Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 828

Every Man for Himself (5)

At first, I didn’t think it was anything serious.

Plenty of places in the labyrinth were covered in darkness, after all.

Since there were no clear landmarks, I couldn’t say for sure where we were on the map yet, but I figured I’d know once I explored a little more.

But as it turned out…

I had no idea.

Even after moving quite a distance from our starting point, I still couldn’t tell where we were.

There were no monsters to serve as clues, and the terrain looked exactly the same as before.

Of course, even if a monster did show up, I wouldn’t be able to tell whether it belonged here or had simply been dragged in by the dimensional collapse.

Step. Step.

As I kept moving forward and searching the area, I only grew more confused.

At this point, the lack of anything distinctive had become the most distinctive thing about this place.

The ground was still nothing but flat dirt.

A few possible locations came to mind, but I couldn’t narrow it down to one with any certainty. Still, I was fairly sure this wasn’t one of the lower floors.

I had personally explored every area up to the seventh floor.

Seriously, where the hell is this?

That was when Elvain offered his unsolicited opinion.

“Um… regardless of where we are, it doesn’t seem particularly dangerous. Wouldn’t it be better to stay in one place and rest?”

At first glance, it was a reasonable suggestion.

But we were explorers. We grew stronger by finding and defeating monsters.

During the last Blank Period, for example, I wandered through the Burning Forest and discovered the Orb of Fire’s upgrade; if I hadn’t, we would all have died at the hands of the Red Dragon.

More importantly, this place had caught my interest.

To be honest, my curiosity as a gamer was probably the biggest reason pushing me forward.

What exactly was this place?

Could it be another hidden mystery of the labyrinth, like the place where we met those survivors in the Burning Forest?

Naturally, I didn’t say that part out loud.

“We still need to scout the area. There might be others using this safe window to move around, just like us.”

After I gave that reasonable excuse, no one argued. However, Elvain seemed unable to endure the silent march and soon brought up another topic.

“But isn’t it strange?” he asked.

“What is now?”

“The dimensional collapse. No matter how I look at it, something about it feels suspicious.”

“Get to the point.”

When I raised my voice in irritation, the special wizard flinched and quickly continued.

“The distortion phenomenon…. simply put, invisible barriers appear everywhere during the collapse. No matter what you see beyond them, the moment you pass through one, you arrive in a completely different area. For convenience, I’ll call them dimension walls from now on—”

“I get it. Continue.”

“Ahem. The reason we were able to keep moving and shake off the monsters was because monsters can’t cross those dimensional walls and follow us.”

“And?”

“But doesn’t that contradict what we’ve already seen? When an area collapses and the world changes around us, the monsters we’re fighting are transported along with us. So why can’t they cross the dimension walls too?”

“Hmm…”

He wasn’t talking complete nonsense.

Honestly, I had been ready to smack him on the back of the head if he said something stupid.

“Well… I guess that is strange.”

Back when it was just a game, I had simply accepted it as a game mechanic. Now that it had become reality, I never had the time to think too deeply about it.

However, as expected of a mage, Elvain viewed it differently.

“Our Sperys School researches every physical phenomenon of the labyrinth, including spatial magic. From its structure alone, the labyrinth is like one enormous space. A magical—”

“Keep it short enough for me to understand.”

“Perhaps the key factor is whether someone is an explorer… or, more precisely, whether they came from the outside world.”

“Like us?”

“That’s right. Contrary to what most people think, a dimensional collapse does not mean the entire labyrinth is collapsing. Only the space around us collapses. It is almost as if the labyrinth is trying to expel the invaders inside it.”

His theory had no proof, but that last part caught my attention.

It was as if the labyrinth was trying to drive out its invaders.

I had a feeling Arta had said something similar when he spoke about the collapse.

“Then are the monsters transported with us simply because they happen to be close to us?” the priestess asked, sounding somewhat interested.

“Ah! Exactly!”

The Special Mage brightened when the Priestess showed interest.

However, her voice was filled with skepticism.

“Then what about your spatial magic? You can send monsters beyond dimensional walls.”

“Ah! I considered that as well, but that’s a different situation!” he quickly replied. For example, if I throw a fireball at a dimension wall, it won’t pass through. The same principle applies here. The spatial magic itself is affected by the dimension wall, and because the monster is the target of that spell, it becomes subject to the same rules.”

The priestess frowned, clearly struggling to follow the explanation.

It seemed her priestly intellect wasn’t quite enough to keep up with a wizard’s theories.

“But if something like that were true, wouldn’t it already have been researched and documented?”

Elvain puffed out his chest“Ahem…!, This is knowledge that can only be gained by personally surviving a dimensional collapse! How many mages do you think have actually done that?”

“Probably quite a few.”

“The kinds of mage who enjoy exploring the labyrinth usually aren’t interested in research. They only care about making their fireballs bigger and faster. Do you really think people like that would bother studying these phenomena?”

Elvain seemed to be implying that only someone as exceptional as himself could have uncovered such a theory.

I wasn’t convinced.

The Royal House was almost certainly involved in this.

“Quite a few, I’d imagine.”

The dimensional collapses were clearly connected to the Palace.

If they were willing to throw explorers’ lives away whenever it suited them, would they really allow research into the nature of dimensional collapses to progress unchecked?

I doubted it.

If anything, I had a feeling they would have crushed such research before it ever had the chance to bear fruit.

And in that sense…

“Heh-heh. Once we return to the city, I’ll conduct proper research! If I can gather enough material for a paper, the entire academic world will be shaken!”

Suddenly, the Special Mage’s lifespan didn’t seem very long.

Even if he managed to return alive, I had a feeling a few intimidating men would pay him a visit before he ever got the chance to publish—

Shwoop.

The foot I had carelessly stepped forward with suddenly sank into the ground as though I had stepped into a patch of mud.

“Huh…?”

I couldn’t identify what had happened, but instinctively, I knew something was wrong.

[Character has entered the range of Saturnus.]

[Your Earth Resistance decreases in proportion to your proximity to the caster.]

[You cannot move.]

I was overcome by a disgusting sensation, as though something beneath the soil had grabbed my ankle.

At that moment, I finally realised where we were.

The Ancient Rock Plains of the Star Tombs, Ninth Floor.

More precisely, the hidden field accessible through the Spirit Gate.

The Eternal Hole.

The domain where the rank-one monster, the Primordial Spirit, resided.

Of all places, it had to be here.

A bitter laugh escaped me, but there was no point dwelling on it.

“Battle formations!”

There was only one thing left to do.

Win.

***

It didn’t take long for the others to understand the danger we were in.

“M-my leg!”

“What is this?! Something’s pulling me downward!”

The Immobility debuff made it feel as though our feet had been nailed to the ground.

And that wasn’t even the worst part.

“The ground! The ground is moving!”

Saturnus was an area-of-effect skill that immobilized everyone caught within its range and slowly dragged them toward its center.

And at that center, the Primordial Spirit would be waiting with its enormous mouth wide open, ready to devour anything that reached it.

“Viscount!”

“W-what’s happening?”

Everyone sensed the severity of the situation, but none of them understood what was going on.

Before I explained, however, there was something I needed to confirm first.

“Elvain Cutter! If you cast Mass Teleport right now, how long will it take?”

“That depends on the distance! Tell me how far you want to go!”

The radius of [Saturnus] was one kilometer.

Everyone caught within it would be slowly dragged toward the center in a curved path, like a meteor being pulled into a planet’s gravity.

“One kilometer… no, make it one and a half.”

“Oh, that’s shorter than I expected.”

“You won’t be able to draw a magic circle on the ground.”

“What? Then I’ll have to draw it in the air! That’ll take more time!”

“Give me a number.”

“Ten minutes! At least ten minutes!”

“Ten?”

“Even for me, anything faster would be difficult!”

The Special Mage seemed to think I was dissatisfied.

In reality, it was the opposite.

Ten minutes was much faster than I expected.

Maybe it’s because spatial magic is his specialty.

If Raven were here, she would have needed at least twenty to thirty minutes for a teleport of this scale.

There really were differences even among high-level mages.

“Fine. Start casting.”

The moment I gave the order, Elvain shut his eyes. His lips moved silently as though he were performing calculations inside his head.

The other passengers lowered their voices, recognizing the importance of his task.

“So… what exactly is happening here?” someone finally asked.

How was I supposed to explain this?

Since there was nothing else I could do while waiting for the teleport to complete, I told them everything I knew.

A Primordial Spirit was nearby.

A rank-one monster native to the ninth floor.

And once you entered the range of Saturnus, escaping through ordinary physical means was impossible.

“What happens if we fail to teleport away in time?”

The thief asked cautiously after hearing the explanation.

I answered honestly.

“We’ll meet the Primal Spirit waiting for us at the center.”

“A Rank-1 monster…”

“What? Scared to die?”

“Yes. But that doesn’t mean I intend to die quietly. Please tell me more about it. If we’re going to escape, I need to know what we’re facing.”

“You’re mentally healthier than I expected.”

Impressed by his attitude, I explained the nature of the Primal Spirit.

Unfortunately, the explanation only seemed to crush his spirits further.

“Physical attacks don’t work? What kind of absurd monster is that…?”

Well, all Rank-1 monsters were absurd.

Saturnus alone was already ridiculous. Not only did it affect everything within half a mile, it also inflicted the absurd Immobility status effect.

“Don’t worry too much. As long as the spell is completed in time, we’ll be fine.”

“So our lives are basically in that man’s hands…”

Everyone’s eyes turned toward Elvain.

But the wizard remained completely focused on casting Mass Teleport before it was too late.

And so, time passed.

“We’re sinking deeper.”

At first, the earth had only swallowed our ankles.

Now it had reached our thighs.

The ground’s movement was also accelerating.

From a distance, it would probably look like a massive mudslide.

“Be careful not to fall. If you go down, even I won’t be able to help you.”

“Understood. Still, Sir Cutter is impressive. Maintaining that level of concentration in a situation like this…”

“I’ll admit it. His personality leaves much to be desired, but his skills are real.”

Just as everyone were beginning to see the Special Mage in a new light—

“W-who’s there?! Is someone there?”

An unfamiliar voice suddenly echoed out of the darkness.

***

A desperate plea for help rang out.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t just one voice.

“What do you mean? Who are you calling out to?”

“No, I definitely heard someone over there!”

“You must have misheard. Who else would be in a place like this? Stop wasting your breath and think about how we’re going to get out of—”

Judging by the voices, there were at least three of them.

“Who’s there?!”

“S-someone really is there!”

“Please wait a moment!”

Soon after, a red flame drifted through the darkness toward us.

It didn’t look like magic.

It had to be a spirit.

Vwoong!

As the surroundings brightened, I saw six other explorers being carried along by the flowing earth, just like us.

They definitely hadn’t been near us from the beginning. Maybe the currents had happened to merge here.

“This might be a strange time for introductions, but allow us to introduce ourselves! Hello! We are the survivors of the Illuma Clan! Who are you?”

“I am Bjorn, son of Jandel!” I called back.

“…Viscount Jandel? Ah! I thought your build looked familiar! Th-then are the people with you from the Anabada Clan?”

“I’m alone because of certain circumstances. These are companions I met not long ago.”

“Ah, I see! It’s a relief to meet you! Do you perhaps know what’s happening here?”

“How much do you know?”

“Nothing! We don’t even know where we are! We were searching the area when our legs suddenly got trapped in the ground!”

Well, information about the ninth floor was already scarce, and the Eternal Hole was a hidden field on top of that.

There was no way ordinary explorers would know about this place.

“Three minutes.”

In three minutes, the ten minutes Elvain had asked for would be over.

However, his calculations had been based only on our group. Adding six more people would definitely increase the casting time.

“Pardon? Could you speak a little louder? I can’t quite hear—”

“I’ll give you three minutes!”

“Wh-what do you mean by that?”

“What do you think I mean? Explain yourselves in three minutes!”

If they couldn’t even understand that much, then they had already failed the first interview question.

“What are you good at?”

They needed to prove they were worth saving.

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