Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 243

Hans Eifreya.

The man who had borrowed his name and face to attend the knighthood ceremony washed his face with cold water.

Splash!

Each time the water touched his skin, bits of flesh stuck to it washed away and flowed down the drain.

It was enough to make one want to vomit just watching it.

‘…It’s been a while since I’ve felt this disgusted.’

In the early days of being thrown into this familiar yet strange world, he had experienced far worse, but those times were long gone.

‘…I should just observe from a distance without needing to approach.’

Afterward, the man returned to the banquet hall and checked the table where he had spoken with the barbarian earlier.

For some reason, it was empty.

He approached a servant and exchanged a few words, learning that the barbarian had already left in a carriage.

‘…I really don’t feel like going back to the Magic Tower like this.’

The man pondered for a moment before leaving the royal palace.

Then, he simultaneously deployed transparent magic and levitation magic to fly over the city.

It was a stealth flight mode.

‘There he is.’

Looking down from several tens of meters above, he soon spotted the carriage that Bjorn Yandel was riding in.

With mounted escort knights around, there was no way he could have mistaken the carriage.

‘Looks like he’s heading home.’

Deducing the destination from the carriage’s direction, the man followed it.

Well, his expectations that this was the person the barbarian was looking for had greatly diminished, but….

‘It could be an act.’

It wasn’t impossible.

Even for him, a barbarian acting so brainlessly was a first.

It made him even more suspicious.

‘…Given his understanding of the game, he would have quickly figured out how to act in this world and moved more ‘perfectly’ than anyone else.’

Whether positive or negative, it could be interpreted either way if you tried to fit it.

Therefore, more information was needed.

What kind of person was Bjorn Yandel?

‘I heard he’s living with three women….’

Ignoring a strange sense of envy, the man diligently followed the carriage.

If they were living together, they must be close.

Observing his daily life at home might reveal more definite clues.

With that thought, he kept a distance and followed.

Kwaaaaaaaang-!

The carriage exploded.

***

An explosion reminiscent of the pillar of fire from that day.

However, its power was nothing compared to that one.

Fortunately.

「Your character’s health is below 50%.」

「Due to the passive skill [Path of the Hero], all resistance and tolerance values increase.」

His vision was blurry, as if the heat had damaged his retinas.

Also, his skin was peeling off, red and hot, making his whole body itch and throb.

His muscles seemed badly damaged too.

But….

“Assassins! Assassins are here!!”

He wasn’t killed in one blow.

And his body was moving.

‘Damn it.’

Suppressing the rising nausea, he quickly pushed off the ground and stood up. Then, he activated the subspace ring he had received when leaving the palace.

‘Hah, I should have put on my equipment as soon as I left the palace.’

Regret was always too late.

First, he took out a shield and strapped it to his forearm.

At that moment, something exploded, emitting black smoke.

‘Is it some kind of smoke bomb?’

He had been blinded before, so he wasn’t flustered and quickly focused on his hearing.

“Kyaaaaak!”

As expected of an incident in the middle of the city, screams of civilians were heard everywhere.

“Impudent!”

“Eliminate the wicked rebels!”

The knights responded, and the sounds of weapons clashing rang out.

However, that wasn’t what he needed to focus on.

He had to distinguish the thing that would threaten his life amidst all the noise.

For example….

Tadat.

Yes, something like that.

As soon as he heard the sound, he turned his body in that direction and lowered his stance.

At that moment.

Kwaang!

The impact was transmitted through the shield.

Huh, so you can see my location even in the smoke.

There was no reason to stay quiet.

“Keplo! Are you alive!!”

He shouted with all his might, checking on the well-being of the man who had been right next to him before the explosion.

There was no answer.

Was he dead? Or just unconscious?

Swoosh.

He quickly reached into the subspace and took out his mace.

Then, he heard another whooshing sound.

Whoong!

From experience, that sound usually came from a ‘slash’.

Trusting his subconscious judgment, he twisted the shield diagonally.

Koong!

Soon, an impact occurred on the left side of the shield.

This way, it didn’t matter if he couldn’t see.

Whoong-!

He swung the mace with all his might towards where he thought the enemy was.

Crack-!

He felt the impact.

Well, they took that hit.

He thought they would be agile assassins, but….

“Cough!”

Something in the smoke let out a death rattle and flew away, crashing into something.

That was when it happened.

Swoooooooosh-!

A clearly artificial gust of wind swept through, pushing away the black smoke.

‘Magic? Who is it?’

There were no mages on their side.

And there was no reason for the assassins to clear the smoke.

Then, who cast the magic?

Putting aside the brief question, he checked his surroundings.

“Yandel-nim! Are you safe!”

The number of knights standing unharmed was only four.

On the other hand, the masked figures surrounding the wreckage of the shattered carriage numbered over thirty by sight.

‘Is Amelia… not here?’

He scanned the masked figures, looking for someone with a similar build to Amelia.

There were about three candidates, but he wasn’t sure.

“There was no mention of a mage!”

“What are you hesitating for! Kill him now!”

Startled by the magic that cleared the smoke, the assassins resumed their attack.

They knew it too.

Since it was an ambush in the middle of the road, they would be in trouble if they didn’t finish it quickly.

“Protect Yandel-nim!!”

The knights, who had been fighting individually, rushed towards him as soon as his location was confirmed, forming a protective formation.

He could see why nobles were so obsessed with training knights.

How loyal and trustworthy they were.

‘Looks like I won’t have time to put on armor.’

Having grasped the situation, he cleanly abandoned any lingering attachments and activated his power. It was something he had originally planned to use at the training grounds tomorrow.

‘Transcendence.’

Bayon’s power, [Transcendence].

It was a unique skill that was both passive and active.

When deactivated, it enhanced the performance of all passive skills by 1.5 times.

[Acidic Fluid] became more powerful.

[Path of the Hero] and [Iron Skin] had increased stat boosts, and Manticore’s [Heredity] was similarly affected.

That alone made it a good skill.

But….

「Your character has activated [Transcendence].」

The true value of this skill was when it was used actively.

「The next skill used will be enhanced.」

Not just a simple enhancement, but unique additional effects for each skill that were temporarily added.

「Your character has activated [Gigantification].」

「Due to the power of the Transcendent, the ability inherent in the skill is unlocked.」

The reason why the core of the shield barbarian was the 5th rank [Gigantification] was because of this skill.

「Your physique increases in proportion to your strength.」

A physique bonus that was applied in proportion to strength, not a fixed value.

‘About 5 meters, I guess.’

It was the so-called Gigantification (Transcendence) mode.

‘At this size… it’s roughly similar to the fight against Liakis back then.’

He estimated his new size based on his different eye level.

It was similar to when he had grown 1.5 times larger with the [Unclean One] that Misha’s brother had.

He had the Ogre essence, but his setup wasn’t complete yet, so he wasn’t fully satisfied.

But….

“Behel—raaaaaaaaaa!!”

He couldn’t deny that he had become much stronger.

[Gigantification], which increased physical stats and threat level in proportion to height.

And [Wild Outburst], which increased physical stats again based on threat level.

With both applied simultaneously, his power surged.

Therefore….

‘Leap.’

He kicked off the ground with all his might and soared into the air.

The expected landing point was in the direction of the masked figure in the distance who was aiming at him with a bow.

Kwaaaang-!

The moment his feet touched the ground, the masked figure was sent flying high into the air, still holding his bow.

「Your character’s total weight exceeds 500kg.」

「The special terrain effect [Rebound] is additionally applied to the damage range.」

Fortunately, his weight seemed to have been met as he grew taller.

He had been worried about not wearing armor.

“Huh?”

The masked figure, not knowing what was happening, let out a dazed sound in mid-air.

Why, didn’t you expect me to come first?

He swung his mace like a baseball bat, and the figure’s neck twisted at a grotesque angle.

Crack.

Okay, one down….

‘Huh?’

As he was about to turn his head to find the next target, a masked figure popped out from the lower right.

A perfect angle that would have been a blind spot normally.

However, he saw it clearly and dodged.

It was thanks to the basic stats of the new essence.

[Bayon]

Spirit Power +100, Spirit Regeneration +30, Strength +25, Pain Tolerance +30, Bone Strength +30, Magic Resistance +20, Vision +25

Vision +25.

This stat didn’t increase eyesight but widened the field of vision.

That was why there was a bonus to detailed stats like evasion rate in the game.

Crack!

He roughly kicked the figure in the abdomen as it jumped out, then took a leap stance again.

But, was it only then that they came to their senses?

The knights were horrified by his sudden actions, shouting in alarm.

“C-Come this way!”

Who was protecting whom?

He ignored them and leaped towards his next destination. And he took them down one by one with the same combo as before.

There were no particularly strong enemies yet.

Crack-!

He had felt it when he took down one in the smoke earlier, but they were strangely weak.

‘Are there really no Amelia-level opponents?’

He had even considered using [Leap] to escape if there was any danger, but even that anxiety disappeared.

He understood better after fighting them directly.

If it weren’t for the initial explosion, the knights alone would have been enough to handle them.

But what was this?

“…We were told we only had to deal with the knights!”

As he began to rampage and the knights pressured them with individual combat, internal strife began among the masked figures.

“They said one explosion at the beginning would kill him!”

“I’m going back now. There was no mention that this guy could fight this well!”

As one or two began to retreat, all the masked figures chose to flee.

It was absurd.

‘What are these guys?’

They didn’t seem to have any sense of purpose.

***

‘…Were they really sent by Noark?’

Such doubts began to surface, but for now, he diligently moved his body to capture the fleeing masked figures.

He managed to capture a total of four.

Unfortunately, the rest all escaped.

“…You’ve worked hard.”

The knight, who was supposed to be protecting him, awkwardly saluted him, as if it was the first time a noble had carried them.

“Ah, you guys did well too. Were there any deaths?”

In response to his question, the knight replied that three had died.

Fortunately, Keplo was not among them.

He had been caught in the explosion with him at the very center, but he seemed to have had that much durability.

He had given him a potion in time, so he would regain consciousness soon.

‘Then, shall I interrogate them?’

The battle was over, and the guards were starting to arrive, so he grabbed one of the captured figures and removed their mask.

Underneath was a man he had never seen before.

“…Hut!”

The man trembled, as if sensing his doom, and couldn’t even make eye contact.

First, he reached out and shoved his hand into the man’s mouth.

“Cough, cough, cough!”

He searched diligently, but there was no poison or anything.

Well, was reality different from manga?

No, shouldn’t assassins have at least one poison capsule in their mouth?

‘Ah, if they had that much will, they probably wouldn’t have run away in the first place.’

What were these guys really?

He wiped the saliva from his hand on the man’s clothes and asked.

“Who sent you?”

“……”

The man didn’t answer.

It wasn’t a particularly meaningful action.

He would open his mouth if he was beaten a bit.

He was thinking that as he raised his fist when….

Flash-!

A pure white flash erupted from the dark sky.

And….

Kuuuuuung-!!

Something flew down like a meteor and crashed into the ground.

At first, he thought the assassins had escaped and were launching a catapult, but….

“Cough…!”

It was a man.

He was surrounded by a spherical shield, and his face was all too familiar.

It was the guy he had just met.

“Hans Eifreya…?”

No, what the hell?

Why did he fall from the sky?

He was momentarily flustered by the unexpected turn of events.

Tadat, tadat, tadat.

Another man jumped down from the sky above where Hans I had fallen. And without giving him any attention, he approached Hans I.

“……”

He, as well as the knights, couldn’t utter a single word at the strange sight.

The air that had changed the moment that man arrived didn’t allow it.

“Hey, let’s just go easy, okay?”

“I told you, you’ve got the wrong—.”

“Ha, you can’t lie to me, you know?”

As the man reached out, the shield around Hans I was torn apart helplessly.

Zzzzzzz.

Hans I’s face turned pale at the overwhelming pressure.

The man grabbed him by the collar with a blunt expression.

And said.

“You’re the one, aren’t you? GM [Game Master].”

“……”

“Release the ban quickly. Or you’ll really die here.”