Chapter 492: Declaration of War (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 492: Declaration of War (3)
It was two days since the labyrinth closed.
Did I really sleep for over thirty hours...?
While the hidden event at the end of this month's quest was exhausting, I hadn't exerted myself too hard in the labyrinth otherwise, so thirty hours of sleep was more than enough for me to feel fully refreshed.
Hoooooonk!
When I headed down to the first floor, I found Ainar still lying on the sofa sound asleep in the same position she was in before I went to sleep myself.
She's really good at resting...
My first stop was the kitchen to satiate my hunger. Luckily, all sorts of dishes were already cooked and ready for us to eat. Did Auyen prepare them in advance knowing that we would all head to the kitchen to eat something immediately after waking up?
...Forget being an adventurer, that guy was born to be a butler.
I stuffed my mouth with the food he laid out, marveling at Auyen's talents. Then I went out the front door to check the mailbox, only to find that a mountain of mail had arrived while I was asleep.
What is all of this...?
Sorting through the letters one by one revealed that most were invitations filled with flattering rhetoric and profuse praise for my accomplishments, each asking to meet with me. It reminded me of the old days. When I first started to gain fame, something similar had happened.
...There are quite a few applications to join our clan as well.
People had taken a sudden interest in joining our clan. As I looked through their résumés, I was surprised to see that some of the applicants were unexpectedly skilled. The most impressive of them was an older man who had made it to the ninth floor back in his prime. He was even a high-ranking enough adventurer to have his own nickname.
That's too bad. If he weren't a tank, I would have accepted him on the spot...
I planned to grow our clan in the future, but at the moment, we only consisted of a single party and weren't looking for any more tanks. Plus, when we eventually added our second team, Sven Parav and Kaislan were already set to fill the tank slots.
I should probably reach out to him when I want to make a third team down the line.
Whatever the case, I was proud that such a high-rank adventurer had expressed interest in our clan. I hadn't even needed to scout him. It hit me at that moment just how far I'd come from my Team Loser days working under that dwarf.
...Well, even if I didn't have much back then, it was a lot of fun.
I continued to read through the mail with a smile on my face. Unfortunately, it seemed there weren't any priests among the applicants.
I've reached this level of fame, yet they still don't plan on making the offer themselves, huh? It's like they're trying to say that if we want a priest, we still have to go to them and make an official request.
It was mind-boggling to think that despite going through so much and gaining this kind of reputation, not once had I ever officially had a priest on my party's roster. Since potions didn't do much for me anymore, it would be nice to have a healer.
"...Huh?"
I was still standing outside, enjoying the refreshing morning breeze as I checked the mail when a letter suddenly caught my eye.
Count Alminus...?
The second I saw that familiar golden wax seal, I tore open the envelope to see what was inside. The letter started with the standard too-long introduction typical of noble households, but what mattered was the main gist.
I would like to resolve the misunderstanding between us. Please visit me at your earliest convenience.
The count had extended an olive branch.
"Misunderstanding..."
Why had he suddenly changed his tune? If I had to guess, it was because of the Stone of Honor. Upon witnessing my fame skyrocket at a rate he never could have imagined, he must have determined that making an enemy of me would do him more harm than good. After all, the Riakis issue wasn't a matter of money for him. It was purely a matter of pride. However, the possibility still remained that this was some sort of scheme.
Then I guess I should make an appointment to meet with him...
Since I had nothing to do until tonight, I went back up to my room to sleep. Then, when it started to get dark, I stepped out of the bedroom only to find Amelia waiting for me. "Can we really not go together?" she asked.
"It's fine. It'll be easier if I go alone."
"All right, then."
I put on an iron helmet and took off under the cover of nightfall to avoid garnering attention. My path took me down Main Street until I finally reached a pub down an alley on the outskirts of Kommelby.
"It's not even a proper construction site," I said under my breath. The building was old and on the verge of collapsing. The pub itself was closed, and the sign hanging outside was rusty and looked like it was on the verge of falling off.
Creeeak.
The inside looked even worse than the outside. All sorts of building materials were scattered around, and the entire place was covered in dirt and dust—that was, except for one clear path leading toward the back.
Those are footprints.
I meandered further into the building, following them until I was eventually met with a staircase leading to the basement. At the bottom of the stairs, there was an iron door with no guard or bouncer or anything in front of it. A place like this didn't need protections like that anyway.
Now, then, what's behind that door?
This was something I'd been curious about ever since I first started playing Dungeon and Stone. I marched right over to the door and used as much strength as I could to force it open.
Creak! Clang!
The door promptly fell completely off its hinges. However, despite what I was hoping, the only thing behind the door was another wall.
How lame.
The fact that there was no hidden area behind the door was disappointing. Still, not letting it get to me, I quickly took out the magic stone I brought with me, inserting it in the small groove next to the door.
Flash!
All of a sudden, I was standing in an entirely different location. The black market could only be reached through teleportation, which was why it had hundreds of entrances leading to it throughout the entire city.
I'm finally here.
I was now in a small stone room. Inside said room was another door connecting to a hallway, a sign with the number 217 bolted into it.
Shit. 217 is pretty far from Main Street.
I figured I should just start exploring and took a step toward the door.
Thud.
Suddenly, the door flung open from the other side, and three big, hulking masked men stormed into the room.
I would like to resolve the misunderstanding between us. Please visit me at your earliest convenience.
The count had extended an olive branch.
"Misunderstanding..."
Why had he suddenly changed his tune? If I had to guess, it was because of the Stone of Honor. Upon witnessing my fame skyrocket at a rate he never could have imagined, he must have determined that making an enemy of me would do him more harm than good. After all, the Riakis issue wasn't a matter of money for him. It was purely a matter of pride. However, the possibility still remained that this was some sort of scheme.
Then I guess I should make an appointment to meet with him...
Since I had nothing to do until tonight, I went back up to my room to sleep. Then, when it started to get dark, I stepped out of the bedroom only to find Amelia waiting for me. "Can we really not go together?" she asked.
"It's fine. It'll be easier if I go alone."
"All right, then."
I put on an iron helmet and took off under the cover of nightfall to avoid garnering attention. My path took me down Main Street until I finally reached a pub down an alley on the outskirts of Kommelby.
"It's not even a proper construction site," I said under my breath. The building was old and on the verge of collapsing. The pub itself was closed, and the sign hanging outside was rusty and looked like it was on the verge of falling off.
Creeeak.
The inside looked even worse than the outside. All sorts of building materials were scattered around, and the entire place was covered in dirt and dust—that was, except for one clear path leading toward the back.
Those are footprints.
I meandered further into the building, following them until I was eventually met with a staircase leading to the basement. At the bottom of the stairs, there was an iron door with no guard or bouncer or anything in front of it. A place like this didn't need protections like that anyway.
Now, then, what's behind that door?
This was something I'd been curious about ever since I first started playing Dungeon and Stone. I marched right over to the door and used as much strength as I could to force it open.
Creak! Clang!
The door promptly fell completely off its hinges. However, despite what I was hoping, the only thing behind the door was another wall.
How lame.
The fact that there was no hidden area behind the door was disappointing. Still, not letting it get to me, I quickly took out the magic stone I brought with me, inserting it in the small groove next to the door.
Flash!
All of a sudden, I was standing in an entirely different location. The black market could only be reached through teleportation, which was why it had hundreds of entrances leading to it throughout the entire city.
I'm finally here.
I was now in a small stone room. Inside said room was another door connecting to a hallway, a sign with the number 217 bolted into it.
Shit. 217 is pretty far from Main Street.
I figured I should just start exploring and took a step toward the door.
Thud.
Suddenly, the door flung open from the other side, and three big, hulking masked men stormed into the room.
Hm? How strange. There wasn't an escort service in the game.
"What can I do for you?"
"...Did you damage the door before coming here?"
"Oh, that?" I never imagined that they would have already noticed that, but I answered honestly. "I was curious what was behind it."
"...You need to come with us."
"What if I don't want to?"
"I didn't ask. I was telling you!" When Big Guy A raised his voice at me, the other two behind him started to close in. I felt a twinge of regret.
Maybe I shouldn't have broken that door. I only wanted to take a look at what was behind it while I was there...
Well, what could I do? I was just going to have to adapt.
Thud.
I swung my arms, shoving the two men coming at me aside. It didn't take much strength—in fact, it was like swatting away a mosquito. However, even after getting rammed into the wall, the two didn't seem eager to rush at me in retaliation. Instead, they cautiously kept their distance. "You're an adventurer?"
"You got a problem with that?"
"The only problem here is you. Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way."
"Oh, really now?"
As I cleaned out my ear with my pinky finger, Big Guy A's tone grew deeper and more threatening. "Judging by your build, you must be a barbarian or beastperson. Is this your first time here?"
"How'd you know?"
"Because if you knew anything about this place, you wouldn't have done something so reckless."
That kind of hurt my feelings a bit. Was there anyone out there who knew more about the black market than me?
Thud.
Before we started, I decided to take off the tight, suffocating helmet bothering me. There was no real reason to hide my identity any longer.
"...So you were a barbarian."
Surprisingly, though, they didn't recognize me. Not that it mattered.
Shiiink!
Big Guy A quickly unsheathed his sword, showcasing his fancy aura. Luckily for me, our current location wasn't anything like the cave I was trapped in in the labyrinth. Since I had access to my skills now, something like an aura didn't pose any threat to me.
Fwit!
Perhaps because we were in a tight space, he tried to stab me rather than slash. I didn't have room to dodge, so I simply reached out my hand to grab his blade. The reaction of these aura-using bastards was the same every damn time—that look of shock and confusion on their faces and the slight trembling of their blades. I grinned as I tugged on the sword.
Punch!
I then promptly shoved my fist into his face.
All right, that's one down.
"...R-Reinforcements!"
As soon as he dropped, the other two tried to retreat and call for backup. I quickly ran after them, grabbing them both by the backs of their necks in unison and shoving them into the walls on either side of me.
These two weren't all that impressive.
I shook the blood off my hands. Along with the blood of the Big Men Trio, there was some of my own mixed in. I ended up getting a pretty deep wound when I grabbed his sword, probably because I didn't use Giantization. Well, it was whatever. With my Natural Regeneration, the wound would heal given some time. It wouldn't even leave a scar.
Hm? How strange. There wasn't an escort service in the game.
"What can I do for you?"
"...Did you damage the door before coming here?"
"Oh, that?" I never imagined that they would have already noticed that, but I answered honestly. "I was curious what was behind it."
"...You need to come with us."
"What if I don't want to?"
"I didn't ask. I was telling you!" When Big Guy A raised his voice at me, the other two behind him started to close in. I felt a twinge of regret.
Maybe I shouldn't have broken that door. I only wanted to take a look at what was behind it while I was there...
Well, what could I do? I was just going to have to adapt.
Thud.
I swung my arms, shoving the two men coming at me aside. It didn't take much strength—in fact, it was like swatting away a mosquito. However, even after getting rammed into the wall, the two didn't seem eager to rush at me in retaliation. Instead, they cautiously kept their distance. "You're an adventurer?"
"You got a problem with that?"
"The only problem here is you. Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way."
"Oh, really now?"
As I cleaned out my ear with my pinky finger, Big Guy A's tone grew deeper and more threatening. "Judging by your build, you must be a barbarian or beastperson. Is this your first time here?"
"How'd you know?"
"Because if you knew anything about this place, you wouldn't have done something so reckless."
That kind of hurt my feelings a bit. Was there anyone out there who knew more about the black market than me?
Thud.
Before we started, I decided to take off the tight, suffocating helmet bothering me. There was no real reason to hide my identity any longer.
"...So you were a barbarian."
Surprisingly, though, they didn't recognize me. Not that it mattered.
Shiiink!
Big Guy A quickly unsheathed his sword, showcasing his fancy aura. Luckily for me, our current location wasn't anything like the cave I was trapped in in the labyrinth. Since I had access to my skills now, something like an aura didn't pose any threat to me.
Fwit!
Perhaps because we were in a tight space, he tried to stab me rather than slash. I didn't have room to dodge, so I simply reached out my hand to grab his blade. The reaction of these aura-using bastards was the same every damn time—that look of shock and confusion on their faces and the slight trembling of their blades. I grinned as I tugged on the sword.
Punch!
I then promptly shoved my fist into his face.
All right, that's one down.
"...R-Reinforcements!"
As soon as he dropped, the other two tried to retreat and call for backup. I quickly ran after them, grabbing them both by the backs of their necks in unison and shoving them into the walls on either side of me.
These two weren't all that impressive.
I shook the blood off my hands. Along with the blood of the Big Men Trio, there was some of my own mixed in. I ended up getting a pretty deep wound when I grabbed his sword, probably because I didn't use Giantization. Well, it was whatever. With my Natural Regeneration, the wound would heal given some time. It wouldn't even leave a scar.
"Now, let's go and take a look around."
Before heading out, I squatted down and took off Big Guy A's mask. Well, it was more like I brushed aside the smashed pieces of the mask that still remained. Unfortunately, it was impossible to make out his features considering his entire face got bashed in and was covered in blood.
"...I never imagined that the security in this place would be so high," I muttered under my breath.
Suddenly, in a faint voice, he rasped, "B-Bjorn... Yandel...?" It would seem that getting punched in the face had knocked enough sense into him for him to recognize me. "Wh-what is... someone like you... doing here...?"
"Again, got a problem? I just came here for some business. Since you're awake, let me ask you a few things. Where is the head of this—?"
What the—?
He passed out.
After leaving him there on the floor, not feeling guilty in the slightest, I headed out into the hallway. Some onlookers had gathered in front of the stone room, and they flinched and took a step back when I emerged. Their clothes suggested they were customers rather than employees here.
They wouldn't know even if I asked them...
"Hey, over there! What's going on?" Another large man appeared around the corner. He ran toward us after noticing the crowd and made a beeline for the open door, only to find bodies lying on the floor. "Wh-what is this...?"
His reaction made me feel like the culprit in a thriller movie.
I quickly grabbed the back of his head and lifted him off the ground. "Ahh—!"
"Where should I go to meet with the head of this place?"
"I can't tell you..."
"Even if I'll kill you if you don't?"
I tried threatening him, but he just closed his eyes as if to accept death. "K-Kill me, then... That would be many times better than becoming a traitor..."
"Ah, is that so?"
Thud!
I let go of his limp form, letting him tumble onto the floor. Obtaining information through intimidation wasn't going to work all that well, then. But no problem.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
The frantic ringing of alarm bells tore down the hall, heralding all-out war. "Intruder! Intruder!" All sorts of guys rushed toward me.
"Behel—aaaaaah!"
Well, if I beat them all up, the head of this place would have to show their face eventually, right?
***
[You have cast Giantization.]
[You have used a transformation-type ability. Due to the effects of Evolving Shell, the amount of Soul Power consumed by the ability has been reduced by half, and your highest stat has increased by 1.5x.]
***
The black market supposedly existed somewhere underground, but no one knew its exact location, as it was treated by most people as more of a tall tale than anything else. After all, if there were an underground building the size of three soccer stadiums combined somewhere in the city, wouldn't it have been discovered a lot sooner?
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Ahh, it's too damn loud in here. When the hell are they going to turn that thing off?
How much farther did I need to walk to reach the main area again?
This place is disgustingly large.
"Now, let's go and take a look around."
Before heading out, I squatted down and took off Big Guy A's mask. Well, it was more like I brushed aside the smashed pieces of the mask that still remained. Unfortunately, it was impossible to make out his features considering his entire face got bashed in and was covered in blood.
"...I never imagined that the security in this place would be so high," I muttered under my breath.
Suddenly, in a faint voice, he rasped, "B-Bjorn... Yandel...?" It would seem that getting punched in the face had knocked enough sense into him for him to recognize me. "Wh-what is... someone like you... doing here...?"
"Again, got a problem? I just came here for some business. Since you're awake, let me ask you a few things. Where is the head of this—?"
What the—?
He passed out.
After leaving him there on the floor, not feeling guilty in the slightest, I headed out into the hallway. Some onlookers had gathered in front of the stone room, and they flinched and took a step back when I emerged. Their clothes suggested they were customers rather than employees here.
They wouldn't know even if I asked them...
"Hey, over there! What's going on?" Another large man appeared around the corner. He ran toward us after noticing the crowd and made a beeline for the open door, only to find bodies lying on the floor. "Wh-what is this...?"
His reaction made me feel like the culprit in a thriller movie.
I quickly grabbed the back of his head and lifted him off the ground. "Ahh—!"
"Where should I go to meet with the head of this place?"
"I can't tell you..."
"Even if I'll kill you if you don't?"
I tried threatening him, but he just closed his eyes as if to accept death. "K-Kill me, then... That would be many times better than becoming a traitor..."
"Ah, is that so?"
Thud!
I let go of his limp form, letting him tumble onto the floor. Obtaining information through intimidation wasn't going to work all that well, then. But no problem.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
The frantic ringing of alarm bells tore down the hall, heralding all-out war. "Intruder! Intruder!" All sorts of guys rushed toward me.
"Behel—aaaaaah!"
Well, if I beat them all up, the head of this place would have to show their face eventually, right?
***
[You have cast Giantization.]
[You have used a transformation-type ability. Due to the effects of Evolving Shell, the amount of Soul Power consumed by the ability has been reduced by half, and your highest stat has increased by 1.5x.]
***
The black market supposedly existed somewhere underground, but no one knew its exact location, as it was treated by most people as more of a tall tale than anything else. After all, if there were an underground building the size of three soccer stadiums combined somewhere in the city, wouldn't it have been discovered a lot sooner?
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Ahh, it's too damn loud in here. When the hell are they going to turn that thing off?
How much farther did I need to walk to reach the main area again?
This place is disgustingly large.
The fact that the building was massive also had its advantages, though. Unlike the cramped stone room from earlier, the height and width of the rest of the place was astounding, allowing me to cast Giantization without any issue.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
The people who suddenly found themselves in the same hallway as a rampaging giant fell neatly into two categories.
"R-Run away...!" One was customers, who only came here to make a purchase and fled the moment they spotted me.
"Stop him...!" The second category encompassed the group of large men running straight toward me to stop me.
I noticed earlier while facing the aura user—the level of the people down here was a lot higher than I had expected.
I'd say they're about on par with most fourth-floor adventurers...?
And that was just on average—some of them would probably be fine even on the sixth floor. Even though I had an almost infinite healing factor, it was still objectively dangerous for me to take on such a large number of opponents without support. But strangely, this all felt about as dangerous as a relaxing stroll in the park to me.
That was because no matter what I did, I knew they couldn't kill me—not because of my strength, but for another reason entirely.
"...S-Stop! W-We have orders from up above! We were told to capture him alive and avoid injuring him as much as possible!"
"What? W-We have to capture him alive?"
So news of my presence had reached the higher-ups.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
I continued to run forward, destroying everything in my path. A small, trembling voice behind me made its way up to my ear.
"How? How are we supposed to capture a monster like that...?!"
Unfortunately for them, their hands were tied by their superiors' mediocre orders. I took advantage of that to create as much of a scene as possible. The few of them who didn't back away in fear dropped their weapons and ran forward to subdue me. They were easy to deal with, though. A full-speed charge was enough to send them flying into the walls.
Smash!
Their willingness to obey their boss's orders was admirable but also extremely short-sighted. Even if they attacked me with all their strength and all the troops they had at their disposal, they'd never be able to subdue me without hurting me first.
"B-Baron Yandel! P-Please stop! The higher-ups want to have a conversation with you—"
What are they talking about? There's no way I'm going to stop now. This is way too much fun.
Since I was currently untouchable, I decided to put even more oomph into my rampage.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
None of their attacks ever landed a single scratch on my body. It was a religious experience. Even though I was just running, it felt like I was expertly deflecting each blow without even needing to blink.
This must be what it feels like to be a martial arts master in Murim.
"Hahaha!" I happily continued my stomping stroll around the building.
"Shield wall!" At some point, they built a shield wall in an attempt to stop me in my tracks. This must have been another order from above. If I ended up dying, that would be the end of the black market, after all. According to the rumors, this place thought itself above the laws of nobles, but in reality, an organization like this couldn't run without buy-in from the nobility.
"We've received further orders! No attacking him no matter what!"
At least I now knew what this place's higher-ups were thinking. They knew that if any harm were to come to me, their market would be doomed. Their only hope of actually dealing with me would have been to kill me behind the scenes, but there were already far too many witnesses for them to pull off a quiet assassination at this point.
"Hiding behind a shield, you cowards? Who is the leader of this evil den? Come out! I, Bjorn Yandel, shall punish you on behalf of the royal family!"
"Th-that's what we've been saying! Our leader wants to talk to—"
"Behel—aaaaaah!"
I ran rampant for a while longer as the number of people deployed to their shield wall increased, bolstering the wall's sturdiness. They even brought wizards and special ability users in to cast support and debuff spells. Slowly, I was overwhelmed by their numbers.
Thud.
When I finally stopped running for the first time, I looked behind me to find I was sandwiched in by an identical shield wall made up of dozens of people. Even I'd have a hard time busting through all of them.
I sighed.
But if I get cornered like pathetic prey, he's going to look down on me when I meet him...
As I mulled this over, the man who seemed to be in charge of security made his way through the shield wall. "...Baron! P-Please calm down for a moment so we can—"
"It'd be a waste to try to reason with evil bastards like you!"
"...But you have nowhere else to run!"
What was he talking about? Did these guys really not know how barbarians worked?
All right, that's enough thinking.
I swung my hammer as hard as I could, not toward the people holding up their shields, but instead toward the wall on my left.
Craaash!
When you found the path ahead of you blocked, you just had to make yourself a new one.
The fact that the building was massive also had its advantages, though. Unlike the cramped stone room from earlier, the height and width of the rest of the place was astounding, allowing me to cast Giantization without any issue.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
The people who suddenly found themselves in the same hallway as a rampaging giant fell neatly into two categories.
"R-Run away...!" One was customers, who only came here to make a purchase and fled the moment they spotted me.
"Stop him...!" The second category encompassed the group of large men running straight toward me to stop me.
I noticed earlier while facing the aura user—the level of the people down here was a lot higher than I had expected.
I'd say they're about on par with most fourth-floor adventurers...?
And that was just on average—some of them would probably be fine even on the sixth floor. Even though I had an almost infinite healing factor, it was still objectively dangerous for me to take on such a large number of opponents without support. But strangely, this all felt about as dangerous as a relaxing stroll in the park to me.
That was because no matter what I did, I knew they couldn't kill me—not because of my strength, but for another reason entirely.
"...S-Stop! W-We have orders from up above! We were told to capture him alive and avoid injuring him as much as possible!"
"What? W-We have to capture him alive?"
So news of my presence had reached the higher-ups.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
I continued to run forward, destroying everything in my path. A small, trembling voice behind me made its way up to my ear.
"How? How are we supposed to capture a monster like that...?!"
Unfortunately for them, their hands were tied by their superiors' mediocre orders. I took advantage of that to create as much of a scene as possible. The few of them who didn't back away in fear dropped their weapons and ran forward to subdue me. They were easy to deal with, though. A full-speed charge was enough to send them flying into the walls.
Smash!
Their willingness to obey their boss's orders was admirable but also extremely short-sighted. Even if they attacked me with all their strength and all the troops they had at their disposal, they'd never be able to subdue me without hurting me first.
"B-Baron Yandel! P-Please stop! The higher-ups want to have a conversation with you—"
What are they talking about? There's no way I'm going to stop now. This is way too much fun.
Since I was currently untouchable, I decided to put even more oomph into my rampage.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
None of their attacks ever landed a single scratch on my body. It was a religious experience. Even though I was just running, it felt like I was expertly deflecting each blow without even needing to blink.
This must be what it feels like to be a martial arts master in Murim.
"Hahaha!" I happily continued my stomping stroll around the building.
"Shield wall!" At some point, they built a shield wall in an attempt to stop me in my tracks. This must have been another order from above. If I ended up dying, that would be the end of the black market, after all. According to the rumors, this place thought itself above the laws of nobles, but in reality, an organization like this couldn't run without buy-in from the nobility.
"We've received further orders! No attacking him no matter what!"
At least I now knew what this place's higher-ups were thinking. They knew that if any harm were to come to me, their market would be doomed. Their only hope of actually dealing with me would have been to kill me behind the scenes, but there were already far too many witnesses for them to pull off a quiet assassination at this point.
"Hiding behind a shield, you cowards? Who is the leader of this evil den? Come out! I, Bjorn Yandel, shall punish you on behalf of the royal family!"
"Th-that's what we've been saying! Our leader wants to talk to—"
"Behel—aaaaaah!"
I ran rampant for a while longer as the number of people deployed to their shield wall increased, bolstering the wall's sturdiness. They even brought wizards and special ability users in to cast support and debuff spells. Slowly, I was overwhelmed by their numbers.
Thud.
When I finally stopped running for the first time, I looked behind me to find I was sandwiched in by an identical shield wall made up of dozens of people. Even I'd have a hard time busting through all of them.
I sighed.
But if I get cornered like pathetic prey, he's going to look down on me when I meet him...
As I mulled this over, the man who seemed to be in charge of security made his way through the shield wall. "...Baron! P-Please calm down for a moment so we can—"
"It'd be a waste to try to reason with evil bastards like you!"
"...But you have nowhere else to run!"
What was he talking about? Did these guys really not know how barbarians worked?
All right, that's enough thinking.
I swung my hammer as hard as I could, not toward the people holding up their shields, but instead toward the wall on my left.
Craaash!
When you found the path ahead of you blocked, you just had to make yourself a new one.