Surviving the Game as a Barbarian

Basement 1st floor.

A type of hidden field you can enter by obtaining three “Nameless Fragments” from one of the third-floor fields, the Fragment Temple, and placing them on the dimensional stele on the first floor.

Only a very small number of people have explored this place so far, but precisely because of that, all sorts of rumors have been spreading.

Single Numbers, new essences, new monsters, etc.

Judging by the stories, Basement 1st floor has practically become known as the kind of place where if you go in, you’ll hit it big.

‘Well, just looking # Nоvеlight # at the rewards, I can’t say they’re wrong…’

From what I felt, it’s high risk, high return.

Even for us, there was a moment when it felt like we might never escape from there.

Many of us died during the escape, too.

“You people are seriously insane… You’re saying you want to crawl in there on your own feet? Even though the royal family officially designated it as a restricted area.”

Raven clicked her tongue in disbelief, but I could understand their actions to a certain extent.

An explorer’s desire is like the abyss.

No matter how deep you go, there’s no end.

‘…It was like that the first time we went down to Basement 1st floor.’

Back then, explorers had swarmed around the dimensional stele.

All of them were smiling.

Even though the Lord of the Abyss, Berzak, was wandering that floor, they couldn’t let go of their greed, saying that since a Floor Lord had appeared, the conditions might be met for a portal to open.

[As Baron Yandel knows… That’s what exploration is, isn’t it!]

It was at that moment I realized just how insane explorers really are.

Like I’d gotten a glimpse of true madness…

“Anyway, if Basement 1st floor is their goal, then it makes sense. I was curious about how they cleared it so fast, but they were just desperate.”

Hearing Raven mutter, I nodded as well.

When it comes to entering Basement 1st floor, the biggest enemy is ‘time’.

Before the first floor closes.

In other words, you have to climb up to the third floor and obtain three Nameless Fragments, then descend back to the first floor within 7 days in order to gain access.

“So what are you thinking?”

At Kaislan’s question, I hesitated for a moment.

Honestly, whether they went to Basement 1st floor or the second floor, it wasn’t really any of our business.

There’s a much higher chance they won’t even make it back anyway.

Well, I’m a little curious about what kind of bastards would come up with such a reckless plan…

“We keep moving.”

In the end, I decided there was no reason to waste valuable time out of curiosity, and we resumed our advance.

That was the end of that matter.

After that, we focused entirely on reaching the next floor quickly, and by the morning of Day 6, we arrived at the entrance to the Tower of the Sky, on the fourth floor, after passing through the Witch’s Forest.

But the problem was…

“There’s a lot of them.”

The center of the Witch’s Forest.

Dozens of explorer teams were gathered at the entrance to the fourth floor.

Of course, this in itself isn’t strange.

Since most explorers doing speedruns have similar times, it’s natural that many would arrive at the fourth floor around the same time, which means waiting is inevitable…

‘Even moving this fast, we still have to wait… Everyone must be serious about this expedition.’

I looked around just in case Team 2 was nearby, but I didn’t see them.

Maybe they arrived earlier, or maybe they haven’t shown up yet.

As I led our team into line, I could feel people’s eyes subtly turning toward us.

“…It’s Viscount Yandel.”

“So he’s finally here? Kind of underwhelming.”

“I’ve said it again and again. Other than the name, he’s just a regular explorer.”

Still, maybe because all the top-tier explorers had gathered, I could feel a particularly strong sense of hostility in the air.

I guess it’s because they see me not as someone to admire, but as a rival.

“There aren’t many teams wearing royal insignia, are there?”

“Well, considering the military’s composition, they probably focused more on combat than mobility.”

“Ah, that makes sense…”

Even as I exchanged brief words with Raven, the line was moving quickly.

In this situation, there’s no need to wait five minutes for the portal color to change.

As soon as six people enter, the portal is full, and when the color changes, the next team can go right in—

Rumble—!

Suddenly, the ground shook as if from an earthquake.

But, as expected from top explorers, no one panicked at the phenomenon.

Everyone immediately understood what it meant.

“…A rift has opened.”

A rift had opened on the third floor.

The explorers reacted in three ways.

“So that rumor was true. In a labyrinth reopened after so long—”

“Shh, be quiet.”

“Anyway, this means we can look forward to the fourth and fifth floors too, right?”

Those who didn’t care about the third-floor rift and looked ahead with sparkling eyes.

“Briam! Where’s the rift?”

“It’s not far from here. If we go full speed, we’ll reach it in an hour.”

“One hour… That’s tricky. If we can at least enter it, it’s not a loss, but still…”

Those who calculated the pros and cons after confirming the location.

And then…

“This way!”

“Run!”

“Captain, what do we do? They’re already running!”

“…Damn it! We’re going too!”

Those who made an instant decision and charged off.

For reference, our response was the first type.

We didn’t need anything from the White Temple, and since our guild leader was focused on ‘achievements’, he didn’t say much either.

Even if we cleared the third-floor rift, what kind of achievement would that be?

Ah, though the fact that the rift opened was a good thing.

“Oh, it’s our turn now.”

Thanks to the explorers rushing out in droves, the line had shortened drastically.

「You have entered the fourth floor: Tower of the Sky.」

It goes without saying, but nothing special happened in the Tower of the Sky.

At most, a rift opened on Day 10?

We eagerly searched for it as soon as it opened, but unfortunately, we couldn’t get in.

“That’s a shame… It wasn’t the Golden Ruins, was it? They say money literally pours out there.”

“…It was probably the Forest of Doppelgangers.”

It was disappointing that we couldn’t enter the rift, but like a mentally sound explorer, I consoled myself with some good old rationalization and kept climbing the tower.

Unlike the previous floors where we could skip all battles, the fourth floor made fighting unavoidable, and each time, I closely observed the combat capabilities of the new recruits.

‘Unexpectedly solid, I’ll give him that.’

Beleg Shusia di Tersia.

A hero of the fairies. His nickname as an explorer used to be “the Pursuer.”

Apparently, he had another nickname before, but after the fairy village was destroyed by the Dragon Slayer more than a decade ago, he was always hunting that person, which is how he earned it.

Ah, as the name implies, his specialty is tracking and detection.

‘His combat ability seems to be somewhere between Grade 2 and Grade 3…’

What stands out is that he’s in the archer position but doesn’t use a bow.

His combat mechanism goes like this.

Whoooosh—!

He summons spirit beings on a military scale, referred to as “summons.”

「Beleg Shusia di Tersia casts [Skill Transfer].」

Using the [Skill Transfer] essence, he shares the effects of his various “archery-type” essences with the summons.

And then…

「Beleg Shusia di Tersia has no weapon equipped.」

He boosts all summon damage several times over with the [Holy Commander] effect—

「Beleg Shusia di Tersia casts [Horn of the Soul].」

「When summons attack the same target, additional damage is inflicted.」

—and rapidly increases their firepower using several support skills.

Because of this, no matter how you look at it, he seems more like a summoner or a psychic caster than an archer…

‘But whatever, as long as he fights well.’

Beleg’s character was more complete than I expected.

Guess that’s what you’d expect from someone who used to be a player.

‘Way better than the guild leader.’

For comparison, the guild leader’s performance was far below my expectations.

Sure, he had some rare essences and was objectively strong, but…

‘That’s it.’

It felt like he was barely scraping by at his current level.

At this point, it’s too late to completely restructure his build, and without that, there’s hardly any potential left.

「You have entered the fifth floor: Great Demon Realm.」

Anyway, while doing a sort-of test, we kept climbing and soon reached the fifth floor.

But the fifth floor already looked different from what I remembered, starting from the entrance.

Usually, at the entrance to the fifth floor—a safe zone—a camp would be set up, and explorers would rest together…

“…No one’s here?”

“That just means we arrived that early.”

Of course, even if time passed, I didn’t think the scene here would change.

If you had the skill level where you needed to set up camp even in the safe zone, you wouldn’t have made it this far into the labyrinth in the first place.

“…Judging by the lack of markers, we must’ve arrived before Team 2.”

“Unless someone erased them.”

We left a simple sign for Team 2 at the entrance and resumed our exploration.

Naturally, we took the shortest route despite its difficulty: the Canyon of Wraiths.

「Your character has entered a special area.」

「Field Effect – Canyon of Wraiths applied.」

「Status Effect [Earthbound Spirit] inflicted.」

「Dark Resistance and Physical Resistance decreased by 100.」

The ground shook periodically, like tremors.

With the eerie howling of spirits in the background like BGM, and that uniquely unpleasant sensation, like your skin’s gotten thinner.

Even more off-putting than Frost Canyon or Hellfire Canyon, but as an efficiency-first explorer, I had no choice.

“Why is this the fastest route, of all places…”

Time in the labyrinth is literally money.

As soon as we took this path, I started seeing explorers here and there. Just like us, they were climbing the floors quickly.

‘It’s not exactly a great hunting field, after all.’

Hm. If we’d chosen a different path, maybe we would’ve run into some explorers here to farm monsters.

Maybe. Probably.

Actually, the fifth floor isn’t a bad hunting area if you can monopolize it.

“At this rate, we’ll arrive at the sixth floor tomorrow.”

Time passed quickly, and it was now Day 16 since entering the labyrinth.

Just one day left until we reached the sixth floor.

“Reaching it on Day 17 is insanely fast, huh…”

“It’s a ridiculous pace. Wasn’t the previous war’s participation threshold to arrive by Day 25?”

Yeah, arriving on the morning of Day 17 would set a record.

If we’d pushed even harder without worrying about condition management, we might’ve even forced it on Day 16.

‘Maybe the overall quality of the team’s gone up?’

In any case, nothing noteworthy happened during our time on the fifth floor either.

If I had to pick something, I guess another rift opened…

“Seriously, it’s like a rift opens on every floor.”

“And we still couldn’t get in despite having a Guide… What’s with everyone being so fast.”

Somehow, we couldn’t get in again this time.

Even though a rift portal popped up relatively close to us.

‘Maybe we’re just not lucky with rifts this round…?’

I was setting up camp while thinking that when—

“Yandel.”

Beleg, our team’s designated Guide, lowered his voice and called my name.

I didn’t need long to figure out why he was suddenly setting the mood when we were about to sleep.

“…Explorers.”

“There’s quite a few. Over forty.”

“Let’s wait. If they’ve noticed us, they’ll probably circle around.”

It feels pointless to even say it at this point, but monsters aren’t the only thing to be wary of in the labyrinth.

No—if anything, you need to be more wary of people.

“…They’re not changing course.”

The unknown group was coming straight toward us.

It’s an unspoken rule in the labyrinth to avoid conflict by detouring if another group’s already set up camp.

Step, step.

We were all awake and on alert when the group finally emerged from the darkness of the labyrinth.

The moment they saw us preparing camp, their eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“…Anabada Clan?”

Just like I figured out their clan from their insignia, they did the same with us.

Though, really, they’d have recognized us even without the insignia.

“What are you looking at? Move along already.”

“Ah, sorry. I know the unwritten rule, but as a captain, I wanted to shorten the route as much as possible.”

“I said move along. Now.”

That was already the second time I said it.

But the guy didn’t budge and just swept his gaze over our group.

“By the way…”

That sticky look—the kind you only get when weighing what you can lose versus what you can gain.

It hit me again.

“…Looks like you haven’t met up with Team 2 yet?”

Yeah.

This is the labyrinth.