Surviving the Game as a Barbarian-Chapter 525: Giant Island (4)

Traces of a human presence that occurred about five hours ago.

There is no need to worry about who owns these traces, since there is no way that any other explorers have entered this island.

They must be some of the castaways.

“There are two people in total. Judging by the large footprints, they both seem to be men. Also, they seem to be moving very secretly.”

“Secretly? Does that mean it’s hard to track?

“No, that’s not true. There was no attempt to erase the footprints themselves. I’m just telling you that there are traces of them lowering their posture, looking around, and carefully taking each step. Perhaps they were wary of monsters.”

Mikhail Rector.

A middle-aged explorer, formerly an agent of the Royal Inquiry Service.

It seems like this old man has a similar position to Amelia within the Armin Exploration Team...

“It would be better to leave the tracking to the author. If he’s from the Royal Investigation Department, he’ll be a step ahead of me when it comes to tracking.”

Judging from the way Amelia lets out a weak sound, it seems her track record as an agent of the Investigation Department is more impressive than I thought.

“Did you say Rectors?”

“Yes, Baron.”

“I’ll leave the tracking to you.”

“Yes. I will complete it without making any mistakes.”

From then on, I took the lead and this man gave me directions.

And how much time has passed?

We were following the trail, but we stopped for a moment and stopped.

It's because I encountered the unexpected.

No, in this case, should we call it a discovery?

“That’s.......”

A corpse lying in the middle of the forest.

By the way, it was a giant's corpse, not a human's.

“That’s the giant I saw in the sea.......”

It must have died a long time ago because there are no healthy places here and there and a rotten smell lingers.

What on earth killed the giant?

“Looking at the scars... it looks like it was attacked by a monster, not a human.”

Could it be that another monster that poured down during the rainy season is the culprit? As I thought about that, a sigh escaped my lips without me realizing it.

“Yandel, you don’t look so good. Is there a problem?”

“Well... there’s still a body left.”

The fact that the corpse doesn't disappear means that you can't get essence from this guy.

"ah......."

What is the passive and what are the stats?

I was so excited and looking forward to it all by myself, but in the end, it all just ended up as drinking kimchi stew.

As soon as I saw the body, all the energy left my body, but unlike me, there were those who cheered.

“...A giant! A giant’s corpse!”

“It’s not just any giant! Didn’t the Baron tell you? This giant’s name is Hipramagent.”

“What are you all doing? Let’s get rid of what needs to be removed before it gets more corrupt!”

The wizards of the expedition team dissected the giant's corpse as if they had found a treasure of unparalleled value in the world.

“Wait a minute! Be careful! Even if you have to remove it, make sure to properly record what the original body structure looked like!”

“Stomach! What’s in the stomach? No, is there even a stomach in the first place?”

I think these guys would be happy to read a book they've never seen before, even in hell.

“You really /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ have a passionate wizard as your partner?”

As he muttered in a tone that seemed to say that it was absurd, the leader of the expedition team, Müll, had an awkward smile on his face.

“Aren’t you the wizards who joined our expedition team looking for dangerous jobs that don’t pay? Haha......”

Well, that's true too.

I too was interested in this, though not as much as the wizards, so I watched them enjoy themselves by tearing open the giant corpses and tasting them.

“What about leather?”

“...It’s very soft. When I tested the basic reaction, it didn’t show any anti-demon properties either.”

“Is it too difficult to make it into equipment?”

“Yes.... I think it would require a lot of research to use it as material.”

Translated, it means that leather has no particular value as a material.

“Then what about the bones?”

The wizard answered my next question with a brighter face.

“Ah! The bones are very strong and light. Also, the bones themselves are very large, so I think a skilled blacksmith could weave them together to make armor.......”

“Oh, really? How many levels do you think it would be in terms of materials?”

“Uh... That... It’s light, so it seems like it would be more valuable as a material than ordinary steel......”

What is that?

The bone part, which I had been secretly looking forward to, was nothing special either.

If it is only slightly better than steel, it is reasonable to use steel, which is cheaper and easier to manufacture.

“Well, there are still advantages to making equipment out of bones. First of all, it doesn’t rust and.......”

The wizard kept appealing to me like a researcher who wanted more time and budget, but it wasn't something I really needed to listen to.

“Understood. Let me know if you notice anything unusual.”

"yes......!"

After that, I stopped caring about the corpse and spent my time guarding the surroundings. It was around the time when I had killed about ten monsters that were rushing at me while using [Giantization].

Tadah.

The moment I swung my hammer out of habit at the sound I heard from beyond the bushes.

“Ugh, ugh!”

I quickly stopped the hammer at the sound of a scream.

“...Ugh, ugh... Huh, huh.......”

It was a person.

That too with a familiar face.

***

A hammer that stops exactly above the crown.

And then the man, as if his strength had been lost, fell backwards and let out a sound as if he had been tripped.

The first one to recognize the man's face was Bersil.

“Mr. Mirtane?”

Oh, right, that was the name.

A five-person team that said that the warrior did not come with them when they came down to the basement level. They said that later on, they went to the human island and there was a dispute, so they took refuge with the Hecks Clan.

“...Ugh, uh.......”

“Calm down. No one can hurt you.”

“Go, Ulan, Dnim......!”

Soon, Bersil patted the man on the back, and the man came to his senses and fell flat on his face.

And the first thing he said was this.

“Please, please help me. Berion was badly injured while fighting the monsters.......”

Now I saw that a small man was being carried on his back, tied to a sling. We quickly untied the sling and laid the man on the ground.

And just as I was about to bring the priest in.

“...It’s already too late.”

The man broke down at Amelia's words, who put her ear to his mouth and checked his breathing.

“T, that can’t be true......! B, I clearly just spoke......!”

The man pushed Amelia away and hugged his colleague's body. Then, trying hard to deny the truth, he checked for breathing with his own hands again.

“.......”

Although it was rude, Amelia didn't say anything to the man, and neither did I.

Because all explorers have been there at least once.

The experience of losing a comrade in a labyrinth.

Whether sooner or later, it takes time to accept.

“......Have you calmed down a bit?”

“Yes... First, let me say this. I couldn’t say it earlier because I was in a hurry, but... thank you. For saving... my life.”

“I’m sorry about what happened to my colleague. Can you fix it?”

“Yes. It’s something I have to do... Could you please just use some distortion magic...?”

“Of course.”

Afterwards, the man collected all the belongings including equipment from his colleague's body, then placed a distortion spell on the body and put it in a subspace bag.

It was a bit odd to say this in this situation, but still, this guy was in a better position.

Because at that time, we were in a situation where the wizard was dead.

I had no choice but to leave the body in the labyrinth.

Well, that's that and this is this.

“...Then I’d like to talk about it now.”

If you wait until the training is over, you can consider that you have done your duty.

“Are the others alive?”

“...The survivors are hiding in a hiding place.”

From what I heard, the hideout wasn't too far from here.

“How’s the hideout? Is it safe?”

“...at least that’s the case so far.”

“Really? But why were you two outside?”

“There was an opinion that in order to escape from this island, you need to know about it. So... me and Berion, who are the fastest, were drafted.”

Yeah, it was some kind of reconnaissance unit.

Oh well, if only I had hidden in there, this wouldn't have happened.

‘... I think it would be better not to say that.’

I decided to keep quiet and listen to the rest of the story at the hideout.

After receiving guidance and moving forward, it was soon discovered that a rock hidden in the bushes was nearby.

“It’s been disguised as a wall using magic.”

“I will send the signal now.”

The man knocked on the rock to signal inside, and after a moment the wall disappeared and a person came out from inside.

“Mirtan! Why are you so late... Hey, Baron Yandel?”

The leader of the Hex Clan, who scolds his colleagues for making him worry, but then opens his eyes wide when he sees me.

“It’s been a while. White Hecks.”

“Oh my god......!”

“Can I come in?”

“Oh, of course! Come in!”

The cave we led our group into was much larger inside than it looked from the outside.

“I... am truly surprised. I never thought I would see Baron Yandel here.......”

“Is that so? Unexpected?”

“Unexpectedly... Rani?”

“I thought you’d ask me about the explorers I came with first.”

“Ah......! That, that’s true! It was definitely only 60 of us who came down at that time.......”

He said that as if he realized it belatedly, but somehow it didn't sound like he was sincere.

So is this guy the evil spirit that requested rescue?

Well, I didn't really have to find out, so I didn't nitpick.

“What the heck is going on?”

In response to White's question, I gave a brief explanation of the situation.

Starting with the fact that the city's time has been flowing while we're here, the labyrinth has opened again recently, and even more explorers have been added to the basement level.

“One of you made a request for help at the demonic gathering, and it seems that it spread throughout the city. Thanks to that, we were able to find the location of this island and come find it.”

“That, that kind of.......”

“Can anyone guess who the evil spirit is?”

“I don’t know. Ha, but... maybe he’s one of the already dead ones.”

“Like a dead person today?”

“.......”

White Heck kept his mouth shut, perhaps to protect his comrades, so I stopped talking too.

If I think about it, this was also a bad habit.

I find myself saying things without realizing it, even though I don't need to.

“Okay, tell me about that. What happened after you broke up with us?”

We'll end the story about evil spirits here and move on to another topic.

However, their exploration was not as good as expected.

We explored the library we left behind, but when we found nothing, we changed our plans and headed back out to sea?

“It was at that time that we were sailing aimlessly in search of a new region, when suddenly, monsters began to pour down from the sky like rain.”

Unlike us who spent the rainy season in a safe village, they spent the rainy season on the sea.

And arrived at this island just before the ship broke apart.

It is said that he then ran away like crazy and discovered this cave where he hid.

'There aren't even half of them left. I guess they all died during the rainy season.'

It was fortunate that they found a place to hide within a few hours, but if they had been out longer, they would have been wiped out.

“You’ve done a great job. Thank you for your hard work.”

“How about you, Baron? If time flows outside, you must have found a way to escape from here... Have you found one?”

“Not yet. I’m still looking.”

White pursed his lips at my honest answer, then asked cautiously.

“...I guess there isn’t none, right?”

“Yes. I’m sure there will be one. I will definitely find it.”

Those words are more comforting than anything else to someone looking for something to lean on.

“......We will also help you, Baron. Even though it may not be a great help.”

White said in a determined voice, as if he could only trust me, and I answered him by counting the number of explorers he was leading.

“Thank you for saying that. Let’s work hard together.”

There were 12 unpaid slaves.

***

There's still time until our usual camping time, but we decided to end our exploration here for today.

“Everyone, get some rest. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but I’ll stay here today.”

As the number of people increased, we decided that it was necessary to do some maintenance.

Besides, there are things to do in advance.

“White. What have you found out about this island?”

Although he mostly hid in a cave, White's story was helpful as he was an explorer who had visited the island long before us.

At the moment, we have no information other than the fact that the monsters are using [Giantization].

“When the rainy season that the Baron spoke of ended, Berion went out to investigate and saw a giant monster from afar.”

Giant monster.

However, when I heard the characteristics, I realized that it wasn't Hipramagent.

“When I first saw it, it was at least 40 meters tall.......”

Hipramagent is less than half the size of that one.

“They said he was tearing the balksus apart with both hands.”

There is absolutely no way to kill a 2nd-grade monster like that.

“To be honest, I think we may have encountered a monster that uses a fantasy-type ability... But I thought you should know anyway, so I’m telling you.”

“I see. Good job. I already know that.”

Since it was witnessed by a dead person, I couldn't ask for details, so I put that aside for now and listened to the rest of the story.

A map of the surrounding area drawn by a reconnaissance team.

Or a new type of monster that we haven't even seen yet.

There was a lot of information that would be quite helpful for the exploration that will resume tomorrow.

Well, there was a separate Hwalongjeomjeong.

“And finally... I have something to show you, Baron.”

“What will you show me?”

“Would you... follow me for a moment?”

Afterwards, in the small cavity inside the cave that White entered, there was an artificial structure.

My mouth fell open as soon as I saw it.

“This is.......”

It was a portal stone.