Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 188

Overgeared (3)

Walking through the dark forest.

Endlessly following the direction where the doppelganger vanished from the Shadow Altar.

“……”

Moving through the tense atmosphere.

By the way, I am leading at the front, and the rest are several meters behind, following me.

It’s not the usual formation distance, but…

Well, What can I do?.

This is just the life of a carry-type tank.

“Prepare for battle!”

The moment I sensed a presence ahead.

Dozens of doppelgangers appeared from beyond the darkness, unreachable by the light sphere magic.

This is the change that happens when we enter the fourth chapter.

After the seal on the doppelgangers is broken, the number of copies spread across the field increases exponentially.

And then…

“Empire, the enemy of the… Empire…!”

“Kill… them!!”

They no longer transform into our appearance.

At least not until we meet the original directly.

I don’t know why.

It was just something I accepted when playing the game.

Maybe there’s some hidden background to this phenomenon now that I think about it, but…

Now’s not the time to think about that.

“The character has cast [Leap].”

Before the distance closed further, I leaped right into the midst of them.

Boom!

As soon as I landed, the ground shook with the special terrain effect [Recoil]. Dozens of doppelgangers were simultaneously thrown into the air.

Crack!

I swung like swinging a baseball bat and cast [Wild Burst].

“Bethel—raaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

The threat level increased three times.

The soldier-shaped doppelgangers rushed at me like crazed beasts.

Being monsters, they could not ignore provocation.

“For the empire, for…!”

Though the soldier-shaped doppelgangers lacked skills, they were still quite troublesome enemies.

This was because their base stats were very high.

As evident by how the shield-bearers withstood my mace attacks, if we look solely at stats, each one is at least as strong as Aynar.

Furthermore, the variety in their military types like archers, spearmen, swordsmen, mages, crossbowmen, and shield-bearers also contributed to the increased difficulty of the battle.

But…

Crack! Crack!

While I could block, I never avoided.

Avoiding was pointless.

Enemies surrounded me on all sides.

All I could do, as a tank, was to endure the hits while waiting for support from my allies.

[Alluva Raven has cast a level 5 attack magic [Thunderbolt]

The long-awaited magic was finally complete.

Lightning poured down extensively.

[Kailmon Parteian has cast a level 5 support magic [Spell Enhancement]

Thanks to Parteian’s support, the power of the spell was about doubled.

Thus, the magic caused a temporary stop.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

The duration of the natural lightning strike was only about five seconds, but it was enough to send the doppelganger army into a state of semi-paralysis.

‘Indeed, hunting is best when it’s a drive hunt.’

The remnants were dealt with over time by my allies who had stayed back.

With the battle over.

The Tank flicked the blood off his weapon and muttered,

“…Mr. Parteian, I hope Miss Sarman is okay. I keep worrying.”

“Didn’t you see? The doppelgangers couldn’t even approach the altar. She’ll be fine as long as she doesn’t go outside.”

“Still, perhaps it would have been better to bring her along…”

The Tank seemed troubled by the woman we had left in the Altar.

But for me, it was an unavoidable decision.

While it’s not entirely impossible to utilize the scout given the nature of the doppelgangers…

That would be a strategy only if we were to use her as a disposable sacrifice.

If she was with us as someone we needed to protect, the losses would far outweigh the gains.

“Let it be. Miss Sarman agreed to it, didn’t she? After all, if we fail, we all die.”

Parteian glanced at me and decided to end the conversation there, and I resumed the exploration without further comment.

There was nothing to gain from wasting time.

Thud, thud, thud!

As we continued to fight and move through the dark forest, a slight vibration came from underfoot.

This meant that the seal release rate had reached 20%.

Indeed, with about 1% increasing every ten minutes, it was about time.

“Mr. Jandel, can we go a bit faster?”

“Let’s do that.”

We increased our pace as if chased by time.

And…

“We’ve arrived.”

We finally reached our destination.

 

A sinkhole that I hadn’t seen when searching for the mid-boss in the forest before.

Now, if we go down here, the boss battle will begin.

But first, we need to do this.

“Let’s search around here for a bit before we move on.”

Under Raven’s direction, we scoured the area around the sinkhole for something.

It didn’t take long.

“Just as the book said. There had to be one hidden near the entrance.”

A white tombstone emitting an eerie sound.

In the game, it was referred to by the proper noun ‘Seal Stone’.

However, calling it a hidden piece would be an understatement.

By the fourth chapter, these start appearing sporadically throughout the entire forest…

“What do you mean by ‘as the book says’?”

Information about the Seal Stones could be naturally learned through the [Book of Sacrifice], which was generated at the Shadow Altar at the end of the third chapter.

Well, the information essentially just tells us to find and activate it.

“There was nothing like that in the manual.”

“Not from the manual, it was a different book.”

Raven, responding vaguely to the mage Parteian’s question, placed her hand over the Seal Stone.

Whoosh!

A pillar of black light shot up into the sky.

“The Seal Stone has been activated.”

“Seal release rate 10%.”

With this, the doppelgangers’ seal release rate decreased by 10%.

Of course, according to our strategy, this number isn’t very significant, but since we’re passing by, there’s no reason to skip it.

“Then, that’s all the preparations we can do here.”

We soon returned to the sinkhole.

“Is everyone ready?”

It’s time for the boss battle.

****

[The character has entered the Raider’s Hideout]

***

The boss battle is a rift of challenges.

However, the boss battle in ‘Doppelganger Forest’ takes a slightly unusual form.

First, the exploration must split into two groups.

One team engages in the boss battle.

The other team will search for seal stones in a forest full of doppelganger soldiers and manage the seal release rate.

This is the standard strategy written in the [Book of Sacrifices].

The concept sucks.

Here, only by trusting each other and fulfilling our respective roles can we win.

Likely, we would have also divided into two teams for the boss battle, selecting two or three appropriate members from each team.

That is, if it hadn’t all blown up.

[We can’t use that method now. There are only seven of us left.]

The expedition was halved, complicating matters.

There simply weren’t enough people to split into teams.

So, what should be done?

After checking the loot left by the dwarf and Hans G’s team, I had a quick answer and gave Raven a hint to lead her to the same conclusion.

All in.

Rather than dividing the already small group and ending up with nothing substantial, the strategy was to concentrate all forces in one place and aim for a quick victory.

In other words, a veteran player’s strategy.

[It might be a bit risky, is everyone okay with that?]

[We don’t have much choice, do we?]

Thus, the strategy was set.

I estimated the success rate at 90%.

Of course, probability is just a number, and the only way to really know if it will work is to try it out.

Life doesn’t always go according to Plan A, does it?

Boom!

True to a barbarian’s nature, I first jumped down into the tunnel to check for safety. After sending a signal upward, the rest of the team followed one by one.

“The air is chilling.”

The cool temperature of the cave.

[Aaaaaaaaaaaah!]

Inside, something had sensed our presence and let out a bizarre howling.

I chuckled.

This was one of the barbarian’s roles.

“What are you freezing up for? Let’s go smash it.”

Giving courage to the team members.

Without a moment’s hesitation, I led the way down the straight passage, and the others, regaining their spirits, followed closely behind.

Thud, thud.

After about forty steps?

The fog scattered throughout the cave cleared, revealing the boss room.

A cavity with a huge magic circle drawn on it.

Stones of Truth scattered around like toys on the floor and something humanoid crouching at the center, its back turned to us.

And then, a whimpering sound.

“You, did you… come to kill me…?”

Something turned its head to look at us.

The revealed face was none of ours.

Just an ordinary kid.

If only his facial features weren’t upside down.

“I haven’t done anything wrong…”

The kid looked at us as if wronged.

Soon, the emotion in his eyes turned to anger.

A typical boss fight intro.

“I, am just like you—!”

Before it could finish its next line, I skipped it.

“Behel—raaaaaaaaa!!”

The environment wasn’t good for ‘leaping,’ so I just dashed and swung my mace.

Thump!

The kid, still sitting, had his head smashed in.

But it didn’t feel the same as usual.

It was like hitting a sandbag filled with water.

[Aaaaaiiiiieeeeeek!!]

An unknown scream filled the entire cave, and at the same time, the kid transformed into a black viscous form.

Bubble, bubble, bubble!

Something black, expanding and contracting like sea urchin spines.

‘Is it starting with me?’

When the process was over, another version of me was standing there.

Mimicry.

A unique ability that only a doppelganger could possess, unattainable even by extracting its essence.

But it was slightly different from the field.

“Aaaaaaaiiiiieeeek!!”

The creature no longer mimicked my words and actions.

And then…

[The Nameless Plunderer has cast [Swing]

It didn’t just imitate; it became stronger than before.

Think of it as a level 5 monster with added stats and skills of the entity it’s mimicking.

It wasn’t considered a Level 4 monster for nothing.

Whooooosh!

As a test, I stepped back to dodge.

At the same moment, its mace slammed into the ground.

Boom!

The impact vibrated through the entire cave, leaving a crater—a power that seemed it would require an increase of at least 200 in strength. It was enough to make me feel a bit proud if I considered it a glimpse of my future self.

But…

“I can definitely block this.”

Any deficit in stats could be compensated with the right gear.

Blocking its wild swings with a shield to prevent it from reaching my comrades.

Boom!

The crisp sound I expected did not occur.

The weight felt by the shield was beyond imagination.

This was with 50% reduced impact?

“Raven!”

True to my explorer nature, I pinged for support.

Magic flew immediately.

Facing a high-level monster, the attack began not with offensive magic but with curses.

Boom!

Its attacks, now easier to withstand, continued.

However, this was only the first prerequisite for the attack.

The real first phase starts now.

[The Nameless Plunderer has cast [Self-Replication]

From the body of my doppelganger, black viscous matter splattered indiscriminately, falling to the ground in countless tiny droplets.

“Iherne Haindar!”

Raven’s staff emitted flames to melt the droplets, but it was impossible to handle them all.

The persistent droplets on the ground grouped together, undergoing a transformation process and began to mimic our appearances.

“There are four of them!”

Raven calmly relayed the information to me.

I made a quick decision.

Since they were mere copies, they couldn’t perform as well as the original.

So, the plan continued.

“Don’t worry about me, take them out first!”

I delegated dealing with the clones to my comrades and focused solely on the main body.

“Every one of them is Hans Krysen!”

Raven’s additional briefing made my body freeze.

“What?”

Doubting my ears even in the midst of battle, I scanned the surroundings. Naturally, there was no mistake in the information Raven gave me.

“…Fuck.”

How could they all turn out to be Hans G?

Whether dead or alive, wasn’t it supposed to mimic one out of fifteen?

Then what are the odds?

Unaware of my turmoil, Raven exclaimed.

“It’s lucky there’s no Mr. Jandel among the copies! Let’s clean up quickly!”

Her voice sounded almost like she was bearing good news.

I couldn’t blame her for feeling that way.

Hans G was relatively weaker in combat among us, and four summoners together made a poor combination.

Certainly, it was a fortunate turn for us.

But…

My heart started racing wildly.