Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 324

The Lord of Chaos, Lyarkiss.

The Lord of the Abyss, Berzak.

Like this, each Floor Ruler has both a true name and an epithet, and most of their essences are named after their epithets.

The Essence of Chaos, the Essence of the Abyss, something like that.

And my assessment of the Essence of Silence that Lühhenphraha ate was this:

‘All bark and no bite.’

As an essence of a Floor Ruler, it had a strong personality and abilities, but there were many problems with its concept.

Just look at the active skill, [Unspoken Command].

When activated, it’s a wide-area silence skill that nullifies all skills within a 30-meter radius of the caster.

This includes passive skills, and even if you use a skill outside the radius, it disappears the moment you enter the area, making long-range interception impossible….

However, that doesn’t mean it’s invincible.

There’s always a reason why something isn’t eaten [referring to why a particular essence isn’t commonly used].

‘Magic or divine power cannot be dispelled.’

Even the penalties don’t end there.

[Unspoken Command] doesn’t work on monsters.

In short, the Essence of Silence is nothing more than an essence that exists only for PvP [Player versus Player combat]….

The passive skill is even more of a spectacle.

(P) Silent Control — All other essence skills are deactivated, and the stats gained from the essence are doubled.

A high-risk skill that gives you double stats but makes you give up all the essence skills you’ve acquired so far.

Thanks to that, I hardly ever used this essence.

Because my goal was always to clear the game.

The reason I used this 300 times was to try a different route.

[We’ve heard of your fame, Explorer. How about joining us to turn the world upside down?]

A route that would sometimes open up when you gained fame in the game.

Back when I was trying to clear the rebellion route by cooperating with the Ormi Revolutionary Army, I always used the Essence of Silence first.

It was definitely the best essence for PvP.

Well, I never succeeded even once, though.

After countless dead ends, I tentatively concluded that it was impossible to clear the rebellion route due to the game’s structure itself.

Ah, of course, I haven’t used it since then.

I also realized that the Essence of Silence had a fatal weakness.

Clench-

I grabbed the item I had prepared in advance.

That very thing that was the key to capturing the traitor, Lühhenphraha.

Actually, I thought about using it earlier….

But I decided that taking care of Amelia was the priority, so I saved it.

‘Hah, if I knew he was going to change the D-day, I would have told her in advance and given her this.’

The reason I didn’t share the information was because I thought we would move together.

How could I have predicted it?

That he would put a paralytic in the alcohol and knock her out.

I didn’t even think that it would look cooler to take it out in a crisis situation.

…Really.

Swoosh.

The water depth was accelerating and now decreasing by the second.

‘Now that it’s about waist-high, he must have regained his vision.’

I stared at the passage where Amelia had left.

The conversation we had before she left came to mind, and I chuckled.

[I’ll trust you.]

[Yeah, trust me. Your sister’s problem—]

[I wasn’t talking about my sister.]

[……Huh?]

[Not my sister, but that you won’t die. That’s what I meant by trusting you. So… don’t die.]

[Uh, uh… I understand….]

Hearing those words to my face made me feel a little awkward, so I avoided eye contact, and Amelia seemed to feel the same way, as she left after only saying, ‘Then I’ll go first’—

‘He’s here.’

The sound of splashing water came from afar.

So, I cleared my mind and focused on the sound.

Splash, splash.

The distance was closing quickly.

I tensed my body and crouched down.

And….

Ziiiiiip.

The item I was holding tightly in one hand.

I tore the scroll.

Swoooooosh-

Magic particles that emitted light settled on my skin.

The light emitted by the magic particles was faint, but even that was enough to attract attention in the dark sewer.

Splash.

The approaching sound stopped.

Thump.

My heart was pounding like a child caught doing something bad.

“…….”

There was silence for a moment.

Apart from the sound of water flowing, no other sound could be heard.

For about 3 seconds.

Splash-!

As the sound of running was heard, I bent my body and submerged myself in the water.

And the moment he appeared at the fork in the road.

“……!”

I stood up and charged at him.

Clang-!

The water splashed everywhere due to the wind pressure as the aura and hammer collided.

Thanks to my concentration being pushed to the limit, all visual information was clearly transmitted to my brain.

Water droplets broken into thousands of grains.

The expression on his face visible through them.

He checked my appearance and then moved his gaze to the side.

‘Is he looking for Amelia?’

Seriously, barbarian, how disappointing.

Tap tap.

The moment my feet touched the ground, I jumped again and closed the distance with him.

He was already swinging his sword horizontally.

It seemed like he was trying to keep me from getting any closer… but thanks to that, I was heading straight into the path of the sword.

It didn’t matter to me.

Tap tap.

I didn’t stop and dashed forward.

At this rate, the sword would definitely reach my body before the hammer, which had been pushed back to my shoulder, could reach his body, but….

So what?

I wasn’t even trying to hit him with the hammer in the first place.

Swoosh.

I reached out my hand.

It was the hand that was left after I had put the shield, which was useless in a battle against an aura user, into the subspace [a pocket dimension or storage space].

But does that mean that a swordsman only knows how to use a sword?

He didn’t retract his sword.

He just moved his remaining hand to knock my hand away.

Thud!

His hand hit my wrist.

He was strong enough not to be pushed back by my strength, so my arm was pushed back.

Even in the midst of that, the sword was being swung to cut my waist, and my feet were in the air, making it impossible to retreat.

Certainly, his judgment wasn’t bad when you looked at it.

It was just a little careless.

“……!”

As flesh touched flesh, the condition of the scroll I had torn in advance was met.

Swoooooooooosh-!

Blue magic particles were emitted.

If this were a game, this message would have appeared.

[The character has been ‘bound’ to Ricardo Lühhenphraha.]

[The character is not affected by [Unspoken Command].]

I immediately recited the command I had prepared.

‘Transcendence.’

And.

‘Leap.’

Tap.

The moment I stepped on the air.

Fwoooosh-!

My body accelerated in a straight line, splashing water.

Not to escape outside the path of the sword, but further inside.

If possible….

‘Giantification.’

With my weight also inflated.

Like an 8-ton truck with the accelerator fully pressed.

Clang-!

There was nothing more to see.

“Cough…!”

The effect of the body slam was tremendous.

***

Amelia, who was running quickly through the half-submerged sewer, flinched without realizing it.

It was because of the vibration that was transmitted through the water.

Clang-!

The loud noise was faintly audible even from a distance.

It seemed like the battle had started over there….

Splash, splash-

Amelia quickly regained her senses and started moving her feet again.

It was so loud that it sounded like the sewer had collapsed.

What kind of situation was it to make such a sound?

Could something have gone wrong?

Various questions arose simultaneously, but she shook her head.

Because she had said she would trust him.

In a way, that could be considered a promise.

If Yandel had won against Lühhenphraha, why was he able to appear in front of our sisters at the end?

She even shook off such contradictions from her mind.

And….

Splash.

She continued to walk.

It was a maze-like sewer, but it wasn’t too difficult to find the desired location.

Having received recognition for various achievements and having risen to a considerable position in Noark, she had already passed through this path several times.

Of course, she had memorized everything in preparation for today.

‘Left here. And then straight until three paths appear.’

Pushing her body, which had performance far beyond that of an ordinary person, to its limit, Amelia continued to run.

How much time had passed since then?

Thud.

Amelia stopped walking.

It was because she had reached her destination.

A fork in the road with five passages.

Water-soaked corpses were floating everywhere.

They were all faces she remembered.

Amelia recalled her memories.

[Laura! Amelia! What are you doing! If you’re awake, hurry up and fight too!]

Even when she had lost consciousness and woken up after being swept away by the water, the battle was still going on.

At the time, Amelia tried to take out her weapon and join the battle as ordered, but her sister stopped her and pointed to one place.

The explorer from the Melta Merchant Guild, who was the only one who knew the way, was running away alone, taking some of the corpses’ equipment.

So, the two of them didn’t participate in the battle and immediately followed the path where the guide had disappeared.

And….

‘Here.’

Amelia recalled the passage in her memory and quickly entered it, and soon she was able to find the person she was looking for.

“I, I was just trying to hide for a moment….”

The guide was making excuses with a frightened expression.

“It’s okay, I don’t care about you.”

A man, Derbon, glared at the guide before turning his head away.

“How dare you betray me and run away?”

Soon, the man slapped her sister’s cheek with his palm.

And her sister endured it without even thinking of stopping him. She judged that it was not good to provoke more anger here.

Because Derbon wasn’t alone.

Ironically, he was on the same side as those who were fighting with weapons.

‘The numbers have dwindled, so he must have thought that there was no point in fighting anymore. The disappearance of the guide must have also played a part.’

It was truly like a beast.

Even after this, they might betray each other again and try to plunder the equipment at the last minute.

Well, there won’t be a chance to see if that’s really the case.

Clench.

Amelia grabbed a dagger with her one remaining arm.

“I, it’s all my fault.”

“So you know you’re at fault.”

“My, my sister just followed me, so… ugh!”

“Okay, don’t worry. I’ll send you along this time too!”

The moment the man who was grabbing her sister’s neck raised his arm to bring down the axe.

Snikt-!

The man’s arm fell into the water, still holding the axe.

While the man screamed and twisted his body in pain from the amputation, those around him recognized Amelia and were shocked.

“…E, Emily?!”

“H, how did you get here….”

There was no point in having a conversation.

With emotionless eyes, Amelia stabbed each of them in the neck with her dagger in order.

“W, wait a minute! I, I know the way…!”

The guide, who was trying to assert his necessity, was no different.

Since she already knew the way to the city, there was no reason to spare him.

Snikt-!

The scene was neatly cleaned up.

The Rainwales sisters trembled and were wary of her.

But was there one thing they were curious about?

“U, um….”

“Amelia…!”

Her younger self, ignoring her sister’s urging, asked.

“W, what happened to Felix Barker?”

“He’s dead.”

“R, really? B, but how….”

“That’s enough questions.”

Amelia cut off the conversation.

“There’s no time for this, so hurry up and follow me.”

The end of the long story was approaching.