Surviving as a Barbarian in the Game - Episode 423
423Like ice (3)
Elder Lich's Active Skill [Soul Extraction]].
The effect of this skill is simple.
If it is a skill acquired with essence or a skill cast by an Elder Lich encountered in a general field,.
「The character falls into [faint] state.」
The fainting is over..
Please note that this only applies to designated targets, not wide-area attacks. It is also possible to counter with mental power, anti-magic power, or other skills..
but…….
「Glacier Mage Cariathea guides the extracted souls to the Chest of Punishment..」
This guy's [soul extraction] is a little different..
In the game, it was not only impossible to prevent [soul extraction] in any way other than going outside the range.…….
It's not just a simple faint, but an unusual situation is created..
Just like this.
flash-!
The moment I opened my eyes, what I saw was a crystal cave..
And it was a man illuminated by a soft purple light..
“Look.”
he asks, holding a hammer covered in goblin blood..
“Are you looking for a friend for the night??”
Race is human.
Age is estimated to be in the early thirties..
He is a little over 180 cm tall and has a good and warm appearance..
‘…My feet were big compared to my height..’
Anyway, it was a face like this.
I thought it had become a blur in my memory now, but now that I look at it, it comes back to me..
Soon the man smiled and revealed his name..
“Oh, I didn't introduce you. My name is Hans.”
Common name: Hans A.
The starting point of all Hans, and the person I am thankful for who taught me the mindset I should have to live in this world..
He gave me a hammer, a compass, a canteen, and shoes as gifts when I saw him for the first time, helping me evolve from a barbarian into a civilized person..
“But why did you kill me?”
He suddenly asks with a devilish look on his face..
Blood is flowing from red, bloodshot eyes..
But, so what??
“Well, I guess I got killed because I did something worth dying for.?”
“You could have forgiven me.”
“Forgive me…….”
“I had a daughter and a wife.”
Yeah, that one…….
“know.”
How could you not know?.
I saw a family portrait in your bag that was taken from me at that time..
It was a young girl, about three years old, and his wife, who looked a few years younger than him..
but…….
“When I saw that, it killed me... Did you regret it??”
I answered without a moment of hesitation..
“no.”
It's sincere without a single lie..
So why do you regret it??
“If I go back to that time, I will still kill you..”
“…….”
“I guess I wasn't the first target of looting anyway, right? Those people probably didn't have a family?”
Even if it wasn't that way in the first place, that's true..
Is there an orphan in this world without a story?.
“don't worry. There was no problem living without mom and dad. Your wife and your daughter will too..”
The source is me.
So you can trust me.
Kwasik-!
There was no point in talking further, so I immediately rushed at him and lightly tapped him with the demon crusher, shattering his head..
But what is this again?.
“…It's changed. You weren't like that back then..”
Hans A, who has only his chin left, opens his mouth and continues the conversation in a calm tone..
“…huh?”
What, this is scary.
[[Soul Extraction] Was there something like this in the pattern??
It wasn't just a section where the characters I'd killed so far came out and attacked me.?
Directions never seen in games.
“But what does it mean that it has changed??”
I was curious about what he meant, so I asked him, and he giggled..
“You were so trembling when you killed me back then..”
“Yeah, so?”
“There's no emotion anymore, right?.”
“aha!”
“I'm sure you will continue to be like that. Even if someone's precious parents are killed, daughters and sons are killed, and a family is destroyed. Everyone will tolerate it. Just because the target was your enemy.”
Tell me to speak very harshly.
I wonder if I accepted the conversation for no reason, but at least I learned one thing for sure..
“You know this too, right??”
This guy reads my mind.
“You are becoming a monster..”
So it precisely pierces the deepest part..
“Of course, up until now, the target had been the enemy, so he would have been able to deceive himself. I'm not a monster yet.”
Kwasik-!
I hit the chin with a hammer, but my voice did not break..
[but.]
“Ha, look how tough it is.?”
[Unless it's an enemy.]
[If it's someone who has done nothing wrong that has to kill in order to live,.]
[No, if it was a colleague you wanted to protect more than anyone else..]
[So what do you think??]
i didn't answer.
Because I know it's meaningless.
Because the source of this voice was inside me..
[You have already become a monster.]
To survive.
Doubts and anxiety that I have hidden in a corner of my heart and completely ignored..
[No different from the monsters you killed..]
“…….”
[You are already from here.]
With those words, Hans A became light and disappeared..
***
My uncle was clearly a miserable person..
A gambling addict who can't possibly have a decent job..
When he won money, he gave me a considerable amount of pocket money, but on the contrary, when he lost money, he became violent and made me the target of his anger..
However, as the saying goes, there is something to be learned if you look for even the rocks on the next mountain..
My uncle was like that too..
Even thinking about cancer, it wasn't something I would say to an 8-year-old child whose father passed away less than a year ago.…….
If you have to throw the dice anyway.
Instead of playing on a board made by someone else, throw dice on a board you made yourself.?
That advice, engraved deep in my mind, has helped me a lot in living in this world..
so that…….
plod, trudge.
Walking in a crystal cave.
It is not a real space.
[A virtual space where I was dragged unconscious due to [Soul Extraction].
‘I didn't know it was set in a crystal cave..’
For reference, the background was always different in the game..
2There were times when I woke up not in a labyrinth, but in a palace or something like that, such as in the three-story rocky desert, the four-story tower in the sky, and the six-story ocean..
So, what are the conditions for selecting a background??
‘Perhaps the most impressive space.’
It's a reasonable guess..
It was here that I almost died after stepping on a trap, that I met Erwen, and that I killed my first person..
I will never be able to forget the hardships I went through when Berzak, the Lord of the Abyss, was summoned..
Tuk.
I hurriedly opened my body at the sound of someone coming from behind, and saw three people with familiar faces..
A mustachioed man holding a shield.
A blonde spearman with a tall physique..
and…….
“Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee!!!”
A woman in a priest's uniform laughing with her head half crushed.
It's called (old) Elisa Half Head Mode..
“Hey, it’s been a while for you too..”
Unlike Hans A, they attacked me right away without even trying to start a conversation..
and…….
Kwasik, Kwasik, Kwasik-!
10It all turned into a halo of light in a second..
So what level am I now and how many essences have I consumed? It was a difficult enemy at low levels, but now there is not much difference from goblins..
In the sense that they are equally dealt with in one room..
“after… So how many people are left now??”
I woke up in the crystal cave and once again counted the number of enemies I killed, but I'm not sure what happened..
Well, you can't remember how many pieces of bread you ate.?
I can't even tell you exactly how many people I've killed since I was an explorer and killed for a living..
‘……I think I remembered it before.’
What Hans A said feels even more weighty..
Actually, I didn't even remember his face until I met him here again..
To be exact, I completely forgot about it..
“Elisha. This guy is so impressive that I remember him clearly.…….”
What was the name of the spearman??
Taser gun? Dyson? What was the name like?…….
I immediately flinched as I remembered the names of the trio I had just defeated..
It's because the name of the mustachioed man came to mind..
“Hans Argo.”
For reference, the Hans code I gave is C.
“Nimiral.”
I'm just thinking about it now, so from now on I have to meet all the Hans I killed??
It sends shivers down my spine..
This is it, Hans. It's not hell..
‘How many Hans have I killed so far??’
Fortunately, looking back one by one, I actually killed not much..
Should I say that it wasn't long ago that I hit the last blow??
Hans E, whom I met in the sewers while tracking Elisa, used it as a meat shield when the trap was triggered..
It was Erwen who killed Hans J, the wizard who betrayed us on Farune Island, and the rest of us met only once and parted ways..
Except for just one person.
“My, this, name is, Ha, Hans, Krishen… no see.”
Hans G, the evil spirit summoner who was killed in the Doppelganger Forest..
Wow, this is what it says.
Is this the right thing to do first??
“Why me, me... Was it porridge? Woo, Lee is the same player.…….”
Hans G, who appeared from a side road with his soul's best friend, the fairy Archer, was somehow speaking in a strange way..
That's the scene I remember the most. Are you stuttering here too??
Well, the shock at that time was big..
“I didn't even betray you! Because that guy revealed that it was just an evil spirit.—!”
So what, what should I do?.
Kwasik, Kwasik-!
Before the conversation continues any further, I dash and break the head..
The barbarian way of living in the world is much more comfortable..
After that, as I was wandering around the cave, it attacked me in the form of recreated images of people I had killed in my life, reconstructed from their memories..
“Now you know! Why did I have to become a plunderer! There was nothing I could do in that damn place.!”
Jencia Naprin, the player you killed in the Glacier Cavern..
I didn't know at the time.
No, I hadn't thought about it exactly..
I'm sure there will be some players starting from Noark..
“Hey, I said it was a mistake, but that's all it took! die! Die oh oh oh!!”
The trio of religious figures who attacked Team Banpuni after being manipulated by the tongue of Elisa, a priest of Karui, and then reunited in the hut and were killed by me..
While killing these guys, I truly realized.
The more you shed the grime of being a modern person, the more you will be able to live like a human here..
Kwasik, Kwasik, Kwasik-!
In addition, numerous looters encountered in the labyrinth appeared, spreading their resentment..
Most of the guys I met in the beginning had their heads blown off with one hit, but the guys in the second half were different..
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-!
Lighthouse Keeper of Orculis.
Whoa whoa-!
A knight encountered in Noark in the past.
“Ultimately, I was trying to help you.!”
Pike Neldine was executed on charges of treason during the campaign..
I wasn't scared of each one, but as the number of them increased, the burden on my body increased..
It's like the weight of sin.
“I… I killed so many people……?”
at least a few hundred people.
That's also the number of lives I directly killed..
but…….
“Yeah, it worked out better..”
If I'm like this, how bad can the Noark bastards and the Rose Knights be??
We continue to move forward using the misfortune of others as motivation..
plod, trudge.
Into a dark cave where there is no destination.
endlessly.
***
「Kill the last enemy.」
「The character's [faint] status is lifted..」
「The Glacier Wizard punishes the vengeful spirits who failed to achieve their purpose..」
「A random penalty is given until the labyrinth is closed..」
***
When I opened my eyes, I was being dragged..
With both legs held by someone, my back rubbing against the cold, sharp ground..
“Ugh… … ! Why is this guy so heavy without even wearing any gear?!”
Sven Farab's voice.
Yeah, you were dragging me along..
‘If you see that it's not glacier snow, you're halfway there.…….’
I looked around while being dragged.
Strange phenomena that had never been seen before were occurring..
“Ugh……!!”
“ha… ha… ha…….”
Priests and wizards are struggling to move while carrying fainted body-type explorers on their backs..
I first checked the watch on my waist..
‘15Is it about a minute?…….’
2It was the time when the phase started and I was passed out..
“Parab, let go now.”
“uh? Are you awake??”
“okay.”
I couldn't be a burden anymore, so I quickly came to my senses and stood up. And he instructed Sven Farab to carry the other man..
“Priest Orman! Thank you for your hard work. From now on, I will carry the person behind me. Please help someone else out there. It will be better if we do it together..”
“Phew… sorry. Paladin Parav must be having a hard time too..”
“Haha, this is nothing.”
Soon I got up from my seat and my vision became clear, so I quickly glanced around to understand the situation..
‘Two priests, three wizards, two magicians, one melee attack, two paladins, and one archer..’
A total of twelve, including me, woke up from a faint..
Even if each person takes charge of only one person, the number remains, but the conditions are so bad that one warrior can sometimes carry two or three people..
It's a very simple reason.
It’s not for nothing that I consider the [Soul Extraction] pattern to be a gamble..
‘Are Erwen and Amelia still there?…….’
First, he took over the two limp people and draped them one by one over his shoulders. And then he approached Jun, who was moving while being carried by Futa Rickerburn..
“June.”
“…Oh, are you awake?.”
As I approach, Jun raises his head while being carried by Futa Reckerburn..
he said as if he was embarrassed.
“Unfortunately, I lost the use of one leg..”
A random penalty inflicted upon coming out of a stun state. This penalty is completely random, and if you're lucky, you'll just not feel the taste, but if it's severe, one character will become an asshole like now..
This is probably the case for all people who are conscious but are carried on their backs..
“Yandel, are you okay??”
“for now… Nothing seems to have changed right now..”
“I'm glad you're safe. really.”
“When did you wake up? I would like to receive a situation report..”
“It's the fifth time.”
“It's faster than expected?”
Jun smiled bitterly at the thoughtlessly muttered words..
“There are only a few priests of Karui that I personally killed while working as an Inquisitor. Most of them were ordinary people without power. Thanks to that, it was easy to deal with him there..”
“is it…….”
It didn't seem like he particularly wanted words of consolation, so I quickly got to the point..
“I want to hear what happened while I was passed out..”
“The first to wake up were Priest Orman and Priest Periton Eriavosti. really… These are people who don't have a drop of dirty blood on their hands..”
Well, you never know..
Due to the nature of the job, the priest himself, how likely is it that he will be dealt a final blow?.
‘Even when fighting in the snow of a glacier, the last blow was always struck by someone else..’
“However, since the two of us couldn't move all of us, we waited, and when enough people woke up to make movement possible, we started moving..”
“How long has it been since?”
“11This is you.”
“Were there others awake at that time??”
“Before leaving, no one in Noark or the Rose Knights had woken up, but we don't know what will happen now..”
Yeah, that's right…….
It's not bad.
“Yandel, it was as you said. I tried attacking them while they were unconscious, just in case, but it didn't work..”
That's because those who faint while Phase 2 lasts are invincible..
At that time, Cariadea will not attack either..
The boss battle resumes 30 minutes after [Soul Extraction] was cast..
Anyone who does not return after that time will die..
The same applies if you die in it..
‘Even so for Erwen, Amelia… Are you okay??’
I'm very worried, but all I can do is believe..
I put aside the problem that I couldn't solve right now and checked on the other members one by one..
There were a total of three people who suffered major penalties..
Jun became crippled..
James Calla, the blind archer.
Old man Didi, whose right hand has turned gray and hard as a stone..
I don't know what penalty the fainted crew will face when they wake up, but for now, that's it..
if…….
‘what am i?’
What penalty was applied to me?.
As I walked and checked various things, I soon had no choice but to grit my teeth..
Crackling…….
Of all the penalties, I couldn't believe I got this one.
「The character's active skills are restricted..」
Is this the curse of the Hans we met in the cave??
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