Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 542

“Maddakin Lilgriams.”

‘I never thought it would be this guy…’

The emotion I felt the moment I faced him wasn’t joy or curiosity, but bewilderment.

“You… you should have died at the Village Chief’s hands?”

“Yes…?”

He looked at me, seemingly not understanding my mutterings. Since it had come to this, I continued speaking.

“Died at the Village Chief’s hands… what are you talking about—”

“I saw a dagger with your clan’s insignia at their blacksmith’s.”

“Ah…”

“Why was that dagger there?”

“That… I’m not sure. However, before leaving the island, our members did trade with the residents. We gave them mostly useless items and received an excessive amount of magic stones.”

His testimony matched exactly what the Village Chief had said about the suspicion. Thanks to that, I became even more confused.

‘…Was the Village Chief innocent?’

Then what was all that I did while escaping the village? Was it just a pointless charade? Such thoughts suddenly crossed my mind, but I shook my head to clear away the distractions. It wasn’t too late to make a judgment after hearing everything.

“Tell me. What happened to you after we left the island?”

“Yes? Ah… Yes! Understood!”

He had rushed over with a face that said, ‘You’ve come to save us!’ but after my cold reaction and interrogation-like questions, he became tense and answered my questions.

“First, we left the island two days after you, Lord Baron, departed.”

Actually, his story wasn’t anything special. He had left the island thinking he should do something, but after experiencing that incident, he became scared and headed to the relatively easy Library Island?

Like us, who came back here to farm, he seemed to have felt the need to first grow his members. However…

“It was a creature I had never seen before. It had grotesque wings, and its body was similar to a slime, but it had all sorts of bizarre limbs growing out of it.”

A new type of monster not in my database. The Silver Lion Clan was annihilated by it, and even the ship they were on was destroyed. However, just as he thought he had died after losing consciousness in the water, Maddakin opened his eyes on Library Island.

His backpack was caught on a rock, and he was barely breathing.

“After that… I thought it was too dangerous outside, so I came down here. And… I waited alone until someone found this place again…”

He saved the food he had, thinking there might be a chance, and fought against loneliness, not monsters, as he endured alone. That was the gist of the story…

“I see.”

I didn’t particularly think it was a sad story. From what I heard, it seemed like he had abandoned all his members and jumped into the sea as soon as he realized they were going to be annihilated.

‘It’s a plausible story.’

Maddakin Lilgriams. If it was this guy I had been watching, he was capable of making such a choice in that situation. However…

‘Information gathering ends here.’

I’ve heard the story well, so now it’s time to verify the truth of the story. Therefore…

“Versil.”

I instructed the mage to use a verification spell. Unfortunately, the verification spell didn’t work properly because he had quite a bit of magic resistance, but I didn’t dwell on it and took out an item from my subspace.

‘It’s a bit of a waste to use the last one here, but…’

No matter how I think about it, it’s suspicious.

“Maddakin Lilgriams.”

“Yes?”

“From now on, I’m going to check if what you said is true.”

I didn’t ask for his understanding as if to say, ‘Is that okay?’ He didn’t have a choice anyway.

Click-

I immediately activated ‘Misaligned Trust’ [an item that reveals lies]. I expected that I would be able to find out everything even if he was hiding something. However…

“Now, let’s start with a simple question.”

What is going on?

“Tell me. What is your name?”

Just like in the Doppelganger Forest, a simple test question to see if the item is working properly.

“…”

“…”

But why can’t this bastard answer?

***

Ticking, ticking. The sound of the second hand moving on the compass-shaped disc. The silence, which repeated slowly and steadily, made it feel as if the density of the air was increasing, and a sensation ran down my spine. However…

Swish.

My warrior’s body calmly carried out the actions I needed to do right now. When I came to my senses, my hand was already naturally reaching for the handle of the hammer on my back. An unconscious action based entirely on instinct.

Sigh… Still, touching my weapon makes me feel a bit calmer.

“Tell me, Lilgriams.”

I asked again.

“What is your name?”

At that question, he avoided my gaze. His eyes, excessively turned to the right, were more than suspicious; they were bizarre and grotesque. Therefore…

“I’ll ask one last time.”

I didn’t just put my hand on my weapon. Now, I openly took out my weapon and asked again.

“What is your name?”

“…”

So, you’re going to exercise your right to remain silent?

‘Just in case, let’s start by breaking all his limbs.’

As soon as I finished organizing my thoughts, I put strength into the hand gripping the hammer. And just as I was about to swing it.

“…Ah.”

He broke his long silence and opened his mouth.

“G, got, caught…”

It was a short sentence, but for some reason, it felt like his tone had changed. That feeling was indeed correct.

“Got caught. Got caught. Got caught. Got caught. Got caught. Got caught. Got caught. Got caught. Got caught. Got caught. Got caught. Got caught.”

His eyes, like a broken audio device, shook constantly as he repeated the same words, and his voice was filled with agitation and anxiety, as if he was in a panic. He was clearly terrified.

“Got caught. Got caught. Got caught. Got caught. Got caugh—”

“…What are you?”

I reached out one hand, grabbed his neck, and lifted him up. Then, the words he uttered changed.

“What do I do?”

“…?”

“What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?”

It was a feeling I had never experienced before. I was the one who grabbed his neck and lifted him up, but why did I feel so uneasy?

“What do I do? What do I do? What do I d—”

Then, he suddenly closed his mouth. And…

“…Ah.”

He quietly lifted his chin and looked at me. His pupils, which had been strangely turned to the right, were now facing me directly. Then, in that state, he slowly continued to speak.

“I understand.”

A voice as if he had just realized something. I felt an unknown sense of unease and raised my hammer when he said,

“What to do.”

With those words.

Boom-!

The body I was holding in my hand exploded.

***

The explosive force itself wasn’t that great. The hand that was tightly gripping his neck felt a slight sting? Even that was closer to a slightly itchy feeling like an allergic reaction rather than a scratch. But that explosion was enough to tear someone’s flesh into thousands of pieces and scatter bone fragments.

“The divine power… it’s meaningless.”

I stared blankly at the ground, covered in blood and flesh, for a moment. After grasping the situation, I let out a long sigh.

‘Oh man, I messed up.’

It’s not that I don’t have excuses, but the reason for my defeat was ultimately my lack of imagination. I always tried to keep the worst in mind. How could I not have predicted such a situation?

‘…No, but even so, how could I have known this?’

Of course, while blaming myself, I also had such thoughts. It was not only difficult to know, but even if I did know, would it have been possible to stop it? That was the fundamental question. After all, how do you stop an emergency escape? Emergency escape is a skill with no countermeasure. Unless you’re a god, you can’t grab a dead guy. In theory, it’s the best escape skill… As much as it boasts that fraudulent performance, the price for using it is one’s own life—.

‘Enough with the useless thoughts, let’s get organized.’

“Yandel…!”

“It’s okay, don’t make a fuss. Ah, leave me alone for a moment, I have something to think about.”

After reassuring my worried companions, I first took some time to review and organize the situation. In conclusion, it was possible to summarize it in a single sentence.

‘Something unidentified was pretending to be Maddakin Lilgriams.’

Then, who is the culprit? There was one suspect that came to mind.

‘The Village Chief.’

No, to be precise, should I say it’s someone the Village Chief sent? I don’t think the Village Chief would have panicked so easily after being caught so carelessly. Anyway, now that I have a suspect, the next step is simple. One of the basic elements of deduction.

‘Why? And how?’

What reason, and what method did they use to do this? I made numerous assumptions and pondered, but this was thoroughly veiled and impossible to figure out.

‘To deceive me into thinking he was innocent? Or maybe he just wanted to watch me from the side…’

Not only is it not clear what the purpose was.

‘What do you have to do to make this possible?’

There is no clue to even guess. There are a few skills that steal other people’s bodies, but that’s completely different from this feeling. Most of the time, the caster has to be nearby, and even after taking over the body, something like a thread connects them, which can be seen with the naked eye. So, that means…

‘It’s not a spirit.’

If I had to say.

‘A ghost.’

It would be more similar to a ‘ghost’. As soon as I thought that, my hands were covered in cold sweat. However, even after spending a lot of time and sometimes discussing it with my companions, I couldn’t figure out anything more. It’s still just a hypothesis with insufficient evidence.

‘The Village Chief has a way to take over other people’s bodies like a ghost.’

It wouldn’t hurt to be careful.

***

After the commotion of Lilgriams’ emergency escape. As soon as the incident was somewhat resolved, I led the group to investigate the library. There were two changes while we were gone.

‘The books… they’ve reappeared.’

The used summoning books were recharged. When we left, the lower parts of the bookshelves were almost empty. The books that were scattered haphazardly were all organized, and the floor was clean. And…

‘The stairs have also been reset.’

I had diligently used summoning books to connect the stairs to the upper bookshelves where 3rd-grade monsters appeared, but the library I returned to was back to its original state.

‘Hmm, so what’s the reset standard? Is it time?’

If that’s the case, I wonder if the rainy season might be the standard, but it’s not yet confirmed.

“Yandel, it’s still good. This way, we can get spirits much more easily.”

“Ah… that’s true.”

As Amelia said, it was a positive situation. It’s a shame that the stairs were reset, but it means that farming is theoretically possible indefinitely. Well, it’s not like there are no negative points.

‘If it resets like this in the middle, it’ll be difficult to reach the top of the bookshelves with simple grinding.’

A time limit has been added to the already difficult Library Island clear. However, it’s not too late to complain about this when we aim to clear it later.

‘Now that I know it resets, let’s stop wasting time here.’

I threw away all my worries and focused only on the reason I came here. Actually, I was good at grinding-type games. If I just do it mindlessly, all sorts of distractions disappear.

「You have defeated the Frost Wolf.」

「You have defeated the Stone Golem.」

「You have defeated the Hobgoblin.」

「You have defeated the Ice Orc Warrior.」

「You have defeated the Yeti.」

「You have defeated the Luthure Shaman.」

「…….」

After that, we divided the members into a group that searched for books with good hunting targets and a combat group, and continued grinding like crazy. 9th grade, 8th grade, 7th grade… The higher the bookshelves we could climb, the higher the difficulty became, and from the time when monsters of 4th grade or higher began to appear, we focused on summoning ‘specific monsters’. Magic stones came out. Experience accumulated. And…

“A spirit!”

Although spirits for the Anabada members haven’t come out yet, a few spirits came out every day, and the group I led grew little by little overall. And as time passed…

“That’s enough! We’ll stop here for today, so everyone rest!”

85th day since entering the labyrinth.

「Your character’s soul resonates and leads you to a specific world.」

That day had come.