Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 486

“Pilgrim, stop them now—!”

Crack-!

I smashed the heads of the Imperial soldiers as they appeared, charging through the passage. My stats still increased slightly with every five soldiers I took down, but it wasn’t very noticeable in the current situation.

‘Anyway, at this speed, I should arrive within an hour…’

Even as I pushed forward with all my might, my chaotic thoughts showed no sign of settling.

“Bjorn… when is Erwen going to get here?”

Even Ainar was this worried, so how could I not be?

“…”

Did something go wrong? Could she be hurt, or even dead… no, that can’t be. My heart was burning with anxiety. But there was nothing else I could do right now. Just like before, I had to believe that Erwen would come and keep running.

[The character has defeated 405 Imperial soldiers.]

[All stats increase by +1.]

[The character has defeated 410 Imperial soldiers.]

[All stats increase by +1.]

[The character has defeated 415 Imperial soldiers…]

[….]

How much more time had passed?

’30 minutes.’

The estimated arrival time was getting shorter, and my worry for Erwen grew even larger. Then.

Thud.

I stopped running, having not paused once.

“Didn’t I tell you, pilgrim?”

“…”

“There is only one way for you to leave this cave alive.”

He was blocking our path.

***

There was one thing I didn’t understand. He hadn’t been chasing us from behind, so how could he be blocking our path? We even had increased stats, making our movement speed faster.

‘He… caught up to us?’

A sense of unease washed over me. But there was something I had to do before resolving my questions.

“Ainar, prepare to fight.”

As soon as I gave the order, Ainar gently laid the body of our fallen comrade on the ground.

“…Rest for a moment, mage.”

Dreadfear, watching us, let out a cold sneer.

“You fools.”

What’s with him? The reason I didn’t run the moment I saw him was because I thought I could take him.

‘With my current stats, it’s definitely possible.’

I covered my upper body with my shield and lowered my stance. Well, it’s just a habit; it’s not a meaningful stance. What use is a cheap iron shield against a knight who uses aura [a magical energy that enhances abilities]?

“…”

As we faced each other in silence, he muttered as if spitting out words.

“My offer is still valid.”

Is this guy really crazy? I couldn’t believe he was still hung up on that. However, since he seemed to want to talk, I took the opportunity to speak.

“…What happened to Erwen?”

The question and anxiety I had been holding in my heart for the past few hours of running. He answered briefly.

“That female pilgrim? She’s dead.”

“Bullshit.”

“You ignore the cries of your heart.”

Well, I shouldn’t have asked. As a boss monster with a betrayal fetish, it would be foolish to believe those words.

“Belief never changes the truth. No matter how much you believe in justice, you are nothing but dirty traitors—”

There was no reason to listen any further.

“Ainar!”

I dashed forward as I shouted the signal. As soon as the distance closed, he unleashed his aura and counterattacked. Therefore….

Tadat.

I backstepped before entering his range. Taking advantage of the gap when he swung his sword at me, Ainar closed the distance even further. And then….

“Behel—raaaaaaaah!!”

The moment he swung his sword down with the force of a mountain, the enemy twisted his body to the side.

Clang-!

The sword passed through where he had been and slammed into the floor. However, it was too early to call it a failed attack. Alternating between attacking and retreating to break his stance, and then thrusting a weapon into the larger opening. That was the basics of combined combat.

Tadat.

As he dodged Ainar’s sword, I threw my shield, which wouldn’t be of much help, at his face. And as soon as his vision was blocked.

Tadat.

I quickly dashed in and swung my mace. Of course, he reacted this time as well.

“…!”

The sword intercepted the path of the mace. If they collided like this, my iron mace would surely break in two.

Swoosh.

I forcefully twisted the trajectory by applying strength. Whoosh-! The moment the mace passed through the air without touching the sword.

Thwack-!

Ainar’s thrusting sword pierced the enemy’s shoulder.

‘Okay, so I guess we got the first point.’

Of course, I had no intention of being satisfied with this. There was no reason to back down here and waste time. Combat is fundamentally a game of strategy. Attack. Block. Dodge. In a split second, you have to choose one of these three, and the next choice changes depending on that. That’s why we steadily limited his options.

Tadat.

Forced into a defensive position, he focused on blocking and dodging. The risk increased, and the option of attacking itself disappeared. However, even the choices of blocking or dodging weren’t free.

‘Left.’

Yeah, I knew he would dodge to the left with that stance. Whack-! His stance was thrown off by the continuous attacks, and he was forced to choose a second-best option to minimize the damage. As a result, it became easier for us to read his next move, and he lost even more options. It was a kind of vicious cycle. But….

“…”

No matter how much we pushed him, we couldn’t let our guard down. After all, he had the power of aura, and in the end, there were always variables in battle. Just like this.

Swish-!

This time, I only pretended to strike and twisted the mace’s trajectory before it touched the sword, but the result was completely different from before.

“…!”

The sword followed the mace as if he had predicted my actions. Not wanting to lose my weapon, I had to use my waist strength to twist the trajectory once more, and in doing so, I inevitably exposed an opening.

Whack-

He didn’t miss the opportunity and kicked me in the abdomen. It didn’t cause much damage, but the problem was what came next. He had used a lot of his turn to counterattack.

Thwack-!

Ainar’s sword pierced his thigh. And at the same time.

Thwack-!

A blade pierced my stomach.

‘Ouch, that stings.’

I didn’t expect him to be so bold there. Even though he saw me get stabbed, Ainar didn’t ask if I was okay. Like a veteran, he just continued his attack.

“Haaah!”

I quickly recovered and rejoined the fight. It’s not like the bleeding would stop if I backed away. The important thing wasn’t how much I got hurt. It was whether I could kill him before I died. If this raid ended by defeating him and we could get out, then injuries didn’t matter.

“Behel—raaaaaaaah!!”

The terrifying battle continued. Even though our stats had increased this much, and we were fighting two against one, it wasn’t easy. And the numerical advantage disappeared soon enough.

“For the Empire…!”

Imperial soldiers kept appearing from somewhere, rushing at us like moths to a flame. These guys made the battle much harder, but there was one advantage.

Slash-!

I got a weapon refill. Swoosh. The moment my mace was cut off, I grabbed a weapon from a fallen soldier’s corpse and charged again. Sword, hammer, mace. I didn’t care about the shape. As long as it was long enough to swing with force.

Clang-!

Arms, legs, torso, shoulders, eyes, ears. The more my body was damaged, the more his condition visibly deteriorated. Swish-! The sword, which had once carried the spirit of a knight, gradually lost its momentum, and his movements slowed down. The aura was also smaller than before. One of his arms was dangling, and his left leg, which had been stabbed twice by Ainar, was not working properly, causing him to limp.

‘It’s almost over.’

We’re going to win. At this rate, he’ll fall before we do. I was thinking that when I hit him in the temple with my hammer.

[Centurion Dreadfear’s health is below 15%.]

The shock that erupted from his body like a bomb sent me flying into the wall. My vision blurred from the impact on the back of my head, but I quickly got up and looked ahead.

“Shit.”

I couldn’t help but curse.

[Centurion Dreadfear has cast [Eternal Nightmare].]

[All health is restored.]

Healed of his injuries in an instant, he walked out and said to me.

“The offer…”

“…”

“Is still valid.”

Valid my ass. I asked him in return.

“Are you…”

“…”

“A parrot, by any chance?”

He didn’t answer my question. He just silently stabbed me in the gut with his sword.

“…You, mi…serable, game…”

With that, everything went dark.

***

[The character’s health is below 5%.]

[[Narcolepsy] is activated.]

[Natural regeneration is temporarily greatly increased.]

[The character falls into a [Stun] state.]

***

In the dark abyss. I felt like I was floating on a flowing river as I thought. Dreadfear, the lord of terror. How the hell are we supposed to defeat this guy? The answer is simple. It’s impossible. I was mistaken in thinking that I could defeat him because my stats had increased, but that was just a trap. He wasn’t meant to be defeated in the first place. That means.

‘I was wrong.’

My judgment was wrong. Instead of fighting, I should have just run away the moment I saw him and headed out of the cave.

‘It was a game of tag from the beginning.’

The stat increase was just a minimum buff to allow us to escape from him. A head-on fight was never the right answer from the start. That’s why….

“Huff, huff….”

I’m paying the price for choosing the wrong answer.

[The character’s health is above 15%.]

[The [Stun] state is changed to [Paralysis].]

[The increase in natural regeneration is slightly reduced.]

When I opened my eyes, Ainar was carrying me on his back.

“Catch them…!”

I heard the soldiers shouting from behind, and Ainar was running hard to avoid them.

“Huh? B, Bjorn…? You’re awake?”

“…”

“Are you… okay! Can you hear me?”

I forced my stiff mouth open.

“I’m… okay… explain the situation… first…”

“Ah, ah! R, right…”

Ainar explained the situation as he ran.

“After… you collapsed, suddenly… the whole cave flashed, and… he stopped moving. Taking that opportunity, I… quickly picked you up and started running…”

He stopped moving? …Was it the effect of the altar? I don’t know. It’s my first time experiencing a hidden piece, and there’s no system log, so I don’t even know what’s causing what.

“Time…?”

“I, I don’t know. 5 minutes? It feels like it’s been about that long…”

The time I was unconscious was about 5 minutes.

“B, but is your body okay?”

“I’m… okay. I just can’t move…”

What kind of situation am I in right now? After thinking for a moment, one thing came to mind.

‘[Narcolepsy].’

A passive skill that activates when health drops below 5%. It changes to [Paralysis] at 15%, and health slowly recovers until the status effect is removed at 30%. ‘So… I had a skill too.’ Not just Bersil and Erwen, but I also had a starting skill. It was a passive skill, so I was late in recognizing it. ‘Then… Ainar must have one too…’ What could his skill be? I didn’t know, but there was no time to calmly experiment and find out.

“L, left…”

“Huh?”

“The left… is the way…”

“Ah…”

I directed him while riding on Ainar’s back and organized my thoughts. As I did, there was a sound that was particularly loud.

“Huff, huff….”

A different kind of breathing than just being tired.

“Ainar… are you okay?”

“…I’m, okay…”

No, he doesn’t look okay at all.

“It’s just that I can’t use my hands, so… I got a little hurt… Don’t worry about it…”

At those words, I belatedly had a question. Ainar couldn’t use his hands because he was carrying me on his back. Then, how did he deal with the Imperial soldiers? Were there no enemies that appeared directly in front of him? I was soon able to witness the answer with my own eyes.

“…You filthy pilgrims!”

A group of soldiers appeared directly in front of the path we were heading towards. Ainar’s choice was simple. Not to stop. No, rather, to speed up and charge at the soldiers. Thwack-! Sharp weapons were swung at his exposed body as he put his arms behind him, but he just endured it, being careful only of vital points. And as a result. Shoulder. Arm. Leg. He suffered large and small injuries in three places, but Ainar quickly passed through the soldiers. The soldiers who had been broken through joined the other soldiers and chased after us, and Ainar’s breathing became a little more ragged than before.

“Huff… huff….”

I watched him from his back, unable to say anything. But was he worried about me? Ainar asked me.

“Bjorn… are you… hurt anywhere?”

“…Stop.”

This is too reckless. At this rate, he’ll surely collapse soon, and even if we arrive, how are we going to treat those injuries? Especially without any potions? It would be wiser to put me down and wait until [Narcolepsy] wears off, then move together. But….

“I… can’t… do that.”

No matter what reason I gave, Ainar maintained his stubborn attitude.

“Why… not?”

“The moment… you collapsed… I saw… the future…”

“…The future?”

“It was the same… when the mage… died. Back then, I thought I was just seeing things… but it seems… that this is my… ability…”

What did he see that made him like this? No matter how many times I asked, Ainar didn’t answer.

“I… can’t… stop. So… trust me.”

“…”

“I… will never… fall…”

Ainar, who had muttered his last words as if making a vow, didn’t say anything else and silently moved forward. Thud, thud. No matter if Imperial soldiers appeared in front of him. He never stopped, and kept going.