Surviving the Game as a Barbarian-Chapter 554: Deja Vu (3)

"......Tell me in detail. What happened?"

Before making a final judgment, I checked the details.

"Oh, that? On the day of departure, he disappeared, so the commander went to find him personally. But when they actually found him, he made excuses like having a stomachache or something and said he couldn't come."

"......"

"He was crying and making a huge fuss, so they ended up calling a mage to check on him."

"Check...?"

"They used magic to inspect his intestines, or something like that. Apparently, there was nothing wrong. And based on that, when they accused him of trying to desert, he reluctantly changed his attitude and joined...."

"...joined?"

"Maybe because of that rumor, his impression inside the expedition team became subtly negative. I heard even the priests from the same order treated him like dirt."

"I see..."

Hah, I shouldn't have listened.

If he was so desperate not to join the expedition, that 'sixth sense' of his must have triggered.

Thump—!

I hope we’re not going to endure hellish suffering again like at Ice Rock.

Four ships that had departed from Rock Island docked at Library Island, and after briefly arranging the formation, we descended the stairs.

By the way, the formation was with the 4th squad—so our group of 38 people—at the very front.

Maybe because of that, I had a bad feeling, but I shook my head to dismiss it.

‘...They put us at the front because we’re the vanguard.’

Yeah, not because we’re a disposable bunch.

If I were the commander, I would’ve done the same.

Ugh, but why do I feel uneasy about what’s behind my back?

‘...Damn royal bastards.’

Before Berzak, and at Ice Rock.

We’ve been backstabbed twice by royal forces, so I just can’t trust those bastards—.

"We’ve arrived."

Watching the stairs while more wary of what’s behind than ahead, a vast underground library appeared before us.

The books had already been neatly organized.

And then....

[...You’re here? Earlier than expected... uh...?]

As soon as we arrived, Hemsik, who came out to greet us, noticed the following expedition troops and tilted his head in confusion.

Hah, why is he acting like that again?

I quickly waved my hand, signaling him to hide, but Hemsik still looked clueless.

So....

Ssshh, ssshh.

I pointed once behind me at the expedition troops with my thumb, then at Hemsik with my index finger.

Then.

I made a throat-slitting gesture with my hand.

Because those guys aren’t nice like me.

No joke—they’d immediately cast a distortion spell on sight, kill, and start dissecting them.

Did my urgency get through?

[Beep—!!!]

Hemsik understood the gesture, got terrified, and ran off.

At that moment.

"Baron, what’s going on? I think I heard a horrible scream from somewhere."

Someone from the main force following us at some distance from our 4th squad arrived.

Okay, looks like they didn’t see Hemsik.

"Nothing important."

"Pardon?"

"I don’t know the cause, but sometimes those sounds come from here."

"I see. Understood. I will report that."

So, even if Hemsik and I meet secretly to talk, the expedition team won’t think anything strange.

Well, we still have to be cautious since someone might investigate the noise.

"This must be the place Baron Yandel spoke of."

"What do you think?"

"What do I think? My personal impression doesn’t matter. Now, let’s not waste time and get started. We’re not just exploring; we’re carrying out a sacred mission from the royal family."

Ugh, no wonder he’s such a royalist.

Soon, Jerome gave some orders to the deputy commander, who shouted in a booming voice.

"All troops, listen up! We’ll start by surveying the terrain. Each team, search the surrounding area thoroughly!"

And so began the terrain survey.

I approached Jerome and asked.

"If there’s no time, do we really need to survey again? We already finished here."

Maybe, just like I don’t trust the royal family, Jerome doesn’t trust me.

That thought came first, but...

"Heh, our expedition team is made up only of experts selected by the royal family. I don’t disregard Baron Yandel’s exploration skills, but... just watch. Maybe we’ll find something new."

Judging by his tone, he’s just ignoring us completely.

"Experts, my ass."

Most mages are former military, and the group is packed with knights and priests focusing on combat.

"Do as you like. We’ll stay here."

"Fine. Anyway, we couldn’t find it before, so we probably won’t find it now."

...Should I really hit him?

The thought flashed in my mind, but I endured with superhuman patience.

How much time passed, I wonder.

"...Nothing new was confirmed."

"Same here."

In the end, the expedition’s investigators returned with no results, and then the library assault began.

"First, we should proceed as the Baron said. Unlike him, we have enough ability to clear every shelf."

Though he seemed unreliable until the end, once the assault started, he acted like an expert.

"So this is how it goes."

A guy who used a few summoning books quickly reorganized the formation and efficiently assigned 200 people.

Dozens of people clung to the shelves fetching books, while twice that number waited at the stone door, hunting monsters as soon as they appeared.

But...

"This will take forever."

Jerome thought even this was slow and took out the ultimate secret technique.

"Evost, increase the speed."

All discoveries in this world arise out of necessity.

"Eh? But we can only summon one book at a time, so increasing speed here..."

"That’s why I said find a way."

"......"

Faced with the direct superior’s unreasonable demand, the deputy commander briefly showed a helpless expression but soon came up with a creative solution I hadn’t even thought of.

"If we can just reduce the time the door opens and closes, we can speed things up considerably."

"So the conclusion?"

"What if we destroy the door?"

"......!!!"

Even the barbarians standing beside me got goosebumps at that plan. Jerome nodded with satisfaction upon hearing it.

"That’s worth trying. Execute immediately."

Once permission was granted, the magic corps of the expedition gathered in one place.

Dozens cast a combined spell.

"Myirti Esta Fioriev de Tayla!"

The spell completed was one I had never actually seen before.

Where would you see a grade 1 attack spell?

「Gahwin Vesirus cast the grade 1 attack spell [Sphere of Upheaval].」

As the spell completed, the magic circle glowed and a dense aura suffocated even the barbarians who are insensitive to mana.

It was impossible to see with the naked eye.

———————!

A flash like a split second.

Something was fired and struck something, only faintly perceiving cause and effect before opening my eyes again.

Whhoooosh-!

A scorching hot wind like it could burn skin blew fiercely and brushed my cheek.

But I had no strength to focus on the sensation.

"...Luckily, it succeeded."

The stone door, probably 20 meters tall, was shattered without leaving any fragments, revealing endless darkness.

‘This actually works...?’

It felt like I’d reached a new realm.

We succeeded in breaking the stone door.

And the plan to rapidly continue summoning through this method was the same.

"Since the door is gone, summons happen instantly. Well done, Evost."

"I’m just following royal orders. No need for praise, Commander."

They naturally continued talking while summoning monsters ruthlessly and eliminating delay.

Eventually, I had to step in.

"Wait, look there! It’s already restoring from the edge."

That’s the nature of the labyrinth.

Except for special points like the crystal caves on the first floor, the labyrinth naturally restores all places.

Simply put, the expedition mages were wasting their efforts with grade 1 spells...

"Is that a problem?"

Jerome looked confused at my words, so I kindly explained, unbarbarian-like.

But it was all in vain.

"I don’t see the problem. Since it restores, we just keep breaking it, right?"

"...Uh?"

"Judging by the restoration speed, we probably don’t even need to use grade 1 attack spells like this anymore. There are plenty of mages; we can take turns breaking it."

"...Uh."

"Besides, no monsters strong enough to require mages have appeared yet."

Uh... that’s true.

"Does that clear your doubts?"

"Yes. All clear."

In the end, I had no choice but to admit it.

‘The problem was... me...!’

Those with power can realize more and imagine higher concepts.

Therefore, I couldn’t come up with this method and dismissed it as impossible because I lacked power.

Imagination is the strength that comes from power.

‘That’s probably why the word for imagination includes the character for power.’

Truly, ancient wisdom.

They must have already understood this truth thousands of years ago.

"Then, let’s resume the mission!"

Anyway, whether or not I had new insight, Jerome didn’t waste a minute.

Is that the attitude expected of someone entrusted with a royal mission?

Thanks to that sincerity, the assault’s pace was on a completely different level.

Even though we said we did factory-like hunting before, it’s incomparable.

"Leave the magic stones alone! We’ll collect them later."

The expedition didn’t pick up magic stones and didn’t check ownership even when essences appeared.

Since most hunting was done with ranged fire, no unwanted essence collection happened, and when melee was needed, essence-filled knights covered the field.

And the result?

‘Within a day, we reached grade 4...’

Strictly speaking, before 16 hours had passed, we reached the area where grade 4 monsters appeared one by one.

Almost five times faster than when the 38 of us went through it.

"From tomorrow, we can proceed normally. Inform the magic corps. There’s no need to stop restoration anymore."

"Understood..."

"Let’s end here for today. Prepare to camp."

After nonstop assault with shifts for meals, the long-awaited rest time finally came.

The exhausted expedition soldiers skillfully set up camp, and as some free time appeared, familiar faces came to visit first.

"Haha, very busy?"

Meland Kaislan.

A military knight who had endured hardships with us at Ice Rock expedition.

"No matter how busy, when you come, you gotta make time."

"That’s an honor indeed."

Kaislan smiled and bumped fists with me.

We had exchanged glances passing by but never had time for proper talk.

"By the way, I didn’t expect to finally chat like this."

"I heard it’s hell under Count Saintred’s command, but I never imagined it would be this bad for me."

Apparently, among military folks, a sort of infamous reputation was spreading.

"So, what about you? Did the royal family order you to join?"

"Yes. Heh, they seem to want to use me as much as possible before I retire. Still, there’s the goal of rescuing the Baron, so I don’t complain much."

"Retire? Did you submit your resignation?"

"Yes, a month ago. It takes some time to process, but I’m hoping it’ll be done by the end of this expedition."

"I see..."

"Why the long face?"

"Nothing. Just thinking about what to have for a late-night snack."

That was a quick excuse, but not my real feeling.

Just suddenly Ice Rock expedition came to mind because Kaislan was ‘forced’ here right before retiring.

‘If someone had other intentions, they’d have recruited Marone into the expedition too... Still, better keep it in mind.’

Ah, probably not. Instead of ignoring it, I decided to always keep worst cases in mind.

"Sir Kaislan! Finally, we meet!"

Then Versil, Elwen, and Amelia, members of the expedition, came to greet Kaislan, and a new face appeared.

"Sorry, the archbishop is new to camping and needed help... I’m late."

Goblin Mask, Sven Parab.

As soon as he showed up, Versil approached him with a glare.

"You’re here."

"Oh, long time...? Miss Gowland...."

"Yeah, ‘long time.’ Sir Parab."

They met recently at the round table but acted like strangers.

Knowing their identities, I just found it cute.

"Wait, can everyone clear the way?"

"Yes, of course. I’m also feeling uncomfortable staying too long around the order people—."

"Parab, everyone but you."

"...Yes?"

After greetings and catching up, I cleared people around and had a private talk with Parab.

"So... what’s the matter?"

"I heard you pretended to have a stomachache to avoid joining the expedition?"

"Did Sir Kaislan tell you that?"

"No, I heard it elsewhere."

"...I guess Raven, my former comrade, boarded our ship, so he figured it out."

That part didn’t matter.

"Why did you do that? Was it that ‘weird feeling’ again?"

"Well... it’s a bit different...."

"Different? Tell me more. I trust your intuition."

"I... don’t know how to say this...."

Parab hesitated but then cautiously spoke in a resigned voice.

"I think I received a prophecy...."

What...?

This world has real gods.

People here sometimes hear the voice of gods or receive revelations.

Sometimes relics are given to help with such revelations.

Anyway, that’s not the main point.

"You received a prophecy...?"

"Please speak quietly! I’ll listen to everything!"

Not everyone can receive a prophecy.

That’s why in this city, those blessed to hear gods’ voices are called ‘Saints.’

But...

‘That bastard is a player.’

Sven Parab is an evil spirit from Earth.

And the Trimorphic religion is as serious as the royal family about hunting evil spirits.

But would the chief god give a prophecy to an evil spirit?

"...Are you sure? That you... received it?"

"I-I guess so...."

I grew more worried.

What are the gods thinking?

Come to {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} think of it, when I barely survived being killed by the Dragon Slayer, a relic was given to help me.

"So, what was the prophecy? What did it say that made you act like that?"

"Well... that...."

As I tried to check the prophecy quickly, unfortunately, an interrupter appeared.

"Sir Parab! The Archbishop is looking for you! Come quickly!"

"Ah, yes...? Okay! Got it!"

He looked at me nervously but when I nodded, he quickly left toward the order.

‘I’ll hear the details tomorrow.’

It was a shame not to hear now, but I ate some jerky and closed my eyes, preparing for sleep.

How long passed?

‘Can’t sleep.’

I got up to drink water and felt sharp gazes from somewhere.

Looking around quickly, besides the patrolling guards, I saw Hemsik hiding behind a bookshelf.

"Ahem..."

"Baron, where are you going?"

"Can’t sleep. I wanted to stretch a bit, but doing it here would be noisy."

"Ah, yes...."

After giving that plausible excuse to the patrolling soldiers, I approached the bookshelf where Hemsik was hiding, and he made a small noise.

[What... what are those crazy humans!!]

"They’re people from the kingdom... they won’t hurt you, so don’t worry—."

[Won’t hurt...!!]

Looking at the still-not-restored stone door, Hemsik clenched his fluffy fists tightly and said with a terribly sorrowful voice.

[Why... why do I have to go through this twice...!!]

"......"

[Why are all humans like this...!!]

I had no words.

"I’m a barbarian... you know?"

That was all I could say.