like true veterans, the members kept feeding me status updates without waiting for orders. From their reports alone, it was clear that things had taken a turn for the worse. However…

“He’ll die if we don’t use Divine Power!”

Should I send our only healer to treat the backline?

Honestly, I hesitated over that choice.

If our sole healer was pulled away from here, the burden on the frontline would grow heavier, and that could lead to even more accidents.

If another accident happens, we might get wiped out.

Even though this was a fight decided by physical strength alone, Snictura was still a Level-one monster. If the raid collapsed, none of us might make it out alive.

So now I had three choices.

Save Beleg while taking on the risk.

Ignore him and succeed in the raid.

Or give up everything and turn back.

[Beleg Shusia di Tersia’s health has reached 0%.]

[Beginning countdown.]

I had to make a decision quickly.

It was better to make the wrong choice than to make no choice at all. Timing mattered in everything, and when that timing slipped away, the leader bore all the consequences.

Decision.

Once again I had to decide

“Abandon Snictura. Everyone, retreat!”

I made my decision quickly.

It was obvious, wasn’t it?

I wanted that bastard’s essence, but today isn’t the only day. Besides, even if we killed it, there was no guarantee that its essence would drop.

But the moment I settled on my decision, a hiss like escaping gas sounded out, and the entrance we had used sealed shut.

Do you intend to watch the end of the world just to save a single person?]

…This crazy bastard.

[Kill that snake, survivors of the fallen empire. For this world, and for yourselves.]

My options were now reduced to two.

***

Our escape route had been cut off.

This had never happened in the game, so it was my first time facing this situation. Normally, if something went wrong during the raid, you could simply flee from the Arta Secret Base.

So, what was happening?

“It’s too sturdy! Level-five magic isn’t even scratching it! We’d need a rank-one spell to force it open!”

The exit was blocked.

[Open the door while I’m still asking nicely, you damn mechanical bastard.]

[…I cannot watch the end of the world happen.]

[No matter what you do, we’re not killing that thing, so open it right now!]

[If you fail to eliminate that monster, everything will end anyway.]

The half-threat, half-negotiation failed as well.

Anger rose to the back of my throat, but I forced it down and assessed the situation with a clear head.

My three options had instantly been reduced to two.

Risk everyone to save Beleg, or sacrifice Beleg to increase the success rate of the raid?

[This is an opportunity to understand what sacrifice is. People of the Empire, even in your final moments, burn bright and light up the world.]

I wanted to smash every single speaker, but that wouldn’t change anything.

The situation had already happened. Now, I had to choose.

And then…

“I take back the retreat order. Everyone, return to your positions!”

In truth, I already knew which choice was correct. Now that things had turned out this way, abandoning Beleg and successfully finishing the raid was the right call—

“Ah…”

This was probably the condition that caused the exit to seal: attempting to leave while the raid could still be cleared.

If so, it also explained why I had never experienced this situation before.

In a situation like this, I would never have chosen to retreat. Not even once out of a hundred times.

I would have simply abandoned one person and continued the game.

Yes, if I had been playing a game.

Boom!

The moment I blocked Snictura’s tail with my shield, a conversation I had once had with Beleg flashed through my mind.

He had said:

[…I need the Resurrection Stone. For me to live.]

I couldn’t get that hollow look in his eyes out of my mind. It was as though he had no will to live at all. No, more than that, as though death itself would be a relief.

Maybe…

That thought suddenly crossed my mind.

Maybe abandoning him here would be the better path for both of us.

Kwaaaang!

Another impact slammed into my shield, snapping me back to my senses.

…Enough rationalizing.
Back then, when I saw him like that, I wanted to correct that twisted way of thinking. That was why I allowed him to join my clan.
Yes, so…

“Parav! Use all your remaining divine power on Beleg.”

“But…”

“I’ll somehow handle the front. So you make sure Beleg survives, no matter what.”

Although I spoke to the members with conviction, I wasn’t sure if this was the right choice.

If someone was badly hurt because of this decision, or if someone died, I would probably regret it.

Still, that was something for my future self to deal with. This was not the time to worry about a future that might never arrive.

I had to trust my instincts and push ahead, just like any reliable barbarian warrior would.

“Bethel—RAAAAAAA!”

I roared out a battle cry and charged forward, fully aware that closing the distance with Snictura would place even more pressure on me.

‘Actually, that’s better.’

In other words, the burden on everyone else would be reduced by the same amount.

Boom

Snictura seemed alarmed by how close I had gotten, and its movements grew noticeably more chaotic. It lashed out with its tail, tried to ram me with its massive head, and even opened its jaws wide several times as if to swallow me whole.

I poured all my concentration into avoiding its attacks, deflecting what I could with my shield. Even so, some blows slipped through. Whenever I was struck head-on and thrown back, my allies immediately moved in to cover for me.

Before long, the damage started accumulating. I got off with only broken ribs and shattered knees, but the other frontline members, who lacked my Poison Immunity bonus, were in far worse shape. Their skin was dissolving, and dark blotches were spreading across their bodies.

Yet despite those efforts—

「Beleg Shusia di Tersia’s health has recovered above 1%.」
[Ending countdown.]

There were no signs of Beleg’s condition improving at the back. The reason was simple.

[Beleg Shusia di Tersia is afflicted with Poisoning (Highest).]

[Health has reached 0%.]
[Beginning countdown.]

Even if his health was restored, it immediately dropped again, making it all meaningless.

However, that didn’t mean the effort was meaningless.

At the very least, it could keep him alive until the poison was purged. As long as divine power was poured into him, the poison would eventually be purified.

‘The problem is whether we can hold out until then…!’

I glanced at the frontliners around me. They were in even worse condition than Beleg, who was coughing up black blood but showed none of the obvious wounds covering the others.

At this rate, everyone is in danger.

Even if we succeeded in saving Beleg, it wouldn’t be surprising if someone else died.

No, at this point, I was not even sure whether the raid could succeed at all.

[It is still not too late. Change your mind, person of the Empire.]

It was a simple truth of this world that no one could keep everything they wanted. When things reached their worst, what mattered most was staying calm enough to make the right decision in an instant.

Yes, so…

All or nothing.

If I was going to gamble anyway, then it was only right to bet everything I had.

“We’re finished with Snictura! Anyone still able to move, spread out and smash every machine nearby!”

It was time to roll the dice.

***

Unfortunately, Arta, who only understood the ancient language, did not understand my order. Still, that did not matter much. If an intelligent being was watching, intent could be communicated through actions just as well as words.

Crack!

Boom!

Bzzzt, bzzzt, crackle—!

The moment I gave the order, my allies spread out and started wrecking every machine around them. That was when Arta finally shouted, sounding visibly alarmed.

[What are you doing!]

[S-stop! Have you gone mad?!]

[Stop your subordinates right now…!]

I had only one thing to say.

[You should have opened the door when I asked nicely.]

[Are you saying you do not care if the world ends? You selfish people of the Empire! Even now, it is not too—]

[That’s my line. It’s still not too late. Open the door, you machine-man bastard.]

Ah, of course, the door did not open.

Arta likely judged that my hostility had a specific target, and that I had no real intention of blowing them up along with us.

Beeeep! Beeeeep!

Soon, as the machines broke apart, the emergency sirens that had stopped began ringing again.

Whirrr!

Something powered down with a low hum, and every sound in the facility went silent as the interior lights flickered out. A moment later, red emergency lights began blinking on.

And then…

Crackle—!

I did not know who had touched what, but—

[The mana core has been damaged.]

[Emergency Stabilization Module deactivated.]

The moment that announcement rang out, wind started rushing toward the massive hole at the center of the testing site.

A violent gale surged inward, as though it meant to swallow everything around it.

“I-is this okay?”

“It’s fine, so keep going!”

At some point, the voices trying to stop us fell silent, and the emergency sirens stopped roaring as well.

And then…

[The divine artifact’s seal has been released.]

[The energy of the earth is erupting.]

The suction stopped, and the wind began blasting violently out from the hole instead.

[Field Effect — Earth’s Core has been applied.]

[The origin of the earth grants all authority.]

[All resources possessed by characters are fixed at 100%.]

Enough playing by brawl rules.

「Character has cast [Gigantification].」

Now, it’s time for a full-build fight.

Continue reading more chapters at henprogressive.com

Please join here, I need supporters to help me continue translating Surviving game as a barbarian and Lee Gwak
If it doesn’t work support me here buymeacoffee.com/hennoveltranslations. There are advanced chapters for supporters as well.