Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 816

Hidden Story (8)

Perhaps it went without saying, but despite his mechanical heart, Arta could not resist the bait I had thrown his way.

[Me from the past………………?]

[Arta, didn’t you say you had some idea who I was? Didn’t you come here back when you were still human?]

[But at that time… I never encountered any living beings like you.]

[Of course you didn’t.]

[Then…]

[Your past self told me that changing the future was not impossible.]

Maybe those words were some kind passcode. Arta fell silent for a moment, as if running calculations, before slowly speaking again.

[…That this moment has changed because of my actions in the past. It is certainly not impossible. But on what basis should I believe your words?]

[I think you’re misunderstanding something.]

I cut him off once more.

And then……………….

[I’m not telling you to believe me.]

I raised the quest item he wanted, the harvested remains of the beast, and watched his reaction. As long as it was in my hands, he had no choice but to answer my questions.

[I don’t care whether you believe me or not. All I need is to get the information I want from you. And isn’t that true for you as well?]

Unexpectedly, he accepted the offer right away.

[What do you want?]

So he had chosen to judge my true intentions based on the question I asked next. Well, that suited me fine.

[First, tell me about yourself. What happened on this island? And what happened after you returned to the empire?]

I needed to hear it from him. This was a story I did not know, and I had to find out whether something was hidden within it.

[Your question is rather vague, but I will try to answer it.]

[That’s a good attitude to have.]

Arta paused for a while, then began his story.

[When the Final Day was calculated to occur on this date, there was nothing on this island. It was simply a dimension on the brink of destruction after the Origin had been damaged.]

[The Beast wasn’t here either?]

[The Beast’s existence was the greatest discrepancy between the future we observed and the future that actually arrived. May I continue?]

[Sure. I won’t interrupt anymore, so go on.]

[After finishing my observation of the future, I spent a long time pondering what had caused the end. And I concluded that it was deeply connected to the Labyrinth Project being carried out by the Empire.]

[Over time, I was able to confirm that theory. As the world inside the labyrinth continued to expand, the Power of Origin possessed by the higher dimension continued to diminish.]

Oh, I see.

[Then what exactly is the higher dimension? Ah, I’m really sorry for interrupting!]

[To put it simply, you can think of it as the more real world.]

[The real world?]

[The concepts are not exactly the same, but that understanding should be sufficient for now.]

[Then continue.]

[The first problem occurred when the Labyrinth grew larger than the higher dimension. It did not reach the point of collapse, but errors began to occur in the higher dimension.]

[After witnessing the horrifying sights in this place, I returned and protested against the continuation of the Labyrinth Project. However, no one listened to my warnings.]

Arta stood perfectly still as he recited his explanation, without so much as a single gesture.

[The Empire had no interest in what happened to the higher dimension. The Empire’s goal was the construction of paradise, and that paradise was inside the Labyrinth.]

[In fact, the Empire successfully completed the Labyrinth Project and ultimately succeeded in relocating the entire Empire into the Labyrinth.]

[But I did not leave. I abandoned my soul and became like this, a vessel that contained only knowledge, preparing for the end that would someday arrive. I believed that the moment the higher dimension ended, the Labyrinth would also collapse.]

[So time passed, and that brings us to the present…]

Since it seemed like the story was coming to an end, I added a brief comment, but Arta firmly shook his head.

[No. That too is a story of the past.]

I paused.

[What?]

[The higher dimension ended in that manner, and I failed to prevent it. As a result, I was dragged into the Labyrinth as well.]

Wait. I couldn’t make sense of what he was saying.

I should listen a little longer…

It didn’t feel like the right moment to interrupt, so I kept quiet and focused on Arta’s words.

[The land inside the Labyrinth was identical to the land where I had been born and raised. It was an almost flawless reproduction of the world itself. Aside from a select few in positions of power, the people living there did not even know that their world existed inside the Labyrinth. Of course, there were differences from the original world. To create a more perfect world, the Emperor created four systems, and they were called “gods” by the residents as they regulated and governed this world.]

[But that was when the second problem occurred.]

[The Labyrinth was not the paradise the Empire had imagined. At least, not after the higher dimension reached its end.]

[As though the end of the higher dimension had acted as a trigger, errors, both large and small, continued to occur throughout the Labyrinth.]

[One of the four systems created by the Emperor went out of control and became an enemy. The Emperor’s absolute authority over the Labyrinth also weakened. In addition, all kinds of monsters that the Emperor had never created began appearing all over the world……………….]

[And above all else, the Witch of the Land was born.]

The moment I heard that much, it felt as though someone had fired a shotgun into the back of my head.

“W, w, wait a second……”

There was too much information to process all at once, but if I had understood the general meaning of what he was saying…

[G-give me a moment to sort through this.]

If the Earth Witch had first appeared inside the Labyrinth…

Did that mean Raphdonia was inside the Labyrinth too?

***

In the end, I needed far more than a moment to process everything. Even after all that, the shock had not faded much.

The more shocking the revelation, the more I had to stay calm. Besides, it was not as though my reasoning was wrong. This was never my original world to begin with. It was a world separate from Earth. So what did it matter whether I was in the higher dimension or inside the Labyrinth?

Still, it had definitely thrown me off…

Phew. Thinking that way helped me settle down a little.

[I’m fine now. You can keep going. So, what happened after the Earth Witch was born?] I asked, as if pressing an invisible resume button.

As though he had been waiting for that cue, Arta continued immediately.

[A war broke out between the Empire and the Witch. Many things happened, but in the end, the Empire lost. To me, that was not necessarily a bad result. I believed that once the Empire vanished, the End would disappear along with it. But that was only what I believed. I had no way to prove it.]

I understood what he meant. A ninety-nine percent chance and absolute certainty were two very different things.

[So I observed the Final Day again. But for some reason, it had not changed from what I had seen before. I had to stop it. That was why I built a base on this island and continued my research… And after what felt like an eternity of study, I finally came to understand the truth far too late.]

[What truth?]

[That the End cannot be stopped.]

That single sentence contradicted everything I knew about Arta Island.

After saying that, Arta concluded the conversation.

[That is my story.]

[What? I haven’t even asked the important parts properly ye…]

[Judgment: I have sufficiently indulged your unreasonable demand. From now on, I will accept exactly three questions.]

[That’s too few…]

[There is no guarantee that you will honor our agreement once this conversation is over. Continuing to speak with someone whose identity remains unknown is inefficient. At this very moment, I may even be handing information to an enemy.]

Wait, why had his tone changed so abruptly? It was just like in the game, right before he transformed into the machine monster and went berserk.

[If refused, force will be use, use, used… used, used, used……]
Seeing him repeat the same words, as though some kind of error had occurred, sent a chill down my spine.

After all, he was a raid boss with a difficulty comparable to a ninth-floor Floor Lord. If this thing went berserk, it would be game over for sure.

[S, stop! Got it! I’ll only ask three questions, so calm down!]

[…Confirmed. Please ask your questions.]

What a sudden shift in attitude. Had his CPU rusted with age or something? I had no idea, but I quickly narrowed down the three most important questions.

[Qu, qu, quickly… quickly, quickly… quickly, quickly……………….]

How was I supposed to take my time choosing when he was acting like that right in front of me?

“First question.”

Like a man with someone on his heels, I hurriedly asked my first question.

The four systems that the Emperor had created. Raphdonia’s existence. The research center on the first underground floor. The nonhumans that ancient civilizations had never discovered. This Labyrinth where monsters appeared and people could level up.

There were countless things I wanted to ask, but for now, I pushed them all aside.

[What exactly is the Earth Witch?]

As soon as I asked the first question, the answer came back immediately.

[Earth Witch refers to the human female Ellis Groundia. She was born with the Power of Origin, presumably as one of the “errors” caused by the end of the higher dimension. Though she possessed omnipotent authority, her heart was far too human for her to be called a god.]

It was not the answer I had wanted. I had only asked such a broad question because I thought it would make him explain in more detail.

[Second question… qui, quickly… quickly… quickly……………….]

Damn it.

What was this, a countdown?

“…Second question. What is the ‘Record Stone,’ and where do I have to go to see it?”

In some ways, this question might have been even more important than the Witch.

[No relevant information available.]

“…What?”

Wait, he knew nothing, yet that still counted as one of my questions? I stared at him, dumbfounded and feeling completely cheated.

[Qui, quickly… quickly… quickly……………….]

But given the situation, I doubted protesting would change anything.

Still, the fact that he had no information on the Records Stone was information in itself.

I decided to swallow my disappointment.

[Fine, then. As you wish. This will be my last question..You said you realized there was no way to stop the End. Then what are you trying to accomplish? If you cannot stop it, why did you want to kill the Beast?]

Once again, Arta answered without delay.

[The Beast is an existence created by the Earth Witch by modifying Pilgrims in order to protect the Power of Origin. It has no connection to the End. However, Arta wished to destroy the Beast because as long as it remains alive, no one except the Witch can reach the Power of Origin. Furthermore, Arta’s goal is…]

All of a sudden, Arta’s voice cut off.

Then, after a brief silence…

[I… have spent all this time as nothing more than an observer.]

Arta’s voice reached my ears.

The mechanical quality still carried through the speakers, yet for some reason, he sounded more human than before. Had he returned to his original self? I had no way of knowing.

[I could only watch, unable to change anything with my own hands,] Arta said, his red eyes staring straight at me from the human face still attached to his mechanical body. [That is why this time, it will change… Because change is what makes us human.]

With a metallic clank, Arta stepped toward me and opened his metal palm.

[Now, hand it over.]

[Hmm… I still haven’t heard what you plan to do with it, though.]

[I will use it to create a new Labyrinth. If you intend to stop me…]

Seeing that his anger was flaring up again, I hurriedly interrupted him.

[Here, take it. I have no intention of stopping you.]

The way Arta’s eyes shifted away and then snapped back made it seem like he was confused by how readily I handed it over. Of course, I could not say for certain. It was only a feeling.

[Are there any extra rewards?] I asked shamelessly. [I’m pretty sure you originally had something you planned to give us.]

[The time you spent here is already a sufficient reward.]

Yeah, figures. Since I had reached this place through a different route, I could not receive the same rewards as in the game.

[Really? Then we’ll be leaving.]

With that, I brought the conversation to an end and left the secret base without looking back.

Afterward, we boarded the boat we had come on and hurried back toward the original island.

Splash!

Auyen looked like he had a mountain of questions for me, but perhaps out of consideration, he kept them to himself.

This allowed me to organise my thoughts and distract myself somewhat from the seasickness.

Arta…

They were clearly the same existence, yet they also felt like different beings.

Coincidentally, there was one thing I could think of regarding that gap.

‘He said he would create a new Labyrinth….!’

How ironic.

A smirk tugged at my lips. If my guess was right, then Arta would not be able to change a single thing.

“Why are you smiling like that?”

Surprised by the question, I turned to look at Auyen.

“Hmm?”

“It’s just… How should I put it? You looked like you were smiling very bitterly.”

At Auyen’s words, I gave a faint laugh and kept my mouth shut. Then I thought.

[That is why this time, it will change… Because change is what makes us human.]

What was the original Arta doing now? Had he already died, or was he still alive somewhere, waiting for someone to kill the Beast for him?

Had anything truly changed at all?

Splash!

There was no way to know.

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