Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 10

[There’s a possibility they’ve split up by now. If you see a barbarian using a one-handed hammer and shield, don’t approach rashly and wait for backup.]

The description is spreading.

It’s not detailed, but it doesn’t really matter.

I doubt there’s another barbarian using a shield besides me.

“Um… Mister…”

Erwen looks up at me with anxious eyes.

I can clearly see what she’s thinking, so I chuckled.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to abandon you.”

I’ve already decided to help Erwen.

The reason is simple.

I’ve always liked helping people in trouble.

If it benefits me.

“As I said before, I’ll take nine of the spoils, and you’ll take one. Understand?”

“Of course. I’ll definitely repay your kindness.”

Kindness, huh…

“Alright, make sure you do.”

There’s no reason not to accept it if she’s offering. Though, I won’t get my hopes up too high.

“Yes, I will…”

Watching Erwen clench her fist with a determined look, I finished preparing to move, tightening my boot laces.

“So, what are we going to do now?”

“First, we’ll move through the outer areas. Summon the spirit again. We’ll talk about the rest on the way.”

“Yes.”

Using the fist-sized flame as a lantern, I walked through the darkness, checking a few more things.

“How long exactly can the spirit be summoned?”

“If it’s just to light the surroundings, it can last for 10 hours.”

“And how long does it take to recover?”

“It should be fine after resting for about 2 hours.”

“I see.”

The situation is much better than I thought.

If everything goes according to plan, we’ll be able to escape their pursuit without much danger.

Then, I’ll get a return on my investment that’s worth the risk I’m taking.

“Mister.”

While I was organizing my thoughts, Erwen spoke to me.

“Can I ask where we’re heading now?”

Ah, I didn’t tell her that.

“To the second floor.”

“Huh…?”

Don’t make that face. You heard right.

“We’re going to the second floor.”

“You and me, just the two of us?”

“Yes, you and me, just the two of us.”

It’s not that there’s no other choice, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while. Moving around on the first floor with just the two of us would only reduce our gains, but…

The second floor is a different story.

“Um… Mister? The second floor is completely different from the first floor. You know that, right…?”

“I know.”

On the first floor, there were three or four monsters at a time, but on the second floor, that number increases to a dozen or so. There are also mutated species, and even higher-grade monsters appear.

“But, if we stick to the early areas, we should be fine. You and I have pretty good synergy.”

“M-Me and you?”

I don’t know why she’s so surprised, but a close-range tank and a long-range dealer are a good combination.

I had considered going to the upper floor with Erwen for that reason. If we went there, even if we split the magic stones in half, our gains would increase significantly.

But since there was no way to get through the darkness, I had abandoned this idea.

“Ah, no matter how I think about it, it feels like we’re going from avoiding goblins to entering an orc den…”

Well, judging by this reaction, even if I had suggested it knowing this, she would have rejected it outright…

The situation is completely different now than it was before.

“Then, do you have another way? As you know, the first floor is crawling with those guys.”

Erwen now has a reason to go to the second floor, and I was able to increase the ratio to 9:1 by taking advantage of that.

Of course, it’s not like there were no emotional factors in this decision.

[The one who catches the elf girl will receive 10,000 stones and the first chance to enjoy her.]

I hate these guys.

No, it’s closer to disgust than hate.

And to be able to screw these guys over, get a bigger reward than the risk, and even get the self-satisfaction of doing someone a favor?

Isn’t this the epitome of efficiency?

“I’ll give you a chance to choose. What will it be?”

“I’ll go…”

Erwen nodded with a face like she was being forced to eat a mustard sandwich. It seems the message from the message stone was the deciding factor…

Nice timing.

“Then, let’s keep moving.”

“…But do you know the way to the second floor?”

“Not exactly.”

“Huh?”

“But don’t worry. If we keep moving north, we’ll find it eventually.”

It’s not wishful thinking, it’s actually true.

If you follow the darkness in one direction, you’ll eventually find a portal. This darkness is like a sea route pointing to the upper floors.

The structure is so maze-like that we’ll probably get lost, though.

But it’s worth it.

“It’s a goblin trap!”

We were walking when we saw a trap.

It was much later than I expected. It should have appeared earlier.

…Could it be that there aren’t many goblins in places without light? Like in the game?

If that’s the case, I feel a bit suffocated.

How unlucky was I to fall into the darkness from the start and immediately encounter goblins?

“I’ll handle it! You can rest, Mister!”

Erwen stepped in front of me, seeing it as an opportunity to show off.

“Just so you know, don’t use the spirit.”

“…O-Of course!”

Looking too flustered to be ‘of course,’ Erwen approached the trap.

And…

“Grrrk!”

The moment the goblin popped out, she shot an arrow that was already nocked at point-blank range.

Thwack-!

Oh, she looks like Legolas doing that.

She’s much more skilled than I expected. Her movements are also very agile.

“How was it?”

Erwen, having defeated the goblin, looked at me with a triumphant face.

“Normally, you would have used the spirit, right?”

“Yes…”

“Good job. Seeing you shoot a bow, you really are an elf.”

Erwen looked shy and happy. Is it that good to be recognized? To be honest, I was also subtly criticizing her.

Not in terms of skill, but in terms of personality.

“But I’ll take care of the fighting from now on. It’s better to save arrows as much as possible.”

“Ah, but can’t we just pick them up and use them again? There’s no need to pull them out.”

Erwen bent down and picked up the magic stone and the arrow. The arrow looked perfectly fine, without any damage.

“…I see.”

Man, that’s embarrassing.

In the game, arrows were consumables that disappeared after one shot. But you could carry a thousand in one slot.

“Here you go!”

Erwen held out her small hand.

“Take it! You get nine and I get one, right? I’ll work hard from now on! Then I can earn a little too, right? I promised my younger sibling I’d buy them something when we get back!”

Uh, ah, um…

“Yeah, work hard…”

What is this? Is she subtly dissing me?

***

While we were quickly heading north, occasionally taking down goblins in the darkness, a voice came from the message stone, which had been silent for a while.

[Additional message. Hatz Young, who was attacked by the elf, is raising the bounty to 20,000 stones. Dead or alive.]

That means they’re within 300 meters.

Whether it was instinct or not, Erwen subtly moved closer to me.

“Don’t worry. No one’s going to be looking for us with torches.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah.”

Actually, I’m pretty sure of it.

I’ve been listening to their conversations through the message stone, and it seems like they’re just a bunch of street thugs.

They don’t seem to be very united either.

I’m guessing they’re just using it as a convenient community for themselves. After all, the first floor is a place where you can’t operate with more than five people.

[I’m thinking of moving to another area to hunt blade wolves. Is there anyone who wants to move with me? No need to reply.]

[I’m tired and looking for someone to rest with. Come to the pond next to the big rock. No need to reply.]

Indeed, I heard these kinds of messages everywhere while moving here. There are people who don’t care about the bounty at all.

However, I didn’t let my guard down.

It’s not that things have gone wrong, but rather that things are going too smoothly according to plan.

Damn it…

With my luck, something bad should be happening by now, but it’s so quiet that it’s making me anxious.

“Mister!”

What is it?

“There, it’s a ghoul!”

I can’t see it? I tilted my head, and Erwen moved the flame forward.

…Your eyes are really good.

Only then did I see the shape of a ghoul.

Rotten skin, empty eye sockets, sharp, long claws resembling claws, and a humanoid body that walks on all fours.

It’s exactly like the illustration I saw on the loading screen.

However, the problem is…

‘What? Why is a ghoul here?’

The monsters that appear on the first floor change based on the cardinal directions. And ghouls appear in the west.

Could it be that we got lost and reached the border?

Well, I guess that’s possible. We did head north, but we also went around when we hit dead ends.

Let’s think about this later.

“…Am I fighting alone again this time?”

Erwen, who was so eager to fight goblins, is now clearly showing that she doesn’t want to fight.

Is she scared because it’s the first time she’s seeing this monster?

She’s really something else.

“I’ll take the lead. You just focus on the one at the very back.”

“Yes!”

After sharing a rough strategy, I slowly moved forward.

There were a total of three ghouls blocking the passage, all sitting in a dog-like position.

Thump.

I got pretty close, but they didn’t move.

Hmm, in the game, they only attacked when you got within a certain range. Is it the same as the game?

Thump.

I cautiously took another step, and the three ghouls charged at me simultaneously.

“Grrrk!”

The sound they make is similar to goblins.

Is it because they’re 9th-grade monsters? Man, they have no personality.

“Hyaaa!”

Rather than retreating, I took a step forward and smashed the head of the ghoul in the lead with my hammer.

It’s called Hammer Smash.

Crack-!

The moment one ghoul’s head was crushed, an arrow was shot from behind, hitting another ghoul.

Thwack!

She really likes the space between the eyebrows.

I then pushed away the charging ghoul with my shield and finished it off with a Hammer Smash, ending the battle easily.

[You have defeated a ghoul. EXP +1]

It was a quick battle, but I took a moment to review it.

In terms of combat power, ghouls were superior to goblins.

They were much stronger and faster.

Well, goblins have traps, though…

That’s just the fault of the idiot who gets caught.

…Of course, assuming there’s light around.

“Still, this is much better than goblins.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because it takes time to catch goblins.”

As long as I don’t get pushed back in a head-on fight, it seems more efficient to hunt ghouls than goblins in many ways.

At least they don’t just set up a trap and camp nearby.

The fact that they don’t attack until you get close is also a big advantage.

“Next time, it would be more efficient to kill one with an arrow first.”

“Yes. That would be better.”

After briefly sharing our battle plan, I collected the magic stones on the floor and put them in my pocket.

“Um, Mister…?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Um, well, it’s my turn to get one now…”

“Ah, that’s right.”

We continued down the passage.

***

My guess that we were near the border was correct.

After ghouls and goblins appeared alternately for a while, only goblins started appearing again as we continued north.

How much time had passed since then?

[22:47]

It was almost the end of the third day.

Even after taking a 4-hour break in the middle, we continued north and found it.

A dark red line drawn on the floor.

“Oh, it’s a bloodstain? It doesn’t look like a goblin’s. Who could it be?”

…For some reason, I felt like I knew who it belonged to.

So I followed it and found a piece of bread. It kept appearing at regular intervals.

With that, I was sure and continued to follow the bloodstains.

“Um, you’ve been quiet for a while now…”

10 minutes.

“Are you mad at me or something?”

30 minutes.

“Huh? Mister?”

2 hours.

“…”

After walking that long distance, I finally found a sandal abandoned on the ground.

I couldn’t help but curse.

“Um…”

“Shit, are you kidding me?”

“I-I’m sorry! I don’t know what I did!”

The portal was right there, within spitting distance.