Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 504

Thud, thud, thud—

I’m running through the cave with my new companions.

I’m lagging far behind, using the excuse of covering the rear.

I’m chasing after their backs.

“Hey, mister, explain something. Why are we going to the second floor?”

The distance is so great that it’s hard to call them companions.

Of course, if I went all out, I could close that gap in a second now.

Yes, I should be able to…

“It’s not exactly the second floor, but the Goblin Forest.”

Why is that?

Why do I feel like there’s a distance that I’ll never be able to close?

‘I thought… that if time passed… I’d go back to normal…’

She had decided not to be impatient, but with each passing day, her confidence was fading.

The reason was simple.

She had seen that scene a little while ago.

[I thought it would be good for you.]

[Yandel, don’t be offended, but listen. You’re in a very unstable state right now.]

The first thought that came to mind when I saw Bjorn agreeing to that wasn’t, ‘I should have done that.’

I lost.

Because I couldn’t even think of that myself.

I was just thinking about what choice Bjorn would have made and gave the answer he would have wanted.

Even that, I wasn’t sure about because of the time that had passed.

[W, well… wouldn’t it be better… to kill them…? I think…]

I didn’t even consider what my own thoughts were.

I was just being agreeable, watching his every move. The same went for thinking about what was good for him.

Come to think of it, it had been like that from the beginning.

I never questioned what path Bjorn was trying to take, nor did I ever give him advice.

I was prepared to follow him no matter what he looked like or what path he chose, but that was it.

‘Amelia Rainwailes.’

I felt the difference in class as a person.

I admitted that a companion must be someone like her.

It wasn’t that my place had disappeared while I was gone.

The very place I thought I had to return to was just a luggage compartment in a warehouse.

“…Are you okay? You haven’t looked good since earlier.”

Looking at Amelia, who had come all the way to the rear to ask, she gritted her teeth and replied.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”

It didn’t matter if my place existed or not.

It didn’t matter if that person acknowledged me or not.

[Because if I don’t, Bjorn Yandel will die.]

There was something I had to do here.

***

About an hour into the third day.

Thud, thud, thud!

The entire cave began to shake, and the crystals began to emit a red glow.

It meant that Dreadfear, the Lord of Terror, had been summoned somewhere in the crystal cave.

Of course, that fact itself wasn’t that surprising.

There were already eight full subjugation requests at the Explorer’s Guild.

The problem was the timing of the summoning.

‘Summoned in just one hour. How many people are on standby for summoning?’

It’s not like we, still moving as a group of seven, have any right to say that, but it seems like it’s not just the eight teams with subjugation permits that are on standby for summoning.

Well, most people think alike.

Defeat Dreadfear, the Lord of Terror.

Even I, when planning this exploration, considered the possibility that the key to the hidden area might be there.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t apply at the time because the subjugation requests were already full.

Defeat Berzak, the Lord of the Abyss.

If that’s the key, it’s impossible right now.

‘……If they have any sense, they won’t summon Berzak, right?’

I think so for now, but I’m not relieved.

Looking at the situation, it seems like there are dozens of teams waiting throughout the cave, not just the eight teams that applied.

If even one or two of them have strange desires, a major disaster will occur.

‘Okay, let’s just do my job.’

However, I couldn’t go around the entire cave and persuade the explorers, so I just hurried on my way.

And how long had it been?

「The character has entered the second floor, Goblin Forest.」

Soon, we ascended to the second floor, and then, still moving at maximum speed, we ascended to the third floor before the end of the third day.

「The character has entered the third floor, Pilgrim’s Path.」

A vast layer consisting of more than ten different fields.

Having climbed up through the Goblin Forest, we passed through the Green-tailed Swamp where lizardmen appeared and moved to the Sculpture Temple, one of the adjacent fields.

A field full of the remains of collapsed stone buildings.

It has a similar appearance to the Pantellion Ruins in the Dark Continent on the 7th floor, but there is one difference between that place and this one.

There are many statues here.

Although all of them have their heads broken off.

“It’s always a depressing place to come to.”

“But at least it’s not crowded.”

The Sculpture Temple is by far the least popular area among the fields on the third floor.

Because there’s only one monster that appears.

「The character has defeated an Unnamed Statue.」

Unnamed Statue.

A 7th-grade monster with an appearance similar to a stone golem, but much smaller, similar to a human, and quite agile.

And…

「The Unnamed Statue has cast [Unanswered Prayer].」

The skill this guy uses is known to be trash.

When a player uses it, it consumes a lot of MP [Mana Points], but most of the time it fails.

Well, it seems like their success rate is much higher.

「A great power dwells within the Unnamed Statue.」

If the prayer is successful, a random essence of 5th grade or lower is temporarily granted.

Because of that, the hunting difficulty is high for a 7th-grade monster.

No, should I say it’s tricky?

Since you have to deal with unexpected skills in every battle, the fatigue is high, and there are many variables…

For that reason, it was safe to say that there were no explorers who settled down and hunted here.

That’s because the essence is trash.

If the goal is experience, you can just catch one on the outskirts and pass by.

‘Above all, the location is terrible.’

If you want to go to the 4th floor, it’s much easier and faster to go through the next field, so it was a field where it was difficult to see even passing explorers.

‘Well, the material drops are decent, though.’

The only advantage of the Sculpture Temple is the ‘materials’.

If you cast distortion magic and catch them, sometimes a ‘Magic Crystal’ drops, and it sells for a decent price.

Of course, even that is much more efficient to mine on the 5th floor, so people don’t come here often.

Anyway, the reason we came was to secure ‘materials’.

Actually, there’s something else that comes out besides ‘Magic Crystals’.

“Alright, everyone, move!”

As time felt more than tight, we started hunting in a hurry.

「Bersil Gowland has cast 6th-grade space-time magic [Greater Distortion].」

「Bersil Gowland has cast 6th-grade space-time magic [Greater Distortion].」

「Bersil Gowland has cast 6th-grade space-time magic [Greater Distortion].」

Since our combat power was sufficient, we just let the mage use distortion magic.

「The character has defeated an Unnamed Statue.」

「The character has defeated an Unnamed Statue.」

「The character has defeated an Unnamed Statue…」

「…」

We smashed the statues as they appeared.

However, since there was still a lot of idle time, we divided the group and started mobbing.

“Behel——laaaaaaaaaaa!!”

Unlike humans, monsters go berserk and charge when their threat level is raised.

Using this, we swept around and gathered the statues to the center, and then, as Bersil cast distortion magic, we took them down.

And during the respawn period, we moved far away and did another mob hunt.

Dividing the area into three sections, 12 o’clock, 4 o’clock, and 8 o’clock, and rotating, it was a perfect fit without any rest time.

「The character has defeated an Unnamed Statue.」

「The character has defeated an Unnamed Statue.」

「The character has defeated an Unnamed Statue…」

「…」

How long had we been hunting like crazy?

When we got six ‘Magic Crystals’, the first item we wanted dropped.

“Bjorn! This! Isn’t this what you were looking for!”

A small piece of stone with an artificial pattern drawn on it.

「The character has acquired an ‘Unnamed Fragment’.」

It was a sun pattern.

***

Unnamed Fragment.

An item that can be obtained with a certain probability when distortion magic is cast on an Unnamed Statue and it is defeated.

The characteristic is that it cannot be stacked in the inventory, and it drops with three random patterns.

And it is impossible to take it back to the city.

‘I got the sun, so the remaining ones are the moon and the star.’

I thought there was some secret in this fragment and did all sorts of things for a long time.

Finally, there’s a way to use it.

“So, this fragment was what Mr. Yandel was aiming for…?”

“Doesn’t it seem plausible? A star, a sun, and a moon.”

“…I don’t know, but it seems like a pretty plausible attempt. Time is an issue, but it doesn’t seem completely impossible.”

Climbing up to the 3rd floor, collecting items, and going back down before the 1st floor closes.

That in itself is difficult, but not impossible.

Now, we’re cutting it close because we wasted more than two days on the 1st floor, but if we had rushed to the 3rd floor from the beginning, it would have been much better.

“It seems like it might be possible next time.”

As Bersil said, unfortunately, it seemed difficult to enter the hidden area right away this time.

That’s because it took 8 hours for an ‘Unnamed Fragment’ to drop from the corpses where ‘Distortion’ was successful.

‘To get two more, it’ll take another 16 hours.’

With simple calculations, even assuming that all the remaining patterns don’t overlap and drop, there isn’t enough time.

However, it’s also difficult to increase the hunting speed any further.

In the first place, the reason we got one in 8 hours was because we were able to do mob hunting by going around the entire field.

‘Above all, if Bersil’s MP runs out, we won’t be able to use ‘Distortion’ either.’

Well, I guess it was impossible this time?

I thought that if we hurried, we might be able to do it somehow this time too.

Maybe I was just being too optimistic——.

“Oh! Bjorn!! It came out again!!”

Huh?

I blankly received the stone that Ainar handed me.

「The character has acquired an ‘Unnamed Fragment’.」

It was a star pattern.

In other words, it meant that we only needed to get one more moon fragment within the next 8 hours.

‘What is it? I think Ainar got it last time too.’

I don’t think there’s an item drop rate bonus on the ‘Beginner’s Luck’ I got last time.

Luck is all about momentum.

“I’m changing the plan.”

“…?”

“From now on, Ainar will be in charge of all monster kills. The rest of you go around and lure the monsters.”

After that, even if it meant wasting a little time, we left all the battles to Ainar and continued mob hunting.

About 5 hours had passed when it happened.

「The character has acquired an ‘Unnamed Fragment’.」

Another fragment dropped.

“It’s a moon pattern…”

Now it was time for me to admit it.

“Ainar.”

“You can praise me all you want!”

“Barbarians are indeed a superior race.”

“Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!!”

I didn’t stop Ainar from shouting loudly, but rather used [Giantification] and repeatedly threw him up high and caught him.

“Eekyahahahat! Heh, hahahahat!”

As expected, Ainar was enjoying that time more than ever.

Thud-!

Okay, that’s the reward ceremony over.

I quickly led the team back the way we came.

5th day, 6th day, 7th day…

A time that is not often experienced, going backwards to the lower floors.

However, thanks to Ainar, we were able to camp and rest properly during the remaining time, taking care of our stamina as we moved, and finally, we were able to arrive in the afternoon of the 7th day.

The center of the Goblin Forest on the 2nd floor.

The open space near the portal connected to the Crystal Cave on the 1st floor.

The very place where we once had a fierce battle with the Noark trio who were blocking the entrance.

“…What is this again.”

The place was filled with explorers.

Even by a rough estimate, there seemed to be well over a hundred people…

No matter how I looked at it, they didn’t seem like explorers who had given up searching and come up before the 1st floor closed.

If that were the case, there would be no reason for them to gather in front of the portal, and…

Flash-!

The explorers coming out of the portal in real time were in a terrible state.

“Priest! Is there a priest! Please help!”

“Drink this first!”

What on earth is going on?

Soon, as I approached the portal, the explorers recognized me and began to whisper.

“A giant…?”

“Weren’t you supposed to be on the 1st floor?”

The explorers seemed to be questioning how I came out from the opposite side instead of the portal.

Sigh, I wanted to go down to the 1st floor secretly because I thought I would stand out like this.

Since it was impossible to move secretly anyway, I chose the explorer who seemed to be the most talkative and asked.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

The answer came back quickly.

“…Berzak! That devilish guy has appeared!”

Sigh, I kind of thought that might be the case.

“……”

I guess my luck was too good.