Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 374

The Guardian of the Green Mine, King Slime.

It’s an essence that’s good to eat and use until the mid-game.

Well, even if it did drop, none of us would use it…

And it didn’t even drop in the first place.

「You have defeated the King Slime. EXP +4」

「Guardian Kill Bonus. EXP +3」

Watching the King Slime disappear into a cluster of light, I clicked my tongue, a bitter taste in my mouth.

“Wow, nothing dropped at all?”

I was hoping for at least a Numbers item, if not an essence.

How can a rift stone not drop?

The individual drop rate should be 33.3%…

‘…Come to think of it, no essences dropped on the way here either.’

Actually, that’s why I had a little bit of hope.

That maybe the guardian would drop a decent Numbers item at the end.

“Still, at least one essence dropped, right?”

Amelia’s words, as if trying to comfort me, made me chuckle.

What kind of essence is that? It’s just trash.

A 9th-grade monster, Slime.

If you eat it, your physical stats like bone strength, physical resistance, strength, and agility decrease, and you get a bunch of stats with low combat value like poison resistance, intuition, and digestion.

And the skill is just so-so.

It can be useful depending on the situation, but…

Generally, it’s not worth enduring the penalty, so it’s considered the worst essence among the 9th-grade monsters.

Ah, by the way, the essence dropped from the mobs that came out while hunting the King Slime.

‘Tch, if something like that is going to drop, it’s better if nothing drops at all.’

Then I’d still have the hope that a jackpot might hit next time.

“Mister, a portal has opened over there! Are you going to leave right away?”

“Of course.”

I led my companions towards the portal.

There was no hesitation in my steps.

To think that a rift would only drop a slime essence.

What the heck is this, a beggar’s room?

「You have entered the Crystal Cave on the 1st floor.」

Let’s get out of here quickly.

I don’t want to stay here any longer and get unlucky.

***

After breaking out of the rift, we were unstoppable.

There was nothing left for us to do on the lower floors, so we headed to the upper floors, and on the 26th day, we reached our target floor.

「You have entered the Great Sea on the 6th floor.」

Laimia, the starting island.

Unlike the last time we came, it wasn’t crowded with explorers and soldiers. And the same was true for the warships that had been filling the coastline.

The expeditionary force heading to the Dark Continent had departed on the 25th day, so it was only natural.

In fact, that’s why we deliberately arrived a day late.

“Alright, let’s head to the coast.”

There was no reason to waste time on an empty island, so we went straight to the coast.

And then, I took out the ship from the subspace.

Its appearance was different from the previous ship, which had no sails and had to be rowed.

‘Heh, yeah, this is what you call a ship.’

A ship with a size and shape similar to a fishing boat commonly seen in Korea.

In the center of the ship was a large square sail, and at the bottom of the rear was a magic propulsion device, so if you put in a magic stone, you could quickly increase the speed in an emergency.

In other words, if you have enough magic stones, it’s a ship that can cross even windless zones.

‘Actually, I doubt there will be a need to go to a windless zone without a navigator…’

Soon, all three of us boarded the ship, and Amelia swallowed hard as she stood in front of the ship’s wheel.

But was she a little unreliable?

Erwen cautiously expressed her anxiety.

“But, she’s not a navigator, can she really steer this ship properly…?”

“She said she had experience sailing a small boat before, so she’s much better than me, who only has rowing experience. She also said she learned the basic controls when she bought the ship.”

“Hmm…”

“Right, Amelia?”

“…Don’t talk to me. I’m thinking.”

“……”

Sigh, I’m suddenly getting anxious.

Amelia, who was holding the ship’s wheel and making a serious face as if she was doing a simulation in her head, began to give orders in earnest.

“First… we need to row away from the island. That’s how we can catch the wind.”

“Was…?”

“If you have a complaint, you can do it yourself—”

“No, I don’t. I’ll do as you say.”

“……”

Instead of telling Amelia, who was clearly a beginner, what to do, I faithfully followed her instructions.

Of course, I had no intention of rowing hard.

Why did I buy this ship with so much money?

Swoosh-!

As I put a magic stone into the pipe connected to the magic propulsion device, the ship began to move forward.

“…Ugh!”

Amelia seemed surprised by the unexpected speed, but she quickly regained her composure and turned the wheel to change direction.

And…

“N-now! The sail! Raise the sail!”

As the sail was raised, the ship began to catch the wind and move forward in earnest.

Whew, well, it works somehow.

“What about the direction?”

“We’re heading east, so don’t worry.”

“Is that so…”

At my words, Amelia let out a breath as if relieved.

Even in the midst of that, her hands were tightly gripping the wheel.

It was a slightly refreshing sight.

She didn’t even flinch when killing people, but she’s so nervous about this.

“It’s starting to appear.”

After sailing east for about 15 minutes, an island appeared at the edge of the horizon.

The island closest to the starting point after Parune Island in the west, where we had a fierce battle with Stormgush.

Gurka Island.

Actually, there was no particular reason to stop by this island.

The monsters that appear on this island are low-grade, and all of them also appear in the mid-layers.

We had already finished collecting experience points.

But…

‘There’s no navigator on the ship, so there’s no choice.’

With our sailing skills, it was nearly impossible to go straight to our desired destination, so we had no choice but to go step by step, visiting each island one by one.

Well, there was another reason too.

“…Mister, are you okay?”

“……”

Ugh, this damn seasickness.

It’s definitely a little better than before, but still, my stomach is churning, and it’s hard to bear.

“Schuitz, if you’re having a hard time, we can rest for a while before departing.”

“Please.”

Soon, after docking the ship on the coast, we took a short break.

Still, that was the good thing about being a barbarian.

Even if the seasickness is severe, it gets better in 10 minutes.

“Alright, let’s set sail again.”

After recovering our condition, we started sailing again, going through the same process.

The next destination was the second island on the eastern route, Anos.

“It’ll take about three hours by boat to get there, can we really make it?”

“…Don’t worry. I was told to just keep going in the east-northeast direction.”

“Who told you that?”

“…In a book.”

Erwen, who had never participated in such a haphazard voyage, looked doubtful again.

However, Amelia seemed to have a knack for sailing, and after about three hours, an island appeared in the distance.

At this, Amelia clenched her fist.

“We found it correctly.”

“But why is the island visible from the east instead of straight ahead?”

“…That’s within the margin of error.”

Yeah, that’s within the margin of error.

Soon, Amelia turned the ship’s bow, and before long, we arrived at Anos Island.

Unlike Gurka Island, which we skipped, we had business on this island.

There were no hidden pieces or hidden treasures, but we had to get the experience points we hadn’t collected yet.

Also, since it was getting late, we planned to spend the night here.

But before that…

“Waaah-!”

Let’s empty my stomach first.

***

「You have defeated a Raffle Monkey. EXP +3」

「You have defeated a War Snake. EXP +4」

「You have defeated a Nigel Fencer. EXP +4」

「You have defeated a Belgaro. EXP +5」

「You have defeated a Black Tree…」

「……」

***

Anos Island, where 99% of the island, except for the coast, is jungle terrain.

We camped on the coast for one night and started exploring in earnest the next day.

By the time we had finished collecting experience points by going around the entire island, it was getting dark again, so we had to camp for another night.

‘Tch, I thought we could catch them all in half a day and go to the next island.’

The reason why the schedule was messed up was largely due to the last monster we hunted. Even though we went around the entire island, it didn’t appear, so we had to search for it until nightfall.

“Mister, the stars are so pretty, aren’t—”

Zzzzzzzzzzz—!

“She’s asleep…”

After resting for another night, we set sail early the next morning for the next island, and this time, we thankfully arrived at the next island without any problems.

And that process continued…

“It’s already the seventh island.”

“Its name was Fione Island, right?”

We arrived at the seventh island on the eastern route in ten days.

Frankly speaking, it was quite surprising.

It was like we had safely arrived here with a navigator who only knew how to go forward, stop, and park.

‘I thought we might pass by or something at least once.’

Is sailing a ship easier than I thought?

With that thought, I’ve been watching Amelia sail the ship lately and learning little by little.

I’m also slowly getting used to seasickness.

“Wow, the island is really pretty, just like I heard.”

“Erwen, is this your first time here too?”

“Yes. I usually just passed by.”

“Yeah, if you’re unlucky, it’s just a waste of time.”

The seventh island on the eastern route, Fione.

A place that explorers often call Treasure Island.

Compared to the islands with mountains in the center, the ground is relatively flat, and the area is small enough to go around the island in about 3 hours.

For reference, only one type of 4th-grade monster appears here…

“Are you just going to pass by here too?”

“It’s getting late, so let’s just stay for one night.”

Erwen seemed somewhat pleased with my answer.

Well, it’s practically like there are no monsters on the island.

If you encounter a monster, it’s like winning the lottery.

“Mister! There’s still quite a bit of time until night, let’s look around the island together! Please?”

“…If it’s just that.”

“It could be dangerous, so I’ll go with you too.”

After landing on the island, we put the ship into the subspace and walked around to familiarize ourselves with the terrain.

Swoosh.

The sea breeze that coolly caressed our bodies.

The wide-open fields and the colorful flower gardens that filled them.

“Not bad.”

As I unknowingly voiced my thoughts, Erwen smiled brightly as if agreeing.

“Hehe, right?”

“Yeah, since it’s wide open on all sides, if raiders approach while we’re sleeping, we’ll be able to notice them easily.”

“……Huh?”

Erwen tilted her head as if she didn’t understand for a moment, but this was an important point.

There’s a reason why this island is called Treasure Island.

Even if most of the top explorers participated in the war and went to the 7th floor, the possibility of there being no explorers on this island is close to zero.

This island is the only place where you can get Numbers items besides the rifts.

“The scouting is enough for now, let’s set up camp over there. There’s a place I saw earlier.”

“Ah, okay…”

Since everyone was a veteran explorer capable of doing the work of a hundred, the camp preparations were quickly finished this time as well, and we went to sleep after setting up Amelia’s clone as a night watch.

And how much time had passed?

“Schuitz, wake up.”

Amelia shook my body to wake me up.

As I rubbed my sleepy eyes and checked my surroundings, I saw that Erwen had also woken up and was taking out her bow.

There was only one possible scenario.

That was much more likely than encountering a monster on this island.

“How many are there?”

I skipped unnecessary conversation and asked only for the information I needed to confirm, and Amelia also answered briefly.

“Fifteen.”

“A clan unit.”

Uninvited guests had come in the middle of the night.