Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 114

Day 9, afternoon.

[You have entered the Pilgrim’s Path on the 3rd floor.]

After searching the northernmost part of the Land of the Dead for over a day, we found a portal and reached the 3rd floor.

‘…Next time, I should avoid going in without a scout if possible.’

I thought we could reach the 3rd floor with just the two of us if we took the Land of the Dead route, but…

Even so, the absence of a scout was significant.

If we hadn’t secretly followed a group of explorers passing by, we’d still be wandering around there.

“Ugh, this place always feels awful no matter when I come.”

Anyway, after all that hardship, we arrived at the black river mouth.

This is the starting point when taking the Land of the Dead route, a field characterized by shallow ditches flowing in dozens of directions.

Oh, and the sewer smell is a bonus.

“Let’s go then.”

Since we didn’t have a scout, I kept checking the compass and moved in the ‘northeast’ direction.

As I did, I soon reached a dead end.

That meant we had to step into that black river water and cross it.

“…Can’t you carry me?”

Tsk, always trying to take the easy way.

“…Just this once.”

“Wow! Really? Thank you!”

I hoisted Misha onto my shoulders and crossed the river.

The width was about 5 meters, and the depth came just below my knees.

Carefully crossing the river so as not to fall, the damp ground continued like a path ahead.

However, just as I was about to move forward.

[Geruk! Geruk!]

[Gell gell gell-!]

As if they heard the sound of us crossing the river, monsters slowly crawled out.

“Bjorn, there are Frogmen over there.”

Frogmen.

8th-grade monsters that look exactly like frogs and walk on two legs.

They use something like a harpoon as a weapon.

They might look easy because of their small size, but many explorers are quickly killed if they are careless because they have high agility stats.

Their skills are also annoying.

‘…Annoying.’

These guys are not compatible with me.

My mace has the power to shatter a Deathfind’s head in one blow, but…

It’s meaningless if I can’t hit them.

Whoosh-!

The Frogman easily dodges my mace by leaping into the air.

I immediately dashed and tried to hit it with my shield, but it didn’t really work.

[Your attack missed due to [Rotten Slime].]

My shield made contact with the monster’s body, but instead of a dull thud, the Frogman slid away.

[Gell gell!]

Is it fun?

Damn it.

These guys have an absolute evasion bonus against blunt weapons, making them difficult enemies for me regardless of their grade.

Well, it wasn’t a problem since Misha was here.

“Nyahat! Get out of the way!”

Misha, who was laughing at me being toyed with by the Frogman, took out her sword and began to dance with it.

[Geruk-!]

The Frogman had a considerable evasion bonus against blades as well, but…

Our swordsman is an ice swordsman, you see.

[Gek?!]

Not only was its thigh cut, but its lower body was also freezing solid.

Thud.

The froglet, which had been running around without knowing what was going on, fell to the ground with a thud.

“Misha, wait a minute!”

“Huh?”

“I’ll do it.”

Whack-!

Whew, I feel like I’m relieving some stress.

Originally, it was standard to catch these monsters with magic, but the difference in level was so great that the battle wasn’t difficult.

[Gell gell!]

[Geruruk! Geruk!]

How long had it been since we were moving while catching Frogmen?

[22:57]

After checking the time, I started looking for a place to camp. I was tired, but this was a place where you had to take a forced rest at set times.

“Bjorn, the water is rising, isn’t it?”

“I’m already looking for a place, so don’t rush me.”

After searching the area for about 30 minutes, a rest point appeared. Unlike the dark river mouth, it was a reddish, not muddy, but rather a soft, fluffy mound.

About thirty people had already taken their places at the point, as if all the nearby explorers had gathered.

‘We came late, so the good spots inside are all taken.’

I had no choice but to settle down near the water, where the sewer smell was the strongest. The soil isn’t damp, so the water won’t rise up to here.

Before laying out the blanket, I was drying my wet legs when the river level started to rise rapidly.

[00:00]

Okay, it’s midnight now, so it won’t rise any further. This state will continue for the next 6 hours, so I put Misha to sleep first.

There were many teams around who were resting without setting up a watch because there were so many people…

You never know.

‘I met Hans a few days ago, so let’s be careful.’

I was rummaging through my backpack to fill my stomach with snacks when it happened.

“Hahaha! Cheer up, my friend! Is there any tree that won’t fall after being hit ten times?”

“But… as you know, she is—”

“Hey, everyone’s sleeping, so can you be quiet?”

“Ahaha! I’m sorry! I’ll be careful from now on!”

I heard a familiar voice from afar.

And was it because I hadn’t fallen asleep yet?

Misha, who was wrapped in a blanket, jumped up.

“That’s, Hikorod’s voice…?”

It seems I wasn’t mistaken, since she had the same thought…

Heh, what are the odds of such a coincidence?

***

It’s rare to meet someone you know in the labyrinth.

First of all, each floor is incredibly vast, and because of the darkness in the labyrinth, the visibility is less than 10m even with a light.

Well, ‘clans’ that enter in multiple parties sometimes meet up at a certain time on a certain floor and go up the floors together, but…

‘I can’t believe it’s really them.’

Surprisingly, the owner of the voice I heard was the dwarf.

Dwarki and Rotmüller were next to him.

“Hikorod? Is that really Hikorod?”

“…Misha? Bjorn? What! Why are you guys here!”

“Wow, it’s clear that our team is connected by fate!”

What are the odds of entering separately and meeting again by chance without any prior arrangement?

“What about the request? Didn’t you say you were going to do a request? What happened to that?”

After being amazed by the incredible coincidence, the dwarf expressed his doubts.

I guess it would feel strange.

After all, we were the ones who entered the labyrinth separately to do a bodyguard request.

I made up an excuse as we had discussed beforehand.

“Ah, we already finished that.”

“Finished?”

“The business was on the 1st floor. The client went back to the city first when the labyrinth closed.”

“Oh, is that so?”

The dwarf nodded without any suspicion, as if it was a plausible reason.

Now it was our turn to ask questions.

“Then why are you guys here? Didn’t you say you’d only be on the 2nd floor?”

As far as I knew, the three of them were supposed to be doing simple collection requests in the Rocky Desert.

So why were they on the 3rd floor, in the middle of nowhere at the Black River Mouth connected to the Land of the Dead?

“Ah, it’s because the Stone Golem’s core came out earlier than expected. We came to do another request that we had accepted just in case.”

But if they had planned to go up to the 3rd floor from the beginning, they should have told us in advance…

“Hahaha! If we had, you would have stopped us!”

Well, that’s true.

A Tanker [A character specializing in defense and drawing enemy aggro], Mage [A character specializing in magic attacks], and Scout [A character specializing in reconnaissance and information gathering] combination is a bit unstable. But it’s not like we, who came to the 3rd floor with Tanker and Melee [A character specializing in close-range physical attacks], have any right to say that.

“…So, what’s the request?”

“It’s another collection request. We just need to get two eyeballs from a Frogman Shaman. Since we met here, would you like to join us?”

“How much is the completion reward?”

“2 million stones. Of course, if you join, the completion reward will be divided equally into five parts.”

400,000 stones per person is not bad.

If we sell other byproducts besides the eyeballs, our income will increase even more.

Of course, it’s not a normal Frogman but a Shaman, so I still have doubts about whether we can complete the request…

Well, that depends on luck.

“I’ll do it.”

I agreed because I was worried about traveling alone after encountering Hans. After all, what else could we do but hunt Frogmen if we were just the two of us?

If the request ends early, we could suggest going to the 4th floor together.

“Haha, then let’s get some rest. If we talk any more here, we might get stabbed.”

Since we were getting glares from other teams who were resting soundly, we stopped chatting and went to rest.

‘Thanks to them, I’ll get five hours of sleep.’

That’s the advantage of having a large number of people.

The watch time is shorter, and there’s more time to sleep.

[06:00]

Later, as the 10th day dawned, the river’s water level went down, and we left the rest point.

And we focused on hunting while moving around.

‘I realize it again, but we need at least one scout.’

I was realizing once again that a scout was a position that improved the quality of life in the labyrinth.

“If you go that way, there’s a river, so come this way.”

Rotmüller guided us along the optimal route as if he had memorized the entire terrain.

We had been wandering around for so long, but we hadn’t crossed the water more than three times.

“Hmm, another miss…”

After killing another Shaman in four hours, we clicked our tongues.

The corpse disappears without leaving anything behind.

That’s the disadvantage of collection requests.

If you use ‘Distortion’ magic on a monster, you can obtain the monster’s corpse intact with an extremely low probability, but…

Essence and magic stones are not dropped.

‘Hoo, just thinking about the grind later makes me feel overwhelmed.’

As you go further into the game, you need more monster byproducts for crafting equipment and consumables.

For example, look at the Soul Imprint [A process that enhances a character’s abilities by bonding with a soul].

Up to level 6, you can solve it with money, but after that, you have to collect the materials yourself.

‘…Let’s think about that when the time comes. If I have money, I can just use the trading post or request to get them.’

Anyway, as much as the movement became easier, the battle also became easier.

Rotmüller’s arrows, Dwarki’s magic.

And Misha’s ice sword skills.

“…I’ve been wanting to ask since a while ago, but what is going on here?”

Rotmüller expressed his doubts while looking at the frozen Frogman, but this was not a problem either.

[Cold Condensation] or [Ice Shatter] are not skills that are so obvious.

“Ah, that? My soul beast evolved this time!”

Misha answered naturally as we had discussed beforehand.

“Ha, is that true? At this rate, you could be promoted to 6th grade?”

“M-Miss Misha! Congratulations!”

Everyone knew that Misha had a contract with a cold-type soul beast, so no one doubted it.

No, they wouldn’t even think that we would lie in the first place, so it was natural.

‘This act pricks my conscience every time.’

But what can I do?

I have to accept it.

It’s my fate as someone who lives as an evil spirit.

“Rotmüller, the water seems to be rising… is it okay?”

“The safe zone is right next to us, so don’t worry.”

By the time the 10th day was coming to an end, the water was slowly rising, but thanks to Rotmüller, who had memorized all the nearby terrain, we hunted until the last minute and then moved to camp.

“Uh…”

“Is this it? Is it done now?”

“I, I think so.”

We froze in place as soon as we resumed our exploration and hunted a Shaman we encountered.

It was clearly pierced by an arrow in the neck and fell, but the corpse remained without disappearing.

“Y-yes, it seems like luck is with us on our journey because Miss Misha is with us!”

“Hehe, this guy is blinded by love. In my opinion, it’s not Misha but Bjorn who is bringing us luck. Luck follows that guy, you know?”

Whatever Dwarki and the dwarf were saying.

We obtained the Shaman’s corpse in just two days.

Well, is it too early to say we obtained it?

“Hmm, but what should we do with this?”

“W-wait a minute. I’ll use magic first.”

First, Dwarki used ‘Preservation’ magic to prevent the corpse from decaying.

But that was it.

We couldn’t just put the whole corpse in our bags.

“Misha, you use a sword, so you must be good at this kind of thing, right?”

“W-what are you talking about, you dwarf! I, I’ve never done this before! You guys should do it? You did the Stone Golem request too, right?”

“W-well… with the Stone Golem, we just had to take out the core…”

Even if we throw away all the other byproducts and only take the eyeballs, we need to do the dismantling work.

And no one had any experience in this kind of work.

Except for the all-rounder Rotmüller.

“Get out of the way. I’ll do it.”

Rotmüller sighed and then skillfully dismantled the Shaman’s corpse with something like a carving knife.

He said he used to do this often when he was in a ‘collection team’ before.

“As expected of Rotmüller, you’re the best!”

“Oh, I agree… Ugh, I’ll look away for a moment…”

Was it about 30 minutes?

Under Rotmüller’s skillful hands, the Shaman’s body was divided into muscles, blood vessels, bones, and internal organs and placed in a box.

“So, what should we do now?”

The Pilgrim’s Path on the 3rd floor closes at the end of the 15th day. That means we still have three days left.

I spoke up as if I had been waiting for this moment.

“Now that the request is over, how about going to the 4th floor?”

“Hmm, it’s true… It’s a shame to end it on the 3rd floor when the whole team has gathered…”

“Rotmüller, what do you think? Do you think we can get to the 4th floor within the time limit?”

Rotmüller closed his eyes as if he needed time to think.

Well, it would take some thought to go through several areas in three days and reach the portal in the center of the Witch’s Forest.

“It’s tight, but I think it’s possible.”

It was a bit strange.

Originally, we were planning to just break the rift and catch some monsters before returning to the city.

‘As expected, things never go according to plan.’

Somehow, we ended up going to the 4th floor.

***

The journey for the next three days was more intense than I thought.

First of all, the sleeping time was drastically reduced, and all the remaining time was spent on moving.

We even moved at a jogging pace…

As the days went by, the fatigue on my companions’ faces deepened.

But we were still able to achieve our goal.

[The character has entered a special area.]

[Field Effect – Witch’s Forest is applied.]

The Witch’s Forest, which we had already passed three times.

The first time I came here, Misha and I were stranded and went through all sorts of hardships, but…

As long as Rotmüller was with us, there was nothing to fear.

“Everyone, follow me closely.”

As we had experienced before, we connected our bodies with a rope and quickly traversed the Witch’s Forest.

And how long had it been?

[20:31]

About 3 hours before the 3rd floor was closed.

“Good job, Rotmüller.”

We stood in front of a huge tower located in the center of the Witch’s Forest. In front of the huge door that looked like the entrance to the tower, there were colorful portals.

“Now is the time, let’s go in!”

We waited for the color to change to prepare for any accidents, and then entered at the same time.

“Ah, mister?!”

A faint, familiar voice was heard from afar.