Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 851

[Twisted Endurance].

It was a skill that made the user feel more pain whenever they took damage, but in exchange, it greatly boosted their natural regeneration.

However, it was not just a simple strengthening skill.

It also carried a curse.

Like this.

[Character’s pain resistance has decreased by 300.]

While the skill was active, every enemy within range also became more sensitive to pain.

The monster’s own pain resistance had dropped by 1,000, while mine had dropped by 300. But for a monster, that extra pain was not really a weakness.

Monsters became more violent and ferocious the more pain they felt.

In other words, for them, this could almost be considered a buff.

Unlike us fragile humans.

“…Argh.”

The moment my pain resistance dropped, I felt the change throughout my entire body.

Drip. Drip.

Until now, the rain had only stung a little.

But now, I could feel every single drop.

Where it landed.

How much of it touched my skin.

Which direction it flowed down my body.

I could feel it all with painful clarity.

Sizzle…

It was burning through my skin.

The Corpse Golem’s pain resistance bonus was only 70, but even that had been enough for me to keep fighting endlessly while relying on potions.

Crack!

Argh.

The pain was making it hard to think.

Of course, I was not going to pass out that easily. My mental stats were fairly solid. The base value was high, and the other sub-stats under the mental category were decent too.

However…

Badump!

A thought crossed my mind.

If just the rain hurt this much…

How much would it hurt to drown in that thing’s acidic fluids?

The answer came sooner than I expected.

“Kiyeaaaaaak!”

Tetraseia screamed again, its cry filled with pain, then threw a rough jab toward me.

I raised my shield and blocked it like before.

Clang!

The impact itself was not that powerful.

But the real problem came afterward.

Sizzle!

Fluid sprayed from the countless holes covering its arm.

Knowing what was coming, I clenched my teeth and prepared myself for the pain.

“Uh…”

It did not help.

“Argh… Ow…!”

The pain swallowed me whole.

There was no enduring it.

“Grrrrh…!”

It was worse than anything I had imagined.

For a moment, I even saw a flash of my old life.

It felt as if I was no longer inside this powerful barbarian body.

Instead, I was back in the weak, fragile body of Hansu Lee.

If that body had been thrown into a pit of fire, maybe it would have felt something like this.

“Fuck…”

Now I understood why my game characters had reacted so badly whenever they were hit by this skill.

It felt like I could go into shock at any second.

On top of that, the Terror status condition would appear from time to time. If someone had low aggression or weak mental stats, they would run from battle the moment it triggered.

When that happened, a message like this would appear.

[Due to immense pain and suffering, the character abandons the battle and leaves.]

From what I remembered, the first time I saw that message was while I was playing an elf archer.

Our main tank, a dwarf, suddenly broke formation and jumped straight into the ocean.

Thankfully, tanks were not that important in that raid, so we still managed to clear it without much trouble.

…So that was why.

That dwarf tank must have been driven to his limit too.

My whole body felt like it was burning alive. If he had felt this same pain, how could he possibly resist the urge to throw himself into the water?

This was hard.

Far harder than I had expected.

And strangely enough, the moment I admitted that, strength welled up inside me.

After all, when had anything ever been easy?

As always, all I had to do was clench my teeth and hold my ground.

Like a barbarian.

“Bethel–RAAAAAA!”

If it hurt, I just had to shout the name of the ancestral god and endure it.

There was no way out anyway—

Wait.

What the hell?

What was happening?

“What are you all doing?!”

Only then did I realize that the area around me had gone quiet, and I shouted at them without thinking.

Why had they stopped attacking?

“I-it looked like you were in terrible pain, Viscount…”

Hah!

Couldn’t they see the boss was regenerating?

If we wasted these few seconds now, we would end up paying for it with several more minutes of suffering later.

So—

“Keep attacking!”

I shouted urgently, and the bombardment resumed at once.

Fire, lightning, ice, spears, arrows…

All kinds of spells, abilities, and projectiles rained down on Tetraseia.

Naturally, I was caught in the aftermath as well.

Even though the Floor Lord was the real target, I was standing too close to escape the blast radius.

That was simply the fate of a tank.

The problem was—

“Ugh… Kuak! Cough…! Ow…!”

Unlike before, every spell hurt like hell.

And that was because of an order I had given Armin beforehand.

The moment Tetraseia began screaming—

“Kiyaaaaaak!”

—he was to make everyone attack with everything they had, regardless of my condition.

Of course, I would take a lot of damage too.

But if their attacks were weak enough for me to endure with only my magic resistance and the Wall of Aegis, then they would barely hurt Tetraseia either.

That was why I had told Armin not to worry about me.

Hit it with everything we had.

[Lord of Tears, Tetraseia has cast Teardrop.]

I knew exactly what Twisted Endurance did.

I knew how important the pain resistance stat was.

I knew what kind of hell would come if we carried out this plan.

Sizzle!

And still, I gave the order.

Even now, I did not regret it.

The reason was simple.

If the only thing I could do was endure, then enduring was enough.

And more importantly—

“Ugh…”

I had confidence in my ability to endure.

“Aaah…!”

The battle raged on, accompanied by the screams of a giant monster and a giant barbarian.

[Charlotte Emblut has cast Rank 4 curse magic, Hemophilia.]

[Elvain Cutter has cast Rank 3 curse magic, Wound Exacerbation.]

[Myul Armin has cast Eternal Fragility.]

[The target’s physical stats have decreased by 30%, and all curse effects applied to the target are strengthened by 50%.]

To counter Twisted Endurance, we poured every curse we had into weakening its regeneration.

[Aynar Pheneline has cast Return.]

[Malid Kevron has cast Explosion.]

[Abman Urikfried has cast Giant Arrow…]

Ranged attacks rained down without pause.

[Myul Armin has summoned Self-Destructing Spirit of Vengeance.]

[Myul Armin has summoned Corrosive Hound.]

[Max Griffonheim has summoned Alraune…]

Summons appeared one after another, attacking from a distance or rushing in to deal close-quarters damage.

Boom!

As for the melee fighters who had no ranged attacks or support skills…

Uh…

Ahem.

It was not really their fault that they had nothing to do right now. Under normal circumstances, they were the ones who had to suffer the most.

Anyway.

Shoooooo!

Time continued to pass, and the rain grew heavier.

That was a good sign.

It meant our damage was outpacing Tetraseia’s regeneration.

“…Kiyaaak!”

Of course, I did not expect it to quietly collapse and die just because of that.

[Tetraseia’s sadness deepens once more.]

This twisted Floor Lord only became more dangerous the more damage it took.

Splash!

We were only halfway done.

—

There was no HP bar for me to check, but it was not hard to tell when Tetraseia had reached half health.

Its passive made the change visible.

The flowers that had been making strange noises while spitting acid started doing something new.

[Due to the effect of Endless Rain, the planted flowers give birth to a new sadness.]

New summons began appearing wherever the flowers’ acidic spit landed.

Sadness gives birth to more sadness.

It sounded almost philosophical.

But honestly, I was just pissed off.

The rain created flowers, and the flowers created even more summons.

What kind of bullshit mechanic is this?!

“Kiyaaak!”

Unable to hold it in anymore, I screamed back at the monster.

For some reason, Tetraseia froze for a brief moment.

Then it seemed to narrow its eyes at me.

“…K-Kiyaaak!”

A second later, it screamed even louder, almost as if it was trying to compete with me.

Is it… confused because I stole its line?

Well, I had no way of knowing.

I was human. How could I understand what went through a monster’s mind?

However…

If it truly felt as though I had stolen something from it—

“Kiyaaak!”

Then fine.

I would scream louder.

“…Ki… Kiyaaak!”

Louder.

Even louder.

As the chief of the barbarians.

As the clan leader of Anabada.

As a viscount of Raphdonia.

I, Bjorn Jandel, would teach it the pain of having something taken away.

Sizzle!

“Kiyaaak!”

The countless young men who had died in this absurd world.

The thousands of people forced to fall because of the lies told by those above them.

I poured all of that grief and resentment into my scream.

“…Ki… Kiyak?!”

The moment I saw its startled reaction, I knew.

It understood.

“Heh… Heh, hehehe…”

For some reason, laughter slipped out of me.

Do you understand now, you wretched monster?

Do you understand the pain of losing what was stolen from you?

“K-kiyaaak…!”

“Heh, hehehe…!”

Tears streamed from my eyes as I smiled.

“Kiyaaak! Kiyaaaak! Kiyaaaak…!”

You miserable monster.

You pitiful thing that knows nothing except destruction.

“Heh… hehe… hahahahaha!”

Now that you have felt this pain—

Now that you have tasted this sadness—

Do you still want to keep this cursed chain going?

Do you still want to take something from me?

“Kiyaaaaaaaak!”

Fine.

Then come.

I will never back down.

—

[Due to immense pain, the character has temporarily entered Frenzy.]

—

I swung my hammer like a madman.

Naturally, my target was the Lord of Tears, but I no longer cared if the summons from the main group wandered into my path.

Bang!

Tears poured from one eye, while the other curved into a smile.

I really was losing my mind, moving only on instinct—

“Huh?”

What was I doing?

The instant that thought crossed my mind, it was like I snapped back to myself.

It did not take long to understand what had happened.

[Status condition: Frenzy has been cleared.]

Damn it.

I really had lost my mind for a moment.

Embarrassment washed over me when I remembered how I had gone on a rampage, but I forced myself to look at it positively.

At least I hadn’t felt the pain during those few minutes.

Honestly, I was lucky it had been Frenzy.

If I had gotten the condition that made me run from battle instead, everything could have fallen apart.

Damn it.

I had thought my current stats would be enough to resist those kinds of mental conditions.

Realizing that I had been wrong sent a chill through me, as if I had just peered over the edge of a cliff.

Still, the condition had ended without causing any major disaster.

Rather than waste time regretting it, I decided to move forward.

A holy spell that protected the mind.

That was the first solution that came to mind, but I did not like it much. Using holy power to guard my mind meant taking that power away from the healing keeping me alive.

The Flower Crown of Anguish.

That option was no good either.

It would make me immune to mental interference, but it would also make me immune to holy power. In other words, I would stop receiving healing altogether.

“Tsk.”

There was no helping it.

I did not have time to come up with a perfect plan.

“Armin! You’re responsible for protecting my mind!”

In the end, I chose the first option.

However…

“Ah…?”

Armin’s reaction was strangely delayed.

And even setting that aside…

“…Aah! I-I see…? As expected!”

What was he talking about?

A moment later, his next words answered that question.

“So your actions earlier were caused by mental interference!”

Damn it.

No wonder the main group had just stood there and waited for Frenzy to wear off on its own.

…Did they think I was acting normally back then?

This had to be discrimination against barbarians.