Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 90

Player(2)

A moment of silence passed.

After collecting my thoughts, I let out a small sigh, almost out of habit.

Watching me, Ragna closed her eyes for a long time, then opened them again.

“You’re calmer than I thought. I knew you wouldn’t believe it even if I told you.”

What, I sighed because I thought it might actually be possible.

“Well, it might be better to just to ignore it. Dimensional collapse is a disaster that can neither be foreseen nor stopped even if you know about it.”

That’s certainly true.

In the game, dimensional collapse always happened suddenly.

Well, more often than not, it didn’t happen throughout the game.

‘It was like once in every hundred games, or so.’ kind of thing

Of course, when it did happen, it was a disaster like no other.

It might be manageable in the mid to late stages.

But in the early stages, it was better to just press the ESC key and restart, saving time.

“So, where does this information come from?”

I calmly checked only what needed to be confirmed.

I had a hunch that this was the source of my anxiety, but you never know.

“A mage of the Tarutein school named Shernal Fergus. He’s been studying the phenomenon of dimensional collapse for a long time”.

Having given me the name of the mage, she said she knew nothing more.

“I see. I’ll look into it further. Thanks for the warning though.

As I turned towards the door, a voice called out from behind.

“Are you just leaving like that today?”

Well, a new quest has popped up, so I should go start on that.

***

The tavern was as noisy as ever.

A silver-haired fairy sat in a secluded spot, tapping the table with her index finger—a habit when she was troubled.

“Haah…”

My beautiful and kind sister, Erwen.

She changed three months ago.

She, who used to detest training, began asking for help with it, pushing herself to her limits as if even sleep was a waste of time.

And she got a bit sharper.

While she was somewhat tolerable with her blood-related family…

The way she spoke, looked, and acted towards others was markedly different from before.

‘It’s a relief that it’s not a bad change, though…’

An excessive desire for improvement and a heightened wariness of others?

These are commendable traits for an explorer destined to enter labyrinths.

Indeed, thanks to this, she had achieved much growth.

Managing to awaken and form contracts with three of the four great spirits, she even succeeded in giving them autonomous will.

And that’s not all.

Her archery, martial arts, and close-combat skills with daggers improved rapidly day by day.

Frankly, it was astonishing how such talent hadn’t blossomed sooner.

However, what caused her to sigh was the catalyst for this change.

‘How long can I keep this hidden…?’

The death of a barbarian she called uncle and relied on emotionally.

It’s funny to call it death.

The person himself is still alive and well.

Gaining fame as the “Little Balkan.”

‘Should I tell her now?’

When I first heard the news about him, I was surprised. Then I felt anxious.

I thought it was only a matter of time before she found out.

But, to my surprise,

Erwen, who had been locked in her room every day, immersed in her training, still hadn’t heard the news.

“Have you guys heard? The Black Sword might become a disciple of the Sword Saint!”

“Ha, where did you hear such a silly rumor? Would the noble Sword Master really take a mere explorer as a disciple?”

Daria, sitting alone in a corner of the tavern, felt relieved listening to the explorers’ gossip around her.

‘The rumors are definitely dying down now…’

The stories that once filled every corner of the city had been buried by newer tales. Tales of banishing evil spirits or eliminating a Carui priest who had fled into the sewers.

It was a bit startling when the story of the barbarian came up again in the tavern…

But even that has almost completely faded now.

‘Yeah, let’s just leave it be.’

Daria finally made up her mind.

It wasn’t really a question.

As someone who chose to live as an explorer, when would she get another chance to grow like this?

“Hey, fairy lady, are you here alone—”

“Buzz off. Unless you want a hole in your forehead.”

Pushing away the approaching drunkard, Daria left the tavern.

She used to come here in the evenings, wondering if the barbarian might cause another scene…

But now, she would not come anymore.

Knock knock.

She returned to her lodging and knocked on her sister’s door.

There was no answer.

Thinking her sister might have collapsed on the floor asleep, she inserted the key.

Click-

The lock opened, and the door creaked as it swung open.

Her sister was visible through the gap.

She was meditating with all the four great spirits summoned, her eyes closed.

But…

“Need to become stronger…”

Her lips were slightly moving, muttering something.

Daria quietly approached to hear better.

“I have to get stronger. I have to get stronger. I have to get stronger. Only then I won’t lose anything. I can have it all…”

Her sister was repeating similar phrases, as if brainwashing herself.

“Erwen…?”

Daria hurriedly woke her up.

Surprisingly, her sister’s expression was just peaceful.

“Oh, did you come, sister?”

“Are you… okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“That… you were muttering to yourself—”

“Me? I was just talking with the spirits.”

It didn’t seem like a conversation to have with spirits…

But Daria kept silent.

It was because of the dismissal.

“Can you come back later? I’m in the middle of training.”

“Okay…”

Daria left the room, feeling powerless.

She went back to her room and thought about what had just happened. This couldn’t just be dismissed as ‘zeal’ or ‘malice’.

It was almost like an obsession.

It wasn’t like this even during that incident 10 years ago…

‘What’s the problem? The barbarian wasn’t that significant, was he—’

Daria stiffened suddenly.

The biggest recent change came to mind.

‘Oh, could it be because of that essence?’

Daria pulled out a book from the shelf.

She had bought it from the guild at a high price a while back.

[Compendium of Lower Essences]

A book containing information on all essences from grades 7 to 9.

First, she checked the essence her sister had absorbed recently.

‘Where is Carnivaro…?’

A monster that only appears in the Witch’s Forest, her sister had luckily gained its essence while rescuing an explorer being chased from the forest.

‘Ah, found it.’

She read the page with a fire spirit summoned.

[Carnivaro] Grade 7.

Agility (Medium), Darkness Resistance (Low), Stamina (Low), Accuracy (Medium), Sixth Sense (Low), Hearing (Medium), Obsession (High).

*Agility and senses increase during movement.

*Magic Mine (Red)

*Hound (Blue)

*Chasing Arrow (Green)

As she carefully checked the content, she froze at one part.

“Obsession is… high grade?”

Suddenly feeling a sense of déjà vu, she checked the essence her sister had absorbed three months ago.

[Steel Hill Pursuer] Grade 8.

Strength (Low), Physical Resistance (Low), Vigor (Low), Leaping Power (Medium), Earth Resistance (Low), Perception Interference (Low), Agility (Medium), Obsession (Medium)

*Increased penetration on successful ambush.

*Penetrating Arrow (Red)

*Terrain Eruption (Blue)

*Weak Point Detection (Yellow)

‘What in the world…’

Obsession was there again.

And it was a medium grade this time.

‘Could it be…?’

She went further back and checked the first essence her sister had absorbed.

Sure enough, there it was.

[Goblin Archer] Grade 9.

Flexibility (Low), Sense of Smell (Low), Poison Resistance (Low), Cognition (Low), Perception Interference (Low), Accuracy (Low), Vision (Low), Agility (Low), Obsession (Low)

*Paralyzing poison added when using bow weapons.

*Stealth Step

Even here, obsession was present.

Now Daria understood the situation.

The excessive fixation on power was all due to these stats.

‘So, what should I do?’

It wasn’t feasible to just erase an essence they had gone to the trouble and expense of absorbing.

But leaving things as they were weighed on her mind.

‘When we find a suitable replacement essence… then we’ll remove it.’

After much thought, she came to a conclusion.

However, lying in bed after a quick wash, she faced a new question.

‘Wait a minute.’

If she finds out the barbarian is still alive before then…

How will these stats change direction?

It’s been ten days since the news of the dimensional collapse.

However, it was unclear whether this was a baseless rumor, the truth, or just someone’s mistaken belief that it was the truth.

Despite being quite busy searching for information, there was no significant progress.

“Shernal Fergus?”

Raven, who usually helped with questions, was of no use this time.

“No, what I mean is, even if you ask me to arrange a meeting, I’ve never heard that name before. Besides, we don’t really have any interaction with the Tarutein school.”

“I see.”

“Anyway, make sure you have a whole day free next week. We have a winner for the draw.”

“A winner…?”

“Did you forget? As a payment for looking into that paper, you agreed to help with my seniors’ research for a day, remember?”

No, I remembered that part.

But I didn’t expect it to be determined by a draw.

‘Sheesh, this makes me more anxious…’

I never had luck with draws in my life.

Nevertheless, I continued my attempts to meet the magician named Shernal Fergus, but all were in vain.

Meanwhile, rumors began to slowly circulate.

“Bjorn! Did you hear?! There might be a dimensional collapse soon!”

Misha, who had just returned from visiting an old colleague, began to fret.

If Misha knew, it probably had already spread everywhere.

Indeed, when I went to the tavern in the evening, everyone was talking about the dimensional collapse.

But the problem was…

‘Nobody knows the source of these rumors.’

Nobody knew whose mouth the story came from.

Nor what the basis was.

Without any solid origin, everyone was just amplifying the rumors out of fear.

‘This is… odd…’

I felt an unexplained sense of discomfort.

Usually, for something to spread this widely, there should be some credible basis, right?

Now, although many unfounded stories were being added as the basis by the gossipers, initially there was none.

“Could someone be deliberately fuelling the rumors?

Having observed the situation from the beginning, I came to that conclusion.

Of course, it was just a guess…

But the current situation seemed a bit odd.

‘Ah, this really seems like there’s something going on.’

It was frustrating.

It was not the tavern gossip that I wanted to know, but the more covert information that circulated quietly in hidden places.

But the reality was challenging.

How could a barbarian, who had only built a reputation through combat, access such information?

‘If it weren’t for Ragna, I wouldn’t even have known the name Shernal Fergus.’

Finally, I made a decision.

In his hand was a letter and a pill sent from the GhostBusters.

Originally, I planned to take the pill, which ensured anonymity, after at least three months…

‘But a month early should be fine.’

I swallowed the pill.

「Character has ingested GB-027.」

I wasn’t immediately drawn into the spiritual world.

According to the information I had confirmed in the secret library opened by Raven and Ragna, the assembly was held on the 15th of every month at midnight.

‘Just three days to wait.’

Time passed quickly.

And the awaited moment arrived.

A sensation as if my spirit was distancing from my body.

「Character’s soul resonates and is drawn to a specific world.」

When I opened my eyes, a computer was in front of me.

A pure white space reminiscent of the universe.

It would have been difficult to even discern what was up or down.

If it weren’t for that computer over there.

‘What is this?’

It was a completely unexpected start, but I slowly walked toward the computer.

It was a feeling I had never experienced before.

Like controlling a robot from within, moving it by walking.

Stumbling, I finally reached the computer and checked the monitor that was on.

[Please enter the password.]

A short sentence situated on a black DOS screen.

Without much thought, I entered the password.

[Rafdonia’s king, Mother fucker]

This wasn’t what the PS in the postscript was referring to.