Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 113

Reunion (1)

First, we gathered the trio’s equipment in one place.

Then, I gave Caron the first pick.

“Take anything you need.”

“I’m not that shameless.”

“Don’t be shy. You caught one of them, didn’t you?”

“Well, if you insist…”

It wasn’t that he couldn’t find anything he wanted; Caron picked a few items from the loot we had collected.

A high-quality leather bag and a few potions.

And…

“A two-handed hammer? Is that all you’re taking?”

“Besides, the rest of the items are too small to fit my body.”

Hmm, that makes sense.

Soon after, Caron, holding an axe in one hand and a large hammer in the other, smiled brightly.

“If I can’t kill something with the axe, this should do the job!”

His way of expressing it wasn’t refined, but the logic was sound.

Especially against monsters like Stone Golems, blunt weapons are more effective.

Above all…

“Yes, dual wielding is pretty much the standard for barbarians.”

Seeing Caron fully embrace his barbarian look made me quite satisfied.

So, I handed over a few more pieces of equipment.

“Even if you don’t need them, keep them to sell.”

“But…”

But what?

Why are Barbarians so nice?

If it were a human, they would’ve shown greed in their eyes by now.

“Don’t forget, the stronger you become, the easier it becomes for the young warriors.”

“…Understood. I will sell these items and exchange them for equipment that will be of help to me.”

The reason I forcefully handed over the equipment was simple.

Sure, I could have kept everything for myself and made an extra 200,000 stones…

But looking at the bigger picture, this benefits me more.

“Become stronger, Caron, son of Tarson.”

“I will. For my kin, without a doubt.”

Among the six races, the Barbarians are the weakest. While each individual possesses ample potential, most die early on.

Of course, just one person changing won’t bring about immediate change…

But what if we start with him and gradually increase their numbers?

If this leads to a virtuous cycle where young warriors survive longer and become higher-level explorers?

“Then the power of the Barbarians will grow.”

Like it or not, I am now one of the Barbarians.

The more influence my homeland gains, the more I benefit from the trickle-down effect.

Just look at the mages.

Without a massive community like the Mage Tower, would they have been able to be so arrogant?

“Let’s move on then. We don’t want to attract unnecessary attention if someone sees us here.”

With that in mind, I escorted Caron down to the first floor, giving him various pieces of advice along the way.

Choose a team that includes members of different races. Be extra wary of anyone who tries to get too close too quickly, but don’t show it outwardly—give them a chance to reveal their true intentions.

“I think I’m starting to understand what it means to hide an axe behind innocence!”

Was it because of the excellent example I showed of the trio today?

Caron caught the gist of what I was saying.

“It might be a good idea to pretend to be asleep after purposely choosing a human as a night companion. If they have ulterior motives, they’ll surely show their true colors!”

Ah, um, well…

That’s not something I told him…

“…That’s also a good strategy.”

Was today’s betrayal, where he was treated like a monster by his companions, that shocking to him?

It was truly a terrifying application.

****

[23:49]

As the fifth day was about to start.

After dropping Caron off at the first floor, the two of us returned to the Land of the Dead. We picked up the pace a bit and focused on the search.

We’d unintentionally spent almost a full day.

On Day 10, the second floor will close.

Meaning, if we’re not planning to end this exploration on the second floor, we need to move faster. Especially since we have tasks to complete before heading to the third floor.

“Huh? You plan to hunt a Death Knight? Is that even possible? I heard they’re hard to encounter…”

Level 6 monster, Death Knight.

A bastard among bastards that you could encounter in the Land of the Dead on the second floor, albeit with a very slim chance.

Even I had to restart my character several times until I figured out the conditions for its appearance.

“Don’t worry. Encountering it won’t be a big issue.”

Have such conversations become familiar now?

Misha didn’t bother to ask where I got such information.

She just expressed a different concern.

“Um, but even so, I’m not sure if the two of us can handle it, nyang.”

It wasn’t an unfounded worry.

A level 6 monster is something you occasionally encounter on the fourth floor, but now, it’s just the two of us, not a full party.

‘She probably has no idea how strong she’s become since we’ve only hunted level 8 monsters until now.’

Before meeting me, Misha had managed to operate on the fourth floor with just two essences.

Her specs might have been lacking, but she covered it with martial skills earned through blood, sweat, and tears.

And amidst that, she fulfilled her lifelong dream of contracting with a spirit beast and obtained two essences this time.

One of them was even from a Guardian.

‘Plus, if you consider the synergy of our combination… It’s fair to say she’s become several times stronger.’

I assessed the situation with the detachment of a gamer.

Our combined strength should be more than enough for a successful hunt.

But there’s no need to go into detail about that.

Barbarians have their own way of speaking, after all.

“Misha, trust me.”

“With you saying it like that… I can’t really say no, nyang.”

“Then that settles it.”

With Misha’s agreement, we continued to search the surroundings.

Death Fiends, Chimera Wolves, Ghoul Lords, and more.

We expanded our search radius by taking down any level 8 monster we came across.

And then…

“We should set up camp for today.”

The fifth day ended without any significant findings.

The sixth day was no different.

[22:40]

With a little over an hour left until the start of the seventh day.

I let out a long sigh.

‘I didn’t expect we’d fail to find it after more than two days.’

When a labyrinth opens, a gravestone randomly appears at a location in the Land of the Dead. At the start of the seventh day, it will summon a death knight.

In other words, if we find the gravestone, we can just wait in front of it and easily encounter a Death Knight.

But…

‘Well, that’s just my luck.’

Despite roaming around half-heartedly for two days, we couldn’t even find a fragment of the gravestone.

It was an unexpected situation.

After all, the second floor isn’t that vast, and we only needed to search the Level 8 area.

I thought two days would be enough to find it.

‘Should we just give up on the Death Knight?’

As I was regretting the past two days’ efforts, Misha scurried over to me.

“Don’t be too disheartened, nyang. Not everything written in books is correct, you know? A huge gravestone in the Land of the Dead? I’ve never heard such a thing before, nyang.”

Well, I suppose that’s meant to be comforting?

“So, don’t just hole up in the library all day. Come out and have fun with me too, nyang.”

“…How did we get here?”

“That, that’s because! Hikurod said so, nyang. He said it’s more helpful to have a few conversations with explorers in a tavern than to read a bunch of books!”

It seems the dwarf taught Misha only the mischievous stuff…

I was a bit reluctant to scold her.

After all, most explorers are like that.

They prefer acquiring information through interactions at taverns rather than reading books.

Some even say that drinking and socializing are part of their job.

“…Why are you silent, nyang?”

“I just didn’t have anything to say.”

“Why didn’t you have anything to say?”

“Let’s just keep moving instead of having this pointless argument.”

Not wanting to waste time on a meaningless dispute, we resumed our movement.

How much time had passed?

[23:59]

Checking the clock, I decided to let go of any lingering regrets.

The seventh day is about to begin.

And since the Death Knight starts wandering around as soon as it’s summoned, this exploration is essentially over for us.

‘The main goal was the experience points, after all…’

Leaving the disappointment behind, I took out the compass.

“Oh, are we finally heading to the third floor, nyang?”

“Yes.”

Instead of aimlessly looking for the gravestone, we turned north.

That’s when it happened.

“Huh? Bjorn?”

“Did you feel it too?”

“Yeah, something just gave me the creeps, nyang.”

The air had changed.

It’s hard to describe, but the change was so distinct that my body reacted before I could even process it.

‘Could it be?’

Thinking of a possibility, I borrowed Misha’s knife and made a cut on the back of my hand.
Blood trickled down.

Pressing the blade down and dragging it across, acidic blood flowed from the opened wound.

“Ouch! What are you doing, nyang? You’ll damage the blade!”

Regardless of Misha’s grumbling.

I watched the wound, counting the time.

‘One, two, three, four, five, six…’

As the numbers increased, so did the smile on my lips.

A wound that should have healed in a few seconds was still open.

Which means.

「Your character has been exposed to [Grudge].」

The Death Knight we had been searching for was nearby.

「Healing and regeneration effects are significantly reduced.」

And very close at that.

****

‘It’s no wonder we couldn’t find it after searching almost everywhere. It really was around here.’

Despite feeling somewhat dazed, I was fully alert.

It was because of one piece of information I realized.

‘[Grudge] has already been activated…’

The curse-type aura [Grudge] is an active skill.

It can be turned on or off at will by the monster or character who has acquired the essence, depending on their intention.

In simple terms, there’s no reason to use it unless you’re in combat.

[00:00]

The situation was very clear.

Just a minute after being summoned.

The Death Knight had entered into combat immediately upon awakening.

While it’s possible that an explorer just happened to stumble upon it…

‘That’s highly unlikely.’

It’s much more reasonable to assume that someone unknown was already waiting in front of the gravestone.

‘Could it be another player?’

That was my first thought.

However, I couldn’t rule out other possibilities.

The Dzarwi clan, categorized as a major clan, was known to possess the summoning method for an Orc Hero, after all.

Maybe information about the Death Knight wasn’t as high-level as I thought.

‘Well, I’ll know for sure once we get there.’

Deciding to withhold judgment for now, Misha and I quickly moved on.

The darkness surrounding us was pitch black, but finding our way wasn’t hard.

Boom-!

Given the continuous sounds of explosions, someone was fighting quite fiercely.
With this situation, Misha grabbed my wrist and asked.

“Bjorn, is it possible the Death Knight has appeared, nyang? Is it already fighting with someone?”

“Yes.”

“Wait, stop! What are we going to do by going there?”

What else but to sneak in a hit or two to snag some experience points.

“What? Doing that might get us attacked, nyang!”

Misha freaked out when I translated my plan into her worldview.

It was a legitimate concern for her.

Though not as frowned upon as plunderers, interrupting a battle or stealing prey was considered extremely rude among explorers.

But…

“It’s okay. I don’t plan to claim any rights to the essence or magic stones, so if it comes down to it, we can just say we thought they were in danger and intervened.”

“Um, still…”

“Don’t worry. If anything happens, I’ll take full responsibility—”

“Idiot! Did you think I meant for you to take responsibility alone, nyang? Ugh, how did I end up getting involved with someone like you… Fine, let’s go! I don’t even know anymore!”

Somehow, that feels a bit unfair.

It’s not like I’m doing this just for my own benefit.

‘…Anyway, even if plundering is out of the question, this much should be within acceptable limits.’

Keeping the new information in mind, I hastened my steps.

Then, about 10 seconds later?

[Aaaaargh!]

Beyond the swinging sword of the Death Knight, I could see a group of four explorers.

“Uh?”

They seem to have noticed us as well.

So, without waiting for them to protest, I struck the Death Knight with my mace.

Thwack-!

Okay, that should secure some experience points.

I shouted out the line I had prepared, as if I had been waiting for this moment.

“Don’t worry! I’m here to save you!”

This is why Barbarians are considered OP.

“Bethel—laaaaaaaaaa!”

As if a human would think this was intentional after seeing that.

****

The Death Knight staggered under the heavy blow.

[Aaargh?!]

It seemed taken aback by my sudden intrusion, probably not as much as the wide-eyed four-person party, though.

“What are you doing?!”

The human warrior, closest to me, belatedly grasped the situation and shouted.

Then came the fairy archer from the backline.

“What do you mean you’re helping? Back off now, or we’ll attack you too.”

Her voice was soft but piercingly sharp.

I feigned confusion and exclaimed.

“I, I was just trying to help!”

“Who asked for your help?”

“Uh? Wasn’t it? I thought I heard someone say…”

“…Enough, just back off! If you don’t want to get hurt, stay out of it!”

“Ah, alright!”

While exchanging words, I deflected several of the Death Knight’s blows with my shield and retreated to where Misha was.

“Damn it, what’s all this about!”

The human warrior, seemingly skilled, grumbled but adeptly took over the Death Knight’s aggro.

The battle naturally resumed.

I wiped away any trace of clumsiness from my Barbarian act and whispered so only Misha could hear.

“How about it? Doesn’t seem like the worries you had are going to happen.”

I wanted to reassure Misha, who had been worried about being labeled as a rude explorer.

But her response was unexpectedly bewildering.

“You really are…”

Impressed by my act, or perhaps not, Misha was at a loss for words.

“Phew… well, whatever. Others should know what kind of person you are, nyang.”

“What do you mean? I only show this side of myself to you.”

“Uh? That, that’s also true, but? Wait, what?”

With that, we ended our idle chat and observed the ongoing battle.

How often do you get to closely observe another team’s hunt?

‘They’re not a full party, but their balance isn’t bad.’

The human warrior was managing to tank on his own.

“Get ready for another hit, I’m going in!”

With a mage blasting away with fire magic and a fairy archer in the DPS line.

And…

‘I think this is the first time I’ve seen a summoner here.’

A human male in a utility position, using summoned creatures for attacks or buffs.

“Bjorn, that man… doesn’t he look familiar, nyang?”

Hearing Misha’s sudden question, I took another look at the summoner.

He was of a slight build, around 160cm tall.

It was hard to see his face clearly because of the hood casting shadows…

Yet, I felt a strange sense of familiarity.

‘Where have I seen him? I shouldn’t forget a summoner…’

Just as I was trying to recall why he seemed familiar.

“Ev-Everyone, dodge! The attack I mentioned is coming, co-coming!”

The summoner’s stuttered command clarified my hazy memory.

Then, after taking another look at the fairy’s face near the summoner, I came to a conclusion.

‘Ah, that idiot from back then.’

It was definitely him.