Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel - Chapter 729
Chapter 729: Traitor (3)
The captain of Orcules and the owner of the Floor Essence with the special ability of Nullification, Ricardo Lüchenprague.
With how much of a cheat that ability was in PVP, even I hesitated to face that man head-on. Of course, I had become much stronger than back then.
But the fact my scheme worked then was what got me out.
I’d always known that if we ever met again, I would need to risk my life to beat him.
And that guy is with Amelia right now…?
Still, there was something more pressing at the moment.
“Bret chi, L, Dieth Detran.”
“What did it say?” I demanded once the message from the crystal had ended.
“Area 4-7… L… Engaging in combat…”
They were already fighting?
Ba-dump!
I lost my breath for a moment as my heart squeezed. I wanted to immediately head for the military platform and move to District Four. However, the logical part of my brain overrode the emotional part.
If I go to District Three via the military platform, and if I want to go to District Four from there too…
The entire journey would take three hours, and that was assuming I didn’t get into any fights or get slowed down by any obstacles along the way.
Thinking optimistically, there was always the possibility that Amelia could run away and endure until I arrived at the scene.
Ba-dump!
But I already knew that was just me being hopeful. Realistically speaking, it was close to impossible for her to face such a monster in the middle of enemy territory. That was why I made a quick judgment call.
I can’t go there myself.
It would already be too late if I left now.
I wasn’t giving up. That was just the simple fact of the matter.
“Area 4-7… Two intruders began running away.”
I had to think.
“Area 4-7, requesting tracking reinforcements.”
How could I help them without actually being there?
“Astarota.”
“Speak.”
“Could you tell the 5th Wall Occupation Corps that I can’t wait until morning and that they should move as soon as they can?”
The knight captain hesitated. “I’ll relay the message, but I don’t expect you’ll receive any good news.”
“That’s fine. Just tell them to begin as quickly as they can.”
“Understood.” Astarota stepped out of the building to contact the occupation corps of District Five.
Raven glanced in my direction, looking petrified as she carefully asked, “What are you planning…?”
I wasn’t sure if it would work or not, but I relayed my intent as concisely and clearly as I could.
“I’ll draw their attention.”
“How?”
“Like a barbarian would.”
Raven seemed to understand what I was planning on doing, even with that vague descriptor I gave her. “We’ll need to brace ourselves before we set off.”
“Yeah, make your peace with it. This might be the most difficult thing you’ve ever done in your life.”
Even though she sighed at my warning, Raven looked to have made up her mind.
We spent the remaining time tapping into their communications with worry weighing heavy in our hearts, and when Astarota returned, I told him what I was planning on doing.
“This feels far from any plan of killing the prime minister…” he said in response. “But that isn’t for me to concern myself with. The responsibility will fall on you.”
“Are you saying you’ll help me?”
“I’m only following orders.”
Although he was neither a friend nor an ally, that short phrase made me trust him.
Man, the King of the New World sure did give me a pretty big present before he left.
“So what about this girl?” Raven pitched in.
“Hmm…” What should I do about her?
“H-hey, Mister! You’re doing that thing again! You don’t have to threaten me—you know that I’m not going to do anything weird. Don’t you?”
I smirked at Vivian’s insistence. “I’ll take her with me. I need constant updates on how things are going.”
Raven stepped forward. “Then I can put in the minimum safety on her, right?”
“Um…? Big sis…?”
“I told you not to call me that!”
“Ack! M-Ms. Raven! What do you mean, safety? Hehehe… Y-you really don’t have to do that!”
“Don’t worry. It’s nothing dangerous. If you don’t get any ideas in your head, that is.” Raven pulled out a “pill” the size of her thumb from her sub-space. “Here, some water to help you swallow it.”
Vivian hesitated. “I need to know what it is…”
“I’ll tell you after you take it.”
“B-but, it’s going to be going in me… I should know what—”
“Mr. Yandel, I think she has other plans in her head.”
The look in Raven’s eye suggested it was time for me to support her. “I think I agree,” I said, taking a menacing step in her direction.
“Ack!” Vivian shrieked. “Fine! I’ll eat it! I’m eating it!”
She quickly gulped back the pill Raven handed her.
It worked out well in the end, but something felt a little off.
Why is she so scared of me?
I didn’t remember doing anything to make her so afraid.
“L-lower your hammer a bit! Please! I’m going to die from stress!”
Oh, now that I thought about it, I burst open the head of that Lighthouse Keeper or whoever and killed him in front of her.
Swoosh.
She seemed to regain her composure and her usual chipper voice once I let down my hammer.
“That’s it, right? I ate it, so tell me. What is it? Is it poison?”
“No way,” Raven scoffed. “Did you think I’d feed you something so old-fashioned?”
Hmm, I was pretty sure it would be poison. That was the cliché option, right? The evil faction feeding poison to the martial masters to mind control them.
“It’s just a simple magic tool,” Raven added.
“Magic tool…?”
“You know the Magic Engineer, right? That man made it, so you don’t have to worry about its safety.”
“No, I mean, what exactly is the magic tool…?”
While Vivian attempted to get answers, her voice becoming increasingly more reserved, she was being suppressed by Raven’s general aura, palpable with the obvious imbalance in power.
However, Raven’s expression didn’t change a bit as she pulled out something that looked like a remote controller.
“Here,” she said, “do you see this? This button.”
“Yes…”
“When I press this button, the thing you swallowed will explode. From inside you.”
Vivian was at a loss for words at that kind and simple explanation, and I just nodded in acceptance.
It made sense that she said poison was old-school. The modern tactic certainly was to put the bomb jacket on the hostage. It was a much more sophisticated method.
“Hmm… Do you not understand? That’s odd. So if I just press this here—”
“I understand! So please put that in your sub-space already!”
I just silently observed Vivian’s reaction. She didn’t look to be acting. In fact, it seemed she 100 percent believed what Raven was saying.
Looks like I won’t have to worry too much about her betraying us…
After cleanly tying up a potential loose end, I revealed the details of my plan to Raven and Astarota. Thankfully, the latter didn’t oppose my plan.
“So you’re just saying you’ll create a huge mess in a roundabout way,” he summarized.
“So is the palace giving me the okay to do this?” I asked Astarota just in case.
“This is still by the order of His Majesty. You aren’t being permitted, but I won’t stop you either.”
“That’s good to hear.”
I’d gotten an okay from him without much trouble, then left the building with a lighter heart. As I passed through the gate that was connected to District Eight, my mind meandered back to that same worry.
Even I’m getting a little nervous about this.
I could have come up with a better plan if given more time, but this was the best I could do in that moment.
“Raven, get ready.”
“Pardon? Ah, yes…!”
At my command, Raven finished the first stage of her preparations by shooting up a huge ball of fire into the air.
Let’s make a huge mess of things, shall we?
“Behel—LAAAAA!”
A big enough mess that anyone and everyone would be tempted to come here.
***
I’d seen a burning city just twice in my life.
The first was the terror attack by Orcules on the Imperial Capital of Karnon a few years back, and the second…
Fwoosh!
The second time was now.
Dash!
The city was burning.
More exactly, I was running through the fiery streets of District Eight. The flames were spreading at an incredible rate.
Splash!
We were adding fuel to the fire.
No, really.
We were pouring literal oil into the burning buildings.
[Arua Raven has cast the rank 4 attack magic Water Cannon.]
The water spouts were as thick as those that came out of fire trucks.
[Arua Raven has cast the rank 6 support magic Change Properties.]
By chaining spells, Raven changed that stream of water into a stream of oil.
[Arua Raven has cast the rank 4 support magic Wind Control.]
Applying enough wind to that allowed her to instantly blanket the entire street in flames. The heat felt like it was burning my skin away.
[Orb of Fire has activated. All fire-type continuous damage originating from within fifteen yards will be decreased by 50%.]
Honestly, I had been putting this one to pretty good use for a while now.
“Run!”
The flames grew so big that we didn’t need to apply any more oil, and rather than pouring oil over the cracks we missed, we focused our attention on moving more quickly.
I think…that was the right decision.
The plan was to draw the Noarkan’s attention by starting a fire in District Eight, which they currently occupied. I couldn’t tell if the plan was going well or not, but there was one benefit to all this.
“Grrrk…”
“Grrrk…”
Corpses were countered by fire.
The Noarkans had heavily invested in the Corpse Collector for this war, and he had spread out an entire army of corpses in District Eight. Just by setting the place on fire, those long-prepared corpses all began to melt away.
Well, the higher-ranking entities had some resistance to fire, and the Noarkans who were stationed in District Eight tried to control the fire somewhat, but those issues could be solved with pure physical strength.
Crunch! Crunch!
With the way things were going, I honestly couldn’t help but wonder, “Why didn’t the palace set fire to the place already?”
“Are you asking because you don’t know?”
“Would I have asked if I did?”
The knight captain’s jaw tensed ever so slightly. “Any sane person would recognize that freedom through fire leaves nothing but ashes to save.”
“Ah…”
Well, putting it like that did help me understand. It wasn’t like District Eight was a key strategic point. The palace wouldn’t have wanted to burn the entire place down to the ground just to take it back from the Noarkans.
Well… I guess even I wouldn’t have made this call if not for the situation we’re in.
Even with permission from Astarota, there was a possibility that I would need to take responsibility for burning down the district after the war was over. No matter what happened here, it probably would’ve been for the best if I used Vivian to quietly move through the enemy lines and reunite with my allies.
What’s the point in holding regret?
However, it wasn’t as if the world ever revolved around me and what I wanted, anyway.
Crunch!
With that, I went about crushing the burning corpses and the wannabe corpses—the soldiers of Noark who wanted to fight me.
As we moved, Vivian shouted the deciphered orders from the crystal from behind me.
“The soldiers stationed in District Five are heading this way as reinforcements after hearing the news! Ah, but the vice-captain isn’t coming because he needs to maintain the front line!”
Tch… So I drew some aggro here, but not enough that they would drop everything to charge here?
“That’s fine,” I said. “What about news from District Four?” Even while organizing the situation in my mind, I repeatedly checked for news about Amelia.
“There’s no talk about the fight having ended. I think they’re still trying to track her down!”
I sighed. Alright, then. Still, seeing how they were still chasing after her…
You’re saying this much of a mess isn’t enough to pull your aggro?
That didn’t mean I was overly worried. I knew I could draw aggro here.
Thankfully, that was something that I was greatly proficient in as a barbarian warrior, and something I had excessive experience in doing.
“Um… Mr. Yandel? Why are you smiling like that?” Raven asked in a worried voice.
I responded with a grin. “I just had a good idea.”
I’d think about the consequences later.
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