Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 811

Hidden Story 3

Memories of the End was a hidden field that could be entered through Skull Island.

In the game, defeating the boss of Apocalypse Island, the Beast, was the only required task on the island. However, if you discovered and met certain hidden conditions, you could unlock additional content.

For example…

If you leave the island and go to the Arta Secret Base, you can proceed with the Snictura Raid.

Then, if you accept the next quest, defeat the ‘Beast’, the boss of Apocalypse Island, and return to Arta Secret Base, you can obtain additional rewards.

And if you refuse the additional rewards there, it opens up the raid for the true boss, the Mechanical Monster Arta………

‘I was planning to skip the Arta raid anyway, so there’s no need to think about that.’

Effectively, the only content left on this island now was the second part of the story: defeating the Beast and obtaining the additional reward.

Ah, of course, that’s assuming this guy wasn’t here.

“Hmm. At first, I thought it was due to the difference in mana concentration, but now that I look closer, the very nature of the mana contained in the air is unusual. Normally, this kind of arrangement only appears when it has been created artificially…”

Just what exactly was this guy?

Could there be another hidden chapter on this island besides the fight against the Mechanical Monster Arta?

“I’ll need to check the coordinates of this island in my original time to investigate further. If the island back then shows the same distribution, then we can assume it’s an innate characteristic of the island itself.”

In games, hidden secrets were often revealed through the casual mutterings of NPCs.

Well, in this guy’s case, I honestly don’t understand what he’s talking about.’

Mana distribution and concentration… I had no clue what any of that meant. It wasn’t like I was a wizard. Still, I was certain that taking Arta with us while completing the Beast raid was the correct route. The reason was simple.

“The center! We have to go to the center of the island! I need to observe the phenomenon up close so I can compare it when I return—”

If he kept insisting on going there, then it had to be the right choice.

“Stop complaining so much,” I warned. “The Beast isn’t going to appear just because we reach the center.”

“Pardon?”

“That’s just how it—”

“Graaaaaah!”

The Beast’s howl shook the entire island. Its savage roar echoed from every direction, making it impossible and meaningless to try to pinpoint where it came from.

[You have entered the area of Song of the End.]

I immediately signaled for the group to halt and shouted, “Prepare for battle!”

Though it had arrived much earlier than expected, the Beast had finally appeared.

The boss of Apocalypse Island, the Beast.

The method to summon it was very simple. If you remained within its territory for an extended period, it would appear naturally. I should also mention that there was no other way to call it out. Or at least, no alternate route had existed in the version of the game I played.

“Into formation………………!!”

This made me suspicious even as we hurried into position.

It appeared this quickly?

This had never happened in the game. Normally, I had to wander around for at least an hour or two before the boss showed itself. Yet this time, the moment we entered its territory, it appeared.

“Oh! Is it here?” Arta asked.

Was it true, then? Was it because of him?

Well, that’s not what I should be thinking about right now.

“Yeah, so go stand over there,” I ordered, sending Arta to the rear where it was safer.

“Yes, understood!”

Then I faced forward, my heart burning and pounding with the tension of battle.

As always, I drew in deep breaths to steady myself. It was a routine of mine, like the rituals athletes performed before a match. I breathed in and out until my body naturally began to relax, then clenched my fist. That brief moment of calm would raise my chances of victory, even if only by a little.

Rumble!

“It’s coming!”

The ground rose and rolled like waves before the Beast emerged from between the surging ripples of magma.

Boom!

Every minute, every second, mattered. Its aura skill, Song of the End, had an extremely unusual effect.

[All time is accelerated.]

That single line was the only explanation given. But just like in superhero comics, the shorter and simpler an ability’s description was, the more absurd and overpowered it tended to be. Song of the End was no exception.

[Time until death: 22:50:43]

From this moment on, the remaining time for Terminus would tick down at a much faster rate, and the damage from Eternal Scorch would also ramp up more quickly.

[Character takes continuous fire damage, and the fire damage will increase as time passes.]

The damage-reducing effect of the Orb of Fire would not be able to protect me for as long as before.

I had already decided how much time we could spend on this boss back when I made the expedition plan.

Thirty minutes.

That was our absolute limit. If we took any longer than that, we would abandon the raid and run without hesitation.

But if everything goes smoothly, we won’t need to.

The Beast was definitely a difficult boss, but it was still much easier to fight than the Snake of the End, Snictura. Of course, that was only if you already knew the proper strategy to defeat it.

Seeing the Beast appear right in front of her, Ainar shouted with strangely bright excitement, “Oh! Bjorn! Is that the thing?”

She had once made a grand speech about wanting to fight the bones she had seen on Skull Island. Apparently, that desire had not faded at all.

Honestly, I had thought she would be scared once she saw it alive.

After activating Gigantification, I watched the monster from behind my shield.

It stood about thirty feet tall, large enough to fall under the “very large” category by monster standards. Its body was also similar to the Lord of Chaos, Riakis, with a bipedal frame and a massive tail. From a modern point of view, it looked like a dinosaur.

“Graaaaah!”

It lowered its body, then roared straight at us, shaking the air around me. It was not just an ordinary roar either. It was a skill.

When hit by this skill, physical stats decrease for a certain period of time.

Although it was an area debuff, the decrease was relatively small and the five-minute time limit was also a significant restriction. Looking at this skill alone, its value wasn’t that high.

However…

[All time is accelerated.」

When combined with the effect of [Song of the End], it became more than broken enough.

“Ugh… What is this?! The strength is draining from my body…! I keep hearing strange sounds too…”

A skill that would normally take five minutes to reach full stacks now took only one.

What’s more, since the skill had no cooldown, it could be assumed that the effect would persist throughout the entire battle.

Well, it wasn’t as if I had come here without a way to counter it.

“Ugh… Do we have to fight like this?”

Why was she acting like this again? I clearly remembered explaining the expedition plan to her myself.

“Raven!”

At my brief command, Raven cast the spell she had prepared in advance.

[Alluva Raven has cast the Level 5 curse magic White Noise. You are temporarily deafened.]

The moment the magic took effect, silence filled my ears, as though I had put in earplugs in an already quiet room. It was a complete silence where I could not hear my clothes rustle, my body move, or even my own breathing.

The reason for using this spell was simple.

[Final Warning has been dispelled.]

If you used this magic, a debuff that could not be removed by any magic tool, consumable, divine spell, or purification-type ability would be removed.

And surprisingly… I had no idea why it worked. But did that really matter to a gamer like me? Gamers did not ask questions like that. We only needed to know whether something worked or not.

So it really does work.

I had discovered this tactic by chance while playing the game and assumed it was a bug. But after coming to Raphdonia and entering the labyrinth countless times, I realized that there were no such things as bugs in this game.

Still, this feels good.

I would be lying if I said I had not been a little worried. If it had failed, we would have had no choice but to abandon the raid immediately and run.

I looked back at my party members. Since the spell had plunged us into total silence, I communicated through the signals we had agreed on beforehand and continued the raid.

[Ancient Beast has cast Ruin’s Resentment]

[For a certain period of time, damage received is greatly reduced]

When I raised a clenched fist, everyone stopped attacking.

[Ancient Beast has cast devour.]

When I opened my palm and waved it back and forth, everyone except me moved away to dodge.

[Beleg Sucia di Tersia has cast Soul’s Trumpet. When summons attack the same target, additional damage is dealt.]

When I raised only my index finger, only the ranged damage dealers attacked.

[Aynar Pheneline has cast Focus Strike.]

[Erwin Fornacci di Tersia has cast Rupture.]

When I raised my index and middle fingers together, both the ranged and melee members were supposed to attack.

And when I raised only my middle finger like this…

Silence!

Everyone unleashed their strongest skills to inflict as much damage as possible.

Strange. It feels like something is missing. Is it because I can’t hear anything?

In any case, the raid was progressing smoothly.

[Ancient Beast has cast Earth Shake.]

Phase 1 ended.

[Ancient Beast has cast [Horn of the End].」

Then, after burning through enough resources to supply a small army, we safely cleared Phase 2 as well.

[Ancient Beast has cast Homecoming.]

Phase 3 was handled without any major issues either.

If I had to point out the most dangerous moment, it would be when Ainar was knocked unconscious after being hit by lightning, nearly causing us to take serious damage.

Only eighteen minutes have passed so far. We still have time.

And so, after just eighteen minutes of fighting, we reached the final Phase 4.

[Ancient Beast’s health is below 20%.]

[Slowly recovering its lost authority.]

Phase 4 had two important gimmicks to watch out for. The first was that the monster’s so-called “authority,” which we had sealed by wiping out the monsters on the island, would slowly start to return.

And the second…

[The Ancient Beast has cast the ‘Authority of Loss.’」

The second was that the first authority it used would always target the Cursed One.

Wow, it’s opening with Loss?

Surprisingly, it used its strongest authority right away. It had no cast time, and as a single-target instant-kill ability, it was impossible to block.

A hazy cloud formed around the Beast’s body before shooting toward its target.

I hadn’t mentioned it for a while, but the target had already been determined. And who was the one who gained the title of Cursed One by landing the final blow on the Skull Island boss?

Guild Master Ilya Adnus.

Of course, I hadn’t planned this raid with the intention of using the guild master as a sacrifice.

I wasn’t that cruel of a barbarian. Besides, this was the first authority it had used, and the boss was still recovering its power, so the effect would not be that strong. The authorities it used later would be much more dangerous.

Either way, even if that hit him, it wouldn’t knock him out right away. Instead, he would “lose” something he possessed.

What would it be? What would the guild master lose? His healing ability? His equipment? Or maybe one of his essences?

I quickly turned around to check on the guild master, and without realizing it, I let out a silent gasp.

Ah…

Maybe it was because of all the light sources around us, the lava, meteors, and bolts of lightning, that I could see the light reflecting off him like a mirror.

So even that can happen…

He had lost his hair.

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