Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 832

Eternal Hole(4)

Eternal Hole.

The structure of this place was incredibly simple.

Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind.

There were four types of fields in total, and within each one, Primordial Spirits of the corresponding element guarded the paths like territorial lords.

And…

Somewhere on this vast area, there’s a Spirit Gate.

We had ended up here by chance because of the dimensional collapse, but even if that hadn’t happened, nothing would have changed.

Anyone entering through a Spirit Gate was randomly dropped somewhere on the map anyway.

The strategy for clearing this area was to explore the map, find another Spirit Gate, and leave through it.

Though calling it a “strategy” was a bit of an exaggeration.

The easiest method was simply to wait until the labyrinth closed and expelled everyone.

Of course, Spirit Gates were rewards in themselves, so hardly anyone ever did that.

“Stay close and keep up!”

We increased our pace and began exploring in earnest.

At first, it was only a light jog.

Then, as everyone settled into the rhythm, it gradually became a run.

Boom!

Before long, we were sprinting.

Several floating orbs of light illuminated our surroundings, expanding our field of vision.

“This path is blocked…”

“Then we’ll detour to the right.”

Whenever someone spotted an obstacle in the distance, we changed direction immediately and kept running.

And…

“It’s blocked again…”

We repeated the process over and over.

It was only possible because we were in the Eternal Hole.

Normally, expanding your visibility this drastically would attract every monster in the area.

It was common sense to only illuminate the area immediately around you, providing just enough light to move around comfortably.

The reason we had been caught by Saturnus earlier was because we had only secured the bare minimum amount of light.

And the only reason I had done that was because I had not known where we were.

Fwoosh!

“…Look over there! Fire…!”

After three hours of searching, we finally found a change in the environment.

A crimson land burning in the distance, visible even without the aid of the light spheres.

Finally.

Hiding my satisfaction, I led the group toward the scorched earth.

From there, we moved along the boundary between the earth and fire fields.

A safe route, in a way.

Primordial Spirits rarely appeared near the borders, so I usually preferred to move along the edges.

And then—

“Scout, do you sense anything?”

“Nothing… Luck Detection hasn’t picked up anything since that small pebble either.”

“I told you to focus.”

“I-I’m not! There’s really nothing there, so what do you want me to say?!”

“Hmm…”

“But is there even a point to this? If a portal existed nearby, I should have sensed it ages ago.”

“I give the orders. You follow them. Understood?”

The scout fell silent.

I regularly had him use his radar-like ability to search for anything unusual.

Since the Spirit Gate I was looking for was classified as a portal, there was a good chance his scout Talent could detect it.

Of course, there was a limitation.

Because we were inside a hidden field, he could only sense it if we were nearby. On a normal labyrinth floor, he would have been able to pinpoint it from much farther away.

Do I really have to go in there?

There was not much time left before the eight-hour safe period ended.

It was time to decide whether to commit or not.

“Follow me. We’ll search inside there too.”

When I pointed toward the burning earth, the survivors were visibly horrified.

“In there…?”

“We can feel the heat even from here…”

“Don’t worry. It isn’t that hot.”

I briefly explained the effect of my Orb of Fire, and they quickly stopped complaining.

However, one concern still remained.

“But would there really be any survivors in there?”

Hmm.

That was a fair question.

Probably not.

Smack!

The guide rubbed the back of his head and glared at me.

“Why’d you hit me?! Am I wrong? There’s no way anyone could be alive in a place like th—”

I already suspected he had not been putting his full effort into acting as our radar.

And now, on top of that, he was talking back to me.

“In the labyrinth, there’s no such thing as impossible.”

“No matter how you look at it—”

“What if there are survivors in there? What then? Could you take responsibility for that?”

“W-Why would I be responsible? I only made a comment!”

“A moment ago you said there was absolutely no chance of survivors.”

Having lost the argument, he bit his lip in frustration. His anger seemed to grow by the second.

“I’m grateful that you saved us, but I won’t just accept being treated like this! And didn’t you take that pebble I found with Luck Detection earlier as—”

Just as his emotions finally boiled over, someone stopped him.

Not me.

His own allies.

“Anton!”

Whoa, that surprised me.

“Stop there…”

“But…”

“I said stop!”

The hammer warrior from the same clan roared at him.

That seemed to bring the scout back to his senses. He huffed in anger, then stepped back.

“Please accept my apology on his behalf, Viscount Jandel,” the hammer warrior said.

“I’ll accept it.”

“No need. We’re both warriors, aren’t we?”

A warrior’s apology deserved to be accepted.

Besides, he was from the same Black Bear Tribe as Mr. Bear, which made me feel oddly friendly toward him.

“Hahaha…”

After turning away from the hammer warrior’s awkward smile, I headed toward the flames.

This time, no one dared to object.

Fwoosh!

Fierce flames surrounded us, but thanks to the combined power of the Orb of Fire, magic and the priestess’s chants, we were practically immune.

“Divine power…?”

The priestess suddenly muttered something before shouting.

“The Viscount was right!”

“What?”

It was hard to believe.

“S-Survivors!”

Why the hell were there actually survivors here?

***

I had used that argument against the scout, but I had never truly believed it myself.

I had just needed a decent excuse to enter the sea of flames.

Well, disciplining the increasingly insolent scout had been an added bonus.

That should have been the end of it.

“I-It’s true! I can sense magic coming from that direction!”

But after Elvain confirmed it as well, we hurried in that direction.

And there, the priestess’s words proved true.

Vwoong!

Six explorers were huddled beneath a protective barrier made of divine power, treating their wounded.

“Th-There really were survivors…”

The scout, who had been so sure no one could be here, stared ahead in shock.

Honestly, I probably had the same look on my face.

What surprised me even more was that finding survivors turned out to be the least shocking part of the situation.

As I looked over their faces, I recognized several of them.

“The Armin Explorer Group…?”

They were members of the party I had traveled with on the First Underground Floor.

It wasn’t as though I barely knew them, either. I had run into them several times in the city and interacted with them often enough.

How does this make any sense…?

Seeing familiar faces here was almost unbelievable.

“Bethel-raaaaa!”

The situation was so unbelievable that I couldn’t help but shout the name of my ancestral god.

The survivors finally noticed us.

“T-That mighty and powerful voice…”

“Th-That roar…?”

“Over there! There are people over there!”

Since I was still under the effects of Giantization, they recognized me almost instantly.

“Baron Jandel… no, Viscount Jandel is here…!”

“Dear gods…!”

They looked utterly exhausted.

I immediately rushed towards them and my temporary companions followed close behind, moving to assist the members of the Armin Explorer Group.

“Please remain still! We’ll take care of the treatment!”

The priestess and priest quickly began tending to the wounded.

“You’ve been maintaining that protective barrier until your mana was completely depleted. You can rest now. We’ll take over.”

At those words, the group’s wizard finally released his grip on his staff and collapsed.

The others would handle the rest.

So I walked over to Armin, the group’s leader.

“V-Viscount…”

He looked ready to collapse at any moment.

“Th-This isn’t a dream… is it?” he asked weakly.

One look was enough to tell me he had been through hell.

Even now, he was asking us to help the wounded first.

Well, he was their leader.

“It’s not a dream. Don’t worry.”

“That’s… a relief…”

His throat was so dry he could barely speak.

No lengthy conversation was needed.

“…You’ve done well.”

I knew better than anyone how heavy the burden on his shoulders must have been, so I simply patted him on the back in silence.

About five minutes later, after recovering a little strength, Armin finally asked:

“…What happened? I never thought I’d meet you here like this.”

“I’m in the same situation as you.”

“Where… are your clan members?”

“Don’t worry about them. We got separated along the way because of certain circumstances. They should be fine on their own.”

“I see…”

Armin nodded, and this time, I asked him a question.

“What about you?”

“…This is all we have left.”

“…I see.”

I had already noticed that a few familiar faces were missing.

The bitterness of it made me want to sigh, but I held it in. Armin had suffered far more than I had.

So I changed the subject.

“Did you also land here?”

“Yes… The moment the calm period began, flames surrounded us. Everyone was exhausted, but we kept holding out.”

“…For six hours? It’s a miracle you lasted this long.”

Armin suddenly fell silent.

Only then did I realize my mistake.

Damn it.

Someone must have died on the way here.

“We should have stayed in one place and endured. That was the only way to survive the full eight hours.”

I said nothing.

“But at the time, we didn’t know how long the calm period would last, so we decided escaping the flames was our best option.”

“Of course… that was a mistake. If we hadn’t met you here, all of us would have died…”

His voice was heavy with guilt.

I firmly shook my head.

“No. That’s not true.”

He looked at me in confusion.

“If you’d gone just a little farther, you would’ve escaped the flames.”

“R-Really…?”

“And if you hadn’t come this far, I wouldn’t have found you either. Your decision wasn’t wrong. Understand?”

Or maybe they only deepened his wound.

I could not tell what emotion he was hiding in his heart, but Armin gave a painful nod.

Another ten minutes passed.

Once Armin and the wounded had recovered somewhat, I slowly brought up the idea of continuing with our original plan.

“Alright. Let’s move again.”

“Pardon…? Move from here? Some of us still can’t walk properly…”

“If walking is difficult, have someone carry them.”

“But…”

“We don’t know. There may be more survivors out there…”

I was not a complete monster, so I could not lie as shamelessly as before.

Finding Armin’s group had already been a miracle.

There was no way there were any more survivors.

I would swear to it.

Yet surprisingly, the response wasn’t negative.

“As expected… you’re still the same, Viscount.”

“We may be weak, but we’ll help however we can.”

Since the Armin Clan was close to me, they reacted positively to everything I said.

“Yeah, we might find more people!”

“The more of us there are, the higher our chances of survival!”

My temporary allies also responded well, probably influenced by the Armin Clan’s attitude.

“I apologize for what I said earlier. I’ll do my best and extend my senses as far as I can…”

Perhaps he had been swept up by the mood too, but the scout abandoned his hostility and willingly focused on acting as our radar while we moved through the fiery field.

Then, finally, his efforts paid off.

“Over there! I can sense the aura of a portal coming from that direction!”

At last, our target appeared on the radar.

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