Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 686

Mystery (1)

[Dungeon & Stone] is a hardcore game.

Even without making any particular mistakes, the characters you painstakingly raise die throughout the gameplay.

In that sense, it wasn’t a big surprise.

Layton Briat, the archer of Baekho’s team, had died.

It was something that could very well happen.

They had fought a desperate battle against a Bone Dragon, and after that, they were randomly teleported to different coordinates.

It’s never easy for any character to survive alone on the 9th floor, especially if they’re injured.

Even Jaina Flyer, the healer, would have met her end there if she hadn’t been lucky enough to meet me.

But….

“…Huh?”

Even so, it’s inevitable to be taken aback when you suddenly hear such news.

“W-what are you talking about…? Mr. Briat is dead…”

When GM asked again, shocked, the Old Man of Destruction continued, his voice devoid of any particular emotion, as if stating a simple fact.

“I found his corpse on the way here. It seems this area was too harsh for him to survive alone after using all his strength.”

“Oh, no…”

GM was at a loss for words at the news of his companion’s death.

It’s quite ironic.

The Old Man of Destruction, who had spent much more time with them than we had, didn’t seem to care at all.

“Anyway, since Briat is dead, my conclusion is that the only person who could have hung the cloth on the tree to deliver the news is Baekho, that friend of his.”

“I-is that so…?”

“Briat is done for now, so what’s the situation here? And what’s that structure over there?”

“W-we don’t really know either. It was just suddenly there when we arrived…”

“Hmm, very interesting.”

I watched the Old Man of Destruction, who was heading towards the structure with a glint in his eyes, with a dumbfounded expression for a moment.

Then, I closed my eyes for a moment and offered a silent prayer.

‘Layton Briat…’

Seeing as he was with Baekho, he probably wasn’t a good guy.

But still, I should offer my condolences.

It would be too sad if there wasn’t even that much sentiment in this desolate labyrinth—.

“…Mr. Briat always wanted to give up everything.”

I turned my head at the sudden voice and saw Jaina.

“He got what he wanted. Now he doesn’t have to do anything.”

What is this? Is she a psychopath too?

I suddenly had that thought, but after seeing Jaina’s expression, I chuckled.

Her words might sound sarcastic, but I could feel that this was her way of mourning.

“Your companions are lucky. They have someone who will grieve for them more than anyone else when they die.”

“Then why don’t you just transfer over?”

At my playful remark, Jaina paused, then smiled faintly and replied.

“I can’t do that. I need a lot of sacrifices.”

“You can solve the sacrifice problem by beating up the plunderers or the Noark guys.”

“…You do know that I’m one of those Noark guys, right?”

Ah, that’s true.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass.”

Suit yourself.

It’s not like I was being serious anyway.

In the first place, if I were to accept a priest of Karui as a clan member and that fact was discovered, even the ‘Three Gods Church’ would become my enemy.

Considering the royal family alone gives me a headache, that’s something that should never happen….

‘Now, all that’s left is for Rex Aures and Baekho to arrive.’

After that, the Old Man of Destruction and GM began investigating the new anomaly, and the rest of us waited.

And….

One day, two days….

On the third day, Rex Aures appeared.

He was in such a tattered state that the word ‘ragged’ wasn’t enough to describe him.

“Ha, haha… I-I’m alive…”

Just by looking at his appearance, you could tell how much he had suffered for the past few days.

As soon as he found us, Aures seemed to relax and immediately fell asleep, and Jaina took care of him and treated his wounds.

And….

“So, it wasn’t you who hung the cloth after all…”

“I’m ashamed to say, yes. I barely escaped from the monsters and stepped into the Primordial Land, and then—”

“Enough.”

I firmly cut off Rex Aures, who seemed like he was going to go on and on, and shared a look with the others.

“…Isn’t it strange? Circumstantially, it’s clear that Baekho hung the cloth to deliver the news, but he hasn’t shown up.”

“It’s definitely a bit strange. At first, we could understand that he was going to other areas to hang the cloth for a few days…”

“I also think that he should have come back at least once to check in by this time.”

With Rex Aures joining us, the questions grew.

If it wasn’t him who hung the cloth, then it really could only be Baekho, but where the heck is he and what is he doing?

While we were discussing this, the Old Man of Destruction suggested one possibility.

“Perhaps Baekho went inside there first.”

The Old Man of Destruction pointed to the structure that had newly appeared on the left side of the monument.

A structure that looked like an entrance to anyone.

We had been diligently investigating outside, but we still didn’t know what was hidden beneath it.

Since we didn’t know what would happen, we decided to make a decision after everyone had gathered….

“It’s true… Baekho might have gone in alone. Saying he’d just check it out for a moment before we arrived.”

“…It’s an absurd thing to do, but somehow it wouldn’t be strange if he did that.”

The others nodded in agreement with the Old Man of Destruction’s explanation.

However, the Old Man of Destruction, who had brought it up, shook his head.

“No, it’s definitely strange. I don’t know how Baekho looks to you, but to me, he’s more cautious than anyone else.”

“…Huh?”

“Contrary to his appearance, Baekho never does anything reckless. Sometimes he’s so timid that I get frustrated just being next to him.”

“…That Baekho, you mean?”

“Being confident and being cautious are two completely different things.”

“But wasn’t it you, Lord Ruin Genesis, who said he might have gone inside?”

“That’s right. Because no other possibility comes to mind through the process of elimination. But if such a cautious Baekho went inside that place… I think there must have been a separate reason for it.”

Hmm….

“What do you think, Bjorn Yandel?”

My head is getting complicated in many ways.

If the Old Man of Destruction’s guess is true, it means that once you go inside, it’s hard to get out.

That’s because if we could come and go freely, Baekho would have come out at least once by now.

“Let’s wait one more day, just one more day, and then decide.”

After that, I gave us a one-day grace period, but Baekho didn’t show up during that time.

Therefore, it’s time to make a decision.

“Havelion, do you have any idea what might be down there?”

I asked, looking at the stairs below, which were covered in dark vision and couldn’t be seen properly, and GM shook his head.

“I haven’t heard of anything like this in the Primordial Land.”

“I see, that’s what it is…”

Actually, it’s the same for me.

I’ve never seen such an entrance not only in the Primordial Land but also in the entire Star Graveyard, and the fact that it suddenly appeared when it wasn’t there before is also very suspicious.

But….

“Okay, I’ve decided.”

“So you’re going in after all?”

“Yes.”

I never had any intention of not going in from the start.

After all, wasn’t the reason I risked danger and searched the entire Star Graveyard to find something ‘suspicious’?

Now that something like that has appeared, there’s no way I’d just pass it by.

“I was going to wait a bit longer for Baekho, but… since he’s not showing up, there’s no other choice. There’s a possibility that he’s inside, so we’ll go in ourselves.”

Let’s go in for now.

***

I decided to think of it as a kind of dungeon.

There would be some kind of unknown gimmick, and there would be traps hidden that you would have to step on if you didn’t know them.

Thinking that, I carefully descended the narrow stairs.

Thud, thud.

Of course, I was at the front, and Rex Aures was at the rear. And the ranged fighters were in the center, in order.

Thud, thud.

I took each step carefully.

That’s how it is with ‘dungeons’ that have no information.

In the game, the first try was always about gathering information, as unknown areas are dangerous.

Thud, thud.

In that sense, all five of us had ropes tied around our waists, like a string of dried fish.

For reference, the rope was fixed by setting up stakes in front of the entrance, as if we were rock climbing….

“Aah! It’s a disaster! A disaster!”

Before we had even gone down the stairs very far, a loud voice came from the very back.

“The rope has snapped!”

“…What did you say?”

“It’s not my fault! I didn’t do anything! I just followed along—!”

“I don’t think he’s lying. If you look at the cross-section here, it looks like it was cut by something sharp…”

“Everyone, stick to the wall.”

I squeezed through the narrow stairs and went up to check the cross-section of the rope myself. It wasn’t a trace of Aures making a mistake and cutting it.

In the first place, there’s no way that a magic engineering rope designed to stretch hundreds of meters would be cut by mistake.

“Follow me slowly.”

I stopped going down and went back up the stairs to see what had happened.

But….

“Haven’t we gone up much further than we came down…?”

“Yes. That’s right. We’ve gone down 213 steps so far, but now we’re already over 240.”

No matter how many steps we climbed, we couldn’t see the outside.

In short, the way back had disappeared.

“…I-isn’t this a big problem? We’re trapped here!”

“Don’t make a fuss. Everyone expected that much when we came in.”

“I-is that so?”

As Jaina scolded Rex Aures, GM approached me.

“Now that we’ve confirmed that the way back is blocked, how about we go back to the original plan?”

It was a reasonable suggestion.

But I felt a sense of unease somewhere.

No, to be precise, it wasn’t unease, but….

‘If you go down the stairs, the entrance disappears, and if you try to go back, the stairs appear endlessly….’

A sense of déjà vu arises.

That’s because there is one place like this among the rifts.

‘The Golden Ruins.’

There was a similar effect at the entrance of that place, one of the rifts on the 4th floor.

‘Come to think of it, the walls look kind of similar too….’

If this area is based on the ‘Golden Ruins,’ then simply going down isn’t the answer.

There’s a piece hidden here too.

If you keep going up the stairs with the entrance closed, you can experience a special event.

‘Since we don’t know what’s behind us, it’s better to clear the event first.’

Ah, of course, there’s no guarantee that the event will happen here.

But there’s nothing to lose by trying it once, except for a little time.

“We’ll keep going up, so make sure no one gets left behind.”

“Huh? But….”

“Let’s go first.”

After that, I strode forward, quickly climbing the stairs again and again.

And….

“How long are you going to keep going up? No matter how far we go, there’s nothing but stairs.”

“Going back will be a chore too.”

It was about the time I estimated we had climbed about halfway.

Thud, thud.

I stopped the formation abruptly as I caught the sound of unfamiliar footsteps in my ears.

“Stop.”

“Ah, are you going back now—”

“Quiet.”

“…?”

“Someone is coming down from the front.”

For reference, I don’t have any information about that someone either.

In the first place, the special event itself isn’t like this.

‘Who the heck is it?’

I don’t know, but since there’s a high possibility of a battle, I send a hand signal indicating a state of alert.

And then.

“…”

“…”

The approaching footsteps suddenly stopped.

‘Did they notice us too?’

The air was tense, like a tightly drawn string.

Gulp-

I unconsciously swallowed and tightened my grip on the shield in my hand at that moment.

Tap-!

A sound of a sudden rush was caught in my ear.

“Prepare for battle!!”

Breaking the short silence, I shouted, and at the same time, something quickly charged out of the darkness.

I reflexively braced myself with my shield, but I couldn’t help but freeze.

Tap-

Two feet playfully stopped in front of the shield after running quickly.

“Surprise! How was it, were you surprised?”

Looking at the guy who was speaking so innocently, I let out a long sigh.

‘Is he really crazy?’

It was Baekho.

***

I was wondering whether to hit this bastard this time or not, when Baekho chuckled and poked my side.

“Hahaha! Were you very surprised? Were you very surprised? You looked very surprised. Are you okay? Were you very surprised?”

“…Don’t joke around without considering the situation.”

“Hey, how can I hold back? I’ve finally reunited with my precious companions!”

“…”

“No, but I really didn’t think you’d be inside. How could you just go in without waiting for me?”

…What did you say?

“Lord, you shouldn’t say anything about me joking around—”

“…What did you just say?”

When I asked, lowering my voice, Baekho also sensed something was wrong and looked at me with a questioning gaze.

I quickly confirmed one thing.

“This is a very important question, so don’t joke around and answer seriously. Wasn’t it you who tied the cloth to the tree…?”

Up until now, I was almost certain of it.

However, at that question, Baekho tilted his head and frowned.

“What are you talking about? That cloth… wasn’t it Lord who put it up…?”

At that reaction, goosebumps ran down my spine.

‘……If it wasn’t Baekho.’

Then who the heck was it that told us to come here?