Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 533

Rainbow (1)

The main street leading from the village chief’s house to the entrance.

I’m sprinting down it with all my might.

Thump-! Thump-! Thump-!

With [Giantification] activated, every step I take creates a noise comparable to a construction site, but I don’t particularly feel like I’m causing a nuisance.

It’s not even bedtime yet, and besides…

[F, Fire…!]

[Bring water!]

They’re already busy putting out the fire, aren’t they?

No one would be sensitive to the sound of a barbarian running.

Or, are they not people?

I was pondering the same question I’ve had several times before when…

“…Is this really okay?”

Bersil, riding on Ainar’s shoulder, a mount exclusive to mages with a certain tradition, expressed his concern to me.

“What do you mean, ‘okay’?”

I asked back, completely unable to understand, and Bersil looked behind us. Flames had already risen from the center of the village, and smoke was engulfing the entire area.

“There were quite a few villagers who weren’t warriors…”

Wow, he’s more tender-hearted than I thought.

To treat those fish heads as the same as people.

“So?”

I replied as if to say, ‘Don’t bother me, I’m busy,’ and Bersil shut his mouth.

And then…

“Um…”

For some reason, Misha took over the baton.

“Why on earth did you do that…? This isn’t like Bjorn… it’s not like you…”

Not like me?

That’s the second time I’ve heard that today.

“Yeah! I’m curious too! What did you see down there that made you do this?”

Ainar also asked me, his curiosity piqued by Misha’s words. Even though his fighting spirit has diminished, his barbarian curiosity is still there?

‘Human corpses.’

To answer simply, that’s all I saw down there.

The village chief showed me the corpses and explained how he obtained them, hoping that I would clear up any misunderstandings.

So far, there was no problem.

But…

[Since we have things we’ve hidden, we won’t hold you responsible for your companion breaking our village’s laws, or for your ‘mistake’ that resulted from it. How does that sound?]

He said he would pretend that Amelia’s intrusion and my smashing of Nyaachi’s head never happened.

Isn’t that strange?

My first night friend, Hans A, was exactly like that.

[…Fortunately, there were no problems while you were sleeping, so I won’t say anything more.]

Anyway, I engraved the lesson I learned then into my bones.

If a complete stranger is kind to me, it’s because they have something to gain from me.

And there are more lessons I’ve learned through experience.

[Why! Why did you hurt Lady Elisa! What did we do…]

Elisa, the priestess of Karui I met in the labyrinth.

I realized after smashing that woman’s head, who was pretending to be an ordinary priest, that the answer is to smash the heads of suspicious people first.

However, I didn’t feel the need to go into such a long explanation. It wouldn’t be entirely impossible to persuade them with a rational reason, but…

“Please tell us. What did you see down there that made you do that?”

I said,

“It’s nothing much.”

Just like I did with the village chief earlier.

This time, just one word was enough.

“I just felt like it.”

That statement without any proper basis.

Misha quietly murmured after hearing this.

“Is that… what they call ‘gut feeling’?”

Intuition.

A calculated value derived from the big data accumulated in the subconscious through experience.

“Gut feeling!”

Ainar nodded as if he was convinced by that.

“Oh, well, then it can’t be helped!”

“Your gut feeling is usually right. We’ve been saved by it more than once or twice.”

Erwen also chuckled and agreed, and Bersil, who was watching, added a word.

“Indeed… there must be a reason why you felt that way. Actually, I was also uneasy about that village chief.”

White Hext and Müll Armin, who were running alongside us, pretending not to listen to our conversation, also opened their mouths.

Well, they haven’t known me for long, but…

“I’m relieved to hear you say that.”

“Baron Yandel’s beast-like instincts are famous, after all.”

They seemed to believe in my reputation.

That’s because most explorers think that as long as the result is good, it’s OK, and besides…

Explorers are superstitious.

“All of those guys were weird.”

“I feel refreshed. Honestly, I was so anxious that I couldn’t sleep.”

“Besides, you said you had a feeling? It might be a revelation, and it’s much more unsettling to ignore it!”

“Ah… I know. Whenever I ignore my gut feeling, something bad always happens.”

It seems like everyone felt something was off.

I didn’t expect this when I gave that answer.

“Let’s go!”

“Damn monsters! Burn them more!”

For some reason, they were motivated and their morale soared.

Did all their doubts have to be erased with just one word from me? They seemed to firmly believe that this was the right choice.

Well, I wasn’t even that sure myself.

“…What a funny bunch.”

I unconsciously said those words out loud.

And did they hear that from the side again?

“You’re the funny one, Yandel. You convinced everyone with a ridiculous statement.”

Oh, what?

Whose voice is that?

“Come to think of it, you’ve always been like that. You’ve always had that talent. Making people believe that where you go is the right way…”

“Emily?”

When I turned my head, Amelia, being carried by Auyen, was looking at me with her eyes open.

“If you were awake, you should have said so. When did you wake up?”

“A little while ago.”

“How’s your body? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

After saying that, Amelia immediately jumped off Auyen’s back and started running.

“I roughly understand the situation. You’re trying to escape this village, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Haa… to cause such an incident while I was sleeping. Tell me in detail. What happened?”

Since this wasn’t a conversation over tea with a table set, I quickly briefed her on the important parts.

“The village chief showed me the basement, but it seemed like he had something up his sleeve, so I smashed his head. And I set the village on fire while escaping. The village chief is probably chasing us through the flames right now.”

That was a situation explanation that contained all the information I needed to convey.

Amelia seemed speechless for a moment, then opened her mouth.

“…That’s like you.”

That made me laugh for some reason.

Come to think of it, that’s the first time I’ve heard someone say ‘like me’ today.

“Anyway, now it’s your turn. What happened to you?”

“I went down to the basement, got caught, and was captured. I was interrogated, and that’s it.”

Hmm, I see…

I was hoping, but there was no additional information.

Well, it doesn’t seem like anything would change much in the current situation even if I had more information.

“Mister, we’ve arrived!”

The problem is from now on.

This village was built underground like Noark. The only way to get to the island is through the exit, but…

“What do we do now?”

With the door closed, all we can see is a solid rock wall.

Only the village chief can open and close the entrance.

Yes, officially, that is.

“Stand back.”

As I approached the wall with my hammer, Bersil, who was a mage, expressed his doubts.

“Will… will that work?”

That’s why bookworms are no good.

“You’ll see.”

I said, and slammed the wall with my hammer with all my might.

「The character has used [Swing].」

Kwaaaaaaaang-!

The impact was enough to temporarily disperse the thick smoke around us.

However, the wall was perfectly fine.

“…”

“…It doesn’t work?”

Well, it doesn’t, does it?

How embarrassing for a barbarian.

“Don’t worry. I have a plan.”

“A plan?”

“Yeah.”

Whether it’s magic or skills, or whatever is added to it.

There’s nothing that can’t be broken physically.

If it still can’t be broken, it’s because the power is insufficient.

Therefore, it’s time for Plan B.

“Erwen!”

Hit it harder.

***

「Erwen Fornachi di Tersia summons [Dark Spirit King Dicloe].」

***

Kwakwakwakwang-!

Hundreds of dark spheres collided with the wall, creating a deafening roar.

However, the wall held firm.

So, it doesn’t work with this either?

‘[Swing] wouldn’t have been enough.’

It was slightly breaking and denting each time a sphere hit, but the rock wall seemed to have considerable restorative power, quickly repairing itself.

It seems like I need to focus on single damage rather than sustained damage…

“Erwen.”

There was no need to give a long instruction.

When I called her name once more, a fierce light began to form on Erwen’s arrow.

‘Yeah, there’s nothing better than [Focused Fire] for single damage.’

The only drawback is that it takes a considerable amount of time to cast.

One second, two seconds, three seconds…

The more time passed, the more intense and vivid the color contained in the arrow became.

How much time had passed?

“Yandel.”

“You don’t have to say it. I can see it too.”

Something was rapidly approaching from the direction of the village, filled with flames and smoke.

At first, it looked like a small dot, but it didn’t take long for it to become a large dot and take on a complete form.

‘…He’s not going to let us go easily, is he?’

Well, he did come later than I expected, so I won’t complain.

“Prepare for battle!!”

I shouted at the top of my lungs and went to meet him.

And the moment I put my weight on the shield covering my upper body.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang-!!

‘It’ that was rushing towards us collided with the shield.

Whoooooooosh-!

Smoke scattered like a bomb had exploded.

Immediately, our ranged dealers began their focused fire.

Curses, wind blades, fireballs, arrows, energy blasts, and so on.

As they were cast by skilled explorers, the projectiles shot out quickly in a straight line. Unfortunately, not a single one hit the target.

Swaaaaaaa-

The magic and abilities disappeared into light before even reaching him. In a way, it was similar to the [Unspoken Word] used by the leader of Orculist, but there was a clear difference.

I could use skills when I fought that guy earlier.

Yes, so…

‘If this isn’t the essence of silence…’

There’s only one skill that has similar performance.

‘Toll-Rapupa.’

The 1st-grade skill of the 1st-grade monster Toll-Rapupa.

[Cosmic Protection]

One of the cheat skills that has the characteristic of blocking all ranged projectiles in advance.

For reference, since [Cosmic Protection] is a passive skill, I don’t know what active skills the village chief has from Toll-Rapupa.

‘I didn’t expect him to have a 1st-grade essence as well.’

Regardless of the weight on my shoulders, I first ordered a halt to ranged attacks.

There’s no point in wasting MP by shooting in the current state.

‘…Although, the other side will also lose MP as much as it’s nullified.’

Since this isn’t a situation for a long battle, there’s no reason to waste MP unnecessarily.

Especially when I think about going to the land full of monsters later.

Yes, so…

“You’re later than I thought, village chief.”

I try to start a conversation.

I judged that it would be beneficial to buy even one second for free.

“There has to be someone to clean up the mess you’ve made.”

Oh, I didn’t expect him to accept it.

Still, it seems like the village chief doesn’t intend to give me much time either.

“It’s raining outside, where are you rushing off to?”

“Ah, I was getting too stuffy just staying in the village.”

“Stop it. I’m saying this for your own good.”

“For my own good?”

I chuckled and said, and the village chief spoke as if giving a final notice.

“It’s not too late yet. If you stop now, I’ll pretend that everything that happened today never happened.”

A proposal that would have sounded so sweet if I were a cornered rat.

But for me, it only served as confirmation.

‘I kept worrying about what if I made the wrong choice.’

I wasn’t wrong.

That’s because, out of the blue, he’s saying he’ll forgive the guy who smashed his face with a hammer and set the village on fire?

There’s no way such a guy is normal.

I even thought that if I hadn’t decided to run away today, anything could have happened.

Therefore…

“Can I think about it for a moment?”

I pretend to hesitate and try to buy some more time.

However, the village chief seemed to have learned about me, the barbarian, by now.

Just by the fact that he immediately said this.

“Do you… think I’m an idiot?”

Uh…

“…A little?”

“…I’ll count to three, so decide within that time.”

“Three is too short. Let’s make it four.”

The village chief didn’t reply and started counting.

“…Three.”

Well, did I buy a few seconds with that?

It wouldn’t be a big deal since I wasn’t going to leave it until he finished counting.

“Two.”

Just as the village chief was about to shout one.

Tap.

I dashed forward.

After all, it would still take quite a bit of time for Erwen to complete her skill.

If it’s a fight I can’t avoid anyway…

“…!!”

Let’s see.

From the perspective of a veteran user who has played one game for nine years and tried all sorts of combinations.

How strong is a character that has been painstakingly raised for a time close to eternity.

And…

“Behel—raaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

What are the weaknesses?