Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 663

The veins on his forehead bulged.

His breathing was ragged, full of agitation.

Even the way he bit his lower lip and clenched his fist tightly showed his anger.

Looking at Lee Baek-ho, who was clearly furious, the first thought that came to mind was, ‘He’s acting strange.’

“…Huh? Why aren’t you answering? Is it really true?”

It was truly odd.

Lee Baek-ho had always been arrogant and impulsive, doing whatever he wanted.

But why did his angry appearance feel so unfamiliar?

As I pondered, the answer soon came to me.

‘Come to think of it… he’s never been this angry before.’

Surprisingly, Lee Baek-ho had never been genuinely angry before.

Even when we bickered about killing each other, it was more like a game. He only acted that way when he had a reason to threaten me.

But……

“Ha, I never thought I’d get screwed over like this.”

This time, it was different from those times.

Lee Baek-ho felt like I had ‘attacked’ him, and he was reacting extremely sensitively to it.

Therefore, I had to quickly get my bearings.

It wasn’t like I did it, and besides……

“Wait a minute.”

More than anything, I also needed to figure out what was going on.

“…The return magic circle is broken?”

If this was true, it would be a huge disaster for me as well.

Even though the magic circle had restoration magic on it, it would take at least a year to restore it.

“…Look at him, trying to play dumb after getting caught while running away?”

“I wasn’t running away.”

“Then why were you moving away?”

GM cautiously interjected at Lee Baek-ho’s question.

“It’s just that there were signs of someone else at the entrance, so we were trying to move away. It wouldn’t do for it to be known that the Baron and I were outside.”

“……Is that true?”

“There’s no reason to lie. And if someone really intentionally destroyed the magic circle, we don’t have time for this.”

“Hah… Is that so?”

At GM’s words, Lee Baek-ho quickly calmed down.

If he was going to calm down with just one sentence, why did he get so angry in the first place?

‘Ah, come to think of it, he has a lie detector ability.’

Even if it didn’t work on me, that ability would have worked properly on GM.

It was at that moment.

“Mr. Baek-ho, what they’re saying is probably true.”

The archer, who had followed Lee Baek-ho, appeared and vouched for our innocence.

“The scent from inside is completely different from the scent of these two.”

“…Really?”

Lee Baek-ho took a step back, looking embarrassed at the archer’s words.

“The scent leads that way.”

“Okay, got it.”

Soon, Lee Baek-ho shot off like a rubber band towards the spot the archer had pointed out.

I had been the target of his anger and didn’t even get a proper apology, but……

“Let’s go too.”

“Yes…?”

I picked up GM and ran towards the spot where Lee Baek-ho had gone.

We had to check it out together, after all.

Who the hell did this?

Thud, thud-!

As I ran through the forest at my maximum speed, the archer quickly caught up and passed me.

But why couldn’t he just go quietly?

“…Excuse me.”

Is being rude a common trait among main characters?

I didn’t know, but after running for a while, I saw Lee Baek-ho and the archer stopped at a bush.

They were both bent over, looking down.

“Looks like they really planned this, huh?”

“Yes. It seems like a plan specifically targeting us.”

“Tsk, then that means our information was leaked… Who the hell is it?”

“Didn’t you encounter the Baron’s group at the old Noark Fortress? Maybe the information spread from there—.”

“Bullshit. It’s obviously our problem. Don’t you think so too, Baron?”

Well, I didn’t know the situation well, but if someone was being targeted, it was more likely to be Lee Baek-ho than me.

“So, what’s down there?”

“Ah, would you like to come and see?”

As I slowly approached Lee Baek-ho, a corpse hidden by the bushes came into view.

A gruesome corpse with its entire body melted, almost half of its bones exposed.

“…It must be a suicide.”

GM, a veteran mage, didn’t even flinch at the sight of the corpse and muttered as he scanned the surroundings, and Lee Baek-ho nodded in agreement.

“Right? You think so too, right?”

“…This kind of cutting off the tail [a term for eliminating loose ends] is a common tactic.”

“Did you find anything else?”

“……Well, he’s probably not a mage.”

“That’s right. Mages tend to have their left rib cage protruding more due to their bone structure.”

“Yes. It’s a characteristic caused by their hearts being much larger than normal people.”

They were talking as if it was common knowledge, but it was the first time I had heard of it.

‘The left rib cage is bigger, huh…’

I didn’t know why, but I had to remember it.

It might be useful someday when I’m alone.

“In my opinion, the mage who came with him probably went back, and this guy here is likely the one who damaged the magic circle.”

“He came all the way here to kill himself to destroy the evidence?”

“Yes. Looking at the yellow powder on these leaves, it seems like he used strong acid berry powder. Ah, by the way, strong acid berry powder is one of the main ingredients of what is commonly called ‘blue curse’……”

“I know. It’s something the royal family often uses, right?”

Lee Baek-ho’s voice suddenly turned cold and sharp.

“……If the royal family is really behind this, they wouldn’t have used this.”

“You never know. They might have been aiming for us to think that way.”

“……”

Anyway, to summarize the situation, it’s simple.

Whether it was Lee Baek-ho or me.

This unknown corpse guy broke the magic circle to mess with us.

Which means.

“Ha, this is screwed. The old man said it would take at least a year.”

We were stuck outside the castle walls until the restoration was complete, whether we liked it or not.

***

“There doesn’t seem to be anything more to gain here, so how about we go back to where we were earlier? I’d like to check the magic circle myself.”

At GM’s request, we returned to the cave entrance. By the way, Lee Baek-ho’s companions were waiting in front of the entrance.

“Just the old man and I will go, the rest of you stay here. Okay?”

“Yes, okay! We’ll make sure no one enters, so don’t worry!”

Including the gatekeeper, the archer, and the mysterious newbie.

These three were told to wait at the cave entrance, and then me, GM, Lee Baek-ho, and the Ruin Scholar entered the cave in a 2:2 formation.

“Hmm, perhaps we’ve been caught up in this friend’s fate.”

The Ruin Scholar, after hearing the situation, only muttered something meaningful and didn’t say anything else, and neither GM nor I said anything.

“……”

“……”

This atmosphere is really awkward.

Thump, thump.

Lee Baek-ho also seemed to have a lot on his mind and kept his mouth shut, and this uncomfortable silence continued until we arrived at the magic circle.

“…They really destroyed it thoroughly.”

The scene was filled with gouges and scorch marks, as if a dynamite had exploded.

“The old man said we’d have to wait, what do you think?”

“…I have a similar opinion. It’s not that there’s no way to improve the restoration power—.”

“What? There’s a way? Tell me.”

“In the current state, it’s practically impossible—.”

“Ah, I’ll make the judgment, so just tell me.”

GM frowned for a moment at Lee Baek-ho’s forceful tone, but then he began to list the necessary items one by one.

Listening to him, I could see why he said it was practically impossible.

Elder Lich’s Poscord.

Soul Winder’s Magic Core.

Ghul Lord’s Life Stone, etc.

All the materials he mentioned were byproducts that could only be obtained in the labyrinth.

And of course, even if you carried magic stones, no one would carry such byproducts.

“Ha… Why are they all so maniacal? I’ve got plenty of well-selling byproducts like ogre tendons.”

“…That’s why I told you, it’s practically impossible in the current state—.”

“Huh? It’s not completely impossible, though?”

GM tilted his head at Lee Baek-ho’s nonchalant words, and the Ruin Scholar nodded and explained instead.

“Well, if this is your first time, you haven’t seen it yet.”

“…Haven’t seen it? What do you mean?”

“There are monsters outside the castle walls.”

…This is the first time I’ve heard of this.

***

Monsters that exist outside the castle walls.

After listening to the story, these monsters had a few characteristics.

1. For some reason, monsters do not appear near Lapdonia.

2. When defeated, they always drop byproducts, and when hunting with distortion magic, you can obtain essence or magic stones.

3. The number of monsters is extremely small, but their intelligence is much higher than in the labyrinth.

To summarize the main points, there were about three things, and in my opinion, the most important thing here was number 2.

“…You can always get byproducts when you defeat them?”

“That’s right. It’s the complete opposite of the labyrinth.”

The monsters outside the castle walls do not turn into light and disappear when their lives are extinguished, but leave their bodies intact.

And is it thanks to this characteristic?

“Some of the things I heard about, I just threw away because they were annoying. Ha… When am I going to go all the way back there again……”

Lee Baek-ho was also able to easily obtain many byproducts while living outside the castle walls.

However, unfortunately, he only looted expensive materials like ogre tendons due to space issues.

‘Crazy……’

I felt a chill run down my spine when I heard those words.

‘A hunting ground where distortion [a type of magic] is guaranteed to succeed if you just catch them?’

In some ways, it’s as groundbreaking as the essence factory on the first basement floor.

That’s because, even if you just hunt here and sell the byproducts, you can make a huge economic profit, and……

‘You can finish a grind that you don’t know how long it will take in one try?’

This fact was too attractive to me.

That’s because barbarians are just as crazy about ‘byproducts’ as mages.

To grow the ‘Spirit Imprint,’ you always need monster byproducts.

Which means.

‘I might be able to get the 9th stage materials for free?’

Being isolated outside the castle walls was unfortunate, but it was definitely a golden opportunity to raise the Spirit Imprint level, which had been stagnant for a long time—.

“Hey, Baron? What are you thinking about that makes you grin like that?”

“…Nothing.”

“Okay, then let’s go out? I’ll properly introduce you to my companions later. It seems like we’ll have to stick together for a while anyway.”

Stick together, huh……

“…Okay.”

There was some anxiety because the other party was Lee Baek-ho, but if I thought about it calmly, it was right to stick together.

For now, this guy knows much more about the outside world than we do.

It was a reasonable decision to follow him for the time being.

“The old man and I, and this guy, Aures, already introduced ourselves last time, so it’s not necessary……”

Lee Baek-ho, who had come out of the cave, briefly introduced his companions.

“This is our archer. His name is Layton Briatt.”

He was human, but his skills were said to be on par with any elf.

Ah, of course, he added something after looking at me.

“Ah… but he’s still no match for the Baron’s elf archer.”

Of course, how could you beat someone who can control the Spirit King and has eaten a tier essence?

“…It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you from Ms. Carlstein.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you.”

I completely ignored Briatt’s shyly extended hand and shifted my gaze to the side.

I had heard about this archer from Misha, so I wasn’t curious about him.

Unlike that mysterious newbie.

“Ah, and this is our team’s healer……”

“I’ll introduce myself.”

The newbie, who was wearing a robe, interrupted Lee Baek-ho and stepped forward.

She still had her robe pulled down, as if she had no intention of showing her face.

‘…I was wondering, but she’s a woman after all.’

She was rather small.

“I’m Jaina.”

“……And?”

“That’s it?”

It wasn’t wrong, but for some reason, her sharp tone reminded me of Raven.

Is this a characteristic of short people?

As I was chuckling, Rex Aures, the tank of Lee Baek-ho’s team, approached with a hearty laugh.

“Hahaha! I don’t know how long it will be, but let’s get along well! Baron!”

…Maybe I can get along with him.