Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 414

Back again to the 7th floor, Ice Rock.

Specifically, the late-game field, the Eye of the Glacier.

「The character has entered a special area.」

「Field effect – Eye of the Glacier is applied.」

「All healing and recovery effects are reversed.」

「Status ailment [Whisper of Immortality] is applied.」

「Upon death, the character will be resurrected as an undead.」

The frozen air wraps around my lungs.

The warm sunlight from the 8th floor feels like a distant memory.

We had to move quickly, with no time to adjust to the sudden change in environment.

“Naria, summon the trolls!”

Ice trolls began pulling the three sleds, one each.

The sleds contained exactly 13 days’ worth of food.

If we had requisitioned all the food stored in our personal sub-spaces [pocket dimensions], we could have lasted for dozens of days, but we deliberately brought just enough to last until the deadline.

We needed to maximize space for combat and exploration supplies, and also…

“Form up into a moving formation!”

Our expedition team currently has 25 members.

It’s a cold calculation, but I judged that there would be almost no chance of running out of 13 days’ worth of food for that number.

“Let’s go!”

As soon as the formation was set, we began to ascend the Eye of the Glacier, which we had descended over ten days.

It was like climbing a narrow, spiral path at the edge of a cliff, but our speed was actually faster than before.

Since the portal opened, no monsters have appeared here.

At most, it will take five days to leave the field.

The problem is the pursuit team that will be chasing us.

‘If they’re normal, they’ll just let us go.’

That’s because entering Ice Rock requires a lot of preparation.

Thick fur coats to keep out the cold, warming stones which are a type of magical tool, food, and even sleds to carry all of this.

An explorer who usually only carries their subspace would be in big trouble as soon as they entered this place.

But…

‘That guy… he’ll definitely come.’

It’s too early to relax.

Not only my life, but the lives of my comrades, and the lives of many other members are at stake.

We have to move with the worst-case scenario in mind.

That’s why…

Thud, thud.

I pick up the pace, leading the team members who are still tired despite having rested.

About eight hours passed since then.

“Schuitz-nim!!”

A female mage from the Caislan team rushed over, calling my name urgently.

Wasn’t she from the 2nd Magic Corps?

I haven’t had many conversations with her, but I remember her clearly because of her un-soldier-like voice and tone.

“Schuitz-nim! Schuitz-nim! It’s a disaster! A real, real disaster!”

She’s much taller than Raven and looks normal, but I can’t figure out why she talks like this.

I don’t know, but that’s not what’s important right now.

“If it’s a disaster, is it about them?”

“Yes! The detection magic we set up in front of the portal has been activated!”

“I see, so that’s it……”

That means they followed us all the way into Ice Rock.

I had expected it, but they really did come.

“How many?”

“As soon as the detection magic activated, I switched to mental synchronization and watched, and there were definitely more than twenty!”

“What do you mean by ‘definitely more’?”

“Well… they noticed us earlier than I thought. Because the magic eye was destroyed, I couldn’t see anyone else entering.”

At that, I clicked my tongue without realizing it.

It’s a shame, a real shame.

If only I knew how many troops the enemy had, it would have been a great help in making future decisions.

“What about their appearance, what did they look like?”

“Heh, you’re wondering if they’re as well-prepared as we are, right?”

“Yeah.”

When I nodded, the mage smiled and replied.

“They’re completely unprepared! They’re just wearing thin cloaks over their equipment? They all had bulging backpacks, but they probably just have food in them. They can’t be expanded backpacks, so won’t they get hungry and turn back soon?”

She was looking gloomy at first, but now she’s smiling, so she must think this is good news…

This was definitely good news.

‘Putting aside the cloaks, backpacks… Well, there aren’t many explorers who carry sleds or carts.’

The carrying capacity of a backpack is limited.

It’s impossible to carry 13 days’ worth of food in a backpack in this place where hunger is tripled.

Moreover, backpacks themselves act as a penalty during combat. Not only the weight, but also the bulk restricts movement.

In the early stages when it’s difficult to obtain a subspace, there are even low-level teams that have porters, so there’s no need to explain the inconvenience.

“I understand. Anyway, now that we’ve confirmed the pursuit team, let’s set up one more here and move on. We need to know the exact size.”

“Yes!”

Soon, we stopped for a moment and set up the detection magic again, and as soon as the work was finished, we resumed our journey.

Increasing our speed even more, since we had rested.

***

“Schuitz-nim! Schuitz-nim!”

The same mage came running again about six hours later.

“T-the detection magic has been activated!”

Just by the trembling voice of that innocent mage, I could tell it was bad news.

“…They’re much faster than I thought.”

The magic we set up after moving for eight hours was activated in just six hours.

That means they are faster than us.

If this continues, we will be caught in two days.

“Ah, it seems like they don’t have to pull sleds… s-so that’s why…”

I’m starting to understand what they’re thinking as they chase us.

They’re short on food, so they’re trying to catch up as quickly as possible within the time their food allows and end everything.

“So, what’s the size?”

“Ah! I checked that properly! F-forty-six people.”

“That’s good news. Thank you.”

“It’s my duty!”

The female mage said that and playfully saluted.

But did she suddenly remember something to tell me?

“Ah, right. I……”

The mage, who had turned around after saluting, turned another half-turn to look at me.

And carefully opened her mouth.

“There were some unusual people among them. Just by looking at their equipment, you could tell they were different from the others… The black mage who noticed my detection magic first was one of them.”

“……”

“O-of course, it’s just my subjective judgment, so d-don’t worry too much about it!”

“I understand, I’m keeping it in mind.”

“Yes… Ah, and one more thing! What should we do with the detection magic? Should we use it again?”

“Please do. We’ve roughly confirmed the size, so we just need to know when they passed by.”

“Yes!”

Soon, the mage finished her report and returned to her position, and the goblin next to me muttered in a strange voice.

“That… Ms. Marone is always so energetic.”

What is this guy talking about?

Does he have such thoughts even in this situation?

I was about to scold him to stop talking nonsense and focus, but I was speechless at his next mutter.

“It would be nice if we could go back alive…”

A lonely voice uttered while looking at the mage’s back.

I couldn’t help but agree.

“Yeah, it would be nice if we could go back alive.”

“……”

Silence settled between me and the goblin.

Then, Lavienne, who was walking beside us, opened her mouth.

“In that sense, Mr. Parav, how are you feeling right now?”

Well, at first, she treated me like an idiot.

Now she’s asking me first.

Well, this woman also saw Parav’s ghostly intuition with her own eyes as she moved next to me.

“Well… I don’t know anymore. I just know that no matter how hard it is, we have to keep going up.”

“…Is that so.”

The surrounding air instantly became gloomy.

I cleared my throat and changed the subject.

“But Parav, why did you join the expedition?”

“…Huh?”

“With that good sense, shouldn’t you be able to avoid something like this?”

Actually, I had been curious about this for a while.

During the 1st floor incident, he avoided trouble by trusting his intuition and not entering the labyrinth, so why did he enter the labyrinth this time?

“Actually… I didn’t want to come from the beginning.”

“What?”

“I’m not just saying that now, am I?”

“It’s really true. When the Archbishop joined, he kept listing rewards to persuade me, but I still didn’t feel like it. So I tried to make various excuses to get out of it, but…”

“But?”

“The Archbishop sighed deeply while looking at me. At that time, I felt a chill down my spine, so I quickly changed my mind and said I would go. Well… isn’t walking a thorny path better than going to the gallows?”

“…Huh? The gallows? I don’t understand.”

“Well… it might sound strange if I say this, but it felt like I would die on the spot if I refused? It was like that. I thought it would be better to enter the labyrinth.”

“Ah……”

“Well, now I regret it. There’s no way the Archbishop would really kill me. Hahaha……”

The goblin then laughed awkwardly, and Lavienne, who had been doubtful about his intuition, accepted it.

But…

‘Something’s strange.’

I felt a sense of unease.

I can’t put my finger on it.

“Parav, do you have any idea why you felt that way from the Archbishop?”

“Hmm, well, I’ve never thought about it… I wonder if he was planning to give me another more dangerous mission…”

We continued to talk during the move, but I couldn’t figure out the source of my unease, and we stopped chatting to conserve our energy and continued our journey.

There were already plenty of things to think about.

‘At this speed, we’ll be caught by them in two days.’

This is the same even if we increase our speed here.

At best, we’ll be caught before we leave the Eye of the Glacier.

So what should we do?

What should I do to make myself, my comrades, and the other members even a little safer?

Thump, thump, thump, thump-

Just thinking about it was overwhelming right now.

***

Scrape, scrape-

The sound of sharpening a sword on a whetstone.

Chew, chew.

The sound of filling one’s stomach with jerky.

“Haha, is that really true?”

“Yes. Let’s go together when we return to the city later. I really didn’t believe it at first either!”

Some people gathered together and chatted with those they had become close to, while others sat in a formal posture and breathed rhythmically.

It’s for a simple reason.

Everyone has their own way of relaxing.

“…Shouldn’t you rest a little too, sir?”

“I’ll rest here, so you go back to your position.”

“But……”

“Go on.”

At my commanding tone, Erwen returned to his position with slumped shoulders, and I stared at the downhill path covered in darkness.

“They were trying to be considerate, but was it necessary to be so harsh?”

“Lavienne, don’t cross the line.”

“…Okay.”

Lavienne, who was about to say something, immediately shut her mouth after seeing my expression.

Regardless, I stared endlessly into the darkness.

“……”

Our current location is in the middle of the Eye of the Glacier.

Upon arriving here, our journey of endlessly climbing uphill was halted.

Not by our own will, but by others.

Based on simple calculations, the pursuit team will arrive here in an hour.

Thump, thump, thump-

My heart is pounding.

Not with anticipation for battle, but with anxiety.

“……”

That’s because I’ve tried countless ways to avoid the battle over the past few hours, but no brilliant ideas came to mind.

The battle itself is an unavoidable fact.

Therefore, I ordered a rest so that we could rest even a little before that.

But is that why?

“Haha!”

Scrape, scrape-

“……”

Chew, chew.

Those everyday noises that sound so peaceful feel like the calm wind before a storm.

And that’s probably why.

“……”

I can’t rest properly and I’m just staring endlessly into the darkness.

The enemy’s number is 46.

Almost twice as many as our expedition team.

Moreover, according to the mage, ten of the enemies are particularly strong. Just by looking at their equipment, they were said to be not much weaker than the Dragonslayer?

‘Maybe they brought some of the guys who were attacking the 8th floor.’

If that’s the case, it’s really dangerous.

To be worth one person in the 8th floor attack, you have to be at least Amelia-level.

If we engage in a frontal battle, we have no chance of winning.

But…

“……”

There’s no other way.

Isn’t the battle already inevitable?

No matter how strong the enemy is, we have no choice but to do our best.

‘Well, if we fail, we’ll all die.’

Whoosh, whoosh.

I shook my head as if to shake off my 잡념 [잡념 – japnyum – distracting thoughts].

From now on, I decided to think as positively as possible.

For example, when the enemies are weaker than we expected.

In that case, it might even be possible to defeat the enemies here.

Of course, there will still be sacrifices, but…

As soon as we win, this expedition is over.

We don’t have to climb any further, we can just stay here and eat the remaining food.

Clench.

Yes, that possibility definitely exists.

So…

“Detection magic! The detection magic has been activated!”

Let’s do it.

“Everyone, into formation!”

Beyond that ominous, silent darkness.

We don’t know what will remain after the storm passes.

“…They’re coming!”

There is only one thing we can do.

“Prepare for battle!!”

Fight.