Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 26

People grow, each in their own way.

Some grow by reading, reflecting on their past, having a sincere conversation with a friend for the first time, or developing a dream they truly desire.

Others grow by being jealous of the luck others have, witnessing someone else’s misfortune, or realizing the power of desire anew.

All inspiration from experience contributes to growth.

Today was no different for me.

Well, mental growth would only be a small part of it.

“A short bow, a pair of plate greaves, three low-grade potions, a dozen regular torches… What’s this, a portrait? Is it family? Anyway, throw this away…”

All together, it’s easily worth over 800,000 stones.

I chuckled as I sorted through the yellow-haired group’s backpacks.

Come to think of it, I’ve always been like this.

Just because you go through shitty things doesn’t always mean growth follows.

But…

“With this, I can get three more armor pieces.”

Whenever I grow a step, shitty things always follow.

Damn it, I think I know what to do now.

***

I’m walking through the cave with Ainar.

“Bjorn, where are we going now?”

“We’re going south, where the gnomes appear.”

After resting for a total of eight hours, four hours each, Ainar has recovered a bit.

Though, compared to his usual self, his tension is still at rock bottom.

“Bjorn, you can move quickly. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Why are you in such a hurry?”

“I… I want to get stronger as soon as possible.”

“I see.”

It seems I don’t need to worry about Ainar anymore.

Now that he has a clearer goal, his dark emotions will become nourishment instead of poison.

Well, is that the same for me?

“I feel the same way.”

Throughout my watch, I reflected on the path I’ve walked so far.

Coming-of-age ceremony, entering the labyrinth, my night with Hans, Erwen, the goblin forest, the 4:2 battle with the crossbow party, etc.

Even now, I don’t think there was anything majorly wrong.

I found the best options available in the given situations.

But…

In other words, I was just busy trying to get by each moment.

“Why did you suddenly stop?”

“It’s nothing, let’s keep moving.”

There’s room for consideration.

There was no tutorial fairy or system messages.

The moment I opened my eyes, someone’s head was chopped off, and from then on, things that were detached from reality kept unfolding.

Therefore, I had no choice but to act as passively as possible, prioritizing safety.

But so what?

“Bjorn…? You don’t look good.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Always chose the best option?

Bullshit.

At the end of the day, it’s just a reaction.

How good of an option can it be for someone who only starts cleaning up after things have already happened?

If I really want to survive, I need to act more proactively from now on.

Because then the options I can choose will change.

Even my uncle, who was addicted to gambling, said so.

Rather than playing on a board made by others, roll the dice on a board you made yourself.

Okay, plan change.

“Ainar, do you really want to get stronger?”

I suddenly stopped and asked, and Ainar showed deep suspicion.

“…What do you mean by that?”

“I’m asking about your resolve. There’s a definite way to get stronger, but it comes with risks. What will you do?”

High risk, high return.

I wonder what kind of answer he’ll give to this proposal?

After watching him for a moment, Ainar swallowed hard, and his eyes lit up.

“Of course, I’ll do it. If we don’t get stronger, we’re all going to die anyway!”

Yeah, I guess so.

Because it was a game with that kind of worldview.

Ainar, who had expressed his agreement, shouted.

“I am a warrior!”

He wasn’t a while ago?

Chuckling.

Watching the barbarian’s attitude, which is so inefficient yet sometimes more efficient than anyone else, I realized something new.

“So, what’s the way to get stronger?”

The easy path is the slow path.

And shitty things are like natural disasters.

No matter which path you walk, they will come unexpectedly.

And the frequency was much higher for my twisted fate.

That’s why…

“We’re going to enter a rift.”

First strike is a sure win.

This time, I’ll go find the shitty things first.

As some famous person said:

The pain that doesn’t kill me will make me stronger.

***

“Oh! I see!”

Ainar exclaimed in admiration after hearing my plan.

And then he asked cautiously.

“…But what is a rift?”

How is it that a native has less knowledge than me?

I wish he would at least read a book.

Oh… he can’t read properly yet.

“A rift is… in short, a labyrinth within a labyrinth.”

I skipped the detailed explanation.

He wouldn’t understand anyway.

“A labyrinth within a labyrinth?”

“Yeah.”

Is it one of the few modern game-like aspects of [Dungeon & Stone]?

If the person I was explaining to was a modern person, I would have said ‘instance dungeon’.

“Sometimes, portals open randomly on each floor. If you go in there, a new space appears that’s neither the 2nd nor the 3rd floor.”

“Ah! Are you talking about the Frost Lord’s Palace!”

At least he’s heard of it.

The Frost Lord’s Palace is a space accessible from a rift on the 8th floor.

I suffered so much trying to get just one essence of the Frost Lord…

“But is it possible for just the two of us? I heard that even the chieftain almost died when he went there when he was young.”

“It’s okay. We’re on the 1st floor.”

There are four types of rifts that open on the 1st floor.

Whatever it is, the difficulty is incomparably easier than the rifts on other floors.

If we were to rate it, it would be about seven stars.

Of course, assuming it’s out of 5.

“But how can we enter a place that appears randomly?”

“Don’t worry. I have a way.”

Even though I look like this, I’m a 9-year veteran.

I’ve discovered hundreds of hidden pieces myself in this unkind game.

“Bjorn, I trust you!”

I turned east, instead of heading south.

Originally, I was going to hunt gnomes, kobolds, and stone golems in the ‘Black Rock Mountain’, the 2nd floor of the southern route.

Stone golems’ ‘suppression’ is a pain, but if you prepare in advance, there’s a way to deal with them.

However, if I play cautiously like that, it’s impossible to know how many years it will take to reach the 8th floor.

“Two barbarians, huh? Are you looking for a night buddy? If three of you sleep together, you can sleep more—”

“Get lost.”

“No, I was just asking—”

“I’ll blow your head off in three seconds.”

As we were crossing the 1st floor, some people besides monsters approached us, but Ainar took care of them all.

…But can’t you just say you don’t like them?

“I hate humans more than elves.”

It seems Ainar has evolved from distrust of humans to hatred.

Thump! Thump! Crunch!

We smashed every monster that blocked our path, and after moving for almost 20 hours, we finally reached our destination.

The time is around 4 AM.

It makes you realize how vast the 1st floor is.

Even though it’s a maze-like structure that you can’t help but get lost in, it took more than a day just to get from the western end to the center.

“Bjorn, isn’t this the beginning of the 1st floor?”

Strictly speaking, it’s a misnomer to call it the beginning.

Most starting points tend to be biased to one side, whether it’s north or south.

Above all, there’s no light here, right?

Whoosh!

We lit the regular torch we got from the yellow-haired group and entered the dark zone.

And how much time passed?

「You have hunted a gnome. EXP +1」

「You have hunted a blade wolf. EXP +1」

Ainar, who had finished his eighth battle, exclaimed in admiration as if he was amazed.

“All four types of monsters appear. I didn’t know there was a place like this in the center of the 1st floor.”

It’s common sense for most explorers, but well, it’s not a place that people usually come to.

To put it in perspective, it’s like the point where warm and cold currents meet?

In this place where I am now, blade wolves from the east, ghouls from the west, gnomes from the south, and goblins from the north all appear.

However…

“There are strangely few people.”

This area is not popular among explorers.

It’s simple.

Even if all four types of monsters appear, it only makes it more difficult for those who have to fight them.

The number of monsters itself is also small.

‘And the fact that you have to use a torch makes it a terrible place in terms of cost-effectiveness.’

In fact, it’s a place that no one comes to except for those who are trying to cut through to save travel time.

But veterans like this kind of space.

Because it’s suspicious, right?

It’s also a perfect place for the developers to hide something.

“But why did we come here?”

“Just wait a little bit. It’ll come out soon.”

After wandering around in the dark for an hour, changing directions, I finally reached the place I wanted.

“Okay, we’re here.”

A clearing about 30m in radius.

In the maze-like structure of the 1st floor, a monument stood tall in the middle of an open space, which was rare.

“…What the hell is that?”

“It’s a monument. To commemorate the one who first discovered this labyrinth.”

I carefully approached the monument and read the inscription at the bottom.

[In honor of the great first step of the last great sage, Diplun Groundel Gavrilius]

For now, the inscription is the same as in the game.

That means it’s more likely that the ‘hidden piece’ I found is also the same.

“Ainar, everything that happens from now on is a secret. Understand?”

“I understand.”

“It’s not just words, I need a vow. If this gets out, we could both be in danger.”

“…I vow on the honor of a warrior.”

“Thank you.”

I slowly untied the pouch at my waist.

Goblin, gnome, ghoul, blade wolf.

The magic stones of the four types of monsters that appear on the 1st floor and the magic stone of the 8th-grade monster, Deathspind.

And the monument of the great sage in front of me.

“I’ll start now.”

All the preparations to forcibly open the rift are complete.

***

The instance dungeon of [Dungeon & Stone].

That is, the rift has a cooldown.

For example, on the 1st floor, it took at least two cycles, or two months in city time, for the ‘rift’ to open again.

Of course, it’s rare for it to open immediately after two months, and most of the time, the rift opens randomly between 4 and 5 cycles.

Was the maximum 8 cycles? I think so.

“……”

By the way, I found all of this out myself.

While farming for the Frost Lord’s essence, I needed to know more about the ‘rift’.

It wasn’t efficient to wander around the floors every time, waiting for the rift to appear.

“Is something wrong?”

“No.”

I put the Deathspind’s magic stone in my hand in front of the monument, recalling old memories for a moment.

If the ‘rift’ had opened most recently within the last two cycles, that is, if the cooldown was in progress, there would be no reaction, but…

Thump thump thump!

Soon, the magic stone I placed down began to glow and disappear, and vibrations spread out from the monument.

It really works.

Whoosh!

The vibrations intensified, and a pitch-black portal opened.

“Let’s go in quickly.”

“O-okay. I understand!”

I hurriedly threw myself into it with Ainar.

Because the capacity fills up in 10 seconds.

「Your character has entered the 1st floor rift.」

Ignoring Ainar, who had fallen on his butt as usual, I checked my surroundings first.

A red sky as if the world was about to end.

A flock of crows flying above it and a black fortress in the distance.

Without looking any further, it’s one of the four types of 1st-floor rifts, the ‘Crimson Fortress’.

It’s only natural since the 8th-grade magic stone I offered as a sacrifice was Deathspind’s.

Whoosh!

After waiting for a moment, a gap opened in the air and spat out a person.

The reason why I postponed coming here, even though I knew how to open the ‘rift’ for sure and even knew the strategy, was this.

I’m more afraid of explorers than monsters.

“Hahaha! I finally managed to get in!”

Unless I had formed a 5-person team that could keep secrets.

If you enter like this, you have to clear the rift with random explorers who entered on a first-come, first-served basis.

It’s like having to do automatic matching in a game.

I nervously checked the first teammate.

“Oh! Two barbarians! That’s reassuring! Nice to meet you! My name is Hikurod Murad! As you can see, I’m a dwarf, heh heh!!”

First, a dwarf who seems to talk a lot.

I don’t know how good he is, but this is not bad.

I hope the rest of them are like this…

Chuckling.

Yeah, that’s too much to hope for, given my situation, right?

Come on, you bastards, come at me.

I wasn’t expecting anything anyway.

「A new companion has joined the journey.」

Soon, two more teammates were added.