Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 684

When the flash subsided and my vision returned.

Well, I’m not sure if I can even call it ‘vision returning,’ but anyway.

When I opened my eyes, everything in front of me was blurry and hazy.

However, let’s try to gather all the information I can from my senses.

Swooooshhhhhh-

I’m sinking underwater.

And at a very fast speed.

Thud-!

Barely regaining my senses, my body hits the maximum depth, creating a heavy vibration.

And at the same time.

‘Ouch, that stings.’

A sharp pain erupts from my shoulder.

It feels like I’ve been stabbed by something sharp.

Startled, I quickly turn my head to the side and see a mudskipper-like monster clamped onto my shoulder, biting down hard.

‘…Oh, this guy is…….’

A Rank 5 fish-type monster, a Hoppish.

The moment I recognize the creature biting my shoulder, even through my blurry vision, I naturally realize where I am.

After all, this monster only appears in two places.

The Great Sea on the 6th floor.

And the Dreamfall Waterfall on the 9th floor, the Star Tomb.

There was no need to even consider which one it was.

「The character has entered a special area.」

「Field effect – Dreamfall Waterfall is applied.」

Additional information is given, and a rough cause-and-effect is drawn in my head.

The teleportation succeeded despite the Bone Dragon’s ‘Dispel’.

It was just a bit incomplete.

‘Seeing that I’m the only one who got dropped here, does that mean everyone teleported to random locations…….’

Suddenly, I worry if the rest of the group is okay.

After all, it’s one thing for a solo-capable class like Baekho, but it’s almost impossible for a mage or priest to survive alone on the 9th floor.

But…….

‘Enough with the worrying.’

It’s best to worry about my own survival first.

In that sense, I first swung my arm to knock off the Hoppish that was biting my shoulder.

And…….

‘Let’s go.’

I drag my heavy body, which hasn’t floated to the surface, and start walking.

Finding the right direction wasn’t difficult.

The current of the Dreamfall Waterfall always flows towards the center of the field. If you just float a boat on the water, it will always head towards the waterfall.

In other words, if you just walk in the opposite direction, you’ll eventually reach land.

And judging by the fact that there was a Hoppish, it wasn’t that far from land.

Therefore…….

Plod, plod.

I step forward, my feet sinking up to my ankles with each step, steadily moving forward.

Unfortunately, though, the pests kept appearing.

‘This is driving me nuts.’

Every time I take a step, nearby monsters that were sleeping underwater wake up and aggro onto me.

Whoooosh-!

They were so annoying that I tried swinging the Demon Crusher, but it wasn’t very effective.

It was too difficult to hit the water-dwelling monsters with an attack speed slowed by the water resistance.

Whoosh-!

When I swing my weapon, they nimbly retreat, and then, as if nothing happened, they come back to bite at my body.

‘Damn bastards…….’

In the end, I gave up on trying to shake them off and focused solely on moving.

Even if a few of them clung to my body, biting and chewing, I just ignored them and started walking…….

“Puhahahaha!!”

Still, since it was the beginning area where Hoppish appear, I was able to get to land quickly.

Well… maybe not that quickly?

‘Hoo, I thought I was gonna die for real.’

I really thought I was going to die from suffocation at the end, but thankfully, I managed to get out in time.

So now it’s time for revenge.

Crack-! Crack-! Crack-!

I crushed the ones that had dared to follow me onto land with my hammer, then collapsed onto the ground.

“Haa, haa, haa…….”

After fighting a fierce battle with the Bone Dragon and then suffering in the water, I didn’t have the strength to move even a finger.

So, I lay sprawled out on the ground, resting and organizing my thoughts.

As always, the most important thing in a crisis.

What to do next.

The answer came without much thought.

‘I need to regroup first.’

Being alone, I need to explore the 9th floor as carefully as possible and regroup with the scattered party members.

That’s the top priority for now.

An additional goal would be to find a way to escape the Star Tomb or any clues in the process.

“Hoo…….”

So, suppressing the urge to lie down and rest, I get up.

I have a relatively better chance of surviving on the 9th floor, but the others, except for Baekho, don’t.

Since I’m the one who can move around more easily, I need to try harder—.

“…Huh?”

With that thought, I was about to take a step when I froze.

I don’t know how this happened, but…….

“……Jaina?”

I’ve already found the first member of the group.

***

The location where I found her was only 5 meters away from where I had been sprawled out.

‘Why didn’t I see this before?’

While that thought crossed my mind, I also understood why I hadn’t seen her.

Honestly, I was completely out of it.

Anyway, that’s not the important thing…….

“Jaina!”

I quickly rush over to check her condition.

From a distance, she looked like a corpse, but thankfully, she was still breathing.

At least for now.

Swish.

I take off the thick coat she always wears tightly, revealing the turquoise inner armor she was wearing underneath.

No. 2,578 Sky Armor.

It wasn’t an item that increased stats, had special abilities, or boosted regeneration, but it was one of the top-tier armors in terms of defense.

It was what I usually called a ‘life jacket’.

‘She survived thanks to this.’

Ironically, though, it was now killing her.

That’s because the chest area of the Sky Armor was caved in, pressing down hard on her lungs.

It looked like all her ribs were broken too.

‘Ha, crap… how do I take this off?’

It was quite a difficult situation.

To treat her, I needed to take off the armor first, but I couldn’t take it off in this state.

Therefore…….

“I’m doing this to save you, so please understand.”

After informing and asking for the understanding of the unconscious Jaina, I inserted my fingers into a small gap in the armor.

And…….

“Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaah……!!!”

I use all my strength to tear the armor apart.

If the armor had been in its original condition, it would have been impossible, but perhaps because it had been badly crushed and its durability had decreased?

The armor, which had been slowly opening, shattered as if it were torn apart at a certain point.

‘Can it… be repaired?’

That thought briefly crossed my mind, but I decided not to worry about it.

Well, if it can’t be repaired, I’ll just buy a new one. Judging by the looks of it, she’s probably saved up quite a bit of money.

Fssssssssss-!

After removing the armor, which was clearly hindering her recovery, I immediately poured a potion on her.

The bubbles gurgling were painful just to watch, but she was so close to death that she didn’t even flinch as she recovered.

So, I poured another potion and kept checking her condition.

Fssssssssss-!

It was then, as that chilling sound continued, that it happened.

“Ugh… ughhh…….”

As if her consciousness was returning, a faint groan escaped her lips, and Jaina began to twist her body.

And as she did, I noticed something…….

‘She has a tattoo on her side.’

It’s not unusual for an explorer to have a tattoo, but Jaina’s tattoo was a bit peculiar.

For one, it was incredibly small.

About the size of a thumb?

It was that small, and the shape was crude, as if an amateur had drawn it, and the color was faded, as if a long time had passed.

‘…Could she be from Noark?’

When I was living in Noark, the pinnacle of the slums, I had seen young children with such crude tattoos.

They were all tattoos that were not their own choice… or rather, they were tattoos that were the result of a moment’s amusement.

Like the tattoo drawn under Amelia’s eye.

“Haa… haa… haa…….”

After about 10 minutes, Jaina, who had been twisting her body and screaming, began to breathe heavily.

And she muttered to herself.

“……….”

Her voice was so small and her pronunciation was so slurred that I couldn’t understand what she was saying at first.

It just sounded like she was reciting some kind of dialect.

But, as I kept listening, I understood.

I still couldn’t understand what she was saying, though.

“uck…….”

This wasn’t a language from this world.

‘……So she was a demon.’

Well, there’s a possibility that the ‘demon language’ that Baekho jokingly uses every day was deeply ingrained in her subconscious and suddenly came out.

But, somehow, I didn’t think that was the case.

“Haa… haa…….”

As I kept watching, her muttering eventually stopped, and her breathing gradually returned to normal.

From experience, this was the time when a conversation was possible.

“Are you coming to your senses?”

I gently shake her shoulder and ask, and her eyelids weakly lift.

“What… what happened……?”

Wow, she’s trying to figure out the situation as soon as she regains consciousness.

Usually, these are the ones who survive the longest.

Is it because she’s from [Dungeon & Stone]?

“How much do you remember?”

“I remember… getting hit… in the stomach and… passing out…….”

“After you passed out, things went according to plan, and we used the multi-teleportation magic. But the magic was activated incompletely due to the Bone Dragon’s interference.”

“In… incomplete……?”

“It seems like everyone was teleported to random coordinates. I, for one, fell into the middle of the Dreamfall Waterfall, and after barely swimming to land, I found you collapsed.”

“That happened…….”

“How’s your body? Can you get up? I’m thinking of moving soon since we’ve been here for too long.”

“Just… help me a little.”

After that, I supported Jaina’s body and helped her up.

However, she still couldn’t stand properly, so I just carried her on my back.

“Kyaa……!”

“It seems easier for both of us if I just carry you on my back.”

“…….”

It wasn’t good to stay in one place for too long, so I started moving while carrying Jaina on my back and talking to her.

“Where are you trying to go……?”

“I’m going to the Primordial Land. Since it’s located in the center, there’s a high chance that everyone will wake up and come here.”

Moreover, the Primordial Land is connected to any region, so there’s the advantage of being able to quickly reach our destination depending on the situation.

“Anyway, I’m planning to avoid combat as much as possible, so use your detection skills as soon as you regain your strength.”

“…It’s like I’ve become a tool.”

“If you don’t like it, then recover quickly. It’ll be much easier for me too.”

“…….”

Thus began our journey together.

But maybe it’s because it’s just the two of us, but my tone is much more proper than usual.

‘Is it because she knows she’s done for if she’s abandoned by me?’

I don’t know, but I even got a somewhat demure thank you.

“……Thank you. For saving me.”

“If you’re thankful, then heal me well when we fight later. Looking at it, it seems like Aures gets more healing spells even when he’s hurt the same amount.”

“…That’s a misunderstanding.”

Well, I don’t think so…….

“By the way, were you a demon too?”

I asked, throwing the question out of nowhere at an unexpected time, and I could feel Jaina’s hand on my shoulder tighten.

“So, I was right.”

Jaina was silent for a moment after hearing my muttering.

I chuckled.

“Is there any reason to hide it? Anyway, just by being with Baekho, you’re already a traitor to the royal palace.”

Was this the deciding factor?

Jaina, who seemed to be hesitating a bit more, coolly admitted it.

“…How did you know?”

“You were speaking ‘demon language’ in your sleep while you were unconscious.”

However, her reaction to the evidence I presented was unexpected.

“Me……? That can’t be…….”

“Usually, people with sleep habits don’t know they have those habits—.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. It’s just… it doesn’t make sense.”

“…What doesn’t make sense?”

I asked back with a confused tone, and Jaina hesitated for a long time before opening her mouth again.

“I am a demon, but I have no memories of that world.”

…Huh?

What is she talking about?