STGB Episode 534

Rainbow (1)

The road leading from the chief’s house to the village entrance.

I am sprinting down it at full speed.

BOOM—! BOOM—! BOOM—!

With [Gigantification] active, every step I took made a noise like a construction site, but I didn’t find it particularly annoying.

It wasn’t exactly bedtime anyway, and…

[F-Fire…!]

[Bring water!]

The villagers were too busy putting out the flames to care about the sound of a barbarian running.

But since they are not humans, should I call them villagers?

I faced the same dilemma I’d faced many times before.

“……Is this really okay?”

Vercil, who was sitting on Aynar’s shoulder, expressed her concern to me.

“What’s okay?”

Confused, I shot back, and Vercil glanced behind us. The flames that had erupted from the center of the village had already begun to engulf the entire area in smoke.

“There are quite a few villagers who aren’t warriors…”

She’s more soft-hearted than I thought.

Even after seeing those fish heads, she still treats them like people.

“So?”

I gave a “Don’t bother me when I’m busy” look and Vercyl pressed her lips together.

Then…

“Um…”

For some reason, Misha took over the conversation.

“Why are you acting like this…? This isn’t like you, Bjorn…”

Not like me?

That’s the second time I’ve heard that today.

“Yeah! I’m curious too! What did you see down there that made you do this?”

Aynar, her fighting spirit but still curious, spoke up after Misha.

‘Human corpses.’

To answer briefly, that was all I saw underground.

The village chief had shown me the corpses, explaining how they’d obtained them, hoping it would clear up my misunderstanding.

Up to that point, there was no issue.

But then…

[Since we’ve been hiding things too, I won’t hold you responsible for your companion breaking the laws of our village or the ‘mistakes’ you’ve made because of it. How does that sound?]

He offered to overlook Amelia’s break in and my splitting of Nuarchichi’s skull as if nothing had happened.

Strange, right?

My first night companion, Hans A, had acted exactly like this.

[…Fortunately, nothing happened while you were asleep, so I won’t say anything more.]

At any rate, I took the lesson I learned then to heart.

If a complete stranger shows me kindness, it’s because they have something to gain from me.

And there’s another lesson I learned through experience.

[Why! Why did you hurt Priestess Elisha?! What did we ever do to you…?!]

Elisha, the karui priestess I met in the labyrinth.

As I smashed her head in while she pretended to be an ordinary priestess, I realized:

The answer is always to split the heads of suspicious people first.

That said, I didn’t feel the need to explain all this in detail. It wasn’t entirely impossible to rationalize and persuade, but…

“Tell us. What did you see down there that made you do this?”

I answered plainly.

“Nothing much.”

Just as I had with the village chief earlier.

This time, too, a single sentence was enough.

“I just felt like it.”

A statement with no proper justification.

Hearing this, Misha murmured quietly.

“…So it’s instinct?”

Intuition.

A mental calculation derived from the big data accumulated in the subconscious through experience.

“Instinct, huh!”

Aynar nodded as if that explanation was enough to convince her.

“Oh, well, in that case, what can you do!”

“Your instincts are usually right, Mister. They’ve saved our lives more than once or twice.”

Erwin chuckled and agreed, and Vercyl, who had been watching, added her own comment.

“Well… I suppose there’s always a reason for such a feeling. To be honest, I felt uneasy about the village chief, too.”

Meanwhile, Wyat Hex and Myul Armin—who seemed to have been eavesdropping—chimed in as well.

They haven’t known me long, but…

“Honestly, hearing you say that puts my mind at ease.”

“Baron Jandel’s beast-like instincts are famous, after all.”

They seemed to trust my reputation.

Not that it was surprising—most explorers believed that as long as the outcome was good, the means didn’t matter.

And explorers were always a little superstitious.

“Those guys were all weird anyway.”

“I actually feel relieved. I’ve been so uneasy I couldn’t sleep.”

“Besides, you said you had a feeling, right? It might even be divine revelation—ignoring that would be way more unsettling!”

“Ah… I get it. Every time we ignored our gut feelings, something bad happened.”

Seems like everyone had sensed something was off.

I hadn’t planned for this response, but…

“Let’s go!”

“Fucking monsters! Burn them all!”

Somehow, their morale skyrocketed.

Is it really okay for all their doubts to vanish with just one word from me? They seemed utterly convinced this was the right choice.

Well, I wasn’t that confident myself.

“……You guys are ridiculous.”

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

But did someone heard that?

“You’re the ridiculous one. You convinced everyone with a joke of an explanation.”

Huh?

That voice…

“Now that I think about it, you’ve always been like this. You’ve always had a knack for making people believe wherever you’re heading is the right path…”

“Emily?”

I whipped my head around to see Amelia, awake and staring at me from atop Auyen’s back.

“If you’re awake, say something. How long have you been up?”

“Just now.”

“How’s your body? Everything okay?”

“Fine.”

With that, Amelia immediately jumped off Auyen’s back and started running alongside us.

“Looks like I got the gist of the situation. We’re escaping this village, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Sigh… Causing this much trouble while I was asleep. Explain in detail. What happened?”

This wasn’t the kind of conversation to have over tea, so I quickly summarized the key points.

“The village chief showed me something underground, and it seemed sketchy, so I smashed his head in. Then we set the village on fire while running away. By now, the chief’s probably chasing us through the flames.”

A short explanation covering all the necessary information.

Amelia was silent for a moment, seemingly at a loss for words, before finally speaking.

“……That’s so you.”

For some reason, that made me laugh.

Now that I think about it, this might be the first time today someone’s said I’m acting like myself.

“Anyway, now it’s your turn. What happened to you?”

“I went underground, got caught, and was interrogated. That’s it.”

Hmm, I see…

I’d hoped for more, but there was no additional information.

Not that having more would change much in this situation.

“Mister, we’re here!”

Now came the real problem.

This village, like Noark, was built underground. The only way out was through the exit, but…

“What do we do now?”

All we could see was a solid rock wall blocking the sealed gate.

Officially, only the village chief could open and close the entrance.

Yeah, officially.

“Step aside.”

I gripped my hammer and approached the wall. Vercil, being a mage, voiced her doubts.

“Will… this really work?”

Tsk, this is why book-smart types are annoying.

“You’ll see.”

With that, I swung my hammer at the wall with all my might.

[The character has used [Swing].]

BOOOOOM—!

The impact was so powerful that it momentarily cleared the thick smoke around us.

But the wall remained completely intact.

“…….”

“……It didn’t work.”

Huh.

Well, that’s embarrassing for a barbarian.

“Don’t worry. There’s another way.”

“Another way?”

“Yeah.”

Whether it’s magic, skills, or something else—

There’s no such thing as an unbreakable wall.

If it doesn’t break, it just means you didn’t hit it hard enough.

So, time for Plan B.

“Erwin!”

Hit it harder.

[Erwin Fornacci di Tercia has summoned[Dark Spirit King Dichloe]

Hundreds of dark orbs slammed into the wall, creating a deafening roar.

But the wall still held.

So, even this won’t work?

Using [Swing] alone wouldn’t have stood a chance.

The wall cracked and crumbled slightly with each hit, but its regenerative ability was impressive—it quickly repaired itself.

We’ll need a single, overwhelming strike rather than steady a damge…

“Erwin.”

No need for lengthy instructions.

As soon as I called her name. Erwin’s arrow began to glow with an intense light.

‘For single-target damage, nothing beats [Focused Shot].’

Its only drawback was the long casting time.

One second, two seconds, three seconds…

The longer she charged, the brighter and more intense the arrow’s glow became.

After some time had passed.

“Bjorn.”

“No need to say it. I can see it too.”

From the direction of the burning, smoke-filled village, something was approaching rapidly.

At first, it was just a tiny dot, but it didn’t take long for it to grow into a distinct shape.

“He’s not going to let us leave easily, huh?”

Well, at least he’s slower than I expected, so I won’t complain.

“Prepare for battle!!”

I shouted at the top of my lungs and charged forward.

The moment I braced my shield and leaned into it—

KWA-BOOOOOM—!!

The village chief, charging at us full speed, collided with the shield.

WHOOSH—!

The impact scattered the smoke like an explosion.

Immediately, our ranged attackers unleashed a barrage.

Curses, wind lances, fireballs, arrows, energy waves, etc. But, not a single one hit its mark.

SWOOSH—

The spells and projectiles dissipated into light before reaching their target. It was similar to [Silence Command] used by the Orcules’s captain, but there is a clear difference.

Back then, I could still use skills.

Right, so…

‘If this isn’t the Silence Essence…’

There’s only one skill with a similar effect.

‘Tol-Rapha.’

The Level 1 skill of the Level 1 monster, Tol-Rapha.

[Cosmic Protection]

A cheat-tier skill that nullifies all ranged projectile attacks.

And, [Cosmic Protection] is a passive skill, so we have no way of knowing what active skills the village chief might have.

‘To think he’d have a Level 1 Essence too…’

Despite the weight on my shoulders, I ordered a halt to the ranged attacks.

There was no point in wasting MP at this point.

…Since he’s nullifying our attacks, he’s probably spending his own MP as well.

We can’t afford a prolonged battle, so there was no reason to waste MP unnecessarily, and I definitely don’t want to use up my resources before we get to the monster-infested land later.

So, in other words…

“You’re later than I expected, Chief.”

I tried to make conversation.

Every second of free time I could buy would be an advantage.

“Someone had to clean up the mess you made.”

Oh, I didn’t expect him to answer.

But it seemed the chief wasn’t planning to give me time either.

“It’s raining outside—where are you in such a hurry to go?”

“Ah, I was just feeling a bit suffocated staying in the village.”

“Stop this. I’m saying this for your own good.”

“For my good?”

I scoffed, and the chief delivered what sounded like a final ultimatum.

“It’s not too late yet. If you stop now, I’ll pretend none of today ever happened.”

If I were a cornered rat, that would’ve sounded like an incredibly sweet offer.

But to me, it only confirmed my suspicions.

‘I was worried I might’ve made the wrong choice, but…’

I wasn’t wrong.

After all, what sane person would forgive someone who smashed their face with a hammer and set their village on fire?

No normal person would.

If I hadn’t decided to leave today, something terrible would have happened sooner or later.

So…

“Can I have a moment to think about it?”

I pretended to hesitate to buy a little more time.

But it seemed that the chief had already learned a thing or two about dealing with the barbarians .

His response made that clear.

“Do I… look like an idiot to you?”

Uh…

“…A little?”

“……I’ll count to three. Decide by then.”

“Three’s too short. Make it four.”

The chief ignored me and started counting.

“……Three.”

Well, at least I bought a few seconds.

Not that it mattered much since he wouldn’t wait until the end anyway.

“Two.”

Right as the chief called out the next number—

Tap.

I dashed forward.

Erwin still needs more time to finish her skill. And If this is a fight I couldn’t avoid…

“……!”

Then let’s see.

With the eyes of a veteran player who spent nine years mastering a game and experimenting with every possible combo.

Just how strong a character I’ve spent an eternity raising really is.

And…

“BETHEL—RAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

What its weaknesses are.

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