Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 616

“Where… where is this….”

“Kaislan, are you awake?”

The man who regained consciousness looked dazed, as if he were still dreaming. Eventually, he fully woke up after I slapped him on the cheek.

“Ah, ah… !”

Yeah, this is effective in many ways.

“Yandel…! I’m so glad you’re safe!”

Honestly, it was a bit touching to see him relieved to see me as soon as he regained consciousness.

But….

“It’s Commander, you know.”

“Hehe, Commander. I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Can you get up?”

After exchanging a few jokes, I helped Kaislan up. Then, I shared the information we had gathered so far and asked if he had any new information.

“…I don’t know. Unlike Raven, I don’t remember anything.”

“Do you usually have trouble remembering the day before when you drink?”

“…Not really. I don’t like drinking that much in the first place.”

“Anyway, it seems like there are individual differences in whether or not you remember.”

“No. It’s also possible that it’s because of the distance. When it happened, Sir Kaislan was probably staying near the temple where the main force was, unlike me.”

“Well, maybe that’s really the reason.”

Everything is just a hypothesis, so we need more samples.

With that in mind, we continued to guard the rail like gatekeepers, quickly waking up any comrades who appeared.

Thanks to that, we learned something.

“Hmm… so you vaguely remember? You were near the temple at that time.”

The presence or absence of memories doesn’t seem to be related to distance, but rather just individual differences.

Why, there are people who remember their dreams well, right?

For the record, I’m not one of those people.

According to my comrades, I grind my teeth and talk in my sleep, but when I wake up, I don’t remember anything.

“…Are you talking about the prison we were in?”

“That… I don’t remember well. I’m sorry.”

Unfortunately, even those who vaguely remembered didn’t know where they were imprisoned.

Therefore….

“At this point, it’s safe enough without me.”

As soon as we had a minimum number of troops after rescuing more than ten people, I revealed my plan to explore alone to my comrades.

“Commander, wouldn’t it be better to wait a little longer and move together?”

Kaislan expressed concern, but I couldn’t waste any more time.

I didn’t show it, but even at this moment, my insides were burning black.

“That’s because, the search party leader who went ahead is also likely to be fine—.”

“It’s just a possibility.”

“……?”

“I don’t want to just wait here and hope that everyone is safe.”

“…I misspoke.”

“No. Please take care of this place while I’m gone.”

I smiled and patted his shoulder, and Kaislan chuckled and saluted me.

“Understood.”

Is it because he’s a soldier?

Even though it looks like he’s doing it jokingly, his posture is so sharp.

“Raven.”

“Yes. What is it?”

“When more troops gather, try to investigate the surroundings as much as you can. Ah, but I don’t mean you should force it if the situation isn’t right….”

“Pfft, I understand. What you mean.”

“Still, I’ll say it before I go. Your safety is the top priority, not some investigation. Got it?”

“Yes. So, go and come back.”

Okay, I’ve made sure to say it, so they won’t overdo it.

After exchanging a glance with Kaislan, who is always reliable as a subordinate, I left this damn factory.

***

Every second is precious.

Even with that thought, I didn’t move hastily.

Reminding myself of the Korean proverb, ‘The more urgent it is, the more you should take a detour,’ I started by figuring out the building’s structure.

‘The factory is running on the lowest floor, and there are a total of four staircases leading down here.’

However, there are other routes besides the stairs.

There are hundreds of rails in this building, and those hundreds of rails are connected to the rails of this underground factory.

So, I thought about going back along each rail, but….

‘This won’t work.’

After going back along one rail and seeing it split into dozens of branches, I gave up on this method. I decided that searching the entire building would be much more efficient.

So, I started from the underground factory and went up one floor at a time, making a map….

‘It’s not there.’

Even after completing 100% of the map, I couldn’t find the room where my comrades were trapped.

But I wasn’t discouraged.

It’s not that it’s really not there.

It’s more likely that there’s a hidden room somewhere that’s not on the map, and that room can’t be found with such a simple method.

‘Should I go into the rails now and go back along each one?’

I suddenly had that thought, but I shook my head.

I didn’t think I could find the room that was deliberately hidden in this way.

Therefore, there’s only one thing I need to do now.

“Hamsik, do you remember anything?”

[…I’ll tell you if I remember.]

Something hidden.

In other words, I need to find the hidden piece.

Just like how I tore off a stair tile based on Hamsik’s memory and got a strange iron card.

If I search carefully, I’ll definitely see something.

‘There must be a way to use this card somewhere.’

With that thought, I was looking around the entire building again when….

Tap, tap.

Someone tapped my shoulder from behind as I was searching the lower area with my knees on the floor.

“I’ve finally found you, Yandel.”

I was so surprised because I didn’t even sense anyone coming, and when I turned my head, there was an unexpected person standing there.

“…Amelia?”

“I told you to call me Emily, whether we’re inside or outside?”

My whole body lost strength for a moment at her nonchalant words.

“Haa……”

She’s safe.

***

“What happened? Your body? Is your body okay? Did you also turn into that magic stone—.”

“Calm down. I’ll explain everything.”

“Ah, okay.”

I calmed down and went into listening mode, and Amelia told me what had happened one by one.

“Unlike the others, I was able to regain my senses in the middle.”

“What? How?”

“Well, I don’t know either. Maybe there was something in my essences that could resist this kind of attack.”

I know more about Amelia than Amelia herself.

There is no mental resistance type among Amelia’s essences.

However, if I had to pick one candidate….

“It’s most likely thanks to Twin Hydra’s [Dual Rule].”

[Dual Rule] is a passive that divides the ego into two.

In the game, when linked with skills like [Self-Replication], it had the effect of giving a higher-level AI to the target and increasing skill performance….

‘Maybe there were other effects that I didn’t know about.’

It sometimes happened in [Dungeon & Stone].

Oh? This skill blocks that skill? Things like that.

They were advanced pieces of information that you couldn’t predict just by reading the description, and you had to experience them yourself to know.

Anyway, that’s not important….

“Can I continue?”

“Ah, uh… go ahead.”

When she regained her senses, Amelia was on the rail.

She was moving somewhere, and Amelia went back along the rail to escape and searched the building alone.

That’s how she naturally found the factory in the basement….

“Fortunately, a few people had already regained their senses.”

That was after I had already woken up Raven and Kaislan.

So, after receiving the information, she immediately followed me to find me….

I feel my tension release again, and my legs give out.

I grabbed Amelia’s shoulder as if to support myself and said,

“I’m so glad, really. That you’re safe….”

Amelia just looked up at me without answering, and I slowly took my hand off her shoulder.

No, I was about to take it off.

Tap.

Amelia’s hand gently overlapped my hand on her shoulder.

A small and delicate hand, but with deep calluses.

Tap, tap.

Amelia tapped my hand as if to comfort me, then firmly grabbed my hand with a bit of force.

And….

1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds.

A short time passed quickly, and I snapped back to my senses.

‘What is this….’

Something feels weird, doesn’t it?

Isn’t this like a man and woman who are getting along well?

As someone who had decided to treat my comrades strictly as comrades after what happened with Misha, this atmosphere was very awkward.

So, I quickly pulled my hand away.

‘Is she… not bothered by it?’

There was no change in Amelia’s expression.

She just looked up at me as before….

Thump-!

She punched me in the solar plexus.

“…Why the hell?”

I was more embarrassed by the sudden attack than the pain, but I couldn’t dare to argue with Amelia’s next words.

“I told you to wait a moment.”

“……?”

“You said you’d be right back, but you completely ignored me and went inside. This is your punishment.”

Ah….

She really can’t stand being in debt.

“Ahem…. Anyway, I’m glad! I’m glad! I was so worried that you might have turned into a magic stone.”

When I changed the subject, Amelia seemed to think that it wasn’t the time to nag, and she immediately responded.

“I heard about the magic stone. It’s a very unique place.”

“…I guess so. Ah, but you said you investigated the building too? Did you find anything?”

“I did. About three things.”

“You did?”

Three things?

When I urged her to tell me quickly, Amelia chuckled and said,

“One is a door to escape this place. It felt different from a portal, but if you go through that door, you can get out of the temple.”

“That’s where I came in to find you guys. So, what’s the second one?”

“The second one is this staircase. There was a small groove, and when I looked at it, there was an empty space inside the wall. It was big enough to hide a small object, but unfortunately, there was nothing inside.”

Ah, that’s it.

But how did she find that?

I barely found it because Hamsik told me, but did she find it just by her sharp eyes?

“What’s with that look? Do you know something?”

“I do. I found that a while ago.”

“…You did?”

I also showed Amelia the object I found inside the wall, who looked a little surprised.

“Indeed… this is what was supposed to be there?”

For some reason, Amelia looked like she understood something as soon as she saw the card.

“Do you know what it’s for?”

“Not for sure yet, but….”

“What is it? Tell me quickly.”

“It’s also related to the third thing I was going to say. I found a hidden door, but I couldn’t figure out how to open it.”

“Do you think this is the key?”

“If my guess is correct. There was a groove next to the hidden door, and this object would fit perfectly.”

“Hmm, I see.”

It was meaningless to argue about whether this was the key or not.

Because we could just go and test it.

“Where is it? Let’s go quickly.”

“It’s on the top floor.”

The place Amelia led me to was an empty hall on the top floor of the building.

I had been there when I was making the building map, but I didn’t find anything then.

But….

“The seams on this wall are unnatural in this part.”

Even though Amelia kindly explained it to me, I couldn’t understand.

Where exactly is it unnatural?

“Usually, when hiding secret doors, they are placed like this. It’s rare for the seams to be so invisible, but….”

“Is that so?”

“Above all, there’s a groove in front of it, isn’t there? I was sure there was a door when I saw this.”

Indeed, as Amelia said, there was a small gap on the wall where this card could fit.

It was so thin that I wouldn’t have found it when I was searching alone, and even if I had seen it, I would have just passed it by.

“Then… should I put it in?”

Amelia nodded slightly at my cautious question.

After exchanging a glance, I immediately inserted the card into the hole.

Click.

It felt like something was catching at the end, like inserting a card into a vending machine.

And….

“What, nothing’s hap—.”

“Step back, Yandel.”

Drrrrr-!

After a moment, the wall caved in, revealing a secret passage.

“…It was really there.”

After exchanging a glance, Amelia and I cautiously stepped into the passage.