Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 666
Chapter 666: New World (1)
What was my relationship with Baekho Lee?
The question was probably one that the GM had been holding onto until he couldn’t hold back any longer. It didn’t help that there was never a good time to ask before either. From what I could tell, he had thought long and hard about how to ask.
“It’s just… I’m not trying to pry. I’m just curious. I saw you two walk away to talk privately…”
“So?”
“It’s honestly very interesting… how that man refers to you by your title and speaks to you with respect…”
It was likely the crux of the issue for him, truth be told. Why was that easy-going and boastful Baekho treating me—and just me—with respect? He was probably going nuts trying to figure it out.
And this guy knows how Baekho and I first met too.
The thought of my first meeting with Baekho still sent shivers up my spine. The GM had disguised himself as Hans I and tried to approach me when he and Baekho clashed, and I ended up stumbling upon the scene and getting swept up in it.
I wondered how unhinged he actually was…
For the simple reason of pure curiosity, Baekho had grabbed and openly interrogated me, asking me if I was a player in front of all those palatial knights.
It’s already been a few years since then…
Struck by how fast time flowed past, I said, “Really? We’re not on particularly good terms. When I first met him, we were enemies.”
“Hmm, enemies…?”
“Yeah. That weirdo fell from the sky out of nowhere and tried to kill me. And somehow, he disappeared just as suddenly after.”
“…So something like that happened?” the GM tilted his head, pretending to be none the wiser as he listened. Seeing his act was funny for some reason, but I continued without making that known.
“The next time I met him was at Gnome Tree.”
“Gnome Tree… you say…”
“Yeah. I went there with my allies for a request and ended up meeting him by chance there. A few more things happened after that… and he has bad blood with my allies too.”
Any contradictions in my stories would more than likely expose me as a half-hearted liar, so I just got down to the meat of the plot and summarized the rest. He probably knew what all had gone down with Missha as well.
“Your allies…”
“I don’t want to talk about the details, but we had a deal in the process, and things have worked out somewhat now.”
“By things having worked out…”
“Just consider this a short ceasefire of sorts. Both he and I know that there will be blood if we fight. He’s being careful.”
The GM looked slightly stunned when I said that. His expression seemed to scream, “Baekho Lee is? Him?” It also seemed he was surprised by how powerful I was.
Hey, put some respect on my name.
I had embellished a few things to make my excuse plausible, but that didn’t mean what I said was a lie. Although I didn’t have the confidence to defeat Baekho in a one-on-one duel, I also was confident that I wouldn’t lose.
“You asked what relationship I have with him, right?”
The GM nodded, and more clearly than ever before, I summarized in just one sentence what my relationship with Baekho was.
“For me, Baekho Lee is…”
I didn’t even need to lie for this one. Although we weren’t currently raising our weapons at each other because we were useful to each other, I no longer needed to hesitate.
“…someone I need to personally crack the skull of in the future.”
Baekho was an enemy.
***
“Is that all for your questions?”
“Yes… He is a very dangerous man. I needed to confirm what ties you had with him, Lord Baron.”
“I see.”
“I am relieved to hear you say that you are not on the same side as him. Nothing good will come out of getting involved with him… Ah, and of course, I believe you already know this, Lord Baron.”
The GM didn’t seem to doubt my hostility toward Baekho and even seemed satisfied by the prospect as well, perhaps because he sensed how genuine I was about my last statement.
I mean, I guess it’s natural for him to be relieved. If I’d said Baekho and I were friends, he wouldn’t have anyone he could trust here.
In any case, I finished my talk with him.
As we returned to our camp, Baekho was the one who called for the GM this time.
“Hey, let’s chat.”
The GM flinched as if he had just been summoned by the school bully. “A-are you talking to me?” He glanced at me as if to ask me for help.
“What business do you have with my ally?”
“Goodness, Lord Baron. Please do not worry. I am not trying to harm him in any way. We need him to fix the magic circle, so surely you know I wouldn’t do anything rash?”
Well, that wasn’t what I was worried about. It was just that I couldn’t ignore the GM’s reaction when he was pleading with me with his eyes. Eventually, I conceded, “Talk where I can see you.”
“Huh. Well, sure. Hey, you’re good with that, right?”
The GM was taken away like a lamb to slaughter before the two of them started to discuss something.
I should learn some lip reading when I get the time.
Since the sound of their conversation was being contained, I couldn’t overhear what they were talking about. However, judging by their expressions, Baekho was frustrated as he spoke, and the GM seemed to be trying to explain himself while giving an awkward smile.
Now that I think about it, these two didn’t part ways on good terms either.
The GM had exiled Baekho from the community, which Baekho held against him, for starters. What I didn’t know was if these two met up after that or not.
Looks like they ended more quickly than expected?
Surprisingly enough, their talk ended quite quickly and the GM returned, looking exhausted.
“What did you talk about?” I asked, curious.
“We had a bad encounter before… And I was just explaining myself a little… Hahaha…”
Tsk, so he couldn’t tell me. I should ask Baekho later or something.
“Then let’s sleep already,” I ordered. “It’ll be morning soon, so get some sleep in while it’s still dark.”
“Yes… Then have a good rest as well, Lord Baron.”
Nothing else happened as everyone got a moment of shut-eye. When the next day came, we immediately began preparing to activate the so-called portal Baekho had mentioned.
“A dimensional headstone…?” I asked.
“It looks pretty similar, right?”
“Are these things hidden all over the continent…?”
“Who knows? I don’t know if there are more or not. And this one was found out by that mysterious gramps… Other than this one and the one connected to this one, I haven’t seen any others.”
By mysterious gramps, he probably meant Auril Gavis.
“But the only thing they have in common is their appearances. It’s still different from the dimensional headstone you’d see in the labyrinth. It doesn’t open just by touching it, you need to put mana into it.”
Hmm, so that was why they talked about aligning mana waves or whatever. To be successful whenever wizards needed to distribute the load for mana, they would’ve had to have worked together often or made preparations beforehand.
“Then let’s begin.”
“Yes…”
With that, after approaching the dimensional headstone, the Fallen Scholar and the GM both put their hands on the headstone before closing their eyes.
Vwoong!
Mana came together so densely that I could see their multicolored flashes with my naked eyes.
Shwoosh!
The flowing mana condensed further and further before taking up the form of the portal that I had grown to expect.
“I’ll go in first, so follow after me. The portal will only be maintained for five minutes!”
As soon as the portal opened, Baekho jumped in first, and his allies naturally followed after him.
“Uh…”
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you going in?”
“Yes… I’ll go in first…”
Just in case, I let the GM jump into the portal first before quickly following after him.
Flash!
I felt a floating sensation similar to what I would feel taking the portal inside the labyrinth before my vision cleared. I took a quick look around to take in our surroundings only to immediately end up struck senseless.
There were man-made structures I didn’t recognize in the form of spires. The dirt ground was flattened and smoothed to make it easier for people to walk on it. Houses built from logs lined the sides like a chessboard, and I could even see a half-collapsed wooden fence in the distance.
“A village…?”
“Ah, did I not tell you? This is the place where those Noarkans settled.”
It was the land claimed by Noark.
***
As the GM and I looked around in awe, Baekho shrugged before approaching us and began explaining the new land of Noark.
“It’s not on the same level as the city, but doesn’t it look at least livable? They have houses and a wooden fence that surrounds the entire village. There are a few wells here too. There’s even a field that used to grow crops beyond the fence. And although it’s not a large river, there is one east from here.”
The Noarkan land had a more tangible infrastructure than I’d expected. Maybe even I would’ve been able to live a happy life here.
However, the problem of that monster remained.
It’s a complete ghost town…
The huge wooden fencing that surrounded the village was partly destroyed, and the standing homes had taken visible damage as well. I could easily see a few darkened blood stains in a few places.
“Ah, and this.” Baekho tapped on the dimensional headstone from which the portal had appeared and now disappeared as he continued, “You could somehow use this to open the portal leading into the labyrinth, but only that mysterious gramps can do it. Not even our gramps has any idea how to do that.”
“I do have an idea. I found out that it is magic related to time and space.”
“That doesn’t change anything. Don’t make excuses…”
Although Baekho’s tone was mocking the Fallen Scholar, it was Auril Gavis who was actually the abnormal one. The fact that he opened a portal that led directly to the seventh floor, and the fact that he teleported tens of thousands of people at once. It always felt as if Gramps were playing with the rules of the world by himself.
“But if they built this nice village for themselves, why did they enter the labyrinth so much?”
“I mean, they need to eat and live as well, right? From what I could tell, they couldn’t even pack their food properly when they were running away and had to eat monster meat until they came here.”
“…Didn’t you say they had a field?”
“Nah, that was made way later. And even if you call it a field, it’s closer to an experiment. The crops didn’t grow well, and it wasn’t enough to feed that many people.”
“So they did it because they needed the mana stones?”
“Well, probably?”
“But I heard that there was another reason as well,” I hinted.
Baekho just shrugged indifferently. “Well, there are monsters here as well, right? This place only works if they keep fighting for essences. That, and… they were probably scared that the palace would find them in the future.”
Hmm, that did make sense. The Noarkan land was situated in the same area as the Gray Field on the Dark Continent on the seventh floor. The monsters they encountered here were probably pretty strong.
“Though, it was all pointless after that monster appeared. After it came back multiple times and turned the village to rumble, even that stubborn castellan changed his mind and told everyone that they would return inside the walls.”
“I see…”
“In any case, let’s end our Q&A session there. Let’s go!”
After introducing the village to us, Baekho took us outside of the village.
The GM mumbled to himself, “It’s quite different from the Gray Fields I know.”
I took in the sight of a wide-open field filled with green grass that came up all the way to my hips.
“Oh! The labyrinth definitely feels more like the world has ended, right? Still, the monsters that appear here are similar. The terrain is the same as well.”
“I-is that so…?” the GM seemed surprised that Baekho had responded so kindly when he had only been talking to himself.
“Mr. Baekho, there is a monster up ahead.”
As soon as we left the village, the archer Leyton Bryat detected something and informed us.
“Roaaar!”
A monster that had been crouching within the grass stood and let out a howl.
“It’s a Biterion. Rank three. It’s a beast-type monster. It doesn’t have any attributes it’s weak to, and it has a very high Physical Resistance. If possible, using magic will be the most effective for us,” the GM said like he was reading from an encyclopedia.
I had a hunch what he would’ve been like back in his adventurer days.
It’s convenient, but it would’ve been tiring to walk around with him.
In any case, to add to the GM’s explanation, Biterion was a rare monster that appeared sometimes on the Gray Field.
“Lucky.”
It dropped one of the materials for stage eight of the Immortality Imprint.