Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 64

I slept soundly for a full 12 hours.

And when I woke up.

For some reason, Misha was once again using my stomach as a pillow, drooling in her sleep.

“……”

Anyway, since there was still plenty of time, I organized the loot.

I checked what was in my backpack and stripped the remaining two of the trio of their equipment.

Then, I put everything into the expanded backpack.

It’s a good thing Misha also has an expanded backpack.

Even with the weight reduction magic, it’s quite heavy after stuffing all that equipment in.

‘At this point, I’ve been more than compensated for all the hardship I’ve endured, right?’

I left the sleeping Misha alone and took out some jerky to chew on.

Well, she’ll eat on her own when she wakes up and gets hungry.

Whoosh-!

After finishing my meal, I wet a cloth and washed my body briefly.

Ah, I even shaved after a long time.

‘Now I look a bit more human.’

After using all the remaining firewood in the fireplace, there wasn’t much left to do.

So, I went outside and sat on the rocking chair.

The peaceful meadow had a faint smell of blood.

As I basked in the sunlight, letting various thoughts drift by, my eyes slowly closed.

Suddenly, I remembered the religious fanatic whose head had been crushed during my sleep, but….

‘The entrance must be closed by now, so I don’t need to worry about that problem.’

It’s peaceful.

At least, as long as I’m here, I’m safe.

Yeah, that’s all that matters, right?

“Bjorn, wake up. You have to eat even when you’re sleepy, or you’ll get an upset stomach!”

When I opened my eyes, Misha was shaking my shoulder.

Looking at the clock, another 14 hours had passed since I last checked.

“Here, even if you don’t have an appetite, eat this first, quickly!”

Misha breaks off some jerky and bread, bringing them to my mouth.

I had woken up and eaten in between, but I was hungry again, so I obediently ate it.

“Is Bjorn going to sleep more?”

“No.”

“Hmm, I see. Oh, right! But how did you know that we could stay here longer if we put people in here?”

“I read it in a book.”

“…Does Bjorn perhaps like smart women?”

“Yes.”

After finishing my meal, answering her questions vaguely, I checked the fireplace.

Judging by the heat, it seems like there’s less than an hour left….

Click.

I closed the clock and carefully tucked it into my pocket.

Then, I stretched my body, which had been asleep for a long time, and slowly began to prepare to leave.

It’s too early to celebrate, but my heart was strangely full.

‘So, this day has finally come.’

Soon, the 15th day will begin.

In other words, if I can just survive today, I can escape this godforsaken forest and return to the city.

So….

「The Witch’s Cabin has been closed.」

「The character moves to the Witch’s Forest.」

Let’s stay focused until the end.

Just like always.

“B, Bjorn! What’s going on?”

“Shit……”

It’s not over until it’s over.

***

「The fifth sacrifice has been offered to the cabin.」

「The sixth sacrifice has been offered to the cabin.」

「The seventh sacrifice has been offered to the cabin…」

「Special Condition – Seven sacrifices have been met.」

「The Chaos Lord, Lyakis, has begun to roam the floor.」

***

The moment I stepped out of the cabin.

The changes in the forest were palpable, felt by every organ in my body.

「Field Effect – The Witch’s Forest is deactivated.」

I can see clearly now.

The auditory and visual hallucinations have disappeared.

Also, the surroundings are so bright that I can see far into the distance without a torch.

“B, Bjorn…?”

The sky emits an ominous, blood-red light.

Also, the spirit-type monsters that were everywhere in the forest have completely vanished.

“……”

The first silence I’ve encountered since entering the Witch’s Forest.

I bent down and touched the ground.

Thump, thump.

A subtle tremor is felt through my fingertips.

Therefore, there was no need to check any further, nor to try to deny the current situation.

I know the cause of this phenomenon.

“…It’s a Floor Lord.”

Floor Lord [階層君主, a powerful boss monster specific to each floor of a dungeon].

A type of monster that acts as a field boss.

In the game, it was labeled with the unique name ‘Floor Master,’ and each floor had a different lord with a unique title.

For reference, except for a few floors, most of them were summoned when a trigger was activated….

“F, Floor Lord? D, don’t joke around. I heard there isn’t a Floor Lord on the 3rd floor!!”

“It’s not that there isn’t one. It’s just that the summoning method is kept secret.”

In the case of the Crystal Cave on the 1st floor.

It was common knowledge that it would appear with a certain probability if more than 5 people moved together after the 3rd day.

However, the Floor Lord of the 3rd floor is different.

The royal family and guilds treated the summoning method as top secret, and even created new laws to severely punish those who summoned it without prior notice.

According to the book, about 150 years ago.

“The guild kept it a secret? Why?”

“Because if some crazy bastard summons it, it’s not just a few people who die.”

The Floor Lord of the 1st floor only kills the explorer who triggered it and disappears.

But the Floor Lord of the 3rd floor is different.

The Chaos Lord, Lyakis.

「The corruption begins, and all monsters within the floor disappear into chaos.」

「The creatures of chaos awaken.」

This guy not only affects the entire 3rd floor….

「The Chaos Lord, Lyakis, has begun to roam the floor.」

Once summoned, it roams the labyrinth, slaughtering everything until it dies.

Furthermore, inter-floor travel is also blocked.

「Portals are temporarily deactivated due to the corruption.」

It means that even escaping to another floor is impossible.

After explaining this, Misha’s face turned pale.

“T, then what is this? If it was kept secret, why did the Floor Lord appear now!”

Ah, uh, um….

Should I tell her the truth?

I hesitated for a moment, but the decision wasn’t difficult.

“It’s probably because of us.”

It’s better to make her an accomplice here.

Regardless of whether she’s my benefactor or not.

That would be more effective in maintaining secrecy.

“B, because of us? I, I don’t understand….”

“Didn’t we burn the corpses in the fireplace in the cabin? That’s one of the conditions.”

After I kindly explained, her reaction came after a delay.

“…T, that was the summoning method?!! Bjorn! What have you done!!”

No, I didn’t know it would turn out like this either.

The book I read in the library said that almost no one knew about it.

Wasn’t it said that it was last summoned 10 years ago?

So, I thought that burning about 3 people wouldn’t cause any problems.

‘Damn it, but who knew that someone else would have burned 4 people first….’

The incredible coincidence makes me want to curse.

But who can I blame?

In the end, it’s my fault for not anticipating the worst of the worst.

So, in that sense….

“Misha, would you make a promise with me?”

“A promise?”

“We must not tell anyone that we summoned the Chaos Lord.”

It’s not like a large clan summoned it after completing all the preparations.

Many explorers will surely die.

But if it becomes known that we were the cause….

‘They’ll hold us responsible and make us pay the price somehow.’

Has she finally realized her situation?

“W, we? What do you mean? You were the one who burned the corpses!”

Misha draws a clear line.

She was so desperate that even the slurred end of her words were clearly audible.

I feel a bit disappointed.

She used to treat me like a benefactor, saying she would repay me until the day she died.

Anyway, if she comes out like this, I have no choice.

I have to push her a little.

“Do you think the guild will believe that? No, even if they do, the result will be the same. To quell their anger, the more sacrifices, the better.”

“Ugh….”

Well, judging by that reaction, it seems like I don’t need to threaten her with a false testimony to drag her down with me.

“If you understand, then get your act together. Returning to the city and dying is only possible if you’re lucky.”

“…Okay. Then what should we do now?”

The answer is simple.

“Run.”

First, we need to get as far away from here as possible.

I never imagined that we would leave this place like this….

‘But going there is the safest option for now.’

It’s time to leave the Witch’s Forest.

***

The way to escape this wretched forest is simple.

Since the [Directional Imbalance] status has disappeared, I just need to look at the compass and move in one direction.

However, the problem is that the entire 3rd floor is swarming with new types of monsters.

“Bjorn! Something is following us from behind!”

“It’s a Chaos Spirit.”

For reference, they don’t have a rank.

They don’t drop magic stones, and they don’t give essence.

But….

“We have to deal with them.”

Chaos Spirits are aggressive monsters, and once they’re aggroed, they follow you to the end.

“…Can we handle them on our own?”

Misha looked uneasy because it was the first time she had encountered these monsters.

Well, ignorance is death here.

I also learned by dying countless times in the game.

“Their attack power is high, but that’s all. They’ll probably disappear with one elemental attack, so don’t worry.”

“…Is that reliable information?”

“Yes, I read it in a book.”

“Okay.”

After I told her about their characteristics, she seemed relieved and readjusted her spear, which was enchanted with holy water.

Then, she thrust it at the slowly following Chaos Spirit.

Boom-!

The Chaos Spirit exploded with one spear thrust.

Some kind of slime-like substance soaked the ground, turning it black.

「The Chaos Spirit has been destroyed.」

「The location is being corrupted.」

Now, if we step on that ground, we’ll take continuous damage from the chaos attribute, but we don’t need to worry about it.

It’s not like we’re hunting the Floor Lord here.

Besides, it hasn’t even been a day since it was summoned.

‘The labyrinth will be closed after today, so we can just ignore the corruption rate.’

That’s the only positive thing.

Even though the Floor Lord was summoned out of nowhere….

[00:01]

The 15th day has begun.

If we can just survive for the next 24 hours, we can leave for the city—

“H, hey! H, help me!!”

Just as we were about to leave, an explorer came running towards us from afar.

His companions are nowhere to be seen.

However, I wasn’t curious about why he was alone.

The dozens of Chaos Spirits following him were explaining his situation.

“B, Bjorn?”

“What are you hesitating for? Run.”

I grabbed Misha’s wrist, who was flinching, and ran in the opposite direction of the man asking for help.

Thanks to that, we’ll have to go around a bit….

But what can we do?

It’s better than those things getting aggroed on us.

“Agh, aagh!”

Perhaps his stamina had reached its limit.

Looking back at the short scream, I saw the explorer had fallen.

“S, save me—!”

Damn it, our eyes met.

“B, Bjorn…?”

“Don’t look back.”

I pulled Misha’s wrist and ran forward again.

“No! D, don’t go!”

The desperate scream was buried by the sound of the wind rushing past our ears.

I muttered briefly to myself, as if reminding myself.

“Be cold-hearted. If we were in the opposite situation, do you think that guy would have helped us?”

“But…! It’s not our fault that the 3rd floor became like this!”

Well, if you put it that way, I have nothing to say.

‘Damn it….’

I feel terrible.

It’s as if the facets of my character have been laid bare.

But this is just a fleeting emotion that I’ll look back on someday.

…Let’s do what we have to do.

‘This should be enough.’

After heading south for a while, we changed direction and moved east again. We saw corrupted land and the corpses of explorers scattered throughout the forest.

The more I saw, the more I ran forward.

Boom-!

After about an hour of moving, exploding the Chaos Spirits that followed us, the forest ended.

A wide-open plain appeared.

‘I thought it would take at least 7 hours….’

Was the place we were at on the eastern outskirts of the forest?

We escaped the forest much earlier than expected.

‘We got lucky.’

Soon, we quickly passed through the plain and entered the Orc settlement.

And how much time had passed?

“Okay, everyone, calm down and follow the instructions!”

As expected, many people were swarming there.