Surviving the Game as a Barbarian chapter 178

178 Angry Doppelganger (3)

darkness without a single light coming in.

Raven has cast a light sphere magic.

“Right.”

I closed my eyes reflexively before being slapped.

Raven asked me like that.

“Mr. Yandel, what are you doing now?”

When I slowly opened my eyes, I saw a light sphere emitting a faint and subtle luster, unlike usual.

It’s also possible to adjust the brightness.

“It is nothing.”

As I turned around with my shyness behind me, Raven gave me a pint glass.

“By the way, if you’re going to do something like this, please tell me in advance. You were surprised.”

“Right. What are you going to do if you go out and get caught by the guards?”

“You will have to pay a fine or something.”

“Surely, I don’t want to pay public money—”

“It was for the team.”

When I cut it out, Raven let out a deep sigh. But nothing was said there.

It’s not that what I’m saying is wrong.

Because that’s not what’s important right now.

“Isn’t it strange? It’s a dark area from the start.”

“It’s not just a dark area. Do you see it over there?”

At Uncle Bear’s murmuring, Raven pointed to a stone monument on one wall.

Now it’s time to get to the point.

“It’s a hierarchical monument. Do you know how this happened?”

“I think it’s a dimensional instability phenomenon.”

“… … What is it?”

“After all, portals are a kind of dimensional magic, aren’t they? I’ve heard that sometimes this happens. It is an error in entering the starting coordinates.”

“… … So, is it just a coincidence?”

“I do not know. There are observational records indicating that the possibility of dimensional instability phenomenon increases just before the portal disappears.”

Uh, that’s kind of like a book I’ve been reading.

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My mouth was itchy for some reason, but I just shut up.

He’ll explain everything on his own anyway, so there’s no need to go out and be suspicious.

“Bjorn, this is then… … .”

When I blinked, Misha shut her mouth.

And just in case I made a mistake, I approached Ainar.

Okay, so this part is over.

“Hmm, so you’re saying it’s because we barely came in?”

The corner of the bear’s lips rose slightly.

Like an explorer, he seems to have realized the deception of the experience copy bug.

However, Raven shook her head.

“That’s a little vague.”

huh? What is it?

I couldn’t stand it and got into the conversation.

“Ambiguous, what do you mean?”

“Even if there is an error in the coordinate input, it never falls to the outermost part like this. If that’s the case, everyone will come in late.

Well, it’s not like that either.

Actually, I was skeptical about this as well.

The phenomenon of dimensional instability is surprisingly familiar to many. But, why doesn’t anyone use this honey bug?

“The phenomenon of dimensional instability was well known 130 years ago. During that time, there was a big problem with the dimensional magic circle, and the frequency increased exponentially.”

“therefore?”

“I received a request from the royal family and repaired the dimensional magic circle at the Magic Tower. After the stabilization work was completed, there was almost no instability again.”

Simply put, it means that even if you enter late for a hundred years, you could not use the experience copying bug.

“Then what happened to this now?”

“… … Could it be that it is time to make repairs again?”

After making a plausible guess, Raven cautiously added a suggestion.

“So, by the way, I’m going to keep it a secret today.”

“A little more detail.”

“I don’t think anyone knows that there is a problem with the dimensional magic circle right now. But as time goes on and things get worse, other explorers will experience it too.”

Uncle Bear, who was listening quietly, nodded his head.

“Until then, only we know and write.”

“yes. It reduces exploration time and accumulates achievement points, how good is it?”

i got caught up

“Wait, isn’t public value meaningless for wizards?”

Wizards cannot eat essence. So, it is useless to eat experience points.

But why are you so active?

Raven replied with a grin.

“Personally, I am interested. The hierarchical tombstone that has not been touched by a human yet. In that sense, may I open it?”

“do whatever you want.”

When my permission was granted, Raven touched the tombstone.

Whoops-!

A portal that opens with a luminous glow of five colors.

Raven closed her eyes as if concentrating on the sensation of her fingertips and the flow of magic in the air.

and sang briefly.

“It’s a very strange feeling.”

As a barbarian with zero magical talent, it was a feeling I would never know.

However, even in such a country, I felt one thing for sure.

「The portal has been opened for the first time. EXP +2”

big, this is it

This sensation of eating raw.

***

“You have entered the 2nd floor Beast’s Lair.”

“You have entered the first-floor crystal cave.”

***

I went up and went straight down to the first floor.

Well, the beast’s den has no answer for us.

Since there are so many fork in the road, it only delays time unless you are a seeker like Rottmiller.

‘Even Rotmiller said that it’s better to just give up on the beast’s lair.’

There is a guide, so it doesn’t mean you can’t find the way at all.

But it’s faster to go the other way, so there’s no reason to go through here.

“Then we will move slowly.”

I took out a compass and held it in one hand to find my way.

Once out of the dark zone, then heading northwest.

There wasn’t much going on along the way.

Still, it’s because Rotmiller taught me how to navigate on the first floor.

Of course, I’m still inexperienced, but… … .

“Abman, where is the portal?”

“It’s over there.”

“Then we can only go north from now on.”

Thanks to having a guide on the team, it is possible to follow the optimal path even with a single compass.

It’s like making up for the lack of skills with cheats.

It was about 3 hours after entering the labyrinth.

“stop.”

A person appeared for the first time on our path moving from the outskirts to the outskirts.

A group of four soldiers and a knight with the royal emblem on their chest.

“Do you have any identification tags?”

The article that stopped us asks a short question.

They already had blood on their weapons and armor as to how many battles they had fought.

It’s not monster blood.

Because there are no monsters bleeding red blood on the first floor.

“Last ask. identification tag?”

“Ah, here it is. You too, take them out.”

After a moment of hesitation at the intimidation of the knights, they all took out the dog tags they had received from the city and showed them.

Then he cleared the road that the knight had been blocking.

Even giving you one piece of advice.

“Be careful not to lose it. It seems that some of them who are already keen are running around looking for dog tags.”

Yeah, that’s right.

You must have realized that they weren’t stupid, and that’s the only way to live.

I passed by and asked a question.

“Is there any way to identify the stolen dog tags?”

“No.”

“Then why don’t we doubt it?”

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Maybe my question bothered you a bit?

The knight frowned slightly, but answered the question.

“blood.”

“… … ?”

“If it was stolen, it must have had human blood on it. Most of all, I know your face.”

huh?

“I am the knight of Count Ferdehild.”

Oh, you saw me at the banquet.

By the way, I don’t know what the count is doing.

At that time, he said meaningfully that he would call me separately when I was ready, but there has been no contact yet.

Well, I guess ignorance is good news.

“Hmm, it’s comfortable to go with celebrities, isn’t it?”

“Don’t make fun of me.”

“yes? Aren’t you kidding me?”

Whoo, he really thinks I’m a barbarian.

“You lower the corners of your lips, don’t you?”

“… … You just get really quick.”

“Anyway, let’s speed up from now on. If it’s hard, tell me.”

“What are you going to do if I tell you?”

“Einar will pick you up.”

“Eh? I?”

Neither Ainard nor Raven looked disliked, but there was nothing they could do. Climb up as fast as possible so you won’t run into less people.

“… … Ainar, please carry me.”

Did you speed up and about 30 minutes passed?

The corner wizard Raven chose to throw away his face and put it on his back.

It’s a bonus that the speed has gone up a lot thanks to you.

Raven rubbed Ainar’s body here and there, as if bored with being alone.

“No, don’t touch it!”

“Wow, Ainar-san is softer than I thought, isn’t it?”

“… … Are you kidding me! If so, get down!”

Ainar dislikes trembling violently.

Slowly wanting to pay attention to Raven, I noticed something blocking my way and stopped.

“Bjorn, why are you stopping?”

“It’s a corpse.”

There were a total of five bodies.

four men and one woman.

It was almost like a bare body, as if the equipment had been stolen, and it seemed that quite a bit of time had passed by looking at the state of bleeding.

“Einar, will you drop me off?”

Raven also got off the mount and inspected the body.

“It doesn’t seem like it was hit by a knight.”

“On the basis?”

“It hurts. One is a blunt weapon, the other is an arrow. And the rest were set on fire. I don’t think it’s magic, it’s probably a talent.”

The knight wields a sword.

That’s because the auror is the best weapon to use.

But there are no swords… … .

“Isn’t he supposed to be the explorer of Noark? Another explorer took it off because it didn’t have a dog tag.”

Raven smiled bitterly at Misha’s words.

“Maybe the other way around.”

“Opposite running?”

The answer was given by Mr. Bear.

“Didn’t you tell me about the article you met earlier? It is possible that they were targeting other explorers to get dog tags.”

“ah… … .”

“Besides, I made the face unrecognizable. You don’t usually need to do that, right?”

Of course, you never know what the truth will be.

However, this corpse raised awareness in all of us. It must be so, isn’t it an explorer who reached the outskirts of the first floor at this early hour?

He must have been an explorer at the level of speedrunning.

However, a few hours before the labyrinth opened, he died in this form on the first floor.

“… … Do you really need to be nervous?”

“Yandel, it looks like these guys also went to the Goblin Forest, wouldn’t it be better to go somewhere else?”

“It won’t make any difference if it’s the other side.”

“Huh, that’s right.”

In the end, we headed towards the Goblin Forest without any change in schedule.

how long has it been since

We arrived in front of the portal on the second floor.

[06:47]

The time period is so fast that it cannot be compared with the previous expedition. Even compared to the time attack with Rot Miller, the difference is only 30 minutes.

“Can Yandel turn into a real explorer now?”

“Nyahat, you are a barbarian explorer. No one will believe me!”

“Bjorn is the hope of a barbarian!”

Everyone checked the time and poured praises on me, but in fact, it’s hard to see it as my ability.

This expedition had a different starting line.

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Moving from the outskirts to the outskirts is bound to save a lot of time.

“… … Alright, let’s go upstairs.”

I dismissed it briefly and stood in front of the portal.

“You are shy.”

“Okay, ok.”

What are you saying, these guys?

***

“You have entered the Goblin Forest on the second floor.”

“You have entered the Pilgrim’s Path on the third floor.”

“You have entered the 4th floor Tower of the Sky.”

***

7th morning.

A day faster than when Rot Miller was there.

We reached the 4th floor.

‘Is this enough to be the leader among explorers?’

The result of the merging of my guiding ability with my guiding ability.

In fact, explorers were rarely encountered during the expedition. With two large-scale clans, there were about 10 teams of 5 members?

All of them pointed their weapons at each other, only checked the dog tags from afar and parted.

After all, the atmosphere of the real labyrinth has become bloody.

“Raven, what’s the result?”

“No.”

As soon as I cleared the first stage, I was conscious of the last masked man incident and continued to run only the search magic for about an hour.

‘What are you really doing because of those bastards.’

The more I think about it, the more I get annoyed, but what can I do?

As the state is the state, we just have to take care of ourselves.

「I have chosen the Stairway of Wisdom.」

In the first place, I naturally chose the gateway of wisdom.

A maze full of traps and monsters.

Because I received the most training from Rotmiller in this part, the clear time was reduced by about 40 minutes.

“Raven, how long did it take?”

“One hour and 58 minutes.”

Considering that it took 5 hours at first, it’s really, really fast.

「I have chosen the Stairway of Wisdom.」

「I have chosen the Stairway of Wisdom.」

「I have chosen the Stairway of Wisdom.」

“I have chosen the Stairs of Courage.”

「I have chosen the Stairway of Wisdom.」

“I have chosen the Stairs of Courage.”

After that, he continued to break the ordeal and focused on raising the number of floors.

And the time when the 7th day is slowly coming to an end.

‘It’s stage 27 on the first day… … .’

In fact, it accomplished the achievement of clearing the quadrant of the tower in one day. A speed that would never have been possible if the stairs of wisdom had not appeared one after another.

“It’s a bit early, but I’m off a little early today.”

The stairs of the container you cleared last have to wait 4 hours to open the next door, so we just prepared for the camp.

“How are you going to do it?”

“I don’t think there is a need for that.”

No punctuation was established.

I used detection magic periodically throughout my expedition throughout the day, but no other explorers were detected.

“Actually, even if someone is hiding, the vigil number doesn’t mean anything. Detection magic doesn’t work either, so what should be different?”

“It was just what I meant.”

“Then do you eat before bed?”

“good.”

After everyone gathered and cooked a simple meal, they each went to their seats and lay down.

A comfortable bed that can only be felt on the 4th floor.

Well, it must have been… … .

‘Nimiral.’

I can’t sleep easily because of the Masked Man incident.

In the end, I was able to close my eyes only after tossing and turning for a while.

It didn’t take long before I had to wake up.

Dede de de de-!

Vibration transmitted from the ground with its back attached.

The whole tower is trembling slightly.

I hurriedly got up to my feet.

There is only one reason for this to happen in the labyrinth.

“Mr. Yandel, I hope this phenomenon is… … .”

“Yeah, that’s what you think.”

A crack opened on the 4th floor.