Star Grave(2)

The Lord of Darkness—Deadred.

Just one sentence is enough to describe how powerful he is: Lord of the 7th Floor, the Dark Continent.

Well, the seventh floor was a special case, having two Lords—but that didn’t make him any less powerful.

Anyway.

‘How the hell did this guy manage to consume that…?’

Frankly, it’s hard to believe.

Unlike the cheat version where you can brute-force everything with essence, on the original difficulty, it’s practically impossible to clear without knowing ‘the method’.

Had I been underestimating Lee Baek-ho all this time?

Maybe this guy is more impressive than I thought.

‘…Or he was just incredibly lucky.’

I don’t know how he obtained Deadred’s essence, but if I had to guess, it happened a long time ago.

“The last time it was summoned was almost 8 years ago.’

Considering how the labyrinth is always filled with explorers, secretly summoning a Floor Lord is practically impossible.

Meaning, he wouldn’t have had any opportunity to get it within the last eight years—

—at least not by natural means.

‘If it’s the royal family, they probably have at least one of each Floor Lord’s Essence stored in a test tube somewhere.’

It wasn’t impossible that Baek-ho had obtained it through some kind of trade.

Unlikely, but not entirely impossible.

“…So he really did summon it back then.”

Baek-ho dreamed of having a harem while exploring the labyrinth, but his identity was exposed due to a companion’s betrayal. Surprisingly, this explanation matched the sequence of events perfectly.

That means the royal family shifted the blame onto the Floor Lord to hide the incident surrounding Baekho Lee. I heard a lot of explorers died in the labyrinth back then.

Based on this, my hypothesis is that Lee Baek-ho was the one who summoned the Floor Lord.

Backed into a corner, he tried to shake up the situation by gambling on a desperate move—

***

“Its power is terrifying, no matter how many times I see it…”

While I was lost in thought, Aures beside me let out a long breath and murmured,

“Is everyone all right?” Like a true tank, he asked about his allies’ safety first.

“I’m fine.”

“Likewise.”

“So am I.”

Healer Jayna and Archer Bright came to their senses and answered, but the GM, who was still hanging limply in my arms like luggage, was a different story.

He was still out of it, expression blank.

“W-what was that… just now?”

Had he never fought the Lord of Darkness in the game before?
‘
I recognized the skill the instant I saw it.

“I… I’ve never even heard of such an ability……”

But I could understand that stunned expression.

Even for me, it was the first time seeing it in reality, and its power sent shivers down my spine.

Let alone someone who didn’t even know the skill existed.

Sssssssssssss-!

The ground still radiated heat. When the downpour hit, the rain instantly evaporated into thick white steam that rose like smoke from a burning building.

But it didn’t last long.

As the heat cooled rapidly, the steam disappeared and our vision cleared.

The crater had grown much larger than when the meteorite fell.

Inside it, Baek-ho stood alone.

“Surprise!”

He looked up at us, waved his hand, and made a playful face.

Looking at him, you’d think he was just some clown—

Who would’ve thought a nuclear weapon was hiding behind that smiling face?

Maybe I need to reconsider.

I was sure I wouldn’t lose if we fought, but…

“What are you all doing? It’s over, come down already!”

At his call, we approached the newly formed crater.

“Gramps! Check this out first! This is super expensive, right?”

His sparkling eyes were fixed on a small, white orb lying on the ground.

Crackle!

Electric arcs danced inside it like living threads of lightning.

It looked just like a plasma ball—the kind you might find as decoration in a fortune-teller’s shop.

“This is… the Orb of Thunder.”

“Oh, right, that was the name. So, how much is it worth?”

“To a mage, it’s a treasure beyond measure.”

“No, but how much, exactly?”

In response to Baek-ho’s persistent questioning, the Ruin Scholar gave an approximate number, making his eyes widen in surprise.

“Wow, it’s that expensive? I almost messed up big time.”

I could understand his relief.

That skill had wiped out everything within a seventy-meter radius.

If the monster had been completely vaporized, there would’ve been no materials left to loot.

“Uh, you can just pick it up like that?”

“I’ve never seen one myself, but from what I know, there’s no special magical handling required.”

“Ah, is that so… Then give it here.”

The ‘Orb of Thunder’ disappeared into Baek-ho’s subspace.

I felt a twinge of envy, but I didn’t say anything.

It wasn’t because I was intimidated by his strength.

‘He showed us his trump card; that deserves compensation.’

That skill must’ve been his hidden ace.

If he’d kept it in reserve, the battle would have been much tougher for us.

Besides, we didn’t have any immediate use for the orb anyway.

‘It’d make a great hammer for a DPS-tank barbarian build’

But I already have the ‘No. 87 Crawle’s Demon Crusher’, so it’s not that meaningful. Besides, none of my allies need a thunder weapon.

So I decided to leave it this time.

If something I really wanted appeared later, I could always use it as leverage.

“All right, looting’s done — let’s get back to work.”

Baek-ho headed towards the Dimensional Stone that had fallen to the ground when the crater formed.

“Luckily, it doesn’t have a single scratch. Should I just put this in my subspace? It probably has value as a material too.”

I had the feeling that Baek-ho was trying to change the subject.

‘Is he trying to avoid talking about [Star’s Annihilation]?’

I couldn’t tell for sure, but thanks to that, I lost my chance to ask about the Essence.

“…Not that he’d tell me anything useful anyway.”

Still, curiosity got the better of me, so I followed them.

Baek-ho and Aures were trying to lift the huge stone slab into subspace.

“Step aside. I’ll help.”

With my added strength, the monument, which had previously felt as heavy as a mountain, was finally lifted.

But the moment its edge entered subspace, a massive repulsion force sent it flying back out again.

BOOM!

It slammed halfway into the ground again.

“Whoa, what the hell!?”

Baek-ho exclaimed, while the GM knelt down in front of the stone to examine it.

“…Interesting. There’s no trace of mana circuits or any magical traits, yet it violently rejects subspace storage.”

“Suspicious, huh?”

“Yes… It seems we need to take our time and investigate it more thoroughly.”

“How about that? He says he needs to investigate it for a bit… Ah, do you agree with this, Baron?”

I smirked as Baekho worked to casually reclaim control of the group. “Sure,” I said with a nod. “Let’s do it.”

The downpour continued and meteors still fell from the sky occasionally.

—but maybe this stone was the key to getting back to where we belonged.

“Uh, I’ll start with a composition analysis—Aures, could you hold this part for me?”

“Of course!”

And so, time passed quickly.

***

The 9th Floor, Star Grave.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t the real Star Grave, but a very similar place.

Either way, it wasn’t ideal for long-term research.

Shhhhhhhhh—!

The pounding rain did more than just leave us cold and miserable—it was steadily raising the water level in what looked like a flash flood.

Boom-!

Meteors fell intermittently.

Flash-!

Lightning strikes, heavy snow, strong winds, hail, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc., etc.

We experienced every natural disaster imaginable, and amidst all that, monsters kept appearing, forcing us into a constant state of combat.

The problem was…

“Hey, it’s been a week. You seriously haven’t figured anything out yet?”

“……”

“Gramps, come on. If you can’t do it, just say so. Don’t make us waste our time, yeah?”

After a week of close examination, all we’d learned was that the monument was extremely hard.

However, we did gain something else.

Our repeated battles gave us much better insight into the monsters here.

‘The Threat Value is completely useless here.’

It’s really hard to draw proper aggro here.

It’s not that the ‘Threat Value’ becomes 0 due to field effects or anything.

“It seems their high intelligence is the reason,”

At first, they’d rush at me in a frenzy. But once they realized I could take their hits, they’d immediately switch targets and go after the DPS.

Almost like they were learning.

‘Since aggro isn’t working properly, it feels like the perceived difficulty is three or four times higher.’

That said, we weren’t constantly on the verge of death either.

There were a few dangerous moments, of course—

But there’s a reason they say humans are the most adaptable creatures.

“Enemy approaching! North-northeast!”

“…It’s a Leditrous.”

“Everyone to your positions!”

Instead of going out alone as the main tank, I stayed near the party, acting as a defensive wall.

And…

“It’s just one monster! Don’t move rashly, focus on protecting!”

With far fewer monsters than in normal fields, we fought as safely as possible.

“Hey! Why’re you picking up every low-level drop? We don’t have room—ditch the bulky stuff!”

“Even low-rank materials like these are rare. Once we return to the city—”

“Yo, you’re just being greedy now. Even if we only take what we can carry, we’ll still make a fortune when we get back.”

“……”

We prioritised picking up only the most valuable by-products and discarded most of the rest.

It would take months to get back to civilisation anyway, and we couldn’t afford to fill our inventories.

Efficiency over sentiment.

“So, what’s your plan, Baron?”

“I think it’s time to stop the investigation and move.”

“Move where?”

“I think it’s best to just keep moving in one direction for now.”

“Yeah… probably for the best. But which direction exactly?”

We were on the ninth floor, in the Star Grave.

Specifically, the central zone of the Primordial Land.

If certain special conditions were met here, it would be possible to summon and fight the Primordial Dragon.

“But since summoning it means instant game over… we’ll skip that.”

I told them where I wanted to go.

“West.”

“From here, west would be… That’s the Oldrock Plains. Why there?”

The reason is simple.

“Because the ‘Spirit Gate’ is in the Oldrock Plains.”

“Ah, you want to check where it leads.”

“Well, can’t say for sure if it’s still there.”

“I see. I thought you were heading there for your Eight Stage engraving materials!”

This guy’s too perceptive.

“Whatever, let’s just get going. It doesn’t seem like we’ll find anything else by staying here.”

“Okay, okay! Everyone heard him? Let’s move out!”

With that, we wrapped things up and headed west as planned.

After about four days of travelling, the Oldrock plains finally came into view.

But then—

“…Ha. Didn’t expect to hit a dead end here.”

About halfway through the plains, we came to a dead end.

Shhhhhhh—!

It was the same sight I’d once seen along the coast of Raphdonia: a lifeless, grey world where all colour had vanished.

“Don’t get too close. If you touch that, you die instantly.”

Oh? So if I just gave Baek-ho a little shove right now, he’d die?

The thought crossed my mind, but I didn’t act on it.

Getting out of here was the priority.

“For now, we should follow the boundary and circle around.”

With that, we moved to the left of the gray boundary.

One day. Two days. Three, four…

And then fifteen.

After maintaining that pace for over fifteen days, our conversations grew fewer and fewer.

The more we filled in the outer edges of our map, the more justified our unease felt.

“Hey, by any chance…”

“Just be quiet. We’re not sure yet.”

“Yes…”

Another two days passed, bringing us to the 17th day.

We found ourselves back in the Oldrock Plains.

After walking left the entire time, we ended up back at the Oldrock Plains, completing one long loop.

Sccccch.

Finally connecting the line to complete the imperfect circle drawn on the map, I let out a heavy sigh.

There was no need to hold back words or deny it anymore.

“Goddamn it.”

We were trapped here.

 

Continue reading more chapters at henprogressive.com

Please join here, I need supporters to help me continue translating Surviving game as a barbarian and Lee Gwak
If it doesn’t work support me here buymeacoffee.com/hennoveltranslations. There are advanced chapters for supporters as well.