Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 670

Dark Lord Deadred.

Just that name alone is enough to convey how powerful he is.

He’s the lord of the 7th floor, the Dark Continent.

Well, it’s unusual for the 7th floor to have two lords, but…

That doesn’t diminish his power in any way.

Anyway.

‘How the hell did he get that…?’

Frankly, it doesn’t make any sense.

Unlike the cheat version where you can just overwhelm with essence, in the original difficulty, it’s virtually impossible to conquer without knowing ‘that method’.

But have I been underestimating Baekho all this time?

Maybe he’s surprisingly capable.

‘……Or maybe he just got incredibly lucky.’

I don’t know the exact circumstances of how he obtained Deadred’s essence, but if I had to guess, it’s likely he got it a long time ago.

Because…

‘The last time it was summoned was almost 8 years ago.’

Given the nature of the labyrinth, which is always full of explorers, it’s impossible to secretly summon a floor lord.

Therefore, there’s no chance to get it within 8 years, even if you wanted to.

Well, by natural means, that is.

‘The royal family probably has a floor essence stored in a test tube somewhere.’

It’s also possible that Baekho obtained it through some kind of deal in between.

Though, circumstantially, that possibility seems low.

‘……So, it really was summoned that day.’

Baekho, who was exploring the labyrinth dreaming of a harem, had his identity exposed due to his companion’s betrayal.

Surprisingly, that timing is perfect.

So, I thought the royal family was using the floor lord as an excuse to cover up the incident regarding Baekho.

I heard a lot of explorers died in the labyrinth.

‘Baekho must have been the one who summoned it.’

To make another guess, Baekho must have been the one who summoned the floor lord.

In a desperate situation, you need to shake things up, even if it means taking a gamble—.

“It’s a terrifying power, no matter how many times I see it…”

As I was lost in thought, Aures next to me muttered, letting out a long breath.

“Is everyone alright… Are you hurt anywhere?”

Even though he’s a tank, it seems like it’s a habit for him to ask about his companions’ well-being first.

“I’m fine.”

“Same here.”

While the healer, Jaina, and the archer, Briat, came to their senses and answered Aures’ question, the GM, who was still being carried like a burden, was different.

Should I say he’s still out of it?

“…W-what, what was that just now?”

What, has he never fought the Dark Lord in the game?

I knew it was that skill as soon as I saw it.

“I’ve never even heard of such an ability existing…”

Still, I understand his soul-gone expression.

Even I was getting goosebumps from the power, since it was my first time seeing it in person.

Let alone if he didn’t even know the existence of that skill.

Chiiiiiiiiik-!

The steam from the heavy rain evaporating due to the heat left on the ground rises high like a fire scene.

Of course, that didn’t last long.

The heat quickly cooled, the steam disappeared, and my vision returned.

“……”

A crater that had expanded much larger than when a single meteor fell.

Inside, only Baekho stood alone…

“Surprise!”

Soon, Baekho looked up at us and waved his hand with a playful expression.

Looking at this, he seems like a funny guy…

‘To think that a nuclear weapon was hidden behind that smiling face.’

Maybe I should reconsider.

I was sure that I would never lose if we fought.

“What are you doing? It’s all over, why aren’t you coming here!”

At Baekho’s call, we approached the crater again.

“Old man Destruction! Take this first! This is super expensive, right?”

Soon, Baekho pointed to a spot with sparkling eyes where a pure white orb had fallen.

Chijijijik-!

The current contained within the orb moved as if dancing.

If I had to compare it to a modern object, it was very similar to a ‘plasma ball’.

You know, that thing that’s usually a prop in a tarot shop.

“This is… the ‘Thunder Orb’.”

“Ah, right, that was the name. So, how much is this worth?”

“It’s a treasure that’s hard to put a price on for mages.”

“No, so how much is it?”

At Baekho’s persistent question, the Destruction Scholar roughly stated the expected number, and Baekho’s eyes widened.

“Wow, is it that expensive? I almost messed up big time.”

I could understand why Baekho was so relieved.

Wasn’t it a skill that completely erased an area with a radius of over 70m?

If it were a normal monster, it would have been completely annihilated, and we wouldn’t have been able to obtain any byproducts.

“Huh? Can you just pick it up?”

“It’s my first time seeing it in person, but I know that there’s no need for any magical measures when handling byproducts.”

“Ah, I see… Then give it here.”

Soon, the dropped ‘Thunder Orb’ disappeared into Baekho’s subspace [a personal storage dimension].

I felt a strange pain in my stomach, but I didn’t object.

It wasn’t just because Baekho was much stronger than I expected.

‘I should pay the price for showing me the skill.’

Wasn’t it a skill that was like a hidden trump card?

If Baekho had kept it hidden until the end, the battle would have been much more difficult.

Besides, it’s not like we need the ‘Thunder Orb’ right now.

‘It would be nice to make a hammer out of it when going for a damage tank barbarian build, but…’

Since I already got the ‘No.87 Crawl’s Demon Smasher’, it doesn’t mean much, and none of my companions need a thunder weapon.

Therefore, I decided not to demand a share this time.

If I really want something, I can use this concession as an excuse.

“Okay, so the looting is done… Let’s get back to what we were doing.”

After finishing the looting, Baekho immediately turned his back and approached the tombstone that had fallen on the ground due to the crater.

“It’s a relief that it’s not even scratched. Should I just put this in my subspace as it is? It seems like it would be valuable as a material.”

Baekho’s words gave off a feeling that he was trying to change the subject.

‘Is it because he’s worried that the story about [Annihilation of the Stars] will come up?’

I don’t know his exact intentions, but thanks to that attitude, I lost the timing to bring up the essence.

‘…Actually, it doesn’t seem like it would mean much even if I asked.’

Anyway, I was also curious about the tombstone, so I quickly approached them.

Baekho and Aures were trying to put the tombstone into the subspace together…

“Move aside. I’ll help too.”

When I joined in, the tombstone, which was heavier than a ton, was easily lifted.

And…

“Huh?!”

As soon as the edge of the tombstone slightly entered the subspace, it was repelled with tremendous force and bounced out.

Kuuuuuung-!

The tombstone, making a heavy sound, was half-buried in the ground.

“Whoa! What is this!”

As Baekho made a fuss, the GM approached the tombstone and squatted down.

“…It’s very unusual. I don’t feel any magic circuits or such properties inside, but the rejection reaction to the subspace is so extreme.”

“It’s definitely suspicious, right?”

“Yes… It seems like we need to investigate it more thoroughly over time.”

“How about it? I’m going to try to investigate this for a while… Ah, Baron, you agree too, right?”

Watching Baekho trying to regain the initiative naturally, I chuckled and nodded.

“Yes, I agree.”

Heavy rain was pouring down.

It’s a dangerous area where even meteorites are falling from time to time, but maybe this is the key to returning to where we originally were.

“Um… then I’ll start with the component analysis, but… Aures, could you hold this for a moment?”

“Oh! Of course!”

And so, time passed quickly.

***

The 9th floor, Star Tomb.

Strictly speaking, it’s a region very similar to that, but anyway.

This place was not a good environment to study something thoroughly in one place.

Shwaaaaaaaaaa-!

The rain pouring down like a storm went beyond cold and discomfort, and the water level kept rising as if there was a flood.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaang-!

Meteorites fell from time to time.

Flash-!

Lightning, snowstorms, strong winds, hail, earthquakes, hurricanes, and so on.

We experienced all kinds of natural disasters, and in the midst of that, we had to keep fighting monsters.

The problem is…

“Hey, if you’ve been given a week, shouldn’t you have figured something out?”

“……”

“Old man Destruction, I didn’t think you were like this, why are you like this? If you don’t think you can do it, just say you can’t. That way, we won’t waste our time. Huh?”

After a week of detailed investigation of the tombstone, the only thing we found out was that it was very hard.

However, there were gains on the other side.

As the number of battles increased, we were able to understand the monsters here in more detail.

‘The threat level is definitely not working.’

It’s difficult to properly draw aggro [a game mechanic where a character draws the attention of enemies] here.

It’s not that the ‘threat level’ is 0 due to field effects or anything like that.

It’s just…

“It seems that this is a phenomenon caused by the high intelligence of the monsters here.”

At first, the monsters would rush in excitedly, but if I was holding up well, they would quickly change their minds and try to attack the dealers first.

As if they were learning.

‘Since aggro isn’t working properly, the perceived difficulty feels like three or four times higher.’

Of course, it wasn’t like we were struggling through every battle, facing death at every turn.

There were some really dangerous situations from time to time…

But isn’t it said that humans are the most adaptable animals?

“Monsters in the north-northeast direction!”

“……Reditrous, I see.”

“Everyone, to your positions!”

Instead of going forward alone as the main tank, I stay near the group and act as a defensive wall.

And…

“There’s only one anyway! Don’t move hastily, focus on protecting!”

We take advantage of the fact that there are extremely few monsters compared to the normal field and fight as safely as possible.

“Hey, why are you trying to collect all the byproducts of 5th-grade mobs? There’s no space, so just throw away the bulky ones!”

“Even if the grade is low, they are very rare materials. Just going back to the city later—.”

“Geez, you’re so greedy. We can make a lot of money just by taking the things we need to take back.”

“……”

We mainly collected the byproducts that were particularly valuable, and threw away most of the rest.

It would take at least a few months to return to the city anyway, and by then, our inventory might be full.

It was a choice to reduce time waste.

“…So, what are you planning to do, Baron?”

“I think we should stop investigating and move.”

“Where to?”

“I think it would be good to just keep going in one direction.”

“Well, that might be better. But which direction are you going to go?”

The place we are currently in is the 9th floor, Star Tomb.

Among them, it is the ‘Primordial Land’ located in the center.

For reference, if you meet special conditions here, you can summon and catch the ‘Primordial Dragon’…

‘The moment you summon it, it’s game over, so let’s skip this…’

I said the destination I had in mind.

“West.”

“If it’s west from here… the Old Rock Prairie? Why there?”

The reason is simple.

“Because there’s a ‘Spirit Gate’ in the Old Rock Prairie.”

“Ah, so you’re trying to see where it leads if we take it.”

“Well, it’s not even certain if it’ll be there.”

“I see. I thought you were going there because of the 8th stage engraving materials!”

…This perceptive guy.

“Enough, let’s hurry up and leave. It doesn’t seem like we’ll find anything more by investigating here.”

“Yes, yes! Everyone heard that? Let’s go now!”

After the situation was settled, we moved west as planned, and after about four days, the Old Rock Prairie, our destination, appeared.

And…

“……Ha, I never imagined we’d be blocked here.”

When we had passed about half of the Old Rock Prairie, a dead-end wall blocked our path.

Shwaaaaaaaaaa-!

A gray world where everything had lost its color and was dying, which I had seen once on the Lapdonia coastline.

“Don’t even try to approach it. The moment you touch it, you’ll die instantly.”

Oh, so that means if I push him here, Baekho will die?

Such a thought suddenly crossed my mind, but I didn’t try it.

Getting out of here together is the priority.

“First, it would be good to go around along this boundary line.”

After that, we moved with the boundary line on our left.

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

And, fifteen days.

After moving quickly for a full 15 days, we became increasingly silent as the days went by.

As the outer part of the map was completed, an ominous certainty began to fill us.

“Um, maybe…”

“Just be quiet. It’s not certain yet.”

“Yes…”

Two more days passed after that, reaching the 17th day.

We were back in the Old Rock Prairie again.

We had made a large circle, keeping the boundary line on our left…

Jiiiiik.

Finally, I connected the line to the incomplete circle drawn on the map and let out a big sigh.

Now, there was no need to hold back for fear of bad luck.

“Shit.”

We were trapped here.