Surviving game as a barbarian Episode 604

Commander (1)

“That’s not how you use Aura.”

With those arrogant words, he swung his sword, and proved firsthand that his words were no exaggeration.

It wasn’t the power of essence.

With nothing but highly refined skill and a single sword, he cut down his target.

More precisely than anyone else could.

“Click, I didn’t kill him, huh.”

When the radiant glow of the pure white aura faded, the High Priest was surprisingly still alive.

Though his body had been sliced clean in half, tentacles squirmed from the severed edges, moving toward each other.

As if trying to reattach themselves.

“What will you do?”

It was a rather revolting sight, but the chief didn’t flinch and asked me in a matter-of-fact tone.

I suppose it was his way of saying he’d fulfilled his responsibility.

“If you delay any longer, you won’t be able to escape through the portal.”

I had to make a quick decision.

If the chief had failed completely, I would’ve jumped into the portal without a second thought. But the current situation was ambiguous, it wasn’t a complete failure.

Thud, thud.

I stepped past the chief and approached the High Priest.

Then, pushing apart the body that had already begun to fuse together, I tore a scroll inscribed with high-level fire magic and set it on fire.

“You didn’t hesitate for a second.”

“……”

“Come to think of it, you’ve clashed with the High Priest before.”

It seemed the chief had misunderstood something.

The reason I didn’t try to save him wasn’t because I hated him.

It was because I didn’t think it would help.

‘No matter what I do, there’s no coming back.’

No matter how many times I reconsidered, the conclusion was the same.

The High Priest was someone we might have been able to stop from becoming a priest of Karui. But Once someone becomes Karui’s Priest, they can’t return to being a regular priest.

But for something so significant to be set in stone the moment we entered the rift? Seems hard to believe.

The [Dungeon & Stone] I knew wasn’t like that.

At first glance, the game seemed utterly illogical, but the more you played, the more you realized—

The things that felt unfair were simply due to your own ignorance.

Whoosh—!

Watching the High Priest’s body go up in flames, I looked back on everything that had happened.

‘I made a mistake.’

I could’ve chalked it up to ignorance, but it was an undeniable mistake.

Even though I found it strange that the chief and High Priest were unaffected during the mental corruption event, I didn’t dig deeper.

Truth is, he hadn’t been sane since then.

‘…Same with that flower.’

There was a flower in this field that reduced mental corruption levels.

At first, the High Priest gladly accepted it. But later, he insisted he could endure and let us have it instead.

Looking back, that was the sign.

‘What if I had given all the flowers to the High Priest and supported him as best I could?’

Well, it’s pointless to speculate now.

Unless I re-enter this rift, I’ll never know.

‘Still, at least I gained some knowledge.’

If it were me from my gaming days, I’d add this information about the Basement Floor 1 rift:

If entering as a priest, you can change class to Karui’s Priest.

In exchange for sacrificing a companion, you start with most skills unlocked.”

I’ll think about how to use this later.

“Well then, are you done confirming everything?”

“…Not yet.”

I glanced briefly at the shrinking portal, then looked down once more at the High Priest.

Even as the flames engulfed him, the tentacles had been writhing frantically, but now their movements were slowing.

“Are you thinking something might happen if the High Priest dies?”

“Yeah.”

At my honest answer, the village chief let out a dry laugh.

“It feels odd for me to say this, but you’re really not in your right mind either.”

“Should I take that as a compliment?”

“Well, how you interpret that is up to you, I suppo…”

Mid-sentence, the village chief suddenly fell silent.

The reason was obvious.

「You have defeated the priest who succumbed to temptation.」

Finally, the burning High Priest stopped moving.

And then—

「Special Condition – Third Record has been fulfilled.」

His body dissolved into radiant light and..

「No.???? ‘Flower Crown of Anguish’ has been generated.」

An unknown item dropped.

It was a black-and-white flower crown meant to be worn on the head. The colors didn’t divide evenly, but alternated one after the other.

“Do you have any idea what this is?”

“No clue.”

At first, I thought it might be a Numbers item, but I was certain no Numbers item took the form of a crown like this.

So, what was it?

‘…I’ll examine it later.’

I picked up the crown and checked the portal.

Fortunately, there was still time left.

The red portal hadn’t shrunk, but the blue one was less than a third of its original size.

“If I may offer advice, choose the blue portal. From now on, I’m as good as dead.”

“Dead?”

“There’s no time, so I’ll keep it brief. The mana manipulation I used earlier with my Aura differs greatly from the original owner of this body. Because of that discrepancy, my body’s completely ruined.”

…So, the power wasn’t without conditions after all.

It was somewhat reassuring, but also chilling.

After all, it meant that with enough time and adjustment, he could wield that power whenever he wanted.

‘Anyway, that’s not something to worry about now…’

To summarize the village chief’s words:

I could take the red portal, but if I did, I’d have to face all the trials alone.

‘Would that even be possible?’

I made a cold, rational judgment.

Our priest with infinite divine power had fallen to corruption.

The mage was injured and sent back.

Our strongest knight had just lost his power.

Even getting this far was sheer luck.

By all accounts, this was far from the standard strategy.

It was time to admit it.

Though it wasn’t surprising, given that this was my first rift attempt…

“I’m leaving this place.”

I had failed to conquer the Basement Floor 1 rift.

***

It was just a blink of an eye.

When I opened my eyes, I was already back.

Not in the ruined, suffocating air of the Great Demon Realm, but in the place filled with guardian statues.

“Jandel!”

“Bjorn!”

“…Captain!”

The moment I stepped out of the portal, everyone rushed toward me, calling my name in their own way.

“I appreciate the concern, but we’ll talk later.”

I understood their enthusiasm, but there were things to check first.

“Mister! You can’t just throw me away like that!”

First, Erwin was fine.

Her height had returned to normal.

“What about Gahyun?”

“The priests are treating him.”

Fortunately, Gahyun seemed unharmed too.

I didn’t know how badly he was injured, but as long as it was just physical damage, the priests should be able to heal him—

“Baron!”

Then, someone asked me.

“Where is the Commander? Why hasn’t the Commander come out yet?”

Gillen Eborst.

The younger brother of Baron Eborst and the vice-commander of our expedition.

“Why hasn’t he come out yet—”

I interrupted him and explained why the chief hadn’t returned.

“Count Saintred is dead.”

For the record, it was his own choice.

He said there’d never be a more natural opportunity to bow out.

[It’s for the best. I was actually thinking of heading to the city soon, and I needed a good reason.]

At first, I was dumbfounded.

But it made sense.

He couldn’t just randomly kill himself.

And it was nearly impossible for a monster to take him down.

Few would believe it, and even if they did, it’d tarnish his honor.

The chief had no intention of abandoning the life he’d built under the identity of “Jerome Saintred.”

In other words—

“Our enemy was a Priest of Karui. He was strong enough to easily defeat a Floor Lord, the commander died buying us time to escape.”

From the village chief’s perspective, dying honorably against an overwhelmingly powerful enemy was the best outcome.

“Karui’s Priest? Does this have something to do with Priest Hestia’s absence?”

“I’ll explain the details later. First, I have a question…”

I turned to the whole group.

“How long has it been?”

“Exactly 30 days today.”

“A month, huh…”

No wonder it felt like they’d set up a whole new base here.

“Still, the situation is not too bad.”

Considering the underground floor’s time flowed the same as the city’s, it must’ve felt even longer. But, it was still better than the worst-case scenario.

‘Aside from me and Erwin, the others have been stuck there for over half a year.’

In a way, I’d saved us five months.

Of course, for me, it was a complete loss.

I’d only been inside the rift for maybe a week.

“Then, please tell us what happened inside—”

Geez, why was this guy in such a hurry?

“First, there’s something I need to check.”

I pointed with my index finger.

It was something I’d been wondering about since I woke up, though I’d pushed it down the list of priorities.

“Has that stone gate been closed this whole time?”

“Yes. It shut immediately after the five of you entered a month ago, and the portal disappeared.”

I woke up in the middle of this stone chamber. The small portal that had transported me had disappeared as soon as I was spat out.

‘…At least it’s clear that defeating the guardian counts as clearing the rift, so why isn’t the exit opening?’

I’d been certain that clearing the rift would open an escape route from this stone chamber, so this was surprising.

‘What’s going on? Because I didn’t choose the red portal? Does that mean I have to start over from the guardian statues?’

As countless theories flooded my mind—

Grindgrindgrind

As if mocking my impatience, the tightly sealed stone gate began to creak open.
***

Beyond the door was a secret chamber.

Three large statues, about the size of big figurines, stood on the floor. In their center, a glowing portal floated.

‘The portal is probably the exit…’

The mage who had followed me in, along with the rest of the team who were peering in from behind, were full of excitement.

Well, after being stuck here for over a month, their impatience was understandable.

“Raven! I’ll delegate authority to you. Lead the mages and investigate this place. Determine the nature of that portal, what these statues are, and whether anything else is hidden here.”

“…Huh?”

“Ah, and Vice-Commander! Gather the leadership. I’ll brief them on what happened inside.”

It was an overreach of authority, but no one objected.

Only a few politically savvy ones looked a bit uneasy.

Raven included.

‘Are you sure about this?’

‘Don’t worry. Just focus on your job.’

We exchanged a brief, silent conversation with our eyes before I stepped out of the chamber. While the vice-commander prepared the briefing, I caught up with my companions.

“Why are you hiding it from us…?”

“I’m not hiding it. I just don’t want to explain it twice. You’re coming to the meeting too.”

“Are you even allowed to decide that?”

Amelia pointed out that I was only a temporary squad leader.

But—

“We’ll see. So, how’ve things been here? Any trouble?”

I spent the remaining time listening to their updates until the briefing was ready.

A large military tent meant for 30 people.

“Ah, Baron. You’re here. But they—”

“I brought them to listen. Is that a problem?”

“…No. That’s fine. This meeting is to discuss what happened inside, after all. I apologize for not having seats prepared.”

Even without a title, nobility was still nobility.

He basically said, “They’ll have to leave when the real meeting starts.”

“That’s fine. It’s not hard to stand and listen. Right, guys?”

“……”

“They said yes.”

I stepped inside the tent, and two empty seats stood out.

Step.

One was the commander’s seat at the head.

The other was my assigned seat, directly across from the vice-commander.

Thud—

It went without saying.

Today, my seat was already decided.

“……!”

“……!”

The moment I sat down, a ripple of tension passed through the officers’ gazes.

The vice-commander was no exception.

“…Would you care to explain what exactly this means, Baron?”

He asked, trying hard to keep his composure.

“What do you think it means?”

I grinned and answered.

“You already know, don’t you, Vice Commander?”

“…?”

“You know exactly what this means.”

“…!”

It was time.

Time to switch into True Barbarian Corps Commander Mode.

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