Surviving the Game as a Barbarian-Chapter 597: RPG (5)
To be honest, I never expected it.
That the knight who conveyed the emperor’s words to the crowd gathered in the square, standing on the gallows, would be the chief.
‘No wonder I couldn’t see any chance of escaping on my own.’
Now I realize it wasn’t an unfair chapter, but one where I had to wait until my comrades came to rescue me.
Screech—!
The chief took off his helmet and swung his sword, cutting the ropes.
From below came a shout in outrage.
“Sir Saintred! Why did you betray us...!”
“...Sir?”
“You were a noble knight from the start. We’ll talk details later.”
The chief said that and turned his gaze away from me to overlook the square.
Swoooosh—!
The glow of the magic circle covering the square grew stronger as time passed, and with it, the chaos stirred by thousands of people increased.
“Aaah!”
“Get out of the way!”
“D-Don’t shove! Aaah!”
Thousands crowded tightly in the narrow space struggled all at once to escape the square, creating a hellish scene.
The chief looked down on this and said to me.
“Isn’t it amusing how they thrash about trying to survive?”
A muttering that even many psychopaths wouldn’t dare make.
However, the next line was a bit puzzling.
“It’s not even a spell meant to kill.”
“...Not an attack spell?”
“Sir Vesilarius said that if we caused a massacre here, we’d be unable to handle what comes next. But I can’t take you two alone through so many people. This spell is to solve that. I put a lot of effort into setting it up.”
“So... what kind of spell is it?”
The chief smiled without awkwardness and answered.
“You’ll see when you watch.”
Ha, does he never say anything straightforward?
“By the way, are you okay?”
“Don’t worry. It won’t hinder you in a fight.”
“That’s a relief... but actually, you probably won’t have to fight.”
“Won’t have to...?”
“Oh, it looks like it’s ready now.”
The chief ignored my question again and looked away.
And then—
Flash—!!
A huge burst of light covered the entire city.
So intense it caused pain through my retinas.
When the light slowly faded and my vision recovered, I finally understood the magic.
“What are you waiting for? Hurry up. Everyone’s been waiting only for you.”
The square that had been a hellscape was suddenly empty.
It was teleportation magic.
No, multiple teleportation magic, maybe?
Hmm... that still doesn’t explain it well.
The maximum number for multiple teleportation magic is twenty.
Sending thousands all at once like that is impossible.
But...
‘Something similar did happen once.’
In the underground city Noarc, a mysterious old man presumed to be Auril Gavis led over ten thousand people to escape a royal siege all at once.
I only heard about it, never saw it, but...
If it happened before my eyes, wouldn’t it be something like this?
“Come on in.”
Following the chief, we arrived at a residence on the outskirts.
Thud—!
Entering the empty house, we took stairs hidden in the floor down, and only then could we remove the robes covering our faces.
“They said everyone is waiting?”
“Looks like not everyone is here yet. They’ll come soon, so sit and rest.”
“Elwen, are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
I sat Elwen down and checked her condition. After confirming nothing was wrong, I spoke to the chief.
I’d been dying to ask.
“Why did you use teleportation magic on the enemies? It would have been much more efficient to use it on us.”
Actually, I was more curious about that than how he could cast such large-scale teleportation magic...
The chief answered casually as if it was no big deal.
“Didn’t you know? Magic doesn’t work on the witch. One might be possible, but to take both of you away, this was the only way.”
Ah, so that was the situation.
I didn’t know magic was ineffective.
“Is there any information I should tell you before you arrive?”
“Not really.”
“Then wait a moment. We can talk later about what we owe.”
Not wanting to repeat myself, I followed the chief and rested a bit.
How much time passed?
“Sorry. I felt like someone was following us, so I took a detour and was delayed.”
One of the rift members, Gavhin Vesilarius, arrived. He glanced at Elwen and me and cautiously spoke.
“By the way... Baron, you are the baron, right?”
“Strange question.”
“Haha, you really are. What a relief.”
The conversation had an odd feeling.
“Really the baron?”
“Ah, until now, the baron acted completely differently. He didn’t even know this place was a rift—.”
“Haha, everyone but me had already arrived.”
Then the last member of this rift arrived.
Archbishop Eden Hestaya of the Reatlas Church.
“Sorry I’m late. Sneaking in wasn’t difficult, but the equipment was heavy and hard to carry.”
The archbishop said as he shook an extra-dimensional bag upside down.
Thud thud thud thud.
The items pouring out like a waterfall covering most of the floor were none other than my equipment.
Ha, I worried about how to find it again, but turns out they’d kept it separate.
“I checked many times; nothing seems missing... But just in case, baron, you check again.”
I hurried and put on what to wear and stored what to keep.
Luckily, nothing was lost.
Though a barbarian who worships ancestral spirits, this time I couldn’t help but say it out loud.
“A star in the twilight will guide us...”
“Haha, seeing the baron so pleased makes me smile too.”
“Well, now that everyone’s here, let’s get to the main topic.”
The ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) chief pulled back the loosened atmosphere and asked me.
“So what happened to you two? Tell me everything from start to finish.”
Elwen and I briefly summarized what happened in Chapters 1 and 2, including waking up on the gallows.
Then three others shared their experiences and information.
Each had different start points in Chapter 1.
Let’s begin with the no-mage Gavhin Vesilarius.
“I woke up in a magical education institute. Various incidents occurred, but to summarize: during practice day I defended against monsters and was awarded a medal by the royal family. That evening, I received a letter from my hometown saying the imperial army attacked and my younger sister was missing. The sender was... a friend, though I didn’t know them.”
Anyway, that ended Chapter 1.
“It was a vast desert where sand scattered. That’s where the three of us met.”
Moving to Chapter 2, Gavhin was able to join the chief and the archbishop.
“To explain that part, I must first tell you our story.”
The chief and the archbishop’s stories were simple too.
The chief started as a knight of a noble family, the archbishop as a cleric of the temple, each having their own incidents.
And...
“At last, a letter came in the name of Sir Vesilarius. It said his sister was in trouble and requested help. From the context, it seemed we three were close friends.”
No surprise, Chapter 1 ended after reading the letter.
Chapter 2 started with all three gathered.
The main event in Chapter 2 was a stealthy pursuing group.
“It wasn’t hard to defeat them... but when we reached the rendezvous in the desert city written in the letter Vesilarius received, no matter how long we waited, you didn’t show.”
While they waited indefinitely, the imperial army arrived.
“They told Vesilarius his sister would destroy the world and to stop her he needed to help them.”
Naturally, refusal was not an option.
Upon hearing that, Chapter 4 began.
From then on, chapter missions became clear; they followed imperial orders.
Chapters 5, 6, 7...
They fought monsters and gained fame.
But in the end, they couldn’t join us.
“We almost got close. Every time I thought we could catch them and talk, something would go wrong and we couldn’t meet.”
Still, the chapters kept continuing, with time rushing forward and information updating.
The sister was called a witch, and I was her follower.
By Chapter 11, we had arrived here.
“I woke up in this city. Surrounded by countless soldiers. I only realized what happened after breaking through their siege.”
The witch and her follower were captured.
So the empire tried to get rid of them.
“I became certain of the goal of this trial.”
The three of them infiltrated the prison to meet us.
Not for rescue that day, but to inform us of the situation...
“As I said before, the you I met then wasn’t you. So I just told the plan to rescue you on execution day and left.”
The following situation was what just happened.
The awaited execution day dawned, and though we had barely finished Chapter 2, we woke up in Chapter 11 to finally join the three.
That was the story so far...
“Fortunately, it seems we weren’t trapped here for over ten years.”
At my brief muttering, Gavhin Vesilarius had a fit.
“Maaan—!”
“...Huh?”
“Is that what you call talking? Even if not ten years, we’ve been trapped here for at least half a year!”
“Half a year?”
According to the lament, it’s already been over a month just progressing through Chapter 11.
A chilling thought.
‘A rift with a completely random time scale...’
I hope it’s not like last time, where years passed while I was out.
Please, not again.
“Calm down, Sir Vesilarius. There’s still a lot to discuss.”
“...I got excited. Sorry.”
The chief calmed the mood and continued.
“Baron, this rift is different from normal ones. Each of us has unique abilities. Before asking about yours, I’ll explain ours.”
“Ah, I’ll go first.”
Archbishop Hestaya started.
“The power of my holy spells is the same, but my divine energy is nearly infinite. No matter how many miracles I perform, it’s like a spring that never dries.”
In short, infinite holy power buff.
Though it seems there is a handicap.
“But in return, I cannot use any miracles on myself.”
A cleric who can only use divine power for others.
“And the count?”
“I’m much simpler than the other two. I’m about twice as strong overall as before, and haven’t found any restrictions yet.”
Hmm, all stats 200% with no penalty.
It seemed overpowered but also made me uneasy.
‘If they give out this much, what will come next?’
The final boss’s difficulty worries me already.
Since this is a rift, a guardian must exist.
“Anyway, what about you, Gavhin?”
“Every trial I pass lets me use new magic. It’s not like I understand it fully... it feels more like a normal person tearing a scroll to cast spells.”
“New magic?”
“Ancient magic long lost that even I can’t glimpse the principles of.”
Now it made sense.
I wondered who cast the magic that teleported thousands.
It was the ability I gained entering this rift.
“Oh, and I have one more ability.”
“What is it?”
“I can instinctively know what to do when entering each trial.”
“That sounds... like a good ability.”
I threw a casual compliment and sighed internally.
It wasn’t a lie that it sounded good.
Quite the opposite.
This unfriendly game even gives navigation for free... what the hell is coming next?
“Then it’s our turn.”
After that, I explained what I’d learned about our abilities, and the long information-sharing session ended.
“But... why has Miss Tersia been so quiet since earlier?”
“That’s... not something you should worry about.”
“...Haha, I’m sorry for being rude.”
Though I wondered if it was necessary to snap at the kind-looking archbishop like that, I didn’t press.
‘Come to think of it, it’s a bit odd...’
Before in the boss run, and even after arriving here, Elwen was a bit different.
She answered kindly when asked, but she started conversations far less often.
“Then rest up, there’s still time before night.”
Hmm, she wasn’t usually this quiet.
[Role assigned to Gavhin Vesilarius: ‘Mage’.]
[Can use ancient magic.]
[Role assigned to Jerome Saintred: ‘Knight’.]
[All stats increased by 200%.]
[Role assigned to Eden Hestaya: ‘Cleric’.]
[No longer consumes divine energy.]
[Cannot use holy spells on self.]
[All mental resistance fixed at zero.]
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺
