Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel - Chapter 588
Chapter 588: Boss Run (1)
Knowledge was a precious asset for adventurers. It was why they usually didn’t tell other people about the experiences they went through and the information they gathered for free. Not to say that they were stingy or narrow-minded, just that the culture was naturally accepted in the world of adventurers.
Great Navigator Pikma, Abyss Seeker Limenin, and so on.
The reason these people were called the greats and were of such renown had something to do with that concept. It wasn’t just that their achievements were amazing, but for the good of all people, they shared the tricks and information they found without holding back.
Raven began speaking as soon as we crossed into the portal. “Alright, since we’re in here now, I’ll briefly explain the Guardian we’ll have to deal with—”
I cut off there. “You don’t need to explain.”
“Eh? But didn’t you say you needed me?” She seemed confused by my words. Did she perhaps think that I needed her for her information? I did notice how her thin shoulders were pulled back when I picked her for this mission.
“Raven, I need you for something else.”
“…What is it?” she asked, sounding a little annoyed.
Since we had been allies for a long time, I immediately noticed she was only acting annoyed because she was embarrassed. I could tell that she got angry when I said this next thing, though.
“It’s an opportunity to get a rank 5 Guardian essence. Obviously, we need to put it in a magic vial.”
A cold voice echoed out after a moment of silence. “What?”
I quickly added on as if making excuses, “And among the wizards I know, you’re the one I can trust the most, Raven.”
“…What are you saying? Then what about Versyl Gowland? Weren’t you pretty close with her? And I heard that she’s acting as the vice-captain as well.”
“But trusting someone and trusting them to have my back are completely separate issues.”
“Hmm…is that so?”
Thankfully, Raven’s expression lightened a little.
That was quite a curious question. I didn’t mind when other people got angry at me, but why did only she make me feel a chill down my spine? She was the smallest one too.
While I was distracted by that thought, Raven mumbled as if logically piecing everything together, “Well, I can understand that. Ms. Gowland probably doesn’t know your true identity. And that would make it difficult for you to act as you pleased.”
Well, one thing I was sure of was if she took one of those MBTI tests, she would be a T for sure—
“Unlike with me.”
I blinked. “Huh?”
“No, that’s just how it is. Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s just…the truth, right?”
“Well…you aren’t wrong.”
In truth, Versyl didn’t know that I was a player. Also, since Versyl was a modern person, unlike other pure-blooded wizards, she was terrible at research. That, and the way she looked at objects and situations was completely different from them as well.
That was another reason I chose Raven. I only needed myself to get the player’s perspective, so a native’s view on things was needed as well.
“Anyway, can I get to the main topic?”
“Sure,” she obliged.
We lingered at the start point to talk about the boss fight that was soon to come. It was mostly me talking, with Raven asking a question, which I then answered, which would lead to an exclamation from her.
“I never thought a method like that existed… Is that also the knowledge of your world?”
Strictly speaking, rather than the knowledge of my world, it was the information I obtained after sacrificing my twenties. After a beat of hesitation, I hedged, “Something like that.”
“For some reason…you sounded pretty insincere just then.”
“What are you saying? I am always sincere.”
“That’s a relief to hear. In any case…we have a lot of time here anyway, so tell me more about your world.”
That was the request I received around the time I thought we should start heading in. However, since I had received so much from Raven already in my life, it was difficult for me to refuse her offhand. “That’s not a problem…but so suddenly?”
“It’s not sudden. I’ve been curious about it for a while. But until now, it’s never been just the two of us like this…”
Well, it was true that this would be a sensitive topic to talk about just anywhere.
That was probably why even when she was curious, she didn’t approach me to ask.
“Only for thirty minutes,” I eventually conceded. “People are waiting for us outside.”
“Yes, that’s fine. Thirty minutes, then.”
“So, what’s your first question?”
As I smirked to goad her, Raven asked her supposed question. “Internal combustion engines.”
“…Huh?” The words I never expected to hear came out of her mouth.
“Because you have something like that, you can move large carriages without horses or mana, right? I’m curious about how they work.” When I didn’t respond, she asked, “Do you…not know about it? I’m very sure I remember hearing about it…?”
Maybe it was because she was a wizard? When I told Amelia about the modern day, we only talked about cool things like how huge, flying machines flew in the air and kings were selected by the people.
“I-it’s not that I don’t know about them,” I stuttered.
“Ah, is that so? Then please tell me. Tell me the precise mechanism of this internal combustion engine!”
“Well…steam? Heat? You use that to spin a wheel.”
“…Is that all?” The fervor in Raven’s eyes cooled when she heard my answer. I felt ashamed for some reason, but I pressed on.
“That’s it. The details are special secrets overseen by the country. Normal people like you and I wouldn’t know under most circumstances.”
If Hyeonbyeol were here with us, she would laugh and sneer at me with disdain.
But who cared? Hyeonbyeol wasn’t here. Only a naive, native wizard.
“To put it simply, it’s like the magic of this world? Then I can understand. Even the principle of the exchange machine that is the basis of mana engineering is not known to ordinary people.”
Raven accepted it with a serious expression on her face, and she continued to question me about the modern world. I’d noticed from the moment she asked me about the internal combustion engine, but Raven actually knew quite a bit.
She added, “It’s a field I’m pretty interested in.”
“Really?”
“Yes… I went and studied it myself after as well.”
“You studied it?”
“After meeting you again at that time, I became more interested. Since I was a part of the military, it was quite easy to obtain relevant information as well…”
I did remember how she felt disgusted by the thought of evil spirits and avoided talks about the modern world, but I could see she felt more curious about it. That was probably why she brought it up as soon as it was only the two of us.
“By the way…it’s time.”
“Ah, already?”
Raven seemed disappointed but she didn’t try and force more answers out of me.
***
The essence of the fifth-floor rift Guardian was very scarce. Since twelve different rifts opened, it was more than a little difficult to obtain a specific essence. And honestly, the essences of Guardians on the fifth floor and above didn’t even appear on auction. No one tried to sell one, and even if they did, the palace would secretly take it away before anyone really could.
“Have you been here before, Mr. Yandel?”
“No, it’s my first time. At least in this body.”
“Aha…”
“Didn’t I tell you that was the end? Focus up.”
After leaving the starting point, we reached the boss room not long after.
Fwoosh!
A small fire crackled in the middle of a charred forest. I could tell that the area around the flame was the boss room of the fifth-floor rift Burning Forest. Usually, you needed to go through a few chapters of putting out the flames in all directions before you could arrive at this place, but here, all those annoying processes were skipped.
We only need to farm the experience.
The Guardians here were guaranteed to drop an essence on top of that. Well, thinking about it, that wasn’t really a significant boon.
I’m honestly thankful that two people can enter the fifth-floor rift.
The rifts below this only allowed one person to enter at a time, meaning the essence could only be obtained if you were strong enough to solo the boss. The thing was, most people didn’t need the essence of a Guardian they could defeat by themselves, just like how I didn’t pick up all those essences.
Hmm, theoretically, if a wizard went in all of these alone and defeated the bosses, they could contain them in magic vials to sell them later.
Of course, that was only in theory, and the reality was easier said than done. It wasn’t that there weren’t any wizards who could one-v-one a boss monster, but rather, to make that possible, they would need to have a huge advantage in power over that specific boss. That didn’t even take into account their personal expenses or the price of the magic vial they would use.
“What are you thinking about?” Raven inquired. “You stopped moving.”
“Oh, it was nothing important. I will now summon him, so stand over there. Put the spell I requested on me now too.”
“Okay.”
After pushing aside that thought, I approached the red-hot flame that was floating in the air and reached into it.
Fwoosh!
The flame sent out waves of heat as it danced dangerously at my touch.
[Fire Lord Fianil has cast Stigma of Ash. When the character uses a skill, they will take fire damage.]
As the Guardian of the fifth-floor rift awoke, a gray stigma appeared on the back of my hand.
Flash!
The flame that swirled and grew took on the form of a creature. The Guardian of the Burning Forest, Fire Lord Fianil, a rank 4 monster who had the proper designation of Lava Lord.
This guy also doesn’t talk.
Just in case there was another difference here, I didn’t attack first and just watched.
Fwoosh!
Its body was created solely from fire, and it wore a mask that only covered the upper part of its face. While its upper body looked similar to that of a human’s, its lower body looked like a genie that came out of a magic lamp, where only flames licked and swirled where its legs should be.
No difference in its outer appearance…
After meeting Duke Cambormere that time, I always tried to initiate a conversation, but it didn’t work this time either. And so, we immediately went into battle.
Although this guy was in the mid-ranks in terms of difficulty among the fifth-floor rifts, if everything went to plan, there wouldn’t be any problem. This was because I wasn’t alone anymore. I only needed to do my job as a tank.
Like so.
“Behel-LAAAAAH!”
I used Giantization and Wild Outburst to boost my threat level.
[Your threat level is over 500. All monsters in the vicinity will prioritize the character with their attacks.]
Combining those with the Wall of Aegis, I took the aggro of the Guardian, whose aggro was notoriously difficult to draw and keep.
[Fire Lord Fianil has cast Servants of Ash.]
No matter if it used summons, used attacks, or pulled out a unique gimmick when it changed phases-I only needed to take the hits and endure them, though I would be able to use Swing after getting buffed by Raven to try for some damage.
Do I need to?
The damage was already enough. Just like how Bjorn Yandel had grown this much since his battle in the Bloody Citadel, Raven had also grown quite a bit.
[The Rage of the Forest is instilled in the Fire Lord Fianil.]
As the damage continued to pile on, we finally reached the last phase of the boss.
“I’ll say this now, but the last one will take some time.”
“You can take your time. It’s warm, and we’re doing good.”
The essence of Bellarios was the best against magic damage.
[Your mana resistance is over 500. All magic damage received is decreased by 50%.]
By decreasing the damage by half and reducing that even further with the Orb of Fire, it felt more like a sauna to me. Specifically, right now, it felt like 120 degrees to me.
“…You’ve become a monster, Mr. Yandel.”
Although I had found it difficult to breathe for some time now, the praise from my ally made my barbarian body dance.
As I continued to hold the boss monster’s attention, Raven’s spell finally finished.
[Arua Raven has cast the rank three ice magic Blooming Snow Flower.]
She was no longer the tiny wizard who was barely able to use the rank six solar magic in the Bloody Citadel. She was now the Golden Wizard whose talent was acknowledged by the palace and had allowed her to obtain the position of vice-captain of the Third Magic Troops.
The nicknames given to high-ranking wizards are pretty poetic.
As this was the first time I’d seen her cast this spell, the effect of the spell, however simple, burned itself into my eyes.
Flash!
First, cold air seeped from Raven’s feet to freeze the ground around her.
Fwoong!
And then, something translucent fired toward the boss like an arrow, and it pierced its body and disappeared as if it never existed. But when it did…
The boss stopped moving.
The boiling heat disappeared instantly, and as a cold wind settled, Raven spoke.
“Mr. Yandel. Do you know why this spell is called Blooming Snow Flower?”
A quiet but relaxed question.
However, Raven didn’t give me time to respond and continued, “It’s because the flower really does bloom… From within.”
The spell activated right then as if she had rehearsed this before.
Creak!
It erupted from within the body as dozens of icicles protruded from the boss’s outer layer.
“However. There’s a reason it’s a snow flower and not ice thorns.”
This time as well, as soon as she stopped talking, the boss monster turned into sparkles of light.
At the sight of it, Raven gave a bright smile. “How about it? Doesn’t it look like it’s snowing?”
Wow. It was so obvious she prepared a script for all this.
I thought about how I should respond to her before the appearance of the boss’s final moment entered my mind. Suddenly, I was thinking about what I would’ve named this skill. Since it was using magic to turn the body into spikes…
Transf-urchin.
Hmm, that didn’t sound right.
Trans-Puffer-Form.
Yeah, that sounded better.
***
After putting the Fire Lord Fianil’s essence into a magic vial, I went and challenged other fifth-floor Guardians with Raven. As we did, it created a sort of routine. After going through the raid strategy at the start point, we always took about thirty minutes just talking. This was, of course, at Raven’s request.
“I’m helping you, right? So how about you stop acting like this is annoying?”
“Oho… Help? I don’t think we need to think about it like that when we are—”
“What are we, then? I’m not even a member of your clan right now.”
There was nothing I could say to that. So I just continued to talk with her.
At first, Raven was very interested in modern culture, but as our routine went on, she began to ask more about me personally.
“So…what was your name?”
“Ah, haven’t I told you?”
“…You haven’t.”
“Hansu Lee. It’s Hansu Lee. It’s not Hans, so please be wary of the pronunciation.”
“Han…shu…Lee.”
“Sure, that’s good enough.”
“What do you mean?”
Starting from my real name, she asked about my family, my friends, what job I had, and so on. There were a few heavy topics among them as well. After getting a brief rundown of my personal relationships, our topic moved over to Dungeon and Stone.
“…So you’ve opened the Gate of the Abyss once?”
“Only in the game. And as soon as I opened it, I was dragged here, so I don’t know what’s beyond it.”
“…Wait. if you came here because you opened the Gate of the Abyss, what happens if you open the Gate of the Abyss from this side? Th-then will you return through the Gate of the Abyss? To your o-original world?”
“Well…that is a possibility.”
“A-ah? Ah…I see…”
“We’ll stop our talk there. Let’s get moving.”
After that, we went into the boss room and defeated the boss. Raven made a big mistake, so we were nearly in a lot of danger, but I was thankfully able to carry the fight and get out safely.
…We’ve already defeated six now.
They were fifth-floor Guardians that I had been quite worried about, but we were progressing pretty easily through them. Of course, we’ve had some dangerous moments like before as well. However, perhaps because of all the things I had gone through recently, none of them felt that particularly threatening.
“Mr. Yandel, if you’re fine, how about we go into the next portal?”
“…Hmm?”
“We’ve still got some energy left. And we’ve finished the information transfer as well.”
“Well, that’s true…”
Something’s off.
Raven’s hurried tone raised my suspicions, but that was only for a moment as I tapped her lightly on her shoulder. “Raven, I’m thinking of going in with someone else from now on.”
“…Pardon?”
“Good work until now. Go and rest.”
In other words, the carry duo of the Bloody Citadel was over here.
However, even though I expected Raven to feel glad, her expression turned cold.
“Rest? What do you mean? Are you abandoning me after all that?”
“…What do you mean, abandon?”
It was just that I didn’t need a wizard anymore. And there was no reason to put the essence of where I was going into a magic vial.
“I misspoke. So…if not me, who are you thinking of going in with?”
I responded with Raven with a smirk and went towards someone else. “Emily.”
Amelia looked at me questioningly.
“Let’s go eat an essence.”
It was time to feed her one.
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