Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 607

Mysteries (1)

A horse running through the sky during a non-rainy season.

The village chief’s ghost story notebook didn’t mention that it would emit such a sparkling light, but whatever.

Since this is a sudden encounter, I need to make a quick decision.

Of course, the notebook did advise that no problems would occur as long as I didn’t attack or get close, but…

‘That doesn’t mean I should just ignore it, does it?’

Frankly, the moment I saw it, my mouth started watering.

It was like witnessing a legendary monster, you know?

‘What should I do?’

Since the village chief gave a specific warning, it must be quite dangerous.

But as such a creature, if I succeed in hunting it, the rewards will surely be great.

That’s the law of [Dungeon & Stone].

Great risks always come with commensurate rewards.

“Hey! It’s getting farther away!”

“Shouldn’t we do something? It’s definitely a new type of monster… !”

“Everyone, stay in your positions and wait for the commander’s orders!”

In the end, I made a decision.

Perhaps that guy might have a clue to escape that even the village chief doesn’t know about, but…

‘Let’s just let it go for now.’

Today is not the right time or place.

It’s not on land, and our forces are scattered across four ships.

Since I don’t know the extent of its danger yet, it’s more reasonable to attempt a raid after making full preparations in a more suitable location.

Therefore…

Click-click.

Holding the message stone as if it were a radio, I spoke.

“Do not attack the monster in the sky under any circumstances. This is the commander’s order.”

The Barbarian Commander Order was transmitted to all the leaders on each ship the moment I spoke.

Of course, no member would ignore this order and act rashly.

Thud.

I, who had stopped at the bow of the ship, clicked my tongue as I watched the horse’s back getting farther away.

“Tsk.”

Well, I’m sure we’ll meet again someday.

***

A little tidbit of knowledge from Lafdonia.

99.9% of the currency in this world is released into the market through the Dimensional Plaza checkpoint.

That’s why they use the unit ‘stone’.

A 100-stone coin has exactly that much magic stone value.

And to put it another way.

Swoosh-!

We are currently consuming about 500,000 stones per hour. That’s because we’re running the magic engineering propulsion device at maximum output throughout the voyage.

Oh, and for reference, the consumption value is per ship.

“It’s definitely incredibly fast when you’re pouring money into it.”

The speed is so fast that even the sea monsters we occasionally encounter don’t dare to approach the ship.

“Auyen, how long do you think it will take to reach our destination at this rate?”

“The estimated time seems to be reduced by half, Commander.”

A month’s journey has been drastically reduced to fifteen days.

Well, if we hadn’t returned to the Library Island from the place where the stone gate was, we wouldn’t have needed to move so urgently…

‘What’s the point of regretting it now?’

Thanks to the full engine power, the wasted travel time has been reduced to just a few days.

Well, in exchange, a huge amount of magic stones were consumed.

“Hahaha! Did you see that? Over 1 million stones have already been burned! Ah, since there are four ships, is it 3.78 million stones!”

“…It’s 4 million stones, Mr. Pnelin.”

“…Hahahaha! More than that, this is quite fun!”

Ainar, who was in charge of navigation assistance, slammed magic stones into the magic engineering propulsion device with great excitement every time Auyen gave instructions.

It seemed that spending money like water was quite fun.

Of course, there were those who felt sorry for those magic stones.

“You said it would take fifteen days to reach the destination…”

“How much is it for four ships?”

“I don’t know for sure, but it seems like you could easily buy a decent mansion in the city.”

“Hoo…”

Actually, I felt the same way.

We were using the magic stones brought by the exploration team when they entered the first basement level, but just watching it made my heart ache, you know?

Still, it was an unavoidable choice.

The shorter the time it takes to reach Rainbow Island, the better.

“Is it because of the rainy season? The reason for this rush.”

“I guess so. If it takes a month to arrive, the rainy season will start again soon.”

The destination, Rainbow Island, is shrouded in mystery.

Therefore, it was necessary to secure as much exploration time as possible that did not overlap with the rainy season.

“So, it makes me even more curious. What did you do alone when you went down there? Looking at it, it seems like Mr. Yandel thought that was more important than saving that time.”

“Ah, that…”

I hesitated for a moment, then explained the existence of Hamsik, which Raven didn’t know about yet, and told him that I had brought him outside.

“That monster appeared from the rift? So you thought there might be a chance you’d need that monster’s help?”

“…If you had to put it that way, you could say so.”

“Hmm…”

Raven just made a strange expression and remained silent for a long time.

“Oh, right. Since we’re talking about secrets.”

“What about it?”

“That flower crown. I finally decided on a name.”

Ah, he finally decided.

I thought he was just going to keep it to himself since he hadn’t come to tell me even after several days.

“What is it?”

“…The Crown of Agony.”

Raven, who revealed the name with a somewhat shy demeanor, even explained the reason for the name without being asked.

He said that although it had the effect of mental immunity, it had great limitations, so it was necessary to think carefully before wearing it.

“…How does it sound?”

Well, I don’t know.

If the name was the Crown of Agony because the namer had agonized over it so much, I would have immediately accepted it.

“It’s good.”

“Heh, right? Then, are we doing it as promised? When it’s okay to reveal this item to the outside, you must use this name and say that I named it. Oh, and that I’m the researcher too.”

“Okay.”

After I gave him my confirmation once again, Raven disappeared, seemingly satisfied, and after that, the voyage continued without any particular incidents.

Most of the time was spent chatting with my colleagues, and in the remaining time, I patrolled or did experiments with Hamsik in the cabin.

“Hamsik, have you been well?”

[…Let me go back.]

“Today’s experiment is the ‘dying flashback’. It’s said that when people are in a life-threatening situation, they sometimes recall forgotten memories—”

[No! I won’t do it. Absolutely!]

Geez, he’s so sensitive.

He was so active when we were doing various experiments at first.

“Hmm, has he become completely lethargic due to repeated failures?”

As I muttered in an analytical tone, Hamsik went into a frenzy.

[Beee—!!!]

A cute howling that Hamsik lets out when he’s truly angry.

Of course, it only sounds like a terrible noise to other people.

In fact, when I brought Raven into the room a while ago, his face turned pale and he immediately ran away.

“Don’t get angry. The dying flashback experiment is just a joke. Ah, I’ve brought some things you might like today.”

When I took out a few books I had received from Raven, Hamsik’s face, which had been sulking, brightened up.

‘Oh my, it’s like raising a child.’

Ancient language books that even Hamsik, who can only speak ancient language, could read.

They weren’t even storybooks.

But Hamsik was so focused on reading the books as if nothing could be more enjoyable, and I lay down on the bed next to him to rest.

And…

One day, two days, three days, four days…

How long had that time passed?

Ainar came to my room, where I was resting in the cabin.

“Byornnn!”

“It’s not Byorn, it’s Commander—”

“Auyen says we’ll arrive at our destination in an hour, so come out!”

Whew, we’ve finally arrived.

It was time to tighten the loosened tension again.

***

When I headed to the control room, I saw Auyen holding the helm and checking the map with a serious look.

“Ah, Commander. You’ve arrived.”

My navigator, the only one among the Anabada Clan members who consistently calls me Commander.

“Ainar said that we’ll arrive soon?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Are you sure? Yesterday, you said we would arrive this afternoon.”

“We had to recalculate because the wind picked up at a certain point, increasing our speed.”

Wind, huh…

Indeed, my hair was flying as soon as I came out on deck.

When I went to the railing and looked down, I could see the water currents were rougher than before.

[If the waves start to surge during the rainy season, immediately stop the journey and find a place to hide.]

The content written in the ghost story notebook suddenly came to mind, but I didn’t think it was referring to this.

It’s not the rainy season right now.

The currents are a bit rough, but it’s not to the point where waves are surging.

“So, are you confident in your calculations?”

“Yes. I’ve checked several times, taking into account the changed speed.”

“If you say so, then it must be true. Good work.”

After hearing Auyen’s report, I used the message stone to instruct all the warships to prepare to respond to any situation since we would soon arrive at our destination.

“Erwen! Is it still not visible?”

“Yes! I still don’t see anything!”

We were close to our destination, but even Erwen, who was positioned in the crow’s nest, couldn’t see anything.

“…”

As we were gradually slowing down, at some point, the wind stopped, and a calm zone appeared.

Also, at the same time, the ship stopped.

The reason why the ship, which moves well even without wind thanks to the magic engineering propulsion device, stopped was simple.

“We’ve arrived, Commander.”

We had arrived at our destination.

“Are you sure this is it?”

“I’m not sure if this is the place where the pillar of light we saw that day was, but… I’m certain that this is the place shown on the map.”

“Hmm…”

I didn’t doubt Auyen’s words or abilities.

Although I rescued him while hunting a plunderer, Auyen is a navigator with talent that even the skilled naval navigators who joined the exploration team were amazed by.

If he was so sure, then what he said must be true.

In fact, as soon as we arrived here, the unusually strong wind completely stopped, and a calm zone appeared, didn’t it?

We need to think differently.

We have arrived at the right place.

But the reason why we can’t see it is something else.

For example…

“Then it must be one of two things.”

“…Yes?”

“It’s either under the sea, or floating up there.”

“Ah…”

No one reacted as if my words were absurd.

In fact, there are islands like this even in the 6th Great Sea.

The underground island where the deep-sea giant appeared, and the dark cloud island that we haven’t even dared to explore yet because we don’t have time and it’s not a priority.

“First, we’ll check under the sea.”

My guess was that if something was hidden, it was likely to be under the sea.

After all, the first basement level map itself is the sea, right?

With that thought, I first ordered them to drop anchor to check the depth.

But…

“Commander! Even though we’ve released all the ropes, the anchor isn’t reaching the bottom!”

If the warship’s anchor can’t reach the bottom, how deep is it?

It’s becoming even more suspicious.

“…It seems we have no choice but to go down ourselves.”

I selected a few individuals with outstanding personal abilities and formed a special mission unit. Then, one by one, they put on oxygen tanks (mages) on their backs and dived into the sea.

I wanted to go down myself, but…

“Absolutely not!”

I had no choice but to give up after hearing the vice-commander’s first outburst.

He said that it was not right for the commander to do such dangerous things, and that they were talents directly gathered by the royal family to deal with any situation properly, so I should trust them.

“Considering that, it seems like you sent the Count into the rift just fine.”

“Yes. And our exploration team lost its commander for a while that day.”

“Oh…”

When he put it that way, I really had nothing to say.

But is it because I heard his confession that he didn’t like being in a position of responsibility last time?

I’m slightly suspicious of the real reason why he’s stopping me.

‘It’s a shame that I can’t explore directly, but it’s still comfortable for my body.’

The first deep-sea exploration ended while I was just sitting and waiting on the ship.

The result was a failure.

It wasn’t that there were monsters swarming under the sea, or that there were other obstacles, but…

“…No matter how far we go down, we can’t find a place to touch the bottom.”

They dived as far as the oxygen tanks (mages) allowed, but they couldn’t reach the end point.

Ah, after that, I didn’t bother to organize a second exploration.

I judged that it didn’t seem like we would get a different result even if we tried again here.

“Then we’ll have to check the top.”

Therefore, the story naturally ended with exploring the sky first.

“Go, Exploration Team Leader!”

As soon as the mages of the exploration team, who had done a deep-sea exploration, finished their rest, they used levitation magic to fly them up.

“…I’m glad I chose that research back then.”

Raven, who had come to my side, sighed in relief.

“I’ve suddenly become curious, why is the research head the research head, and the exploration head the exploration head?”

“…You’re paying attention to strange things.”

“You named them without thinking, didn’t you?”

It’s not that I didn’t think about it, but it’s also true that I didn’t agonize over the names as much as he did.

“Enough, look up there. If you fall, you guys have to catch them.”

“Okay.”

How much time had passed while we were watching above?

Contrary to our worries, the exploration team leader safely landed on the ship, leading the mages of the exploration team.

“From about 200m above, the gusts of wind were so severe that it was impossible to go any higher.”

The first sky exploration was also a failure.

However, unlike the deep sea, it wasn’t a complete failure.

“However… One of the members said that he thought he saw something up there just before descending.”

If the member didn’t see it wrong, there’s something in the sky.

‘The problem is how to get up there…’

It was time to unleash the gamer’s imagination.