Surviving the Game as a Barbarian

A horse galloping across the sky outside of the rainy season.

Although the village chief's notebook made no mention of a horse that shines like that, anyway.

Since this was a sudden encounter, a quick decision had to be made.

Of course, the notebook did advise that if we neither attacked nor approached it, no problems would arise...

"But that doesn't mean we just let it go, right?"

To be honest, just seeing it made my mouth water.

It felt like witnessing a legendary monster.

"What should I do?"

Since the chief himself gave a warning, it must be quite dangerous.

But because it was such a creature, if we succeeded in hunting it, the return would surely be great.

That's the law ofDungeon and Stone.

Great risk always comes with great reward.

"Hey! It's moving away!"

"Shouldn't we do something? It must be a new species of monster...!"

"Everyone, stay in your positions and wait for the commander's orders!"

In the end, I made a decision.

There was a chance that this creature held a clue to escape even the chief didn't know about...

"But for now, let's just let it go."

Today's timing and place were bad.

We were not on land, and our strength was divided across four ships.

Since we still didn't know the creature's true danger, it made more sense to prepare fully in a better location before attempting a raid.

Therefore...

Chiiik— chiiik.

Gripping the message stone like a radio, I spoke.

"Do not attack the monster seen overhead under any circumstances. This is a commander's order."

The Barbarian commander's order was immediately relayed to the leadership on every ship.

Naturally, no one disobeyed or acted rashly.

Thuk.

I stopped at the bow, watching the silhouette of the horse fade into the distance, licking my lips.

"Tch."

Still, we'll meet again someday.

A thrifty little fact about Raphdonia.

99.9% of the currency in this world is released into circulation through the Dimension Plaza checkpoint.

That's why the unit is called 'Stone.'

A 100 Stone coin holds exactly that much mana stone value.

And to put it another way—

Swooooooosh!

Right now, we're consuming about 500,000 Stones per hour. That's because we're running the magitech propulsion devices «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» at maximum output throughout the voyage.

Oh, and that consumption is per ship.

"Pouring in money like this sure makes us fast."

Even the occasional sea monsters we meet dare not invade the ship thanks to the speed.

"Auyen, how long until we reach the destination at this rate?"

"The estimated time will be cut in half, Commander."

The one-month journey was shortened to two weeks.

Well, if we hadn't come back from the library island where the stone gate was, we wouldn't need to hurry so much...

"What's the point in regretting now?"

Still, thanks to running the engines at full power, we cut down wasted travel time to just a few days.

Though that did consume an enormous amount of mana stones.

"Wahaha! Did you see that? Already over a million Stones burned! Ah, with four ships, that's 3.78 million Stones!"

"...It's 4 million Stones, Fnelin."

"...Hahaha! Still, this is pretty fun!"

Ainard, in charge of navigation assistance, happily stuffed mana stones into the magitech propulsion every time Auyen ordered.

Looks like he found spending mana stones like water to be enjoyable.

Of course, there were some who saw the mana stones as precious.

"The destination is two weeks away..."

"How much is that with four ships?"

"Probably enough to buy a decent mansion in the city."

"Ugh..."

Honestly, I felt the same.

Though we used the mana stones brought in when the expedition force entered the first underground floor, just watching it hurt.

But it was an unavoidable choice.

The less time it took to reach Rainbow Island, the better.

"So it's because of the rainy season? That's why we're rushing."

"Looks like it. If we arrive after a month, the rainy season will be starting again."

The destination, Rainbow Island, was veiled in mystery.

Therefore, we needed to secure as much exploration time outside the rainy season as possible.

"That makes me even more curious. What exactly did you do alone down there? From the looks of it, Yandel, you seemed to think that was more important than saving time."

"Oh, that..."

I hesitated briefly, then explained to Raven about Hamsik, whom she did not know, and that I had brought him out.

"A monster appeared in the crack? So you thought maybe we could get some help from that monster?"

"...If you want to put it that way, yes."

"Hmmm..."

Raven only made a strange face and remained silent for a while.

"Oh, right. Since we're talking secrets."

"Secrets?"

"That crown. I finally decided on a name."

Ah, so it was finally decided.
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She hadn't come to tell me for days, so I thought she was keeping it to herself.

"What is it?"

"...The Crown of Agony."

Raven shyly announced the name, even explaining why she named it that without me asking.

She said the crown has an effect of mental immunity, but due to severe restrictions, one needs to think carefully before wearing it.

"...What do you think?"

Well, I don't really know.

If the name meant the creator agonized over naming it, that would make sense.

"Sounds good."

"Heh, right? So, as promised, when this item is revealed outside, you have to use this name and say I named it. Oh, and that I'm the researcher, of course."

"Understood."

After I gave my confirmation, Raven seemed satisfied and left, and since then the voyage continued without incident.

Most of the time was spent chatting with companions; the rest on patrol or experimenting with Hamsik in my cabin.

"Hamsik, how've you been?"

[...Send me back.]

"Today's experiment is the lantern flash. It's said that people recall forgotten memories when facing death—."

[No! I won't do it. Never!]

Geez, so sensitive.

At first, he had been eager for various experiments.

"Hmm, maybe repeated failures have made him completely discouraged."

I muttered analyzingly, and Hamsik had a fit.

[Beeee—!!!]

When Hamsik is genuinely angry, he lets out a cute howling.

Of course, to others, it sounds dreadful.

In fact, when I brought Raven into the room recently, his face went pale and he ran away immediately.

"Don't be mad. The lantern flash experiment is just a joke. Oh, and today I brought some things you'll like."

I pulled out several books Raven had given me, and Hamsik's sulky face immediately brightened.

'Ugh, feels like raising a kid.'

Ancient language books that even Hamsik, who only speaks the ancient tongue, could read.

They weren't even storybooks.

Still, Hamsik concentrated as if there was nothing better to enjoy, and I lay on the bed beside him to rest.

And...

One day, two days, three days, four days...

How many days passed like that?

Ainar came to my cabin where I was resting.

"Biyoorn!"

"Not Bjorn, Commander—."

"Auyen says we'll arrive in an hour, come out!"

Phew, finally.

It was time to tighten the loosened tension once again.

Heading to the helm, I saw Auyen gripping the wheel, examining the map with a serious gaze.

"Ah, Commander. You're here."

Among the Anavada clan members, he was the only one who always called me Commander.

"Ainard said we're arriving soon?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Are you sure? Yesterday you said we'd arrive this afternoon."

"The wind started blowing after a certain point, so I had to recalculate."

Wind, huh...

Well, my hair did get wildly blown the moment I stepped onto the deck.

I went to the railing and looked down, noticing the water currents had become rougher than before.

[If waves start surging during the rainy season, stop immediately and find shelter.]

I recalled the contents of the folklore notebook but thought this wasn't what it meant.

It wasn't rainy season now.

The water was a bit rough, but not to the point of waves surging violently.

"So, are you confident in the calculation?"

"Yes. I checked several times considering the changed speed."

"If you say so, then that's that. Good work."

After Auyen's report, I used the message stone to order all ships to prepare for arrival and respond to any situation.

"Elwen! Still nothing?"

"Yes! Still can't see anything!"

With the destination near, Elwen's view from the watchtower still spotted nothing.

"..."

As we gradually slowed down, the wind stopped completely, and a calm zone appeared.

At the same time, the ships stopped.

Though magitech propulsion keeps ships moving without wind, there was a simple reason the ships halted.

"We have arrived, Commander."

We had reached the destination.

"Are you sure this is it?"

"I can't confirm if this is where the pillar of light was that day, but it definitely matches the location on the map."

"Hmm..."

I had no doubts about Auyen or his skills.

Though we had rescued him from marauders, he was skilled enough to impress even the naval navigators in the expedition.

If he was this confident, his words must be true.

Indeed, as soon as we arrived, the strange wind stopped and the calm zone appeared.

Time to think differently.

We arrived at the right place.

But still, the reason we see nothing must be something else.

For example...

"Then there are only two possibilities."

"...What?"

"Either it's under the sea, or it's floating above."

"Ah..."

No one reacted as if that were nonsense.

There are islands like this on the 6th floor of the labyrinth.

The island where deep-sea giants appeared, Jijeo Island, and the yet unexplored Meokgurum Island, which has lower priority for exploration.

"Let's check under the sea first."

If anything's hidden, it's probably underwater.

After all, the first underground floor map is basically the sea.

With that thought, I ordered the anchors dropped for depth checks.

But...

"Commander! Even after letting out all the line, the anchor doesn't touch bottom!"

How deep is it if the anchor won't reach?

More suspicious.

"...We'll have to go down ourselves."

I selected some with outstanding personal abilities and formed a special mission unit.

One by one, I equipped them with oxygen tanks (mages) and sent them diving underwater.

Though I wanted to go myself...

"Absolutely not!"

The first time the deputy commander sharply stopped me, I had no choice but to give up.

She said it was absurd for the commander to do something so dangerous and asked me to trust the talents gathered by the royal family who could respond in any situation.

"But didn't the count enter the crack just fine?"

"Yes. And we lost our commander temporarily that day."

"Ah..."

I had no words after hearing that.

Maybe because of the confession that he didn't want a position of responsibility?

I slightly suspected the real reason they stopped me.

'It's disappointing not to explore personally, but at least I'm comfortable.'

I just sat on the ship waiting, and the first deep-sea exploration ended.

The result was failure.

There were neither monsters swarming underwater nor other obstacles...

"No matter how far down they went, they couldn't reach the bottom."

The mages with oxygen tanks dove as far as allowed but never reached the end.

Ah, after that, no second exploration was attempted.

I judged no different result would come from trying more.

"Then let's check above."

So naturally, the story ended with exploring the sky first.

"Go, Expedition Leader!"

As soon as the mages who did the deep-sea exploration rested, we used levitation magic to send them flying.

"Good thing we picked research then."

Raven came beside me, exhaling deeply.

"By the way, why is it that the research team has a 'research chief' and the expedition has an 'expedition leader'?"

"Curious about strange things."

"Didn't you just name them without thinking?"

Not exactly, but I didn't agonize over names as much as she did.

"Enough. Look up there. If anything falls, you'll have to catch it."

"Got it."

Watching above, how much time passed, I don't know.

Contrary to worries, the expedition leader safely led the mages flying and landed on the ship.

"From about 200 meters above, the wind gusts were too strong to ascend further."

The first aerial exploration failed as well.

But unlike the deep sea, it wasn't a complete failure.

"One of the members said they might have seen something just before descending from up there."

If the member wasn't mistaken, there's something in the sky.

"The problem is how to get up there..."

Time to use a gamer's imagination.