Chapter 218: Ruler (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 218: Ruler (2)
"No! Take me with you—!"
"...I'm sorry."
Once one last adventurer squeezed his eyes shut and entered the Dimension Gate, the battle finally came to an end. The reason was simple. There were still knights all over the passageways blocking the other adventurers.
"Surrender," said their captain.
"Sorry? But our dimension gate hasn't been cast yet—"
"That dimension gate was the last one. I'm sorry, all of you."
"C-Captain, what do you—! Ahhh!"
As soon as one of the knights lowered his sword, adventurers rushed in from all sides to trample him and beat him up.
"Speak! What does that mean? Why is that the last dimension gate?!"
The knight simply endured all the violence. He answered questions even as his teeth were kicked out and the veins in his eyes burst. "It is as he said."
"Y-You deranged bastard! Then you knew you would be abandoned and still...!"
"Someone had to stay behind. Your anger is justified, so take it out on me. This body of mine is still worth that much, at least."
"I will kill you!"
"For... Rafdonia...!"
Some knights surrendered while others had their swords drawn to the end, but the outcome was the same. The adventurers overpowered them with numbers and broke their lines, ruthlessly and blindly venting their anger and despair. Of course, the adventurers knew that the knights were in the same boat as them, and would serve as valuable forces for what was to come. However, they needed someone to take out their emotions on.
Similar scenes were occurring all over the central cavern.
"Ahh! Who are you? Don't push—!"
A barbarian easily pushed through the crowd from one of the passageways and made a scene. "Hey, knight." He grabbed the arm of an adventurer beating a knight and spoke. "Killing people..."
"L-Let me go!"
"...Is a problem."
"What!? These bastards abandoned us. Are you on their side—!"
At that moment, the barbarian slammed his fist into the protesting adventurer's face.
Punch!
The adventurer collapsed into a heap.
"I said... it's a problem..." the barbarian gritted out. Everyone immediately went still. There were no more adventurers attacking knights, at least in that particular area.
***
The situation in the center wasn't all that different from what I had been expecting, except for one thing.
I didn't expect so many knights to stay behind.
It was a happy miscalculation. They wouldn't follow my commands, but at least they were still high-level personnel. Just traveling around this cave with their lives intact would make them good bait for me.
"Mr. Yandel!" A beat later, my teammates appeared through the path I had cleared.
"Oh, can you take care of these guys?"
"Pardon?"
"I mean, protect them so they don't die." Entrusting the half-dead knights to my team, I left the passageway and headed to the square in the center.
"Ahh! S-Stop...!"
With every step, screams rang out in all directions. They were mainly from the knights.
Yeah, you guys are human too, huh? Those who are hurting tend to gang up.
"...God damn it!"
Hot tempers erupted. On the other hand, some slumped on the ground a few feet back in a daze of despair. Even anger felt pointless to these people.
"W-We're all going to die."
"Cecilia... Sorry, I..."
These people were accepting their deaths as inevitable. Among them were even those wearing the marks of large clans. There were some teams and some people on their own or in duos. Well, even a large clan couldn't take everyone with them. Even knights got abandoned in situations like these. They would've excluded lower-ranking members first because spots were limited.
Occasionally, I heard voices trying to quell the anger. "Please stop...! This changes nothing! They're in the same boat as us!" This group was divided into two categories: those who appealed thoroughly to emotion and raised their voices to preserve morality and humanity, and those who still held on to hope.
"Have you all gone mad!? At this rate, we'll all die!"
They set aside their anger and tried to stop these atrocities with logic. In a way, I probably fit into this category. These were the people who would be of most help to me in this situation.
Step.
Eventually, I stopped walking. In front of me was the monument I'd seen many times before—the Last Great Sage. It was the only structure ever erected in the labyrinth to commemorate the achievements of Diplan Groundel Gabrielius.
In honor of his great first step.
There was a hidden element to this monument, something that allowed it to open the rift on the first floor. However, it would be impossible to enter the rift and avoid the battle. Not only did we not have a rank-eight mana stone, but even if we did, the last rift opened a month ag, so there was no point. I deliberately avoided opening it for the past few months, thinking it was more beneficial to explore the fifth floor, so it opened naturally. Well, not that disappointment changed anything.
"Ahem, ahem." I coughed and cleared my throat. Even still, I wasn't particularly worried. If barbarians had any prominent trait aside from their outstanding physical stats, it would be their distinctly loud voices. "Stoooooop!"
A thundering cry released in Giantization mode was enough to pierce everyone's eardrums even in a chaotic situation like this. For a moment, everyone stopped and turned their attention to me. Of course, it didn't last for long. They looked at me for a moment with eyes that seemed to ask, Who's that bastard? then stopped caring.
So that isn't enough for you, huh?
To be honest, I hadn't had high expectations. Could such a cartoon-like thing happen in real life? "I am Little Balkan, Bjorn, son of Yandel!" But whether I was ignored or not, I continued to shout and shout. One rule for being a barbarian was this: if people couldn't hear your voice, it was because it wasn't loud enough. "If any fellow countryman knows who I am, do as I say from now on!" I requested support because I wasn't the only barbarian here.
"Little Balkan, Bjorn, son of Yandel!"
"Great warrior!"
"These are the orders of our next chieftain! We must follow them!"
"Behelaaah!"
Starting with Kharon and Ainar, the barbarians scattered throughout the cave shouted on cue. They had been watching me since I first yelled. Although they didn't know what I was planning, they probably figured they should help out a fellow countryman.
"Ahh! S-Stop...!"
With every step, screams rang out in all directions. They were mainly from the knights.
Yeah, you guys are human too, huh? Those who are hurting tend to gang up.
"...God damn it!"
Hot tempers erupted. On the other hand, some slumped on the ground a few feet back in a daze of despair. Even anger felt pointless to these people.
"W-We're all going to die."
"Cecilia... Sorry, I..."
These people were accepting their deaths as inevitable. Among them were even those wearing the marks of large clans. There were some teams and some people on their own or in duos. Well, even a large clan couldn't take everyone with them. Even knights got abandoned in situations like these. They would've excluded lower-ranking members first because spots were limited.
Occasionally, I heard voices trying to quell the anger. "Please stop...! This changes nothing! They're in the same boat as us!" This group was divided into two categories: those who appealed thoroughly to emotion and raised their voices to preserve morality and humanity, and those who still held on to hope.
"Have you all gone mad!? At this rate, we'll all die!"
They set aside their anger and tried to stop these atrocities with logic. In a way, I probably fit into this category. These were the people who would be of most help to me in this situation.
Step.
Eventually, I stopped walking. In front of me was the monument I'd seen many times before—the Last Great Sage. It was the only structure ever erected in the labyrinth to commemorate the achievements of Diplan Groundel Gabrielius.
In honor of his great first step.
There was a hidden element to this monument, something that allowed it to open the rift on the first floor. However, it would be impossible to enter the rift and avoid the battle. Not only did we not have a rank-eight mana stone, but even if we did, the last rift opened a month ag, so there was no point. I deliberately avoided opening it for the past few months, thinking it was more beneficial to explore the fifth floor, so it opened naturally. Well, not that disappointment changed anything.
"Ahem, ahem." I coughed and cleared my throat. Even still, I wasn't particularly worried. If barbarians had any prominent trait aside from their outstanding physical stats, it would be their distinctly loud voices. "Stoooooop!"
A thundering cry released in Giantization mode was enough to pierce everyone's eardrums even in a chaotic situation like this. For a moment, everyone stopped and turned their attention to me. Of course, it didn't last for long. They looked at me for a moment with eyes that seemed to ask, Who's that bastard? then stopped caring.
So that isn't enough for you, huh?
To be honest, I hadn't had high expectations. Could such a cartoon-like thing happen in real life? "I am Little Balkan, Bjorn, son of Yandel!" But whether I was ignored or not, I continued to shout and shout. One rule for being a barbarian was this: if people couldn't hear your voice, it was because it wasn't loud enough. "If any fellow countryman knows who I am, do as I say from now on!" I requested support because I wasn't the only barbarian here.
"Little Balkan, Bjorn, son of Yandel!"
"Great warrior!"
"These are the orders of our next chieftain! We must follow them!"
"Behelaaah!"
Starting with Kharon and Ainar, the barbarians scattered throughout the cave shouted on cue. They had been watching me since I first yelled. Although they didn't know what I was planning, they probably figured they should help out a fellow countryman.
"I repeat! Everyone stop!"
As I shouted, echoes followed.
"I repeat! Everyone stop!"
"I repeat! Everyone stop!"
"I repeat! Everyone stop!"
Again, the crowd paused and turned their attention to me. Maybe if I shouted all alone until my vocal cords gave out they wouldn't have, but as the same cries kept repeating all around them like a radio broadcast, they couldn't help being curious.
"Who are you to tell us to stop!?"
"This is all because of these bastards, but you want us to put up with it?!" The amount of negativity was still too great. Many were still beating up knights, blinded by anger.
And so I kept shouting, "I repeat! Everyone stop!" Like a simple, boneheaded barbarian, I just yelled the same thing over and over, intending to keep going until my request was fulfilled. And when my shouts reached something like the tenth verse... "I repeat! Everyone stop!"
"Somebody shut that bastard up!"
The anger that wouldn't subside no matter how much it was expressed eventually turned on me.
"If you're going to take the palace's side, then die!" One of the adventurers even charged at me.
"Protect the future chieftain!" The barbarian warriors who saw this rushed to protect me.
However, I stopped them. "Stop! We must not fight amongst ourselves!"
The simple barbarians halted at my command, but not the adventurers charging at me.
Whip.
One of them was wielding a sword like he was facing down an enemy.
Khak!
I figured this would be the case considering their lower-quality equipment, but it didn't leave a single scratch on my body. After all, how could normal iron penetrate all this?
"Uh. Um..."
I didn't try to block at all and just took the blows, unmoving. That was enough to make our difference in skill clear, and he noticed it a beat later. With a newly cool head following all the excitement, the adventurer backed away almost in fear.
Hey, where do you think you're going?
I grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him toward me. "Do you want to live?" I asked. He didn't answer. "I asked if you want to live! If you think you're going to die anyway, why are you running away!?"
When I shouted threateningly, the adventurer's face turned pale.
"Tell me, do you want to live!?"
Like a cornered rat biting the cat back, the adventurer couldn't take the pressure, met my eyes, and shouted, "W-Who would want to die, then?!"
That was the line I wanted to hear. Everyone was already looking this way at the scene this guy had made. I let go of the adventurer's shoulder. "Then run away. If you think you can survive like that."
The adventurer, now free, did not turn around to escape. To be exact, he couldn't. He seemed to have lost all strength in his legs as he slumped to the ground with a dull thud. But apparently, he still had a bit of energy left—enough to shout up at me in anger. "Then what do you want me to do!?"
What else was there to do? I'd said it several times already. I took my eyes off him, looked around, and shouted again, "I repeat! Everyone, stop!"
Life as a barbarian had taught me well that your frustrations could become tenacity someday, as long as you didn't give up first.
***
Although it was only for a moment, everyone finally went still. It was kind of a miracle. The only thing the barbarian did was scream. He did not use violence—just shouted relentlessly. At first, he thought it was folly because he thought that no matter how many times the man cried out, this current chaos could not be subdued. Figuring that everyone would regain reason once all the knights were dead, he and his clan members had stepped back from the situation.
"Incredible."
The one-sided violence against the knights had almost entirely stopped, something brought on by a single barbarian. How was this possible? The exact reason was still unclear. It could only be guessed at. They often said words carried weight, so perhaps that barbarian's words carried more than usual. Just as one action left a bigger impression than a hundred words, perhaps that foolish single-mindedness of his had sparked people's curiosity.
Smirk.
Or, maybe they just came to their senses after watching something ridiculous over and over again, like how the vibe of a serious conversation completely changed when someone said something stupid. Of course, this was all just speculation. He did not know what the actual reason everyone had stopped was. It could have been that they just got curious about what this barbarian wanted to say.
Nevertheless, one thing was clear. That barbarian had managed to achieve something he couldn't. Rank-five adventurer Little Balkan, although inferior in terms of power and faction size, had done it.
"Vice Captain."
"Yes, go ahead."
"No more watching quietly. If anyone attacks a knight nearby, stop them," the man commanded before walking forward.
"Captain, where are you going?"
"I want to hear what that barbarian caused all this commotion to say. If he's just a fool, or..."
The vice captain tilted his head, but the man didn't elaborate. He could admit it was rather strange himself.
"Everyone stop! He's right. Just stop for now! Let's calmly put our heads together!"
Just as he did just now, other bystanders from all around the cavern began to raise their voices and stand up.
Thump!
For some reason, his heart raced. The man stared in the direction of the monument.
"I repeat! Everyone stop!" The barbarian was still shouting, and the people who supported him were shouting back.
"Everyone stop!"
Now, even those who had nothing to do with the barbarian were raising their voices. At the sight, the man was struck by an unwitting thought that everything that was happening now was like a scene from a hero's story in a folktale he used to read as a child.
"Anyone who causes trouble from now on will be considered the enemy!"
***
Someone approached me. "I am the captain of the Nartel Clan, Melter Fend. If you have a plan to get through this situation, I would like to hear it."
A woman came up next. "I'm Lacey Nareth of Heindel Church. I am here to thank you for preventing this tragedy."
The third was a wizard. "I'm a battle mage from Rafdonia. Oh, I wasn't abandoned but chose to stay behind of my own free will. I didn't like that captain at all."
More and more people continued to gather: a priest, a wizard, the head of a clan, the vice captain, a team leader, and even individuals—those who used to belong to a group but had been abandoned or had voluntarily stayed behind.
"I think you can stop shouting now. Everyone is waiting for you to speak."
"Tell us. Do you really have a way? Or did you stop the bloodbath out of pity?"
As expected, you couldn't beat a barbarian who wanted to get something done. Having achieved my objective, I turned off Brainless Repetition mode. "Nice to meet you all. I am Bjorn, son of Yandel."
The requirements for a conversation had finally been met.
"I repeat! Everyone stop!"
As I shouted, echoes followed.
"I repeat! Everyone stop!"
"I repeat! Everyone stop!"
"I repeat! Everyone stop!"
Again, the crowd paused and turned their attention to me. Maybe if I shouted all alone until my vocal cords gave out they wouldn't have, but as the same cries kept repeating all around them like a radio broadcast, they couldn't help being curious.
"Who are you to tell us to stop!?"
"This is all because of these bastards, but you want us to put up with it?!" The amount of negativity was still too great. Many were still beating up knights, blinded by anger.
And so I kept shouting, "I repeat! Everyone stop!" Like a simple, boneheaded barbarian, I just yelled the same thing over and over, intending to keep going until my request was fulfilled. And when my shouts reached something like the tenth verse... "I repeat! Everyone stop!"
"Somebody shut that bastard up!"
The anger that wouldn't subside no matter how much it was expressed eventually turned on me.
"If you're going to take the palace's side, then die!" One of the adventurers even charged at me.
"Protect the future chieftain!" The barbarian warriors who saw this rushed to protect me.
However, I stopped them. "Stop! We must not fight amongst ourselves!"
The simple barbarians halted at my command, but not the adventurers charging at me.
Whip.
One of them was wielding a sword like he was facing down an enemy.
Khak!
I figured this would be the case considering their lower-quality equipment, but it didn't leave a single scratch on my body. After all, how could normal iron penetrate all this?
"Uh. Um..."
I didn't try to block at all and just took the blows, unmoving. That was enough to make our difference in skill clear, and he noticed it a beat later. With a newly cool head following all the excitement, the adventurer backed away almost in fear.
Hey, where do you think you're going?
I grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him toward me. "Do you want to live?" I asked. He didn't answer. "I asked if you want to live! If you think you're going to die anyway, why are you running away!?"
When I shouted threateningly, the adventurer's face turned pale.
"Tell me, do you want to live!?"
Like a cornered rat biting the cat back, the adventurer couldn't take the pressure, met my eyes, and shouted, "W-Who would want to die, then?!"
That was the line I wanted to hear. Everyone was already looking this way at the scene this guy had made. I let go of the adventurer's shoulder. "Then run away. If you think you can survive like that."
The adventurer, now free, did not turn around to escape. To be exact, he couldn't. He seemed to have lost all strength in his legs as he slumped to the ground with a dull thud. But apparently, he still had a bit of energy left—enough to shout up at me in anger. "Then what do you want me to do!?"
What else was there to do? I'd said it several times already. I took my eyes off him, looked around, and shouted again, "I repeat! Everyone, stop!"
Life as a barbarian had taught me well that your frustrations could become tenacity someday, as long as you didn't give up first.
***
Although it was only for a moment, everyone finally went still. It was kind of a miracle. The only thing the barbarian did was scream. He did not use violence—just shouted relentlessly. At first, he thought it was folly because he thought that no matter how many times the man cried out, this current chaos could not be subdued. Figuring that everyone would regain reason once all the knights were dead, he and his clan members had stepped back from the situation.
"Incredible."
The one-sided violence against the knights had almost entirely stopped, something brought on by a single barbarian. How was this possible? The exact reason was still unclear. It could only be guessed at. They often said words carried weight, so perhaps that barbarian's words carried more than usual. Just as one action left a bigger impression than a hundred words, perhaps that foolish single-mindedness of his had sparked people's curiosity.
Smirk.
Or, maybe they just came to their senses after watching something ridiculous over and over again, like how the vibe of a serious conversation completely changed when someone said something stupid. Of course, this was all just speculation. He did not know what the actual reason everyone had stopped was. It could have been that they just got curious about what this barbarian wanted to say.
Nevertheless, one thing was clear. That barbarian had managed to achieve something he couldn't. Rank-five adventurer Little Balkan, although inferior in terms of power and faction size, had done it.
"Vice Captain."
"Yes, go ahead."
"No more watching quietly. If anyone attacks a knight nearby, stop them," the man commanded before walking forward.
"Captain, where are you going?"
"I want to hear what that barbarian caused all this commotion to say. If he's just a fool, or..."
The vice captain tilted his head, but the man didn't elaborate. He could admit it was rather strange himself.
"Everyone stop! He's right. Just stop for now! Let's calmly put our heads together!"
Just as he did just now, other bystanders from all around the cavern began to raise their voices and stand up.
Thump!
For some reason, his heart raced. The man stared in the direction of the monument.
"I repeat! Everyone stop!" The barbarian was still shouting, and the people who supported him were shouting back.
"Everyone stop!"
Now, even those who had nothing to do with the barbarian were raising their voices. At the sight, the man was struck by an unwitting thought that everything that was happening now was like a scene from a hero's story in a folktale he used to read as a child.
"Anyone who causes trouble from now on will be considered the enemy!"
***
Someone approached me. "I am the captain of the Nartel Clan, Melter Fend. If you have a plan to get through this situation, I would like to hear it."
A woman came up next. "I'm Lacey Nareth of Heindel Church. I am here to thank you for preventing this tragedy."
The third was a wizard. "I'm a battle mage from Rafdonia. Oh, I wasn't abandoned but chose to stay behind of my own free will. I didn't like that captain at all."
More and more people continued to gather: a priest, a wizard, the head of a clan, the vice captain, a team leader, and even individuals—those who used to belong to a group but had been abandoned or had voluntarily stayed behind.
"I think you can stop shouting now. Everyone is waiting for you to speak."
"Tell us. Do you really have a way? Or did you stop the bloodbath out of pity?"
As expected, you couldn't beat a barbarian who wanted to get something done. Having achieved my objective, I turned off Brainless Repetition mode. "Nice to meet you all. I am Bjorn, son of Yandel."
The requirements for a conversation had finally been met.