Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel - Chapter 743
Chapter 743: Altered Fate (6)
District 7 or the holy land.
Which one should I choose?
Honestly, it was difficult to choose either.
[Because depending on where you go, the people who die will be different.]
If I went to District 7, A would die and if I went to the holy land, B would die.
I didn’t know exactly who they were, but it was clear that both A and B were my precious comrades, neither more important than the other.
But……
[It will be the choice that benefits the Lion the most.]
That damned old man advised me through Wolf.
Letting B die and saving A would be more beneficial to me.
So, I should go to District 7.
He even tried to persuade me by comparing fate to a card game…
Tadadadadadad-
In the end, after much deliberation, I made a decision.
To the place I originally intended to go.
I decided to head to the holy land.
There wasn’t any special reason for this decision.
While I somewhat agreed with the idea that an altered fate is still fate…
‘Screw that, I’m doing this for myself.’
Auril Gavis is not a reliable person.
And since I would lose one person no matter which place I chose, it was better to stick with my own choice.
Even if I regret it later, at least it would be my own decision, not someone else’s.
‘That old man still doesn’t know me.’
If he was going to give such advice, he should have known that I’m naturally rebellious……
‘…Ah?’
Was that his plan?
For a moment, I thought that might be the case, but then I realized it wasn’t.
I was going to the holy land anyway, even without his advice.
There was no reason to stir things up unnecessarily.
‘Forget it, don’t think about it.’
The more I thought about it, the more distractions I had, so I cleared my mind and focused solely on my destination.
10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes…
I ran for a long time. How much time had passed?
Boom! Boooooom-!
A faint explosion sound was heard in the distance, and simultaneously, the wall I was running along shook violently.
What on earth was happening there?
Tadadadadadadad-!
I sped up even more and soon arrived at the wall bordering the holy land. However, I still had a long way to go to reach the gate, so I continued moving.
“……Huh?”
I saw something purely by chance.
Even though the dense foliage made it difficult to see the ground clearly.
“…Rotmiller?”
My first scout was kneeling in front of a tree stump, in a miserable state.
I wondered what was going on.
I saw some thug approaching Rotmiller with a knife.
Without thinking, I stepped on the wall’s ledge and jumped with all my might.
And……
Booom-!!!
As if I had used [Leap], the ground shook greatly as I landed, and the eyes of the thugs surrounding Rotmiller widened.
“What the hell are you doing to my scout?”
Rotmiller looked at me as if he had seen a ghost, and I intuitively realized.
“…Yandel?”
A was Rotmiller.
***
It didn’t take long to wrap up the situation.
Each swing of my hammer crushed the heads of those thugs, and that ended all the fighting.
Of course, more than half of them escaped like cockroaches, but…
Well, the battle was over, so that’s that.
“Are you alright, Rotmiller?”
“Ah…”
Rotmiller, still out of it, came to his senses as I poured a potion over his wounds.
“Doesn’t seem like you’re okay.”
Sssssss-!
“Arghhh!!”
The potion brought Rotmiller back to life, almost like a live fish.
“Ugh! Ugh… Urgh……”
The potion’s effect was so strong it took a while for him to regain enough composure to speak.
“Yandel……”
“Seems like you’re back to your senses.”
“…Thanks to you, I survived.”
“How’s your body? I have plenty of potions.”
“…I’m fine. I’ve recovered.”
Well, that’s good then.
“By the way, Yandel, how did you get here……”
Ah, that?
I know he’s curious, but explaining it would take too long.
“I’ll tell you my story later. Right now, I want to hear what’s going on.”
“Ah……”
Rotmiller seemed to realize that it wasn’t the right time to satisfy his curiosity.
He gave a concise briefing of the current situation in his usual reliable manner and summed it up as follows.
“The Noark bastards disabled the barrier first and invaded. The difference in military strength was too great, so we retreated. Meanwhile, our elites took advantage of the widened front to attack the Noark commanders.”
“But whether their plan succeeded or failed, I don’t know… We need to hurry and help them…”
With that, I quickly lifted Rotmiller onto my back.
“…Huh?”
Rotmiller seemed confused as to why I was carrying him.
“Why are you… Leave me. I will only be a burden if I follow.”
To be honest, Rotmiller was right.
He remained the same, but I had changed a lot since the days when I was on Team Half-Wit.
He would only be a hindrance.
But…..
“Aren’t you my scout?”
No matter what, I couldn’t feel at ease leaving him alone.
I wasn’t sure if saving him once was truly enough.
And……
“You need to tell me where to go.”
I said playfully, and Rotmiller froze for a moment before smiling.
“…You haven’t changed at all.”
“There’s a saying that people die if they change. I’m going to live a long time.”
“……I don’t know what happened with their plan, but let’s head to the gate for now.”
I carried Rotmiller on my back and quickly ran towards the gate.
Of course, Noark bastards were swarming the path to the gate.
Not that they were much of a hindrance.
Thud-! Thud-!
The soldiers, seeing me charge like a tank, rolled out of the way and hurriedly cleared a path.
Thanks to their endless courtesy towards the strong, we soon passed through the forest path and reached the gate, which bore heavy signs of battle.
‘…A lot of people died, huh?’
Corpses were strewn all over the ground in front of the gate.
There were many Noark bodies, but just as many of our own forces lay dead.
Most of them were barbarian warriors.
Crunch.
Among the many bodies, I recognized a few familiar faces from my time living among the barbarians.
There was the guy who bought the first house when the new housing allocation opened up.
The one who complained it was unfair he didn’t get the better equipment given during the coming-of-age ceremony and got a punch from me for whining about it.
And the one who had asked me to name his son so he could become a strong warrior.
Grit.
Seeing their faces made my jaw clench involuntarily, but I finished scanning the area.
“……!”
“……Hik!”
For some reason, the Noark bastards would look away or back off whenever our eyes met…
‘Not important, ignore it.’
There were only two things I needed to focus on.
The place where the gate should be.
The nearby wall had completely collapsed, blocking the only passage between the holy land and District 7 with its debris.
And……
“Hey, isn’t that Yandel?”
“What? Mister? Mister! Misterrr!!”
For some reason, my comrades were peeking down at me from atop the wall.
As soon as I made eye contact with them, I started counting.
Ainar, Versyl, Missha, Erwen, James Calla……
Everyone except Amelia, Auyen, Parav, and Marrone was up there-.
“Misterrrrrr!!”
Just then, Erwen leaped gracefully from the high wall and flew towards me.
With Erwen’s physical abilities, she wouldn’t be hurt falling from that height, but I instinctively caught her as she fell into my arms.
“Where have you been!! I was really worried!!”
“I’ll explain later, but first, the current situation.”
“Ah……”
The area was full of Noark bastards, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable environment for talking.
Because of my reputation, they kept their distance and didn’t dare approach.
“I heard from Rotmiller that you aimed to strike the Noark command. Did that succeed?”
“Ah, that… we failed.”
Erwen admitted failure, but as I listened, the situation seemed better than failure.
They hadn’t captured the command, but they managed to to collapse the gate, blocking Noark’s elites outside.
“Now we are occupying the wall, preventing reinforcements from entering the holy land!”
Hmm… So that’s why they were on the wall.
If I hadn’t found Rotmiller earlier, I would have met them on the wall.
“Anyway, so Gowland…”
Perhaps because it had been so long, Erwen seemed excited even talking about the war and went into minute detail, but I cut her off with a smile.
“Enough. I know what the next plan is.”
“…What?”
What do you mean, what?
As long as we hold this wall, no enemy reinforcements can enter the holy land.
And to put it another way, it means the enemies who already entered the holy land are isolated from their main force.
There’s only one thing left to do.
“Now we just need to wipe them all out, right?”
“…Oh! You’re so smart!”
I was used to Erwen’s mindless praise, so I let it slide in one ear and out the other as I scanned the surroundings once more.
Whether it was because they heard the news of the gate collapsing or because I attracted so much attention, the number of Noark bastard in the clearing in front of the gate kept increasing.
One, two, three, four……
There were so many that counting was meaningless.
Killing each one with a hammer would take a lot of time.
Therefore……
“Erwen, get ready.”
“…Huh?”
“It’s been a while since we’ve used that.”
“Oh, oh… that…?”
Even though I left out the subject, Erwen understood perfectly and began using her skill.
[Erwen Fornacci di Tersia has cast Elementalization.]
I didn’t even need to specify the element.
[The Spirit of the Wind now dwells within your body.]
[All damage you take will be adjusted for with improved dodging.]
[Damage received from magic is doubled.]
[Strong damage bonus to piercing and slashing attacks.]
[Your agility stat has significantly increased……]
This was perfect for mowing down the weak.
[All attack ranges are tripled.]
[You have cast Swing]
With a mighty swing, my hammer extended like the mythical Ruyi Jingu Bang, greatly increasing in size.
BOOOOOM-!!!
A thunderous, satisfying sound echoed across the battlefield, but my mind was preoccupied.
“R-Run away……!”
“H-how are we supposed to fight against that……!”
If A was Rotmiller.
And A survived because I came to the holy land.
Then…
BOOOOOM-!!!
Who is B?
TL/N: Ruyi Jingu Bang is the magical staff wielded by Sun Wukong in the Chinese novel Journey to the West.
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