Surviving game as a barbarian Episode 618

Glorious Return(1)

At the end of the roughly ten-foot tunnel, a space opened up that resembled a control room.

Rectangular glass panels covered the walls, displaying real-time footage of every location inside the building. And…

‘There are a lot of control keys.’

It looked like the cockpit of an airplane, packed with buttons and levers.

“Jandel.”

I turned my head at Amelia’s call and saw a screen displaying the room where our allies were trapped.

‘…No wonder we couldn’t find them no matter how hard we searched.’

The room they were trapped in had no door.

Only dozens of belts led in and out, indicating that movement was only possible through those belts.

‘I think I know how to reach that room now.’

To reach that place, you would have had to board the correct belt and move in the exact sequence. Like solving a puzzle in a mini-game.

‘…There was something like this on the 10th floor too.’

Even now, I still think that part was honestly terrible.

A section that required multiple attempts, but the cost of failure was the potential annihilation of the entire party. If it were the third or fourth floor, that would be one thing, but putting something like that on the tenth floor? That’s just cruel.

“It seems they’ve returned safely.”

“Huh?”

“The ones who were taken out before me. I thought they might have turned into mana stones in the underground factory. But from what I can see here, they’re fine.”

“Ah!”

When I looked closely at the screen, I saw that all the members who had gone missing with Amelia were standing calmly inside the room.

“So, what now?”

At Amelia’s question, I took a moment to think.

Countless buttons and levers.

If I can operate them properly, I might be able to rescue all my allies from here…

“First, don’t press anything randomly. Stay still.” I decided

Since I didn’t know what these buttons did, it was risky to experiment. After all, if one of them released poison gas and wiped everyone out, that would be a disaster.

“Do I… seem like you?” Amelia retorted back

“Just saying, just in case. Alright, let’s try pressing that one over there first.”

“…Didn’t you just say not to press anything randomly?”

“Well, we have to press something to figure things out, don’t we?”

From there, Amelia and I began a thorough investigation of the control room.

Then, one by one, we began pressing the buttons furthest from the screen showing our trapped allies. Through this process, we discovered something:

The buttons below the screen directly affected the room displayed on it.

Once we realized this, we became bolder in pressing other buttons and levers, and soon we figured out the purpose of most of them.

‘The red button stops the belt. The green button restarts them. Pulling the left lever reverses the belts’ direction…’

However, there were still three buttons and levers whose purpose we didn’t know.

‘What are those for?’

Unlike the others, these weren’t placed below the screen, but rather stood alone in the center of the room, making them look especially ominous.

If my guess was right, those were probably devices that affected the entire building…

“If you want to find a way to that room, the fastest method would be to turn someone into a mana stone and follow its path.”

Amelia’s suggestion made me let out a hollow laugh.

Oh, as if I hadn’t thought of that.

“Absolutely not. Even if it doesn’t seem life-threatening, we don’t know what the side effects might be.”

“Then we have no choice but to keep waiting like this.”

Well, it wasn’t a bad option.

We’d have to wait endlessly for each person to come out one by one, but at least we could rescue everyone with that method.

Assuming nothing goes wrong.

“Or, we could go find them ourselves.”

“Find them… directly?”

“Yeah.”

When I checked the underground factory earlier via the screen, I saw that over twenty people had gathered there.

If we stopped all the conveyor belts and had everyone search the building manually, we might find them much faster.

Besides, we need to find that room and investigate it properly. Who knows what might be hidden there?”

“True… We did come here to explore, after all.”

“Right. We haven’t learned anything yet.”

Escaping this temple would be easy.

We could just leave the way I came in.

But what was our purpose in coming here?

To escape this damned basement floor 1 and return to the city. But right now, we had no way off Rainbow Island either.

“Now that you mention it, that makes sense.”

With our minds made up, there was no reason to hesitate.

Amelia and I began pressing buttons to deactivate all the conveyor belts in the building.

Then, we went downstairs to join the main group, explained our findings and plans, and put them into action.

One day, two days, three, four…

Under Amelia’s command, we steadily mapped out the ant-nest-like tangle of conveyor belts.

“Everyone, take a copy of the map! It’s updated to yesterday’s layout!”

“We checked this path thoroughly. It just loops back. We’ll try another route today.”

Everyone was working together, moving with purpose toward a shared goal. It was a commendable sight.

And I was watching it all from the control room via the screens at the top of the b.

I came up here after receiving a report that a moving belt had been found during the exploration.

‘I’m sure I turned it off?’

Stopping the faulty belt again wasn’t too hard.

But then…

Bzzzt, bzzzt—

As I was about to leave, all the screens suddenly went black.

And then—

[Mind if we talk for a bit?]

A strange voice began to speak from beyond the screens.

***

The voice spoke in an ancient language.

Suddenly, the central screen turned bright with the colors of the rainbow.

[Don’t worry. I have no intention of harming you.]

The light stretched and warped like rubber with each word, as if synced to the wavelengths of speech.

Like some sort of AI.

How was I supposed to react to this mysterious entity trying to converse through the screen?

[Marx, it’s been a while. Seeing you doing well puts my mind at ease.]

Just as I was wondering, the entity greeted someone by name.

“Marx?”

[Wait… you mean me?]

Hamsiki looked at the screen, confused, and asked,

[Ah, right. I forgot, you don’t remember who you are or why you’re here. That was your wish, after all.]

[What are you talking about? Do you know me?]

[Of course.]

At the affirmative answer, Hamsiki tightly clenched my hair.

Even he seemed unable to process this sudden situation.

So, as a friend, it was my turn to step in.

“Nice to meet you and all, but how about introducing yourself first? Who are you?”

[Director of the Research Institute. If you need a title to call me, use that.]

“‘Director of the Research Institute’ is too long. Let’s just go with ‘Director.’”

[As you wish.]

I’d thrown that out to gauge his personality, but his reaction was unexpectedly indifferent.

Whoever he was, he genuinely didn’t seem to care about titles.

“All right then, Director, let’s hear it. If you’ve appeared before us, you must have a reason.”

Rather than figuring out who the Director was, I prioritized asking his purpose. It was always the most important thing when dealing with strangers.

What was this guy’s goal?

Unfortunately, the Director responded with something irrelevant.

[Centurion, how is that friend of yours doing?]

“…Centurion?”

[Even from down here, I can learn a few things. You met him recently, didn’t you?]

With that question, I instinctively understood who he meant.

It was the being I met after defeating the Lord of Terror, Dreadfear, in the strange space.

“…What are you people?”

[We’re pitiful beings, blessed and cursed alike. Marx is one of us.]

“So you’re not going to answer.”

[No need to rush. Someone like you will inevitably uncover the truth one day.]

Oddly enough, his tone was similar to Centurion’s.

The difference was that Centurion had sounded doubtful, as if unsure whether I’d ever figure it out; the Director, on the other hand, sounded certain.

[But I can at least give you a clue. Especially since Marx is right beside you.]

“A clue?”

[Before we begin, let me ask you this: Marx, do you want to know about your past? Let me make this clear: the reason you’ve lost your memories is entirely due to your own request.]

At the Director’s question, Hamsiki’s body trembled.

But it didn’t last long.

[I want to know.]

As Hamsiki answered, the light on the screen began to shift.

[The place you’re in now is a research institute called Pantelion. It was once a secret underground facility operated by the Empire.]

He said he’d talk about Hamsiki… so why was he talking about a lab?

[To achieve this, countless mages, scholars, and alchemists gathered here, studying all the world’s knowledge and conducting experiments. But the results were always lacking.]

[That changed when the Witches appeared in the world. An unprecedented war broke out, forcing the Empire’s hand.]

[All the Empire’s talents were gathered here, and resources poured in like never before. Most importantly, new test subjects arrived in droves.]

[Creatures that had once been scarce due to treaties now flooded in by the thousands daily. Among them were monsters created by witches. Pantelion’s research made tremendous progress in a short period of time.]

Like eyes opening, the halo of light on the screen rippled intensely.

[Among those test subjects was you, Marx.]

[I… was a test subject?]

[Yes, you were captured and brought here. You were subjected to brutal experiments until the witch you once helped led an army to invade.]

[So… I was freed thanks to the Witch?]

[No. You never escaped. You died in the process.]

[I died? Then why am I here?]

[It must mean your death held great significance to the witch. Enough to leave an indelible mark on her mind]

“No, I mean, I don’t get it! What does that have to do with me?!”

At Hamsiki’s outburst, the Director replied in the same mechanical tone.

[As you died in her arms, you made a request: if her “Land of Dawn” truly existed, you wanted to live there peacefully, reading books, with all your memories erased.]

That was the entirety of Ham-sik’s story, as told by the Director.

Then, the Director continued.

[I, too, am in a similar situation. Though I made many mistakes in my human life… I was ultimately given a chance to atone by the Witch.]

Though his tone remained flat…

[But time changes everything.]

It felt like his voice had changed.

[You too, right? In the end, you couldn’t endure the years and left that place.]

[I was forced to leave because of this guy]

Before Hamsiki could lose control, I stepped in.

“Whatever. Just get to the point. What is it that you want?”

According to my big data, none of these long-winded, cryptic bastards were ever normal.

Besides, he was the one who showed up first.

And chances were high that he was also the mastermind behind kidnapping my comrades.

No matter how you looked at it, this guy wasn’t someone to be trusted…

[I’d like to propose a deal with you.]

“A deal…? Go ahead, say it.”

[I’ll let you leave this place.]

Well, it wouldn’t hurt to at least hear him out.

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