Surviving the Game as a Barbarian

Chapter 55 The Witch's Forest (2)

The Witch's Forest (2)

Delicate features and a voluptuous figure.

And a sweet voice to top it off.

Elisa was the kind of woman most men would find attractive.

At least until a second ago.

"La, Lady Elisa!"

Hans C's eyes widen.

The slender woman, about 160 centimeters tall, collapses to the ground.

Thud.

Her eyeball protrudes excessively.

Crimson blood spurts from where her ear should be, like a water gun.

The beautiful Elisa is no more.

"You, you bastards, what the hell did you do...!"

Hans C, witnessing her gruesome appearance, shouts in a voice filled with shock.

"Why! Why did you harm Lady Elisa! What did we do...?"

Well, they haven't done anything yet, it's true.

So I answer briefly,

"Ah, I'm sorry. It was a mistake."

My hand slipped because the mace is heavy.

It's true, so...

"Come closer for a moment. Let's talk about compensation for the mistake."

"You crazy bastard!"

As expected, it doesn't work.

Well, he has a brain too, I guess.

Hans C, sensing his fate, enters a state of panic.

"Ah, no... we're all going to die..."

"I'm glad you understand."

I also stop denying it.

However...

"Because of these crazy bastards..."

As I'm smirking at Hans C, who is filled with fear, I feel an indescribable sense of dissonance.

I slowly examine the situation, and the cause of the dissonance lies in his gaze.

'Why is he looking somewhere else, not at us, and feeling scared?'

I naturally follow Hans C's gaze and move my head. At the end of his gaze is (former) Elisa.

The unfortunate woman who has lost her beauty in life and become a cold corpse.

But did she sense my gaze?

"Giggle, giggle, giggle..."

Elisa, who should have already returned to the embrace of God, starts convulsing and making eerie sounds.

Her limbs twist and turn dynamically as if she's touched a live wire, reminiscent of the joint dance performed by zombies in movies.

'What the fuck is this?'

I don't understand at all.

When I smashed her head, I definitely felt that distinct feeling of a one-hit kill.

But why is she alive and twitching?

And making such creepy sounds?

"Giggle, giggle, giggle!"

"Bjo, Bjorn? What's going on?"

Don't ask me, dwarf.

I'm scared shitless too.

I've killed several people since waking up in this body, but I swear to the ancestor god, this is the first time I've seen a corpse dance like this.

But...

Crack.

This habit of clenching my jaw when I'm nervous is proof that my body belongs to a valiant barbarian.

"...I'll take care of it."

"Take care of it?"

Instead of answering, I dash forward and swing my mace down.

The target is Elisa's face.

Thwack-!

Her skull, incomparably softer than a Death Fiend's, caves in once more, and the dwarf faints.

"De, desecrating a corpse... even if they were marauders—!"

It's unethical?

So what?

"I couldn't help it, it was too scary."

"What? Is that something someone who's scared would—"

I cut him off and answer.

I don't know why I have to keep repeating this to people.

"The best defense is a good offense."

Damn right.

I'm scared, so I'm going to smash it to pieces.

It's the barbarian way to ruthlessly crush enemies to protect myself.

'Ah, now I understand.'

This is why Ainar was afraid of banshees. You can't beat up incorporeal monsters.

You need magic damage, not physical damage.

With this new realization, I check on (former) Elisa once more.

And I click my tongue in frustration.

"Damn it, she's still dancing..."

Even with her face completely caved in, Elisa continues to contort her joints, presenting a horrifying sight.

Do we really need magic damage?

"Dwarkey! Use magic!"

"But..."

What do you mean, 'but'?

There's no need to be nice to guys like this.

They only listen when you speak harshly.

"Just do it!"

At my shout, Dwarkey starts chanting a spell.

And at that moment...

"I, I can't die!"

Hans C turns around and starts running away.

It's a futile effort.

Before he can even take a few steps, the crossbow bolt shot by Rotmiller hits Hans C in the back.

Thump!

Hans C collapses miserably, still facing away.

Seeing his pathetic end, I mutter briefly,

"Idiot."

If he hadn't given away his armor, he could have easily blocked one arrow.

As expected, if your intelligence is low, your body suffers.

I then turn my gaze to the last one remaining, Spearman Tyson, and ask,

"Aren't you going to run away?"

"It's pointless."

His eyes and tone are as if he's given up on everything.

However, my warrior's blood senses a strange dissonance in his voice, just like with Hans C.

That's when...

Swaaaaaaaaaaa!

A black light suddenly bursts from Hans C's body.

Honestly, I was scared shitless and hid behind Dwarkey in a hurry, but nothing happened.

The light shines for about 5 seconds and then disappears. Only then do I uncurl my body and check the front.

"What the hell?"

I don't know what kind of bizarre combination this is, but Hans C's body has turned into a mummy after emitting the light.

His body is shriveled and lifeless, completely devoid of moisture.

Our gazes naturally turn to Rotmiller, who shot the crossbow.

"Rotmiller, what the hell did you do..."

"I, I didn't do anything! Really!"

I know, man.

This must also be related to (former) Elisa. After all, Tyson turned into that state even though we haven't done anything to him yet.

Mage Dwarkey hurriedly gives his opinion.

"The life force that was drained from those two was absorbed into that woman's body!"

Hmm, is that roughly what happened?

I've played the game so much that I have a rough idea of what type she is.

And I have a hunch.

"Giggle, giggle, giggle..."

Elisa then gets up, dancing with her joints.

Her face is still half-crushed.

And with that, Elisa opens her mouth.

"Ho, w, di, d, yo, u, kn, ow?"

"Know what."

"Th, at, we, we, re, en, em, ies."

"Ah, that."

I try to answer calmly, even though I'm scared shitless.

"Bastards always smell rotten, you know."

Was it a satisfying answer?

It seems like it.

Seeing the half-headed Elisa laughing so hard...

"Ki, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi!!!"

Damn it, why can't things just go smoothly for once in my life?

"......"

The current situation is similar to the Corpse Golem battle.

Everyone is frozen stiff at the unrealistic sight, and just like then, I shout to wake up the dazed team members.

"Everyone, get a grip!!"

If we're not careful, we're all going to die.

__________________________________________

I've been playing [Dungeon and Stone] for 10 years.

Although it's not a popular game, I'm proud to say that I know everything about it.

And it's not wrong.

"Ki, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi!!!"

"How, how is this possible? Why is a dead person..."

A corpse has been resurrected.

However, based on my knowledge, I'm sure this isn't a miracle performed by Leathlas, the god of exploration.

Regardless of what his followers do, Leathlas is a god of good alignment.

I briefly share the conclusion I've reached.

"A priest of Karui."

A priest of Karui, the god of darkness.

It's a kind of hidden class that can only be chosen when you start as a human and then change your job to priest.

The advantage is that they can use both divine power and dark magic, but the penalties are just as severe.

"A priest of Karui!"

"That woman was a follower of that evil god!"

If you change your job to a priest of Karui, you'll be dragged to the execution grounds the moment your class is revealed.

Therefore, you have to form a team with evil-aligned NPCs as followers, and you even need to periodically sacrifice living beings to maintain your job.

'That's probably why they were acting like marauders. The labyrinth is the safest place to find sacrifices.'

With this, most of the causal relationships have been resolved.

But there's still one question left.

Why us?

Why were they so persistent in targeting us?

However, there's no time to dwell on such things.

"Because of, you, I lost, a precious, follower."

Elisa, who seems to have digested all the life force she absorbed from Hans C and Tyson, looks at me and speaks.

Her vocabulary seems to have improved compared to before, probably because her crushed brain has recovered.

In other words, her intelligence has returned.

But...

'What the hell is this crazy bitch saying?'

As expected, intelligence and personality are separate things.

I answer briefly,

"To blame others even in this situation, you must have not received proper family education."

"...Wh, what?"

It's all this woman's fault that Hans and Tyson died so miserably at such a young age.

If they had just accepted their fate with their heads smashed, this wouldn't have happened.

I then gather my resolve.

"I'll avenge Hans and Tyson."

And I'll take all their equipment and valuables.

Well, it won't be easy.

When has my life ever been easy?

________________________________________

「Elisa Behenk has cast [Call of the Dead].」

"Lo, look over there!"

The dwarf exclaims and points to one spot.

Hans C and Tyson, who have become mummies, are slowly getting up. I'm not surprised, since I've played as a priest of Karui a few times.

'Call of the Dead.'

It's the basic and core skill of that class.

Originally, it only summons undead monsters, but if you use corpses as mediums, you can control stronger minions.

Those eyes, devoid of reason, are proof of that.

"Grrr..."

Hans and Tyson, now promoted to undead, roll their eyes as they look at us.

And...

"Destroy the enemies, my servants!"

Following Elisa's command, they charge towards us.

Kwaaang!

The battle begins in earnest as the charge of 'Hans-on' clashes with the shield wall formed by me and the dwarf.

「Liol Wobu Dwarkey has cast the 8th-grade attack spell [Ice Spear].」

「Misha Kaltstein has cast [Enhance].」

「The effects of active skills used afterwards will increase in proportion to Soul Power.」

「Misha Kaltstein has cast [Poison Infliction].」

While we're getting beaten up in the front, Misha and Dwarkey diligently deal damage, but there are no effective hits.

Their strength surpasses that of humans, and their high physical resistance makes them impervious even to my mace strikes.

And they even gained resistance to poison and cold due to their undead transformation.

It seems like the matchup is not in our favor.

Clang! Whoosh!

Of course, Rotmiller, who has extensive experience fighting undead, uses his Molotov cocktails without hesitation, but…

“Foolishness!”

「Elisa Behenk has cast [Flame of the Dead].」

Black flames flicker in the air and start absorbing all the surrounding flames.

‘Damn it.’

The situation has become troublesome.

Fire, which is the second most effective element against undead after holy power, doesn’t work?

‘Do we have no choice but to destroy the core?’

Undead don’t die even if their bodies are completely destroyed, as long as their core is intact.

For reference, the core of skeletons is hidden between their ribs, and for Death Fiends, it’s their brain.

Then what about these guys who have been reborn through the power of the dark god?

The answer is simple.

“Misha, can you kill that woman?”

The core of summoned creatures is usually located within the summoner.

In other words, if we can just kill Elisa, ‘Hans-on’ will also find peace and return to the true embrace of God.

“Hmm…”

“It’s okay even if you can’t kill her. Just inflicting damage will improve the situation significantly.”

“I’ll try.”

Misha nods.

And she immediately steps on my shoulder and leaps high, flying towards Elisa.

Her movements are as agile and flexible as a fairy’s. However, her opponent is not one to be defeated easily.

「Elisa Behenk has summoned [Shadow Guards].」

Shadowy figures of soldiers rise from the ground, forming a tight barrier around Elisa.

It seems difficult for even Misha to break through them and take Elisa’s head in a short amount of time.

But…

‘There’s no reason why we can’t fight a long battle.’

If Hans-on had weapons in their hands, it would be a different story.

But since we already confiscated them, Hans-on, who have become undead, aren’t that threatening.

In fact, even just the dwarf and I can stall for as long as we want.

Having made my judgment, I redistribute the team members.

“Dwarkey, Rotmiller, you two help Misha as well.”

“But…”

“It’s okay, we can somehow manage here with just the two of us.”

“Alright! Then we’ll leave it to you!”

As soon as Dwarkey and Rotmiller join in, the tide of battle starts to slowly turn.

Of course, the Shadow Guards respawn as soon as they’re destroyed, and Elisa continues to cast various curses on us, but…

“It seems like she’s running out of energy! Keep it up!”

From a certain point, the number of Shadow Guards being summoned decreases significantly.

Even the power of an evil god has its limits.

Could it be that she didn’t anticipate this situation?

“These, damn, bastards…!”

Elisa, cornered, starts to panic and tremble.

However, perhaps she still has some rationality left for survival, she grits her teeth and mutters quietly.

“I won’t, forget, this humiliation…”

The number of Shadow Guards, which we’ve been reducing for about 20 minutes, is down to less than five.

Realizing what she’s trying to do, I shout urgently.

“What? Damn it, no!”

Where do you think you’re going after we almost caught you!

I push away Hans-on, who had been clinging to me throughout the battle, and dash with all my might.

But…

「Elisa Behenk has cast [Wraith Form].」

Elisa’s body becomes translucent and floats into the air. And in that state, she glances at us once and…

“You’ll, never, return, alive.”

…flies away into the darkness.

Whoosh!

I sigh deeply as I stare in that direction, like a dog chasing after a chicken.

“Damn it…”

The boss monster we almost caught has escaped.

And with a deep grudge against us.

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