Chapter 139 - Awakening (2)

「[Ogre's Essence] seeps into the character's soul.」

「Strength increases by +140.」

「Mana resistance increases by +80.」

「Physical Resistance increases by +40.」

「All resistances increase by +10.」

「Natural regeneration decreases by -40.」

「Perception decreases by -20.」

The first thing I did upon opening my eyes was check the clock. Fortunately, hardly any time had passed.

Tsk. And here I'd rushed through everything just in case.

"..."

After watching my sleeping companions for a moment, I took out a knife and sawed it across the back of my hand.

SCRITCH, SCRITCH, SCRITCH.

Only after pressing hard and working it back and forth about ten times did a single drop of blood ooze out.

Watching the wound fail to regenerate finally made it sink in. My character's entire concept really had changed in an instant.

I clenched my fist tightly in the air. The changes to my body were clearly perceptible, but nowhere near as dramatic as when I'd acquired the Orc Hero Essence.

That made sense. Not only had my Vampire Essence disappeared, but Guardian of Balance was still in effect.

'I won't really feel exactly how much my Strength has increased until I get outside.'

Keeping watch over the far end of the torchlit passage, I took some time to weigh my gains and losses.

'An Ogre, huh...'

The Ogre. A grade-three monster with stats and skills any tank would go crazy for. Its Essence hadn't been part of my final build, though.

That had more to do with practical considerations than incompatibility. Grade-three monsters were hard enough to kill as it was, and on top of that, I needed the right color out of seven possible active skills.

Not only was it far too difficult to obtain... if defense was all I wanted, there was a more efficient grade-four monster: the Steel Giant.

'Though the Steel Giant has the downside of making you unable to use weapons.'

Ultimately, it came down to preference. Did I want damage as well, or to focus a little more on tanking?

Since the difference in performance between the two Essences was slight, I went with an all-out tank in most playthroughs. I figured it was more sensible to put the effort required to obtain an Ogre Essence into developing a damage dealer instead.

And that judgment had proved correct. It had allowed me to open the original version's Gate of Abyss, which no one else had ever reached.

But...

'Strictly speaking, the Ogre is a little better.'

Adapting your build as you went was part of this game's appeal, as well as a measure of a Player's skill. Besides, a final build didn't mean every slot was set in stone.

Other than the core Essences, everything was an open slot. I picked three or four candidates with similar performance for each role, took whichever came first, and moved on. My goal was to clear the game, not perfect a single main character.

'It's a shame it isn't a yellow Essence, but it won't mean changing my entire build...'

I was still a little dazed. I'd fed in my Vampire Essence hoping for a Steel Giant in the best-case scenario, only to get something even better.

'What exactly are the conditions? Does a Vampire Guardian Essence guarantee another Guardian and allow a two-grade upgrade?'

It was an honest question. My curiosity as a gamer surged, but I forced myself to suppress those thoughts.

'Would this make it thirty percent? No, maybe even forty?'

Reassessing our odds of survival in light of the changed circumstances, I mapped out my new fighting style in detail. To improve our chances even a little. This was something I could do even now.

'... I'd be better off leaving my armor off. He's not going to wait for me to get ready.'

Like a swordsman honing his blade the night before a decisive duel, I refined my plan and searched for better options.

'The Perception loss isn't as much of a penalty as I'd expected, either. With this proportion of Strength, I won't be overpowered.'

One by one, the finer pieces of the plan clicked into place, taking shape. Yet the more they did, the harder my heart pounded.

THUMP!

The future was like shattered glass. No one could predict the outcome perfectly.

However complete my plan, countless unexpected factors would surely crop up. From there, I'd probably have to improvise my way through everything. Just like when the Floor lord had been summoned.

But precisely because of that...

THUMP!

Was there anything else I could prepare? Had I gotten anything wrong?

Like I was checking an exam paper my life depended on, I kept thinking it through, refusing to settle for less.

How much time passed like that?

"Bjorn."

Rotmiller woke and quietly called my name.

"Something's coming."

It meant our time was up. I hurriedly woke the others, then checked the clock.

[09 : 47]

About four hours had passed since we'd stopped to rest. In other words, roughly thirty-eight hours remained until the Labyrinth closed.

"They're faster than expected. They must have some way of tracking us after all."

I let Rotmiller's advice go in one ear and out the other. I already knew that... and it wasn't the information I needed to commit to memory right now.

'Right. So it takes four hours to get here from there.'

All the prerequisites for my new Plan A had been met. So...

I took a step forward.

All that remained was to roll the dice.

* * *

「Bjorn Jandel」

Level: 4

Physical: 424.4(New +38.3) / Mental: 319.3 / Ability: 496 (New +150.6)

Item Level: 967

Overall Combat Index: 1481.45 (New +188.9)

Obtained Essences: Corpse Golem - Rank 7 / Orc Hero - Rank 5 / Ogre - Rank 3(New)

* * *

STEP, STEP.

Footsteps rose from the darkness at regular intervals. They approached us like a tightening grip around our throats. Slowly, without haste.

STEP.

Before long, he entered our field of view. His only companion was that same poor middle-aged man. Perhaps another sacrifice had been made of him while searching for us; blood streamed from one tightly shut eye.

"That's so cruel."

"Why on earth would he do that to his own companion...?"

Everyone grimaced at the grotesque sight, but I silently breathed a sigh of relief.

Whew. So he had left the old man by the portal after all. If he'd brought him along, we'd have been screwed.

I was still thinking that when...

STEP.

He stopped a reasonable distance away. A heavy silence followed.

"What? You're all alive?"

He addressed us with a flippant laugh. It was far from the reaction I'd expected. I wouldn't have found it at all strange if he'd immediately driven his sword into my gut.

What was going on?

"My strength suddenly came back, so I was sure one of you had died."

Those words cleared up everything that felt off. So that was why.

'No wonder he's been oddly well-behaved.'

He hadn't realized yet that I'd gobbled up Restrained Hope.

Well, hearing that, I could see how he'd think that from his perspective. Until he continued, anyway.

"Oh, right. You must've absorbed a Vykundurth Essence or something."

Even now, he was offering up new possibilities. Somehow, it made me laugh.

'Didn't know this bastard was the type to decide on the answer he wanted first.'

This was a grade-three Essence. Even with Guardian of Balance dividing the stats among eight people, the increase was incomparable to anything a mere Vykundurth could provide. He must have felt that clearly, too.

But... how could he reach the right answer when he'd already decided what he wanted it to be and was hunting for evidence to fit it?

'The Dragonslayer, Ligar Vagos.'

I added another note about him in my head. He was surprisingly optimistic.

Had my laughter given him a bad feeling, though?

"... Barbarian, you kept your oath, didn't you?"

His relaxed attitude vanished as he asked me. I simply stared back without answering, as if to say there was no need to ask.

But apparently, that wasn't enough for him.

"The item. Where's that item?"

He questioned me again, irritation creeping into his voice this time. Though he'd struggled to deny it because of the sunk cost, he was slowly beginning to sense the truth: he might have been played.

"... Don't tell me you've already used it?"

He asked one last time, and I answered.

"Oh, it wasn't on purpose."

"... What?"

"Sorry. I was just fiddling with it because I was bored, and wouldn't you know it, it broke."

Despite my heartfelt apology, he trembled like a leaf. He, too, was finally accepting the truth.

The warrior's oath. The thing that savages with nothing but honor had upheld, treating their lives as expendable in the process.

He'd been taken in by it.

"You never intended to keep your oath."

His bloodlust prickled against my skin. But as a proper K-barbarian from Korea, I proudly squared my shoulders.

"Look, didn't I just say I was sor—"

"Die."

By the time I heard his voice, his sword was already right in front of me. He'd closed that entire distance in a split second.

Even as I provoked him, though, I'd been watching his every move, allowing me to react in time.

I smoothly raised my shield. And rather than blocking...

BANG!

I slammed it against the flat of his blade with all my strength.

It was a counter I'd devised while simulating our fight in my spare time. This was an Arc longsword, after all. Trying to block it would only leave a hole in my shield.

"Dwalki!"

The instant I shouted, shoving him back with my overflowing Strength, the spell I'd briefed Dwalki on beforehand shot forth.

「Leor Wuerv Dwalki has cast the grade-seven offensive spell [Cold Tempest].」

Fortunately, he seemed to have finished the incantation while I'd stalled with conversation.

WHOOOOOSH!

Razor-sharp shards of ice swirled through the passage, filling it completely. Even pressed flat against the wall outside its range, I shivered from the cold.

Ironically, though, I felt a strange heat at the far end, where the blizzard was heading. I didn't need to see it to know what it was.

「Ligar Vagos has cast [Furnace].」

[Furnace]. One of the abilities of the grade-four Lava Giant. A buff skill that granted immunity to cold and fire damage while active and greatly increased Physical stats.

I'd been a little worried, since the information was ten years old. So he still had it after all.

RIIIIP!

I tore the scroll without hesitation. We'd obtained it after defeating Argos, one of the minibosses; normally, it would have been used against the Minotaur.

「Flames of Greed detects a fire-type skill within range.」

「Target designation complete.」

「Ligar Vagos's 'Lava Giant's Essence' is sealed for 48 hours.」

As the scroll burned away, the heat at the far end of the passage vanished as well.

Okay, that was one grade-four Essence taken out. Now, how had he fared?

WHOOOOSH!

Soon, the blizzard that had frozen the entire passage cleared. He stood there unscathed, without a scratch, behind a black curtain as translucent as glass.

"Was this all you were counting on?"

He gave us a sinister smile. If he thought that surprise attack had been our trump card, I could understand why.

But what a shame.

'I never expected things to go this well.'

The skill he'd just used was [Dark Curtain]. And it hadn't been on the list of his Essences Rotmiller had given me. In other words, I'd identified one of the unknowns I'd been wary of.

'That leaves one or two unidentified Essences.'

Of course, he could have other Numbered items, so I'd have to keep watching for those as—

WHOOSH!

Before I could finish sorting out my thoughts, he shot toward me again. I tried to smack the flat of his blade with my shield as before, but he was an intelligent being capable of learning, too.

WHUMP!

My shield cut through empty air. By the time I realized it, I felt a slight pain near my shoulder, along with the sensation of something lodged there.

SLICE!

A look confirmed that the Arc longsword that had sliced through my raitinium shield like tofu was buried in my upper arm. About three centimeters deep.

"...?"

In the fleeting instant our eyes met, I saw bewilderment in his. He'd meant to sever my whole arm, so why had the blade only gone in this far?

The answer was simple.

'Buddy, do you have any idea what my Physical Resistance is right now?'

The Ogre's Passive Skill, [Iron Leather]. An insane skill that doubled Physical Resistance, then doubled it again against slashing attacks.

With Guardian of Balance keeping our stats similar, it was only natural that I could withstand even an Arc longsword.

But...

'Tsk. I hadn't planned to show this so soon.'

I'd wanted to keep it hidden, blocking his sword with my shield if possible, until the perfect opportunity arose. Someone at his level, though, could probably deduce which Essence this ability belonged to from that alone.

'His head.'

Looking at the burn-covered crown of his head, I made my decision.

The active skill of the Ogre's red Essence. My first proper offensive skill, when all I'd had before were attacks like [Flesh Explosion].

I didn't know why a monster nicknamed the Tyrant of the Forest had such a lame skill name, but...

「The character has cast [Swing].」

「The destructive power of blunt weapons increases greatly in proportion to Strength.」

Well, as long as it worked.

WHOOSH!

I swung my mace with all my might.