Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 490
Chapter 490: Declaration of War (1)
I only asked about the third option out of pure player curiosity and animosity toward him, but in truth, I had already settled on my decision. I didn’t know what I would be given if I chose that other door, but whatever it might be, it couldn’t possibly be greater than the value of having three reliable colleagues.
And…I don’t think I can defeat that thing on my own.
After collecting my thoughts, I glanced toward him. Every time I met his eyes, I felt a strange sense of disquiet. It was as if I was looking at an entirely different being from me.
“It seems you have made a decision.”
“Yeah. I’m going out that door,” I declared, then walked toward my choice. He simply watched me without saying a word. Somehow, it felt like he was staying quiet out of respect for my decision.
Step.
When I eventually reached the door, I didn’t step through but instead turned to ask him a question. If I just left this place as I was, I simply would never be able to get the thought out of my head. “If… If any of us had fallen for your tricks and betrayed each other, what would have happened?”
This had been a hidden piece that I’d never experienced before. Thankfully, it ended well, but I couldn’t curb my curiosity over the what-ifs. Fortunately for me, he readily answered my question. “In accordance with established Providence, my clone would have gained an even greater strength.”
“So that’s what would’ve happened.” No wonder he kept trying to make us betray each other, even when he could have easily killed us. I was slowly starting to understand the game design of this hidden piece. The goal was to have a one-on-one boss battle, but in the event of a betrayal, the difficulty of the battle would rise significantly.
And if you lose the boss battle, that’s game over.
Since this was ultimately a game, I figured that even in the betrayal route there was a way to win, along with route-specific rewards as well. That was all in the past now, however. Thanks to him, I was able to appease my curiosity.
While I was at it, I decided to ask one final question. “What the hell…even are you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you already know?”
It was not the first time I had a conversation with a monster of the labyrinth.
“You are the first living beings I’ve seen in a long time. Where did you all come from?”
First was Vampire Duke Cambormere of the Bloody Citadel.
“You wild dogs of the empire seized by greed. I will punish you today.”
There was also the Knight of the End whom I met in the White Temple.
“If it is a lie no one knows…then how is it different from the truth?”
Even the doppelgangers and more.
There were several cases where it happened before, but each instance had felt like they were saying their programmed lines. In fact, they didn’t seem to have much sense of reason at all and simply rushed at me with unconditional hostility.
However, this guy was different. It felt as if he were a real being, with a conscious thought.
And he said something important earlier…
He had stated plainly that in the case of betrayal, according to established Providence, his “clone” would have been empowered. I couldn’t quite put it into words, but there was one thing I could say with some certainty after combining all the information I’d gathered thus far. Just like how Dungeon and Stone was modeled off this world, this labyrinth had to be modeled after something else.
“By any chance,” I began carefully, “do all the monsters here in the labyrinth have originals, and you are one of them?”
He stared at me, keeping silent. As I watched him contemplate, the strength of my body began to seep out of me. Then after a long moment of silence, he shook his head. “Perhaps.” As soon as I heard his answer, it felt as if I had taken a step closer to unraveling the secrets of the labyrinth. “Maybe you’ll find out the truth one day.”
That was the end of my conversation with him.
Thud!
The moment the stone door opened from its clamped-shut position, something pushed my back and shoved me through.
***
[You have perfectly overcome the great terrors of the labyrinth. No. 12, Trust, has been permanently attached to you.]
[A nameless pilgrim now hides from the labyrinth forever. Special Condition-Distorted Memories has been permanently deleted. A hidden area has opened.]
[First achievement: The great feats you have accomplished will be engraved in the stone of honor, forever recorded.]
[The labyrinth has closed. You will be moved to Rafdonia.]
***
I felt warmth glow over my tightly closed eyelids. As I slowly opened my eyes and raised my head, a gloomy sky welcomed me. I sat there for a while, staring up at the clouds blankly. I really made it back alive. Every time I returned and looked at the sky, I felt so relaxed.
Of course, the feeling never lasted long.
“…Bjorn Yandel.”
“Wasn’t he fighting the Lord of the Floor? I wonder what happened?”
“Did he really succeed with just five people?”
Nearby adventurers quickly recognized me and started to gossip. I shook myself out of my stupor and stood to head to the checkpoint. However, only one person was waiting for me there. It was Amelia, who had separated from us to interrogate the intruders.
“…I’m glad to see you back alive. Do you know how worried I was? You appeared again, even after the labyrinth closed.” She had been frantically looking around as she waited at the checkpoint, but now that she’d seen me, she could let out a sigh of relief. That didn’t keep her worries at bay for long, though. “What were the casualties?”
With no information about what had happened, Amelia wanted to assess the damage first rather than hear about whether our raid was successful. Thankfully, I could tell her this much. “None. Well…there should be none.”
“Should be…? What does that mean?”
“…It’s hard to explain.” I was told that we would all return alive, but I doubted I could really rest until I saw each of them in person. “Let’s wait for now.”
Amelia nodded, opting not to badger me with questions. She surely had plenty to ask, though. After a long while of waiting, they eventually began to show up one by one.
The first was Erwen.
“M-Mister…” She ran for the checkpoint after spotting me, and when she finally reached us, her knees gave out in apparent exhaustion. “This… This isn’t a dream…right?”
“Don’t worry. This isn’t a dream.”
“What… What happened?”
Well, from her point of view, she had died while trying to draw aggro then opened her eyes to find that she’d awoken here. It was no surprise that she was confused and exhausted.
“When everyone arrives, I’ll explain everything.”
Soon after, Versyl Gowland appeared.
“Why are you so late? Weren’t you worried about us?”
“S-sorry. This j-just doesn’t make any sense… i-is this…a dream? I’m c-certain that I died…” Versyl acted in the same way Erwen did.
Amelia watched them, tilting her head in confusion. “Died…?”
“Like I told you before, it’s a complicated story. I’ll explain when we are all together again.”
“…Okay.”
After waiting for a while longer at the checkpoint, Ainar finally appeared just as Versyl was calming down.
“B-Bjorn…!” Seeing me from afar, Ainar suddenly yelled out as she ran toward us.
Only then was I able to finally breathe a sigh of relief. I was finally able to confirm that everyone had come back alive. “…Wh-what?! What is this?! W-was it all a dream?! I know that I died—”
I quickly covered Ainar’s mouth with my hand.
“…Agh! Ugh! Umph!”
“Be quiet! Everyone is looking at us because of you. Let’s move somewhere else first, then I’ll explain everything.”
Now that we were all gathered together, we quickly passed through the checkpoint and made our way down the street. As usual, the front of the checkpoint was filled with close family and friends of the adventurers.
“Versyl, can you find your way home from our place in Kommelby?”
“I don’t mind. I would actually feel more assured if we were to have a conversation there instead.
“Alright, then.”
Our direction shifted toward the platform to wait for a noble carriage that would take us to Kommelby. It was the downside of living on a popular main street. When I lived in District 7, it was close enough that I could just walk home.
“Captain! You’re back!” When we got home, Auyen was waiting for us, along with the smell of appetizing dishes permeating the air. Did he prepare all of this for when we came back?
“Thanks, but we need to talk among ourselves for a moment. Do you mind waiting upstairs?”
“…Of course. Please get some rest, and call me whenever you need me.”
After he headed to his room, I asked Versyl to cast voice control magic. We talked while we ate the deliciously prepared dishes, though in actuality, it was just Ainar and I who were touching the food.
“Mr. Yandel… Please stop eating for a moment and tell us what happened. I thought I would die of curiosity on the way here.”
Oh, right. I guess I should talk about that first.
After swallowing, I started from the beginning, going step by step.
“So you’re saying that…from the start, it was predetermined that all but one of us would die? And that everyone would only be revived if the last survivor was able to defeat the enemy?”
“Right.”
Once my explanation had come to an end, save for the final conversation I had, Amelia looked at me with a strange look in her eyes. “Hey…are you okay?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“It must’ve been really painful for you, given your personality.”
Ah, that…
“I’m fine,” I replied with a smirk. Though honestly, I did nearly lose my mind when I was in the thick of it. But all’s well that ends well, right? In any case, it seemed my explanation answered everyone’s questions, so now it was my turn. “But Amelia, what happened to you?”
Her expression darkened. “I didn’t get any evidence. They were commissioned through the black market, so they didn’t know who the client was.”
“I see…”
That was unfortunate, but it wasn’t Amelia’s fault. We would figure out some other way to deal with Count Alminus. The issue no longer felt important to me, perhaps because my teammates had all just come back from the dead.
However, she continued. “A-and…”
“…And?”
“Never mind. I’ll tell you later.”
A sudden unease struck me. She said she would tell me later, though, so there was no reason to force it out of her now.
“What about you, Erwen?”
“…Oh, me? I’m sorry. You trusted me, but I couldn’t escape from him. No matter how fast I ran and tried to shake him off, he always seemed to catch up to me somehow. It was like he was using teleportation magic.”
“Teleportation…” Maybe he really did have an ability like that, one that would trigger if you were a certain distance away from him.
“But the weird thing is that he spent every moment until I died trying to persuade me to betray you. He kept on saying that it wasn’t too late.”
Though her story was brief, I could feel the pain and suffering that she must have endured more vividly than anyone else. “Erwen, you went through a lot.”
“…N-no. I’m fine.”
Then it was Versyl’s turn.
“Versyl Gowland.”
“…Yes?”
“What the hell were you thinking? Don’t you ever, ever, do something like that again.”
“Okay…”
I scolded her for a bit before moving on. The most important thing was this.
“Ainar…” I hedged carefully.
“Hm?” Ainar was stuffing her face with food, but when she heard me call her name, she lifted her head for the first time since our conversation began.
I struggled to get the words out to ask her, but it was something I absolutely had to check. “You know…at the end there…before you died…do you remember?”
“Remember? What are you talking about?”
“About what I told you.” Specifically, I was asking her if she remembered me confessing to her that I was an evil spirit.
Ainar continued to shove pieces of meat into her mouth as she answered, “Oh, that? I think you were telling me something…but I couldn’t tell what you were saying. I don’t remember. Maybe since I was about to die, I couldn’t hear well.”
Hm, is that true? I studied her expression closely, but nothing seemed off about her reaction. She really must not have heard me. Well, if she had, she definitely would have thrown a fit way before now.
“Why? What did you say?”
“Never mind. It’s nothing important.”
“Really?”
Ainar didn’t bother trying to figure out what I told her, instead choosing to eat the food happily on her own. Meanwhile, all the other women at the table were being ridiculous.
“What did you tell her? Actually, I already have an idea.”
“Yandel has always been an emotional guy.”
“…Why are you all saying things like that? You’re going to make him embarrassed.”
What’s with them…?
Rather than talking back, I chose to just stuff my face with food instead. We continued to eat as we shared stories and talked freely.
“Mr. Yandel…” Versyl eventually said. “What is that bracelet? Have you always worn that?”
I didn’t even realize I was wearing something until she asked. “What is this…?”
An unfamiliar bracelet was now attached to my wrist. I was also confused since it was the first time I’d ever seen it. Erwen and Amelia stopped eating and began mumbling to each other.
“Huh…? I was going to ask, but I decided to wait until you told us first…”
“You really didn’t know you were wearing that all this time?”
Why did everyone notice but me?
“Then could that be the reward? The special reward you achieve if you succeed in subjugating it with five or fewer people?” Versyl curiously asked, but this wasn’t the reward I was expecting. The standard reward for clearing it with five people wasn’t a bracelet. Not only that, I thought the reward was choosing to save all of my teammates.
…Then is this another reward on top of having everyone come back alive? Hm…
Well, maybe? It was a hidden piece that I had never found, even after playing the game religiously for nearly ten years. But what was it? None of it made any sense to me.
Clink.
I took off the bracelet, and a single item came to mind as I carefully examined it.
Since I wasn’t sure, I asked Versyl to confirm it for me. After all, Versyl had the Special Appraiser certificate that even Raven didn’t have. After examining it for a few minutes, she was able to determine the bracelet’s exact identity.
“This is…a double-digit numbered item…”
So it really is that.
Amelia, who loved those treasures, looked at it with sparkling eyes. “Wait, if it’s a double-digit numbered item in the shape of a bracelet…”
There was only one: No. 12, Trust.
Was it a fixed reward? Considering the concept of the hidden piece, there was no item better suited to be its reward.
…So it was an event that rewarded you with a double-digit numbered item. But what the hell were the trigger conditions? If I can figure that out, then I keep doing it again and again to reap the rewards.
Ding dong.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
Visitors at this hour…?
I stopped eating and went over to the door. Outside were a group of knights who seemed to be from Mozlan.
“Greetings, Baron Yandel.” Seeing how they politely greeted me as soon as I opened the door, they must not have come bearing bad news. I quickly greeted them back and asked what the issue was. “…Two hours ago, a new achievement was written on the Stone of Honor.”
A new achievement? But what did that have to do with me?
Seeming to anticipate my question, the knight clarified, “An achievement accomplished by His Lordship, Baron Yandel.”
That meant the rewards for the hidden piece weren’t just saving my teammates and obtaining the bracelet. I hastily asked what was written on the stone, and as I listened to their response, my expression hardened.
In Year 157, the Great Barbarian Warrior, Bjorn Yandel, and his companions defeated the Dreadfear, the Lord of Terror, and opened a hidden area.
Who would’ve thought that there were more hidden areas left to be opened?