Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 180

Hans Crisen.

That name sounded familiar.

‘Oh! Bjorn! That guy is definitely the one from back then…!’

I remembered even without Misha saying it.

Besides, various summoned creatures were appearing around him.

‘He’s a summoner!’

They were mostly 7th-grade summons, consisting of one attacker and three supporters. I sighed after checking each one.

‘No wonder he looked familiar.’

This eliminated any possibility of him being just a look-alike.

Hans G.

Based on his knowledge of Liakis’s patterns and the appearance conditions of Death Knights, I judged him to be a ‘player’ [a person who has knowledge of the game mechanics].

‘Damn it.’

What happened after I met this guy back then?

A troll appeared on the 4th floor, and we almost all died.

Player or not, Hans in this world is no different from a plague.

Thud.

My heart grew cold.

I have to kill him.

That was the only thought dominating my mind.

‘Yandel, why have you been standing still since earlier—’

I dashed forward with more power than ever before.

It was as if the brief pause was to gain momentum.

Kooong!

Leaving a clear footprint on the hard ground, I quickly closed the distance between him and me.

Hans G wasn’t just watching either.

[Kyaaaaak-!]

A lizard roared and spewed flames.

To be precise, it was a fire-attribute attack-type summon named Nymphi.

Fwoooooosh-!!

As expected of a 7th-grade summon, the flames weren’t very threatening, but the buffs from the support summons caused the firepower to explode.

Chiiiiik!

The intense heat was scorching my skin.

But so what?

‘Behel—raaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!’

I covered my upper body with my shield.

I just endured the rest with fire resistance and ran through the flames. My skin might get a little burned, but there’s a priority in everything.

Crack-!

The mace, filled with the power of an ogre, made a satisfying sound.

At the same time, Hans G’s head exploded, and he collapsed.

Whether it was an instant death judgment or not, he disappeared into light before his body even touched the ground.

‘W-What are you doing!’

Raven shouted, surprised by my completely different behavior than promised.

I could understand his anger, but explanations could wait.

‘Don’t come closer!!’

I shouted authoritatively and quickly moved towards my companions.

And I took a breath that I had been holding back.

‘Hooop!’

Okay.

I met Hans, but I didn’t breathe in the contaminated air.

So, it’ll be okay.

No, it has to be—

‘Wait, is it poison?’

Uh, it’s not that…

What should I say about this?

‘Okay, let’s give up on this path for now.’

‘Huh? No, is it really poison? There wasn’t any sign of it at all…’

‘Enough, just hurry up and come here.’

I led the team back the way we came with a somewhat overbearing attitude.

But was my behavior unfamiliar?

Raven, who was following me without a word, had a serious expression on his face.

‘We should be far enough now.’

After walking for about 5 minutes, I stopped moving.

But just as I was about to turn around and explain what had just happened.

‘Whoa!’

My foot caught on a protruding stone, and my body swayed greatly. I managed to regain my balance and didn’t fall…

Even this didn’t feel like a coincidence.

Could it be that the Hans effect has started?

Right, it wasn’t the real one, but a doppelganger? Maybe this level of misfortune is all there will be—

‘Yandel! There’s something more ahead!’

At Bear Uncle’s shout, I quickly checked the front again.

Two doppelgangers were approaching.

The reason I was sure they were doppelgangers as soon as I saw them was simple.

Both of them, who appeared from the darkness, had the same face.

‘Damn it.’

I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again.

But the scene in front of me hadn’t changed.

Is this hell?

‘I am… C, Cri… Sen.’

‘Han, S… Cri, Sen…’

Hans is being copied.

***

This time, it was the same as the first time.

No matter how strong the flames were, I immediately rushed in and smashed their heads.

Holding my breath while doing so was a bonus.

‘Everyone, hold your breath. We’re breaking through!’

‘Huh? What?’

‘There’s no time to explain!’

Since there was no way back, I held my breath and crossed the passage.

And when I thought it was okay now.

I stopped and checked on my companions.

‘Bjorn, your eyes are scary!!’

‘What the heck is going on? No matter how I think about it, it didn’t seem like poison. Was it someone you knew?’

My companions couldn’t hide their confusion at my strange behavior.

‘Yeah. It was someone I knew.’

I tried to calm myself and explained one by one.

The name of the doppelganger I met earlier was Hans.

And the bad things that happened whenever I met Hans.

‘T-That’s a big problem!!! But what do we do? I breathed!!’

Ainar, who knew about the ‘Hans education’ [a reference to the bad luck associated with Hans] I had given the barbarian, was anxiously biting his nails after hearing the hidden story.

‘……It’s not something we can just dismiss as a feeling.’

Like an explorer who believed in superstitions, Bear Uncle also had a suspicious expression.

And Raven was…

‘Huh? It’s not something we can just dismiss as a feeling?’

He was just standing there with a face that said, ‘What the heck are you all talking about?’ and then burst out laughing.

‘Pfft, hahahaha!’

Is he a psychopath?

How can he laugh in this atmosphere?

‘Seeing this, I guess Yandel is a barbarian after all.’

‘That’s a racially discriminatory remark.’

‘Ah, I’m sorry if it sounded like that. But… pff, hahahaha! If you’re really worried, should I give you a mage’s blessing?’

A mage’s blessing?

There wasn’t even such a thing in the game?

As I tilted my head, Raven explained gently, as if talking to a child.

‘When a mage goes to a poor neighborhood, the kids stick to them and beg for good luck. That’s a mage’s blessing.’

…So, it’s just a blessing in words?

‘I don’t need it.’

‘Why? At least you can find some stability, right?’

Raven, who had been giggling, said that it wasn’t just a joke and talked about a study.

If you strongly believe in something, it affects your body?

It seemed like he was talking about the placebo effect…

Hey, what do you think of barbarians?

‘Give it to me.’

‘Okay. Really? Ah, how did I do this again? Can you bend down for a moment?’

I just plopped down on the floor, and Raven, with a solemn expression, placed his hands on my shoulders alternately, as if he were knighting me.

And he added warm words, unlike his usual self.

‘Everything will be fine. You’ve received my luck.’

I don’t know about luck.

But it seems like I’m regaining my reason a little.

When I think about it, it’s just a jinx after all.

Was Hans there when I met the dragon slayer?

‘Ah, seriously! Why aren’t you getting your act together? Yandel, you’re the leader of our team!’

As Raven said, I need to get my act together.

Even if the Hans effect is real, meeting Hans’s real body is inevitable since we’ve entered the rift.

I just have to be more careful than usual.

‘Me too!! Give it to me too!!’

‘Then me too… would that be okay?’

‘Ahem, I’ll ask too.’

Perhaps because of my improved expression, my companions gathered in front of Raven like baby birds.

‘Haa… Okay. Everyone, line up.’

Raven sighed, but still gave blessings to each one, adding words of blessing.

Was he this kind of person?

I felt like I had glimpsed an unexpected side of him.

‘Then tell me now. There’s no way Yandel would have just killed him without a plan. You already know about that Hans guy, right?’

‘To some extent.’

After the blessing was over, we took the time to share the information I knew.

What essence Hans Crisen had.

And who his companions were.

‘So, an elven archer, a human warrior, and a mage, right?’

‘That’s what it was like the last time I saw them.’

‘There are only four of them?’

‘Since they entered the rift, there’s a high chance they’re a team of five now. They probably put a guide in the remaining spot.’

The 4th-floor rift opens in one of the stages above the 25th floor. Without a guide, it’s almost impossible to find the rift before the quota is filled.

‘That’s definitely a high possibility.’

After explaining what I knew about his companions, Raven nodded in relief.

I think I knew what he was thinking.

Unless there have been major changes, Hans G’s team is clearly less skilled than us.

‘We don’t have to worry about those people messing with the distribution.’

‘We should be the ones messing with it.’

‘When the situation allows. We don’t know anything about the other team yet, right?’

We ended the information sharing about Hans’s team and resumed the exploration.

Fortunately, whether the distance from him had increased or not, only our doppelgangers appeared after that.

‘Tsk, I wanted to find out about the other team in advance.’

The unidentified team, whose path didn’t seem to overlap with ours, showed no signs of appearing.

But there was no point in being disappointed.

‘Oh! It’s a magic stone box again!’

We spent the whole day wandering around the cave, opening the boxes that appeared occasionally.

It was the main reward of the first chapter, the Shadow Cave.

No matter how many doppelgangers we caught, they didn’t drop magic stones or essences.

It was a way to balance things out.

‘Still, it’s a bit strange.’

In the game, I just thought it was a system.

But experiencing it in reality, it felt out of place.

It’s like a real game?

[There’s a theory going around in academia these days that they didn’t discover the labyrinth, but created it.]

Maybe what Raven said before was true. If someone created it, it would explain this structure.

‘What the heck is this world in the first place?’

Is it a game, or is it another real world?

The question I had since the first day I woke up in this body resurfaced in my mind, but as always, I folded it up and buried it in a corner again.

The clues I have now don’t give me an answer.

It’s not rational to waste energy on useless things.

‘Now, it’s just the boxes that have already been opened. And the doppelgangers are barely appearing. What are you going to do?’

‘You were supposed to make the decision here, weren’t you?’

I shrugged and passed the decision-making power to Raven.

Because what he’s going to say is probably what I would say.

‘Hmm, then it would be good to rest here today and go to the very center when we wake up.’

That’s right.

‘Why?’

‘There’s a high chance that the other teams are already gathered at the very center. There’s no need to gather and camp together, right?’

A mage’s safety-oriented judgment.

The fact that distrust of others was the default was especially pleasing.

‘Well, do you have anything to say about my decision?’

‘Not at all.’

‘Hmm, your eyes look strange…’

‘I was thinking how lucky I am to have a mage like you on the team.’

I was serious.

He has no idea how much easier he’s made things for me since he joined the team.

‘…Even if you flatter me, nothing will come out of it.’

What is he saying? His shoulders are already up to his ears.

After that, we finished preparing for the camp and took turns keeping watch, finishing the 8th day.

And so began the 9th day.

[05:07]

We woke up a little earlier than usual and headed to the very center of the cave.

There was no getting lost or anything like that.

We were just staying here because of the boxes, and the way to get there was very simple.

Just follow the path where the weeds grow.

Thud, thud.

The more we headed towards the very center, the more weeds and moss grew on the walls, and soon a vast hollow appeared before us.

‘Finally, the latecomers have arrived!’

There were already ten explorers gathered there.

‘Oh! O-Oh, you’ve arrived! Yandel!’

Ah, of course, Hans G was among them.

***

Did they spend the night here?

When we arrived, the explorers were tidying up the bustling surroundings.

I scanned everything first.

‘Hans G’s team is as I expected.’

There were no team member changes, and all four of them were the explorers I saw back then.

The woman I’m seeing for the first time must be a newbie.

‘That side is…’

I don’t know.

A composition of a dwarf, a beastman, and three humans.

The equipment is about the same level as ours.

The only unique thing is that they all have sharp eyes.

Actually, considering the environment of the rift, it’s not that unique.

‘Who’s the leader on your side?’

The dwarf approached.

He was the one who had scolded us for being late as soon as we arrived.

‘Ah, Yandel is probably the leader. The one we talked about before, that person.’

‘The small Vulcan?’

‘Yes, yes.’

Have they already greeted each other?

Hans G said something to the dwarf, then acted friendly towards me.

‘H-Hello. I never thought we’d meet here. Hey, Yandel, do you know how surprised I was when I m-met your doppelganger?’

‘Stop.’

‘……Huh?’

‘Stop coming closer.’

I lowered my voice and blocked Hans’s approach.

In my opinion, this distance is perfect for us.

This is a world without masks, right?

‘The identification tags?’

I immediately took my attention away from Hans G and spoke to the dwarf.

But for some reason, the answer came from Hans G.

‘Ah, haha! As for the identification tags, I, I checked them, so you don’t have to w-worry—’

Really?

Because you said that, I’m getting more anxious.

‘Identification tags.’

Ignoring Hans’s words, I repeated myself, and the dwarf chuckled and demanded in return.

‘You guys take yours out first.’

Is he trying to have a battle of nerves?

I didn’t particularly want to avoid it, but since identification was the priority, I took out my necklace and showed it.

‘Then it’s your turn.’

At my request, the dwarf’s side also took out their necklaces and showed them.

‘Okay, is that enough?’

‘……Okay.’

I nodded.

Then, I heard Raven’s voice in my head.

A telepathic magic used to convey words secretly.

[Yandel.]

Yeah, you noticed it too.

[These people aren’t from the city.]

They’re bastards from the underground.