Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 674

Even as the fierce rapids crashed against my body, my ridiculously heavy body continued to sink straight down.

Even through my alcohol-soaked haze, I thought,

‘…Is this really the end?’

After such a long and difficult journey, is this how it ends?

‘No way.’

I can’t just fall asleep.

I absolutely have to regain my senses and get back up.

Fueled by that determination, I tried to swim upwards, but….

Sssshhh.

It was as if I’d gone deaf; my entire body wouldn’t respond.

I can’t fall asleep like this.

If I do, I’m really in deep trouble.

Even as I thought that, I also gave up.

‘Ah, whatever….’

There’s a limit to how much I can endure.

Baek Ho and the others on the boat will figure it out and save me.

Yeah, that’s what’ll happen.

So….

‘Let’s just… sleep now….’

Just as I was about to let go of the last thread of consciousness I was clinging to.

Whoooosh-!

The darkness that had been enveloping my vision as I sank below the surface of the water suddenly began to glow pure white.

And at the same time.

Beeeeeeeeep—

A piercing sound, like a branding iron searing my brain, echoed in my ears.

Light and a ringing sound, as if forcibly waking me from sleep.

Toc, toc.

The sound of shoes could be heard from somewhere.

Through my barely lifted eyelids, the figure of a person was getting closer.

A pale complexion, as if they had swallowed a ghost.

A tattered doll of unknown origin in their hand.

A normal-looking girl, about ten years old, with brown hair that reached her shoulders.

Even in my dazed state, I immediately recognized who she was.

‘Alice Groundia….’

The Earth Witch I had met in the cabin before.

‘Why are you here….’

I tried to say that, but no sound came out.

However, as if she had heard my voice, the Earth Witch looked at me intently and smiled.

And….

“I will make your dream come true.”

A voice that was both dreamy and seductive.

At the same time, she spoke to me in a voice that seemed to be urging me.

“So….”

Looking straight at me with eyes that seemed to have no depth.

“Don’t come back.”

That was the last scene in my memory.

***

“Haaah…!”

I inhaled deeply, like someone who had barely escaped drowning, and lifted my upper body.

And….

I flinched.

My whole body stiffened.

This time, not for physical reasons, but for mental ones.

“…It’s so light.”

Looking down at my hands, I clenched and unclenched them a few times, then blankly looked around before closing my eyes.

As always, I needed time.

The minimum amount of time to understand this situation.

Throb-

First of all, my physical condition was terrible.

Aside from the fact that the boundless vitality I usually felt had completely disappeared, it was like the day after drinking myself into a stupor.

My head was pounding.

Also….

Swoosh.

I opened my eyes again, and the space was still the same.

“This is….”

A place that was more than familiar to me.

“It’s my room.”

Lee Han-soo’s room.

Why on earth did I wake up here?

Could it be that the Ghost Busters server has reopened?

That thought suddenly crossed my mind, but….

“It’s different.”

There was a clear sense of incongruity between the space I had seen in the community [referring to an online game or forum] and the space I was in now.

My room in Ghost Busters was well-organized, whereas….

‘What is this…?’

This place was beyond a mess.

The books next to the computer desk were all scattered, and the monitor was gone, as if someone had taken it.

The wardrobes and drawers were left wide open, and there were clothes strewn all over the floor in front of them.

‘…No wonder it felt so empty.’

I belatedly realized that I wasn’t wearing a single thread of clothing, so I picked up some of the scattered clothes and put them on.

And….

Thud.

I stepped barefoot onto the cold floor and opened the door to the living room.

The living room was also a complete mess.

It was as if a raid had just passed through.

Every drawer was open, and all sorts of miscellaneous items were scattered on the floor.

“Haa….”

I started to feel thirsty, so I opened the refrigerator door to get some cold water.

But….

“Ugh…!”

The stench that wafted out of the refrigerator, which seemed to have been turned off a long time ago.

I quickly closed the door with a gag and collapsed onto the floor.

‘Ugh, I’m going to die….’

Was it because I smelled the stench while my head was already hurting?

The dizziness got worse.

However, I still had to do what I had to do.

Leaning against the wall, I waited for the dizziness to subside while constantly analyzing the current situation in my head.

It didn’t take long to reach a conclusion.

It wasn’t that the Ghost Busters server had been activated and I had arrived here at the right time.

Nor was it that I had actually returned to Earth.

With a high probability, this place was….

“A dream, I guess.”

I had fallen asleep due to the field effect ‘Dreamfall Waterfall’ and was trapped in a fantasy.

The fact that the setting was modern? That wasn’t particularly strange either.

In fact, when I fell asleep before, my connections from the modern world had also appeared as illusions.

Well, I didn’t feel any headaches like this back then, so that’s a bit of a question mark.

Anyway.

The situation was clear, and the things I had to do were even clearer.

I had to fight the enemy hiding somewhere or solve a mission to get the key to wake up from the dream.

However, there was one thing that bothered me.

‘…Was that also a dream?’

The Earth Witch I had met before losing consciousness.

And even the words the Earth Witch had said to me….

The more I thought about it, the more I felt a sense of unease that wouldn’t go away—.

The moment my thoughts reached that point.

Beep beep, beep, beep, beep beep….

The sound of someone pressing the door lock password came from the front door.

Thump-!

Although I wasn’t in my Barbarian body, my heart, sensing danger, pounded loudly.

Tap.

As soon as the electronic sound was heard, I immediately got up and opened the cabinet under the kitchen sink.

Of course, that’s how it should be.

As I said before, this is a dream world.

The person trying to enter through that door right now is highly likely to be an ‘enemy’ trying to kill me—.

‘There’s no knife…?’

It was an unexpected situation, but how many times had this happened before? I immediately reconsidered my judgment and turned towards the front door.

It was a shame that I didn’t have a weapon, but so what?

If you don’t have teeth, you have to chew with your gums [an idiom meaning to make do with what you have].

Besides, since they had taken away all my physical abilities, the enemy’s level was likely not that high.

‘The setting is modern in the first place.’

Beep, beep beep….

The numbers were being pressed slowly, one by one, as if they were entering someone else’s password.

I didn’t wait at the front door.

As a rule, a surprise attack is most effective when the enemy least expects it.

Yes, so….

Slam-!

Before the password was completed, I threw the door open and stepped forward—.

“Aaaah!”

A man of unknown identity screamed, hitting his nose on the suddenly opened door.

However, the confusion in his eyes was no different from mine.

“Uh….”

It’s not just one guy?

“I didn’t expect there to be multiple people?”

My already dizzy head became even more dazed, but as always, my judgment was as quick as lightning.

Whoosh.

I reached out, grabbed the man by the collar who had hit his nose, and pulled him inside as if I were throwing a grab.

And….

Thud-!

I slammed the door shut again and manually turned the lock to create a sealed room.

“W-what! Who are you…!”

The man, thrown down and collapsed under the shoe rack, shouted in panic as he looked at me.

And at the same time.

“What! Team Leader Kang! Team Leader Kang!”

“You bastard, who are you! Open the door right now?”

Hostile voices could be heard from outside the door.

There was no time to waste.

Whack-!

I made a fist and punched the fallen man in the face with all my might.

It didn’t sound like a watermelon exploding like it did when I was a Barbarian, but this was a good enough hit….

‘…Or so it seems.’

“You crazy bastard!”

The man, who had gotten up unscathed even after being hit directly in the face, grabbed my shoulder and pushed me against the wall.

“Ha, damn it, I’m going crazy….”

A physique much larger than mine.

Even a so-called strongman type.

If it had been me in the past, I would have been intimidated just by looking at him and wouldn’t have dared to fight.

“Who are you? Who are you? Huh?”

That much was certain.

But….

‘Why is he so clumsy?’

I didn’t feel particularly nervous.

After all, how many near-death experiences had I been through?

Even if I had the specs of an ordinary person, if I couldn’t handle this much on my own, I should just die.

Therefore….

“Aaaah!!”

I twisted the fingers of the hand that was grabbing my shoulder in the opposite direction, and then delivered a straight punch to the face of the opponent who was in pain.

Whack!

Using the moment the man staggered back from the punch, I moved in….

Squeeze—

Naturally grabbing his back and applying a rear naked choke.

“C-ch, c-cough, uh…!”

As I firmly fixed the position that choked his neck and blocked the flow of oxygen and blood to his brain, the man’s struggles intensified.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

He tried his best to resist, hitting my ribs with his elbows and stomping on my feet, but it didn’t mean much.

“Damn, how long have I been a tank?”

Did he think I would let go because it hurt, since I wasn’t getting the physical resistance bonus?

“C-cough… S-save me….”

Perhaps he realized that resisting was pointless.

The man stopped struggling and started tapping my arm, begging for his life.

And perhaps they heard this commotion from outside.

Bang bang bang!

The knocking became more violent.

“Team Leader Kang! Team Leader Kang! Are you okay!”

“You bastard, what are you doing! Open the door!”

“What are you doing! The password! Don’t just stand there, enter the password!”

“Ah, yes…!”

The electronic sound of the door lock beeped again at the front door.

Ha, the difficulty level is no joke from the start.

“S-save me….”

First, I put more strength into the arm choking his neck and pictured the upcoming battle in my head.

There were five people in total.

‘If I take down one guy here, there will be four….’

Well, it seems possible somehow.

It would be incredibly difficult, though.

‘Okay, one guy is down.’

As soon as the man’s body went limp, I released my grip and stood up.

And….

“Oh, look at this sweet starting weapon.”

I immediately looted and equipped the retractable baton that was attached to the limp man’s waist.

I wondered why he kept trying to pull something out of his waist; I never thought he would be hiding such a sweet weapon.

‘This makes the difficulty level much easier, doesn’t it?’

I fully extended the baton and swung it a few times in the air, a satisfied smile on my face.

It wasn’t as satisfying as the Demon Crusher, or even the iron mace that could be bought for 200,000 stones in the shop [referring to in-game currency], but it was a decent high-grade weapon.

Besides, with my current strength, such a weapon would be too much anyway.

Beep beep, beep, beep….

The password was being entered much faster than before.

In fact, if I just pressed the forced lock button here, they would have no way to open the door.

However, instead of locking the door, I approached the front door.

Because the life of a Barbarian had taught me.

There is a golden time for everything.

Therefore, if you avoid the situation, an even more difficult situation will come later.

Therefore….

Slam.

Just like before, I threw the door open first—.

“Aaaah!”

Towards the top of the head of the man who had hit his head while entering the password—.

“[Swing].”

I brought the baton down.

It wasn’t the Demon Crusher, so I couldn’t see the defense penetration effect when swinging down, but….

Whack-!

The feeling was quite clean.

The man, who had been hit in a vital spot, fell to the floor, and the men around him rushed in.

“You crazy bastard!!”

“Grab him!!”

Using the narrow terrain was my specialty, but this time my physical abilities weren’t up to par, so I took a step back to create some distance.

And….

“T-Team Leader Kang!!”

As I retreated to the living room, the men who had entered the room were speechless as they looked at the limp man.

“Are you guys the type with strong camaraderie?”

Personally, I like that kind of group, but if they are the enemy, it’s just a weakness.

“Team Leader Kang! Please come to your senses! Huh?!”

‘One is checking on his condition, so….’

There are two guys I have to deal with right now.

The problem is, those two guys aren’t unarmed anymore either.

Whoosh-!

If the ‘Team Leader Kang’ I caught earlier was a normal goblin, these guys could be considered a variant.

Goblin Swordsmen….

“No, since they have batons, are they Goblin Police Officers?”

While I was smiling with such silly thoughts.

“You son of a bitch, you’re laughing!!”

The ‘Goblin Police Officer’ who had been ‘provoked’ swung his baton and rushed at me.

Whoooosh-!

A strike with enough momentum to create a decent sound of air being cut.

But to me, it was too straightforward.

Swoosh.

So I just leaned my waist back slightly to evade.

I immediately swung the baton as if I were putting in a counterattack, hitting him accurately in the temple.

Whack-!

It might seem trivial, but in a way, this was the decisive difference between an ordinary person and an explorer.

When swinging or thrusting a weapon with all their might.

People who haven’t been trained will not only fail to hit the target location 100% of the time….

‘They also don’t transfer the power properly.’

Ah, of course, I had already passed that stage a long time ago.

Just like this.

Thud-

The man fell limply after being hit directly in the temple just once.

But did I suddenly become scary to him?

“…….”

Suddenly, one of the guys next to him took a step back as he looked at me.

It was a very good situation for me.

There is no easier opponent to deal with than an enemy who is terrified.

Tap.

Therefore, I actively dashed forward.

When I reached a sufficient distance, I used the power of my waist to swing the baton.

But….

Whoooosh-!

Oh, he dodged that?

‘But his posture is broken.’

Based on my numerous battle experiences.

In this posture, he can never avoid a follow-up attack.

In other words, the victory was practically set in stone.

Once I take down this guy, taking down the other one will be a piece of cake.

Swoosh.

Just as I was smiling and about to bring the baton down on the head of the unbalanced ‘Goblin Police Officer C’.

Bang-!

A sound that was too small and anticlimactic to be a gunshot.

It sounded like someone had shot a BB gun.

And….

Thwack-

Something long and sharp, like a needle, pierced my skin, causing a stinging pain.

When I turned my head to look at the source of the sound.

“Die, you bastard!”

The man who had been giving artificial respiration to ‘Team Leader Kang’ was standing up and pointing a gun at me.

Only then did I realize what I had been hit with.

“Oh, you son of a bitch….”

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt-!

“…Tasers are, cheating….”