Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 302

Evil Spirit (6)

Bam-!

The moment I struck Beck’s shiny crown with all my might using the Demon Crusher.

Splat-!

His skull and scalp burst simultaneously, causing a fountain of blood to gush out from every possible opening.

A successful surprise attack.

However, these guys, hardened by numerous battles, responded quickly even after their leader’s head was shattered.

Thud.

The archer retreated to increase the distance.

“You crazy bastard!”

The melee fighters quickly approached, blocking my left and right flank in unison.

They moved like cockroaches.

Whoosh-!

Using my [Gigantification] I swung my hammer at the shield warrior in the front. 

Surprisingly, he didn’t dodge.

He merely raised his shield along the hammer’s trajectory and shouted.

“Stab him!”

So, their plan was to block and have someone stab my side, huh?

Glancing at the shield, it looked pretty impressive.

‘Adamantium, huh.’

It seemed he relied on his expensive shield…

But there are better items in this world.

‘Suffer, then’

When the hammer collided with the shield, an explosion resounded.

Boom-!

The shield was slightly dented but remained intact.

However…

Crunch-!

The guy holding the shield spewed blood from every hole like a punctured can of soda.

Well, I didn’t use [Swing] earlier.

When using Swing the blunt weapon damage increases by 500% and soul power consumption is halved.

And when striking down, there is a 50% bonus armor penetration.

Thud.

The guy fell to the ground with his eyes protruding excessively due to the pressure.

Next target.

Swoosh.

As I moved my gaze to the third target, he retreated.

The archer behind him did the same.

Are they trying to run away?

That’s amusing.

I have no intention of letting them go.

‘Transcend.’

I quickly uttered the command.

‘Eye of the Storm.’

The active skill I got from Storm Gush.

Thud-!

As I stomped the ground, a vortex began to swirl.

It was different from what Storm Gush used.

Thanks to [Transcendence].

Whoosh-!

[Eye of the Storm] no longer pulls enemies within a 5-meter radius.

Instead.

It pulls a single designated target within a 20-meter radius toward me.

“Ah, Aaaaah!”

Just like this.

Crunch-!

That makes three.

However, I wasn’t satisfied and checked the last target, the fleeing archer.

If he was too far, I planned to pursue him with [Leap].

But…

Thud.

Amelia had already approached and finished off the archer.

She was quite a pragmatic woman.

She must have judged that killing everyone was the best way to cover up the incident.

“Ah, ugh, s-spare me…”

Bam-!

Amelia knocked out the kid, Jencia, who was next to the archer, and approached me.

She spoke briefly.

“That was foolish.”

“Because he was from the lord’s side?”

“No, because now we have to kill this kid too because of you.”

…Is that how it works?

But this kid was clearly alive back then.

“There were many chances to kill them even if it wasn’t today. I intended to kill them someday regardless of your actions.”

“You?”

“I feel responsible for this incident too.”

Responsibility…

Ah, who cares.

My head’s a mess.

Beeeeeeeeep.

Even though I killed them all, the beeping remained.

Instead of feeling relieved, I felt even more stifled.

“Why did you act so rashly? You said you’ve never even seen your father’s face.”

That’s true.

And I knew.

Even if I killed all these bastards like a madman, it wouldn’t be any consolation to him.

It would be an act of supreme hypocrisy.

But…

“Just because.”

I couldn’t find a better way to express it.

“I just felt like it.”

“…I see.”

Surprisingly, Amelia didn’t get angry at that.

She just looked at me without saying anything.

“…”

I turned my head to avoid Amelia’s gaze.

Then I saw the corpse of Jandel Jarku.

Not just the battle wounds, but signs of being treated like a toy were evident everywhere on his body.

Clench.

I clenched my fists.

A short conversation we had inside the rift came to mind.

[Was it Bjorn? If possible, have a child soon. It’s sad to leave nothing behind in this world.]

[…Is that so?]

[Yes, I didn’t realize it until I had a child.]

Jarku said.

A child of your own blood is like another self.

It’s a mysterious thing.

After having a child, he said, I had a greater wish than becoming a renowned warrior.

[Hahaha, I’m sure he will become a great warrior.]

So I ran away.

[Stop!]

[Hm?]

[Stop, I have to go now…]

That one sentence made me painfully realize.

Even if I lived as Bjorn Jandel, saving many people, and being revered as a hero in the city…

‘I will never be forgiven.’

Even if it wasn’t what I wanted.

Clench.

The truth doesn’t change no matter what anyone says.

In the end, I am an evil spirit.

One that took away the precious legacy of this barbarian warrior.

****

“Seems you’ve calmed down a bit.”

As I endlessly stared at Jandel Jarku’s corpse, Amelia spoke to me.

She wasn’t wrong.

Time heals, they say?

The beeping subsided, and the trembling stopped.

Now it’s time to think about how to handle what happened.

I looked at the unconscious Jencia and spoke.

“…Do we really have to kill her?”

“Is there another way? If this kid survives and returns, the lord will find out what we did.”

Damn it.

I sighed deeply out of frustration, and Amelia asked.

“Is there a reason not to kill her?”

“She’s still… young.”

Even as I said that, I wondered why I was trying to find a way not to kill her.

After all, I know the future.

This kid will live a hellish life and then be possessed by an evil spirit when she becomes an adult.

So, dying now would be…

‘Damn it.’

I cursed.

What am I thinking now?

That it doesn’t matter if I kill her now because she’ll die anyway? That killing her now proves Auril Gavis wrong?

I shook my head firmly.

“…Killing her is not an option. Let’s find another way.”

“That’s unlike you.”

“What do you know about me?”

She doesn’t even  know I’m an evil spirit.

Though I snapped, I inwardly acknowledged it.

Indeed, the usual me might have made a different choice.

But…

‘At least today.’

I don’t want to.

It’s been an exceptionally tough day.

Even if this decision is in line with fate, I can’t handle it any more.

Therefore…

“You’re right. I guess I didn’t know you well. I didn’t realize you were this weak. If you can’t do it, I will—.”

“Stop.”

I grabbed Amelia’s wrist.

“…You’d better let go.”

“Didn’t I say we should find another way?”

“Another way? There’s no more certain way than this.”

God, she’s so…

I just asked to think for a moment…

‘Ah, right, that!’

An idea came to me, and I quickly spoke.

“Right, the Forgetfulness Pill! The alchemist from Noark made it; it can erase memories! Since they are from the lord’s side, they might have it!”

I spoke with the excitement of a philosopher shouting Eureka, but Amelia just sneered.

“This is the early stage when the pill was just developed. There’s no way these guys have such a precious item.”

“But isn’t it worth checking?”

“…Fine, if you need to see for yourself to give up.”

Saying that, Amelia shook off my hand.

“And one more thing, don’t grab my wrist without permission again.”

Touchy, isn’t she?

Amelia then approached the corpses and started looting.

Okay, at least this buys me some time to think…

‘Oh, wait a minute.’

I realized a mistake I had made.

Amelia hadn’t noticed yet…

‘This is bad.’

I must have been too shaken earlier.

This was a mistake I would never make under normal circumstances.

‘…I’ll handle it if she brings it up later.’

For now, I squatted down and started stripping the gear and checking the backpacks.

Meanwhile, I kept thinking about what to do if the pill wasn’t found.

Then.

“…Lucky. I didn’t expect them to have it in this era.”

The pill was indeed in the bag.

***

After finding the pill, everything proceeded smoothly.

Amelia hurriedly administered the pill to Jencia, and we waited for her to regain consciousness.

After some time had passed…

“Ugh, aaah! What, what’s going on…?”

Jencia, now blindfolded and bound, regained consciousness. We watched quietly from a distance.

Considering the pill was an early version, there was a chance it might be defective.

“Uncle Beck! Uncle Beck! Help me!”

The fact that she was calling for the dead Beck confirmed her memory had been erased.

Now, to see how much memory had been erased.

Through Jencia’s disoriented mumbling, we gathered the information we needed.

“To think she lost all memories since entering the Crystal Cave. It seems the early-stage potion is more effective than the mass-produced ones.”

Amelia approached the struggling Jecia and knocked her out again, then fed her a sleeping pill to ensure she stayed unconscious.

This problem was now resolved.

“The labyrinth will close soon, so we only need to stay together for a few hours.”

Afterward, we relocated and spent time waiting with the sleeping Jencia.

We couldn’t just leave her alone in the labyrinth, could we?

Once the labyrinth closed, Jencia would be found by the lord’s forces and taken care of. They would try to gather information on what happened, but she wouldn’t remember anything.

“…Amelia, I’m sorry about earlier.”

I apologized while waiting, but Amelia just ignored me as if she hadn’t heard anything.

We waited in awkward silence for a while.

Swoooosh-!

Blinding white light erupted from all directions as the labyrinth closed.

But unlike usual, there was no warm sunlight to greet us, nor did refreshing air wrap around us.

Only the dreary underground city welcomed us.

“We’re out.”

The dimensional plaza in the western part of the lord’s castle.

This place was different from Raphdonia.

On the surface, one had to go through a checkpoint and exchange magic stones after an exploration, but here, exchanging magic stones was optional.

“Come on, let’s go get a drink!”

“Hey, isn’t that the kid from Beck’s gang? Why’s she alone? Did the others die inside?”

“Steel Tooth will be glad to hear this. He’s been grinding his teeth over Beck.”

Explorers scattered according to their purposes, and the area soon became quiet. Jensia, who was far away, was found and taken somewhere by the Lord’s men.

“Let’s move too.”

“Yeah…”

We also left the plaza and headed somewhere.

[Melta Trading Company]

Noark’s only trading company and the most popular place for underground plunderers to sell their equipment.

Unlike the relatively short line at the magic stone exchange, the area in front of Melta’s branch was crowded with people. Here, magic stones  themselves were money, so there was no need to exchange them.

I heard that the magic stones exchange didn’t convert to cash but to food or desired items.

“Hmmm, the famous Iron Mask and Emily. You’ve been quite popular lately.”

When our turn came, we took out all the equipment we had stored.

By the way, we excluded Beck’s equipment.

Revealing those would clearly indicate we killed his gang.

“…Did you obtain all this from this exploration?”

As we dumped the contents of our bags, the staff’s eyes gradually widened.

Even in Noark, filled with plunderers, it was rare to see such a large haul.

“It might take some time. Can you wait?”

The staff then called over a few more appraisers from the company to assist with the valuation.

About ten minutes later, the appraisal was completed.

21 level 4 magic stones.

1 Level 5 magic stone.

7 Level 7 magic stones.

Phew, listing it like this makes it hard to grasp.

“How much is this in Raphdonia’s exchange rate?”

“Ah, you might not be familiar since it’s your first time in Noark. According to last month’s exchange rate, it totals 21.57 million stone.”

I had heard from Amelia, but these guys were real thieves.

Even if it was low-tier equipment and we didn’t display subspace or expansion bags, still…

“If sold on the surface, it would easily exceed 70 million stones.”

“Yes, that would be the case on the surface.”

Ugh, the arrogance in his tone.

“Forget it. Emily, let’s pack up and leave.”

“You’re not going to sell?”

“Right, I won’t sell at this ridiculous price.”

“Very well.”

We gathered our equipment and left.

The staff didn’t bother stopping us, thinking we would eventually have to sell to them.

“Let’s head to the lodging.”

Leaving the trading company’s branch, we moved to the inn where we were staying. After taking turns washing up, we sat down to talk.

“We showed the plundererd equipment to the company, so even without Beck, the lord will show interest.”

That was the reason we visited the company despite not intending to sell.

The lord essentially owned the trading company.

The bloodstained equipment and various identification proofs we showed would reach the lord’s ears.

“Then we just have to wait.”

“Yes, for now.”

After discussing a few more topics, we changed into our casual clothes and lay down on the beds.

“I’ll sleep first if we’re done talking. I’m exhausted.”

Of course, I couldn’t sleep easily.

So I kept tossing and turning.

“Are you asleep?”

Amelia suddenly spoke.

“I’m not. Why?”

“I’m curious about something.”

Curious about something…

I had a hunch.

Looking back, it was probably about that ‘mistake’.

“Go ahead.”

“How did you know about Amern’s Blessing?”

Oh, so that was the name of the pill.

It was new information to me, but I answered naturally without showing it.

“Oh, that? Didn’t you give it to me last time at my lodging, telling me to take it?”

“But I never mentioned it was made by a Noark alchemist.”

“I got curious and asked another Noark explorer before killing him!”

“Hmm, I see. So that’s how it is…”

Wait, what’s with that tone?

It made me anxious.

“The name of that pill is actually Blessing of Lethe, not Amern’s Blessing.”

What?

“I knew it.”

A shadow loomed over my bed.

Turning my gaze, I saw Amelia standing there, looking down at me.

“You didn’t lose your memory back then.”

I was trapped.

Apparently, she realized I made a mistake but pretended not to notice until I let my guard down…

How can someone be so cunning?

I sighed and admitted coolly.

“Yeah, for some reason, I was the only one unaffected.”

The pill was defective, so what could I do?

So what now?

Back then, I hid the fact that I retained my memory to avoid assassination, but now there’s no need for that.

The existence of Noark is fully exposed to the city anyway.

‘Yeah, what do I have to hide now?’

Realizing this, I boldly sat up and faced Amelia.

If she had anything to say, she could say it.

But then, what’s this?

“…”

Her gaze felt different.

It felt strangely cold.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

Amelia answered coldly.

“Bjorn Jandel, the only ones who don’t lose their memory to that pill are evil spirits.”

Ah, uh, hmm…

‘Damn it.’

That was something I didn’t know.