Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 841

Return 3

Monsters were pouring in like a flood.

However, perhaps my prayers to the ancestral god had been answered, as we had not encountered a single rank 1 monster yet. One rank 2 monster appeared, but we were well matched against it and took it down without suffering any real damage.

Aynar had played a huge role in that.

As the fighting never stopped, the stacks on her Return increased at an absurd pace.

[Until the end of combat, the effect of Return is slightly increased.]

[Until the end of combat, the effect of Return is slightly increased.]

[Until the end of combat, the effect of Return is slightly increased.]

[…]

Each stack increased Return’s damage by 1 percent. At one thousand stacks, its damage rose by a full 1,000 percent, putting her into a full-stack state.

The problem was that she could not maintain that state.

But even that had its advantages.

[Aynar Pheneline has retrieved the Verdant Giant Spear.]

「The ‘Soul Chaser’ attack will be added to the next strike.」

Once she reached full stacks, they were all consumed to grant a powerful bonus to her next strike. An attack empowered by Soul Chaser was guaranteed to land as a critical hit.

For reference, the critical damage multiplier varied depending on the monster, since each one had different weak points.

A good example was the Abyss Golem—a rank 2 monster that had appeared with an overwhelming presence, only to vanish before it could do anything meaningful.

Vwoong!

The spear shot forward like an arrow and pierced through the golem’s gray hide.

No, perhaps “pierced through” was not quite right.

Its sturdy gray exterior had remained undamaged even under the focused attacks of dozens of explorers, yet the spear simply slipped past its defenses and hit its core.

Stab!

The moment its core was destroyed, the Abyss Golem burst into particles of light.

We were simply too used to fighting it. In exchange for having very few weaknesses, the Abyss Golem’s single weak point was fatal.

[You have defeated Abyss Golem. EXP +8]

That alone was lucky enough, but our fortune did not stop there.

“E-essence…!”

“…Viscount! It dropped an essence!”

The Abyss Golem had left behind its essence. After the wizards sealed it inside a magic vial, I immediately stored it in my subspace.

A rank 2 essence…

I clenched my fist.

My luck had turned around. There was no doubt about it now.

But that did not mean I could afford to let my guard down.

Calm always came before the storm. I had to keep giving everything I had, so that even if something went wrong later, I would at least have the right to regret it.

And so…

And so…

“Bethel-raaaaa!”

I unleashed another thunderous battle cry.

The roar of a shield barbarian did more than make enemies flinch and sharpen my focus.

[Character has cast Wild Outburst.]

It increased my threat level and physical stats.

And…

[All undead within the area are damaged.]

Thanks to the stage 8 effect of the Immortality Imprint, all the undead creatures around me took area-of-effect damage.

[You have defeated Death Knight.]

[You have defeated Nekramia.]

[You have defeated Dark Worshipper.]

[You have defeated…]

The damage was strong enough to instantly wipe out any undead below rank 6.

[Character has cast Dragon Fear.]

And even those that were not undead could not escape the effect of my roar.

[Depending on the gap between you and the target, a scaling penalty is applied.]

While the roar cleared out the undead small fry, the remaining monsters were briefly stunned.

[White Wyvern is Petrified for 5 seconds.]

[Bone Drake is Petrified for 5 seconds.]

The duration was not long, and the level of the status effect varied depending on the monster.

Rank 3 monsters and above would only be paralyzed. But as someone who had experienced it firsthand, I knew exactly how valuable those few seconds could be.

“Now…”

“Sweep away those monster bastards!”

“Waaaaaaaah!”

The monsters were quickly cut down as a barrage of firepower swept over the stunned horde.

Having drawn an overwhelming number of monsters towards me with my threat level, I was caught in the attacks as well.

[Charlotte Emblum has cast the rank 6 attack magic Flame Baptism.]

[Elvain Cutter has cast the rank 5 attack magic Cut.]

[Bero Rafain has cast the rank 5 attack magic Thunderbolt.]

But it did not matter.

I was the one who had told everyone to use only magic in the first place.

[You have been struck by magic of rank 5 or lower.]

[Will of Aegis protects you.]

[Will of Aegis protects you.]

[Will of Aegis protects…]

I was immune to magic of rank 5 and below.

Not that the higher-ranked spells would do much to me either.

Rumble!

[Physical stats increase in proportion to the absorbed magic damage.]

Whenever I was hit by magic of rank 4 or higher, my skin grew thicker. Since the spell I had absorbed was not particularly dangerous, I did not become much stronger…

[Character has cast Scales of Greed.]

[Character’s magic resistance is 500 or higher.」

「All magic damage received is reduced by 50%.」

Whenever magic struck me, half of the damage was cut away immediately. On top of that, the Aegis Barrier naturally reduced magic damage by a further 30%.

Of course, since the reductions were multiplicative, it did not add up to an 80 percent decrease.

In total, it was roughly 65 percent magic resistance.

Not that I knew the exact figure.

The potential of the Aegis Barrier had risen thanks to Soul Connection, but I had no way of knowing what level my Soul Connection had reached.

Besides, monsters were pouring down from every direction. How was I supposed to calmly calculate my experience in the middle of all this?

‘Once it reaches level 7, an effect will appear, so I’ll be able to tell then…’

Anyway, back to the battle.

It was about time for my cooldowns to reset.

One more time.

“Bethel–RAAAAAA!”

[Character has cast Wild Outburst.]

[Character has cast Dragon Fear.]

I poured all my strength into another thunderous battle cry, and the stunned monsters were once again buried beneath a storm of attacks.

Once the mana stones began piling up, the mages moved in and swept them all into storage.

“A new wave!”

“Be careful! There are quite a few rank 3s mixed in…!”

Ainar and the special team built around her would receive their buffs and move out to deal with the higher-ranking monsters. Whenever one of them dropped an essence, we added another step to the process.

“An essence…!”

“Did anyone see what monster it came from?”

“I-it was holding a greatsword that looked like a fang…!”

“Garcian! That’s a Level 3 monster! Go tell the mages!”

I had already told everyone to only bottle essences of rank 3 or higher. We still had plenty of magic vials left, but that could always change later.

“Bethel–RAAAAAA!”

Anyway, as we continued to repeat this process, I noticed the way people looked at me begin to change.

To be exact, it was the way the members of the Sawtooth Clan looked at me.

“He’s completely fine after taking all those spells head-on. What the hell…?”

“I’m glad we surrendered. Even with that Larcaz’s Maze thing, I don’t think we would’ve won.”

“Then why did the captain leave his children with final words telling them to take revenge against a monster like him…?”

“Let’s just take those words to the grave. That fate would be too cruel for those children.”

Hey, I can hear you.

Not that I bothered saying anything.

***

“Haa, haa…”

The sound of ragged breathing and exhausted groans filled the area.

Then someone carefully threw a stone.

Tap.

It struck the ground some distance away and continued rolling.

The moment they saw it, dozens of explorers raised their voices in a cheer.

“Aaaaaaah…!”

“It’s over!”

The third wave had ended.

And with unbelievable efficiency, too.

“Did anyone die?”

“One from the Sawtooth Clan. Other than that, everyone’s fine. If we include the three survivors who joined us during the collapse, our numbers actually went up.”

Only one person had died, and they had been from the Sawtooth Clan.

Considering Armin had arranged the formation so that the clan members were placed in relatively dangerous positions, it made sense.

On top of that, since they had all been separated from one another, they probably had not been able to coordinate properly with the people around them either.

“I see…”

But my feelings were strange.

Getting through an entire wave with only a single casualty should have been something worth celebrating. We had even rescued more survivors and strengthened our numbers.

So why could I not stop thinking about that death?

That one member of the Sawtooth Clan…

I felt like I could not let their story end as nothing more than that.

“…What was their name?” I asked.

Armin checked his notebook before answering.

“It’s… May Morita.”

“I see.”

I nodded.

Perhaps I was only comforting myself, but hearing their name made the weight on my chest feel just a little lighter.

With that, I could keep doing what needed to be done.

“Ugh…”

“Priest! Over here! Please come over here!”

The exhausted adventurers sank to the ground, while the priests moved from one wounded person to the next, treating their injuries.

As everyone began to settle down, I quickly checked our current location.

A crimson sky, as if the end of the world had arrived.

A flock of crows.

And a black castle standing in the distance.

I did not need to look any further.

“Blood Tinted Citadel…”

One of the first-floor rifts.

Blood Tinted Citadel.

We were standing right in front of its entrance.

“Oh! Bjorn! It’s that place!” Aynar shouted.

“Yeah, I know, so stop shaking me,” I said.

“This is amazing! I can’t believe we came here again!”

I wasn’t quite as excited as Aynar, but for some reason, I felt a fresh sense of nostalgia too.

Before I defeated the Corpse Golem and the vampire in this place, I had been nothing more than a rookie barbarian without a single essence to my name.

Back then, I had thought that vampire was the worst thing I had ever encountered.

But looking back on it now, that vampire might have been the best thing that could have happened to me at the time.

Thanks to that encounter, I was able to push through the early stages quickly and eventually obtain the Ogre’s essence, which later allowed me to survive against the Dragon Slayer.

“Are we going to explore?”

“After we rest for a bit.”

“Understood. I’ll pass it on. Everyone heard that, right? We’re resting!”

Armin relayed my order, and the explorers finally began taking their well-earned rest.

To be honest, the third wave had been extremely lucky.

No rank 1 monsters had appeared at all, and we had only encountered two rank 2 monsters.

We had not fallen into any strange areas with troublesome field effects during the collapse either, and we had even gained three more survivors.

Even so, I did not consider this an easy victory.

One person had died.

That result was only possible because every wizard, priest, warrior, and archer had done their duty to the best of their ability.

It would be a while before the next wave began, so for now, I would let them rest…

Then I walked around and selected three people.

“Elo—”

What was her name again?

“Maria.”

Anyway, the priestess.

“Elvain.”

“Fufu, what an honor to be personally summoned by you! This must mean you trust me enough to—”

The special mage.

“And you… Sorry, what was your name again?”

“…Anton Paindus.”

“Right, right. Anton.”

And the high-ranking raider with Luck Detection.

After gathering the three of them, I explained why I had called them over.

“We’re going to explore for a bit. No one’s too tired, right?”

I had considered going alone, but I brought them with me just in case. There might still be dangerous monsters lurking around, drawn here by the dimensional collapse.

“I am somewhat tired, but I have no intention of neglecting my duties! A traditional wizard like myself is essential for an important mission such as exploration!” Elvain declared.

“I will follow you. We need to find more survivors…” Maria said quietly.

“I… well, I’m a little… my leg is somewhat sore—” Anton began.

“Oh, is that so? That’s a problem! I’ll loosen it up for you!”

“…Pardon? What do you mean by— Ack! Aaack! I’ll go! I’ll go with you, so s-stop!”

“Oh! Good choice! When your legs hurt, the best thing to do is move them around!”

Through this highly democratic process, I convinced everyone to join me, and we began exploring.

The outer checkpoint, the drawbridge, the worn sections of the outer wall…

In the past, I had struggled desperately to get through these areas. But now, I was simply walking through them.

I did not even need to lift a hand.

After all, the Blood Tinted Citadel only spawned undead monsters.

“Bethel–RAAAAAA!”

Simply activating Wild Outburst’s undead-damaging area effect was enough to wipe them out.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

It was quite a spectacle, watching thousands of dead men die as their heads exploded all across the drawbridge.

“Aah, how weak.”

This was Heavenly Demon Barbarian Mode.

“…Pardon?”

“I was just talking to myself. But why were you listening so closely?” I asked.

“…S-sorry.”

Anyway, I only took what needed to be taken and cleared out everything along the outer walls.

“Wait! I’m sensing something with Luck Detection.”

Then my radar picked up a signal.

“That statue! There’s definitely something hidden inside that statue!”

A statue stood in the middle of a dried-up fountain.

What a useful skill. He had found it immediately.

Looks like I won’t need to act at all.

I smashed the statue apart with my hammer, then pulled out the small box hidden inside and opened it.

[Character has acquired Tears of a Goddess.]

A consumable relic.

A special item with top-tier performance, though it could only be used inside the “Blood Tinted Citadel.”

If my guess was correct, during the collapse, it might be possible to take this outside and use it elsewhere.

As I stored it in my subspace, a thought crossed my mind.

Maybe…

Maybe I would find an even better use for it than I had when I defeated that vampire.

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