Surviving the Game as a Barbarian

Chapter 273 Defense (3)

Hans Aulock.

From now on, he will be remembered as Hans J to me.

"Ha, Hans...?!"

"Hans...?"

The moment he revealed his name, Raven and Ainar flinched and stared at me.

They both knew.

What Hans meant to me.

"...Is there something wrong?"

Hans J looked flustered as their gazes focused on him.

'Not now. I have to endure.'

I wanted to smash his head and turn him into an unnamed corpse.

That desire was consuming me.

But...

I had to endure.

I didn't have any proof that he was the traitor yet.

It was just a hunch.

If I told them about the ominous feeling Hans' name gave me, Partslan and Ersina wouldn't understand.

They still considered him a comrade.

Therefore...

"No, there's no problem."

I didn't do anything for now.

Even if he was the traitor, he wouldn't do anything stupid with so many people watching.

He would probably just stay quiet and wait until we returned to the city.

I had to observe him first.

"That doesn't seem to be the case..."

"I said there's no problem."

"Hmm, if you say so..."

Hans J frowned and stroked his chin.

I felt a bit bad, like I was bullying him...

"So you're just going to leave your hand hanging like that—"

But an unwanted handshake was crossing the line.

"Ah, Partslan! Are you done talking?"

I shifted my attention away from Hans J and changed the subject.

It seemed like they had also finished their conversation.

"Mostly. It seems like Drowus really was from that place... I always thought he was a bit strange."

"I see."

"So what are we going to do with him?"

"We'll take him with us for now."

"Alright."

Partslan surprisingly didn't object to taking Nebarche with us.

He almost died because of those guys.

Was he just trying to avoid causing trouble since he considered Nebarche my loot?

"Can I have everyone's attention?"

After our brief reunion, Raven called everyone together.

And we summarized the situation.

"We can't escape the island because of the waves. And monsters keep appearing."

"Those monsters, they seem to be getting stronger. We even encountered the Siren Queen earlier."

"Yes. Whatever happened on this island, it's definitely not normal. So, Partslan, do you know anything about this?"

Partslan hesitated for a moment before answering.

"...It seems like you already have a guess, so I'll be honest. We came to this island because of this."

He had heard about it from Drowus.

"I don't know the details, but... I heard we just have to endure until sunrise in two days."

"So it's not going to last forever."

Raven then presented two options.

"One is to find a place that's easy to defend and endure until then."

"And the second?"

"To search the island for our companions. We haven't found Misha yet, and Partslan's team is still missing their archer, right? If they're both stranded alone, it will be more dangerous as time passes."

I chuckled at Raven's words.

Why did she even bother presenting two options?

"So, what are we going to do?"

"We're going to find our companions."

I answered without hesitation, and Partslan agreed.

"I managed to escape, so Helga must have too. We have to go find her."

Let's first search the island for our companions.

That's when, as our course of action was almost decided...

Hans J interjected.

"Let's vote! How about we decide by voting?"

I couldn't believe it.

Even if his name was Hans, how could he say that in this situation?

"Ahem, ahem, maybe someone is against it but can't speak up."

"If that's the case, let's vote. Those who think we should go find our companions, raise your hands."

We didn't waste time and immediately started voting. Everyone raised their hands, and Hans J, after looking around, also raised his hand.

"Then it's settled."

Barbarian-style democracy is invincible.

___________________

Step, step.

I cleared the path, walking at a slightly faster pace.

Eight people followed behind me.

All the members of my clan except for Misha.

Partslan, Ersina, and Hans J, who had formed a temporary alliance with us.

And Nebarche Greenhope, our strategic prisoner.

'At least we have eight people now.'

If Misha and the archer from Partslan's team joined us, we should be able to clear this.

The priestess was a big help.

If she wasn't here, it would have been a nightmare.

"Misha! Can you hear me? Misha!"

"Heyna!"

After leaving the shore, we focused on finding our missing companions.

It wasn't an easy task.

The island itself wasn't that big...

Thwack, thwack!

Kaboom!

But monsters were appearing everywhere, slowing us down.

We were practically stuck fighting them.

「Sea Giant defeated. EXP +5.」

「Naga Archer defeated. EXP +5.」

「Serpent of Palpus defeated...」

「...」

A change occurred about 30 minutes ago.

The monsters' level had increased significantly.

Even with eight people, it was difficult to clear a path.

"..."

"..."

The atmosphere had become noticeably heavier.

No one said anything, but...

The reason for their gloomy expressions was obvious.

"With this many monsters..."

They were worried that our missing companions wouldn't be okay. Even if Misha and the archer had met and joined forces, they wouldn't be able to endure this monster wave with just two people.

But what could we do?

"Behel—laaaaaaaaaa!"

We had to keep moving, even if it meant facing unfavorable conditions. We had to swing our maces countless times just to take a few steps forward.

We hadn't confirmed anything yet.

Therefore...

Thwack, thwack, thwack!

We had to keep going.

Boom!

Blood splattered everywhere.

"..."

Our companions' heavy breathing.

Squelch! Thud.

The sickening sound of flesh being torn and bones being crushed. In the midst of that cacophony, someone muttered.

"...Shouldn't we stop now?"

It was Hans J's voice.

"Why isn't anyone saying anything? I don't want to be the bad guy, but... don't you all know?!"

I stopped walking.

Monsters were still swarming towards us, but...

"Know what?"

I turned around and faced him.

"Tell me clearly. Before I misunderstand."

"Think logically! Don't you realize it's too late?!"

Yeah, you're a smart mage, aren't you?

That's good.

I've been wanting to break his neck since we met. And now he's spouting this nonsense in front of a barbarian?

This is a good excuse.

Therefore...

"Gahk!"

I grabbed his neck.

"Hey, Yandel!"

Raven screamed as I attacked my teammate.

Partslan, who was fighting alongside me at the front, also left the monsters and ran towards me.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

He didn't use honorifics anymore.

And seeing that...

"You, one more step and I'll kill you."

Ainar also entered battle mode, blocking Partslan's path.

Erwen did the same.

Swoosh.

She didn't say anything, and she continued to shoot arrows at the monsters. But she had moved behind the priestess.

If a fight broke out, she would kill the priestess first.

"Ev, everyone, stop!"

Raven shouted in panic.

"Yandel, snap out of it."

Avman pushed back the monsters with his large crossbow and tried to calm me down. All of this had happened in just three seconds after I grabbed the mage's neck.

'Damn it.'

What am I doing?

This wasn't like me.

Thud.

I loosened my grip on Hans J's neck and threw him to the ground. My sudden outburst had broken our formation, and monsters were swarming towards us.

"Sorry. I got a bit carried away."

"...We'll talk about this later."

I returned to the front lines, and Partslan silently joined me, fighting the monsters.

"Phew..."

The tension that almost led to a brawl had dissipated.

But things were different now.

"..."

"..."

We were fighting together, but we were also wary of each other.

And that slowed us down even more.

Well, at least Hans shut his mouth.

'Misha...'

I had to find Misha as soon as possible.

'Damn it.'

As we were painstakingly searching the island...

"Mister! A body!"

We found a corpse.

_______________________

My heart sank the moment I saw the body.

My vision blurred, and my mind went blank. But that feeling soon turned into relief.

It wasn't Misha.

"Heyna...!"

It was the archer from Partslan's team.

Partslan ran towards her lifeless body.

And...

"Damn it!"

He punched the ground in frustration after checking her breathing.

A white wave of energy emanated from the center of our formation.

「Lyrine Ersina has cast [Declaration of Evil's End].」

[Declaration of Evil's End], one of the priestess' core skills.

It was a kind of barrier.

It couldn't block humans, but it prevented monsters from approaching for a certain period of time.

[Kyaaaaaaaaaaaak!]

In other words, we were safe for now.

Therefore, I also approached the body and examined it.

The archer wasn't the only one.

There was another body next to hers.

"Who is this?"

I dragged the confused Nebarche over and asked him, and he said it was his companion.

My mind went blank.

'What... what the hell happened here?'

I could understand the archer's death.

But why was this guy's body next to hers?

"Raven, what's the cause of death?"

"There are too many bite marks to be sure, but... it seems like the stab wound in the abdomen was fatal."

Yeah, that's what I thought.

"A stab wound..."

Heyna was an archer.

But she was stabbed to death?

That didn't make sense.

"What about the other woman? Can you tell what killed her?"

"I don't know. She's even more mangled..."

"But if you had to guess?"

"...There's a large claw mark. But that's strange too. I haven't seen any monsters that could leave a mark like that. It's like she was torn apart by a giant monster..."

"Any guesses?"

"There are three claw marks, and the wounds are deep. It's usually the pattern you see when someone is attacked by a bird-type monster like a wyvern."

"I see."

This was getting more complicated.

"So it wasn't a monster."

"Yes... I think so."

Raven nodded in agreement.

The bodies were stripped of all their equipment.

"Partslan, did she have a subspace pocket?"

"No, she didn't. Someone took it."

Now there were two possibilities.

There was another explorer on this island that we didn't know about.

Or...

'There was a conflict within Noark.'

Slap!

I slapped the dazed Nebarche.

"Snap out of it. I have something to ask you."

"Do you have any idea who did this?"

"Carmilla and Belverson. Those two bastards."

"Tell me more."

Nebarche then told me that Belverson used a sword and Carmilla summoned a drake.

"But then why did they kill your companion too?"

"I, I don't know. Maybe they wanted the treasure. Or maybe Lady Rainwales..."

Hey, I don't have time to take care of your mental state.

"Tell me about the treasure."

I grabbed his hair and forced him to look at me, then asked him about the part I had glossed over earlier.

It wasn't much.

"I don't know anything besides the fact that it was passed down through the Lord's family for generations. Ah, ah! There's a legend that whoever obtains it can change history!"

Change history?

Was it really that powerful?

It sounded like a legend, so I had to take it with a grain of salt.

'But it must be important enough for them to send Amelia to retrieve it.'

They had a motive.

Noark had already left for the outside world.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to pull off a heist and start a new life in the city.

"Aulock, I'll leave Heyna to you."

"Ah, leave it to me..."

Hans J cast a preservation spell on the archer's body and then put it in his subspace pocket. That was the end of the body retrieval.

"...Yandel, so what are we going to do now?"

Partslan, ever the explorer, quickly recovered and asked me about our next plan.

But I couldn't say anything.

"Are we going to keep looking for Misha?"

I knew we shouldn't, but I couldn't bring myself to say it.

"We still have some time, but it's going to get more dangerous."

I knew it rationally.

Our stamina was being drained from constantly moving.

And we had to be wary of those two bastards, Carmilla and Belverson.

It would be much better to find a defensible location and conserve our strength.

But...

'What about Misha...?'

I couldn't think rationally.

'Maybe that's why...'

I suddenly had a thought.

Maybe Misha broke up with me because she knew this about me.

If our relationship had deepened that day...

I wouldn't even be thinking about this now. I would probably be running around like crazy, driven by my emotions.

Like when I lost my temper earlier.

"Yandel..."

I took a deep breath.

And I looked around.

Raven, Erwen, Ainar, Avman.

My precious companions were looking at me with worried expressions.

It was time for me to make a decision as their leader.

"Everyone, put down your weapons. We'll rest until the barrier is deactivated."

I felt like my stomach was churning.