Surviving the Game as a Barbarian-Chapter 542: Shinrokgochang (4)

No.7 Maliel’s Shinrokgeochang.

This Numbers item, also the spear-type graduation weapon, balances damage and tankiness well.

The reason I started researching spear Barbarians was because this weapon had high survivability.

‘But in the end, it just turns into something like a berserker anyway.’

Of course, that doesn’t mean the berserker class is bad.

If the team already has a main tank of similar level, it performs quite well and can serve as a secondary tank in emergencies.

But...

“Hmm...”

No matter how I think about it, it’s ambiguous.

“Everyone, clear the surroundings.”

“Huh?”

“We’re leaving soon!”

“Ah, ah... yes!”

Everyone seemed curious who would get this weapon, but we decided to first set sail and continue pondering while leaving the island.

This isn’t a decision to make lightly.

“We’re departing!”

The boat carrying all of us cut through the silver waves and moved forward.

After some time...

“Sir! Look over there!”

From the island’s shrinking center, a giant slowly rose and bellowed a ferocious roar at us.

[Woooooooohhhhhhh——!]

...Why does he always do that only when we’re leaving?

Until we arrived at our destination, Library Island, deep thoughts continued.

Who would get this weapon?

‘Ah, caught his eye again.’

While glancing around for answers, my gaze met a man’s.

He was the spear user of the Hext clan.

Being the only spear user among this group, he dared not speak, but I could tell he hoped for it.

So...

I quickly looked away.

If you want it, you have to want it properly.

This weapon belongs to Clan Anabada.

It’s already decided.

So my concern now is only who among our clan should get it.

‘No need to consider Elwen or Versil.’

Same for Amelia and Misha.

Misha has already gone the frost dual-wielding tree, and Amelia uses auras, so the spear doesn’t fit her.

Auyen isn’t a combat class at all.

By elimination, only Ainard remains...

“Huh? You want it too?”

When our eyes met, Ainard smiled and offered me the precious jerky he was holding.

I accepted it and chewed while continuing my thoughts.

‘...He’s probably the one who can best utilize the spear’s potential.’

[Natural regeneration increases proportionally with combat duration.]

[All recovery effects triple.]

These two options synergize well with the ‘Slayer’ engravings ‘Combat Learning’ and ‘Devour.’

He also has skills like [Wings of Greed] and [Crouch] that boost natural regeneration, making his healing monstrously fast.

The spear Barbarian I raised had a similar build, full of those skills with the Slayer engraving.

The problem here is...

‘You have to give up some skills the moment you wield the spear.’

First, grade 4 skill [Repeated Slash].

It can be cast with a spear, but you lose the increased piercing damage effect.

[Wild Control], which converts conditional activation effects into ‘Cutting Power,’ also becomes useless for similar reasons.

‘If you don’t use [Repeated Slash], [Explosion Scar] loses meaning, and then [Mandle Oil] and [Residual Heat] become pointless.’

Basically, wielding the spear means overhauling the entire skill set.

However...

‘Except for Hiphramagent, all monsters are grade 4 or below, right?’

A sudden thought.

‘Since that’s the case, why not just change everything?’

Dungeon & Stone is a growth-based game.

While perfecting the final build is important, designing the path to get there is even more crucial.

If you don’t prepare necessary items and alternative essences at each stage, you can’t grow your character to the final build.

You must steadily increase skill value without losing character concept.

Click, click, click.

The reason [Repeated Slash] was Ainard’s core skill was that.

It’s a rare grade 4 skill obtained early on.

I thought we’d set up essence builds to use it, then switch to superior skills later.

Still...

‘...It’s not entirely impossible.’

I’ve grown a lot already.

Elwen secured a unique position after farming hierarchy essences; Misha grew a lot after traveling with Ibaekho.

Amelia was strong from the start.

Honestly, even if Ainard disappears now, hunting won’t suffer.

In other words, support is possible.

‘Though it’s called support, wielding the spear doesn’t greatly drop combat power.’

Single Numbers.

Graduation weapons without substitutes.

The effects attached have enough power to compensate for lost skills.

Especially if they’re grade 4 or lower essences.

1200% piercing damage increase.

Triple all damage done with spears.

Top-tier piercing correction.

These three alone make single damage possibly higher than when using swords, and increased regeneration effects make it more stable.

So now the question.

‘Will he accept it...?’

Let’s just bring it up.

No loss in trying.

As expected of a barbarian.

“Ainard.”

I walked up and said casually.

“Have you thought about using a spear instead of a sword?”

“...A spear?”

He stopped chewing jerky and gave me a strange look.

Huh, still no?

Regardless of preference, barbarians dislike such weapons as cowardly—

“Oh! If you mean that spear, great! Give it to me!”

...Huh?

What’s with that reaction?

“Just to be clear, I mean you use the spear from now on. Change all your essences too.”

“Do I have to change Semura’s essence too?”

Semura’s essence means [Repeated Slash].

It was passed to Ainard through ‘Soul Succession’ by the elder he followed like a master before he died.

“Yeah, that essence too.”

“I see...”

Ainard’s gaze grew somewhat wistful.

But it didn’t take long before he answered.

“If you want, I’ll think it over and answer—”

“Good. I’ll switch to the spear.”

“...Huh?”

Changing the entire build, and he decided in less than a minute?

‘This is a true barbarian...?’

I couldn’t keep up.

But Ainard didn’t decide without thought.

“What are you surprised about? Weren’t all the essences I have now recommended by you?”

“Uh... yeah, that’s right.”

“Thanks to that, I gained undeserved fame. I got the power to fight foes I couldn’t imagine, and with that power, protect my comrades.”

He looked at me quietly and said softly.

“So I trust you.”

“...”

“You wouldn’t do anything to hurt me, right?”

I see.

He didn’t just decide on a whim. He just trusted me enough to move forward without doubt.

‘Could I do that?’

That difficult trust struck me just then.

“And above all...”

Ainard avoided my eyes.

Or rather, he averted his gaze and stared somewhere else.

With a very greedy look.

“...That spear’s fine! It’s huge!”

“Ah...”

“Looks about one and a half times bigger than my greatsword!”

I was speechless.

Like a crow instinctively attached to shiny things.

Barbarians liked big things.

“The sparkling shine was cool too!”

If it glows, even better.

“And it seems all winged guys use spears!”

So... you had your reasons too. freewebnσvel.cѳm

Having switched to the spear class, Ainard immediately started getting used to the weapon.

Swinging in the air, measuring distance with thrusts.

At first, he was clumsy, unsure how to hold it properly, but his posture stabilized astonishingly fast.

“Hehe, now I’m getting my old form!”

“Old form?”

“Don’t you remember? When we were kids, we learned all the weapons!”

“Oh, yeah... that’s right...”

Ugh, why the sudden nostalgia?

As usual, I cut off past talk briefly, but Ainard was already deep in memories.

“By the way, it’s interesting. I heard both my mother and my sister used spears.”

Luckily, it was something I could answer naturally.

Though I hadn’t heard about spears before, I’d talked with Ainard about his sister before.

Ainard is the second daughter of Pnulin.

He has a sister.

Or rather, had.

“Huh? You had a sister?”

Elwen, who also had a sister, asked with interest, and Ainard shrugged.

“Oh, didn’t I tell you? We were four years apart. She became an explorer first and bothered me saying she’d teach me skills, hehe...”

“...Huh?”

Elwen tilted her head at Ainard’s happy memories, but it was a cultural misunderstanding.

“So, what about your sister? Was she famous?”

“She died. Two years before I had my coming-of-age ceremony.”

“Ah... I’m sorry...”

Elwen, as if touching a sore spot, became somber and apologized.

But Ainard wasn’t bothered.

“Why are you apologizing? It’s not your fault she died.”

“But... it must be a sad memory.”

“Sad memory? What do you mean? I only have good memories. Of course, it’s a bit sad I can’t see her anymore, but recalling her always makes me happy.”

Elwen was speechless for a moment.

“How... can you be like that? When I think of my sister, my chest tightens.”

Her voice was emotional, even a bit accusatory, but luckily Ainard ignored it.

He just shrugged casually.

“I don’t really have an answer why.”

“...”

“I think laughing feels better than being sad! I’m sure my sister would agree!”

A thoroughly barbarian response.

Elwen couldn’t say anything.

She stared at Ainard for a long time, then silently turned and walked up to the lookout.

‘Phew... finally I can breathe.’

I exhaled deeply, and Ainard gave me a strange look.

“...Did I do something wrong?”

“No, keep doing what you were. Once we arrive, we go straight into combat.”

“Okay! Got it!”

I left Ainard, ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) who paused for a moment, back in automatic training mode, and headed to the helm.

After confirming our arrival time with Auyen, I leaned against a pillar and closed my eyes.

‘He’ll handle the small fry, and wake me up if bigger threats come.’

After some time, I woke up and took out my canteen, looking for Ainard.

I wondered how much progress he’d made...

‘Huh?’

For some reason, Ainard was resting on deck.

With Elwen.

‘What’s going on?’

Just then, Amelia approached.

“Don’t bother them.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

I was just curious.

I pricked up my ears and listened to their conversation.

Though I worried they’d be too close, their talk was surprisingly normal.

“Ha ha, come to think of it, you said you have a younger sibling? How is he? An explorer?”

“No, not yet. He’ll have his coming-of-age ceremony the year after next, and I worry.”

“If you worry, why don’t you teach him things?”

“That’s... not easy.”

“Huh? Ah, trapped here?”

“No. Actually... since my sister died... and since uncle suddenly disappeared, we don’t get along well.”

“Ah, well, since you’ve been going to battle every day for revenge, it’s all your fault!”

Ainard scolded jokingly, but surprisingly Elwen accepted it quietly.

“It’s my fault... yes. It’s my fault.”

“Ha ha, that’s fine. Then just do better.”

“But it seems too late. My brother hates and resents me.”

“Did he say that himself?”

“No, not exactly—”

“Then don’t think weird things. Hate? He’s family. Surely he wants to get back to how you were.”

“Really...?”

A strange scene where a fairy seriously gives life advice to a barbarian who’s practically an enemy.

Yet somehow, it made sense.

“Yeah, that’s right! You can trust me!”

I understood why Ainard gets along with everyone so easily.

Day 76 since entering the labyrinth.

After leaving Giant Island, we finally arrived at Library Island.

What we planned to do was infinite farming.

‘I hope not only Bellarios drops but also something good for Ainard.’

With such hopes, we entered the building and descended stairs for a long time.

And then...

“Yandel, there’s someone below.”

“One person, no others.”

“He seems to be curled up, maybe sleeping...”

“What will you do?”

Amelia and Elwen brought unexpected news.

Someone was already here ahead of us.

‘Who on earth could it be?’

One candidate immediately came to mind.

The clan that came down to basement 1 with the Armin expedition last time.

I was sure their name was...

“...Could it be people from the Ainperial clan?”

Ah, that’s right.

“But the number is strange. Just one person? Where did the rest go...?”

Muul frowned and fell into thought, but I wasn’t very curious.

Or rather, I thought it was a waste of time.

“Better to ask directly.”

No matter how much guessing, nothing beats hearing the truth from them.

I hurriedly went down the stairs.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Maybe because of the loud noise, the mysterious guest who was sleeping was now standing awkwardly...

“Uh... Baron?!”

He was startled when he saw me.

Honestly, I was just as shocked.

Because...

“...Madderkin Rilgrams.”

The leader of the Silver Lion clan, last seen and then missing after Village Island.