Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 82

I’m not sure exactly when it started.

But when I noticed,

“Misha? Dwarki? Hicurod?”

Everyone was frozen like statues, their eyes wide open.

‘What the hell is this?’

As I wondered, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before.

Very thin and long needles.

Each one was stuck in my companions’ necks.

The important thing here is…

‘I’m probably the same, with a needle stuck in me.’

My neck muscles are stiff.

And that tingling sensation is spreading downwards.

“Your character has been poisoned by ‘Basilisk Paralysis Poison’.”

“Your character’s physical stats are over 300.”

“The poison effect is reduced by half.”

My heart, sensing the threat, began to beat like crazy.

On the other hand, my brain calmly issued commands.

What I need to do right now.

Swoosh-

My massive arm raised the shield to cover my upper body.

My legs bent slightly, lowering my center of gravity to react at any moment.

“……”

A silence that felt like it was strangling my neck.

In that silence, I focused on the sounds, even holding my breath.

Drip- Drip- Driip-

The sound of water droplets falling from afar.

And that was all.

But I didn’t doubt it.

Just like when I stepped on the goblin trap.

Surely, the enemy is nearby.

“……”

A few seconds of chilling silence followed.

It felt like every nerve cell in my body was on edge.

Tap.

Then, a very small sound was heard.

It wasn’t quite a footstep… more like the sound of a pebble rolling in the wind.

‘……Is it a stealth skill?’

I made a quick judgment.

I don’t know what it is, but the poison is spreading through my body.

So, instead of wasting time…

“Your character has used [Wild Outburst].”

It’s better to try and make a move.

That would be a little more likely to work.

“Behel—RAAAAAAAAH!!!”

I shouted with all my might.

Of course, unlike monsters, ‘threat levels’ don’t work absolutely on people…

But this part was researched in the past.

[Hmm… It was a very, very strange feeling. My head knows it’s not dangerous at all, but my body feels like it has to run away…]

When exposed to [Wild Outburst], those with weak spirits feel fear. So, it might not act as a ‘provocation’ and they might run away.

But, conversely, if the target is aggressive…

[I felt like I had to get rid of you quickly. Ah, of course, that’s before you got huge. After you got huge, I felt similar to Dwarki.]

It’s possible to ‘provoke’ to some extent.

So, what about the unidentified enemy hiding in the dark?

“That’s a curious feeling, barbarian.”

I knew it.

Well, I should be the one saying that it’s curious.

I don’t know what they did, but the voice is coming from both in front and behind me at the same time.

But, putting aside the problem of not knowing the enemy’s location.

‘Wait, that voice sounds familiar…’

I froze, startled.

The voice I just heard was a woman’s.

It was a little husky, but it was definitely a woman’s voice.

‘Who the hell is it?’

My brain, feeling the question, combined the keywords.

A ‘woman’ who hides like an ‘assassin’ and shoots ‘paralysis poison needles’.

…I remembered.

“It was you.”

The psychopath I met in the Land of the Dead.

It must be her.

***

Didn’t she think about hiding her identity?

“…I didn’t expect you to recognize me just by my voice.”

She revealed herself from the front.

A lithe figure, a little over 170 cm tall [approximately 5’7″].

Fiery red hair and a right ear that was half cut off. Except for the fact that she was wearing casual clothes, everything was the same as before.

Thud.

She took a step, closing the distance.

To be honest, cold sweat was pouring down my back.

I’ve grown explosively recently and even earned the nickname ‘Little Vulcan’…

“You’ve gotten much stronger, barbarian. To be able to move after taking that.”

But I’m still no match for her.

‘An explorer who operates on the 8th floor and can even use aura [a type of life force or energy]…’

No matter how I look at it, I can’t win alone.

But I don’t intend to just die.

I put strength into the hand holding the shield and mace, rearming my frightened mind.

Seeing me like that, the woman asks.

“Are you not running away because of your companions?”

Seriously, she’s such a psychopath.

The fact that she’s curious about that kind of thing is just creepy.

“I’ll ask first. You should have kept your promise, so why do you want to kill me now?”

I swallowed hard and asked back.

I was curious about her motivation. If I knew that, maybe I could think of another way.

However…

“Want to kill you?”

She frowned and tilted her head.

“You were the one who opened the door and invaded first, barbarian.”

“…Door?”

“Tell me. Who told you about this place?”

‘What the hell is she talking about?’

Somehow, the conversation is going wrong from the start.

I asked directly.

“I don’t understand, so speak plainly. Invaded? Where is this place that you’re saying that?”

The woman frowned again.

It seems she’s finally realized that there’s a big problem with this conversation.

“…How did you open the door?”

“If you’re talking about that magical thing in the sewer, I smashed it with my mace.”

“Smashed it…?”

“Is there a problem?”

At my confident question, the woman closed her eyes for a moment, then shook her head as if she understood.

“No, there isn’t.”

As a top-tier explorer, she doesn’t blindly believe in magic like Dwarki or the dwarf.

But she was curious about the reason, so she asked.

“But why did you break it?”

“Because that bitch ran away here.”

Only then did I naturally put down Elisa, who I had been carrying.

Actually, she’d been bothering me since a while ago.

I had to carry her because there was no time, but she would definitely be a hindrance if a fight broke out.

“…That priestess of Karui who was recently wanted.”

“I’m glad you know. So, is the misunderstanding resolved?”

“The misunderstanding is resolved.”

“Then that’s good. It was nice meeting you. We’ll be on our way. Ah, you don’t have to give us potions. I’ll take care of the rest—”

“Stop, now that you know about this place, I can’t just let you go.”

“…Even if I destroy the video recording device and swear to keep everything that happened today a secret?”

“The situation is different from then.”

Shit… I guess it’s not going to work.

I cleanly erased my weak heart.

Now that I’ve heard her say it, I only have one option left.

Therefore—

Clank.

I took off the armor I was wearing.

“…What are you doing all of a sudden?”

Whether the opponent was questioning or not.

I took off my greaves, helmet, and shoes and threw them away haphazardly.

And…

“Hey.”

I spoke.

Fortunately, the opponent responded to the conversation.

“…?”

She looked at me as if to say, ‘Say what you have to say.’

I quickly continued.

“Do you know the two ways to make people angry?”

“…What?”

“The first is to stop talking in the middle. And the other is…”

“The other is…?”

I don’t know either.

No one told me that.

“Behel—RAAAAAAAAH!!!”

I dashed forward with all my strength.

Hoping that even a little of her attention would be diverted.

I pulled the arm holding the mace behind my shoulder.

The woman, who was startled for a moment, chuckled as if she had belatedly noticed my trick.

“You’re a funny one.”

Well, even if I dash at this distance, it wouldn’t be that surprising to you.

Then how about this?

Whoosh-!

I swung my arm forward and threw the mace.

Swish-!

She dodged it, as expected.

The woman, who nimbly twisted her body to avoid the mace, looked at me with a ‘what is this’ expression.

“…?”

It seems she didn’t expect a barbarian to throw his weapon from the start…

Without any regrets, I threw the shield I had left in one hand.

Whoosh!!

Thanks to the practice I did on my days off, the shield flew like a disc.

Its speed was incomparable to the mace.

However…

“…!”

That unnecessarily flexible woman easily avoided the shield by bending her back.

It was expected, so I wasn’t disappointed.

Tap-!

Using the moment when the mace and shield were separated, I kicked off the ground once more and continued my dash.

As my physical stats have already surpassed the realm of ordinary people, the distance closed in an instant.

‘Now.’

I stretched my hand forward, just like when I slid towards Elisa.

Her expression was still relaxed.

Just a face that said, ‘Oh, is that so?’

Tap-

In reality, she moved back three steps, accurately escaping the distance.

I wasn’t particularly disappointed this time either.

I stretched out my hand so obviously on purpose.

‘As expected.’

A straight passage that can’t be called wide.

If a large barbarian rushes from the front, the only place to escape is behind.

Of course, if she had moved all the way back, there would have been no answer…

But even then, she only moved just enough to dodge.

It’s not a matter of personality, but rather a manifestation of an efficiency-focused mindset that she naturally acquired while pursuing a higher level.

‘I can go with Plan A.’

Therefore, I activated [Giantification] at the right time.

It’s a combo skill I created after being inspired by my dramatic survival against Liakis.

“Your character has activated [Giantification].”

My body swelled, and my arms lengthened accordingly.

The distance that should have been about three steps short was immediately closed.

“…!”

For the first time, a hint of panic appeared on her face.

And I haven’t even properly started yet.

I immediately grabbed her shoulder and pulled her towards me.

I felt considerable resistance at my fingertips.

But…

“You.”

It’s different from before when I was even pushed back by strength.

After all, back then, I was a newbie barbarian at level 1 with 0 essences.

“You need to build up your strength.”

My opponent was helplessly pulled in by the power left to me by the corpse golem, the vampire, and the orc hero.

“Kuh!”

I grabbed her neck tightly so she couldn’t escape and punched her in the face.

Thwack-!

A heavy sound and a satisfying feeling.

As expected, it wasn’t enough to subdue her in one blow.

Therefore—

‘One more time.’

I quickly recovered my fist and slammed it down again.

But at that moment.

My dynamic vision, which had been pushed to its limit, detected her movement. She had already regained her senses and was swinging a dagger at me.

‘Is she planning to cut off my wrist entirely?’

I made a quick judgment.

She’s an aura user.

Therefore, physical resistance, bone strength, magic resistance, and whatever else, don’t mean much. Surely, that dagger will cut off my arm before it reaches her.

So…

‘I have to go with Plan B.’

I stopped the fist I was extending.

It’s not that I’m going to be careful now.

It’s just that I didn’t think it was reasonable to take a one-sided loss.

I’m not afraid of getting hurt at all.

If that’s what I have to do to survive.

‘Flesh Explosion.’

The moment I finished imaging it in my head.

A strong explosion occurred in the hand that was holding the opponent.

Boom-!

Flesh exploding.

And acidic blood.

Sizzle-!

That poisonous bitch only frowned, not even letting out a groan.

But did she not have pain resistance stats?

Even if she endured the pain, her movements were stiff for a very brief moment.

‘Good, then back to Plan A.’

Avoiding the swung dagger, I punched her in the abdomen.

Knowing that this was a chance that would not come again, I continued as if there was no next time.

Thwack-! Thud! Thud! Thud!

As a dealer with a paper body [fragile build], she soon reacted.

“…!”

Blood was gushing out of her mouth, as if her insides were messed up.

As soon as I saw this, an immense excitement, enough to feel pressure in my eyes, rushed to my head.

Shit, the only way to win against this bitch is—

“Amelia Rainwales has activated [Self-Replication].”

At that moment when my brain sensed hope.

Suddenly, my instincts rang an alarm and sent a warning.

The reason was simple.

“Barbarian.”

…Why am I hearing a voice from behind?

She’s clearly here, held by me.

Tap tap-!

At the sound, I unconsciously stopped punching and turned around. An identical woman was running towards me.

‘Shit.’

I wasn’t particularly curious about why this could happen.

[Self-Replication].

A super rare essence that can only be obtained from the guardian of the ‘Doppelganger Forest’, a 4th-floor rift.

“Since I ate the vampire’s essence, this much should be okay.”

The woman I was holding muttered.

And at that moment.

“Amelia Rainwales has activated [Asura’s Wrath].”

The woman’s clone leaped high and then rotated in the air, kicking me in the face.

KWAANG-!!

An impact that felt like my head had been blown off.

No, did it really get blown off?

Thud.

A heavy impact sound near my ear.

My vision went dark.

My consciousness faded away like a phone with a dead battery.

“You, mi…”

Shit.

***

“Due to the passive skill [Source of Darkness], your character will not die until the heart is destroyed.”

“Your character’s regeneration is greatly increased by the [Eternal Life] effect.”