Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 140

Awakening (3)

[Swing].

A skill that simply requires a strong swing, without the need for complicated imagery like other skills.

Whoosh!

This skill doesn’t even have the usual effects like a glow over the weapon or a gust of wind.

When I played the game, I was always a bit unhappy with this aspect.

Skills are supposed to become more flamboyant and get cooler names as they level up, so why was this skill so plain?

Today, I realized the answer.

“Even ogres were efficiency freaks.”

In reality, effects like these are hardly beneficial. They only serve to draw attention, and to an experienced enemy, it’s like exposing your own information.

This approach is actually more practical.

And as if to prove it.

“Regal Vagos has cast [Dark Veil].”

He uses a defensive skill.

It’s unclear why he chose the skill.

Perhaps he thought this would be sufficient.

But…

Crack!

The level 4 skill [Dark Veil] shatters instantly upon contact with my mace, unable to last even a second.

It was to be expected.

Although it didn’t have a grand name like [Earthquake] or [Avatar of Wrath], [Swing] was a top-tier attack skill even among level 3 skills.

“……!”

Only then does he realize the situation and tries to dodge.

Well, he should have dodged from the start.

Thump!

My mace succeeds in striking him on the shoulder, though not the head.

He lets out a short groan and hastily creates distance between us.

Tadat.

His dislocated shoulder hangs grotesquely.

He quickly puts the sword in his mouth and moves his healthy hand to his pocket.

Probably to access his subspace.

Most likely he is trying to get a potion.

‘He thinks I’m a fool.’

I have no intention of giving him time to recover.

“Dwalki, use voice command.”

I quickly switched on the team voice and rushed towards him.

And quickly gave out orders.

“Hikurod, Rotmiller! You two protect Dwalki. Misha, stick close behind me!”

Of course, there’s no time for lengthy talks, so I first reset the basic formation.

And then carefully gave detailed instructions.

Fortunately, my teammates accepted their tasks without any arguments.

It started with Dwalki.

Whoosh!

The moment he dodged my mace with his nimble movements

A curse spell infiltrated his flesh.

[Leor Wuerv Dwalki has cast Level 9 curse magic [Slowness]

To be honest, Dwalki had pulled his weight with just this spell.

Especially since that guy specialized in agility.

“You bastards……!”

He didn’t hide his anger and unleashed his full power.

With the Level 5 essence [Advanced Acceleration] and [Afterimage] to boot, his agility stats have doubled in an instant.

Tap-tap!

Due to the reduced cognitive ability, just following his movements was enough to strain my eyes.

“With the Guardian of Balance and the slowness applied, he’s still this fast.”

It was a powerful reminder of what a monster he was, but I calmly continued to do what I had to.

‘His arm isn’t healing, so he probably doesn’t have regenerative essence or Numbered items.’

Gaining new information, I narrowed down the possibilities and focused on my role.

Ah, of course, my role was simple.

Scrape! Click, Puff!

Standing firmly in the middle of the corridor, taking hits spiritedly.

“Forget about dying gracefully.”

He threw a cold sneer at me.

Indeed, with him going all out, it was impossible for me to dodge or block with my agility stats. Blocking his arc steel sword with my shield was futile.

So, I took the hits directly.

Sssss!

In an instant, my body was battered, and acidic blood flowed from the opened wounds.

The vampire essence was gone, so leaving it alone wouldn’t cure it like before.

However, this wasn’t a problem either.

When have I ever chewed on the enemy with teeth intact?

Clang!

Rotmiller, who was covering the rear with his crossbow, monitored my condition in real-time and threw a potion from the [Treasure Vault].

[The medium healing effect regenerates the body]

The Barbarian Beginner Mode

“It’s been a while since I’ve done this.”

Unlike me, who was filled with a strange nostalgia, the emotion in his eyes was of disbelief.

But after seeing my expression, did he realize that I wasn’t completely immune to pain?

He muttered as if it was unbelievable, 

“Crazy bastard.”

It seemed that despite his long history of traversing mazes, he had never encountered someone like me.

“It turned out to be a compliment for me.”

Of course, my response was with my mace.

Whoosh!

He dodged nimbly, but the support from the dwarf continued.

[Hikurod Murad has cast [Lightning].”

[Hikurod Murad has cast [Discharge]

An electric sphere shot at the perfect moment while he was on air.

But he stepped off the wall and leapt again, managing to avoid it.

However, I wasn’t too disappointed.

After all, the dwarf’s real role wasn’t this.

I had only asked three things of the dwarf.

“Do you think gathering all the scum together will change anything?” Vargos Yelled

To assist from a distance using ‘Lightning Discharge.’

To protect Dwalki in case of an unforeseen event.

And…

“Regal Vagos has cast [Fear Imprint].”

To use an item at the right time.

[Hikurod Murad has activated [Guardian’s Wrist Guard]

The level 4 monster Nightmare’s special ability, [Fear Imprint], temporarily instills a strong fear in the enemy and converts that fear into physical stats for the user.

[Pushing enemies away forcefully, it temporarily grants immunity to all harmful effects placed on allies]

Before the skill could be fully utilized, a gust swept through, clearing my mind.

As expected, ‘Guardian of Balance’ was not affected.

“Bethel—raaaaah!”

When he was pushed back, I quickly rushed towards him using [Wild Burst].

And then I brought down the mace.

Whoosh-!

I didn’t use [Swing].

Because it’s obvious he would dodge anyway.

Thud-!

Twisting his body to the side, he swung his sword at me.

But then, Misha, who was closely behind me, targeted his side.

Pffft!

The blade dug into his skin, shallow but definitely.

He flinched and immediately glared at Misha, but she quickly moved to hide behind me.

‘Nice.’

Exactly the movement I was expecting.

He gritted his teeth and muttered,

“These bastards not knowing their place.”

Seeing another compliment burst forth, it seems my strategy had no issues.

So, I maintained the current state.

「You are regenerated due to the effect of [Moderate Healing].」

I take on the role of the meat shield.

Dwalki, Rotmiller, and the dwarf provided long-distance support.

And Misha, whenever there’s a chance of him being shocked or dodging my attacks, she jumps out to stab with her sword.

Crack, Screech, Thud!

Damage steadily piles up as the battle drags on.

“Don’t even think about making it back alive.”

Eventually, he also used essences and numbered items that hadn’t been revealed to the city.

But nothing changed.

Only the frequency of using potions increased, not enough to turn the tide.

Yeah, all talk.

‘…Anyway, he was indeed rank 9.’

The nine essences he possessed were revealed.

As expected, there was only one unknown level 3 essence.

Well, obtaining a level 3 essence isn’t easy even on the 9th floor, so it was only natural

“Bjorn! That shining blade is coming again!!”

I sensed that it was time to decide the outcome.

After about a 30-minute battle, all of his cards were revealed. Continuing like this, there’s a chance he might retreat momentarily and come back with the priest.

Therefore……

 

‘Now.'”……!”

I dashed with all my might and reached out my hand.

Tap.

He slightly stepped back to create distance.

He wasn’t much different from the psychopathic bitch before.

Moving just enough to get the upper hand.

Is this some kind of habit exclusive to the strong?

I was thankful

「The character has cast [Gigantification].」

As my body expanded, so did the length of my arms.

I didn’t miss and grabbed his neck.

“……!”

A look of urgency I hadn’t seen before appeared on his face.

After all, he wouldn’t have known about [Gigantification], as I deliberately hadn’t used it until now.

It felt like all the hardships until now were being rewarded.

‘Red light, huh.’

I sneakily checked his signal ring, and it was emitting light from a red gem.

Therefore,

I lifted my mace and couldn’t help but shout,

“Bethel—raaaaaaaa!!!”

For that one opportunity.

The decisive moment I had been silently waiting for.

To become my ultimate technique from today on.

With the stats inflated by [Gigantification] in a state of wild burst—

‘Swing.’

I swung the mace towards his head with all my might. I was certain that if this hit landed, everything would be over.

Therefore, I could see it.

“Naundez Aunzo.”

Every change that occurred the moment his lips parted.

「The character’s soul energy is insufficient.」

「[Gigantification] ends.」

Strength drained from my entire body.

Also, my eye level dropped suddenly, narrowing my field of vision.

Kwang!

The mace swung normally, striking the ground.

“Keheheh.”

Somehow escaping my grasp, the bastard spat out blood-mixed vomit. And watching this, I could only think of one thing.

This damned guy.

What exactly did he do just now?

The answer came quickly.

‘Shit.’

A unique skill that the dragon tribe is born with.

The ‘Curse of the Dragon’ that he was known to be unable to use.

[Regal Vagos has cast [Dragon Speech: Silence of the Soul].」

It was the Dragon Speech.

****

‘Guardian of Balance.’

This field effect equalizes the total sum of basic stats.

And on top of that, he was fighting against five.

Even a level 4 essence was sealed.

The Ogre Essence gave me a way around the trickiest Arc Steel Sword, and I made generous use of the consumable items I found in the hidden room.

And even the finishing move at the right timing.

I thought it was enough to take down even a rank 9 explorer.

How pitifully mistaken.

Despair can find anyone, anytime.

For examples, being struck by a rare disease at a young age when one should be frolicking around. Losing a loved one in an accident while out enjoying oneself.

Or the house you live in burns down.

The mother who said she would be there tomorrow suddenly vanishing without a trace.

All these are things that can happen in reality.

Without any warning.

Whether it rains or it’s a sunny day.

In an instant.

It has the nature to visit someone.

Just like this moment.

“Ptooey.”

 

And then, as if mocking the moment,

“Pfft.”

Regal Vagos spits out blood-mixed saliva onto the ground.

And picks up the Arc Steel Sword that had fallen to the ground.

However…

Fizz-crack-!

As if rejecting his touch, sparks flew from the sword.

He frowned, forcibly grasped the sword, and then places it back into subspace.

And…

Thud.

He slowly started walking towards us.

I struggled to lift my mace.

The mace, which felt as light as a feather just moments ago, now weighed like a bar of iron.

Thud.

Without the need to wrap my head around it, the information came to mind.

「The character has fallen into a state of soul exhaustion.」

Soul exhaustion.

A status condition that occurs when soul energy drops to 0%.

I had hardly ever experienced this in the game. No matter how recklessly I used skills, my soul energy never dropped to 0%.

「All stats temporarily decrease by 70%.」

I realized then.

“Suddenly, everyone’s gone quiet, haven’t they?”

Plan A was a failure.

And the cost of that…

Well, I was about to find out.

Thump-!

I was sent flying backward by his kick.

Although I managed to block it with my arms, the impact resonated down to my bones.

“Bjorn…!”

Misha rushes in, swinging her sword in an attempt to help, but she’s far too outmatched.

Like a master of martial arts, he wraps his arm around Misha’s wrist, effortlessly disarming her of her sword.

And then…

He kicked Misha in the abdomen, sending her flying far away.

Rotmiller’s timely shot crossbow?

It was cut in half by his sword before it even reached him.

“All this, … just for these”

He looked at us, murmuring coldly.

That single sentence made my skin crawl and my heart race erratically as if it had malfunctioned.

Still, out of habit, my brain pieced together the clues.

“He probably doesn’t realize.”

He wasn’t in perfect condition either.

Regardless of him spitting blood earlier, if he had been at 100%, my arm should have been broken by now.

It seemed he couldn’t use his sword properly either.

“Do you have any idea how much time I’ve wasted on the ground because of you?”

There were several positive aspects to consider.

But even so, it wouldn’t be enough compared to us.

“M-Misha! Try to regain your consciousness!”

A sobbing voice came from behind me, and he took another step toward me.

“Barbarian, don’t expect a peaceful rest. Not even death will save you.”

This wasn’t just a threat.

I knew what the only level 3 essence he possessed was.

Thud-

The situation was desperately grim.

What should I do?

Escaping seemed impossible now.

It was at that moment, with my mind filled only with such thoughts.

[Leor Wuerv Dwalki casts level 8 attack magic [Ice Spear].」

Two ice spears, with the same potency as before, are launched.

Two of them, no less.

And they are even adjusted for trajectory.

Whoosh-!

He twisted his body in panic.

And barely deflected the other with his sword. Normally, he would have blocked it with [Dark Veil] or easily shattered it with his sword.

He struggled so much to block the magic.

“……!”

It dawned on me then.

I couldn’t understand why I didn’t think of this right away, but…….

Wizards don’t use soul energy.

Meaning, the debuff from soul exhaustion didn’t apply to them.

Which means.

“Right, I’ll have to kill you first.”

We had to protect Dwalki.

“Everyone, snap out of it!!!”

If we wanted to live.