Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 817

Lifeline 1

“Bjorrrrrn…………!!”

“I’m glad you returned safely……”

“Auyen, you worked hard as well.”

“Hahaha. It was nothing, Madam… ahem, Ms. Raines. Being able to help the Captain is my only honor.”

When we returned to the cave, the waiting members came over to welcome us.

“So, Jandel, did you get what you were after?”

“To some extent. Did anything happen here?”

“Nothing happened here. Though everyone was a little restless…”

I had been worried, but aside from them being unable to rest properly because of Final Day, it seemed nothing major had happened.

“So… what happens now? To be honest, I’ve had a really bad feeling for a while…” Parav asked, trembling slightly.

It was not a good sign. His reaction made my suspicion that the dimensional collapse was drawing near feel even more likely.

“Yeah, I agree with Parav. You told us to prepare, but you still haven’t told us what we’re preparing for. I think it’s time you explained.”

I let out a sigh. Should I tell them or not? I hesitated for a moment, but only for a moment.

“I found out that a dimensional collapse may happen soon.”

It was only a brief statement of fact, but silence instantly fell over the group. A second later, chaos erupted.

“Pardon?”

“But you said you got information about it, right? What does that mean? Did you hear it from that person who came from the past?”

“No, more importantly, when is it going to happen?” Raven’s question cut through the commotion and forced me to answer honestly.

“Amelia,” I called. “How long has it been since you used Final Day?”

“About twenty hours.”

“Then it should happen in roughly four hours, assuming the information I got is accurate.”

“Four hours?! That is far too soon! Why are you only telling us something this important now? And why did you go all the way out there when we barely had any time left?” Raven cried, horrified.

“There was a good enough reason.”

“No, then you should at least properly explain what that good reason was—!”

Just as Raven was about to flare up, Amelia intervened.

“Stop, mage.”

“…What?”

“Jandel said there was a good reason. That is enough.”

It was a rather fascinating sight.

I was honestly a little surprised. If Raven had not been here, Amelia would probably have been the one questioning me. Then again, maybe she only did that when we were alone.

“Jandel is our leader. And what you are doing right now is disturbing the order of the group. If you were in the military, you should know exactly what I am trying to say.”

“……I’m sorry. That was my mistake.” Raven hesitated under Amelia’s firm reprimand.

It seemed that no one here could really stand up to Amelia. Since she had used the stick, it was now my turn to offer the carrot, whether that was true or not.

“Don’t be too hard on her, Emily. Not just Raven, everyone must have been wondering the same thing. To answer briefly, I obtained the information about the dimensional collapse before we left for the secret base. However, I judged that nothing would change anyway, so I went to the secret base to gather even a little more information.”

“What do you mean nothing would change?”

“Think about it. The dimensional collapse is going to happen today. But what difference would leaving this place a little earlier make? The sixth floor is already in complete chaos now that the Lord of the Floor has appeared.”

None of the members had anything to say to that. Silence settled over them until Kaislan stepped forward as if speaking on everyone’s behalf.

“So, do you have a new plan?”

I smirked. “No, nothing like that.”

The conversation I had at the secret base had not been about how to overcome the dimensional collapse, and besides, we had no real method of doing so.

“But are you all going to lie down and die just because we do not have a plan? We will face it head on. That is what explorers do.”

Just like we always had.

This time, I would do everything I could to save them all. If there was anywhere more dangerous, I would be standing there.

But I didn’t say that out loud. I didn’t need to.

“I will always trust you and follow you, Captain.”

“Hah… I do not know what reckless thing you are planning this time…”

“Enough already… This time, please stop putting yourself forward so much, okay?”

Everyone here, except maybe Guild Master Beleg, who had entered the labyrinth with me for the first time, was a member of my clan who trusted me.

Well, there was one more exception.

“Hmm… For someone telling us to just rush in, weren’t you ready to give up on everything not too long ago?” Kaislan asked in an exaggeratedly teasing voice.

He was clearly trying to make fun of me, but his question was still worth answering.

“I did. So cheer up, everyone.”

Kaislan tilted his head, puzzled by my response. “Huh?”

Ignoring him, I looked over the group and said, “When a barbarian says he is going to face something head on, it means he has already decided that it can be faced head on.”

Even if the sky came crashing down, there would still be a hole somewhere for us to crawl out through.

***

「You have entered the Great Sea of the 6th Floor.」

***

About four hours before the dimensional collapse, we left the Memories of the End, a name that felt fitting after everything we had experienced there, and returned to the original Skull Island.

Well, maybe “returned” was not the right word.

Splash!

The portal spat us out before vanishing as if its job was finished, throwing us into a deep, pitch black darkness.

As expected, the entire cave system was underwater.

But that was not a problem for us.

After all, if we had known this might happen and still failed to prepare for it, then the real problem would have been our intelligence.

As I had instructed, Raven used magic to create a sphere of light the moment we came out of the portal. Once our sight returned, we communicated through hand signals while attaching the rope hooks to our bodies.

I call this the Anabada School Fish Formation.

It was a formation designed specifically for underwater movement. As long as the person at the front swam toward the destination, the rest of the group could be pulled along.

Incidentally, I was the one at the front. Barbarians could not swim, but compared to other races, they had a much easier time walking along the seafloor.

Thud! Thud!

After activating Giantification, I strode forward against the current with steady steps, as if I were climbing a mountain. Since we had cast diving magic on everyone before entering the portal, we did not have to worry about breathing for a while.

Thud!

Once we left the cave, I saw all of Skull Island sunken beneath the sea. Unlike the submerged city of Atlantis, which had a calm and mysterious atmosphere, the drowned island looked as if it had been swallowed by a storm.

Swoosh!

The currents outside were violent, incomparable to what I had felt inside the cave, and the water was filled with drifting debris.

‘I’ll have to change my plan.’

Despite using [Giantification], I couldn’t withstand the swirling torrent and my body began to float. I managed to grab the ground and steady myself, but the rocks, trees, and other debris spinning around us made it almost impossible to move properly.

So I discarded Plan A, which had been to walk to a safe spot and then summon the ship.

Splash!

We summoned the boat at once, and I climbed onto its hull and hugged a pillar with all my strength.

After all, the ship of our Anabada Clan was a high-level vessel equipped with a mana propulsion device. It had been built using top quality buoyant wood, and its buoyancy had been further strengthened by an Empower Buoyancy spell cast over the entire boat.

Swooosh!

In other words, the moment it was summoned underwater, it shot towards the surface like a piece of foam forced deep beneath the water.

Before long, the world grew brighter and I took a deep breath of air.

“Auyen, what is the condition of the ship?”

“The sails are destroyed, and the mana propulsion system has suffered heavy damage! At this rate, all we can do is stay afloat…”

“That is enough.”

“…Pardon?”

“As long as we can float, that is good enough.”

After checking on my allies, I finally took a proper look around.

Calling the rain “heavy” did not do it justice. It felt as though the heavens had split open and were pouring everything down upon us. The ocean itself seemed to have risen with the clear intention of claiming its prey, and the waves surged around us like tsunamis.

As for the falling meteors and lightning, those were caused by Final Day, so I ignored them.

Why did that guy have to be summoned right before the collapse?

The environmental effects around us were all happening because the Lord of the Sixth Floor had been summoned. Most Floor Lords had a special effect that spread across the entire floor once they appeared, and this one was no different.

[Lord of Tears, Tetrasea, awakens from a long slumber.」

The instant he was summoned, rain began falling across the entire sixth floor, drowning every island beneath the water.

[All waves head toward the Island of Beginnings.]

After the islands remained submerged for long enough, the waves would turn into tsunamis and sweep every adventurer on the sixth floor toward one place.

The Golden Ghost had probably anticipated this, which was why he had left before the island was submerged. After all, a few islands remained safe even after the Lord of Tears was summoned.

“It is a bit surprising that he knows such high-level information, though.”

Anyway, that was not important.

Now that the “wave pattern” had already started, it was too late to find a safe point and take shelter.

In the first place, even if we did, it would be meaningless.

“Because the dimensional collapse is going to begin anyway.”

Yes, so……………….

“Captain? The mana propulsion device is also broken, so we cannot control the ship—”

“It’s fine, so stay still.”

“Pardon?”

“I told you earlier. As long as it can float, that is enough.”

I leaned back and watched as our boat rocked and swayed with the waves, carrying us toward the place where the Lord of the Floor awaited.

“If we keep doing this, won’t we soon end up where the Floor Lord is………………?” Raven asked cautiously, looking at me. Perhaps because Amelia had scolded her earlier, she sounded a little less confident this time.

“That is fine. Getting there is the goal.”

“Oh, so you did have a plan?” she breathed, sounding much more relieved.

I did not bother answering and remained silent.

Raven did not press me any further either.

And as time passed……………….

“Oh! There’s a ship over there!”

“It looks like they’re panicking over there.”

“Of course they are. The islands are sinking, and the waves are this violent. How could anyone stay calm?”

Soon, more and more ships came into view, all of them swept along by the waves just like us. Unlike us, however, most of them were desperately trying to break free from the waves instead of letting themselves drift.

It’s useless. Resisting won’t let them escape.

That did not mean their struggle was completely pointless, though. It slowed down the speed at which they were being dragged away. That was also why we were able to meet them here instead of only seeing them at the island.

“There… There are so many ships!”

Carried by the waves, we finally reached our destination.

Shwoooooo!

A massive whirlpool churned violently, as if it were trying to swallow all the water on the sixth floor. Around it were hundreds of ships, each one trapped in its pull and dragged along its orbit.

I recognized the clan flags flying on the ships, but none of them belonged to any truly famous clans.

Well, if they got dragged here, that means they’re small fry.

The top ranking clans would have either already climbed to the seventh floor or found one of the safe islands as soon as the Lord of the Floor was summoned.

Still, once the collapse began, everyone would be standing on the same ground.

“The Anabada Clan! That’s the Anabada Clan’s flag!” someone shouted from a nearby ship as we passed by.

“The Anabada Clan? You mean the one led by Viscount Jandel?”

“The great explorer who defeated the Lord of Terror and carved his name on the Stone of Honor!”

“W-we’re saved!”

I understood why they were calling out to me with such desperate hope. They had been trapped here, with nothing to do but wait for death once the second phase began. To them, my arrival must have looked like a lifeline sent down from the heavens.

“But why is he here? He should have the ability to escape this place!”

“Are you serious? This is Baron Jandel. No, Viscount Jandel!”

“He’s the hero who defeated the Lord of the Floor on the third floor to save other adventurers. He must have come here to save us too!”

“We just have to follow his orders! That’ll raise our chances of survival!”

“Yeah!”

Before I could even speak to them, they began steering their ships closer, trying to attach themselves beside us. I did not dodge or push them away.

After all, these hundreds of ships were one of the reasons I had not faced the dimensional collapse inside the Memories of the End.

“Are you the captain?”

“Yes! I am Melder, leader of the Small Hand Clan, Viscount Jandel! From now on, we will trust and follow only you. Please, just give us your orders!”

“I won’t be giving orders, but I do have one question.”

“Yes, anything. I will answer to the best of my ability.”

“Do you have a wizard who can use Dimensional Gate?”

Captain Melder faltered at the urgency in my voice.

“Huh?”

Yeah. Of course they didn’t.

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