Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 457

To truly enjoy [Dungeon & Stone], you generally need to be good at improvising. I’m not talking about actively setting up your essence, but rather in the really basic way you play the game. While hunting, a rift might suddenly open, you might encounter a looter, or you might be betrayed by a companion. These kinds of unexpected situations happen in every game. For example, just like right now. “Mister, this is…” “Yeah, that’s right.” A Floor Lord has been summoned. In other words, someone among the explorers on the 3rd floor put seven corpses into the hut. Whether it was intentional or not, I don’t know. No, I’m pretty sure it was intentionally summoned, but… ‘…There are cases where it’s really just a coincidence.’ The reason is none other than me. Misha and I in the past were exactly that case. We were desperate for a rest in the hut, so we burned the corpses, and coincidentally, there were guys who had burned corpses before us, so an ‘accident’ occurred where a Floor Lord was summoned. Anyway, that’s not the important thing. “Yandel, what are we going to do?” “First, we’ll get out of the forest. We can’t go to the 4th floor anyway.” When the Lord of Chaos, Liakis, is summoned, all the portals on the 3rd floor become deactivated. In other words, the entire 3rd floor becomes a boss room. “I’ll take care of them.” Without even shooting an arrow, Erwen used her fire spirits to simultaneously eliminate three spirits of chaos. 「The spirit of chaos has been destroyed.」 「The location is being eroded.」 When doing a boss fight, you have to manage the tiles, but we’re not going to hunt Liakis anyway—. [GROOOOOOOOOOOO—!!!!] At that moment, a familiar howling sound came from the direction of the Witch’s Forest. It was a bit disappointing. I thought the next time I heard this sound, it would be when I was finishing this guy off. “Bjorn! Instead of just running away like this, shouldn’t we do something?” “Then what, are you saying the four of us should hunt a Floor Lord?” Strictly speaking, if you include Auyen, there are five of us, but no one added any unnecessary comments about that. That doesn’t mean the impossible becomes possible. As we moved as far away from the forest border as possible, those familiar guys slowly began to appear. “Bjorn! Something creepy is crawling over there? What is that?” “Those are spirits of chaos.” They are token-type monsters that start swarming the entire 3rd floor when Liakis is summoned, and they have the characteristic of chasing the target they aggroed until they die. ‘Hah, it’s been a while since I’ve seen these bastards.’ “Bjorn, that’s not what I meant… I meant, is there anything else we can do? I heard a lot of people died last time?” Certainly… I heard that was the case. Since I was also responsible for the accident, I was honestly very upset. “Ah, and also! I heard that when a disaster situation occurs, upper-floor explorers have a duty to step up and help!” Yes, that explorer’s oath. That was also the reason why the Dzarwi Clan, who were staying on the 3rd floor at the time, tried to protect the lower-floor explorers. Large clans can’t help but be mindful of the guild’s eyes. ‘Well, even so, they didn’t want to lose out, so they took away the little money they had…’ Still, one thing is clear. If it weren’t for the Dzarwi Clan, there would have been far more casualties. Not only did they gather the lower-floor explorers and protect them all day, but they also held out for almost four hours after the Floor Lord arrived. “W-Well, of course, I don’t know what to do in these situations because all I know how to do is fight. But, Bjorn, you would—.” “Ainar, calm down.” I stopped walking and turned around, and Ainar also shut his mouth. And he didn’t avoid my gaze, even though he looked uneasy, like he had done something wrong. I felt it anew in that gaze. “….” Ainar is righteous. Ainar is merciless only to monsters and looters. He basically treats others with goodwill and wants to help if he can. And…. “Don’t worry. I’m not planning to just stand by and do nothing either.” I don’t see that as a bad thing. Because I happened to find out. That giving doesn’t always lead to a losing proposition. “Oh! So that’s what it was!” “Did you think I would just let it go? There are quite a few of our kind on the 3rd floor, too?” Actually, I said that, but even if it wasn’t about my kind, I had no intention of standing by and watching the situation. How much reputation have I built up so far? If it becomes known that I was hiding during a disaster, public opinion will surely turn against me. Therefore…. “Oooooo!! Then what do we do now! I’ll follow you even if you tell me to jump into the fire!” “We’ll watch from here for the time being.” “………Huh?” We took a stance of watching the forest from a distance. The reason was very simple. “…It’s possible that we don’t have to step in?” “It’s rare for the explorer’s guild to grant permission to subjugate a 3rd-floor Floor Lord. Maybe a clan that’s trying to subjugate it without permission summoned it.” “Ah! Then if those guys catch it, there won’t be any problems!” “That’s right.” Of course, this is just a guess, and nothing has been confirmed. Therefore…. [GROOOOOOOOOOOO-!!] While watching the forest where the ferocious roar echoed, I received real-time information through Erwen. “Liakis is moving to the western part of the Witch’s Forest. It’s too far away to distinguish clearly, but there seem to be quite a few people around it.” “How many?” “I don’t know. It’s too far away….” “Then we’ll just have to get closer.” After that, we moved around the outskirts of the forest to the west, and with Erwen’s amazing detection ability, we were able to obtain more accurate information. “…About 15 people. They seem to be running away from Liakis right now.” Well, it doesn’t look like they’re running away, but rather choosing a place to hunt. The Witch’s Forest, with its many obstacles that block the view, is not a good environment for a raid. I was more interested in another part. “15 people….” No matter how you look at it, that’s not enough people for a raid. Well, if you properly organize an attack party, you can catch it, but…. “Fifteen are the bait, and the main force is waiting separately somewhere else.” “Y-Yeah, probably?” “Can you tell if they’re having a conversation?” “No. It’s like they’re using ‘voice control’ magic, I can’t hear any voices.” “Hmm, is that so?” It was a shame, but I was relieved. If a disaster situation had really occurred by coincidence, I would have had to run out and deal with it myself—. Thud, thud, thud- Then, rain started to fall from the sky. Chiiiiiiik-! A black rain that stung the skin just by touching it, as if it contained acid. It was Liakis’s passive aura skill. 「The character is taking continuous damage from chaos attribute.」 「The character’s magic resistance is greatly reduced.」 「Warning: If continuously exposed to chaos attribute damage, there is a certain probability of being inflicted with the status ailment [Confusion].」 In short, it meant that we had reached near the guy. “We need to go back a bit more.” Since we don’t have a priest, there was no way to resist this passive skill, so we adjusted our distance along the border where the rain was falling. How much time had passed since then? “They’re about to come out of the forest!” The darkness of the labyrinth that absorbs light has disappeared on the 3rd floor. Although I don’t have the excellent eyesight of Erwen or Amelia, I could see a dozen or so explorers running out in a group in the distance. Thump-! Thump-! Thump-! Ah, and of course, a huge monster was chasing behind them. “Erwen, quickly check it out. Which clan is it?” “…There are no emblems.” Huh, did they take off all their emblems? Well, they’re the guys doing an unauthorized subjugation. They ran away quickly with Liakis, and Amelia asked me. “Yandel, what are we going to do now?” “We’ll follow them.” “Why?” “If they fail, it’ll be a real disaster.” Besides, you never know? There might be a situation where we can get a piece of the pie. *** The place we arrived at after following the group presumed to be the bait was a ‘field of thorny reeds’. ‘Well, this is the standard place.’ There are no obstacles, the ground is flat, and the terrain is wide, making it the most suitable field for managing tiles. The thorny reeds that came up to their shoulders were all burned and removed, as if they had finished all the preparations…. “Mister, the main force is over there—.” Suddenly, the radio I was listening to cut out. “What’s going on?” “They noticed our presence over there. One person is quickly approaching us now.” “Can we create some distance?” “…It’ll be hard for all of us together. It seems like they’re only one person.” Hmm, is that so? Thanks to that, the reason to hesitate disappeared, so I quickly made a decision. “Then let’s wait here.” We didn’t do anything wrong, so why should we run away? In the first place, I was curious. Who the hell are the guys who carried out an unauthorized subjugation that inevitably creates innocent victims due to its structure? “They’re here.” Soon, beyond the burned reed field, I could see a figure like a dot rushing towards us. The time it took for the dot to grow and take the shape of a person was not long. Thud. The man stopped about 10 meters away. He had seven daggers on his belt, and it was obvious that he was very agile. “….” “….” As soon as he saw me, his expression hardened, and he didn’t say a word. In the end, I was the one who spoke first. “Why are you silent? You were running like crazy just now.” “…To meet a celebrity in a place like this.” Ah, so that’s why. That’s why he had that sour look on his face. “It’s an honor to meet you. Baron Yandel. I never thought a big shot like the Baron would be on the 3rd floor—.” “Enough, so who are you?” When I interrupted and asked again, he seemed to hesitate for a moment before opening his mouth. “…I am Malid Kevron.” I don’t know if it’s his real name, but that’s the name the man introduced himself with. To the short-tempered dagger guy, I asked an additional question. “What clan do you belong to?” “…We are the Sawtooth Clan.” “Sawtooth, huh….” One of the super-large clans that had shrunk from ten to four during the war, and the very clan where James Kala had served as vice-commander. “Interesting. No matter how you look at it, it seems more strange that you guys are on the 3rd floor than me, don’t you think?” I asked with a smirk, and the dagger guy boldly asked back. “We had our reasons. But, did the Baron summon the Floor Lord?” He was a really quick-witted guy. To think he would try to take the initiative without fear in this situation. “It wasn’t me.” “Is that so.” “But if I ask you the opposite, you’ll obviously say no, right?” “We really didn’t.” “Does that mean that the guys who were moving with Liakis have nothing to do with you?” “They are our members. However, we were just nearby, so we stepped up to resolve the situation according to the oath.” Oh my, he’s good with words. “Then that’s good. We’ll help from now on.” When I subtly extended my hand, the dagger guy’s lips hardened coldly. “…It is truly appreciated that you offered your help first, but I don’t think there is a need for the Baron to use your precious hands.” “Hmm, why is that?” “Wouldn’t it be more appropriate for explorers to do such dangerous work?” Huh, just because I became a noble, he doesn’t treat me like a person in the same profession? For a moment, I felt the urge to smash his head with a hammer, but I barely managed to hold it back—. “Other nobles would also not want the dignity of the noble family to be diminished by the Baron’s actions.” “…What?” What did I just hear? “If you’re talking about other nobles… are you perhaps talking about someone like Count Alminus? One of the sponsors of the Sawtooth Clan?” I asked again to confirm, and he answered with a brazen smile. “Yes, that’s right.” Okay, so I understood correctly. There was no reason to continue a polite conversation any longer. What? Don’t be greedy if you don’t want to be in a difficult situation? “What are you talking about, you crazy bastard.” “………Excuse me? Did I hear wrong?” Looking at the dagger guy, who was frozen like a new recruit who didn’t know what he had done, I took a step forward. “Hey, Dagger.” “…Yes?” “Do you have goblin poop in your head?” “Yes? W-What do you mean by that…?” No, it’s obvious. From the way he’s been acting like a fool since a while ago. And the way he’s sweating and backing away. “Well, we’ll find out if we open it up. What’s inside.” I slowly raised my hammer.