Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel - Chapter 565
Chapter 565: Destination (5)
Suddenly, the time flowing in reverse came to a stop.
“Could you perhaps lead from the front?”
It was the point when Jerome asked me to go ahead of the troops.
“Alright, but whatever drops we discover from here on out, give me priority for four of them.”
“Four… Understood. That much can certainly be spared for you, Your Lordship.”
After a short negotiation, I slid under the tree that the village chief had disappeared off into.
I didn’t understand. How could I just go down in a situation like that without giving it a second thought?
[This was the fate I showed that child. In this timeline, I hadn’t given an oracle. This is why you went down without suspecting a thing.]
Ah…
My doubts about the scene cleared. The oracle had played a major role in my suspicion of Jerome. Because of that, I had known that something was going to happen, so I had taken special care to observe everything happening around me with obsessive attention to detail.
Fwoong!
Once I vanished down into the tree, the world went black in a blink before the scene changed.
[We don’t have much time, so I’ll only go over the important parts.]
We were in some sort of cave. At its center was a portal headstone, and I was sleeping beside it, knocked unconscious. Then the village chief approached me and began a ritual I didn’t recognize.
[This is the place hidden under the basement you saw before. After going down to the village, you fought long and hard against hundreds of enemies while waiting for reinforcements, but no one came. In the end, your exhaustion won out, and you were captured and dragged here.]
So there was another space under the basement filled with corpses.
…I didn’t expect that to be hiding something like this place.
The urgency of the situation back then didn’t allow me the time to look around.
So what happens to me now?
[Keep watching. It will soon end.]
Two times, three times, four times—time accelerated as if someone was pressing the fast-forward button. When the flow of time returned to normal, the chief’s body was emitting black smoke.
Shwaaaa!
The smoke slowly entered my body, and soon, the chief collapsed.
And then, my unconscious body opened its eyes before standing up. “I” got up and flexed my hands a little before speaking with an unfamiliar voice.
“Finally…”
The scene changed once more. Now, we weren’t in the village, but at the center of the island with the dark of the labyrinth around us. There, “I” was talking with Jerome Saintred.
“Then give me ‘that’ as promised. Or are you having second thoughts after coming all this way? If so, I suggest you perish the thought immediately. If you don’t, you’ll find it difficult to live with that body outside.”
“That’s true… The palace does have the power to do that.”
“If you know that—”
“So wouldn’t it be best if they don’t know about it at all?”
“What? You can’t be—!”
“Dead men don’t talk.”
The conversation ended with that.
When the scene changed again, blood splashed in front of me.
“Ack!”
It was a battlefield. We were surrounded on all sides by hundreds of monsters, and while the expedition group resisted to the best of their ability, they were being overpowered.
It was all because of the village chief who had taken over my body.
“I-I didn’t expect him to be this strong…”
“The baron…! Kill Baron Yandel!”
Having stolen my body, the village chief didn’t have anything he needed to protect, not even the monsters dying around him. The barbarian character I had built to protect my allies was used as a war chariot that trampled throughout the battlefield.
Soon enough, there was no doubting who would emerge victorious.
I charged through the troops, passing by the corpses of the members of the expedition group I had spent the battle massacring without rest.
“…Ugh!”
But then, just as I went to slam my hammer down on the head of a certain wizard, I suddenly froze.
“Ra…ven…”
My ally, the person who had survived through thick and thin with me, looked up at me with fear in her eyes before running away.
Boom.
“I” forced my body to chuck the hammer far away, then dropped my shield and took off my armor.
Another ally was watching the sight from nearby and aimed her weapon at me cautiously, then asked, “Have you…returned?” It was Amelia, who had been freed from custody during the combat and had run out with her other allies.
To her question, my reply was short.
“Emily…kill…me…”
My ally was left without words, unable to do a thing. No matter the opponent, there had never been a day when her blade did not hold steady, and yet that day, her blade trembled under the weight of my request.
“If you cannot, move out of the way!”
Realizing the situation, Jerome had drawn his sword and approached me. I looked back at him and smirked. I didn’t know what I was thinking, but “I” closed my eyes and lowered my head.
“No—!”
“It’s what he’s chosen!”
Amelia’s expression crumbled as she held Erwen back.
Slash!
Then a blade bathed in aura fell upon my neck. However, one slice was not enough to cut through, and so it was brought down again and again, forced to hack through to the other end.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
The sword continued to fall like an ax on a tree trunk until eventually, the area fell silent. A moment later, a chain of screams echoed out.
“No, no, no, no, no…!” she shrieked as she ran to me, then poured a potion on my body. Naturally, there was no response. A potion couldn’t revive a dead character. “You! If not for you—!”
“Calm down, Tersia.”
“Y-you’re telling me to calm down? After you saw—?!”
“Do you think we’ll be able to kill our enemies if you’re that emotional? Stay calm, stay cold. Think only of avenging Yandel.”
The Anabada Clan grouped together and raised their weapons against the remaining members of the expedition group, all of whom had also suffered losses.
“Think about this logically,” Jerome tried to reason. “If we weren’t here, do you think you would’ve been able to face a monster like that?”
Despite his attempt at persuasion, he had no chance of getting through to them.
Even then as he spoke, many of the people within the expedition group started to desert their formations.
“The baron…was a hero. Even until his final moment, he tried to save us…!”
“To abandon someone like that like he was nothing… After everything that’s happened here, you still say that this is for the palace?!”
“I, Melend Kaislan, will raise my sword to the justice in which I believe! If you feel the same, stand with me!”
“Traitors! Kill all the traitors…!”
The situation was reaching its climax.
[Not there. Look there instead.]
But then, my attention was drawn in another different direction by the words of the goddess. Someone was moving in the background, heedless of the chaos taking place around them.
Missha…?
Missha approached my corpse before pulling something out. Although this was my first time seeing a real one, I could tell what it was the moment the object touched my body. There was no mistaking that unique effect.
I didn’t know why Missha had it…
That’s…
It was a stone of revival, the item with the cheat ability of bringing someone back from the dead. Due to the insane conditions required to obtain one, even I had only eaten one once during my nine years with Dungeon and Stone.
But why…? Why does she even have one…?
That was the immediate question that came to mind as I stared dumbfounded at the scene, but then, the answer hit me.
…Baekho Lee.
It was no secret that he had a Stone of Revival. I didn’t know how that guy was able to obtain one, but when time froze the moment I was revived, I put the matter aside and spoke.
“So I don’t die in the end.”
[Yes. You don’t die.]
Why had Baekho Lee given Missha the Stone of Revival? There were a few possibilities that came to mind. The question I still couldn’t answer, however, was why this goddess was here.
“Reatlas… why are you trying to help me?”
The goddess gave a short reply. [… Because that ending isn’t right.]
What ending this goddess of destiny saw that would lead her to say that, I couldn’t know, and although I was incredibly curious, I left the question there. Trying to force an answer out of her would do nothing, and I had more important matters that needed my attention first.
Like, for example, my current situation.
The world darkened again before brightening once more, and then I saw myself collapsed in the same cave as before.
“What are you trying to show me now?”
[I’m not trying to show you anything. This is your current state.]
…What?
I furrowed my brow, signaling for a more in-depth explanation of what the hell she meant, and very quietly, I was met with an answer.
[I…can’t stop time…]
Ah, so that was what happened. While I was watching this like a video, time in the real world was flowing as normal.
[Still, your allies are safe. Although they are currently in custody…]
Reatlas seemed to want to help me at least, as she gave me the basic rundown of my current situation. It was quite simple. A flash of light had enveloped me before I collapsed, and while my allies were scrambling to figure out what happened, they were apprehended shortly after. With that, I was led to the village chief by Jerome’s hands.
“Then return me already!” I shouted. “I need to escape before that ritual finishes!”
[Sending you back will pose no challenge… However, even if you were to open your eyes right now, all of your abilities are sealed.]
“…What?” I was at a loss. She was basically saying I couldn’t escape using my strength. “Then what the hell am I supposed to do?”
Although I was thankful that she wanted to help me, wasn’t this situation even worse than before?
Yet even then, I held onto a sliver of hope. She was still a famous goddess. Yeah, she probably had a plan for all this.
I tried to put my faith in her as I spoke more politely. “Tell me. What do I need to do from now on?”
[…I can show you the path, but I can’t create a path for you.]
“So…do you not have any suggestions you can give me to help me get out of here?”
She was silent for a while before replying. […I’ve seen your progress from the very beginning. That is why, I know. Your greatest strength isn’t your cold calculations, your expansive breadth of knowledge, or your courage that helps you stand against any foe. Your greatest strength is your “words.”]
It wasn’t a sentiment I could readily agree with, not after I’d woken up in the body of a barbarian and then went on to solve most problems using my body rather than my words. However, it seemed that the goddess thought otherwise.
[That veteran adventurer was fated to die in the labyrinth on that day with the noble wizard. However, they ended up coming back alive thanks to you buying time with your ‘words’.]
She must have been referring to the Labyrinth of Larcaz where I tried to negotiate with the Dragon Slayer after swallowing the Restrained Wish.
[Your words hold power. Although their effect was weak, they have already once changed the fate of another person. So…]
With her speech concluded, the goddess gave me a parting tip.
[How about this time as well…you try using your words…?]
***
Ba-dump, ba-dump!
The sound echoed from within me. That sound told me that I was alive as I took a few more breaths.
“You’re awake.”
Damn, why is this guy so perceptive? I mean, I guess it’s to be expected with that big eye of his?
I opened my eyes and raised my upper body.
“It would’ve been much better if you remained unconscious. For me, and you.”
“Can’t help but feel like I should struggle, at least a little bit,” I quipped.
The goddess had iven me the irresponsible advice to try to “talk” my way out of this, but so what if it was a fool’s gambit? I should at least try to get out of this situation using her suggestion. Plus, when I heard her say that, I did think up a few countermeasures of my own.
“…You’re quite calm,” the village chief observed. “Even though you shouldn’t know what’s happening to you.”
“I mean, I’d say you’re the one who doesn’t understand the situation.”
The village chief seemed to think that my reactions didn’t match my circumstances, as he kept silent, just staring at me. Since he also had a brain, I assumed he suspected that something weird was going on.
With that, I moved one of my pieces.
“Village chief, it’s not too late. Even if you take my body, you won’t be able to return to the city.”
“I was wondering what it was, but you just wanted to curse me—”
“It’s not a curse. It’s the truth. I’ve already seen what will happen.” This was where my second piece came in. “Reatlas has shown me the future.”
The village chief paused in thought, and then to my surprise, he seemed to trust that I wasn’t lying. “I heard that you collapsed after flashing with light… So she intervened…”
For one reason or another, he had accepted my words as truth. Alright, then I didn’t need to waste more time on this.
“Tell me,” he commanded at last. “If you want to stop me, what did she show you?”
For a more effective negotiation, I altered the scenario a little. “You steal my body and then get attacked by Jerome. And you lose.”
“…My calculations are perfect. I won’t be losing to them.”
“Then your calculations are wrong. Or did you not suspect that he would ambush you?”
“He…ambushes me?” The village chief’s eyes flashed inside the dark cave. So he hadn’t considered the possibility of an ambush. It was great news for me.
“Village chief, I know why you’re trying to take my body,” I rushed to add, “but is there a reason it needs to be mine?”
“Because assuming control of your body is the certain path. You will one day escape from this floor and successfully return to the city.”
“Did you see that in a Fragment of Records Stone, perhaps?”
“…I didn’t expect you to know of the Records Stone,” he admitted, confirming my suspicions.
The tree of potential dialogue choices in my mind expanded at the sudden jackpot, but I decided to overcome my current situation first. “Then you’re saying it doesn’t need to be me.”
“There is no need for me to risk that. Since I know that I will lose, if I adjust my plan now—”
Adjust what?
I cut him off and got straight to the point. “Jerome Saintred.”
The commander of the expedition group was nicknamed the Knight of Light.
“What about his body?” I offered. “He’s a little old, but he’s a count and can use aura well. Aren’t you a knight?”
That wasn’t even the best part. His greatest benefit was something else.
“On top of that, if you steal his body, you can get out of this place immediately.”
I decided to throw in some bait that could be enough to tempt him.
“He has the essence of Iblus.”
This was my battle to win.
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