Surviving the Game as a Barbarian
Chapter 527: Giant Island (6)

Kwaaang! Kwang! Kwang!

Pelted by dark orbs and weighed down by my own mass, the monster lost its balance and tumbled forward.

Kooong-!

Another cloud of dust billowed up.

[Uwaaaaaaaaaa!]

“Behel—laaaaaaaaaa!!”

Amidst the chaos, I hammered the back of its head, grabbed its ankles, lifted it, and slammed it back down, doing everything I could to prevent it from standing up.

“W-What kind of fight is this…?”

“Armin, can we even help?”

After an intense struggle…

「Erwen Fornachi di Tersia has cast [Focused Fire].」

…a bright light emanated from Erwen’s arrow.

It meant that she had already summoned the Spirit King, depleted her MP, activated [Chaos Circuit], fully charged [Focused Fire], and waited for a minute.

—————!

The arrow flew through the air, painting the world white.

And…

[………!!]

A large hole appeared in the center of the giant’s head, right between where its eyes would have been.

“…Did we kill it?”

I didn’t get complacent, like the explorers watching from afar.

We didn’t even know its passive skill yet.

There were monsters that could survive even after being decapitated—

“I-It’s moving…!”

Right. I had a feeling it wasn't over yet.

[Uwaaaaaaaaaa—!!]

The giant roared in pain, clutching its head and curling up on the ground.

It was the same position it had been in when we first found it, sleeping.

Thanks to that, we were able to identify another one of its skills.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t its passive skill…

「Hippermachant has cast [Curl Up].」

…but I hadn’t expected it to have this skill.

I quickly gave an order.

“Cease attack!”

The reason was simple.

Attacking it in this state would only hurt us.

「All Resistance stats increased by 20 times for 3 minutes.」

「Natural Regeneration increased by 20 times for 3 minutes.」

「All stats greatly increase after Curl Up ends, proportional to the damage absorbed.」

It was practically an invincibility skill.

One of the Ogre’s active skills, and the most troublesome one during Ogre raids.

But it had a fatal flaw for tanks.

[Curl Up] was a great survival skill, but…

If a tank used it, their teammates would be wiped out while they were curled up.

Of course, that didn’t apply to monsters.

One minute, two minutes…

The hole in the giant’s head slowly regenerated.

And after exactly three minutes…

It slowly uncurled its body and stood up.

All its external injuries had healed.

[Uwaaa…!!]

It tried to run away again.

But…

‘Not this time.’

We had prepared for this.

The ability users and mages had cast restraining spells on its ankles while it was curled up.

And I blocked its path.

Kwaaang!

Unable to escape, it turned and charged at us.

Finally, it was a normal raid.

And its aggro was firmly fixed on me. My Threat stat seemed to work normally in this floor.

“Attack!”

Dozens of explorers unleashed their attacks, and the giant retaliated with its skills.

「Hippermachant has cast [Apocalypse Roar].」

「Hippermachant has cast [Gravity Field].」

The AoE damage and crowd control skills mentioned in the Elder's book.

We had prepared countermeasures, so we didn’t take any damage.

Whoosh!

The mages erected barriers to block the falling meteors.

And whenever an explorer was pulled in by the [Gravity Field] aura, the others quickly rescued them, minimizing the damage.

「Mul Armin has cast [Hypersensitive Skin].」

「Target’s damage taken increased by 30%.」

「Jackson Janbil has cast [Moving Target].」

「Next attack deals triple damage against moving targets.」

「Nua Merbochi has cast [Precision Shot]…」

「….」

After ten minutes of relentless attacks…

The giant used a new skill.

But it wasn’t a passive skill…

「Hippermachant has cast [Body Compression].」

…it was a transformation skill.

A 3rd-grade skill that halved the user’s size and granted them additional buffs proportional to the size reduction. It was different from [Gigantification].

‘It’s still bigger than me, even after shrinking.’

I had experimented with this skill before, so I knew how to counter it.

“Cease attack!”

We just had to ignore it.

Unlike [Gigantification], this skill had a time limit.

Kwaaang!

The giant’s punches were twice as fast and powerful now.

But I sent the melee fighters to the back and tanked the attacks myself.

Crack!

My bones cracked with every hit…

Swaaaaaaaaaa—!

…but we had healers.

A priest and a healing mage.

And thanks to my high Recovery stat, my injuries healed quickly.

Well, the pain was still there.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!”

I just had to endure.

「[Body Compression] deactivated.」

After a while, the berserk-like [Body Compression] ended, and the giant’s body returned to its normal size.

The melee fighters rejoined the battle.

Boom!

We destroyed one of its ankles, and the giant fell to its knees. The melee fighters then focused their attacks on its vital points.

The giant was now covered in wounds.

“We’re almost there!”

“Don’t let your guard down!”

The explorers were starting to celebrate, but I was getting anxious.

Twenty-five minutes had already passed.

‘[Curl Up] has a 30-minute cooldown…’

It would use [Curl Up] again in five minutes.

And then we would have to start all over again…

If that happened, the raid was as good as over.

We had already used most of our MP, so it would take much longer to whittle down its HP again.

‘We’ll be able to defeat it next time, since we know about [Curl Up] now…’

But it was still disappointing to fail.

Should I use it?

I made my decision.

“Misha! Emily! Combine!”

Unfortunately, my two best DPS dealers didn’t understand.

“…Huh? C-Combine…?”

Misha, her dual swords in hand, looked confused, and Amelia just stared at me as if I was insane.

Damn it, they should have understood.

“Just come here!”

They stopped what they were doing and approached me.

I decided to show them instead of explaining.

I dropped my hammer and shield.

“Huh?”

“What are you doing?!”

And then I grabbed Misha and Amelia by their waists.

It was the Barbarian Samurai Mode.

“Yandel… you’re not…!”

Amelia seemed to have realized what I was planning.

“Just activate your Aura. I’ll handle the rest.”

“Stop this! It’s ridiculous—!”

“Misha, hold on tight to your swords.”

“Okay!”

I had their permission now.

I started swinging Misha Sword and Amelia Sword.

Why had they been unable to deal critical damage?

Because the giant was too big, and they had been aiming for its legs.

But…

‘This changes everything.’

Puk-!

Amelia Sword, in my right hand, pierced the giant’s flesh. The dagger itself was short, but its Aura blade extended outwards.

And it wasn’t just one sword.

Slash!

Misha Sword, in my left hand, grazed the giant’s neck.

It wasn’t as sharp as Amelia Sword, but it had another advantage.

Misha’s Aura was ice-elemental.

Crackle—

A layer of ice formed around the wound.

I struck the same spot again, and the ice shattered, the wound widening.

The giant, which hadn’t even flinched at my hammer blows, was now bleeding profusely.

‘Is this… what it feels like to be a DPS…?’

I felt a surge of excitement.

“Behel—laaaaaaaaaa!”

I roared and swung both swords.

And then a thought occurred to me.

Misha used dual swords, and Amelia used dual daggers…

“Quadra Style…?”

As I muttered that, Amelia Sword suddenly emanated killing intent.

“…I’ll kill you.”

Damn it, was it a cursed sword?

I was a little worried, but Amelia diligently activated her Aura whenever I swung, and she even moved her arms on her own, swinging her daggers.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes…

[Uwaaa…]

The giant, its neck and chest covered in wounds, finally…

Kooong-!

…collapsed to the ground.

There were 40 seconds left until [Curl Up]’s cooldown ended.

Swoosh.

I was about to finish it off with Amelia Sword when…

“…Why did you stop?”

Amelia asked, sensing my hesitation.

I didn't answer.

“…….”

Now that we were about to slay it, a thought occurred to me.

There were two types of monsters on this floor.

Normal monsters that dropped magic stones and essences.

And special monsters that left behind corpses.

The Hippermachant was the latter.

But…

‘If you use Distortion on normal monsters, there's a chance they’ll leave behind a corpse.’

The mages couldn’t explain how Distortion worked.

It was like striking flint to create fire.

They just used the phenomenon without understanding the underlying principles.

So I was curious.

‘What happens if you use Distortion on a special monster?’

It was worth a try.

We already had plenty of samples.

“Bersil, cast Distortion!”

I gave the order, and a translucent barrier enveloped the giant’s body.

As soon as I confirmed it, I swung both swords.

Puk-!

Four blades pierced its flesh simultaneously, and the giant’s ragged breathing stopped.

And then…

Swaaaa—

Its body dissolved into particles of light.

______________________

「Hippermachant slain.」

「No. 9999 Beginner’s Luck activated.」

______________________

After the Hippermachant’s massive body disintegrated…

There was no surge of experience points.

But something dropped from the empty space.

Thud.

A giant magic stone, the size of a fist.

But no one cared about it.

It was just a magic stone.

“…An essence.”

“It’s an essence…!”

An essence had dropped.

Had Beginner’s Luck activated?

I had just been trying to see if it would leave behind a corpse…

“Everyone, back away!”

I shouted, and the warriors who had been approaching the essence flinched and retreated.

“B-But I just wanted to look…”

“Back away!”

I glared at them, and they quickly cleared the area.

I calmed myself down and organized my thoughts.

It was a good thing that an essence had dropped, but there was one disappointment.

‘…It’s not green…’

The Orc Hero’s [Gigantification] essence was green, so this probably wasn’t it.

‘It’s dark blue… so it’s probably [Curl Up]…’

What should I do?

Should I store it in a test tube and decide later?

‘…It would be a good essence for Ainar…’

[Curl Up] was a perfect skill for her.

It would significantly increase her survivability, a common weakness for barbarian warriors.

‘And if I give it to her, I can test its passive skill and base stats…’

And if she reached the 9th level of the Undead Engraving, she could even combine it with [Undying].

It would be more efficient to give it to her now and save the cost of a test tube…

But I wasn't sure.

“Ainar!”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want this essence?”

I asked her first, but her answer was immediate.

“…Y-Yes!!!”

“We don’t know its passive skill or base stats yet.”

“I-It’s okay!”

Right… if the passive skill or stats were bad, we could just remove it at the temple.

And I had a hunch about its passive skill.

“Alright, you can have it.”

“R-Really?!”

“Any objections?”

I looked at the Armin Exploration Team, who were entitled to 30% of the loot, but Mul Armin just shook his head.

“You have the right of first refusal.”

“That’s good.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered anyway.”

“Huh?”

“…We’re not that shameless.”

Why was he suddenly so humble?

I didn’t understand, but the essence’s owner had been decided, so there was no need to delay any further.

“Bjorn… c-can I absorb it now…?”

“Go ahead.”

Ainar excitedly rushed towards the essence and absorbed it.

「Ainar Frenelin’s soul is imbued with [Hippermachant’s Essence].」

And so Ainar Frenelin learned [Curl Up].