Evil Party 4

The thought came to me on pure impulse, but it somehow made sense. The record only said that “three of your allies” would die.

‘If I make these guys my allies and stick with them every day, then the three who die could be them, right?’

It sounded ridiculous at first, but if you really broke it down, there wasn’t anything logically wrong with that interpretation.

The only uncertainty left was whether it would work at all.

But so what? All I could do was give it everything I had.

“A-allies…?”

But it seemed my suggestion caught them off guard, because they all just stood there staring at me with wide eyes. Out of all of them, Baek-ho’s reaction was the best.

“Wow, now I’m really curious. What the hell did that old man tell you to make you suddenly act like this?”

His shocked expression lasted only a moment before his sharp gaze returned to me. The way he reacted made me think I’d been a bit hasty.

Even if my allies’ lives were on the line, I should have proceeded calmly and taken things step by step.

“Baron, what did you do with the old man?”

“……Nothing much.”

“Oh, come on. Who would believe that? You expect me to buy that you had such a huge attitude shift over nothing?”
“It just occurred to me that we’ve been traveling together for a while now, and it would be reassuring to enter the labyrinth with you.”
Of course, it was complete nonsense.

 

The labyrinth is the place where you need to watch your back more than anywhere else; how could I go in with guys like these?

Even without me, they treated each other like they had daggers hidden behind their backs.
If I joined them, that would turn into a full-blown circus.

“Hmm… but if you travel with us, what about your clan, Baron?”

Lee Baek-ho asked, testing the waters. He clearly didn’t believe a word I said, but he was at least willing to hear me out.

“Well, that’s something I’d think about later. You guys haven’t even agreed yet.”4

I brushed it off, acting as if I hadn’t thought deeply about it.

However…

“Oh! The giant Baron Jandel wants to join us? We might have to seriously consider this!”

Baek-ho recited the words in a flat tone, as if reading from a book.
Anyone could tell he was being sarcastic, except for one person.

“U-um… Baekho…? If the Baron joins the team, won’t… my spot become unstable…?”

Rex Aures, the tanker of Baek-ho’s team. He still had the explorer instinct to protect his position…but if only he had the instinct to read the room, he’d do much better.

“Aures… Please, just stay still for a moment…”

“H-how am I supposed to stay quiet? My position is under threat—!”

Jayna tried to subtly rein him in, but when it didn’t work, Baek-ho let out an irritated shout.

“No, it’s not like that! Just be quiet! Do you really want to get kicked out?”

“……”
“Ah, this is really annoying.”

Baek-ho finally snapped at Aures for not getting the situation. He sighed, then spoke in a tone nothing like the flat, mocking voice he’d used earlier.

“Hey, Baron.”

“I’m listening. Speak.”

“Do you know what explorers are best at?”

When I gave him a look asking what it was, Lee Baek-ho stared straight at me and spoke.

“Figuring things out.”

“……?”

“Figuring out whether I’m at an advantage or disadvantage. Whether the other side is stronger or if I’m stronger.”

Badump—!

Even before he had finished speaking, I felt a terrible sinking sensation in my chest. And of course, bad feelings never turn out wrong.

“You need to know that in order to do things properly.”

“…Do what?”

“What do you mean, what? You already know.”

With that, Baekho gave a look, and Ruin-Gramps, Rex Aures, and Jayna all moved to stand at his side.

And then—

“Hey, are you just going to stand there?If you stay there, you might just get hit by stray sparks and die for nothing?”

Sensing the deadly intent in Baek-ho’s voice, GM flinched, his eyes flicking nervously between the two of us.

It was obvious he felt cornered; the situation was moving too quickly for him to keep up.

Ah, but of course, being ‘human’, it didn’t take long for him to make a choice. A tanker and a mage going up against those four? It was practically hopeless.

“I-I’m sorry…”

Even so, GM looked guilty. He muttered an apology and quickly went to stand beside Baek-ho. I didn’t feel betrayed or anything. We were never colleagues to begin with, after all.

Rather than ask what they were up to, I raised my shield and took my battle stance.

“Don’t take it too personally. Honestly, I’m the one who should feel disappointed.”

“I mean, come on. It’s so obvious you talked about something with that old man. And while I don’t care about the rest, I really need to hear what he told you.”

“……”

“Even if I have to use an explorer’s methods.”

What on earth was this guy’s idea of an explorer?

As I thought this, part of me found his words acceptable. If you lack power, you have no choice but to suffer injustice. This was a rule of the world as natural as paying money to buy something.

Thud.

Lee Baek-ho took a step forward, ready to leap at me at any time. But I didn’t back away.

After all—

‘Running is impossible.’

Where would I even run in this situation?? Even if I tried, I’m so slow they’d catch me anyway.

But maybe my unexpected resolve caught him off guard.

“Wow? You’re not even going to step back?”

Lee Baek-ho muttered in mild surprise. From my perspective, however, there was nothing surprising about it. After all, a shield is designed to block attacks from the front, not the back.

“Don’t tell me you think I can’t kill you?”

Well, it’s not like I haven’t thought about that. Baek-ho wants me to open the Abyss Gate, so he absolutely cannot kill me. But…

“But so what? I may not be able to kill you, but I can come up with dozens of ways to ruin you.”

That didn’t mean I planned to underestimate him or let my guard down.As he just said himself, he has plenty of ways to torment me without killing me.

He wouldn’t even need to do what Bright went through.

“For example, stripping you of all your gear. Or performing a little neutering surgery so you stop getting distracted by women.”

Ah. Um.

Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that.

“…….”

Okay, maybe I should just tell him everything.

“If not that, then we can just threaten to come back and wipe out all your allies—”

No way.

“BETHEL—RAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

I let out a roar, steeling my weakening heart.

“What the hell are you barking about?”

Baek-ho is a wild dog. A wild dog that will pick the bones clean if the opponent seems weak. Yes, that’s why…

So—

“Cut the crap and come at me.”

This was a place where I couldn’t retreat.

Not even a step.

 

Baek-ho seemed to realise that if he carried on talking, he would just come across as a barking dog that never bites. He stopped talking, and the silence that followed spread through the area.

The standoff continued in the heavy silence.
And during that time, perhaps Lee Baek-ho finally finished organizing his thoughts.

“I figured you were acting so bold because you had someone backing you… but whatever. We’ll find out soon enough.”

“……”

“Let’s start by taking off the Baron’s clothes.”

“……?”

“We can’t neuter you or do anything else unless we strip you first.”

With those words, Baek-ho’s figure disappeared from before my eyes.

“……!”

He was so fast that my Agility couldn’t even keep up with him. However, my warrior instincts honed through countless battles kicked in, and I thrust my shield out toward him.

“You really thought that would work in PvP?”

I’d pushed my shield right into the path of his punch, but there was no impact at all.

“I know it only negates the damage—

Instead, I felt a blow to the back of my head.

—when my attack actually hits the shield.”

Booom!

It felt like getting hit by a siege canon.

Before I could even let out a groan, my enlarged body fell forward.

And before I could recover—

“…Huh?”

By the time I realized what was happening, another blow crashed into my jaw, and my body was sent flying backward again.

What was that? An uppercut?

I had no idea how he had hit me from that angle, but one thing was certain.

This time the damage landed properly. It was enough to make me want to vomit everything inside.

“Amazing, right? Hitting like this makes the perceived damage feel at least double. Ah, for your information, it’s an added effect that wasn’t in the game… Rah!”

I tried to steady myself and swing the Demon Crusher, but Baek-ho evaded it with an annoyingly agile jump.

“Ah, looks like it’s completed.”

The moment Lee Baek-ho suddenly retreated and created distance.

“No hard feelings.”

 

When I came to my senses, my surroundings were red.

I lifted my head in a daze and saw a massive, sun-like sphere plummeting toward me.

WHOO-O-O-O-OSH-!

It was covered in ominously dark red mana. Unfortunately, the sphere was even larger than my shield in Gigantification state.

Dozens of times larger.

‘It’s impossible to guard against it completely.’

After realizing that, I quickly lifted my shield toward the sky and activated dragon mode.

「Character has cast [Scales of Greed].」

「Character’s Magic Resistance exceeds 500.」

「All incoming magic damage is reduced by 50%.」

The Bellarios active skill that served as the Magic Resistance ability in the Invincible Barbarian’s final build.

Right as I activated the skill…

Flash!

A blinding light engulfed my entire body, burning up even the sound in the air.

Ssssss—!

Steam hissed from between my scales, like my entire body had been tossed into a massive pot that had finished boiling.

It burned, stung, and seared… but—

“Wow, he’s completely fine even after taking that.”

It wasn’t a fatal wound. That’s because I blocked all the vital parts of my body with my shield.

“Looks like the baron’s turned into quite the terrifying monster.”

He let out a brief admiring sigh. Then, closing the distance again, Baekho darted around me and launched another attack.

Boom

He unleashed several sharp, heavy jabs at me.

Boom

And slipped in a few heavy blows between them as well.

Shwaaa

Ruin-Gramps’s curse magic and Jayna’s various debuffs coated my body.

And Fallen Gramps’s spells, which I couldn’t block with my shield, kept hitting me every so often.

But then—

THUD—!

Baek-ho paused mid-combo, tilting his head.

“…What the? Your neck won’t even turn anymore?”

Well, that was obvious.

Shield-Barbarians grew tougher the more they got hit.

「Physical resistance increases proportionally to absorbed magic damage.」

After all the spells I’d eaten so far…

「Physical resistance exceeds 750.」

My Evolved Shell had already reached stage three.

[The character has cast Iron Fortress. The effect of Evolved Shell has increased by 1.5 times]

And now I just activated that too.

Puff—

Compared to before, his attacks felt almost ticklish.

 

This was why I could stay confident despite being at a disadvantage in this one-on-four situation.

‘He can’t use his ultimate move here.’

Star Annihilation was not an option, and the strange ability he used in the Golden Ruins to capture Bright was also unusable with his allies standing nearby.

Well, conversely, it means he can use it without hesitation if there are no allies around…

“I will not have much to worry about if this is what you can do. Baron, are you really sure you want to go through with this? Hey! All of you, fall back!”

In a way, I was now in the same situation Baekho had been in when he fought me while understanding how my shield worked.

‘Does he think I’m some stupid monster?’

I knew exactly what he was planning, and I had no intention of letting the other party members move away from him.

“BEHEL—RAAAAAAAH!!”

I let out a battle cry and charge at full speed towards the backline trying to withdraw

After getting beaten up all day..

“Aures!!”

It was about time I landed a hit.

Rumble!

Rex Aures raised his shield and positioned himself to block my charge.

A tank vs. tank situation. Normally, it would only result in a long, dragging fight where neither side could deal any real damage.

“I—I will protect Lord Ruinzenes—!”

Yeah, no.

Did you think I am a pure tank like you?

No.87 Demon Crusher of Kraul

No. 687 Siege Slaughterer.

And Ogre’s [Swing].

Honestly, these attacks were nothing more than basic moves for me now. I’d gotten a finisher skill recently, after all.

「The Character has used [Aegis’s Dragon Armor]」

「Stored damage is now being reflected.」

Yeah. This is enough.

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