Surviving the Game as a Barbarian

The aura isn't meant to be used like that.

With that arrogant remark, the Chief swung his sword, proving firsthand that his words were no exaggeration.

It wasn't the power of the essence.

He cut with nothing but a highly honed skill and a single sword.

Aimed at his target.

More precisely than anyone else.

"Tsk, still couldn't kill it."

As the radiance of the pure white aura faded, surprisingly, the Archbishop was still alive.

His body was sliced nearly in half along the sword's path, but from the cut surfaces, writhing tentacles squirmed toward each other.

As if trying to reattach themselves.

"What will you do now?"

Though the sight was rather stomach-turning, the Chief asked me coldly without flinching.

So, was my job done here?

"If you delay any longer, you won't be able to leave through the portal."

I had to decide quickly.

Had the Chief completely failed, he would have taken the portal without looking back, but this situation was too ambiguous to call failure.

Step by step, I passed the Chief and approached the Archbishop.

I forced open the nearly fused body and tore a scroll inscribed with high-level fire magic, setting it aflame.

"No hesitation at all."

"..."

"Come to think of it, you did clash with the Archbishop once before, didn't you?"

The Chief seemed to misunderstand something.

It wasn't hatred that made me not try to save the Archbishop.

I simply thought it was futile.

'No matter what we did, it'd be hard for him to come back.'

The Archbishop becoming Karui's priest was inevitable.

Once he became Karui's priest, he could never revert to a normal cleric.

But such a major event forcibly fixed at the moment of entering the rift?

'No way.'

The [Dungeon and Stone] I knew wasn't like that.

Though the game seemed irrational when I knew nothing, the more I played, the more I realized that what seemed unfair was only due to my ignorance.

Flare!

Watching the Archbishop's body ignite, I reflected on recent events.

'I messed up.'

I could sugarcoat it as ignorance, but it was a clear mistake.

When the mental contamination happened, seeing both the Chief and the Archbishop unharmed, I had doubts but didn't dig deeper.

In fact, they weren't right in the head from then on.

'...That flower too.'

There was a flower here that lowered mental contamination.

At some point, the Archbishop, who initially accepted it well, began to say he could hold out and even yielded to us.

In hindsight, that was a warning sign.

'What if we had given the flower to the Archbishop and cared for him thoroughly?'

Well, that's a pointless fantasy now.

Unless we come back to this rift, we'll never know.

'Still, I gained knowledge.'

If it were the country I knew from gaming days, I'd add this info about the underground first floor rift:

"Now, are we done with checks?"

"...Not yet."

I glanced once at the shrinking portal and looked down again at the Archbishop.

The writhing tentacles wrapped in blazing red fire gradually ceased moving.

"Do you think something will happen if the Archbishop dies?"

"Yes."

My honest answer made the Chief chuckle bitterly.

"It's strange to say, but you really aren't sane."

"Should I take that as a compliment?"

"Well, interpretation is yours to make..."

The Chief, playfully responding, suddenly fell silent.

No need to ask why.

[You have defeated the Tempted Priest.]

Finally, the burning Archbishop stopped moving.

And...

[Special Condition — Third Record Achieved.]

The Archbishop's body dissolved into a halo of light.

[A No.???? Crown of Agony has been generated.]

An item of unknown purpose dropped.

"So it really happened like you said."

It was a crown worn on the head.

The flowers' colors were black and white.

Not split half-and-half but alternately placed one by one...

"Do you know what this is?"

"I don't."

At first, I thought it was a Numbers item, but no such crown form existed among Numbers items.

Then, what is it?

'...Investigation later.'

I took the crown first and checked the portals.

Luckily, there was still time.

The red portal remained fully intact, and the blue portal was now less than a third of its original size.

"As advice, choose the blue portal. From now on, I'm basically a nonentity."

"Nonentity?"

"I'll be brief. The way I used mana for the aura just now differs greatly from the original owner of this body. Because of that gap, my body is completely wrecked."

...So it wasn't unconditional power.

Somewhat relieving yet chilling.

It means if properly tuned, I could show such power anytime.

'Anyway, not a problem to think about now...'

Summarizing the Chief's words:

I can go through the red portal, but then I have to face all the trials alone.

'Is that really possible?'

The once infinitely holy priest had become corrupt and needed killing, the mage was incapacitated and sent out first.

The strongest knight lost his power.

Whoooosh!

Opening the portal was lucky, nothing more.

Clearly far from a textbook clear.

I had to admit it.

Though it was my first time challenging the rift, no surprise there...

"I'm leaving this place."

I had failed the underground first floor rift conquest.

Only a moment passed, just enough to close and open my eyes.

When I opened them, I was already back.

Not in the ruined, humid air of the Great Demon Mirror's center, but where the guardian statues were gathered.

"Yandel!"

"Bjorn!"

"...Captain!"

As soon as I exited the portal, everyone called me by their own titles and approached.

"Thanks for the concern, but we'll talk later."

Though I appreciated their greetings, I had things to check first.

"Sir! How could you throw me like that!"

Elwen was unharmed.

Her shrunk height returned to normal.

"What about Gahun?"

"The clerics are treating him."

Luckily, Gahun seemed safe.

I didn't know the severity of his injuries, but it was just physical. With multiple clerics attending, it wasn't impossible to save him.

"Baron!"

Someone asked me then.

"Where is the commander? Where is he?"

Jillan Evost.

Brother of Baron Evost and vice-commander of our exploration force.

"Why hasn't he come out yet—?"

I interrupted the vice-commander and explained why the Chief had not yet emerged.

"Count Saintred died."

By his own will, apparently.

He said there was no more natural opportunity to exit than that.

[Better that way. I was thinking about heading back to the city soon, but I needed a plausible reason.]

At first, I thought it absurd, but it was a serious matter from the Chief's perspective.

He couldn't just commit sudden suicide.

Being killed by monsters is no easy thing.

It's hard for others to [N O V E L I G H T] accept, and even if they do, it remains a dishonorable stain.

The Chief didn't want to discard the life he built as Jerome Saintred.

That means—

"The opponent was Karui's priest, armed with powerful authority enough to easily defeat the Hierarch. We bought time to escape but were ultimately defeated."

For the Chief, dying honorably against a formidable opponent everyone could understand was best.

"Karui's priest? Could that be related to Archbishop Hestia's absence?"

"I'll explain later. But there's something else I'm curious about..."

I looked at not only the vice-commander but all gathered members.

"How much time has passed?"

"Exactly 30 days today."

"A month..."

No wonder it felt like we'd set up a whole new base rather than just a day or two passing.

'Still, that's not bad.'

A month is a long time.

Especially underground first floor, where time flows continuously unlike the surface floors.

Still, it wasn't the worst.

'They said everyone except Elwen and me was trapped here for over half a year.'

On the other hand, we saved about five months.

Ah, but from my perspective, that was a definite loss.

I'd only spent about a week inside the rift.

"Well then, tell me what happened inside—"

Why is this guy so impatient?

"Check something first."

I pointed at one spot.

It was something I'd wondered since waking up, though it had been pushed down the priority list.

"Was that stone gate always closed?"

"Yes. When five people entered a month ago, the portal disappeared and the gate closed with it."

I woke up in the middle of this stone chamber.

The portal open like a side door spit me out, then vanished immediately.

'...I'm sure we cleared the guardian and escaped, so why isn't the exit open?'

This was a bolt from the blue for me, who firmly believed the exit would open after clearing the rift.

'What? Because I didn't choose the red portal? Does that mean we have to start over from the guardian statues?'

Countless hypotheses swirled in my head, confusing me.

Rrrrrrrr—

Mocking my impatience, the firmly closed stone gate slowly began to open.

Beyond the open gate was a sealed room.

Three large statues about the size of figurines lay on the floor, and in the center floated a shimmering portal.

'The portal must be the exit...'

The wizard who followed me and the other soldiers peeking from behind showed eyes full of hope and desire.

Well, they'd been here for over a month, so the weariness was understandable.free\\we\\bnov(e)(l).com

"Raven! I grant you authority. Lead the mages and investigate this place. Find out the portal's nature, what these statues are, and if anything else is hidden."

"...Yes?"

"And vice-commander! Gather all heads of departments. I'll explain what happened inside."

Though clearly stepping beyond his authority, no one objected to my actions.

Only some politically aware individuals cast worried glances.

Naturally, Raven was among them.

'Is this okay?'

I exchanged silent looks, a brief conversation: 'Don't worry, just do your job.'

I left the chamber, and while the vice-commander prepared the meeting, I reunited with my comrades.

Oh, I didn't mention the rift during this.

"Why hide it...?"

"Not hiding, just lazy to say it twice. You'll come to the meeting to hear it anyway."

"Is that... your call?"

Amelia pointed out I was only the temporary leader of the 4th squad.

But...

"You'll see soon enough. So how was it here? Nothing special?"

While hearing their stories and passing the time, preparation finished, and we moved to the meeting hall.

A large military barracks with 30 seats.

"Ah, Baron, you're here. But what about them...?"

The vice-commander looked at my comrades, trailing off.

"I brought them so they could listen together. Is there a problem?"

"No, it's fine. The meeting's purpose is to hear what happened inside. But please understand that I cannot offer seats."

Even without titles, nobles are nobles?

They made it clear they would kick us out once the meeting started.

"That's fine. Standing and listening isn't hard, right? You're fine with that too?"

"..."

"Good."

With that, I entered the tent, noticing two empty seats.

Two vacant seats.

Step.

One was the commander's seat.

And the other was mine, opposite the vice-commander.

Step—

An obvious fact.

My seat today was already decided.

"...!"

"...!"

The moment I sat down, the officers' gazes rippled like waves.

The vice-commander was no different.

"Explain what this means, Baron?"

He asked, trying to stay calm.

"What does it mean?"

I smiled and answered.

"You already know, Vice-Commander."

"...?"

"What this means."

"...!"

It was time to unleash my true Barbarian Legion Commander mode.