Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 658
Chapter 658: Outsider (2)
The land outside the walls, known for thousands of years to be inhospitable due to the curse of the Witch. Even I didn’t know much about what happened there.
The day the army of the palace destroyed Noark and went down into the underground, a mysterious wizard suddenly appeared and saved the forces of Noark, who all escaped outside the city walls.
And that day was…the second day of the sixth month of New World Year 154.
The players mixed in with the Noarkans were the first to spread the news through the community, and that soon spread to the entirety of the city.
However, two things were strange about it. One, the speed at which the news spread was too fast as if someone wanted the information to spread. And two, despite that, not one piece of useful information was floating around. We were suspicious that there was an organized effort of information control going on.
Also, even the loose-lipped Clown never really shared any information regarding the world outside the castle walls during the Round Table.
Hmm, well, except maybe one thing.
“Coming out of the city and wandering here and there, I realized. There may be differences in topography and structure, but the land we are standing on looks exactly like the seventh floor of the Dark Continent!”
If what Clown said was true, then the area where the Final Citadel of Rafdonia was situated was very similar in nature to the Dark Continent of the seventh floor.
“…If that’s true, that hypothesis may be true.”
“That the labyrinth isn’t a passage connecting to another dimension but one created by someone?”
“The Crystal Cave, and Rock Desert…perhaps they were modeled after real places.”
Each member of the Round Table proposed their own opinions in response to that, and their guesses were all partially true. I knew they were because my adventure had revealed as much.
Most of the places that exist within the labyrinth were created in the image of places that used to exist in reality.
After exploring and adventuring, I encountered countless pieces of evidence and testimonies, and that made me certain that my hypothesis was true.
But that’s why it’s even stranger.
The maps of the ancient continent were all destroyed, and none of them remained today. Still, it wasn’t as if there were no records whatsoever.
“My house is one that still insists on a central naming style.”
“You’re not the first to think my name and appearance are unique. There aren’t many people in the city who have blood from the East Continent as thick as mine.”
“…It comes from the south-central region.”
Among the citizens of Rafdonia, some tried to persist in remembering the history of their ancestor or their house, to uphold their identity. Even we barbarians were like that. By our records, the barbarians were a race who lived in the savage lands to the north and south, and who lived while fighting against monsters.
The problem is, I heard that it took over two years for them to come down to Rafdonia from the northern regions.
That was the distance passed down in our records at least. However, in the case of the Dark Continent inside the labyrinth, it only took, at most, two months for a group to go from one end to the other. Then where did this incongruence come from?
Well, honestly, this is nothing.
The old vampire in Basement Floor One had told me.
“You only had humans back then…?”
Nonhumans didn’t exist in ancient times. And if that was true, that meant that all records and histories of this world were fabricated.
What was the truth?
And what secrets were hidden in this world?
Until now, I had merely gone around doing what I felt I should or needed to do, never really actively looking into the matter. However, the situation had changed. The Noarkans had recklessly invaded again and had taken over an entire city district. The way the palace was responding to it felt fishy as well.
…I need to know.
The only way I would be able to prepare for the future was if I knew the information they had.
It was just like in the games. The ones who didn’t know had no choice but to get beaten up, powerless to do a thing about it.
“…Yandel?”
“Ah, sorry. I was thinking.”
I left the thought there and returned to where the others were.
“Hahaha! Did you see that? My spear is stronger than your arrow!”
“…I-it’s because I fired it loose to not hurt you! One more time! Let’s go one more time!”
“Huh? Where were you, Mister?”
Yeah, let’s rest for today.
***
The welcome party continued deep into the night, and the next day came around.
After waking up around the time the sun was setting, I took three guides and headed for the sewers.
Ah, by the way, the guides were Amelia, Erwen, and Versyl…
“Whoa… It’s been a while since we’ve been in the sewers. But Mister, why are we here today?”
“I’m looking for something.”
“Aha! So that’s why you called us three!”
Amelia and Erwen were the members of the Anabada Clan who specialized in searching, and Versyl was our one and only wizard.
“So… Can you tell us what we are looking for?” Versyl asked. “I’ll need to know to actively look out for it.”
I told them all honestly why I’d come. “What we’ll be looking for today is a way that connects outside the walls.”
“Outside…the walls…?”
I nodded in affirmation.
Versyl was momentarily startled, but then regained her calm and asked carefully, “Are you planning on going outside the walls soon?”
“Yeah, we’ll need to go out at least once to see what is true and what isn’t.”
“Ah…”
“Don’t tell anyone else for now. Understood?”
Since they weren’t the type to go around telling random people, I only gave that short warning and focused on moving forward. It wasn’t like the secret path leading to the outside world would be situated among the areas where vagrants lived in hiding. We needed to at least go down further into the sewers and reach where the old Noarkan citadel—
Tap.
Just then, Amelia, who was walking at the front, stopped and gave a signal to us to be quiet. Erwen also looked at me and nodded, tipping me off that they both felt something.
Slowly.
Go back.
This way.
Reading the hand signals Amelia gave me, I moved into an offshoot path and hid myself. Soon, I could sense someone as well even with my dull senses.
Splish, splash.
At least two people were walking through the sewers, and the sound of them approaching us grew louder and louder.
Are they vagrants?
It was my first thought, but Amelia wouldn’t have told me to hide if that was the case.
As we quietly waited with bated breath, the people making the sounds soon passed by our hiding place.
…Knights?
They weren’t ordinary knights either, nor were they part of a specific house. It was a two-man knight patrol in full armor and loadout with the insignia of the palace on their chest.
“Emily, what is this? Why are they wandering around the sewers now of all times?”
“Ah, did you not know? After that incident a few months ago, they became more vigilant about the border, so the knights regularly patrol the sewers.”
“Now that I think about it, I think I remember seeing it in the paper as well. Saying how thanks to this, fewer vagrants are living in the sewers…”
Hmm, had I been skipping out on reading the news lately?
In any case, I was genuinely surprised to see the knight patrol so suddenly. The guilty conscience was getting to me. I thought that they were stationed here because the palace knew I was coming.
“Then let’s keep moving. Not many patrols are stationed in the sewers, and it doesn’t seem like they’re searching everything either. We shouldn’t get found out by them.”
“…That’s good to hear.”
Although it might be obvious, it wasn’t like I was now nervous just because I saw some knights on patrol. While I did trust in Amelia’s stealth skills, I supposed it was more like I was different from how I was in the past. Even if things went wrong, I was confident that I could turn those two knights into was-knights.
To be honest, if anyone wanted things to go right, it wasn’t us who needed to be careful, but them.
“Looks like it’s here today as well. Give me a moment.”
As we approached the path leading into Noark, Amelia crouched in front of the entrance and gestured with her hands.
“We can go in now. I disabled it carefully to not leave a trace.”
Ah, so that was what she meant. It was like those markers in the movies, where a character could use it to tell if someone had been in the room or not.
Step, step.
After that, as we continued to walk down the stairs, an underground area appeared that seemed different in functionality from the sewers. The height of the ceiling and the structure of the walls were all over the place. It felt as if I had entered a circus maze.
Now that I think about it, it was here… The place where I fought that priest of Karui.
Was her name…Elisa?
It was so long ago, around the time I just ate the essence of the Orc Hero. It was hard to remember.
Although she was a strong opponent, not just me, but everyone in Team Half-Wit had specced up quite a bit then. We’d be able to defeat her.
No one from that time is here now.
Should I have brought Missha with us? Maybe I would’ve been able to talk about that time with—
Ah, now that I think about it, Amelia was there as well.
Of course, we weren’t allies back then. It was closer to enemies.
Still, with how kind(?) she was, she was able to survive even after losing to us in the fight.
“Tersia, can you feel any presence here?”
“No.”
“That’s a relief. It’s the same for me as well. It seems that they aren’t patrolling in this area, so let’s pick up the pace.”
We increased our pace, and soon, we were exiting the maze portion to arrive at our destination.
“This is Noark…!”
The ceiling was so tall, making it difficult for me to believe that we were underground. The sight of the stone gate that was much grander than the palace gate made Versyl let out an exclamation.
“Is this the first time for you, Ms. Gowland?”
“It’s my first time being so deep like this. I did join the first subjugation, but as you know, we had to retreat without being able to come all the way here.”
“Ah… I did hear about it. That a lot of people died back then…”
As I listened to their conversation, I suddenly remembered the Canadian player I met on the community boards. He was the one who had been dragged into the community right as a sword touched his neck during the battle.
I promised him…that I would relay his message if I returned.
Funnily enough, even though I had lived for so long I’d forgotten about it, I could still perfectly remember the address and the message he left for me. Maybe it was because of how impactful it was.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”
“Ah, I am…”
I only stood in reminiscence for a moment. As Amelia opened up a small side door off to the side away from the huge gate, Versyl tilted her head a little.
“Huh? Aren’t we going to enter through that one?”
“It’s fine since the gatekeeper isn’t here. Why shouldn’t we just use the easier path?”
“…That’s true. But did it have a gatekeeper before?”
“It did. His name wasn’t known to Rafdonia, but he was one of the strongest within Noark—”
Amelia said that while trying to go into the side door.
“Hahaha! I thank you for giving me such an assessment!”
A loud bout of laughter was suddenly heard from behind us.
Erwen and Amelia both looked surprised, apparently unable to sense their presence beforehand. They whipped around, and so did I.
“I never expected I would see someone else here, and for them to be such famous people at that!”
I turned around to confirm who was talking and came face-to-face with a man as large as a barbarian. He was obviously not built for stealth. However, the reason he could approach us so closely without making his presence known was simple: Dungeon and Stone was a game.
“It is fate for us to meet here! I am the old Gatekeeper of Noark, Lek Aures!”
Behind the man standing at the front, the obvious tank, his allies appeared, stepping up to his sides.
“Ah, and these are my allies…”
One, two, three, four…
A total of five people.
They had the numbers advantage, and they were probably more skilled as well.
It may be crazy to say it with our members here…
Ba-dump!
But everything was relative in the world.
“Hmm? Baekho! Why are you so quiet today? Didn’t you say you were close with Baron Yandel over there?”
…I never expected we would meet these guys here.