Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 610

A large ship sat alone in the middle of the jungle.

After everyone disembarked, I immediately canceled the summoning. The ship was quite tilted, making it difficult to stay aboard.

Even if that weren’t the case, we needed to get off quickly.

After all, you can’t navigate a jungle by ship.

‘M-monster…?’

‘What? A monster!’

Hamsik, having no choice, revealed himself, causing a stir.

It was something we had to deal with eventually.

When we transferred ships during the rainy season, I hid him inside my armor to move him, but I couldn’t keep him hidden forever.

However, the reaction was completely different from what I expected.

‘W-what is that monster…!’

‘It’s kind of cute for a monster?’

‘It’s a species I’ve never seen before.’

This was unlike their horrified reaction when they first saw Hamsik in the library.

The members were all staring at Hamsik’s true form.

‘………So that’s what he looks like.’

Amelia, who had gone down from the ship first to patrol the surroundings, was now standing next to me, having returned at some point.

She was looking at Hamsik with shining eyes.

‘…Can I touch him?’

‘Ask him yourself… no, first let’s sort out the situation.’

I quickly intervened and had them lower the weapons they were pointing at Hamsik.

‘This guy is someone we encountered in the library, and he’s not hostile to us.’

‘D-does that mean he’s not a monster?’

‘Well, I don’t know about that, but I believe this guy will be helpful in escaping the first basement floor.’

‘Ah… so that’s why you stopped by that island back then.’

‘So, when are you going to lower your weapons? Do I have to give the order again?’

‘Ah! S-sorry!’

A military is a group where you do as you’re told. That’s the basic rule.

At my words as the commander-in-chief, the members only distanced themselves while looking wary, but they didn’t do anything rash.

[…What’s going on right now? I can’t understand what they’re saying, but the way they’re looking at me seems a little different from usual.]

‘Ah, you mean that? It seems like everyone can see your appearance clearly here.’

[…What? But even so, they’re still wary of me…]

‘Of course. Even if it’s your true form, you’re still a strange being to us.’

[Ah… t-that’s true, I guess…]

Hamsik seemed somewhat flustered, to the point where he couldn’t think of something so obvious.

And perhaps because he had no one else to rely on, he clung to my side and grabbed my sleeve.

‘Don’t stay there, come here.’

While I was at it, I grabbed Hamsik and put him on my shoulder.

At first, he seemed surprised and struggled, but he quickly regained his balance and curled up, as if he liked being on my shoulder.

‘Well, it’s like raising a pet.’

Anyway, that’s the end of the Hamsik issue for now.

‘Search Team Leader.’

As I briefly called out her title, Amelia finally took her eyes off Hamsik.

‘What are the results of the search?’

‘There’s nothing around right now. The flying object you saw is also gone, and the search team’s mages haven’t found anything in particular either.’

I then passed the baton to the vice-commander, and he skillfully used flowery language to state the names, ranks, and reasons for death of those who had died.

And…

‘Archbishop Altbehiman, I ask for your help.’

The funeral ended as quickly as a flash of lightning, with the priest praying for their souls and the mage handing over the cremated remains to their closest companions.

‘Those not on guard duty, go back and rest! This might be the last time you can rest like this! Ah, and don’t forget your shift rotation!’

Even without the vice-commander’s nagging, the members, who were exhausted, hurried to their assigned sleeping quarters.

Ah, of course, there were exceptions.

‘Armin.’

Muhl Armin, the leader of the Armin Exploration Team.

The guy, who was to be assigned to guard duty much later, was standing still in front of the place where the bodies had been cremated.

‘Where’s White Hecht?’

‘…He seemed to go straight to sleep.’

‘Well… he must be tired. But what about you?’

‘…I should go back and rest soon too.’

He said that, but it seemed like it would be a while before he returned to the barracks.

Unlike the Hecht Clan, which felt like a medium-sized company, the Armin Exploration Team had all been close for a long time.

‘Okay, go ahead. You should rest too.’

‘Yes.’

I then patrolled the camp.

Amelia, Erwen, Misha, Goblin, Bersil… they were all already asleep, probably tired, and I slowly moved to my own barracks.

My personal one-person barracks, located in the center of the camp.

The vice-commander had begged me to have my sleeping quarters separate like this, saying that if I only stayed with Squad 4, my closest aides, the other squad members might feel alienated…

‘They even put a cot in here.’

I chuckled and laid Hamsik down on the small cot.

‘Sleep well.’

For a barbarian, a blanket is enough.

***

The next day, after the entire exploration force spent a full day resting while taking turns on guard duty, we resumed our exploration in earnest.

Of course, with over a hundred people, we couldn’t just start moving.

‘Investigation Team Leader.’

‘Yes?’

‘……You know, right?’

‘……Yes. I’ll be back.’

I assigned the search team leader to the investigation team leader, who was also an excellent mage, to scout further, and based on the results of the scouting, we held a meeting of the executives.

‘We’ve greatly expanded the search radius, but we haven’t been able to find any monsters.’

‘What about the temple that was visible in the distance? Did you check that too?’

‘Yes. We couldn’t check inside the temple, but no monsters were found nearby.’

‘Why couldn’t you check inside?’

‘The entrance was blocked by something magical.’

‘Something magical?’

It was hard to believe that a mage who was skilled enough to join the exploration force would say that, but the investigation team leader answered confidently.

‘I’ve investigated it, but I couldn’t figure out the principle. I’m just making an assumption. I think it might be similar to the dimensional disruption phenomenon that’s often found in rifts.’

‘A dimensional disruption phenomenon… Ah, I don’t need to explain it. An explorer would know that.’

A dimensional disruption phenomenon can be seen as a ‘barrier.’

Like in the witch’s hut and the Crimson Fortress.

The place you enter through a portal is like a world of its own, but it’s surrounded by a barrier that you can’t break no matter what you do.

‘Anyway, if that’s the case, it’ll be impossible to force our way in.’

‘Yes. It’s also possible that it’s a terrain that we can’t enter in the first place—.’

‘No, that’s not going to be the case.’

‘Yes…?’

‘……I just have a feeling.’

I belatedly realized that I had spoken like a barbarian, but I had a reason for being so sure.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a reason, but statistics.

‘There have been cases where we couldn’t go beyond a certain area, but there hasn’t been a single structure that was absolutely blocked from entry.’

It’s more likely that there’s a condition to be met to enter, which is the normal progression.

‘…Then, is it okay for me to continue with my report?’

‘Ah, go ahead.’

After that, the investigation team leader talked about the things they had seen or learned while searching the surroundings.

There wasn’t a single bug in the jungle.

Plants that are mainly found in the Dark Continent were growing.

They found some rusty iron scraps on the ground.

These were seemingly minor pieces of information, but they might be helpful someday, and they continued for a long time, and I tried my best not to miss any of it and recorded it in my head.

The decision was made after all the reports were finished.

‘Prepare for departure after the meeting is over.’

‘Are you going to the temple?’

‘Yes.’

Since that was the only thing we found in the area, I planned to go and see it with my own eyes.

And if there was nothing particularly dangerous, we could start searching again from there, expanding the radius.

‘No matter what, making a map first is the best thing to do.’

That’s how the exploration began.

Over a hundred people crossed the jungle while maintaining their formations, and finally arrived at the temple.

It was a structure with dozens of stone buildings, and a huge temple located in the center.

‘Hmm… it feels familiar somehow?’

‘It does to me too. It’s a place that feels familiar.’

‘When have I ever been to a place like this?’

Just by the members’ reactions, I could tell that it wasn’t just my imagination.

‘…Pantellion Ruins.’

‘Huh?’

‘Didn’t the ruins we saw there feel just like this?’

‘Oh! If those ruins were in good condition, they would definitely feel like this!’

If my guess was correct, this place we were in was the Pantellion Ruins of the 7th floor Dark Continent. Or, to be precise, it was likely the original place of that location.

‘Then, let’s check the temple first.’

Therefore, we headed to the temple as soon as we arrived.

The stairs in the center weren’t that high, and the entrance was located at a point about three stories high.

It was a stone door that looked like it would open sideways or up and down.

‘Investigation Team Leader, is there no other way to enter the interior?’

‘Yes. It seems that the dimensional disruption phenomenon isn’t limited to just the stone door, but covers the entire temple…’

‘I understand. Then, you don’t have to participate in the exploration, just focus on investigating the temple.’

‘Baron… no, Commander, where are you going?’

‘I’m not going right now, but I’m planning to expand the search radius around this place for a few days. It’ll be easier if we have a map.’

In reality, I entrusted the investigation to them and focused on map-making.

I selected a few people from each squad to expand the search radius and prioritized map-making…

After a week of searching, we didn’t find much.

‘It’s incredibly wide.’

Unlike the rifts where you could see the dimensional disruption phenomenon just by going a little bit out of the way, this place was incredibly wide.

And…

‘A river.’

There was a river flowing in the far east direction from the temple.

Assuming this place was the Pantellion Ruins, it was likely the mouth of the Aribeona River in terms of location…

‘It was quite different.’

It was very different from the Aribeona River mouth that I knew, so I was still confused.

‘I’ll decide later whether to search beyond the river…’

While the exploration and investigation were struggling, the research department, where Raven was serving as the vice-chief, made an unexpected discovery.

‘These iron scraps we found in the forest. They’re not just ordinary iron.’

‘Is it a new metal?’

‘Yes. I don’t know if we can even call it a metal. There’s no metal in this world that rots instead of rusting, right?’

The metal sample she showed me was indeed blackened like rotten flesh and even smelled bad.

‘As you can see, the size has also decreased as the decay progressed.’

‘……That’s a strange metal.’

At first, I just reacted like that, but Raven’s next words changed my perspective.

‘But… when I saw this, something came to my mind?’

‘What is it?’

‘The study of alchemy. Actually, in the old days, it was a study that started to create ‘humans’.’

It was a story I had heard before.

Well, the current alchemy is just a technology that uses the energy of magic stones to create resources.

‘So?’

‘I was interested in it before, so I studied it. But do you know why ancient alchemy failed to create ‘humans’? They couldn’t create flesh.’

‘Flesh?’

‘Yes. Flesh, skin, muscles… things like that. So, no matter how much they put a soul into it, it couldn’t become a human. Maybe a magic golem with intelligence. You know Yandel, right? The story of the Melt Eye statue.’

‘You mean that steel golem that protected the royal palace during the Iron Wall and was destroyed?’

‘Yes. That’s right. Melt Eye is a prime example of a golem made by putting a human soul into it. Of course, making golems using souls is now illegal, so no one dares to research it.’

Oh, I didn’t know that.

‘…Okay, so what are you trying to say?’

When I asked directly, Raven made an embarrassed expression and summarized her words in one sentence.

‘It’s just that. If this kind of metal existed back then, I was wondering if the things I just mentioned might have actually been possible.’

A story that was somehow very unpleasant, yet stuck to my mind like a sticky substance and kept coming back to me.

But perhaps we had discovered a new material that might be useful in the future.

‘Raven, research it well. Think about where and how it can be used.’

‘Yes.’

That was the end of the conversation with Raven, and as time passed, the story naturally faded from my mind, and my interest in the new material gradually decreased.

But…

‘Commander!’

How many days had passed since that story?

I had woken up from sleep and heard an urgent report, and I couldn’t help but freeze in a daze.

‘It’s humans!’

‘……?’

‘A group of unidentified humans has been discovered near the river mouth!’

Why was the story I had with Raven the first thing that came to my mind?