Surviving the Game as a Barbarian Chapter 5

Give and Take (1)

Looking back, I was a pretty funny guy.

Although I always thought of life as boring, I never once considered suicide.

That feeling of boredom was just an emotion in the end, and to , life was more precious than anything else.

In many ways, I simply found things not worth the candle.

That thought still persists.

That's why

Crawling in the dark on three legs.

I know what you're thinking, but I'm actually being quite literal.

Currently, I am crawling on the floor with three legs, shuffling my completely shredded right foot.

If soone sees now, I'm sure they'll think of an abandoned dog with a broken leg.

How do I know that?

Because that's what I'm thinking right now.'

This sweetness ca at the price of giving up my human dignity.

First of all, it doesn't hurt because you don't have to use your injured foot, and you can move faster than before.

Second of all, there is no way you'll step on another trap.

In return, my elbows and knees hurt, but just this much

Is within the limits of what I can bear. I can endure.

What can't you do to survive?

I can even gobble up dog shit with a smile if that's what it'd take.

Well if I take a bit of ti to prepare my heart, it will definitely be possible.

But what happened to that uncle?'

Uncle' is just a word I assigned arbitrarily.

I don't know the person's gender, age, or na.

I'm just guessing by his way of speaking.

The image in my mind is that of a thiryish white guy with glasses, for so reason.

Or not.

[Bleeding] continues.

Anyway, what happened to that person who woke up in the body of Kadua's son Oreum? Did he die? Or, did he wake up again in his original body?

It's a question I've been holding on to since I opened my eyes.

Even if I intentionally try not to think about it, the worse things get, the more I think of him.

[Bleeding] continues.

It's a bit clearer now, the reason why humans believe in religion.

The reality is that it is too difficult to be alone.

When despair strikes, you need a place to turn your thoughts to. Just like I am doing right now.

[Bleeding] continues.

[Bleeding] continues.

Warning: The character's health is below 5%. If not treated promptly, the character might die.

After that, I kept crawling while thinking about this and that.

It's faint, but I can feel the surroundings getting brighter.

This is a positive situation in many ways.

At least you're going in the right direction, and my hypothesis that the whole of the first floor couldn't be this dark is correct.

Let's just go sowhere bright.

Because there will be people there. Give them this mana stone and ask for help. Then sohow

That's so funny shit, you hare-brained idiot.'

As I was whispering words of encouragent to myself and grasping at imaginary carrots, my other self appeared.

You idiot asshole, think practically. You're asking them to help you in exchange for a loaf of bread. Who knows if they'll just take the shield and the mana stone, and kill you.'

Is this guy ?

This is one smart bastard.

What would you do if you t another goblin bastard before finding a human in the first place? Is that skull just for show or is there a brain inside? Huh?'

I can't tolerate any more insults.

Well, then, what else am I going to do? I still have to continue. At least I'll be able to see the path ahead. Even if a goblin did pop out, wouldn't it be better than fighting here in the dark?'

True enough.'

My other self agrees, and my head is quiet again.

I kept crawling.

"Kahahahahaha"

I'm going crazy.

No, I may have already gone crazy.

After all, I shed so much blood, right?

Since before, my consciousness kept dividing into two, then rging back again, and my thoughts have been slowing down.

Like so kind of a feedback loop.

A bit more of this, and I'm sure I'll never be able to open my eyes again.

"Kahahahahaha"

I laughed out loud.

I really didn't have the energy to spare, but I still laughed.

At so point, the surroundings had beco brighter.

In the distance, at the end of the passage, I could see a crystal shining brightly.

On top of that, I saw the figure of a man standing in front with a torch.

I didn't mistake a goblin for a human.

Indubitably, it was a human form.

"He lp"

I wanted to shout sothing, but my voice wasn't working.

I crawled desperately, blinking my eyes hard.

What is this?

The human form ca closer, as if teleporting.

Surprised by that fact, I blinked again.

[Bleeding] continues.

He was closer this ti.

About five or six people were standing in my front.

Was I seeing things? I closed my eyes again and opened them.

Achievent complete

Condition: Health drops to 2% or less.

Reward: Permanently increases Mind by 1.

Then I saw a blond man with his knees bent.

We were nose to nose as our eyes t, but he broke our gaze after only a curious look and observed the surroundings without asking anything.

Rather than listening to another, he was making a judgnt based on his own experience and intuition.

As a veteran, he quickly ca to a conclusion.

"Youre a rookie."

Fuck, if you understand then help , you bastard.

As you can see, I'm a fucking barbarian with just a shield, and all I have is a goblin mana stone to exchange for help with this shredded leg.

I'll give you all of this if you want. So

"Amazing. How did a newbie manage to get here faster than us?"

I quickly opened my mouth to answer. But what ca out was a sound similar to a cough or a spit.

"Grrreu"

No, to be honest, it sounded more like a goblin, but

It was enough to let them know that I was in a situation where I couldn't answer.

Soon, the blond asked a colleague.

"Priest Ersina. Could you please treat this kid?"

Priest? Are you saying there's a priest in your party?

I stared at the side with the fervent eyes of a man seeing a miracle. And indeed, there was a priestess in a white robe.

The priestess, who made eye contact with , spoke bluntly through her beautiful lips

"I will decline."

Eh? What?

"I see. All right then."

What all right? Why are you agreeing?

This is horrible. Fuck, I don't know why I'm being treated like this even after I finally reached here.

And during such a mont when the tantrums in my heart were swelling up

"Parthran, may I have a potion?"

"Isn't that for when you cant use your divine power?"

"You have a lot of them anyway. I will pay for it separately after we exit."

"Sheesh."

A man with a sword at his waist clicked his tongue and pulled out a potion from his bag, throwing it.

My heart sank seeing my sole lifeline being treated so casually.

Clink.

Fortunately, the blond caught the potion properly.

"Its not as good as divine power, so this will hurt a bit."

The blond opened the stopper and sprinkled half the bottle's contents on my wound, and poured the other half directly into my mouth.

Quickly, I felt an unbearable wave of pain.

Was this the sensation of all the pain unconsciously accumulated in the body breaking out at once?

The body regenerates rapidly due to the recovery (dium) effect.

It felt as if my whole body was lting.

This was the reason why potions could not be used mid-battle in the ga.

I thought it was just sothing prohibited by the system, but it turned out that it reflected the ground reality very well.

Shit.

"Heuk, heuk, heuk, heuk"

How many minutes had passed?

The pain gradually subsided, and I began to feel better.

"Now, can you tell , barbarian? How did a rookie like you get here before us? If you know a new passage, I want to buy the information."

Indeed, was that his purpose?

I didn't feel bad. Rather, it was reassuring to think that he treated well because he had a purpose.

There is nothing more sinister than good intentions without any concrete cause behind them.

Still, I felt a little bit sorry for him.

I didn't know any secret passages.

" I was here as soon as I entered the labyrinth."

I honestly told them my circumstances.

The blond tilted his head and then nodded with an understanding expression.

"Surely I've read it in a book. Occasionally, there are cases of dinsional instability."

My heart was pounding heavily.

I asked as if I might have misheard.

"You're seeing this for the first ti?"

I couldn't believe it at all.

Hey, there's a priest in the party, and there's even a wizard. It ans that they are decent enough, at least in the middle class.

But for the first ti?

"Yeah, in the book, its a case that might happen once a century. That sobody falls in the outermost zone like this."

Oh, I see. It's sothing that might happen once a century at the most. And that's what I experienced when I first entered the labyrinth.

Now I see why the other barbarians didn't carry any torches.

Who would worry about being struck by lightning just because it's raining?

"Looking at it, this seems like an unprecedented experience, but it must have been a disaster to go through such a rare event."

The blond looked at with a sad gaze.

"It wasn't the information I wanted, but it was interesting nonetheless. Lets just go and forget about the value of the potion."

Although his tone was a bit unfortunate, he seed to be basically a good guy.

"Oh, and rember to take the shield over there."

I looked where the blond was pointing and saw a shield that had fallen to the floor. The distance was about 20m. I thought I'd tied it properly at my waist, but it seed to have fallen off.

"Then let's go."

They passed by without even letting say thank you.

In the labyrinth, ti is money, so it wasn't hard to understand.

No, it was close to a miracle just to have spent so much ti for in the first place.

I stared at the place they left for a mont, then quickly ran and picked up the shield fallen on the floor.

It was definitely great to have survived

Still, sothing felt odd.

Bjorn Yandel

Level: 1

Body: 25 / Mind: 36 (New 1) / Abilities: 1

Item Level: 24

Combat Index: 68 (New 1)

"He was lucky, that barbarian."

"Well, isn't it a bit much to call that luck? Going through sothing like that your first ti"

As the blond answered with a vague smile, the swordsman snorted.

"Even without that, things would have been the sa for soone who stepped on a goblin trap. He was lucky to et us in the first place."

"He was lucky to et Drusz, not you. You didn't even want to use the potion, did you?"

When the female archer, who had been listening quietly till now, intervened, the swordsman shrugged.

"Yeah, because you'll find these guys all over the place. They don't survive long anyway. Our priest must have thought the sa, right?"

The priestess smiled bitterly and did not answer, and instead, the female archer spoke angrily.

"Lady Ersina would have treated him if it werent for the temple's rules. No, without the potion, she might have just broken the rules. Do you think that everyone is like you?"

"Well, I dont know about that. I see a lot of people who're very different inside and outside."

" Parthran, you need to be more like Drusz, even if just a little bit."

"For example, being considerate before asking about the secret passage?"

"Yes. I've heard that barbarians don't like the help of others. Maybe thats why he was so considerate upfront."

" Hey, don't you think youre talking up too much?"

As the topic turned to him, the blond smiled awkwardly and scratched his head.

But he also did not deny the accusation.

"Ah, if you want to take the shortcut, you have to change directions here."

"Really, its nice to have a guide in the party."

"Lady Ersina! Usually, the guides only know the direction to the portal. It's just that Drusz is great. He's morized all the landmarks on the first floor."

The swordsman shook his head, looking at the female archer.

"But where the hell does this trail of blood end? Havent we already walked quite a bit?"

"Yeah. I guess you're wrong about that guy just being lucky. What kind of ntal strength do you need to keep crawling for a distance like this?"

"Huh, what big deal is that Yeah, it should be around here."

The party, that had been following the bloodstains till now, turned to a shortcut in the middle. And after about 15 minutes, they reached their destination.

"Looks like we were the first to arrive on this route. There's a benefit to hurrying. Lets get moving."

When the blond placed his hand on the monolith placed in front of the dead end, an intense beam of light burst out and took the shape of a sphere.

It was a portal leading to the second floor.

"Wait."

As everyone was about to throw themselves into the portal, the female archer stopped the party.

"Isnt that what the barbarian must've been wearing earlier?"

"What?"

The party, looking at the direction the female archer was pointing, was montarily speechless.

In the half-darkness under the light emitted by the portal, a blood-stained trap and a damaged sandal could be seen placed in a pile.

" That should be it."

The wizard made an interested expression, then created a new sphere of light and moved it over the passage.

Whoooooosh !

The bloodstains that started from the trap continued along the curved passageway.

No matter how much you move the sphere of light, you can't even fathom its end from this place.

There was a mont of silence.

" Hey, Drusz. How far is it from here to where we t him before?"

" If there are no shortcuts, likely about 15 km."

"Heh heh heh, that body is like a monster. To keep crawling such a long distance alone in this darkness."

The wizard just laughed, as if in surprise.

However, the swordsman next to him could not do that.

" This is crazy."

He felt it was a matter of the mind, not the body. He thought.

How many hours must he have crawled in that situation? When you're not even sure you'll be able to et soone and get help?'

He didn't know.

But what is certain is, that barbarian was still crawling when they discovered him. He continued to move his arms and legs, almost unconsciously.

And then?

Unable to speak properly, he'd held out his hand.

He had been holding a small mana stone in his hand.

At the ti, I didn't think much of it, but now I think I know what that action ant.

I'm going to give you this, so help .'

Other than that, I have nothing to offer in return.

So, while the barbarian crawled that long distance, he had kept holding the mana stone tightly in his hand. So that if he t soone by any chance, he could show it to them right away.

Soon, the man ca to a decision.

" I must take back what I said earlier."

Just lucky?

Just another rookie who'll die early?

How could that be?

He knew from long experience.

"Drusz, what was that barbarians na earlier?"

That kind of madman won't die so easily.

No matter how hard or hopeless his circumstances may be.

Because he will never see death as an escape from his tornt.