Wolf 3

Creeeak.

As the front door opened and a woman stepped inside, everyone gathered in the living room jumped to their feet.

“Emily…! How did it go?”

“Have you found it?Have you found a way yet?”

Nearly four months had passed since Bjorn Jandel left to search for a way out of the city walls and disappeared.

At first, they thought he was just running late and would return after a few days. However, after over a week had passed, the situation changed.

As the days passed and their anxiety grew, they went down to the underground themselves, only to find the vast underground square completely empty.

From that moment on, they officially began searching for him.

“Yurven Havelion. What about him? Has he still not shown up?”

Even the magi-engineer who had gone down to inspect the magic circle on Versyl’s recommendation had disappeared without a trace, which only made everyone more anxious.

At the beginning, most assumed he had simply gone outside the city walls and would return soon enough. But as the days went by and he still didn’t return, their opinions began to change.

It was true that Bjorn had left the walls with the Magic Engineer. But something unforeseen happened outside, preventing their return. And before long, that explanation became the one everyone accepted.

Soon after, the royal family’s troops were stationed in the previously empty underground square.

“I still haven’t found a way to bring Bjorn back.”

Amelia had been running all over the place, scraping together information on behalf of the clan, but she’d only uncovered one thing:

The transportation magic circle underground had been damaged.

She obtained this information by sneaking into a military barracks, risking her life to eavesdrop on the commanders’ conversation.

Thanks to this, she was finally able to deduce why Bjorn had yet to return.

“Is that so…?”

“Don’t worry. At least we gained something this time.”

“…Gained something?”

“The way back is blocked, but getting out is still possible.”

“What? Is that true?”

“We were also lucky — I’ve obtained the method to activate the magic circle. Whether it can actually be done… Gowland, you’ll have to see for yourself.”

Amelia pulled out a document that looked like it belonged to the military from inside her clothes.Versyl took the document and skimmed through it with quick, sharp eyes, and…

“It seems the royal family knew all about this magic circle. The activation method is neatly arranged like a manual.”

 

“So? What’s your conclusion? Can you do it?”

“Yes. With this, I can activate the magic circle.”

Hearing her confident answer, Amelia nodded.

“Then it’s settled.”

“S-settled…?”

“Everyone, finish your expedition preparations within three days.”

It was a sudden order, but no one complained.

“Ooooh! Are we finally doing something!?”

Aynar, who had been half asleep, suddenly jolted awake with excitement.

“Yeah… it’s already been a few months since he left home, so we just have to go and bring him back.” Misha nodded, steeling herself.

Vercyl sighed tiredly; she’d been buried in the clan’s administrative work ever since he vanished.

“Exactly. Does he have any idea how exhausted I’ve been ever since he ran off and left everything to me? From what I’ve heard, even Ms. Shabin is ready to kill him the moment he comes back.”

“But putting all that aside…This is a rare chance, right? For us to go rescue the captain.”

At Auyen’s words, Erwin closed her eyes and placed a hand on her chest.

“It was always Mister who came to save us and protect us.”

And with that, Clan Anabada’s rescue expedition was decided.

****

Layton Bright.

A good-natured, capable archer from Baek-ho’s team.

If we assumed he was the traitor, there was one detail that stood out as suspicious: he was also acting as our team’s guide.

“[It’s not a monster, it’s a person.]”

“[There’s only one person… and, surprisingly, it looks like they’re asleep.]”

Even if Baekho couldn’t sense the person, Bright fulfilled his role and guided us straight to Hans L.

‘Besides, when everyone was trying to stop Baek-ho from taking the Dimensional Stone, he didn’t say a word…’

Once I let that doubt settle in, the idea that he was the traitor only grew stronger. Not that I was completely convinced, of course, but—

BOOM—!

Suddenly, vibrations rippled through the ground. However, I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

Usually, in situations like this, the agile types would brief everyone, but the problem is, there’s no one in that position around right now.

Normally, agile characters would handle briefings in situations like this, but there wasn’t anyone like that nearby—just two mages, a priest, and two tanks.

“Where is it…?”

“It seemed to be from over there…”

“The distance is too great. I’ll need a bit more time to pinpoint it with mana detection—”’

Because we lacked anyone who could properly assess the situation, we hesitated, and the vibration occurred again.

BOOOOM—!

It seemed stronger than before.

I was already on edge, so this time—

“That way.”

I was able to pinpoint the direction, and we sprinted towards it.

BOOM! THUD! BOOOOM!

As we drew closer, the vibrations and explosions became clearer and more distinct.

“—ah, you—!!”

We could faintly hear voices.

Even from a distance, I recognized Baek-ho’s voice.

The problem was…

“It looks like he’s fighting someone?”

“Yeah, seems so.”

Judging by the noise, that seemed to be the case.

At first, I thought Lee Baek-ho might just be smashing everything in a fit of rage.

“Hey, you bastard! When I catch—!”

From the words, though, it sounded like he was chasing someone.

With that, we picked up speed and sprinted toward the source of the noise. I slammed into the corner as I tried to turn at full speed.

Flash-!

A flash of light, as if a nuclear bomb had gone off, flashed before my eyes.

My instincts as a tank took over before my brain could register what was happening.

[The character has cast Gigantification.]

I quickly enlarged my body to block the narrow passage and raised my shield to guard my upper half. And sure enough, right then.

Boom-!

An intangible shock pushed me back fiercely, and a searing heat transferred to my skin.

A shapeless burst of energy slammed into me, radiating unbearable heat. For a moment, it felt like my entire body was melting away. The parts covered by the shield were somewhat better, like I’d applied sunscreen…

When the light died down, steam rose off my armor, glowing red-hot.

Zzzt-!

It felt like hot electricity was shooting up my spine from my foot, but I checked the situation behind me first.

“Is everyone okay?”

“I-I’m fine… Aak!”

What? Are they badly hurt? Just as I turned to look, Ruin Gramps’s voice reached me.

“Everyone’s hurt, but no one’s seriously injured.”

People with his personality were invaluable in situations like this. In an emergency, you needed information delivered quickly and clearly.

Anyway, in that sense.

Tap.

I pushed my worries about the back side for now and rushed forward.

Although parts of the wall were melted and blown apart, most of the structure was still intact, only left smoldering. This took me by surprise, especially since we’d tested this once before.

Star Annhilation couldn’t bring down the building we were in. There were a few weak spots that could be broken through by force, but they were rare.

Well, it seems he used a different skill this time.

Just how many trump cards does this bastard have?

“Haa… haa… haa…”

After turning one more corner, I saw Baek-ho standing still, panting heavily.

“…Lee Baek-ho.”

He noticed me and heard my voice, then casually turned around. “Ah, you’re here…?”

“Tell me. What the hell is going on?”

“Nothing much. I was trying to catch a little rat, but it was so quick… I got a bit carried away in the heat of the moment.”

“A little rat…?”

“Anyway, not sure if it worked. Want to come check? To see if the rat got caught or not.”

“…Lead the way.”

“Roger That!”

Regardless of his casula attitude, Baek-ho quickly took the lead and guided me. After following him for about a minute…

“Wow, it withstood that hit?”

The passage was empty, except for a trail of blood. The splatters trailed all the way to the far end of the corridor.

“I don’t think they got very far”

Baek-ho let out a grin before slowly following the trail of blood. One step, two steps, three steps… He stopped after about three minutes.

The blood trail eventually stopped midway, and Baek-ho also stopped.

‘ Shouldn’t we be figuring out where it disappeared to instead of moving at this snail’s pace?’

I was getting anxious on his behalf, but Baek-ho simply scanned the surroundings slowly.

“What are you doing? We need to track him—”

“Baron, you know what?”

I tilted my head at the sudden question that interrupted me, and Baekho went on to explain,

“In the world we used to live in, there is a creature called a chameleon. Really amazing—its skin changes color to match the surroundings. It uses that for hunting.”

At first, I wondered what nonsense he was spouting, but it didn’t take long to understand what he was trying to say.

After all, Baek-ho only ever calls me ‘Baron’ when we’re alone.

“But… when I look at this guy, he keeps reminding me of a chameleon.”

With those words, Baek-ho threw a punch towards the empty wall. And…

THUD—!

A completely different, dull impact rang out.

The “rat bastard” who’d been hiding with invisibility revealed itself with a pained gasp.

“Got you.”

With a chilling smile, Baek-ho grabbed the rat by the collar and lifted him up.

Since there was no fur or ears sticking out anywhere, it seemed to be human, though its figure was obscured by a tattered robe.

‘A wolf mask…?’

That was the one detail that stood out to me. We could learn more about it as we went—

“What the hell…?”

The body went limp, as though they’d passed out. But when I looked closer, I noticed dark blood dripping from its mouth.

Startled, I checked for a pulse, but for some reason, I couldn’t feel any motion.

“Suicide…”

Baek-ho gave a slight smirk and turned his head towards me.

“Baron.”

He used that title again, the one he only ever used when other people were around.

“No matter what world you’re in, small animals always have something in common. Do you know what it is?”

I already had a bad feeling, but Baekho didn’t give me a chance to answer.

“When they’re cornered… they always play dead.”

“Like this.”

With those words, Lee Baek-ho drove his fist into the corpse’s abdomen once more.

“Keugh—!!”

The wolf-masked man collapsed to the floor, curling up like an insect. Baek-ho reached a hand toward him.

“Alright, let’s see that face of yours.”

It was time to take off the mask.

 

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.