Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 854

The spirit warrior summoned through [Dragonplate of Aegis].

Hm, calling it a spirit warrior every time felt a little awkward, so… I will call it Aegis.

[Uoooooooooooooooooh!!]

As if enraged by the sight of the enemy still alive and breathing, Aegis let out a roar.

Its deafening roar was truly overwhelming, and I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of strike would come next.

And then…

Damn! What the hell?

…Why did it just shout and disappear?

Did the roar have some kind of additional effect?

Since it was not a straightforward ability like slashing the enemy with a greatsword, I had no way of knowing.

But…

[The damage dealt increases by the sum of all resistance stats until the end of the battle.]

It probably wasn’t anything bad for me.

It must have been something good.

The disappearance effect wasn’t just scattering like smoke; rather, it felt like it was dwelling inside me. I’ll figure it out later…

Boom!

Boom!

The bombardment continued.

Even though the mages were out of the fight, we still had ranged damage dealers, such as ability users and archers, left.

[One layer of pity has been removed from Tetraseia.]

But just as another layer of its shell was peeled off…

“Entering Phase 3!”

Armin gave another status update.

Phase 3 began when the firepower of the ranged damage dealers dropped by more than half, either because their skills were on cooldown, they were low on MP, or their spells took too long to cast.

“All forces, charge!!”

“Waaaaaaah!!”

“Let’s gooooo!!”

From this point onward, the melee damage dealers would join the fight.

Until now, they had barely been able to contribute, yet they had still endured the pain of the battle.

Now, all they had to do was attack an enemy that could no longer fight back.

Perhaps because those three factors came together at once, the melee attackers’ morale soared higher than ever.

[Maon Magnus has cast [Rotating Strike].」

「Mikhail Rectus has cast [Pressure Kick].」

「Creed Allen has cast [Vicious Strike].」

The hammer warrior spun around and brought down his massive two-handed hammer, while the knight hacked away with his blade wrapped in sharp aura.

Even those who were not specialized fighters, such as the scouts, used everything they had to deal as much damage as possible.

…So that thief bastard does know how to fight.

For some reason, this felt like the first time I had ever seen him do anything.

It was probably just my imagination.

Surely he had been contributing whenever I was not looking.

There was no way he had simply freeloaded through the past several waves, right?

「Aynar Pheneline has cast [Trident].」

For the record, Aynar was only using [Trident], not [Focused Shot].

She needed to preserve the fully accumulated stacks of [Regression].

“Bethel—Raaaaaaaaaah!!”

And for the record, I joined the melee attackers this time and swung my hammer as well.

Then—

「The character has cast [Swing].」

Craaaaack!

What the hell? Why did it break the moment I hit it?

Did I just happen to land the final blow?

[One layer of pity has been removed from Tetraseia.]

I couldn’t be certain, but the eighth shell peeled away sooner than expected.

[One layer of pity has been removed from Tetraseia.]

The ninth shell didn’t take long either.

The truth was, melee damage dealers did not always have lower DPS than archers or mages.

They simply had a harder time applying that damage.

Crack!

For some reason, every strike had felt especially satisfying for a while now.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but it felt like I kept landing the final blow on each layer.

Anyway…

Is this the last one?

If we could strip away just one more shell, we would finally reach the soft flesh underneath.

But…

How long will it take to break through this final layer?

Now, it felt a little daunting.

It was not as though the last shell was specially reinforced by the skill or anything—

[The duration of Grace has ended.]

In the end, we ran out of time.

Simply put, from this point on, we had to break through a shell with maxed-out resistance using only our own strength.

Which meant—

“Everyone except the knights of the 4th Company, fall back!”

I ordered the melee fighters, who had been attacking nonstop, to fall back and maintained the front line with only the knights.

After all, there’s no other solution besides ‘Aura.’

Whoooooosh!

Ninety percent defense penetration.

Ninety percent magic resistance penetration.

The undisputed strongest skill in Dungeon & Stone.

Aura.

Even so, the creature’s final shell was far from easy to break.

Scrape! Scraaape!

The knights looked genuinely stunned.

I suppose they had never heard a sound like that after learning to use Aura.

Scrape!

The power that normally cut through steel like tofu was being stopped almost immediately, unable to sink in even a finger joint’s length.

But the reason was simple.

If its physical resistance was 10,000, then even after ignoring ninety percent of it, there would still be 1,000 left.

Scra-scrape!

In other words, it was no different from trying to cut down a monster with 1,000 physical resistance using an ordinary sword without Aura.

Still, we had no other choice.

Because it was Aura, they were at least shaving it down little by little.

If anyone else tried attacking it, they probably would not even leave a scratch.

“Bjorn…!”

At some point, Aynar came up beside me and called my name with the urgency of someone who could no longer hold it in.

“Bjorn…!”

But I firmly shook my head.

“Wait. Not yet.”

The knights alone are enough to peel off the last layer.

Even if it felt a little unsettling, we had to believe that.

Because that was the only way to kill this thing.

Besides.

Crack.

Zzzzt.

Just as no tree could withstand endless blows from an axe…

Zz-zzzzzt!

The more the knights struck, the more dents appeared on the shell.

And as those dents piled up, thin cracks finally began spreading across the surface that had seemed impossible to break.

The knights kept slashing with everything they had.

Then, at last, the cracked shell shattered and collapsed.

The moment we had been waiting for had finally arrived.

But there was no time to celebrate.

“Aynar, now!”

The instant I shouted, Aynar, who had been waiting with her stacks fully charged, hurled her spear.

[On the next strike, the effect of Soul Tracker will be applied.]

The flesh hidden beneath the shell looked shockingly small.

Compared to its earlier form, it seemed almost frail.

Pwoooooooosh—!

Aynar’s spear shot forward like an arrow fired at point-blank range, piercing straight through that exposed flesh with almost no resistance.

And then…

[—!!]

The creature could not even scream.

Its back bent sharply, like a bowstring pulled to its limit.

It looked like a fatal blow.

But…

It’s still alive.

It had fallen just short of death.

Which meant—

“What are you waiting for?! Get in there!”

The knights moved first.

Then every melee fighter nearby rushed in after them, swarming the monster that had been reduced to nothing but vulnerable flesh.

Stab!

An Aura-covered sword drove straight into its eye.

Someone pressed a blade against its fingers, while another smashed down on the blade with a hammer, severing them one by one.

Spears were shoved deep into the holes across its body—the same holes that had been spewing acidic fluid until now.

Chwaaaaaa!

Every time a weapon struck or was pulled free, red blood gushed out.

Not acid.

Blood.

“Damn it…!”

“Die, you monster!”

“Please, just die already…!”

Everyone was desperate.

I had not said it aloud, but every single person there understood instinctively.

There were no more cards left to play.

We had poured out every bit of firepower we possibly could.

So all that remained now was the result.

Would it bear fruit?

Or would it end meaninglessly?

[—!!]

Under the relentless assault, the creature merely jerked and shuddered.

It could no longer resist.

No, even calling it resistance was too generous.

Its movements were growing weaker by the second.

And perhaps because of that—

Thump!

A sharp, inexplicable certainty rose inside me.

“Just a little more!”

It was not the instinct of a barbarian body built for hunting and battle.

It was the instinct of a Dungeon & Stone player who had spent nearly ten years obsessively digging into one game.

[The Lord of Tears, Tetraseia’s HP is below 1%.]

Its health was no longer closer to one.

It was closer to zero.

Just one more push.

That was all we needed.

If we could take even one more step from here, that number would finally hit zero.

This nightmare of a battle would end.

And the future would be decided.

Right.

Just a little more—

Plink.

The moment I swung my hammer, trying to add even the smallest bit of damage…

Plip, plop…

I froze.

Then I slowly looked up.

Plip, plop.

Only a few drops were falling.

But they were unmistakably rain.

And the meaning behind those drops was painfully clear.

We had run out of time.

Or we had lacked damage.

Whichever it was, the result was the same.

[Tetraseia ends its long-held pity.]

Plan A had failed.

***

Thump!

Time seemed to slow down.

At the boundary between life and death, my focus sharpened to the extreme.

Thump!

One raindrop fell.

Then another.

This is only the beginning.

Soon, a storm unlike anything we had endured so far would pour down over the ravine.

Thump!!

So this was where we had ended up.

We had thrown everything we had at it.

Every spell.

Every strike.

Every last bit of strength.

We had pushed it all the way to the brink.

Just one final spoonful had been missing.

That was all we needed to turn that 1 into a 0.

But…

Not yet.

It was not over.

The road ahead had only become much harder.

As long as the chance isn’t 0%.

Then I have to try.

Thump!

The instant I made that decision, the world snapped back to its normal speed.

[Tetraseia’s HP has recovered by 10%.]

Tetraseia’s tattered and ruined body began healing at a terrifying speed.

This was the effect of Self-Pity.

Once the skill finished casting, it restored the monster’s HP based on how many layers of shell remained.

The fewer layers we destroyed, the more HP it recovered.

If we had failed to break even a single layer, it would have returned to full health.

But…

10% is still manageable.

That was one of the reasons I had made my decision.

[All of Tetraseia’s resistance stats and Natural Regeneration are gradually increasing.]

After restoring its HP, Tetraseia’s stats would rise exponentially as time passed.

If my memory was correct, it would take around fifteen minutes for all its resistances and Natural Regeneration to reach their maximum values.

But right now…

It was actually weaker than before.

The resistances that had temporarily been pushed to their maximum by Self-Pity had dropped back down to their original values.

[The Lord of Tears, Tetraseia, has cast Twisted Endurance.]

Of course, Twisted Endurance would boost its Natural Regeneration again, but—

“What are you all standing around for?!”

The chance had not vanished completely.

For the next three or four minutes…

If we used this short golden window properly, victory was still within reach.

So—

“Keep attacking!”

I shouted at the survivors, who had frozen after watching Tetraseia’s ruined body recover in an instant.

“Ah… ah…!”

“Aaaaaah!”

My shout snapped them back to their senses.

The warriors and knights raised their weapons and began cutting into the monster again.

Of course, it was not as easy as before.

Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Acid rain poured down so heavily that it was difficult to keep our eyes open.

The barrier from the main force, which had been shielding us from the rain like a roof, was no longer there.

And—

Whoosh!

As the rain resumed, acid flowers sprouted wildly across the battlefield.

Those flowers then began producing summoned creatures made of acidic fluid.

Because of that, the melee fighters who were carving into the monster had no choice but to endure the acid rain head-on.

“Aaaaaaaaargh!”

“Ah, I can’t see…!”

Screams broke out from every direction.

Tssssssssss!

Even if Divine Power restored their burned flesh almost immediately, the pain still left deep scars on their minds.

“Just die already, you damn monster…!”

“Everyone, stay focused! It only recovered a little! Isn’t it easier to cut than before?”

“Ignore the summons! Trust the priests!”

“Kill it!”

Aura, hammers, spears, axes…

All kinds of weapons rose and fell without pause, slicing and stabbing into the monster’s exposed flesh.

And then—

Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

As the attacks continued, I could feel the rain growing stronger in real time.

In simple terms, our damage was still outpacing its regeneration.

“Viscount! We’re ready!”

Good news came from the main force.

They had been holding the line by filling the gap left by the absent warriors with summoned creatures. And while the melee fighters kept the pressure on, the ranged group had finished their cooldowns, recovered their timing, and prepared a second bombardment.

“Everyone, fall back!”

The melee fighters quickly retreated, creating just enough distance.

Ka-ka-ka-boooooom!

Pwoosh!

KABOOM!

The bombardment began.

For several dozen seconds, spells and projectiles rained down without mercy.

The dust that rose from the impact was quickly beaten down by the pouring rain, revealing the monster’s ruined state.

Its hide had been ripped open.

Bone showed through the deep wounds.

One arm had been torn off.

Its skull was partially caved in.

Chunks of flesh, impossible to identify, lay scattered around it.

It was clearly standing at death’s door.

If the melee fighters charged in again with the knights at the center, we had a real chance of ending this.

Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

The violent downpour was proof of that.

But we still could not afford to relax.

This was our golden window.

Before its resistances and Natural Regeneration rose to an impossible level, we had to squeeze out every bit of damage we could.

“What are you waiting for?! Get back in there!”

The moment I gave the order, the melee fighters who had been waiting rushed toward the monster again.

Even as their bodies burned.

Even as pain tore through them.

“Grrrr…!”

“F*ckkkkk!!”

“Please, just die already…!”

They kept swinging through nothing but hatred and raw determination.

The monster’s ruined appearance probably fueled them even more.

Anyone could see it.

Tetraseia was on the verge of death.

“We only need to finish it!”

“The priests will heal us!”

“Aaaaaaaaargh!”

Just a little more.

Just a little more.

With everyone’s will focused on the same goal, they struck with more desperation than ever before.

But the monster’s life was stubborn.

Stab! Stab!

Slice!

Ten seconds passed.

Kaboom!

Slice, slice!

Pwoooosh!

Twenty seconds.

Thirty.

Forty.

They kept driving their weapons into it, cutting through flesh and hacking at its joints.

“Dieeeeeeeee!”

Its wounds were already severe enough that any ordinary monster would have dissolved into light long ago.

And yet, Tetraseia refused to fall.

Fifty seconds.

Sixty.

The melee fighters’ blood-soaked struggle had nearly reached a full minute.

At the very moment when every single person’s strength mattered most—

“Sh-shit…!”

A curse slipped out, carrying the weight of a decision already made.

[Due to excessive pain, Creed Allen has abandoned the battle and is leaving the area.]

Another deserter had appeared.