Surviving the Game as a Barbarian - Chapter 791: Red Ocean (3)
Treasure brings misfortune. 이 proverb shines especially brightly inside the labyrinth. I myself, back in my rookie days, once had someone suddenly turn into a raider just because of a subspace bag, and there were so many such incidents that at one point, I seriously considered whether I should peel off the workshop seal from my subspace bag or smear soot on my lightium breastplate to dull its shine.
But…….
‘I thought those days were over.’
As I gained fame, formed a team, that team grew into a clan, I became a noble, then a chieftain…… the more I had, the less reason I felt to hide anything.
No, on the contrary, I exposed everything I could.
I judged that now was the time when that would help me more.
And yet, what is this now.
“…….”
The moment that bastard subtly tossed a question, the weight of the air changed.
Neither I nor he had said a single word yet.
My comrades each began pulling out their weapons, preparing to fight at any moment, and the enemy did the same.
“…….”
“…….”
In a tense silence, we aimed our gazes at each other.
He was hesitating.
Of course he was — there was so much he could gain from killing me.
Just counting the Numbered items known to be in my possession, there were several, and among them were even Single Numbers.
And even if not that, he was probably assuming there was much more I hadn’t revealed.
People are creatures of imagination.
And always toward their own advantage.
“…How are things going with your new team members?”
He must’ve also considered our team composition when a little bit of greed started to seep in.
Because Elwen and Ainard, members of the Seven Rivals, weren’t here.
And Beleg — you could say he was a washed-up retiree — and Misha didn’t have any well-known combat capabilities.
‘Raven and Kaislan are somewhat famous, but…….’
With that lineup, maybe he thought it was worth a shot.
After all, they had over forty people, and we were just six.
“I have no reason to report internal clan affairs to you. So, what exactly is it you’re trying to say?”
“Haha, why so hostile? I just wanted to say — be careful.”
“……?”
“Well, stuff like how you supposedly took on twenty Orkulis members alone, or smashed a Magic Eye in one blow… maybe clueless fools might believe that, but no one who made it into the labyrinth would believe such absurd tall tales.”
Ah… so that’s what this is.
Now I get it.
I’d been wondering why he was getting greedy over me, but from the start, he must’ve thought all my strength was just inflated rumors.
“We’re gentlemen, so we’ll just pass by like this—”
Bullshit. You’re just a coward too scared to take the risk.
“Meiruta Clan.”
I cut him off and spoke quickly.
“Out of a total of 121 members, 48 entered this expedition. Seems like you’ve signed a pact with Dvoord Clan, which is a similar size, but since you’re still apart, I assume you’ll be linking up on the sixth floor.”
“How did you…?”
“At my level, you naturally get to know certain things. Like how, though acquitted in court, your clan has been suspected of raiding multiple times.”
“…….”
“Do you want what I have?”
To my question, he gave no reply.
It was ridiculous.
When I stayed still, I must’ve looked like a pushover, but now that I was going on the offensive, he was suddenly flustered and at a loss.
“…Haha, what are you saying? I merely offered you some friendly advice—”
“Prepare for combat.”
I cut him off and told my team.
“From this moment forward, consider the leader of Meiruta Clan a raider and noble-killer. Execute him on the spot.”
“……Wh-what are you saying!”
“If you aid your leader, you’ll be treated as accomplices and punished accordingly.”
“W-wait!!”
As I finished my curt declaration and took one step forward, the bastard took a step back and cut me off.
“Y-you’re really going to attack me?”
“I’m merely punishing a criminal.”
“Wh-what did I do?! Think carefully! Even if you’re who you are, if you act like this—”
“If I act like this, what?”
“…….”
“Do you really think I wouldn’t be able to deal with the consequences?”
He couldn’t say a word in response and just opened and closed his mouth like a fish.
Because he knew it too.
That even if he and his men were innocent and I slaughtered all of them, I could make it go away.
“Ilia Adnus.”
“…Hoo, so it comes to this.”
I merely said his name, and the Guildmaster understood exactly what I meant and removed the helmet he was wearing.
“Th-the Guildmaster…?”
“Why is the Guildmaster with Anabada Clan…?”
Everyone was in complete shock, but honestly, the question they should be asking right now isn’t why the Guildmaster is here.
“You are now participating in a raid.”
“W-we’ve never—”
“From what I saw, it was clearly an attempted raid. Are you saying otherwise? Then will you stand by your leader’s criminal act?”
To the Guildmaster’s question, the Meiruta members responded with actions instead of words.
They instinctively, almost unconsciously, took a few steps back…
‘Okay. That’s that.’
Whenever you’re about to make a move, what matters most is not giving the opponent time to think.
The moment their members stepped back, I dashed forward.
And then…
“……Ugh!!”
I grabbed the leader of Meiruta Clan by the head with one hand.
Kwaaaaang—!
And slammed him straight into the ground.
Of course, even in that situation, none of their members made a move.
No — to be exact, they couldn’t.
If their leader had shown some kind of overwhelming charisma and given a command, maybe it’d be different. But in this situation, none of the regular members could make that kind of weighty decision.
“…….”
“…….”
Thus, silence once again fell over the labyrinth.
But it was a completely different kind of silence from before.
Before, it was a tense quiet, like something could explode any moment…
“…….”
Now, it was the stillness after a victor had been declared.
The loser had no options left, and could only wait, hoping the winner would show mercy.
“What will you do?”
The Guildmaster clicked his tongue and stepped up next to me.
“Executing him here won’t be a problem. He didn’t have a good reputation to begin with, and if we investigate him back in town, we’ll probably dig something up. Besides, he’s the one who broke the unspoken rule and approached first, isn’t he?”
“P-please spare me… P-please… I was wrong.”
“So? What will you do?”
The Guildmaster asked like he hadn’t heard the man’s pleas, and I ignored them as well, finishing my final thought.
“Execute him.”
“What…? No, you can’t do this! I-I really didn’t do anything!”
Well, technically he’s not wrong.
But the problem is that he even entertained the thought.
‘If Team 2 had run into people like this?’
What if they were ambushed while climbing and someone died?
I have no intention of sitting back and then comforting myself by saying, “There was nothing I could do.”
Yeah. That’s why…
They need to know.
Who Bjorn Yandel is.
What happens when someone messes with us.
Crack—!
No need for more words.
I brought the hammer down, and that was the end of it.
As my judgment concluded, the Guildmaster approached me.
“Well done. People like him are like cockroaches. If you let them be, they just multiply endlessly.”
I didn’t care much for his consolation, and instead looked over the faces of my comrades.
Raven, with her long military background, didn’t show much of a reaction — nor did Beleg.
Kaislan even looked like he found it refreshing.
But…
“…….”
Only Misha, who’d spent the longest time with me, showed a slightly concerned expression, though she didn’t say anything here and now.
“S-so… what happens to us now?”
“Are you the vice-captain?”
“Y-yes. Baron— I mean, Viscount…”
The vice-captain couldn’t even make eye contact and was trembling.
Well, they lost their leader in a place they never expected — I probably looked like a demon to them.
From their perspective, it might’ve seemed like I killed him on a whim out of anger.
“I have a few questions.”
“W-we really didn’t intend anything! When we sensed someone, I-I said we should turn back, but the captain just acted on his own—”
“That’s not what I was going to ask.”
“Eh? Then…?”
“I get that you chose the fifth floor as your gathering point. But how’d you get here so fast?”
It was the question I’d had since I first saw them.
We’d been advancing at an extremely fast pace too — how did they get ahead of us?
With forty-eight people, no less.
“T-that’s because our captain assigned six members to the expedition who had [Flag of Swiftness]! Ah, the [Flag of Swiftness] is…”
“No need to explain. I know it.”
[Flag of Swiftness] is an aura-type skill that greatly increases movement speed based on the number of people benefiting from the buff.
It does burn through a lot of MP, but they probably rotated who used it…
‘But does this strategy even have any real merit?’
As I was pondering, the Guildmaster cut in with a mocking tone.
“That’s a strategy no one uses these days.”
“Eh…?”
“It only really works efficiently once everyone’s gathered on the fifth floor. Sure, you can rush through the fifth floor fast, but… from the sixth floor you need boats, and from the seventh, stability matters more than speed. That’s why it was a brief fad, then it died out.”
“…I-I see… I really didn’t know. The captain said he paid a lot of money to learn that strategy…”
“Then he wasted it.”
Anyway, that cleared up my question.
To be honest, I’d been surprised when we suddenly ran into such a big group on the fifth floor.
“So what about us…?”
“You’re coming with us. You’re heading to the sixth floor anyway, right?”
“Uh…?”
“Got a problem?”
“No, sir…”
Well, seeing how things turned out, we might as well head to the sixth floor and rest.
***
「There are 53 characters within range.」
「[Flag of Swiftness] effect increased by 315%.」
「All movement-related stats have greatly increased, and stamina consumption while moving has greatly decreased.」
「You have entered the sixth floor: Great Ocean.」
***
Even after wasting some time on all this, we reached the sixth floor before Day 16 ended, thanks to moving with the Meiruta Clan under the buff.
Lymia, the Island of Beginnings.
Along the coast, various clans were preparing to set sail or waiting for their not-yet-arrived comrades.
“Doesn’t seem like many ships have already set off.”
“That’s a good thing. Team 2 isn’t here yet, so let’s head for the mountain first.”
“Um…”
“You’re ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ coming too.”
Having arrived at the sixth floor, we took the Meiruta Clan with us and climbed the mountain located at the center of the island.
And…
“We could see it vaguely from down below, but… I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many trees growing here before.”
“Axes out, everyone.”
We began full-fledged lumbering work.
The trees that grow here are extremely valuable.
Normally they’re all gone — reduced to stumps — because people always take them. But since the labyrinth had reopened after a long time, the trees were densely packed again…
‘Looks like everyone had the same idea.’
There were already quite a few explorers chopping trees around us.
No wonder we only saw ship guards or tent watchers near the shore.
‘Still, none of them have as many people as we do.’
After all, the reason we even split into two teams for this climb was because of these trees on the sixth floor. The team that arrived first was supposed to start harvesting them in advance.
These guys were probably farming until their whole crew arrived too.
Chop—! Chop—! Thud—!
And so we threw ourselves into a full-scale lumber race with the other explorers.
At this point, it was hard to tell whether we came into the labyrinth to explore or to work manual labor…
‘Once the labyrinth opens to the public, wood prices will probably skyrocket.’
It was definitely more profitable than most hunts, so I, my team, and the forty-seven “volunteers” we’d picked up on the fifth floor all diligently chopped wood.
But the problem was…
One day, two days, three days, four…
The number of explorers coming to log increased.
The speed at which the forest turned into a bald mountain sped up.
Eventually, the trees ran out, and all the explorers disappeared—
“……Fucking hell.”
…And still, Team 2 hadn’t arrived.
