Chapter 115: Chapter 115: Reunion (3) - Surviving the Game as a Barbarian

Translator: RaidenTL

Chapter 115: Reunion (3)

[You have entered the Pilgrim's Path on the third floor.]

On the afternoon of the ninth day, after searching the northernmost part of the Land of the Dead for over a day, we found a portal and reached the third floor.

...Next time, I won't come in without a scout.

I had figured that if we took the portal to the Land of the Dead, we could get to the third floor with just the two of us, but nevertheless, the absence of a scout took a significant toll. If it hadn't been for secretly following a group of adventurers who happened to be passing by, we would still have been wandering around.

"Ugh, I feel sick whenever I come herrre."

Anyway, after hardships like that, we arrived at the Jet Black Estuary. This was the starting point you spawned when you came up to the third floor from the Land of the Dead—a field characterized by shallow streams that flowed in dozens of directions. Oh, and the gutter smell was a bonus.

"Let's go, then."

Since there was no scout, we continued using the compass to move northeast. As we were doing that, we quickly reached a dead end. In other words, we now had to dip our feet in the black river and cross it.

"...Can't you just carrry me?"

Tsk, and let you travel in style?

"...Only this once."

"Wow! Rrreally? Thanks!"

I carried Missha on my shoulder and crossed the river. The width was about five yards and the water reached just below the knee. After crossing carefully so as not to fall, we reached a patch of wet ground that continued forward like a road. However, the moment I was about to keep moving, as if following the sound of our crossing, a monster crept out of nowhere.

"Geruk! Gereuk! Gel, gel, gel!"

"Bjorn, that's a Frogman over therrre."

This rank-eight monster walked on two legs, with an appearance that resembled a frog's. It used something like a harpoon as a weapon. It may have looked funny because of its small size, but since it had high agility, many adventurers were caught off guard by it and instantly met their deaths. Their skills were also a bit annoying.

...How bothersome.

These guys were not a good matchup for me. My mace had enough power to shatter a Death Fiend's skull with one blow, but that was meaningless if it couldn't hit anything.

Voom!

The Frogman stepped off the air itself, leaping up again to dodge my mace. I immediately dashed forward and hit it with my shield, but that didn't do anything.

[Your attack missed due to Rotten Mucus.]

The shield made contact with its body, but instead of making a thud, the Frogman just slid right off of it.

"Ghell-ghell!"

Are you having fun? Goddamn it.

These guys had total evasion against blunt weapons, so for me, they were tricky enemies regardless of their rank. However, since Missha was there, there were no problems.

"Hi-ya! Avoid this!" Missha, who had been laughing at the Frogman screwing around with me, took out her weapon and started a sword dance with zeal.

"Geruk!" Frogmen came with a considerably high dodge rate even against blades, but our swordswoman was an ice-type. "Geg?!" It wasn't enough that its thigh was cut, but its lower body also froze.

Slump.

The frog bastard that had been running around willy-nilly collapsed.

"Missha, wait!"

"Huh?"

"I will do it." After calling out to Missha, who was about to kill it, I finished it off with my mace.

Whack!

Whew, that relieved some stress.

The usual strategy was to catch this guy with magic, but since the level difference between us was so great, the battle wasn't too hard.

"Ghell-ghell!"

"Gerreuk! Gereuk!"

Taking down more Frogmen like that, we kept moving.

Checking the time and finding that it was now 22:57, I slowly started looking for a place to camp. It was partly because of fatigue, but this particular area also forced you to take breaks at set times.

"Bjorn, the water is getting higher."

"I'm already looking, so stop whining."

After exploring the surrounding area for about thirty minutes, a checkpoint appeared. Unlike the dingy estuary, the reddish mounds of dirt were soft and not soggy. As if all the adventurers in the area had gathered in one spot, there were already about thirty people there.

The innermost spot will be taken already since we're late.

Reluctantly, we settled down by the water, where the gutter-like smell wafted up to us directly. The soil wasn't damp, at least, so the water wouldn't come all the way up here. As I was drying my wet legs before laying out the blankets, the water level in the river began to rise rapidly, right on cue. It was midnight, though, so it wouldn't get any higher from there. This state would last for the next six hours, so I put Missha to bed first. Since there were a lot of people around, some teams didn't set up a watch and all took a break, but you never knew.

Since we even ran into a Hans a few days ago, we should be careful.

I was rummaging through my backpack, filling my stomach with snacks, when—

"Hahaha! Cheer up, my friend! They say little strokes fell great oaks!"

"But... as you know, she's—"

"Geez, can't you see people are trying to sleep?"

"Ahaha! I'm sorry! I'll be careful!"

I heard a familiar voice in the distance. I guess she hadn't fallen asleep yet, because Missha sat up, still wrapped in a blanket. "That's Hikurod's voice..."

Seeing as she was thinking the same thing, I didn't think I'd misheard. Huh, what kind of coincidence was this?

It was not common to run into someone you knew in the labyrinth. First of all, each floor was incredibly big, and because of the darkness inside the labyrinth, even if you turned on a light, the visibility was less than ten yards. Clans sometimes divided into several parties and climbed the floors by deciding where and when to meet.

To think it's really them.

Surprisingly, the owner of the voice really was the dwarf. Next to him were Dwalkie and Rotmiller.

"Hikurrrod? Is that you?"

"...Missha? Bjorn? What?! Why are you guys here!?"

"Wow, there's no doubt that our team was connected by fate!"

What were the chances of us going in separately without any coordination and meeting again by chance?

"What about the commission? Didn't you go off to do that? What happened?" After taking a moment to marvel at the amazing coincidence, Hikurod raised a question.

Slump.

The frog bastard that had been running around willy-nilly collapsed.

"Missha, wait!"

"Huh?"

"I will do it." After calling out to Missha, who was about to kill it, I finished it off with my mace.

Whack!

Whew, that relieved some stress.

The usual strategy was to catch this guy with magic, but since the level difference ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠between us was so great, the battle wasn't too hard.

"Ghell-ghell!"

"Gerreuk! Gereuk!"

Taking down more Frogmen like that, we kept moving.

Checking the time and finding that it was now 22:57, I slowly started looking for a place to camp. It was partly because of fatigue, but this particular area also forced you to take breaks at set times.

"Bjorn, the water is getting higher."

"I'm already looking, so stop whining."

After exploring the surrounding area for about thirty minutes, a checkpoint appeared. Unlike the dingy estuary, the reddish mounds of dirt were soft and not soggy. As if all the adventurers in the area had gathered in one spot, there were already about thirty people there.

The innermost spot will be taken already since we're late.

Reluctantly, we settled down by the water, where the gutter-like smell wafted up to us directly. The soil wasn't damp, at least, so the water wouldn't come all the way up here. As I was drying my wet legs before laying out the blankets, the water level in the river began to rise rapidly, right on cue. It was midnight, though, so it wouldn't get any higher from there. This state would last for the next six hours, so I put Missha to bed first. Since there were a lot of people around, some teams didn't set up a watch and all took a break, but you never knew.

Since we even ran into a Hans a few days ago, we should be careful.

I was rummaging through my backpack, filling my stomach with snacks, when—

"Hahaha! Cheer up, my friend! They say little strokes fell great oaks!"

"But... as you know, she's—"

"Geez, can't you see people are trying to sleep?"

"Ahaha! I'm sorry! I'll be careful!"

I heard a familiar voice in the distance. I guess she hadn't fallen asleep yet, because Missha sat up, still wrapped in a blanket. "That's Hikurod's voice..."

Seeing as she was thinking the same thing, I didn't think I'd misheard. Huh, what kind of coincidence was this?

It was not common to run into someone you knew in the labyrinth. First of all, each floor was incredibly big, and because of the darkness inside the labyrinth, even if you turned on a light, the visibility was less than ten yards. Clans sometimes divided into several parties and climbed the floors by deciding where and when to meet.

To think it's really them.

Surprisingly, the owner of the voice really was the dwarf. Next to him were Dwalkie and Rotmiller.

"Hikurrrod? Is that you?"

"...Missha? Bjorn? What?! Why are you guys here!?"

"Wow, there's no doubt that our team was connected by fate!"

What were the chances of us going in separately without any coordination and meeting again by chance?

"What about the commission? Didn't you go off to do that? What happened?" After taking a moment to marvel at the amazing coincidence, Hikurod raised a question.

Well, it must have seemed strange to him because we were the ones who had entered the labyrinth separately. I gave him the excuse I'd prepared. "Ah, we finished it already."

"Finished?"

"They had business on the first floor. When the labyrinth closed, our client returned to the city."

"Ooh, did they?" That was apparently a good enough reason, because the dwarf nodded without any further concerns.

Now it was our turn to ask questions. "Why are you here? Didn't you say you would only be on the second floor?"

As far as I knew, these three had been meant to be doing a simple collection commission in the Rock Desert. So why was the third floor, and oddly enough, the Jet Black Estuary connected to the Land of the Dead, their current location?

"Ah, that's because the Stone Golem's inner core came out earlier than expected. We came up here to complete the other request I prepared just in case."

His reasoning was sound, but I asked why he didn't tell us earlier if he had prepared the commission in advance.

"Hahaha! If I did, you would've stopped us from doing it!"

That was true. A combination of a tank, a mage, and a scout was quite unbalanced. That was probably hypocritical of us to say as a tank and melee combo, though.

"...So what is your request?"

"It's a collection request again. All we have to do is get two eyes from a Frogman Sorcerer. Since you're here, would you like to join us?"

"How much is the pay?"

"Two million stones. Of course, if you two join, the final payment will be divided into ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exactly five equal parts."

A payment of four hundred thousand stones per person was not bad, and selling the other remains aside from the eyeballs would increase that amount even more. Of course, since the target was not an ordinary Frogman but a Frogman Sorcerer, the question remained whether the commission was achievable or not. That depended on luck.

"I'll do it."

After running into Hans, I was anxious about the two of us going around alone so I agreed. After all, Missha and I wouldn't be doing anything other than hunting Frogmen anyway. If the commission ended early, I could suggest that all of us go up to the fourth floor together.

"Haha, then sleep. If we talk any more, I fear we'll get stabbed."

The glares from the other parties resting around us continued, so we stopped chatting and went to bed.

Thanks to this, I'll be able to sleep for five hours.

This was the advantage of large numbers. Your watch time was shorter and your sleep time increased.

After that, time passed. When the morning of the tenth day dawned, the water level went down and we left the resting area. Wandering around, we focused our attention on hunting.

Having a scout is definitely ideal.

I was realizing it all over again, but the scout was a position that raised the quality of labyrinth life.

"If you go that way, you'll run into a river. Come this way." As if he had memorized the entire terrain, Rotmiller guided us along the optimal route. Even though we'd been wandering around for so long, we didn't have to cross the water more than three times.

"Hmm, another bust..."

After defeating one Frogman Sorcerer in four hours, we licked our lips. The body had disappeared without a trace. This was the downside of a collection request. If you used Distortion magic on a monster, there was an extremely low chance you could acquire its corpse intact, but it wouldn't drop an essence or mana stone.

Well, it must have seemed strange to him because we were the ones who had entered the labyrinth separately. I gave him the excuse I'd prepared. "Ah, we finished it already."

"Finished?"

"They had business on the first floor. When the labyrinth closed, our client returned to the city."

"Ooh, did they?" That was apparently a good enough reason, because the dwarf nodded without any further concerns.

Now it was our turn to ask questions. "Why are you here? Didn't you say you would only be on the second floor?"

As far as I knew, these three had been meant to be doing a simple collection commission in the Rock Desert. So why was the third floor, and oddly enough, the Jet Black Estuary connected to the Land of the Dead, their current location?

"Ah, that's because the Stone Golem's inner core came out earlier than expected. We came up here to complete the other request I prepared just in case."

His reasoning was sound, but I asked why he didn't tell us earlier if he had prepared the commission in advance.

"Hahaha! If I did, you would've stopped us from doing it!"

That was true. A combination of a tank, a mage, and a scout was quite unbalanced. That was probably hypocritical of us to say as a tank and melee combo, though.

"...So what is your request?"

"It's a collection request again. All we have to do is get two eyes from a Frogman Sorcerer. Since you're here, would you like to join us?"

"How much is the pay?"

"Two million stones. Of course, if you two join, the final payment will be divided into exactly five equal parts."

A payment of four hundred thousand stones per person was not bad, and selling the other remains aside from the eyeballs would increase that amount even more. Of course, since the target was not an ordinary Frogman but a Frogman Sorcerer, the question remained whether the commission was achievable or not. That depended on luck.

"I'll do it."

After running into Hans, I was anxious about the two of us going around alone so I agreed. After all, Missha and I wouldn't be doing anything other than hunting Frogmen anyway. If the commission ended early, I could suggest that all of us go up to the fourth floor together.

"Haha, then sleep. If we talk any more, I fear we'll get stabbed."

The glares from the other parties resting around us continued, so we stopped chatting and went to bed.

Thanks to this, I'll be able to sleep for five hours.

This was the advantage of large numbers. Your watch time was shorter and your sleep time increased.

After that, time passed. When the morning of the tenth day dawned, the water level went down and we left the resting area. Wandering around, we focused our attention on hunting.

Having a scout is definitely ideal.

I was realizing it all over again, but the scout was a position that raised the quality of labyrinth life.

"If you go that way, you'll run into a river. Come this way." As if he had memorized the entire terrain, Rotmiller guided us along the optimal route. Even though we'd been wandering around for so long, we didn't have to cross the water more than three times.

"Hmm, another bust..."

After defeating one Frogman Sorcerer in four hours, we licked our lips. The body had disappeared without a trace. This was the downside of a collection request. If you used Distortion magic on a monster, there was an extremely low chance you could acquire its corpse intact, but it wouldn't drop an essence or mana stone.

Whew, I'm already at a loss thinking about all the manual labor I'll be doing in the future.

As you progressed into the latter half of the game, there were more things that required monster remains: equipment, consumables, etcetera. For example, the Spirit Imprint. You could go up to stage five with money alone, but after that, you needed to collect the ingredients yourself.

...Let's think about that later. As long as I have money, I can get that stuff from the exchange or entrust it to someone as a request.

Anyway, as traveling became easier, the battles became easier too, between Rotmiller's arrows, Dwalkie's magic, and Missha's ice blades.

"...I've been meaning to ask, but how did this happen?" Staring at the frozen Frogman, Rotmiller expressed some suspicion, but this wasn't a problem either. Cold Condensation and Ice Crush weren't really obvious skills.

"Oh, that? My Soul Beast evolved!" Missha smoothly replied with the answer I had prepared for her in advance.

"Ah, did it really? At this rate, you might be promoted to rank six."

"M-Miss Karlstein! Congratulations!"

Everyone knew that Missha had signed a contract with an ice-type Soul Beast, so no one doubted it. That was only natural since they had no reason to think it was a lie in the first place.

Every time I do this, my conscience gets stabbed.

But what could I do? I had to accept it. This was the fate of those of us who lived as evil spirits.

"Rotmiller, the water seems to be rrrising... is it okay?"

"Don't worry, the safe zone is right next to us."

Soon it was time for the tenth day to come to an end. The water gradually rose, but thanks to Rotmiller having memorized all the nearby terrain, we maximized our time before setting up camp after the hunt. The same thing happened the next two days, and soon it was the morning of the thirteenth day.

"Uh..."

"Is this rrright? It's done, right?"

"I-It seems so." As soon as we resumed our quest, we hunted a Sorcerer. An arrow clearly pierced through its neck, but the corpse did not disappear.

"W-With Miss Karlstein here, luck is definitely on our side!"

"Haha, this blind fellow. The way I see it, this is thanks to Bjorn, not Missha. That guy is always lucky."

Ignoring Dwalkie and Hikurod's commentary, we obtained the corpse of the Sorcerer in just two days. Hmm, maybe it was too early to say it'd been obtained, though.

"Uhm, but what should we do with this?"

"W-Wait a moment. I'll use magic on it." First, Dwalkie used Preservation magic to prevent the corpse from decomposing, but that was it. It wasn't like we could dump the whole corpse into a bag.

"Missha, since you use a knife, you must be good at things like this, right?"

"W-What are you talking about, you dwarf? I-I've never done anything like this beforrre! Shouldn't you do it? The Stone Golem was your commission, too."

"W-Well... the Stone Golem was just a matter of taking out the inner core..."

Even just to take the eyeballs out and not the other remains, it was necessary to dismantle the whole body. None of us had experience with that except for the well-rounded worker Rotmiller.

"Get out of the way. I will do it." Soon after, Rotmiller sighed and skillfully dismembered the Sorcerer's body with a carving knife. Apparently, he had done this often while working as part of a collection team in the past.

"As expected, Rotmiller, you're the best!"

"Ohh, I agree—ugh, I'm going to look somewhere else for a bit..."

After about thirty minutes, under Rotmiller's skillful hand, the Sorcerer's body was cleaved into muscle, blood, bone, and internal organs and placed in a box.

"Then what do we do now?" Missha asked. The third floor, Pilgrim's Path, closed after the fifteenth day. In other words, there were still three days left.

I spoke up since I had been waiting for someone to ask. "The request seems to be over, so how about going to the fourth floor?"

"Um, true... It's been a long time since the whole team assembled, so it'd be a pity to finish this adventure on just the third floor."

"Rotmiller, what do you think? Do you think you can make it to the fourth floor in time?"

Rotmiller closed his eyes like he needed time to consider it. Going through several zones in three days and getting to the portal in the heart of the Witch's Forest must require some thought. "It'll be tight, but I think it's possible."

This was quite fascinating. Originally, I had planned to break the rift, kill the monsters, and return straight to the city.

As expected, things never go according to plan.

Somehow, instead, I ended up going to the fourth floor.

***

The three-day journey that followed was harder than expected. First of all, our sleep time was drastically reduced, and we invested the rest of our time solely on travel. We even had to speed-walk the whole way, so as the days went by, the others grew incredibly tired. However, our goal was still in sight.

[You have entered a special area. Field Effect – The Witch's Forest has activated.]

This was already my third time passing through the Witch's Forest. The first time I was here, Missha and I had ended up stranded and had endured all sorts of hardships, but as long as Rotmiller was here, there was nothing to be afraid of.

"Everyone, follow me."

Since there was an incident last time, we connected our bodies with rope and quickly ran through the forest. After a while, a little over three hours remained until the third floor closed.

"You did well, Rotmiller."

We stood in front of a huge tower located in the heart of the Witch's Forest. A colorful portal sat in front of a massive door that looked like the entrance.

"Now, let's go in!"

We waited for the color to change just in case of any issues and entered at the same time.

"M-Mister?!" I heard a faint, familiar voice in the distance.

Whew, I'm already at a loss thinking about all the manual labor I'll be doing in the future.

As you progressed into the latter half of the game, there were more things that required monster remains: equipment, consumables, etcetera. For example, the Spirit Imprint. You could go up to stage five with money alone, but after that, you needed to collect the ingredients yourself.

...Let's think about that later. As long as I have money, I can get that stuff from the exchange or entrust it to someone as a request.

Anyway, as traveling became easier, the battles became easier too, between Rotmiller's arrows, Dwalkie's magic, and Missha's ice blades.

"...I've been meaning to ask, but how did this happen?" Staring at the frozen Frogman, Rotmiller expressed some suspicion, but this wasn't a problem either. Cold Condensation and Ice Crush weren't really obvious skills.

"Oh, that? My Soul Beast evolved!" Missha smoothly replied with the answer I had prepared for her in advance.

"Ah, did it really? At this rate, you might be promoted to rank six."

"M-Miss Karlstein! Congratulations!"

Everyone knew that Missha had signed a contract with an ice-type Soul Beast, so no one doubted it. That was only natural since they had no reason to think it was a lie in the first place.

Every time I do this, my conscience gets stabbed.

But what could I do? I had to accept it. This was the fate of those of us who lived as evil spirits.

"Rotmiller, the water seems to be rrrising... is it okay?"

"Don't worry, the safe zone is right next to us."

Soon it was time for the tenth day to come to an end. The water gradually rose, but thanks to Rotmiller having memorized all the nearby terrain, we maximized our time before setting up camp after the hunt. The same thing happened the next two days, and soon it was the morning of the thirteenth day.

"Uh..."

"Is this rrright? It's done, right?"

"I-It seems so." As soon as we resumed our quest, we hunted a Sorcerer. An arrow clearly pierced through its neck, but the corpse did not disappear.

"W-With Miss Karlstein here, luck is definitely on our side!"

"Haha, this blind fellow. The way I see it, this is thanks to Bjorn, not Missha. That ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠guy is always lucky."