Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 270
Farune Island (4)
The sea was raging with fierce waves.
Currently, Alluva Raven was flying above it.
For the first time in ages, she was shouting at the top of her lungs.
“Mr. Urichfried! Hang in there! Just a little further and you’ll reach the shore!”
Below, she could see only Abman clinging to a plank, being tossed around by the waves.
Every time a towering wave engulfed him, her heart tightened, but there was nothing more she could do.
‘I need to take good care of Abman at least…’
When the ship had wrecked, all her other companions had scattered and disappeared, and Abman was the only one she found while searching around.
She had been following him to avoid losing his location, but…
“Huh?”
Whether he lost his grip on the plank, Abman’s body disappeared below the surface.
Raven quickly descended in a panic.
Yet despite this, she couldn’t see Abman.
“Mr. Urichfried! Mr. Urichfried!!”
She circled around, shouting for quite a while, but there was no answer.
Her body shivered as if with chills.
“…No, he’ll be okay.”
Suppressing her trembling, Raven pulled herself together and headed toward the coast.
And then…
“Found him!”
After thoroughly searching the coast, she finally found who she was looking for.
Abman, washed ashore by the waves, lay unconscious on the beach.
“Phew.”
He was breathing properly, and his body temperature didn’t seem to have dropped too much.
Using a fire-based support spell, she dried Abman’s wet clothes and body, then waited by his side for him to wake up.
At that moment…
“Not the person I was looking for, but…”
“…”
“This isn’t bad either.”
A man emerged from the forest.
Blood rushed to my head.
Why does this guy have Raven’s ring? No matter how I try to think positively, I can’t come up with a good scenario.
But still…
“Hey, why do you have Raven’s subspace ring?”
Clinging to the last hope, I asked.
“Explain.”
Hoping desperately that it was some kind of misunderstanding, I exhibited superhuman patience.
But the answer I got wasn’t what I expected.
“I ask the questions first.”
Is he saying he doesn’t intend to give up control of the conversation?
If that’s the case, he picked the wrong time.
“Really?”
“I’ll ask again, you guys from Rainwhale—”
“Then die.”
I launched myself forward, kicking off the ground.
I figured there was no rush to ask questions after sorting out the pecking order.
“…!”
Leaping high, my body rapidly expanded through [Gigantification], causing him to backstep and widen the distance.
But what can he do about this?
「Character’s total weight exceeds 500kg.」
「Special terrain effect [Recoil] is additionally applied to the damage area.」
With that little distance, he can’t avoid this.
Boom-!
The ground rippled out from the impact point.
“Ugh…!”
His slim figure, fitting for an archer, was catapulted into the air like a spring.
I didn’t miss the chance and dashed forward immediately.
And then, using the characteristic brutish hand of a barbarian, I quickly reached out.
At that moment…
[Nebarce Greenhop has cast [Emergency Escape].」
He vanished like a mirage right in front of me.
There was no reason to be flustered.
Quickly scanning the surroundings like moving the camera in a 3D game, I spotted him 20 meters away.
So, it was a Blink-type skill.
He didn’t go far.
Thud.
I adjusted my posture in midair.
As expected from a high-tier archer, he had already fired an arrow.
Whizz-!
Seeing the white light enveloping the arrowhead, it was probably a skill-enhanced arrow…
But there was no problem.
「Character has cast [Transcendence].」
A power I obtained as a royal reward from Bayon.
「The next skill used will be enhanced.」
I didn’t obtain it just to link with [Gigantification].
「Character has cast [Leap].」
「The power inherent in this skill is unlocked by the power of the Transcendent Being.」
In short, it’s Transcendent Leap.
The effect is really simple.
「It can now be used in midair…」
First, it could be cast while airborne, significantly increasing its utility.
And…
「The travel time is greatly reduced.」
It becomes much faster.
A flash-!
The moment I kicked off the air.
I was already in front of him.
With all the effects of [Leap] in my body.
Boom-!
Unable to withstand the recoil, his body was once again launched into the air.
I quickly reached out and grabbed his neck.
“Ugh!”
He groaned in pain.
There was no room for sympathy.
For a long-range type, maintaining distance is crucial.
If he failed to do that properly, he deserved to die.
“Die.”
I tightened my grip on his neck.
I wasn’t too worried about him escaping.
Blink-type skills usually have a long cooldown, and even if he used another skill to escape, I could catch him again.
“Ggh…!”
His struggling intensified.
If I applied more pressure, his neck would snap.
At that moment, I regained my senses.
“Hey.”
Snapping his neck wasn’t the best choice.
I needed to hear his story first.
And if it wasn’t the story I wanted, snapping his neck wouldn’t be enough.
Thud.
Releasing my grip on his neck, his body collapsed to the ground. To prevent him from having any funny ideas, I stomped on his abdomen and bent over.
Then I grabbed his wrist…
Crack-!
I broke his wrist instead of his neck.
The wrist of the hand wearing Raven’s ring.
“…!”
Overwhelmed by the pain, he couldn’t even scream, his eyes rolling back.
Not my concern.
I had been patient enough.
“Where did you get this ring?”
I asked him the same question again.
Earlier, we had been throwing questions at each other without listening, but this time was different.
“W-what strange things are you talking about since a while ago!”
He responded.
Not the answer I wanted, but an answer nonetheless.
“Just answer my question.”
“Guh…!”
“This ring, where did you get it?”
As I asked, I glanced over his frail body. I had already broken his wrist, but there were still plenty of parts left to break.
And he must have realized it too.
“Th-the Kerman Magic Workshop in District Seven!”
He shouted urgently.
“I bought it from the Kerman Magic Workshop!”
An entirely unexpected answer.
“…What?”
I had been prepared to continue the interrogation if he gave some vague answer like he found it by chance or didn’t kill Raven but took it.
“You bought it…? Not taken from Raven?”
“I don’t even know who Raven is!”
He sounded genuinely wronged.
It didn’t seem like he was lying…
But just in case.
He could be a cunning guy who came up with this lie on the spot, right?
“Ah, aah!”
I grabbed his dangling hand and pulled off the ring.
Then I opened the subspace and rummaged through it.
It was filled with equipment, consumables, and personal items.
After checking a few things, I took a deep breath.
‘What the, it really isn’t Raven’s?’
It wasn’t Raven’s ring.
The proof was the absence of the magic reagents that should have been there. He wouldn’t have thrown away all the expensive reagents after taking the ring.
‘Ah, come to think of it, Raven did say she bought hers from a magic workshop…’
Yeah, I knew it.
Of course, she wouldn’t be so easily taken down.
“Is the misunderstanding cleared up?”
Ah, well…
“Yes, it seems this ring is indeed the one you bought.”
True to the barbarian’s nature of valuing honesty, I readily admitted my mistake. Then I moved my foot away from his writhing wrist.
“But, why are you putting it in your pocket instead of returning it…?”
Well, that’s a different matter altogether.
From now on, this ring is mine.
After all, the Noark bastards are treasure goblins, aren’t they?
“Got a problem with that?”
“…”
He silently accepted my actions without protest.
In simple terms, the transfer process was complete.
With his permission, I also stripped him of his weapons and equipment, stuffing them into the subspace. Now we were ready for a non-violent conversation.
“Who are you?”
I began by asking his name, personal details, and what had happened on this island.
Not wanting to die just yet, he readily spilled everything.
His name was Nebarce Greenhop.
“You look familiar for some reason…”
“That’s because we’ve met once before.”
“What? You and I? When?”
“When there was a fire in the capital, Carnon.”
Hearing that, I remembered.
When I faced the Ruin Scholar there, this guy was trailing behind him like a minion.
‘I didn’t expect it to be him.’
Anyway, it wasn’t important.
Back then, he didn’t seem to know anything about what was discussed between the Ruin Scholar and Lee Baek-ho after they left.
“Now, tell me everything that happened today.”
From him, I learned details I hadn’t heard from the priestess.
First, these guys were indeed targeting the blonde.
“He originally came from Noark. But he betrayed the lord and fled after stealing treasure.”
“Wait a moment. Drowes is from Noark…?”
“Even that name is fake. He changed his face and hid, making it very hard to find him.”
The priestess stared blankly into space, her mind seemingly shattered by this incredible revelation.
I suppose I’d react the same way if I suddenly heard that Misha was an evil spirit from someone.
“So, what happened to him?”
“He’s dead.”
“Are you sure?”
“Over there. You can see the traces where Rainweilz dealt with the body.”
There were indeed signs of something melted near where he pointed.
Quite gruesome.
“So, what were you doing until now? Where are your comrades?”
“One of them and I left the group to chase after the ones who escaped. We got separated during the chase.”
I see, so they were pursuing and came back empty-handed.
‘Wait, then who triggered the event?’
Suddenly curious, I asked who had destroyed the island’s tribute, but he couldn’t give me an expected answer.
“This state of the sea…? I don’t know either. The ground suddenly shook while we were chasing, and everything went dark.”
Huh, he doesn’t know either?
That’s unsettling.
As I stood silently, organizing my thoughts, he cautiously asked me a question.
“So, what happened to Rainweilz? Were they gone when you arrived?”
It was the same question he asked when we first met.
Maybe he answered all my questions diligently because he was curious about this?
I wasn’t sure, but just as I was about to respond…
Thud.
Two figures emerged from beyond the bushes.
“Erwin! Over there! It’s Bjorn!!”
“Ah, Mister! There you are!”
It was Aynar and Erwin.
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