Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 825

Every Man for Himself (2)

Badump!

Ignoring the violent pounding of my heart, I calmly counted the seconds.

Boom!

The moment that enormous dragon bastard emerged from beyond the wall of flames and entered our sight…

Seven seconds.

Not even three seconds had passed yet.

We still had seven seconds left before the Petrification wore off. And from what I could tell, that was more than enough time for that top-tier Level1 dragon to slaughter every member of the Anabada Clan I had worked so hard to raise.

What do I do?

How could I stop that dragon bastard from killing my people?

A crossroads between life and death.

With my concentration pushed to its limit, my mind kept repeating that one question again and again.

“Ugh…!”

“My body…”

Erwin, Misha, and the others were still caught in Petrification. Of course, that was only natural. No one in our expedition group had reached level 9 yet.

‘I expected it from Raven, and it seems Parav wasn’t judged as Level 9 either…’

We were all frozen in place like stone statues. How were we supposed to stop that dragon bastard?

Just as the lack of an answer made me feel suffocated and frustrated.

“Jandel”

I saw Amelia walking towards me from the corner of my eye.

Judging by the strained look on her face, she seemed to be feeling intense discomfort somewhere in her body.

She can move…?

That shocked me. Amelia was still level 8, just like me.

Well, I was in the early stage of level 8, while she was near the end of it…

…Ah!

A realization struck me.

What if her experience bar, which had already been almost full before this, had finally crossed the line during all the fighting in the dimensional collapse?

And what if she had reached level 9 but simply had not found the chance to tell me because we had been too busy fighting?

…This works.

It was not a variable I had planned for, but it became our way out.

“Emily! Retreat! Take everyone and move them over there!” I ordered.

“…What?” she asked.

What do you mean, what?During a dimensional collapse, staying in one place and holding off the waves was usually the right move. But when an enemy you could not defeat appeared, there were times when running was the only option.

I had already explained that to everyone before.

My words must have reminded her of it.

“…Ah! Got it!”

“You can move me last! Get the others first!”

With that, Amelia shot forward like lightning and began moving the members out of the tiled room.

Well, to be more accurate…

Flick!

She grabbed them by the back of their necks and threw them aside like sacks of luggage.

She started with those closest to her. Erwin, Auyen, Misha, Marrone, Raven, and even Erwin’s uncle, Beleg.

After throwing them out of the way, she reached for the guild master’s collar next.

Fwooosh!

At that moment, an intense wave of heat, powerful enough to stand out even among the surrounding flames, surged toward us.

[Red Dragon has cast Red Breath.]

It was an area attack possessed by all dragons, and it was almost guaranteed to kill anything it hit instantly. Still, this was not the worst possible situation.

I can endure it.

Under normal circumstances, maybe not.

But now I had the Orb of Fire.

Even with the 90 percent fire damage reduction, a mage or rogue would have died on the spot. But as a tank, I could survive it.

Thankfully, the guild master was pulled out of the way just in time. Amelia also reacted on instinct, pressing herself flat against my back to use me as cover.

[Character has cast Giantization.]

[Character has cast Iron Fortress.]

[Character has cast Scales of Greed.]

The moment I activated my abilities, the terrifying storm of fire slammed into me and surged around my body.

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

Even with that, I could still feel my flesh melting.

But that was actually a good sign.

If my entire body had melted away, I would not have been able to feel pain at all.

Creak!

Well, my bones still ached, and my organs felt like they had been cooked.

[Condition of Dragon Claw has been fulfilled.]

[You take physical damage equal to the magical damage received.]

This damn hybrid damage.

Even so, I was grateful that the physical damage was calculated based on the magic damage after the 90 percent reduction.

Fwooosh!

In any case, the flames that felt as if they would burn forever finally began to die down.

“Emily, are you alright?”

“…I can still move.”

It seemed she had still taken damage, even while hiding behind me. From the way she answered, I could tell her injuries were probably serious.

[The Petrification state has been removed.]

I was worried about Amelia’s condition, but the moment my petrification disappeared, I charged forward.

Because the remaining clan members were still in danger.

Thanks to the 90 percent damage reduction, no one had died from the breath attack, but they were all barely clinging to life.

“ROAAAR!”

The fact that no one had died seemed to enrage the Red Dragon. It released a terrifying roar.

Then…

“Grrr…”

It quickly turned its head toward my allies, who were still struggling to recover their senses.

Its first target seemed to be Sven Parav.

Thankfully, I did not miss the chance.

The instant its massive jaws opened to swallow Sven Parav whole, I reached him and forced my shield between its teeth.

Clang!

The dragon seemed surprised that it could not close its mouth because of a single piece of metal.

Don’t underestimate the Indestructible trait.

“Parav, are you alright?”

“U-ugh…”

Sven Parav looked like he was about to faint as he stared straight at the sharp fangs lining the open mouth in front of him.

While I was wondering what to do, Amelia quickly rushed in from behind and grabbed him.

Then…

“Stop stiffening up. You’re heavy.”

“R-Raines…?”

“Didn’t you hear me? Relax.”

She dragged Sven Parav over to the others she had thrown aside earlier.

Creak, creak!

The dragon kept straining its jaw, trying to bite down on my indestructible shield.

I hoped it would at least keep doing that until we got Ainar and Kaislan out too.

“…Huh?”

“ROAAAR!”

As that terrifying roar echoed around me, I felt as if gravity had suddenly turned upside down.

It was not hard to figure out what was happening.

“Ah.”

Unable to destroy the shield, the dragon had simply lifted its head with me still lodged in its mouth.

[GROOOOOOOAR!!]

Of course, I did not care how long it threw a tantrum, biting and clawing at me. The real problem was the situation I had been thrown into.

Rip!

We were still under the effect of dimensional collapse. If we took even one wrong step, invisible barriers could separate us at any moment.

In other words, unlike the monsters, we were basically trapped inside glass boxes.

So what would happen if I was thrown out of that box like a discarded toy?

The answer was very simple.

Flash!

With a burst of light, I appeared in a completely different world.

***

As the white glow faded, the first thing I saw was the blue sea.

No, to be precise, I was several hundred meters above it.

Vwoosh!

I fell from the sky for about four seconds.

Flash!

Even as I was falling, another flash of light blinded me and sent me somewhere else.

The sky turned dark, then bright again. Cliffs appeared on both sides of me, and then a green forest filled my vision.

Vwoong!

At one point, I was even thrown upward, as if the laws of physics had been reversed.

This went on for a while.

Bang!

In the end, I landed in the middle of a desert, surrounded by hot, dry wind.

Even though I should not have fallen more than five meters, the speed I had built up from all the teleporting made me crash into the sandy desert like a meteor, leaving a crater behind.

“Haah…”

Thankfully, landing on sand helped soften the impact.

Still, I hated the feeling of sand slipping through the gaps in my armor and mixing with my sweat.

Well, maybe that was not the true reason I felt so frustrated.

I was at a loss for words.

An anger too complicated to describe with a single word rose up inside me, and all I wanted was to lie down for a moment and cool my head.

However…

“That damn dragon…”

Maybe this was how my enemies felt whenever I used the Eye of the Storm and Transcendence combo.

I never imagined I would be separated from my allies like this.

I forced those weak thoughts out of my mind, got to my feet, and looked up at the sky.

I managed to hold back a sigh, but that didn’t make me feel any better.

Because I had absolutely no idea how to get back to my companions.

During a collapse, the labyrinth was like one of those formations in martial arts manhwas. The kind where an illusion formation made it impossible to find the way, though a proper path still existed for those who knew how to read it.

That was why our retreat strategy earlier had a chance of working. If everyone crossed the same boundary, there was a high chance we would all be sent to the same field.

But…

How am I supposed to get back now?

I did not waste too much energy trying to answer that question. No matter how hard I thought about it, there was no way to find a path through the impossible.

I could only pray that the others were safe while calmly surveying my surroundings.

It was an endless desert, stretching as far as I could see. In the distance, as if they had sensed an intruder, construct-type monsters began rising from beneath the sand.

Cannon Golem.

Level 7.

That made identifying my location easy.

Because of that, figuring out where I had landed was not difficult.

[Character has entered a special area.]

[Field Effect: Gun Desert is applied.]

[Piercing damage from all ranged weapons is increased by 1,000%.]

Gun Desert.

It was one of the rifts that could appear in the Rock Desert on the 2nd floor.

Boom!

The Cannon Golems fired mana shots like cannonballs. Those explosions acted like signals, drawing the other monsters in the area toward me.

Kobolds, Sandmen, and others.

They were all monsters commonly found in the Rock Desert.

However, this field had one major difference.

Every single monster was carrying some crude firearm, as if they had picked it up from somewhere.

But in the end, they were still only Level 7 monsters.

[You have defeated Cannon Golem. EXP +3.]

[You have defeated Kobold Gunner. EXP +2.]

[You have defeated Waste Sandman…]

It did not take long for me to wipe them all out.

These were all experience points I had missed during the solo rifts on the first underground floor, since those rifts only contained guardians.

After I finished dealing with the monsters, my mind was once again flooded with thoughts.

What happened to the others who had retreated before the Dragon Breath was fired?

Were they safe?

Even if they survived the retreat, would everyone make it through the collapse event and reunite in the city?

“Fuu…”

As one question led to another…

“Uwaaaack!”

A scream suddenly rang out from behind me.

I quickly turned my head and saw an unfamiliar man falling from the sky.

After rolling across the sand for a moment, he grabbed his weapon and jumped to his feet, taking a defensive stance.

“Hieeek!”

The moment he saw me in my Giantization state, he screamed and stumbled back.

We had not exchanged a single word yet, but I already had a rough idea of what had happened to him.

He got separated too…

I did not feel sorry for him. Instead, it made the reality of my own situation hit me even harder.

I’m separated…

“…B-Baron Jandel?”

When the man finally recognized me, I asked him one question.

I asked only one thing.

“Your name.”

“M-Maze Reiner, sir!”

Okay.

Not Hans.

First-round interview passed.

“What are you good at?”

Perhaps because he was still an explorer despite being stranded alone, he recovered quickly.

Even if he had been separated from his group, he was still clearly an adventurer.

He flinched at my sudden question, but he seemed to understand my intention quickly and answered with desperate enthusiasm.

“I’m confident in everything except combat!”

“My combat ability might only be around Rank 5, but! I’ve never once been told I couldn’t pull my own weight! From this moment on, I’ll do anything you order without a single complaint! Please, just take me with you!”

Hmm. He certainly seemed quick on the uptake.

But first, I needed to correct the important part.

“It’s Viscount Jandel.”

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