Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 507
Chapter 507: Basement Floor 1 (3)
The moment Berzak arrived, 70 percent of us would meet our end, and that was assuming we ran away the moment we spotted him. If we tried to fight him, then this expedition would be the last for everyone here.
These bastards…do they take life that lightly?
The more I watched them, the less I understood. With every passing second, Berzak was probably drawing closer to us. Yet instead of people running up to the second floor, more people were gathering.
“…Just as I thought, there were more people waiting here.”
A group of five adventurers made their way to us, in miserable shape. They seemed to have struggled to wade through all the traps spread across the first floor. The moment they saw all of us, they made sure to check one thing first and foremost.
“Where’s the portal?! Did it open?”
“Why didn’t it open? The Lord of Terror has already been defeated nine times and Berzak was summoned!”
Did they all have something wrong with their heads? Why did they put all their faith in that one possibility, instead of going up to the second floor? They weren’t even among the parties who had been waiting here since Berzak was first summoned.
They had been off elsewhere and had forced a path here through all the traps.
Noticing that I was unable to reign in my disbelief, Amelia quickly approached me.
“Yandel…what should we do?”
“I don’t know. I think I underestimated an adventurer’s greed too much.”
“It’s not just adventurers. All humans are like that. Regardless of the time or place.”
These days when I talked to Amelia, it felt as though I were talking to a wise sage.
Even so, her words of wisdom didn’t help me much this time. I need an answer on what we should do now. If she had expected this to happen, then she should have warned me in advance.
I let out a deliberate sigh.
Let’s calm down.
The situation wasn’t great, but there was no need to take it out on my teammates for no reason. Instead, the best thing I could do was attempt to come up with a solution.
The biggest issue is that it’s going to be hard to open the portal with so many eyes on us…
If we opened the portal now, everyone here would obviously jump along for the free ride. Just imagining how much they would steal from us hurt my head.
But more importantly, rumors will spread.
Even if there was a fixed number of people who could enter the portal, and only my teammates and I went inside, stories about how we entered the hidden area would spread throughout the city. That meant from next time onward, there would be countless people tailing us and keeping an eye on what we did. Since I wanted to reap the rewards quietly on our own, it was an outcome best avoided.
“I-it’s the Watcher of the Abyss! Berzak! That monster is here…!”
Just as I thought, it was going to be impossible to just sit around and watch the situation from afar while I came up with an answer. The moment we saw that Watcher of the Abyss, there was no doubt that Berzak was on its way here.
“Ack! G-get away!”
“D-don’t get near me!”
“Aaaaaaagh!”
As soon as the Watcher of the Abyss came closer, the adventurers exploded in a panic. Didn’t they know acting like that would only aggro it more? It was ridiculous to see the adventurers tremble in such fear and panic when the Watcher of the Abyss, a useless rank 9 monster, was simply approaching them.
Splurt!
Poison shot out of its eyeball like a water gun.
“Argh! Get out of my way! Get out of my way!”
What a joke. These adventurers looked like they could easily be sixth-floor veterans or higher, so why were they panicking so much from a rank 9 monster? Was this a comedy?
Smack!
While I was quietly watching the amusing scene a few steps away from them, the Watcher of the Abyss was then struck by a panicked adventurer’s hand accidentally.
Shwaaaaaaa!
It immediately burst into a cluster of lights, then disappeared.
A heavy silence quickly replaced the panic in the cave.
“Ahhh…n-no…this can’t be…”
Realizing what it meant to kill the Watcher of the Abyss, the adventurer began to tremble. Now, the situation was even worse.
“H-hurry up! Get away from us!”
People started to yell at the adventurer who killed it, trying to quickly drive him away from the crowd.
“If you stay here, Berzak will come! Hurry and go to the second floor before it catches you!”
“B-but…I-I can’t get there on my own…”
“Then why did you kill it?!”
Are all adventurers unfeeling bastards or something?
“Stop it.” Unable to watch any longer, I stepped forward.
“Baron Yandel…?”
“…Your Lordship! It’s clear that we’ll all die if that guy stays here with us any longer! We need to quickly drive him out!”
That logic was ridiculous. Did that mean we wouldn’t die if we got rid of him? The fact that the Watcher of the Abyss saw us means that Berzak was going to come, no matter what we did.
Whatever the case, I now had a firm grasp of the situation. Regardless of how much longer we waited, none of these guys were willing to go to the second floor.
“I told you to stop.”
“But—!”
“I will now open the portal.”
It was time to move to Plan B.
As soon as I said that, the adventurer quickly cleared the path for me. The adventurers that were inside, by the stone, also moved out of the way.
“All of you, stay out here for now.”
“…Pardon? O-oh! Of course! We won’t get in the way. Everyone, come over here!”
They were all shocked to hear me suddenly declare that I was going to open the portal. Luckily, they were all cooperative and quickly vacated the place for us.
“Versyl, can you create a curtain so they can’t see what happens here? Make sure they can’t hear us either.”
Versyl quickly cast magic to create a barrier so that they couldn’t see from the outside. With that, we were at least able to maintain some level of privacy.
Before I started, Amelia came over and talked to me. “Yandel, are you sure about this?”
“There’s no other choice. It’s not like we can let them all die here.”
“If we wait a bit longer, they might go back up to the second floor on their own. No matter how reckless they might seem, they at least know how precious their lives are.”
Well, it’s not like that thought didn’t cross my mind.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think they are going to give up.”
“…You’re unexpectedly calm.”
Did it look like that…?
Maybe it was because, mentally, I had already given up on that possibility. Just imagining how many freeloaders would come along once I opened the portal made my stomach churn and my head hurt.
Even so, I said, “If this method doesn’t work, we’ll need time to escape to the second floor. Waiting any longer is dangerous.”
Amelia was convinced by the logic behind my decision.
I hurried over to the stone with the pieces we had found on the third floor. “Versyl.
Cast the Companionship Spell on the six of us, excluding you.”
“What?”
“If the portal opens, there’s a high chance that there will be a reward for being the first to open it.”
“I see…!” Quickly understanding what I meant, Versyl cast the Companionship Spell without a word of complaint. It wasn’t like wizards needed experience points like we did. “All done.”
Alright…then it’s time. Please work.
I gulped against my suddenly dry mouth as I reached my hand out with the pieces.
Fwoooooooooo!
A breeze suddenly flew around the stone as a large burst of color exploded in front of us.
[You are the first to open a portal to a hidden area. EXP +99]
Yes, this is it.
The portal had opened. One that led to an unknown area that no one had ever before stepped foot throughout history. Maybe that was why my mind was filled with all sorts of thoughts and concerns. Still, I decided to not change my mind and instead carried out the plan I had settled on beforehand.
“Versyl, recast the spell on us.”
“In what way?”
“You, me, and Erwen will be a part of Team One. Everyone else will be Team Two. If we go inside and the portal closes, Team Two is to immediately go up to the second floor. Do I make myself clear? And Emily, you’re in charge if that happens… got it?”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure everyone will quickly come to their senses if they see the portal close. But I’ll make sure to convince everyone to work together to head to the second floor safely.”
“Alright… And if you enter the portal and start somewhere separate from us, take care of yourselves. Got it?”
“I’ll do my best.”
Then that was enough precautions taken, just in case.
“Then we’ll go in first.” I then stepped forward, forcing myself into the portal.
Fwoosh!
A bright light blinded me, even when I closed my eyes tightly. I felt as if my body were floating as my vision slowly returned.
[You have entered the Archives on Basement Floor 1.]
[First achievement: The great feats you have accomplished will be engraved in the stone of honor, forever recorded.]
Since I was used to traveling through a portal by now, I was able to regain my balance and safely land on my feet.
Thud!
I whipped up my shield to protect my upper body as I quickly looked around. The ground was covered in tiles, and I could see about one hundred yards ahead of me.
Beyond that, there didn’t seem to be anything special, aside from a rocky area.
Shwaaaaaaa.
And was that the sound of ocean waves?
For now, there don’t seem to be any monsters.
A burst of light above my head interrupted my assessment of the situation, bringing with it my teammates.
“W-waaaah…!”
First was the silent Erwen and outwardly shocked Versyl, who were both a part of Team 1 with me.
“Whooooooooa!”
Then came Ainar, who came in yelling, along with Auyen, Missha, and Amelia.
…Thankfully, the portal didn’t close.
The moment I allowed relief to wash through me at the thought, I came to at sudden, belated realization.
“…There is no exit.”
Just like when you entered a rift, the portal closed after spitting out people who crossed through it.
A one-way entrance, with no way to go back to where we came from…
It was an ominous feeling, but I decided to think positively.
…It’s not like it changes much.
We still came from the first floor, meaning either way, it would have been impossible to return after the floor closed on the seventh day.
Question is, when will this area close…?
That was the sort of information we would only know after exploring the area first.
Swamped by concerns and worries, I first went over to Amelia.
“Emily, what was the situation like when you came inside?”
“It was the same. There was a slight difference in the color of the portal, but it wasn’t much different aside from that. Also, once Ms. Gowland’s barrier disappeared, the other adventurers quickly followed us.”
Hm, is that so…
“Then check our surroundings and keep your guard up. If anything happens, make sure to alert me. Even if it seems trivial.”
“Bjorn! I-I’m feeling strange!”
“Strange? What’s wrong?”
“Uh, my face is hot. And my heart is beating violently!”
…That’s because you’re excited.
I proceeded to check on the condition of my other teammates as well to determine the characteristics of the field we’d arrived in. Shortly after, the other adventurers started to rain down from above.
“Ohhh! A new floor! A new floor…!”
“Muahaha! My name will go down in history!”
Some of them seemed to have a few screws loose, but some of them also seemed rather normal.
“Everyone, stay on alert…! You can’t let your guard down! We don’t know what’s coming!”
Others quickly grouped back together with their teammates as soon as they entered. I wasn’t quite sure why, but for some reason, they all started to gather relatively close to us. Did they think it would be safer the closer they were to us? I didn’t know myself, but eventually, the adventurers stopped falling from the portal in the sky.
“Wh-what?! Why aren’t they coming?”
“M-Mr. Zelton isn’t here yet…?”
“Kuredo! Kuredo, are you here?!”
New piece of information obtained. Unlike the portals that lead to the other floors, this one seemed to close after certain conditions were met. But what were those conditions?
Well, I don’t think there’s a time limit…
I quickly counted the number of people present. Counting the ones that came in thus far gave me one, two, three, four, five, six…
Fifty-eight, fifty-nine, sixty…
I see. So the portal closed after sixty people entered.