Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel - Chapter 674
Chapter 674: Dream (1)
One of the fields of the ninth floor’s Tomb of Stars was the Toxic Lavascape. Since it was the highest floor, the danger of it was incomparable to the floors below, and there was a frustrating field effect as well.
Poison Resistance is set to zero.
Even though I had raised my resistance enough to make myself practically immune to poison, none of that worked here.
Natural regeneration of MP is impossible too.
Well, it wasn’t completely zero, but since it was a 99 percent decrease, it was easier to think that MP didn’t auto-regenerate here. That could be overcome by skills like my Soul Dive and one other method inside the field, of course, but the biggest problem for us was something else.
[Warning: Be careful of explosions!]
All sorts of things exploded here.
“Uh… I think the ground is swelling…?”
“It’s exploding! Everyone, dodge!”
Boom!
While walking, the ground we were walking on would explode and spew toxic lava.
“W-wait…! The body of the monster is expanding!”
“Stop talking and dodge!”
Even the monsters we were fighting would randomly start blowing themselves up in front of us.
Boom!
And sometimes, the air itself exploded without any warning signs.
Fshhh!
The biggest problem here was whenever an explosion happened, poison would be deposited all around us.
[You have been poisoned (intermediate).]
It wasn’t the highest level of poison, but that didn’t actually mean much. Because here, all Poison Resistance was set to zero.
Sizzle!
Ouch, that hurt.
Normally, due to my resistances, it would’ve been adjusted to a low-tier poison, and it would’ve been neutralized shortly thereafter.
“Neutralize,” I requested.
GM quickly ran up and cast a spell on me. The same went for Jaina, the sole healer of the party.
“Heal.”
“…It’s done.”
As shown, wizards and priests had a crucial role in the Toxic Lavascape. To keep the poison level from increasing, they needed to be neutralized periodically, and the HP lost from the poison needed to be cared for as well. That, however, presented a new problem itself.
“Oh, oh! Lava fruit! There are lava fruits over there!”
Lava fruit.
When walking around the Toxic Lavascape, one would sometimes find a small tree that bore fruit with three pieces. Eating this would recover one’s expended resources.
“Jaina, Havellion, gramps! Go and eat them!”
It may be obvious, but the lava fruits were given to the healer and the wizards.
“Um… Baekho? I’m starting to run out of Soul Power as well, so I won’t be able to use my abilities…”
“So what?”
“C-could I have a piece as well? At this rate, I won’t be of any help during combat—”
“You just need to get hit. Aren’t you being too greedy?”
Since most of the lava fruits we discovered went to the healer and the wizards, the MP of the rest of the group continued to decrease.
Oh. I was an exception, of course.
[You have cast Soul Dive. Soul Power has regenerated relative to missing points.]
Thanks to the active skill of the Deep Sea Giant, I was able to regularly recover my MP and maintain it at a set level. Unlike Lek Aures who chose the Blood of Giants.
“…I am truly envious of you, Baron Yandel.”
Yeah, you should’ve eaten the green essence too. MP was super important in this game.
“The baron will take on the role of the main tank, anyway. Just stand at the back and be a good sub-tank. And don’t even think about these lava fruits. Got it?”
“I understand…” Aures was sullen as he stepped back. However, he wasn’t the only one who was having a bad time.
“I don’t even know how long it has been since I’ve fired a plain, regular arrow.”
“It’s the same for me, so stop complaining. Okay?”
“…Roger dodger.”
“What’s with that level of cringe? It’s not ‘roger dodger,’ it’s ‘okay.’ Okay?”
“Baekho… What’s ‘cringe?’”
“It’s something.”
Baekho and Bryat fought monsters with just basic attacks to conserve their MP as much as possible. To put this in terms of chess, it was like starting the game without the bishops or rooks. Funnily enough, though, we could still hunt pretty well despite that.
[You have defeated a Popensis. EXP +7]
Well, the battles got pretty difficult against rank 3s, and we would have no choice but to run away if a rank 2 appeared.
…Thankfully, we haven’t seen a rank 2 yet.
Maybe it was because the most dangerous part of the Toxic Lavascape, the northern area, was blocked off from us, but we didn’t see any of the rank 2 monsters that we were afraid to see.
Ba-dump!
Of course, that didn’t mean we could lower our guards.
“Lord Baron, I think we’ll be pushing ourselves too much if we keep going. How about we rest a little outside?”
“…Let’s do that.”
After filling in the missing spots on the map while traveling through the Toxic Lavascape, we would leave the area every time we felt we were getting too exhausted and took moments of rest. That was the strategy that I used often during my exploration of the ninth floor originally because the field effect would be removed as soon as we left the area.
It’s a strategy we can afford to use since we’re only exploring the southern portion of the lavascape.
Still, we continued to use that strategy and explored the Toxic Lavascape for quite a while.
We filled in most of the map in the area of the Toxic Lavascape, and I was starting to believe that the Hans effect had ended.
“A headstone! I see a headstone!”
At that moment, we found another headstone that looked quite similar to the one we saw in the Primordial Land.
“There is some sort of mysterious drawing on this one as well!”
“It’s not a drawing. It’s probably writing.”
“Hahaha! Look at this wizard! I may not know a whole lot, but do you think I’d fall for something like that? How are these letters?”
Although it was similar to the one we saw in the Primordial Land, we stopped our search and put our focus on investigating this headstone since it was our first time in a while discovering something new.
“The letters written here are different from the ones we found in the Primordial Land, so we cannot decipher their meaning. It doesn’t help us… And the rest of it is the same. Other than the fact that it is sturdy, we can’t find out anything else about it.”
There was no guarantee that just because we failed our last investigation, we would succeed on this one. However, thanks to wasting all that time in the previous one, we were able to quickly wrap up our investigations this time.
“So there is nothing else we can find out about this?”
“Nothing. At least for now.”
With that, we didn’t waste any more time here. After drawing a detailed mark on the map for the location of this headstone, we moved on to moving all around the field to fill in the empty parts of the map.
“In the end, we didn’t find anything other than that one headstone.”
We concluded our investigation in the Toxic Lavascape.
“Then what do we do now?”
Hearing Bryat say that despite his experience as a scout, I couldn’t help but smirk.
What else was there to do? We had two more places we had yet to explore.
“We’ll go to the Dreaming Waterfalls.”
Although I didn’t want to go there, we didn’t have a choice, did we?
***
[You have entered a special area.]
[Field Effect—Dreaming Waterfalls is applied.]
***
The Dreaming Waterfalls could be considered the final test of the ninth floor’s Tomb of Stars.
This place is fucked.
There were no other ways to express the concept and effect of this field, especially not when the portal leading to the tenth floor was only reachable through this area.
[Characters will periodically fall asleep.]
All because of that one field effect that could be summarized in just one sentence. After playing through it multiple times, there was nothing more frustrating.
Swish.
The calm lake glistened as if the galaxy was held within it. We were currently on a boat and traversing above it.
And three of our members had already fallen asleep.
“We have three people asleep this time.”
“Jaina, Fallen Gramps, Havellion. It just happened to be the three most important people.”
“We’ll just have to hope that no one else falls asleep until they wake up.”
“That is assuming that all three of them wake up at all.”
The moment people entered the lake, they would periodically fall asleep. Not to say they were having a good relaxing time while sleeping either. They needed to fight against their own visions to survive. In a sense, it was similar to Soul Chest that the special boss of Ice Rock Cariathea used.
But the biggest difference was that even if they can’t wake themselves up, people outside can wake them up instead.
Just like the lava fruits in the Toxic Lavascape, the Dreaming Waterfalls also had a special item that could be used to wake up a character who had fallen asleep. The problem was that it was much more difficult to obtain than the lava fruits.
Splash.
The boat moved slowly across the picturesque lake.
By the way, the boat was Baekho’s. I thought about taking out my boat as well, but from what I remembered from the last time I rode on his boat, his was a little better.
Honestly, though, it wasn’t substantially better or anything, just small meaningless differences. And if I took out my boat and the boat got damaged, I would need to spend money to fix it as well.
Thus, I didn’t complain at all and got on his boat.
“Baekho, can’t you up the speed a little?” Aures whined.
“Did you even learn anything when we passed by this place before? Monsters will appear if we increase the speed.”
“Ah, right. I forgot.”
That was another one of the annoying things about the Dreaming Waterfalls. Although it was possible to travel faster, if we did, the monsters that were asleep under the water would wake up and attack us. The only countermeasure against it would be to use a specially constructed ship that could move quickly and silently.
This guy’s boat doesn’t have that either.
Well, it wasn’t like anyone came to the Dreaming Waterfalls if they weren’t going up to the tenth floor, even if they were exploring the ninth floor. And even if they did come here, it wasn’t a problem since moving slowly worked just fine.
“Anyway, be quiet. If you talk loudly for no reason and the monsters appear, things will get annoying.”
“Ah, understood…” Afraid that he would get told off by Baekho, Aures lowered his voice.
The archer Bryat approached me and asked something quietly. “Lord Baron, what happens if we don’t find anything in the Dragonskull Mountains either?”
“Then we’ll have to investigate below the water here as well.”
“…Then the difficulty would increase tremendously from that point onward.” “We can only hope that we don’t need to do that.”
“Right…”
We carried onward on our slow-moving boat, and we didn’t encounter any monsters either. It was a peaceful time, enough to make us forget that this was a dangerous place.
Well, only for those who were awake.
“Hah… I barely woke up. I thought I was going to die.”
“Fallen Gramps, what’s with your expression? You just got to nap.”
“It’s just… I had a ghastly dream.”
“Heh… That’s only making me even more curious.”
As time passed, GM woke up first followed by the others, and soon, others began falling asleep again.
“It’s Bryat, Aures, and Baekho this time.”
Baekho collapsed asleep, unable to escape the field effect.
The sight of him soundly asleep had me conflicted. If I just threw him overboard here, I would be able to deal with him easily, after all.
…Focus on getting out of this place first.
I shook my head and erased my sudden impulses, then looked at the map. I took over helming the boat in Baekho’s stead.
“Ow… I feel like shit every time I get affected by this.”
“Yes… On the fourth floor, you know that it is an illusion, but that isn’t the case here.”
Baekho woke up first with the rest following suit, and other members fell asleep after that.
What the hell?
Everyone kept falling asleep except me. Since it was completely random who fell asleep, it wasn’t completely outlandish…
Should I be worried?
And since this was an area where falling asleep was just a huge pain, I decided to just consider this good luck and—
Ba-dump!
…No, maybe I was in serious danger?
After I suddenly had that thought, I became even more worried about the fact that I wasn’t falling asleep. And that uneasiness only continued to grow as time passed.
Amazingly enough, I still didn’t fall asleep. Even as we reached the end of the map.
“Baron, what’s with your expression?”
“…It’s nothing.” Saying it out loud would only turn it into an omen. “By the way, we’re nearly there.”
I decided to stop worrying about that and focused on something else.
Splash!
As more time passed, the faint sound of water continued to get louder, and we soon came to the place that was the reason this place wasn’t called the Dreaming Lake, but the Dreaming Waterfalls.
“Wow. It’s majestic every time I see it.”
The place the ancient people thought of as the edge of the world.
A huge hole at the center of the lake plunged downward and created a huge waterfall. Because of the gray boundary cutting through the waterfall itself, around two-thirds of the water had stopped.
“Stop looking and raise the power of the propulsion system. We can make a bit more sound here, but it’ll be the end if we get sucked down there.”
“Yes, sir.”
With this spot as our starting point, we would steer the boat around the entirety of the lake to fill out the rest of the map. I got ready to move as we planned.
And with the roar of the waterfall in my ears, I didn’t hear him properly at first.
“…Something is coming up from below.”
In the stead of Bryat, who was currently asleep, the Fallen Gramps mumbled something quickly.
“Turn the ship around!”
But I could tell the danger we were in from his expression and his actions.
“Graaawr!”
Suddenly, a huge monster in the shape of a snake climbed up out of the waterfall. Although GM, the one to explain everything first, was still asleep, I didn’t need his explanation this time around.
This monster was pretty famous.
“…Draizen.”
The rank 1 illusion-type monster, Draizen.
Just like the Glacial Wizard Cariathea, this was a special boss that only appeared in a set location.
“We’re dead, that’s—!”
I didn’t even need to shout this time.
Brrrrrng!
As soon as he saw the monster, Baekho whipped the propulsion engine up to its maximum speed. It thundered into action, but now wasn’t the time for us to be concerned about the noise level.
[Monsters that have been slumbering for a long time have awoken.]
It didn’t matter if the monsters began to swarm us. Getting caught here would be the end of us.
[You have entered the area of Dreaming Pond. All negative effects and damage dealt to Draizen are negated.]
Even if we threw our lives at that, that monster bastard wouldn’t die. It was on a wholly different level than even the rank 1 monster Kashan we fought in the library. On top of that, this was its home ground.
To be honest, I couldn’t even guarantee that we could outrun it in the first place.
Is the Hans effect applying only now…?
It was the thought that dominated my mind as soon as I saw the Draizen.
“…Shut up,” I muttered to myself. It didn’t matter if this was Hans or not.
I took deep breaths to refocus my mind. I needed to keep my focus from this point onward. Only then would we be able to survive this.
“…Huh?”
I was suddenly struck by a daze as if I had taken a sleeping pill.
[Field Effect—Dreaming Waterfalls has activated.]
My head began to spin as my mind grew hazy. It was the same feeling as when I got closer to the Dreaming Waterfalls during that long walk around the area’s perimeter.
“What…the…hell…?”
I was wondering why I was fine for so long.
“Just why…now…?”
I lost balance and fell forward.
With how much the boat was shaking from our increased speed, I swayed side to side, then couldn’t hold onto the edge of the boat and fell off the wayside as if I had been flung.
“Baron…!”
The sounds around me grew fainter.
Splash!
After falling behind the water, my body fell rapidly. However, even in this dangerous situation, I couldn’t do anything.
[You have fallen asleep.]
Damn it.
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