Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 298
The Evil Spirit (2)
I feel strange.
It’s not out of sympathy, nor do I regret striking down the mace back then.
There’s just something unsettling, something stifling.
“Your expression doesn’t look good.”
“……”
“Were you acquainted with that kid?”
At Amelia’s question, I shook my head.
Then I asked something I was curious about.
“What happens to kids like that when they grow up?”
“They become explorers.”
“Is there no other path? Can’t they work in the lord’s castle or something?”
“Impossible. Those kids came under the lord with that agreement from the start.”
“Agreement?”
“In exchange for being raised, they agree to do whatever is asked of them.”
I was dumbfounded.
“Doing all the dirty work and using them as bait during plundering is considered raising them?”
“Kids who survive hell grow up strong.”
As soon as I heard those words, something the tribe chief once told me flashed through my mind.
[You should know. Only a warrior who survives is a strong warrior.]
In a way, it was a similar context.
An environment structured so that one has no choice but to grow strong to survive.
The lord deliberately put the children in such an environment.
“However, excluding the early years when they’re primarily used as bait, the mortality rate gradually decreases. The treatment they receive from their assigned teams improves as well.” Amelia Continued
She explained that if a child survives as bait for about three years, they are acknowledged for their talent and start receiving weapon training.
Moreover, if there are any unclaimed essences during hunts, they are allowed to consume them…
“By the time these kids reach adulthood, they become valuable assets ready for immediate use.”
“What if they decide to quit once they become adults?”
“That won’t happen. They receive consistent indoctrination from a young age. By adulthood, they become the lord’s most loyal servants.”
“But still, what if they come to their senses and want to quit?”
Amelia frowned as if persistent, then spoke.
“They undergo corrective measures. To make them loyal again.”
“……”
“Don’t worry too much. There wouldn’t be any children who enter under the lord’s care without knowing these things.”
The conversation ended there.
But I kept thinking afterwards.
What kind of time must the player who entered the body of ‘Jencia Neaprin’ have gone through?
Well, perhaps it wasn’t so bad after all.
Noark doesn’t kill evil spirits recklessly.
‘…Though they wouldn’t set them free either.’
From the lord’s perspective, an evil spirit had possessed the body of a valuable asset they had nurtured with leftover essences for years.
The lord would ensure that the evil spirit continued living ‘Jencia’s’ life.
Even if it required stronger ‘corrections.’
‘Anyway, whether they revealed themselves as an evil spirit or hid it well, they would have had to participate in raids from the beginning. It might have been a defense mechanism to treat everyone as NPCs and not as people……’
Wait, Why am I even curious about this?
‘Let’s stop thinking about it.’
I ended my thoughts there.
How that player survived in that environment has nothing to do with me.
That woman tried to kill me.
Yeah, so…
‘I just did what I had to do.’
That’s all there is to the incident.
Phew, organizing my thoughts like this does ease the suffocation a bit.
“What are you doing, Amelia? Let’s go. We have work to do.”
“Why do your emotions fluctuate so much?”
“Isn’t that typical of a barbarian?”
Having shaken off the unsettling feeling, I continued using the dialogue ‘Help me!!! I have a lot of money!!’ to lure in plunderers.
Several more days passed like that…
“Oh, another subspace ring.”
While I was casually organizing the plunderers’ equipment as usual.
Rumble—
“…Huh?”
Just as I tilted my head in confusion, the ground shook as if there was an earthquake.
Honestly, I was quite taken aback.
Damn, I hadn’t considered this possibility.
Rumble, rumble—!
A rift formed on the third floor.
****
A rift opening on the third floor.
It was sudden, but nothing to be surprised or amazed about.
It can happen anytime during an exploration.
However, the problem is…
‘Why now, of all times.’
We didn’t enter the labyrinth for a normal exploration.
Moreover, there’s no essence suitable for me on the third floor rift.
My essence slots were full, so unless I deleted the essence of the corpse golem, I couldn’t consume any more.
Some might argue that there are valuable items and rift stones, right?
I can’t take those back 20 years later anyway.
Selling them could help with living here, but…
‘Enough wishful thinking. Let’s check it out first.’
I quickly concluded my thoughts.
There’s a difference between a rift opening and being able to enter it.
“Amelia, where is it?”
Someone with the talent of a scout can determine the location when a rift appears.
So, where did it form?
If it’s somewhere several hours away, there’s nothing we can do to enter it.
No need to worry—
“Five minutes north.”
Fuck, it opened right in front of us.
Why couldn’t it have appeared like this earlier?
Last time, a rift opened in a completely different region on the fifth floor, and I had to abandon it.
“What are you doing! Let’s go!”
I shouted as if I would run there immediately, and Amelia briefly asked back.
“Are you going in?”
What’s she talking about, of course we are.
It’s best to enter a rift whenever possible.
Essence, items, whatever.
There’s experience that can only be gained in a rift…
‘Wait a minute.’
“Amelia, have you been to the third-floor rift?”
“Once before.”
So she’s already consumed all the experience here.
No wonder she’s not excited this time.
“I haven’t! So let’s go!”
“……”
“Anyway, we’ve almost succeeded in catching Noark lord’s eye! Missing a few looted items won’t change anything!”
“But if an unnecessary problem arises while we’re in the rift…”
“I won’t cause any trouble! And aren’t we allies! Help me out once! I’ll just quietly gain some achievements and come out!”
“…Alright, follow me.”
After a brief silence, Amelia sighed and swiftly led the way.
It wasn’t because the word ‘allies’ changed her mind.
She probably judged that it was better to put up with a few days of inconvenience than to strain the relationship with a ‘ally’
She’s someone who pursues rationality in various ways.
‘Surprisingly compatible with barbarians.’
Because she’s not emotional, Amelia responds well to the barbarian’s straightforward ‘do it’ It’s more rational for her to do it than to be constantly bothered.
Tap, tap.
Anyway, as we ran, a portal soon came into our view.
“Jandel, think one last time……”
What’s there to think about.
“Bethel—raaah!”
Without hesitation, I threw myself through it.
And then…
Flash—!
When I opened my eyes, we were in a pure white temple.
****
A high ceiling where I could leap freely.
White marble columns.
And a hundred statues lined up along the edge of the walls.
‘Seeing as there’s no one here, we must be the first to arrive.’
After confirming that no other explorers were in sight, I slowly looked around out of pure curiosity rather than necessity.
After all, there’s only one rift on the third floor.
The Hundred-Color Temple.
Not just white, but a temple with a hundred different colors.
For reference, it’s also a place you must visit at least once during the game.
The experience points here are immense.
“Jandel, do you know about this place?”
“To some extent.”
“Then there’s no need for me to explain.”
The Hundred-Color Temple has three main characteristics.
- Elite mobs that don’t appear in the regular field, like corpse golems, swarm out. Anything you kill here gives you first-time experience bonuses if it’s your first visit……
- Unlike regular rifts, it’s not a cooperative raid but a competition among the explorers who enter. Only one team can enter the boss room. If the first team fails to conquer it, the next team gets a chance. This doesn’t mean Amelia and I have to compete against other teams alone.
- When a rift opens, five portals open on the respective floor, and those entering the same portal form a team.
This was the most trickiest part in the game.
Imagine entering with a 5-person team and finding two people already inside.
Two of your teammates outside the rift would be left behind. Just like the team of explorers who had just arrived.
“…Huh?”
“Damn it, I didn’t expect others to be here first.”
The portal floating in the air spat out three explorers and then closed. It seemed they had left their teammates behind…
“This is bad! Remud and Hans didn’t make it in!!”
Oh, nice.
“Calm down! Although we’re separated, Remud and Hans can handle themselves on the third floor!”
Then a human swordsman, calming his panicked comrades, approached us.
“Nice to meet you. Are you two here alone?”
“Yes.”
Despite Amelia’s curt response, the man smiled warmly.
“Haha, we’ll be together for a while. Since it’s fate that we met, let’s introduce ourselves first. I am Carlton Drek”
“Emily.”
“Bjorn.”
When Amelia and I gave our fake names, Carlton cautiously asked me.
“Bjorn, are you perhaps a barbarian?”
It was a reasonable question.
I was fully clad in plate armor, covering me from head to toe in metal, making it impossible to see if I had any tattoos.
So…
“What does it matter?”
I replied curtly, and Carlton quickly apologized, realizing his mistake.
“Sorry. It was just curiosity. I didn’t mean to offend.”
He seemed to think I was just a large human.
Most people who react sensitively to such trivial questions are usually narrow-minded humans.
“Carlton , come here for a moment.”
Meanwhile, a male fairy who had been watching the situation from the back called Carlton over.
‘Can’t hear.’
They whispered to each other, seemingly discussing something…
“They think we’re suspicious.”
“Huh?”
“I can hear them from this distance. Unless it’s magic.”
“…I see?”
I hadn’t realized Amelia had such keen hearing.
I should avoid whispering secrets around her in the future.
“So, what are they saying? They look serious.”
Using Amelia to eavesdrop, I learned the content of their conversation.
‘They’re calmly just stating their names. It’s suspicious for two people to be wandering on the third floor on the thirteenth day. They might be plunderers. One of them even has their face covered.’
The fairy voiced his suspicions, and Carlton responded.
‘But we have no other option. We can’t attack them just because they seem suspicious. Let’s not show any signs and stick with them to find out who they are.’
After their discussion seemed to end…
“Ah! Sorry! My friend here was worried about the teammates we left behind.”
Carlton laughed heartily as he approached us, giving the other two a chance to introduce themselves.
“This fairy friend here is…”
“Enough, I’ll do it myself. Aimburn Bertha Garcia. As you can see, I specialize in archery.”
Aimburn curtly introduced himself, revealing only his main weapon and name, clearly reluctant to share more information with us.
The next was the barbarian warrior.
“Haha! Nice to meet you all!”
The warrior, who hadn’t been part of the whispered discussion, approached us with a bright smile.
Without a hint of caution, he introduced himself.
“I am Jandel, third son of Jarku!”
“…What?”
My mind went blank.
Unless I misheard…
“Oh, is it hard for humans to understand? Just call me Jandel Jarku.”
He meant my biological father.