Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 509
Chapter 509: Grave (1)
It looked similar to a Frogman on the outside, especially if you were looking at its large belly, which seemed full of air. Or the suckers that were attached to its knuckles. Even their faces looked quite similar. However, its skin was grayish, not green, and it wasn’t holding a harpoon, which Frogmen always did.
But most importantly…
Wings…?
On its back were wings that looked completely out of place. They looked as if they had been cut with scissors and glued onto their backs.
“Crrroak!”
Suddenly, the one climbing up flew into the air before landing on the deck.
So those wings weren’t just for show, huh?
“Emily, what rank is it?” I knew she couldn’t give a completely accurate rating with Crisis Detection, but it would still give us a good idea.
“It’s not even rank seven, given how I don’t feel an ounce of threat from it.”
That was all the confirmation I needed.
“Under rank seven…”
There were now about fifteen of them, silently staring at us. As more of them quickly began to climb on the deck, I yelled out my order. “Don’t run and attack them yet! For now, we have to gather as much information as we can about them!”
“Ugh!” Ainar, who had tried to run straight at them, stopped herself after hearing my orders. Thankfully, she was a good listener.
“Behell—aaaaaaaaah!” I quickly ran forward, raising my threat level with Wild Outburst. It didn’t take long before the unknown monsters began to attack me.
However, their attack pattern was completely different from what I had expected.
They didn’t use their teeth or claws. They didn’t hold a weapon like a harpoon in their hands either. So how did they attack?
Swoosh.
Suddenly, a visible projectile that seemed to be lighting-type was shot through the air. Of course, since it was under rank seven, it didn’t do any damage to me. I blocked most of them with my shield, but even those I couldn’t didn’t even manage to break through my skin.
What the hell…?
I froze. It wasn’t because of an abnormal condition like Paralysis or anything like that. It was just because I was surprised.
“M-Mr. Yandel… J-just now that monster…”
Yeah. So I wasn’t the only one who saw that.
Erwen then spoke up, finishing Versyl’s sentence. “Wasn’t that the Fleminas’ Thunderbone?”
The rank seven monster Fleminas was a lightning-type monster that appeared in sections of the third and fourth floors. So why was this guy using the unique skill of another monster?
Is it a type of advanced mutant?
The thought flickered through my mind, but that couldn’t be possible. All fifteen of the ones that made it onto the deck were using the same skill.
A monster that uses the same skill as another…
If that was the case, what about the other skills it had?
After a little more baiting and experimentation, I discovered another surprising fact.
“Th-that’s…the Iron Falcons’ Ironclad Feather.”
“Oh! I know that one! That’s the rank six Sea Worms’ Bubble!”
“Not rank six… That’s rank seven…”
All three of its active skills came from different monsters. I wondered what its passive skills were, but unfortunately, that wasn’t easy to find out. I swung my hammer, trying to get rid of one of them, only to be suddenly thwarted at the last second.
[Due to Rotten Mucus, your attack missed.]
So it has the passive of a Frogman? No wonder they looked similar. Well, that’s enough research for now. It’s time to get rid of them.
“That’s enough for now. You can kill them!”
“Are you sure?”
As soon as I gave permission, Ainar ran forward and started to kill all of them off.
Now, we were the first ones ever to not only discover a new monster but also to defeat them as well.
[You have defeated a Gullfrog.]
What? I don’t think I got any EXP. Sure, it was lower than rank seven and wouldn’t give me much, but I should still feel something at least—
[No. 9999, Beginner’s Luck, has been activated.]
My thoughts instantly derailed as soon as I saw what was happening.
“…An essence!”
Wow, it really dropped an essence.
“…Versyl! Quickly grab a magic vial!” I hurriedly instructed our wizard, reflexively assessing the situation.
Then will this essence give the Frogman’s Rotten Mucus, the Seawroms, Iron Falcon, or Fleminas active skill? Or maybe all of them?
…Maybe with this, the entire system combining essences would irrevocably change.
***
Our first battle was over, and our spoils were one green essence. I needed to check it later to be certain, but for now, it seemed like the Iron Falcon’s Ironclad Feather, if the color was any indication.
“Versyl, how many magical vials are left?”
“Twenty-seven.”
“I thought that Melbeth only gave us twenty?”
“I brought everything I had as well, just in case.”
“I see…”
“What should I do with the magical vial?”
“You can hold onto it for now. It’ll be easier to take care of if one person holds them all.”
After deciding what to do with the magical vials, I asked my teammates, “But more importantly, what did you guys feel? When Ainar killed the first one…?”
“Oh, are you talking about how there was no feeling of accomplishment? Like how after you normally kill a monster for the first time?”
“Huh? Did everyone else feel the same? I thought I was the only one…”
Seeing that everyone didn’t feel the EXP, it was clear that such a reward never existed in the first place.
So the concept of this floor is strange as well…
Some monsters here had the characteristics of various monsters, like a chimera.
The realization left me feeling a bit down. If all the monsters here were like that, we couldn’t find any yet-undiscovered skills. I was hoping that we would at least find something new.
“…I can’t believe there is a monster with the skills of various species. Once this information becomes public, things will plunge into chaos.”
Maybe this would lead to something massive, maybe even the creation of a completely overpowered build of essences and skills. It was as if a customization feature had just been unlocked.
If I can take advantage of an active skill without the passive…then my weapons constraints will be gone, even in my Steel Giant mode.
There were countless other active and passive skills that I would like to have in that same vein. The main reason they weren’t featured in my ultimate build was because of the lackluster stats. But what if I could use Giantization with that passive skill?
That meant my final character could become even stronger. And what about Orc Hero? That passive was nothing special. Path of Heroes wasn’t a bad skill either, but it was at best a rank 5 essence. Overall, the performance and effects of it were simply lackluster. The total stats of the essence were also rather low. If I didn’t have to use Giantization with Union, then I would be able to choose from a larger range of essences to obtain even higher stats…
…Is there a monster that can let me do that?
I had no idea. There was also a chance that this monster type was unique, and we wouldn’t see anything like it again. At the same time, there was a chance we would come across new monsters with new essences, unlike anything we had seen before.
This is fun.
As a player who loved Dungeon and Stone, my heart was racing with excitement.
What awaited us ahead? Without even realizing it, I was looking forward to what else we would find. However, I couldn’t become too relaxed or reckless. After all, the unknown was both an opportunity and a point of crisis.
“Lift the anchor!”
After getting rid of the monsters on the deck, we resumed our journey. It seemed that the entire area was home to these electric frogs. Every so often, they would suddenly pop out of the sea and climb their way up onto our boat. But this time, however, we hunted them with Distortion.
[Versyl Gowland has cast rank six spacetime magic High-rank Distortion.]
This guy was a new monster, so I was certain that whatever it dropped could be sold to the magic tower for a high price.
“Bjorn!”
“If you’re bored, you can at least clean the deck.”
“That’s not it, I have something to say!”
“…What is it?” Throughout this entire journey, Ainar would occasionally ask me random questions out of the blue, apparently entirely unconcerned about what could possibly be waiting for us.
“What are you going to name them?”
“Name…?” Actually, I had never thought about that. How did monsters get named in the first place? “Erwen, do you know?”
“Um… I’m not sure…?”
Unexpectedly, Erwen also didn’t know the origin of how monsters were named.
Versyl was a wizard who should know these things, but at the same time, she was also a player.
“That’s actually… I actually never thought about it… Wasn’t the person who first found a monster was the one who named it?”
“Hm…probably.”
Having overheard the conversation we were having, Amelia left Auyen alone for a moment as she approached us with open interest. “Nanari,” she declared.
“…What?”
“How about Nanari? It sounds good…and…I think it’s cute too.”
Surprisingly, she liked that kind of thing.
“…We’re naming a monster right now. Why would we make it cute, Emily?”
“…But can’t it be anything? Whatever the person who found it wants it to be?”
“I guess.”
It didn’t take long before everyone was interested in naming the new monster. We were all adventurers through and through. I figured it could also act as motivation for them on our future expeditions, so I urged them on.
“Then let me know of any ideas you come up with. We’ll decide after holding a vote.”
“A vote… That’s fair. I’ll go with Nanari. And I’ll give ten thousand stones to whoever else votes for it.”
“I said it would be held with a vote. Why are you suddenly trying to buy them out…?”
“It’s not like I’m forcing them to.”
“…Fine, do as you please.”
It didn’t seem all that fair, but I let it slide. After Amelia set the tone, the other members quickly voiced their opinions as well.
“Ultimate Sundra! What do you think? Doesn’t it sound strong?”
“But it’s not even rank seven. Why don’t we name it based on its characteristics instead? Since it has the essences of a Sea Worm, an Iron Falcon, a Fleminas, and a Frogman…”
“You’re combining all of that…?”
“Sea Falcon Flemman!”
“…What?”
“Sea Falcon Flemman! Isn’t it pretty good?”
I was left dumbfounded the moment I heard that name. But surprisingly, it was well received among the members.
“Oh! That’s nice! That’s also a very strong name!”
“…Certainly, it’s very catchy. I can even imagine what it looks like just from the name.”
“Isn’t Nanari better? I’ll give you twenty thousand stones.”
After that, a few other names were addicted to the list of candidates. Eventually, it was time to vote, and the results were…
“Seven votes for Gullfrog. Sea… Falcon Flemman has three votes. Nanari has two votes. And Kiruru has one.”
“What? That doesn’t make sense. How are there thirteen votes when there are only seven people?”
“Ah, Versyl you didn’t know? It’s in our clan bylaws. The captain’s vote is worth the same as the number of people in the clan.”
“…How is that democratic?!”
My voice frosted over. “Democratic? What is that?”
“Oh, that’s…”
Versyl belatedly realized she had made a slip of the tongue.
That’s right. If you’re a player, you have to make sure to hide comments like that well. After all, the term democracy doesn’t exist in a world like this.
“Then, that decides it. From now on their name is Gullfrog.”
Thus, the name of the monster we were the first to discover became Gullfrog. It was a half-assed name I came up with after seeing its frog-like appearance with the wings of a Seagull. At the very least, it was better than Sea Falcon or whatever the hell it was.
***
“Alright, let’s all head back to our positions and get to work!”
After dismissing them, Erwen went back to the observation deck as Auyen and Amelia went to navigate the boat. Versyl also went back to fishing again, trying to grab as many samples as she could.
“Ainar, stop playing around and go clean the deck.”
“…But Missha is playing around too!”
“Missha… She has something else to do…”
“…Huh?”
“Missha… Stand on the deck over there, and take care of any monsters that appear.”
“Ohhh! I want that job! Let me do that!”
“Shhh!”
Eventually, everyone went back to do their jobs as I walked around the ship, making sure there weren’t any issues.
Suddenly, Versyl called out to me. “Mr. Yandel, can you come here for a moment?”
“Did you find something?”
When I went over to her quickly, Versyl handed me an object she had picked out of the sea. “I just found this. What do you think? Don’t you think we’ll be able to sell it for a good price when we go back to the city?”
“…A painting?”
“Yes. Even though this place seems like the sea, the painting is completely fine.
The paper didn’t even get wet at all?”
True… a painting that was found in the labyrinth would definitely be of high value…
“Let me take a look.”
Versyl handed the painting to me, so I could examine it. But the moment I saw it, my face hardened to stone. It was a rough sketch of a man next to a woman, who appeared to be his wife. In between them, there was a girl, smiling brightly.
“What…? What’s the matter? Do you…happen to know them?”
It would be a bit of a stretch to say that I knew them. It was even more of an ask for me to come up with a reason why a painting of him would be found here of all places.
“Somewhat.”
The man in this family portrait. It had been a few good years since I had met him.
It was none other than Hans A, the man that I had abandoned to the floors of the labyrinth during my first expedition.