Surviving game as a barbarian Episode 685

Butterfly (5)

The light faded, and my vision returned.

I’m not sure if you could call it that, but anyway…

When I opened my eyes, everything in front of me was hazy and blurry.

Still, if I pieced together all the sensations from my body…

Swoooosh!

I was sinking underwater.

And at a very fast rate, at that.

Kooong-!

The moment I regained my senses, my body had reached maximum depth, hitting the ground and sending a shock up my spine.

‘Ow, it hurst.’

A sharp pain flared in my shoulder.

It felt like I’d been stabbed by something sharp. Startled, I turned my head and saw a mudskipper-like monster biting my shoulder tightly and clinging on.

‘…Oh, this thing is—’

A Level 5 fish-type monster, Hopfish.

Once I had recognised the monster through my blurry vision, I also realised where I was.

Because this monster only appears in two places:

The 6th Floor Great Sea and the Dreaming Waterfalls of the 9th Floor, Star Tomb.

There was no need to guess which one it was.

「The character has entered a special area.」

「Field Effect – Dreaming Waterfalls is granted.」

With the information from the fish, the general outline of what had happened formed in my mind.

Despite the Bone Dragon’s ‘Dispel’, the teleport had succeeded. But it was slightly incomplete.

‘Judging by the fact that I was dropped off alone, it looks like everyone was scattered to random coordinates.’

Suddenly, I started to worry about the rest of the party. Aside from Baek-ho, who was skilled at solo play, it was nearly impossible for mages or priests to survive alone on the ninth floor.

But..

Let’s focus on what matters first.

For now, I need to focus on my own survival.

Which meant I needed to deal with the thing chewing on my shoulder.

So…

I struck the Hopfish biting into my shoulder and knocked it away.

‘Let’s move.’

I forced my heavy body, which refused to float, to move and trudged forward through the water.

Finding the right direction wasn’t difficult.

The currents of the Dreaming Waterfalls always flowed towards the centre of the field. If you floated a boat on the water, it would inevitably drift towards the waterfall.

Meaning, if I walked in the opposite direction, I’d eventually reach land.

And judging by the presence of the Hopfish, I couldn’t be too far from land either.

Whoosh, whoosh

As I moved, my feet sank to the level of my ankles into the swampy ground. Unfortunately, I wasn’t alone on the way.

‘Damn it, seriously.’

With each step I took, the nearby sleeping monsters woke up, and their aggro locked onto me.

Huuuuuung-!

I tried swinging my Demon Crusher a few times, but it was pointless. Water resistance made my swings slow, making it extremely difficult to hit the water monsters.

‘Damn bastards…’

In the end, I gave up trying to shake them off and focused solely on moving forward.

Even if a few of them clung on and gnawed away at me, I just ignored them and kept walking.

“Puh—! Haaah!!”

Still, I managed to get out of the water quickly since I was close to the shore.

‘Hmm… maybe it wasn’t actually that close. Hah… I really thought I was gonna die.’

By the end of it, I was seconds away from drowning. But I made it.

And now it was payback time.

Crunch-! Crunch-! Crunch-!

I smashed the monster bastards who had followed me all the way to land, then collapsed flat on the ground.

“Haa… haa… haa…”

After fighting the Bone Dragon and nearly drowning on top of that, I couldn’t move a muscle.

So I just lay there and gathered my thoughts.

As always, the most important thing in a crisis situation.

What to do next.

Huuuuuung-!

I tried swinging my Demon Crusher a few times, but it was pointless. Water resistance made my swings slow, making it extremely difficult to hit the water monsters.

‘Damn bastards…’

In the end, I gave up trying to shake them off and focused solely on moving forward.

Even if a few of them clung on and gnawed away at me, I just ignored them and kept walking.

“Puh—! Haaah!!”

Still, I managed to get out of the water quickly since I was close to the shore.

‘Hmm… maybe it wasn’t actually that close. Hah… I really thought I was gonna die.’

By the end of it, I was seconds away from drowning. But I made it.

And now it was payback time.

Crunch-! Crunch-! Crunch-!

I smashed the monster bastards who had followed me all the way to land, then collapsed flat on the ground.

“Haa… haa… haa…”

After fighting the Bone Dragon and nearly drowning on top of that, I couldn’t move a muscle.

So I just lay there and gathered my thoughts.

As always, the most important thing in a dangerous situation was deciding what to do next.

No need to think deeply.

‘First, regroup.’

Since I’m alone, I need to explore the 9th Floor carefully and regroup with the scattered party members. That was my top priority.

My secondary goal was to look for clues about how to escape the Tomb of Stars.

“Hoo…”

So, suppressing my desire to just lie there forever, I pushed myself up.

I could manage on the ninth floor, but the others didn’t have that same level of survivability, excluding Baek-ho. Since I was the only one who could move properly, I guess I should be the one to—

“…Huh?”

As I took a step with that thought, I froze

Because somehow—

“…Jayna?”

—I had already found one of them.

***

The location where I found her was less than 5 meters away from where I had been lying.

‘Why didn’t I see her before?’

On one hand that sounded ridiculous.

But honestly, I was in no state to notice anything at the time.

Anyway, that’s not important…

“Jaina!”

I quickly ran over and checked her condition.

From a distance, she looked like a corpse, but thankfully, she was still breathing.

For now, at least.

Rustle.

I took off the heavy cloak that she always wore, revealing the light blue armour underneath.

No. 2,578 Sky Armor.

Unlike other items, it didn’t boost stats, grant special abilities, or enhance regeneration. However, it was still one of the highest-ranked defensive items.

That’s why I call it a ‘life jacket’. Without it, she wouldn’t be here now.” Ironically, though, it was now the very thing that was killing her.

The chest plate of the Sky Armor had caved inward, pressing against her lungs. Her ribs looked broken too.

‘Shit… how am I supposed to take this off?’

In order to treat her, I need to remove the armour first, but it’s impossible in this state.

Therefore…

“This is to save you, so please understand.”

After informing the unconscious Jayna of this, I slipped my fingers into the small gaps in the armour.

And then…

“Uaaaahhhhhh……!!!”

I gripped the armour with all my strength and pulled it apart from the sides.

If the armour had been in its original condition, this would have been impossible, but because it was already crushed, its weakened structure gave way.

‘…Can this be fixed?’

The thought crossed my mind, but I decided not to pay it any attention.

Well, if it can’t be repaired, she’ll just buy a new one or something. She seemed like someone with a decent amount of money tucked away.

Sizzle!

After removing the armour, which was clearly interfering with her recovery, I immediately applied a potion.

I flinched at the way the wound kept bubbling, but she didn’t respond in the slightest. Maybe she really was close to dying.

I applied another potion just in case and continued to check her condition from the side.

Sizzle!

The horrifying sound continued to echo through the air, when—

“Ugh… uhh…”

As if she had regained consciousness, a faint moan escaped her lips and Jayna began to curl up.

And that’s when I saw it…

‘She has a tattoo on her side.’

It wasn’t unusual for an explorer to have tattoos, but Jayna’s was a bit small.

 

And for good reason it was incredibly small to begin with.

About the size of a thumb, perhaps? Its shape was crude, as if drawn by an amateur, and its colour was faded, as if a long time had passed.

‘…Is she from Noark?’

When I lived in Noark, the lowest of the slums, I had seen young kids with similarly crude tattoos like this.

The wearer didn’t choose them… they were stamped onto them at someone’s whim, for amusement.

Like the tattoo drawn under Amelia’s eye.

“Haa… Haa… Haa……”

After about ten minutes, Jayna, who had been writhing and screaming the whole time, began to let out rough breaths.

She began to mumble to herself, her voice faint enough that I couldn’t catch what she was saying at first.

It sounded like some kind of chant. Or dialect.

But as I listened…

“…uck…”

This wasn’t a language of this world.

‘…To think she is an evil spirit.’

I considered the possibility that she had simply picked up Baekho’s so-called “evil spirit language,” the one he always used as a joke, and was repeating it unconsciously. Yet something told me this wasn’t that.

“Haa… Haa……”

As I kept watching, her muttering eventually stopped, and her breathing gradually returned to normal.

Which meant—

It was time to talk.

“You awake now?”

I shook her shoulder gently.

She barely opened her eyes.

“What… happened…?”

Wow, she’s trying to assess the situation the moment she regains consciousness.

People like this tend to survive longer.

Is it because she’s from [Dungeon & Stone]?

“How much do you remember?”

“Up to… being hit… by the ship… and passing out……”

“After you passed out, we eventually proceeded as planned and used the Mass Teleportation magic. But due to the Bone Dragon’s interference, the magic activated imperfectly.”

“Im…perfectly?”

“It seems everyone was teleported to random coordinates. Just look at me; I fell right in the middle of the Dreamfall Waterfall, and when I barely managed to swim to shore, you were lying here.”

“Such a thing happened……”

“How’s your body? Can you get up? I’m thinking we should move soon since we’ve been here too long.”

“Just… a little help.”

After that, I supported Jayna’s body and helped her up.

However, she still couldn’t stand properly, so I simply picked her up.

“Gyah…!”

“Carrying you on my back seemed more convenient for both of us.”

“……”

As staying in one place for too long wasn’t desirable, I started moving, carrying Jayna on my back and chatting.

“Where are you planning to go…?”

“To the Primordial Labd. Since it’s located in the center, it’s highly likely that everyone will head there once they wake up.”

Plus, the Primordial Land connects all regions, so depending on the situation later, we can quickly head to our destination.

“Anyway, I plan to avoid combat as much as possible, so as soon as you regain any energy, use it for detection.”

“…It feels like I’ve become some kind of tool.”

“If you don’t like it, then recover quickly. That would be much more convenient for me too.”

“……”

Thus began the journey of just the two of us.

Maybe because it was just the two of us, but she spoke more normally than usual.

‘Does she realize she’s screwed if I abandon her?’

I couldn’t be sure, but I even heard her utter a somewhat subdued expression of gratitude.

“…Thank you. For saving me.”

“If you’re thankful, heal me properly when the time comes. I noticed Aures was getting more healing than I was.”

“…That’s a misunderstanding.”

Mm. Sure.

“By the way, are you an evil spirit too?”

Her hands tightened on my back at this unexpected question.

“So I was right.”

She didn’t reply.

Only silence.

I let out a short chuckle.

“What’s the point in hiding it? You’re already a wanted criminal in the royal palace just for traveling with L:ee Baek-ho.”

Those words seemed to be what decided it. Jayna didn’t argue; she simply accepted what I said.

“You were mumbling in ‘evil spirit language’ while you were unconscious.”

However, her reaction when I showed her the evidence wasn’t what I expected.

“I did…? That’s impossible…”

“People with sleep-talking habits usually don’t realize they—”

“No, that’s not what I meant. I just… it doesn’t make sense.”

“…What doesn’t make sense?”

I asked, not understanding.

Jayna hesitated again — much longer this time — before finally speaking.

“I am an evil spirit… but I don’t have any memories of that other world.”

…Huh?

What kind of answer was that supposed to be?

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.