Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 97

January 29, 2024 • 13 min read • 1182 views

Barbarian Trophy (4)

Using [Wild Burst] increases the intimidation level.

However, in this case, the intimidation level does not give a ‘provocation’ to humans, only against monsters.

As Dwalki said in the past.

[Hmm… It was a very strange feeling. I knew in my head that it wasn’t dangerous at all, but my body was screaming to run away…]

Those who are fearful shrink in fear.

The brave, on the other hand, show their fighting spirit.

So, what about this one?

“Haah!”

The answer was the latter.

He flinched at the sound of my scream in his face, but quickly regained his composure and swung his sword at me.

If I had my shield in my left hand as usual, I could have simply deflected it…

‘I suppose it won’t make much difference now’

After all, it’s all the same.

The body of a tank exists solely to block the enemy’s attacks.

Swoosh.

I move one hand away from the axe and into the path of the swinging sword.

At the same time, a blunt sound follows.

Crack-

The man who thought he had won the battle had a questioning look in his eyes.

No wonder he’s curious.

A sharp blade and a bare arm.

When would he ever hear such a noise when the two collide?

“……?”

His gaze, carrying a questioning light,.

“Do you not understand?”

At my question, he nodded blankly.

Why did his sword cut through the skin but could not slice through the bone?

There are many reasons for this.

Bone density, physical resistance, inherently large and robust skeletal structure, increased physical stats from [Wild Burst], etc.

It would have been more absurd if he had sliced off my wrist in one go.

But…

‘There’s no need to explain it all.’

After all, I am a Barbarian.

“You are—”

A single sentence is enough.

“Weak.”

Though it felt quite cheesy to say, it was effective.

As if he had received the ultimate insult, he hastily draws the sword that was stuck in my arm.

A poor choice.

Swoosh-!

Blood sprays as the blade is withdrawn

Hiss-!

The sound of corrosion follows.

And then…

“Aaaargh!!!”

A pained groan.

“You resort to cowardly tactics…”

What’s he talking about? I was just standing there.

Considering he was clearly not thinking straight, I reached out and grabbed his neck.

It’s a pain in the ass if he runs away, right?

“Kugh!”

He began to struggle as the blood supply to his brain was cut off.

It was like a feast laid out in front of me.

Surely, just twisting his neck would end it.

But…

「Equipment has been unequipped.」

「Overall item level decreases by -495.」

I put down the weapon in my hand.

The reason is simple.

Clang!

The double-bladed battle axe the butler bought for a hefty price just for today.

If I used it to strike his head, I couldn’t even make the excuse that I didn’t intend to kill…

‘I made a promise.’

I had promised the knight.

That I would take care of the problem in his head if we ever meet again.

Therefore…

Crunch.

With a fist as big as a watermelon,

I strike his temple with all my might.

Boom—!!!

If the problem is in the head,

“Bethel—raaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

Then just remove the head.

Yes, that must be what a Barbarian would think.

Or not.

****

Silence.

A state where sounds are faint or absent around.

This state continues for a while.

“……”

It was an incredibly surreal scene.

After all, it’s rare for such a large crowd gathered at a place, especially during a festival, to fall into complete silence without any prior agreement.

“Where is the priest?!”

One knight, carrying the half-crushed head of the one I fought, dashed out, breaking the silence.
So, I approached the referee.

“Do I need to announce the winner?”

The referee, looking perplexed at my question, soon shouted to the crowd.

“The winner is Bjorn Jandel of the Baron Martoin’s family!”

At first, I thought they were discriminating against me for being a Barbarian.

But the crowd’s reaction suggested otherwise.

“Wowwww!”

“The Barbarian! The Barbarian is the best!”

“Such a thrilling duel, never seen before! It feels like my soul has been liberated!”

“But, is that knight dead?”

“That’s too brutal. Here, feel my heart. Can you feel it pounding?”

“Uh, uh… I, I think I can…”

“Deaths during duels aren’t uncommon, and with that extent of injury, the priest will surely heal him.”

The reaction was even more enthusiastic than the first duel.

“Bethel—raaaaaaaa!!”

As a service, I casually let out a battle cry and stepped down from the stage, heading back to my tent.

Not expecting the baron to be waiting…

But heading to the tent where the one I fought was being treated.

“Hey, you! What do you think you’re doing here?”

As soon as I entered, I was met with a sharp reprimand, probably from one of the remaining members of the knight trio.

Without responding, I approached the priest who was treating him.

“Is he dead?”

“…His life is not in danger.”

The priest, while answering, glanced at me with a disapproving look.

“Couldn’t you have been a little more merciful?”

Even coming from a follower of a deity, that made me feel slightly uneasy, but I had a good excuse.

“I didn’t expect it to turn out this way.”

“……?”

“He’s a knight, isn’t he! I put down my axe and only hit him with my fist! How was I to know that one punch would knock him out?”

My confident response made the knight trio blush with shame, and the priest’s mouth fell open in disbelief.

“Knocked out? With that level of injury, his brain was almost spilling out—”

“If he’s alive, isn’t that just a knockout?”

Even Aynar, who taught me the ways of a Barbarian, would have to take a step back at such a choice of words.

The priest eventually closed his mouth.

Deciding that it was pointless to argue.

“……”

An awkward silence began to fill the tent.

I was thinking of leaving, but just then, the one I fought regained consciousness.

“Uh, where am I…?”

He mumbled, still dazed.

The high priest’s divine power had neatly healed his crushed head, but it wasn’t a miracle cure-all.

“I was heading to the duel arena…”

The priest explained the situation to him.

There was a match, and he suffered a severe brain injury.

But he was quickly treated, so his memory should return in time.

“Th-thank you for your help…”

He was expressing gratitude to the priest’s kind briefing when he noticed me and froze.

“Why are you here…?”

His eyes showed more fear than confusion.

It was a bit puzzling to me.

If he had lost his memory of the duel, how could he react like this?

“Hmm, do you really not remember anything?”

“No, I don’t. Now, please leave.”

Hmm, he didn’t seem to be lying…

But since I was here, I decided to check one last thing.

“I’ll leave right away if you do one thing for me.”

“……?”

“It’s nothing much, just repeat after me what I say.”

I recited the words he had previously said to me and asked him to repeat them.

“Is that all I need to do for you to leave……?”

“Of course.”

He nodded, and then hesitantly repeated the words I had given him.

But then…

“At, at the first place, he was na, named that because it was sm, small… uh, ugh…”

Suddenly, he started shaking like a leaf, clutching his head.

“Aah…! I, I remember…!”

It seemed that recalling the past momentarily brought back his lost memories.

“Good. Continue.”

Pressed by my insistence, he stiffened up like a statue, then started convulsing.

“St, stop… I, I was wrong. Please, just stop……”

An apology?

Such an attitude was unimaginable from him before.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Fortunately, it seems the problem in your head is gone now.”

“Yes. So please leave now. The patient needs rest.”

“Alright.”

Accepting the priest’s words, I left the tent without hesitation.

“I, I need to get out of here. I have to escape……!”

I faintly heard the commotion from beyond the tent.

It was then that it really hit me.

I’m not a doctor or a priest with divine powers.

I’m just one Barbarian living in this savage world.

But, so what?

‘Barbarians really are overpowered.’

Today, I solved a problem even a priest couldn’t fix.

***

“You did well. I didn’t expect it to end so quickly… But where did you go?”

Returning to the waiting tent, the baron greeted me.

I told him I went to check on the condition of the one I fought, and he chuckled.

“You’re quite unique, you know. Worrying about that while attacking so mercilessly.”
Merciless, that seemed a bit harsh.

“If it were a labyrinth, I would have used my axe.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“Honestly, I didn’t expect him to be that weak. I thought at least his body would be sturdy, given his slowness.”

This was the response I had prepared in case there was any trouble.

For some reason, the baron burst into laughter.

“Indeed, what fault could you have? It’s their fault for not training properly.”

“But is it really okay to continue like this? They might be apprentice knights, but they are still nobles.”

“Ha, are you worrying about the aftermath? If so, don’t bother at all. It was all during the match, wasn’t it?”

“But aren’t knights considered the assets of their houses? What if the noble to whom they’ve sworn allegiance decides to come after me?”

“Ah, don’t worry about that. Why do you think they send apprentices rather than full-fledged knights to such entertainments? Even if they die, it wouldn’t be a big issue.”

The baron then assured me that no one would dare to cause trouble over such a trivial matter and even if they did, he would handle it.

That was exactly what I wanted to hear.

“So, just focus on winning. The crowd seemed to enjoy your performance, and the more you excel, the more pleased the Count hosting the feast will be.”

Well, in that case…

I guess I can go all out without worrying about breaking a few heads.

I remember the priest’s skills were impressive too.

“The winner is Count Henselvenia’s Knight, Tilyen!”

“The winner is Sir Tillian, Henselvenia Viscount!”

Afterwards, I watched a few more duels with the Baron and waited my turn. It was entertaining at first, but I soon lost interest.

Was it because their fighting styles were too similar?

Now I understand why people were so excited during my turn.

‘Even if they’re minor nobility, there’s no showmanship.’

Feeling slightly tired, I asked the Baron for permission and took a quick nap in a corner.

How long had it been?

A butler woke me up very cautiously.

“Hey, there’s someone looking for you.”

“Looking for me?”

It was a bit sudden, but before I could ask more, the butler finished his message and disappeared.

So I went out to see who it was.

What’s this now?

‘Knight Trio?’

Two of the trio were standing there.

Moreover, before I could even ask what they wanted, one of them reached out to grab my collar.

I didn’t know his name.

He was the one who had insulted me, calling me a ‘little clown’ or something.

“You—!”

I stepped back, dodging his hand, and the ‘little clown’ froze awkwardly and then continued.

“Ahem. You! What did you do to Sir Silbenia?”

“Sir Sylvenia?”

I scratched my ear and shook my head,he became furious.

“Don’t you even know the name of the person you dueled?”

So that was his name.

That means the name is…

“Sil… Meria…”

“It’s Sir Sylvenia!”

“Right, Sir Sylvenia. Is there a problem with him?”

Their agitation began to show at my question.

“How can you say that…! Whenever your name comes up, he loses his senses and causes a commotion!”

“How can you be so malicious? Regardless of any grudge, to reduce a person to that state… Do you have no mercy or honor?”

Mercy and honor?

That’s rich coming from someone who threatened to cut off my head within 10 seconds.

I made my final judgment.

“…I didn’t realize his condition was so severe.”

A quick resolution was necessary.

****

“What are you doing here?”

The situation ended when Baron Martoin peeked around the tent.

Seeing his face, the duo hastily left the scene. Had they felt guilty?

“…What was that about?”

“Nothing important.”

“Alright, then come here. I’ve had a great idea, and I’m curious if it’s feasible.”

After returning to the tent, I killed time chatting with the baron, and soon the first round ended.

Then the quarterfinals of the tournament began.

Could this be the ‘fate of a hero’ the sorcerer spoke of?

“Sir Quartean of Baron Serpia and Bjorn Jandel of Baron Martoin, please step forward!”

Surprisingly, in the second round, I was matched against one of the Knight Trio.

It was the one full of bravado.

“Don’t expect it to be like last time.”

Even as the duel began, he kept babbling.

“Though it’s hard to say, Sir Sylvenia was the weakest among us—”

It turned out to be easier than before.

Seizing the moment while he was mumbling, I dashed forward.

And then…

“Wha, what…?”

Regardless of his surprise or swinging his sword, I grabbed his neck.

And delivered a sincere punch to his temple.

Boom-!

In just 3 seconds since the duel started, his head crushed under the force, he fell lifelessly to the ground.

However…

“Wowww!”

“Do the same in the next match!”

“The Knight Crusher! He’s a Knight Crusher!”

Despite the quick end, the audience erupted into ecstatic cheers.

It was ironic.

‘To think people would be so delighted seeing a head smashed.’

Who’s the real barbarian here?

****

「Your character’s fame have increased by +10.」
「Your character’s fame have increased by +10…」
「……」

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