Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 416
Eye of the Storm (2)
Hoooo.
Exhale.
Hoooo.
Inhale
Each time, steam flows out of my mouth as if I’m smoking.
Drip.
Sweat drips down, freezing solid as it hits the ground.
Muscles scream in agony. Vision blurs.
But so what?
Step. Step.
One step. Then another.
Focusing on my breathing more than ever, I stride forward.
At the very front of the two connected sleds, gripping the rope tightly so it doesn’t slip.
Step by step.
Constantly moving forward, pulling the sled.
It’s for a simple reason.
The troll summoner who was handling the sled got taken out.
“How is Milburn Naria’s condition?”
“……She won’t last much longer.”
“I see……”
Grit.
Gritting my teeth, I recalled the battle from earlier.
It didn’t start off too badly.
[Character] has cast [Gigantification]
I used [Gigantification] and blocked the pass like a boulder.
“Tayrun Sheardiem.”
The mages with their ‘Mana Shields.’
[Jun Arshen has cast [Light of Protection]
[Periton Eriaboti has cast [Holy Skin]
[Benjamin Ormon has cast [Damage Reduction]…….]
“…….”
The priests assisted me with various shields and buffs.
In other words, an all-out strategy.
That strategy was effective.
[All healing and recovery effects work in reverse]
In an environment where a single hit could turn into a fatal wound, the enemy hesitated to engage me directly, and in that state, with the advantage of the uphill terrain, we unleashed our full firepower on them.
We used everything—skills, healing potions as projectiles, and even placed healing zones on their side to harm them.
Whenever there was an opportunity, I grabbed an enemy and hurled them off the cliff.
[Status effect [Whispers of Immortality] is applied]
[Upon death, the character is revived as an undead]
Those who died rose as undead and attacked their own allies.
We maintained a solid formation and pressed our attack.
But then…
[Indeed… Regal Vargos would have had a hard time dealing with them.]
From the moment those guys joined the battle, the situation changed.
[Manua Lepeles has cast [Iron Fist]
[Ricky Aymond has cast [Punishing Stride]
[Puruan Cullin has cast [Possession]…….]
Dozens of elite explorers, armed with high-level essences obtainable only from the eighth floor onward, joined the battle.
The moment they joined the battle, our frontline collapsed.
[Schuits, Leia Dars’s mana is depleted!]
The mages who were casting Mana Shield on me were taken out one by one, and as if that wasn’t enough, they leaped over me and infiltrated right into the heart of our formation.
Three Paladins in the main tank line.
Two Knights as secondary tanks, and a Warrior from the third team.
Even melee DPS like Amelia and Ravien couldn’t hold the line.
“Retreat, retreat!”
Every member of our team, including myself, felt the impending defeat.
The reason was brutally clear.
Their forces were much stronger than ours.
If we continued to fight desperately, we could inflict considerable damage on them, but that would be all.
In the end, it would lead to annihilation.
‘Let’s give up on killing these bastards here.’
Therefore…….
I immediately executed Plan B.
Plan B revolved around Milburn Naria, a summoner from Team Two.
She’s an AoE type extreme damage summoner, summoning three ice troll shamans.
[Milburn Naria has cast [Relentless Command]
[Milburn Naria has cast [Beast Training]
[Milburn Naria has cast [Latent Instinct]
[Milburn Naria has cast [Stability]….
The moment I gave the order, she buffed her summons to their limits.
And then—
[Summon Pipi has cast [Avalanche]
[Summon Popi has cast [Avalanche]
[Summon Yipi has cast [Avalanche]….
The ice trolls unleashed massively amplified skills, buying us the time to retreat.
However…….
“Kyaaa!”
In the process, Naria was injured.
She had come out to the front line in close proximity to the trolls to maintain her [Stability], which tripled the range of her summons’ skills.
Even so, she stayed focused, directing her summons until we successfully retreated.
And now, here we are.
“Schweitz, are you holding up?”
“Don’t talk to me.”
“….”
After Naria lost consciousness, all members carried their backpacks and divided the food, but it amounted to only one sled’s worth.
Even so, we only managed to fill one sled.
Scrape. Scrape.
Pulling the sled, I climbed the incline.
I’d swap with another warrior when it became unbearable, but for now, I endured.
Moving mindlessly, body on autopilot—
“Ugh…”
From the sled, Naria stirred awake.
Wrapped in several layers of thick fur and surrounded by warming stones, her first words were:
“I’m… cold….”
“Just hang on a little longer. You’re in bad shape, but once we reach the top and get you healed, you’ll feel better.”
“Do you… really think so…? Cough, cough!”
“…Yes, I do.”
No response.
Her breathing continued—she must have passed out again.
Thud.
It felt like a cannonball had hit my chest.
A suffocating, maddening weight.
‘What a load of crap—she’ll be fine.’
I sincerely wished she’d survive.
But deep down, I knew better.
No, she knew better than anyone.
Her body was turning ice-cold.
Death was closing in.
“Home…”
Then, a weak voice spoke from behind.
“I want… to go home….”
It was Naria.
Grinding my teeth, I uttered another lie.
“You’ll make it home. I promise.”
“Do you think… that’s possible?”
“Yes. If you can hold on.”
“….”
She said no more after that.
It was much later when her voice returned.
“Mr. Schuiz… Please, leave me here.”
“…What are you saying?”
“It’ll help… the others. This place… is like that… isn’t it?”
I didn’t answer.
Not because I didn’t understand what she meant.
[Whispers of Immortality]
The field effect that resurrected the dead as undead, stronger than before.
She was offering herself to be that aid.
“….”
“….”
A long silence passed.
“Please… answer me.”
At her voice, I admitted it.
No, it would be an insult.
“Alright. I’ll do as you wish.”
“……”
“Is there anyone in the city you want me to send a message to?”
Again, the answer came back after a long time.
“…No. B-because I don’t… deserve it.”
“……Don’t deserve it?”
“I-I don’t have the right to……”
Her voice trembled, incoherent.
A pattern often seen in people before they die.
“Ah… I’m really sorry……”
“I didn’t want to deceive you. I also to all of you……”
“If only, if only, if only I……!”
“Kuhuhuheuk……”
I didn’t pry further, only listened as she poured out her regrets.
Eventually—
“Please, put me down now……”
Her voice was clear, for once.
“Fuck
The warrior next to me cursed under his breath.
“May the warm light embrace your soul.”
The paladin closed his eyes and made a reverent sign of the cross.
As people who have seen countless deaths, they realized that the last flame was burning.
“Miss Naria……. You really worked hard.”
Akuraba, her team leader, tidied up her disheveled hair.
Then Akuraba carefully lifted her body and laid her down.
“Thank you, Miss Akuraba……”
“Thank you? Not at all……”
Akuraba bit her lip as if holding back something.
Then the other members laid down a fur coat on the ground and placed Naria’s body on it.
“……Go. Don’t look at me like that.”
Despite Naria’s words, we couldn’t easily move.
“It’s urgent. I’m okay……”
“……”
“Go.”
Damn it.
Grit.
Something hot surged within my chest.
But I knew in my head.
“Schuiz, she’s right. We have to go now.”
I forced myself to take a step and started pulling the sled again.
“I’m not afraid……”
Naria, who closed her eyes weakly.
“Now, I’m finally going home……”
The further we walked, the more her murmurs faded away.
“To my real home, where it smells like coffee in the morning……”
Damn it.
[Well, I regret it now. The archbishop wouldn’t really have killed me. Hahaha…]
Now I know what the discomfort was.
***
Twenty-four survivors.
The expedition, which started with thirty people, moved forward.
Even in a life-threatening situation, there is still a sense of confusion that cannot be erased.
“What Miss Naria said… … .”
“If it’s home… then that’s it, right?”
Explorers who have spent countless years in the labyrinth and have had many different experiences.
Of course, there were many people among them who knew.
What does an evil spirit wish for most when it is about to die?
“So, Miss Naria was an evil spirit… …?”
“Shh! Be quiet. It’s not like we’re sure yet.”
Doubts spread among the members.
And some harbored anger at those doubts.
“Are you all sane! She was injured trying to save us, and even in her dying moments, she chose to help us! She chose to die alone for our sake! And you call her an evil spirit? Even if she was an evil spirit, what does that matter!”
It was not a good sign.
“No, we’re just……. Isn’t it strange? Why would an evil spirit……”
“You damn bastard! If you really don’t know, I’ll make you understand myself!”
It’s turning into chaos.
“Stop iiiit!!!”
Before the argument could escalate further, Kaislan silenced the group.
“Have you all lost your minds? Now, of all times, we need to work together!”
I didn’t stop him.
I realized through this incident.
That sometimes, to lead a group, you need to completely suppress them.
“From now on, if anyone utters another useless word, I will execute them immediately under the royal law! Understood?”
A harsh, almost extreme command.
At this, the members seemed to come to their senses and started keeping their mouths shut, watching.
Well, unfortunately, not all of them did.
“……Do it then.”
After the silence was about to end, a murmur came from somewhere.
The owner of that voice was Puta Rickervan.
He was a melee dealer and served as a scout in Team 2.
“You heard me. Go ahead and do it. You all know it, don’t you? It’s over for us!”
“You bastard—!”
“Kaislan, stop!”
Kaislan immediately raised his sword, but the nearby knights restrained him.
Rickerburn’s voice only grew louder.
“You saw them, didn’t you? They were stronger than us—way stronger! And there were more of them! What do you think will change if we keep running? They’ll catch up soon enough!”
“Release me. That’s an order.”
At his command, the knights who were restraining him sighed and stepped back.
This is getting out of hand. Are we seriously going to start fighting each other now?
“Kaislan, step aside.”
In the end, I had no choice but to stop pulling the sled and head to the center where the commotion was happening.
And then……
Grab.
I walked briskly and grabbed the man’s collar.
“Ugh!”
“So, what do you want to say? Do you want to just give up and die because there’s no hope? If that’s what you want, I can kill you first.”
“Ku, Heok-!”
The man who was grabbed coughed, but he didn’t lower his insolent gaze.
No, rather……
“Do it, if you can.”
Unconsciously, my grip loosened, and he dropped to the ground.
He shouted loudly, as if crying out in despair.
“What changes if we miraculously shake them off? A future where we return to the city laughing and chatting? Do you think that will happen?”
I should kill this bastard to shut his mouth.
But by then, it was too late. He had already said everything he needed to.
“You know too, don’t you? The reason the main force didn’t come to rescue us! We’ve been abandoned! Not because something happened, but because it was decided from the beginning!”
“……Wh-what do you mean? Decided from the beginning?”
“Yeah! That’s what I thought, too! Everyone here is extraordinary! But that’s exactly why we were sent—because it’s the perfect trap!”
“…A trap?”
At this point, there was nothing I could do to contain the chaos.
I sighed and let the scene play out.
“I, Puta Rickerburn, am from the House of Kealrunas! Ever since I was a child, I’ve done their dirty work to repay my family’s debts. I got sick of it and wanted to retire—but their ‘final favor’ was to join this expedition!”
“…What?”
“Don’t you see what that means? I was disposable! They couldn’t kill me outright because of the attention it’d draw, so they wrapped it up nicely and sent me here—a garbage dump disguised as an honor!”
“…”
“Hahaha! Judging by the looks on your faces, I’d say I’m not the only one with a story like this. Am I wrong? Didn’t you all have some nagging doubt in the back of your mind?”
When Rickerburn finally fell silent, the weight of his words settled over the group.
It was the calm before the storm.
“The guild… abandoned me?” muttered someone, their voice trembling.
“No… No, that can’t be. They promised me… if I succeeded, they’d overlook the embezzlement…”
Panic began to spread among the others.
“Are you perhaps in the same situation?”
Eyes filled with such doubt.
Those who received the most of these gazes were the team leaders.
Well, they are the most renowned among us. They must be hoping that these leaders would step forward and assure them that such a thing couldn’t possibly be true.
However…
“Perhaps… we really have been abandoned.”
Reality was cruel.
“I, Titana Akuraba, have constantly questioned the royal family about the dimensional collapse and demanded strict management. Maybe they found that bothersome.”
It started with Akuraba.
“Recently, the clan leader has often seemed to be holding me in check. But just for that…”
The second was James Carla, vice-captain of the Gearfang Clan
“Hmm… If I had to point out a reason, mine is similar to Karla’s. I have no interest in my family’s title, but my older brother may have felt threatened. That’s why I joined the military at a young age…”
Kaislan.
And then..
“I was an interrogator of the Toberra Church. My known duty was to identify and execute believers tainted by the Karui religion… But after witnessing innocent political rivals being falsely accused unrelated to the Karui religion, I became disillusioned and resigned. There are quite a few bishops who would want to hide their disgrace.”
Lastly, even Jun’s confession.
With each team leader who spoke, despair was etched within the expedition.
But perhaps they still couldn’t let go of hope.
“Schuiz, what about you?”
“You were recommended by the marquis and even obtained the position of leader of this expedition.”
“Are you really similar to us?”
The members’ gazes turned toward me.
‘There’s no reason to hide it any longer.’
After a moment’s thought, I opened my mouth.
There was no need to speak at length like the previous cases.
“…I am Bjorn Jandel.”
One sentence was enough.