Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 824

Every Man for Himself (1)

90% immunity to fire damage.

Moreover, it did not apply only to me. It covered the area around me as well.

Those two simple facts carried enormous meaning.

Think about it.

No matter how deep the floor was, any fire-based rift would basically become a free clear. Likewise, even a Level 1 monster would no longer be frightening as long as it relied on fire-based attacks.

Well… theoretically, at least.

Most rifts could not be identified until we entered them, so it was hard to deliberately choose only fire-type rifts.

On top of that, Level 1 monsters only appeared on the 9th and 10th floors. With our current stats and builds, charging straight there with nothing but faith in the Orb of Fire would be far too risky.

…Maybe the Library on the first underground floor?

For a moment, I thought of that place where we could summon anything we wanted. But I quickly pushed the idea aside. We had barely escaped from there last time, and we even had to make a contract never to return.

Since I had already signed that contract and paid the price, there was no telling what would happen if I went back—

No, wait.

A conversation I once had with the “village chief,” now Jerome Saintred, flashed through my mind.

“Sometimes after ten to fifteen years, and other times after thirty or forty years, corpses like this would fall from the sky.”

“And I suspect it may be connected to dimensional collapses.”

The chief had even shown me explorers’ journals recovered from those corpses as evidence.

Those journals contained accounts written by explorers who had survived dimensional collapses.

There was already a precedent for this.

If I kept getting tossed around by the dimensional collapse, I might eventually end up back on the first underground floor.

Of course, there was no guarantee that would happen. It would only be the case if I was extremely unlucky.

However…

Unlucky…

Just thinking about that made my blood pressure rise.

Badump!

If I really did end up back there…

What would happen then?

Without help from the Royal Army, our chances of surviving with our current members would be close to zero.

Stop worrying about things that haven’t happened yet.

I forced myself to cut off that line of thought.

Rip!

“Over there! Another collapse is happening…!”

That brought our rest to an end.

“Everyone, stay close to me…!”

For now, our top priority was surviving until tomorrow.

***

The dimensional collapse wasn’t a one-time event.

Contrary to what most explorers believed, it progressed gradually.

Sometimes it lasted several days.

Sometimes as long as two weeks.

That was the true nature of dimensional collapse.

So this is the second wave…

No one could predict how many waves a single dimensional collapse would produce. Seven waves was considered short.

I think the highest number I’ve ever seen was fifteen…

Back then, I had been using a character strong enough to move around the 9th floor. On top of that, I had been fairly lucky during that dimensional collapse and had run into several fortunate events.

Even so, my party was wiped out in the end.

The highest number of waves I had ever survived was fourteen. That record was from my final playthrough.

After surviving fourteen waves, I learned and gained a lot. These experiences formed the foundation that enabled me to reach the Gate of the Abyss.

…And then I got dragged into this world.

Damn it.

I should’ve never touched that game. Why did this have to be the game I got so obsessed with?

…Isn’t it a little too late to complain about that now?

After waking up in the body of a barbarian warrior, I had gone through many things. I had set out on countless adventures and defeated countless enemies. Across this vast labyrinth, I had found many precious treasures, and I had also lost many precious things.

But through all of those experiences…

Not as Hansu Lee, but as Bjorn Jandel.

I made my choice.

Whether I liked it or not, I had decided to live in this world, a world filled with things precious to me.

And so…

“Bethel-raaaa!”

I roared the name of the ancestral god and brought my hammer down.

Crunch!

During the early stage of the collapse, there were not enough high-ranking monsters to break our formation.

We were not tired yet either, so the situation was not especially dangerous.

Vwoong!

Well, our surroundings kept shifting at random while we fought, and new monsters kept appearing out of nowhere, so we could not afford to relax.

Still, it was nice seeing my experience shoot up again.

[You have defeated a Valantis Mage. EXP+5]
[You have defeated a Valantis Knight. EXP+4]
[You have defeated a Valantis Fixer. EXP+3]
[You have defeated a Valantis Court Knight. EXP+6]
[You have defeated a Valantis Wandering Minstrel…]

The Mausoleum of Valantis.

A rift of the 7th floor’s Dark Continent that you could only enter through extraordinary luck.

Normally, we would have needed to make a proper exploration plan and attempt it several times before reaching this place.

I gained over 200 experience in just fifteen minutes…

As expected of a rift famous for its many elite monsters, we were able to gather a huge amount of experience in a short time. The same thing continued throughout the entire dimensional collapse.

[You have defeated Ice Abomination. EXP +4]

[You have defeated Frozen Mimic. EXP +4]

[You have defeated Ice Core. EXP…]

This experience would be incredibly useful.

After all, the higher an explorer’s level became, the harder it was to reach the next one.

This would become vital nourishment for our Anabada Clan.

CRACK!

Assuming we survived.

“Gather up!”

Just as I was crushing the skulls of cold-attribute monsters emerging from the blizzard, the area around us shifted again.

Fwoosh!

Flames surrounded us from every direction. For a moment, I wondered if we had been sent back to that burning forest.

But…

This is different.

I quickly looked around. Even though we were standing in the middle of fire, a few things stood out to me.

The floor beneath us was made of hard black stone tiles, far darker than something merely charred by flames. When I raised my head, I saw a ceiling overhead.

We were not outside.

“Haah… Where the hell are we this time?”

Then I spotted several strange headstones among the dancing flames, and I realized where we were.

“The Red Dragon’s Heart.”

“…WHAAAT?!”

It seemed Raven was the only one who recognized the name, so I quickly explained.

“It’s one of the 8th-floor rifts.”

The guardian of this Rift was the Red Dragon. It had Dragon Fear as a passive ability, meaning a party needed to be made up of at least level 9 explorers to even attempt a raid.

Fortunately, we didn’t need to worry about that.

After all, we hadn’t fallen directly into the boss room.

Since we’re indoors, this must be one of the corridor sections.

Thankfully, we’d landed in the passage just before the boss chamber. In other words, we were around the third chapter of the rift.

And the monsters that appeared here were…

BOOOOM!

Giants that dropped beads of flame like sweat droplets with every step they took.

“Lava Giants!”

Incidentally, Lava Giants were Level 4 monsters, and I had technically encountered one before. Regal Vagos, the Dragon Slayer, had possessed the essence of a Lava Giant.

“…Seeing so many of them at once, especially with how huge they are, really makes it feel like the end of the world.”

“What are you talking about? Are you scared?”

“Not at all.”

“Be careful when you see steam rising above their heads! That means they’ve activated Blast Furnace! Also, they’re immune to both cold and fire damage, so don’t use either!”

Looking at those giants brought back memories of the past.

Back then, I had been so terrified of the Dragon Slayer…

“…They’re easier to deal with than I expected!”

“They’re Level 4 monsters, but they’re slow!”

“Stay focused!”

“Don’t let your guard down!”

Aynar, Kaislan, and Sven Parab effortlessly held back the Lava Giants charging from every direction.

「Alluva Raven has cast the Level 5 offensive spell [Lightning Spear].」

「Beleg Shushia di Tersia has cast [Horn of Souls].」

「Lyris Marone has cast the Level 3 summoning spell [Stone of Earth].」

「All spells cast within the area are converted into Physical attribute damage.」

「Erwin Fornacci di Tersia has…」

While the vanguard held the line, the backline unleashed their overwhelming firepower.

[You have defeated Lava Giant. EXP +6.]

The giant closest to us fell to the ground and scattered into light.

Then…

[You have defeated Lava Giant.]

[You have defeated…]

The other Lava Giants soon followed.

It was only natural. With our current setup, Level 4 monsters were easy prey.

[All fire damage within 15m is reduced by 90%.]

On top of that, I had the Orb of Fire. The Lava Giants’ fire abilities were practically useless against us.

Of course, their punches still dealt pure physical damage.

“Slow, too slow! Hahaha!”

“P-Pheneline! Please calm down! If you keep jumping around like that…”

“Behel-LAAAAAA!”

But they were so slow that even Aynar, excited as she was, could dodge them.

Hmm, maybe not all of them.

Smack!

The moment that thought crossed my mind, Aynar took a punch to the side.

“Ack!”

“Fenelin…!”

“Hahaha! I’m fine!”

But thanks to her toughness, she simply ignored the occasional hit and kept fighting.

Whew… A chance to catch our breath.

Since I had been staying tense the whole time because of the constant changes in our surroundings, I decided to adjust our strategy.

Maybe things would have been different without my cheat-like evolved Orb of Fire, but with it, I could probably clear the Red Dragon’s Heart alone in my current state.

That meant there was only one thing we needed to do.

“Conserve as much strength as possible and focus on recovery!”

We needed to save as much stamina as we could before the next wave of dimensional collapse arrived.

As we continued fighting in a slightly more relaxed manner…

Badump!

My Heart of the Warrior sensed the change first.

I quickly scanned the surroundings.

BOOOOM!

“Hahahaha! Did you really think that would hit me, giants—”

I sharpened my focus, refusing to miss even the slightest sound.

However…

What is it?

I couldn’t find anything.

No matter how much I looked around, I saw no visible change.

Then why…

Badump!

Why did I feel so uneasy?

Maybe this feeling was not unease at all, but paranoia that I had mistaken for it. I desperately hoped the problem was only my mental state.

Even so, I steadily finished preparing.

After all, this primal warrior’s body had saved my life countless times.

I still had no idea what it was warning me about, but…

“Stop fighting!”

Better safe than sorry.

“Gather around me!”

Just as I was about to give the order…

My body locked up.

It did not take me long to understand why. I knew exactly what this was.

[Character has entered the range of Dragon Fear.]

This overwhelming difference in power…

[Character is Petrified for 10 seconds.]

It was just like the time I had encountered the Bone Dragon outside the city walls with Baekho Lee’s party. A chill ran down my spine, and my body locked up.

With my body stiff and unmoving, I could only shift my eyes toward the flickering flames. There, beyond the waves of fire, a massive figure emerged.

…A Red Dragon.

This was a monster that should have been quietly waiting in the boss room. It was never supposed to appear in the passage.

Why the hell is it here…?!

A groan almost escaped me, but I forced down the storm of questions rushing through my mind.

The reason did not matter.

What mattered was that it had appeared right in front of us.

Damn dragon.

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