Lifeline (3)

If someone asked me what the worst disaster a player could run into while playing Dungeon and Stone was, I would answer dimensional collapse without a second thought.

There was one simple reason for that.

You could never predict what would happen to you.

Once a dimensional collapse occurred, the distinctions between each floor became meaningless, and the portals that connected those floors lost their function as well.

It was as though every tile on the map had been turned into a random portal.

In game terms, every time you pressed a movement key, meaning every step you took in any direction, the area around you would change, and you would be thrown somewhere else in the labyrinth at random.

Ba-dump!

That was why, absurd as it seemed, it was not entirely impossible for me to have ended up here.

[Gate of the Abyss]

Ba-dump!

Even though I had only ever seen it as a 2D sprite in the game, I recognized that familiar stone gate by instinct.

The Gate of the Abyss…

The hope and dream of every evil spirit dragged into this otherworld.

The place that had driven Baekho Lee to burn his entire life away, all for the faintest chance of opening it.

[You have discovered the Gate of the Abyss.]

The moment that gate appeared before me, my mind went blank.

Not because I had no thoughts.

It was the opposite.

Too many thoughts were exploding in my head at once, making it impossible to focus on even one of them.

Ba-dump!

What were the odds of me ending up right in front of the Gate of the Abyss out of all the locations on the first to tenth floors of this enormous labyrinth?

Ba-dump!

Was this some kind of hidden piece I didn’t know about?

Forget that. What would happen if I took one step forward right now and opened that door?

Ba-dump!

What about the Witch of the Earth, who told me not to open it?

What about the royal family, who were clearly hiding some kind of secret?

Ba-dump!

Forget all of that. Would everything end the moment I opened that door?

Could I really return to my original world, just as Auril Gavis said?

That wasn’t what I wanted, though…

Ba-dump.

Countless thoughts flashed through my mind in an instant, but I had already reached my conclusion.

It’s meaningless anyway.

Everything I was thinking right now was pointless.

There were all kinds of traps in front of the Gate of the Abyss.

The moment you stepped outside the boundary of a tile, you had to be prepared for a total party wipe.

And right now, I didn’t even know exactly which numbered tile I was standing on.

Just landing on a safe tile among thousands of them was something I should be thanking the heavens for.

That was how I should have felt.

But still, a thought crept in.

If, by some stroke of heavenly luck, I managed to pick only the safe tiles and make it all the way to that gate, what would happen?

“Jandel.”

Amelia’s voice snapped me back to reality.

“What are you thinking so deeply about? You’ve been ignoring me.”

…Ah, she had been talking to me.

“…Sorry. I was thinking for a moment.”

“I don’t know what you were thinking about, but you need to focus from now on. The dimensional collapse has started, exactly like you said it would.”

“Understood.”

I barely managed to drag my gaze away from the gate. When I looked around again, I saw my clan members scanning their surroundings with tense expressions.

Alright, it doesn’t look like anyone was left behind.

“I can’t sense any monsters nearby.”

“That is good to hear, but… where exactly are we?”

“Was there… a place like this in the Labyrinth?”

“I don’t know. At least, I’ve never been somewhere like this before.”

Questions about this place began to spread among them, but I only told everyone to stay close and not wander off.

I gave no further explanation. There was no reason to cause unnecessary panic by telling them this was the Gate of the Abyss.

“…Mr. Parab? Do you know?”

“Haha, I have no idea either.”

As a player, Sven Parab would definitely have recognized the Gate of the Abyss. However, he played dumb, just as I did, to avoid arousing any unnecessary suspicion.

I wasn’t keeping everything bottled up alone like before, but aside from my closest and most trusted people, most of the members still didn’t know my true identity.

Therefore…

Besides, keeping quiet wouldn’t hurt us. There was no reason for me to explain anything. We weren’t going to stay here for long anyway.

As if the universe had heard my thoughts, a blinding flash of light erupted, and the surrounding space changed.

The darkness vanished, replaced by bright light and freezing winds sharp enough to cut into the skin.

Ice Rock this time…

I had arrived at the place where I once fought desperately for my life.

As the cold wind lashed against my body, I remembered the declaration I had made here.

But before anything else, I need to check on the others.

I quickly looked around and counted everyone. Thankfully, no one had been separated this time either.

“Mister!”

“Jandel!”

“…Huh?”

However, this time, a monster had appeared.

Right in front of us.

“Kyaaaaaak!”

The beast-type monster charged the moment I finished counting the clan members. But before its open jaws could reach me, Erwin loosed an arrow that pierced clean through its neck.

With a sharp hiss, the creature vanished in a burst of light, leaving only a mana stone behind.

Someone muttered blankly, “A manticore?”

It was a Level 5 monster that dropped Leap, one of my personal favorite skills.

Everyone seemed bewildered by its sudden appearance.

“Why is that thing here?”

“Wait… Are we not on Ice Rock?”

No, we were definitely on Ice Rock. There was a reason why a manticore had suddenly appeared here.

“It’s because of the dimensional collapse,” Raven explained. “Just like we were on the sixth floor a moment ago and suddenly ended up here, that monster must have been dragged here against its will too.”

Since Raven explained it for me, I had no need to say anything.

“By the way, everyone heard what Mr. Jandel said earlier, right? Gather close. Even if monsters appear around us, we have to stay as close together as possible. Otherwise, you might end up falling somewhere all by…”

Flash!

“…yourself?”

Wow. It was not even giving us time to talk.

When we opened our eyes this time, we found ourselves in a jungle thick with foliage.

There were no clear landmarks, so it was hard to tell exactly where we were. However, once we noticed how dark it was around us and looked more closely at the trees…

“It’s the Great Forest, on the Dark Continent of the seventh floor.”

Of course, our exact location did not really matter. This was a dimensional collapse. We would not stay here for long anyway.

The real problem was not where we had landed.

It was what we might run into.

“Prepare for combat!”

Unlike before, the moment we opened our eyes, the monsters around us charged as if they had been waiting for us.

「You have defeated a Deadburn.」

「You have defeated a Redeye.」

「You have defeated a Steel Hill Guardian.」

「You have defeated an Orc Shaman…」

Fortunately, the monsters were low-grade, so the battle didn’t take long to finish.

Maybe that was exactly why it happened.

“This dimensional collapse thing is easier than I expected, isn’t it?”

The damned guildmaster had just planted a death flag. Whenever someone said something like that, something even worse was guaranteed to follow.

“Shut up. It hasn’t even really started yet,” I snapped.

“Haha, there’s no need to put it like that…”

“Is this insubordination?”

“No, haha… Of course not…”

Without even waiting for him to finish, I punched the guild master right in the face.

I held back since it was only meant as a warning, but he still looked stunned at being hit so suddenly.

I glared at him and spoke clearly.

‘It hasn’t even been three minutes since the collapse began, and you already think it’ll be easy? You can think that in your head, but don’t ever say it out loud again. I’m worried your rotten mindset will spread to the others.”

“Wait, that wasn’t what I meant…”

“Then what did you mean? What if the monsters that appeared just now hadn’t been low-level? What if they had been Level 1… or even Level 2?”

I couldn’t continue.

Flash!

Another flash burst out, and the space we were standing in changed.

Once again, the location was the Dark Continent.

Judging by the scattered bones, we had likely landed near the entrance to the path leading to the Dragon Pit.

A Bone Dragon.

There was no point shouting out its location. The Level 3 monster had appeared right in the middle of our formation.

Well, maybe ‘appeared’ was not quite the right word. From its perspective, it was probably us who had suddenly appeared and surrounded it.

“Kyaaaaaaak!”

“Bethelaaaaaaaa!”

Before it could start rampaging, I immediately leapt onto its body and tried to pin it down.

What the hell, already?

Only a few seconds had passed since we were transferred, yet another flash of light covered us.

This time, I had no idea where we were. No, more accurately, I did not have the luxury of checking our surroundings.

I was too busy holding down the Bone Dragon that had been dragged along with us.

“What are you doing?! Kill this thing already!”

“There are monsters outside the formation too!”

“Team 2, handle the monsters outside! We’ll take care of the Bone Dragon!”

Thankfully, Amelia took charge, enabling us to handle the situation quickly and efficiently. We continued fighting, but before we could finish off the Bone Dragon, the field changed again.

That was one of the most irritating parts of dimensional collapse.

Damn it, this is too chaotic.

It felt like an endless monster wave simulator. The terrain kept changing, and monsters attacked us at the same time. Of course, it would not be a problem if we could kill them before the next jump.

Flash!

But when a Level 2 or Level 3 monster took too long to deal with, we had to start the next wave while still carrying that leftover burden.

Just like now.

“It’s another Level 3 monster!”

“We’ll deal with the Bone Dragon first!”

The world kept flashing in and out as the battles dragged on without end. Still, for now, we were on the lucky side. We had not run into any Level 1 or Level 2 monsters yet.

Flash!

We even ran into reinforcements.

“Anabada Clan?”

“We’ll take care of the rest, so you handle that side!”

“Oh, alright!”

I recognized them by their emblem. They were the Red Steel Clan.

They had entered the labyrinth with forty-two members, but now only eighteen remained. It seemed they had not stayed as tightly grouped during the dimensional collapse as we had.

“Ah… Ahhh!”

One of the Red Steel Clan members rolled aside to avoid a monster’s attack. In the next instant, however, his body vanished as if he had rolled straight into an invisible portal.

“Damn it! Johnson got taken!”

“Don’t go after him! Shit, it’s already too late!”

This was another consequence of the dimensional collapse.

Although we could not see them, invisible walls surrounded us.

The moment someone crossed one of those boundaries, they would be transported to another area without any flash of light. Unless they were extremely lucky, returning to their original location was practically impossible.

[You have defeated a Frost Wolf.]

[You have defeated an Ice Golem.]

[You have defeated a Beldinos. EXP +7]

[You have defeated a Storm Gush.]

[You have defeated an Orc Hero.]

Still, thanks to the help of the other clan caught up in the dimensional collapse, we were able to steadily take care of the monsters attacking us.

We finally had a little time to breathe.

“It must be fate that we met like this. Allow us to at least introduce…”

Damn it.

Before we could rest, another flash of light struck.

Since the Red Steel Clan had been standing a short distance away from us, we were separated from them without even getting to say goodbye.

[You have defeated an Akeltas.]

[You have defeated a Slayer Knight. EXP +7]

[You have defeated a Garcian.]

[You have defeated a Luture Talismancer…]

This continued for quite some time. The field would change in a flash of light, throwing us into a new location with new monsters. Then, when the next flash came, any monsters we had failed to kill would follow us, adding to the chaos.

Grrrrrk!

At one point, we were transported into the depths of the sea and had to fight harder than we ever had before.

“Hold on just a little longer!”

We spent what felt like an eternity clinging close together while resisting the crushing currents.

“Huh…?”

“I don’t think I see any more of them.”

“I-is it over?”

Even after we defeated every monster around us, the world did not flash white again. Everything had been so hectic that I had not noticed it right away.

I finally released the breath I had been holding.

“How long has it been since we last teleported?”

“Uh… I think about ten minutes…?”

Okay, then…

“Oh, is that it? It was easier than I thought!” Aynar cheered without thinking.

I almost scolded her, saying she had no idea what she was talking about, but I let it pass.

There were more important things to focus on. I even ignored the guild master, who was looking at me pitifully as if I had treated him unfairly, and picked up a pebble from the ground instead.

I tossed it forward.

The stone skipped across the ground, bounced, rolled, and did not vanish or fall into some unseen gap in the distance.

“Is it… Is it over?”

I nodded at Raven’s question.

“Yeah.”

The first wave was over.

***

Foreshock, aftershock, main shock.

Just as earthquakes could be divided into those three stages, dimensional collapse also had several phases.

Right now, we were between waves.

It was a brief window of safety known as the Blank Period.

“According to records left behind by people who survived dimensional collapse, the length of the Blank Period always varied, but each one lasted at least eight hours,” Raven explained.

“Then… can we rest now?”

“Well, as long as nothing happens before then.”

“Huh? Didn’t you just say we’re in the ‘blank period’ or something?!”

At Aynar’s question, Raven smiled awkwardly and shrugged.

“If it were that peaceful, it would have been called the Rest Period instead of the Blank Period.”

“Oh, I see! Explain it in simpler terms!”

“…We’re safer than before, but we’re still in danger. We don’t know where we are, and all kinds of monsters must have been scattered onto this floor too. There could even be a Level 1 monster wandering around somewhere. Or something worse.”

I smirked, choosing to ignore how calmly she had said something so terrifying, and looked around.

“Raven, do you really not know where we are?”

“What? Oh!”

Only then did she seem to realize it.

“The Burning Forest!”

It was a place that held a certain significance for us.
***

The Burning Forest was the field that allowed entry into the special field, Miladon, which could be entered by using a byproduct of Milaroden, a monster that appeared in the Great Demon Realm on the fifth floor.

[You have activated Orb of Fire.]

This was also the place where I had obtained the Orb of Fire, which I was still using.

“From what I can tell… you don’t plan on sitting down and resting.”

“Eight hours is too long to waste just resting. If we meet another group of adventurers, we might be able to join forces with them too.”

“Well… that’s true.”

After catching our breath, I led the group towards the Burning Forest, where the Orb of Fire could be found.

It’ll be useful to have another one saved up, now that we’re operating as two teams.

As we moved, monsters that normally should never have appeared here kept blocking our path. Still, none of them were dangerous enough to be a serious threat.

Fwoosh!

The constant fire damage wasn’t bad enough to worry about either. The Orb of Fire handled it well enough, even without stacking Cold Blood on top of it.

“We’re almost there.”

After passing through the trees and entering the heart of the Burning Forest, a massive monolith came into view.

For the record, this obelisk was merely a landmark and had no special function in the game. That was why I had used it merely as a guidepost when searching for the hut where the Orb of Fire lay dormant.

“But… was it always this white?”

Apparently, I was not the only one who felt that something was strange.

“I think there’s something written on it too…”

After hearing Raven’s words, I walked closer to the stone to inspect it.

“Huh?”

A woman stepped out from beside the monolith. Her clothes looked far too ordinary to be mistaken for adventurer’s gear.

[Uwaaaaaah!]

In her arms was an infant, crying at the top of its lungs.

[You were here? I’ve been looking for you!]

A man appeared behind them and called out to the woman.

[Let’s go home already, Tarvian!]

And astonishingly, he called her by a name I recognized

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.