Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 593

The clash of steel against steel.

Painful screams and angry shouts.

And then…

Pshooooooosh-!

A fountain of blood that blocked my entire vision.

‘Ugh, my eyes!’

I quickly wiped my eyes with one hand, prioritizing regaining my sight.

At the same time, I rapidly scanned my surroundings.

Unlike the coming-of-age ceremony, there was no time to close my eyes and gather my thoughts.

Because this was the middle of a battlefield.

‘Aaaaargh—!’

‘Push! Push them back—! If they break through, we’re all dead!!’

A surge of monsters and hundreds of humans fighting them off.

‘What is this…’

I quickly tried to make sense of the situation.

I had just entered a space that seemed to be a rift on the first basement level, and when I opened my eyes, I was here.

The village chief, the archbishop, Gahwin, Erwen…

My companions, who should have come in with me, were nowhere to be seen, and all around me were only humans dying in real-time.

I need more information.

I made that assessment and was taking in everything I could see when it happened.

‘Bjorn Yandel…! Snap out of it! Are you going to die like this!’

A man who made eye contact with me pulled a sword out of a monster’s neck and shouted at me.

The fact that he could speak my language was surprising, but what really baffled me was something else.

‘Bjorn… Yandel…?’

He knows my name.

What the heck? He doesn’t look like an enemy at first glance.

Is he like a companion NPC [Non-Player Character]?

But there wasn’t this type of rift before?

‘Damn it, does he not even know his own name now…!’

The man frowned, then pushed through the monsters and came to my side.

And then…

‘Snap out of it! If you don’t want to die like this!’

He shouted something and stood in front of me, fighting the monsters.

Thanks to him, my head cleared up.

‘He must be a companion NPC.’

These humans are not enemies.

Once I came to that conclusion, I realized what I needed to do right away.

‘What are you doing with that big body! Hurry and swing your hammer…! Kill those monster bastards and save your comrades!’

Let’s just take care of those monsters first.

Then I’ll figure something out.

What I need to do and how I need to do it.

‘Behel…’

Ah, maybe I shouldn’t do that, just in case?

‘Uwaaaaaaaaah—!!’

Instead of a barbarian battle cry, I shouted with all my might and dashed forward. The monsters weren’t that strong, so I didn’t even bother using [Giant Form].

However…

Crack-!

Even so, one swing of my hammer crushed a troll whole.

‘What is this…!’

The man who was facing the troll to protect me now had wide eyes.

‘You… were you hiding your skills?’

The shock was evident in his voice.

Actually, I felt the same way.

‘…It can do that much in one hit?’

Feeling a sense of unease, I swung my hammer at the troll next to me again.

Crack-!

This time too, the troll turned into jelly and burst in one hit.

To be honest, I’m quite baffled.

‘What is this…’

Why am I so strong?

‘No, are these guys weak?’

Trolls aren’t usually this easy to kill.

They have monstrous bodies that recover with [Super Regeneration] even if their heads are smashed.

Of course, it’s possible to ignore the [Super Regeneration] pattern and kill them instantly if you pour out overwhelming damage, but…

‘With my stats, it should be difficult?’

So, what happened?

As I swung my hammer against the pouring monster horde, I naturally found the answer to that question.

The trolls haven’t gotten weaker.

They still have the strength to throw a huge man with one hand, and they use [Super Regeneration] just fine when their heads are injured.

Crack-!

It’s just that I’ve become absurdly strong.

Crack-! Crack-! Crack-!

Every time I swung my hammer, the monsters were swept away like fallen leaves.

But this power didn’t come without a cost.

‘…Blood.’

Blood was flowing from my barbarian warrior’s body, which was covered in all sorts of defensive mechanisms.

Of course, I’m human, so I can bleed.

Even the injury I have now is just a small cut, barely enough to make a little blood seep out.

‘…I’m bleeding just from a troll bite?’

There’s a big problem with my body.

***

「The role assigned to the character is ‘Mercenary’.」

「All attack stats are increased by 3 times, but all defense stats are decreased by 70%.」

「Regeneration stats increase in proportion to lost HP.」

***

I’m screwed.

Not just screwed, but royally screwed.

That was the first thought that popped into my head the moment I noticed the abnormality in my body.

Crack-!

Damage has greatly increased, but…

[Kaaaaaak—!]

My body’s durability has drastically decreased.

I don’t know the exact numbers, but…

The second stage of [Evolved Outer Skin], which activates from 350 physical resistance, isn’t activating.

「The character’s physical resistance stat is 70 or higher.」

「Has 50% resistance to bladed weapons.」

It’s not just physical resistance.

Even when I use [Greed’s Scales], the Barbarian Dragon Mode doesn’t activate.

In other words, my magic resistance has also dropped significantly.

‘Damn it…’

All the skills that use durability as a coefficient have been reduced to half their power.

Well, it’s not like I’ve only lost things.

Tadad.

The warrior’s body, which was always so slow compared to my companions, is moving much lighter and faster than usual.

Also…

「The character has cast [Swing].」

「The character’s strength stat is 1,200 or higher.」

「Deals 2x damage to enemies with 90% or more HP.」

Every time I cast [Swing], a tremendous wind pressure is generated.

It looks like the effect has been unlocked…

‘I’ll think about it later.’

After finishing the initial check of my body’s changes, I focused on the battle with the monsters.

Well, even if I keep going like this, it won’t be hard to wipe out the monsters…

‘Let’s save as many as possible, just in case.’

The more actively I fight, the more companion NPCs will survive.

Based on my unbelievably increased power, I swung and slammed my hammer.

Crack-! Crack-! Crack-!

The refreshing feeling of impact that I rarely felt while raising a shield barbarian lingered at my fingertips.

‘…Maybe it’s not as bad as I thought.’

I didn’t become a complete mess like I thought I would.

Well, it was stressful to have to be aware of attacks that I would normally ignore, but…

‘This is… uncomfortable but also convenient…’

As I actively fought and gradually adapted to my body, it happened.

‘It’s, it’s over…!’

‘We’re alive, we’re alive…!’

‘Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!!’

When I came to my senses, all the monsters were dead, and the humans around me were shouting in victory.

‘Tsk, what do I do now?’

I just killed them all because I thought I had to.

I have no idea how things will proceed from here.

So, I tried to stay away from the people as much as possible and looked around.

‘Yandel…! Yandel! Are you okay?’

A man stepped over the corpses of monsters and ran towards me.

The same man who worried about me and tried to protect me when I first opened my eyes.

‘…I’m not badly hurt.’

‘That’s a relief. That’s a relief!’

The friendly-looking man checked my body and breathed a sigh of relief, as if he had been through a lot.

But then, did he belatedly have that question?

‘More importantly, what was that display of power just now! I thought you’d be fine since you’re so big, but… I never imagined it would be this much!’

‘Uh…’

What should I say?

Should I just act it out?

As I continued to worry, the man bowed his head with a look of realization.

‘Ah… I’m sorry. There must be a reason why someone like you ended up doing mercenary work.’

‘I appreciate… your understanding.’

‘Let’s go. I want to rest right away, but we have to help with the cleanup if we don’t want to get on the Empire’s bad side.’

It was a short conversation, but two more pieces of information were added.

‘Mercenary… and the Empire…’

What kind of concept does this rift have?

Since I didn’t know anything, I obediently followed the man. The place we were currently in was the middle of a ruined city.

‘Healer! Healer, this way!’

On the street littered with the bodies of people and monsters.

Soldiers were carrying the wounded, and someone was running down the street, shouting as if looking for a lost comrade.

‘That guy is…!’

‘He was amazing earlier.’

‘Even the knights weren’t that good…’

It was such a chaotic street, but just walking through it drew attention. Well, I did rampage that much, so it’s natural that people would notice me?

I didn’t know what the results of my decision to save as many as possible would be.

‘What are you doing? Hurry and get to work! We need to clear the debris so the carriages can pass! Ah, with your skills, you probably don’t have to worry about the Empire’s eyes?’

‘No, it’s okay. I’ll help…’

‘You’re a thoughtful young man. You’ll go far.’

I didn’t even know his name yet, but I followed the man’s instructions and helped with the cleanup.

And I learned a few things.

1. We are both mercenaries hired by the Imperial Army.

2. We both met for the first time today, and we finished exchanging names before the battle started.

3. Fortunately, this man is very talkative.

In other words, it’s much easier to gather information.

‘Hah… I haven’t been a mercenary for long, but this is the first time I’ve seen something this strange. For monsters to form a group and invade a city like this… I wonder what will become of the world.’

‘Hey, do you know what year it is?’

‘Hmm? Let’s see… Last year was the Year of the Moon, so this year must be the Year of the Sun.’

However, unfortunately, this guy was just talkative, not knowledgeable.

‘Besides that, don’t you know more details? Like what year it is based on the Year of the Sun?’

‘…What mercenary would memorize something like that? We’re not nobles who study history.’

A mercenary who doesn’t know what year it is, unlike the vampire uncle.

‘Then what’s the emperor’s name? Do you happen to know?’

‘…Shhh! Be, be quiet! Do you want to die?’

‘No, so do you know?’

‘There’s no way someone like me would know…!’

Okay, so he doesn’t know.

It seemed like it would be the same if I asked the soldiers on the street, so I decided to focus on other things.

It would be weird to ask directly, so I’ll just continue the cleanup work silently and then ask as naturally as possible.

‘How is the war with the witches going?’

The man tilted his head at my words, as if I was just making small talk.

‘Witches? What are you talking about? Are female mages fighting a war in another region?’

‘No, I thought I heard something like that. Never mind if you don’t know.’

It seems like the current time is before the witches appeared. Otherwise, he wouldn’t understand witches as female mages.

I was helping with the cleanup and gathering information for a while when it happened.

‘Everyone, stop for a moment!’

A knight with the Imperial Army emblem on his chest drew the attention of the mercenaries who were cleaning up.

‘That’s not the guy we saw this morning?’

‘Morshu? That guy’s dead.’

‘Ah, so that’s why there’s a new commander… Oops, let’s be quiet. We don’t want to get caught in the crossfire.’

Hundreds of mercenaries, suppressed by the power of the Empire, shut their mouths and watched carefully.

The knight’s words continued.

And then…

‘We are looking for a mercenary named Bjorn Yandel! I heard he single-handedly defeated hundreds of monsters! Has anyone seen him?’

What, why are they looking for me?

I unconsciously took a step back, but there was no time to run. As soon as they heard those words, everyone’s eyes were on me.

‘Ah, it’s you. Can we talk for a moment?’

‘…Okay.’

I was a little uneasy about the sudden request for an interview, but when I thought about it, it wasn’t something I could avoid.

Since he’s a knight, he’ll know much more than a mercenary.

I was planning to gather more information while talking to him.

However…

‘You’re a mercenary, right? I’ll get straight to the point. I have a request I want to give you.’

The plan to naturally obtain information while chatting didn’t come to fruition.

‘Escort a young girl. Make sure she reaches her destination.’

The moment the knight spoke the contents of the request, the world turned black.

‘Seriously, why did you even ask if you were going to do this?’

I didn’t even say I would accept the request.

***

Drop, drop, drop…

The sound of water droplets echoing in a dark cave.

As soon as I opened my eyes there, I felt a presence next to me.

No, to be precise, should I call it bloodlust?

Whoosh!

Something was swung in the dark.

The expected point of impact was near my thigh.

Even in this darkness, the barbarian’s body instinctively snatched whatever was being swung.

Clack-!

A delicate wrist was caught in my thick hand.

‘Ugh…!’

A groan escaped, as if the caught area was painful.

It was a voice that sounded very young.

‘After giving me the escort mission, the location changed… Then she must be the one I’m supposed to escort.’

After quickly making that judgment, I opened my mouth as gently as possible instead of counterattacking.

‘Calm down. I won’t hurt you.’

The caught wrist trembled at those words.

And after a long pause, a voice came out.

‘…Huh?’

…Is her arm hurting?

I completely released my hand, and a youthful voice echoed in the darkness.

‘Um… are you, are you an old man?’

A young voice that would take at least a few more years to go through puberty. However, the voice and tone were very familiar to me.

‘Is that Erwen…?’

‘Yes, yes! It’s me!’

‘I don’t know what happened, but I’m glad I joined you now. First, since it’s dark, let’s check the surroundings—’

‘Ah, wait a minute. I’ll do it… But… old man, you can’t be surprised?’

‘Surprised…?’

‘There’s… something…’

Then, at the same time as those words, a small flame appeared in the darkness.

Flap-!

A small flame that was far from enough to illuminate the surroundings.

I lowered my chin and looked down, and I froze like a stone.

Under the reddish light.

Erwen was looking up at me.

In the form of a little kid who looked about eight years old.

‘Th-that… what is that form?’

‘…I, I don’t know either! I, I woke up like this…’

Still, it’s kind of amazing.

So this is what she looked like when she was young.

But her nose was really high even when she was young—.

‘Old man…!!’

Did I stare too much?

Erwen.

No, to be precise, Erwen who has returned to her baby days.

Well, that’s too long, so let’s shorten it to—.

‘…D-don’t look at me so much!’

Baby Erwen covered her face with her small hands.

***

「Field Effect – Roles are assigned.」

「The role assigned to Erwen Fornach di Tersia is ‘Girl’.」

「All stats are fixed at 10%.」

「All healing and regeneration effects are reduced by 90%.」

「Not attacked by monsters.」