Baby Barbarian (1)
Just as we finish our brief preparations, sending Kalson to the back…
Kwaaang!
…the ice wall in front of us shatters, and the bastard appears.
Tyrant Tarunbas.
The guardian of the ‘Glacier Cave’, based on the 7th-grade monster Lycanthrope.
[Groaaaaaaaaaar—!!]
This guy has a few characteristics.
He’s 1.5 times bigger than a regular Lycanthrope.
His basic skill set is the same, but his stats are about twice as high.And most importantly, he has that ice club in his hand.
「Tyrant Tarunbas has cast [Ice Crush].」
As soon as he appears, he slams his club on the ground.
[Ice Crush].
Originally, it’s a skill that just gives a damage bonus to enemies with the ‘Frostbite’ or ‘Frozen’ status effect.
However, it’s a bit different within the ‘Glacier Cave’.
Kwaaang!
Tremors spread through the ground.
Although the floor doesn’t collapse like in the second chapter, a layer of ice wall peels off, and about a dozen Frost Wolves awaken.
“Bjorn! This guy is different from regular Lycanthropes!”
Geez, it’s Bjorn.
The mafia is dead, so there’s no need to correct her, right?
“Behel—laaaaaaaaaa!”
I use [Wild Release] to draw his aggro…
…and block the incoming club with my shield.
Kwaaang!
Along with the heavy impact, a chill pierces through my bones.
Thick frost forms on the surface of the shield that blocked the club.
It’s not the Lycanthrope’s innate ability, but the effect of that ice club.
[Grrr!!]
[Woof!]
In the meantime, the Frost Wolves that have come to their senses also rush towards me, scratching and biting.
The damage is negligible even considering [Hypothermia] since they’re just 9th-grade monsters.
Well, it would be different once the second pattern starts, but…
There’s no need to worry since I plan to finish it in the first pattern.
“Now!”
I give Misha instructions and take out the item I prepared from my belt pocket and chew on it.
「Character has consumed ‘Thundergrass’.」
「Lightning damage slightly increased for 10 seconds.」
Thundergrass.
It’s a doping consumable that temporarily increases all lightning damage.
Before the duration ends, I tear the Lightning Scroll I was holding in my mouth and activate its effect.
Crackle!
The lightning that strikes the nearest enemy chains to the surrounding enemies.
Since it’s a cheap, low-grade Lightning Scroll, the damage isn’t enough to kill the Frost Wolves in one shot, but…
「Tyrant Tarunbas has entered a [Paralyzed] state.」
…that alone is enough to paralyze the bastard.
Because his lightning resistance is negative.
For reference, it’s a characteristic unique to him, not regular Lycanthropes. He’s particularly weak to the lightning attribute.
Although I’m not sure why an ice and beast-type monster has a weakness to lightning…
「Tyrant Tarunbas has cast [Indomitable].」
…the bastard then uses his second skill, [Indomitable], to remove the ‘incapacitated’ status…
…but it doesn’t change much.
It’s just removal, not immunity.
I can just do it again.
Boom!
Misha throws a stone, and it explodes.
Its in-game name is Storm Explosion.
I usually call it a lightning bomb.
「Tyrant Tarunbas has entered a [Stunned] state.」
The seven lightning bombs I threw without hesitation explode one after another, making Tarunbas roll his eyes.
And in this state, even [Indomitable] is useless.
‘Stun’ is a mental status effect, not an incapacitated state like petrification, paralysis, or freezing.
Thud!
The bastard, who appeared as the final boss, collapses to the ground, incapacitated in just 3 seconds.
What follows is simple.
Just like when we pounded Death Fiends, we run up and smash his head.
Thwack-! Thump! Thwack! Clang, kwagic-!
As Misha and I unleash a flurry of attacks with our lightning-enchanted weapons, his body soon shatters into tiny particles and scatters.
「Killed Tyrant Tarunbas. EXP +3」
「Guardian Kill Bonus. EXP +3」
It took about 10 seconds.
The effect of the ‘Thundergrass’ wore off just before he died, so there shouldn’t be much error in my estimate.
I calm my pounding heart and check the spot where he died.
“What the…”
Kalson, who was watching from afar, lets out a deep sigh.
Misha’s reaction isn’t much different either.
Although neither a Rift Stone nor a Numbered Item dropped, unlike in the Crimson Fortress…
“Bjorn… this is that, right?”
…an essence dropped.
“Uh, you’re giving this to me too…?”
I don’t understand why she keeps reacting like this.
In the first place, it was decided from the beginning when we were negotiating the distribution with the bear-like man that Misha would get the guardian’s essence.
“No, I mean… I thought you were just saying that. We didn’t come here alone, after all.”
Ah, so she thought I would take it later.
…What kind of image do I have in her eyes?
“Enough, just absorb it before it disappears.”
“Kya!”
I’m too lazy to explain further, so I just pat Misha on the back and push her forward.
And while Misha is adapting to the new essence…
…I approach the bear-like man, who is lying motionless on the cold floor.
I feel a bit sorry for him.
Even though I was assuming the worst and preparing for it, I didn’t expect him to go this far—
‘…What?’
I freeze as I lower my posture.
“Ugh, uh…”
Surprisingly, the bear-like man is still alive.
He’s not just barely clinging to life, but his consciousness seems to be intact as well.
Seeing how he desperately tries to say something despite his stiff body as soon as I approach…
‘At least 4 minutes have passed…?’
When I realized that Jensia’s sword was the ‘Viper’s Fang’, I thought he would have died a long time ago.
And I was even more certain after hearing their conversation outside.
[Kalson! I’ll take care of this, you check on that guy! He should have potions in his bag!]
[He’s, he’s already de, dead!]
While I was talking to Jensia, I heard that conversation outside. That’s why I finished off the orc first, then the final boss, and then came here.
‘…How the hell did he survive?’
While traveling with the bear-like man, I more or less confirmed the four essences he possessed.
Two of them were essences with poison resistance.
But even without poison, it’s normal to die after being left alone for so long with a pierced stomach like that.
“Po, potion…”
The bear-like man speaks clearly as he looks at me.
But did Misha hear that small mutter?
“Uh? He’s alive! Thank goodness! Hold on, I’ll make you feel better…”
Misha, who was lost in the afterglow of absorbing the essence, is startled and approaches him. And she rummages through the bear-like man’s bag and takes out a potion.
It’s a high-grade potion.
“I’ll use the best one I have, so don’t complain later?”
“It’s fine… keep po, uring, it… on me…”
“Got it!”
Misha opens the potion bottle and pours it on the bear-like man’s wound.
However…
Sizzle!
Bubbles form on the blood that fills the wound, but it doesn’t heal.
For reference, [Poison Infliction] doesn’t have this effect.
‘…She must have applied something to the sword.’
I have a guess.
I don’t know exactly what it is, but it must be a ‘wound deterioration’ type poison that prevents healing and regeneration.
“Uh, uh? Why is it like this…?”
“Kee, ep… po, uring… it…”
“Keep pouring it, right? Ah, got it!”
Misha keeps pouring the high-grade potion at the bear-like man’s request.
However, as she pours the second bottle and his condition doesn’t improve, does he realize something?
“An, antidote… yellow, fang…”
“Ah, th, this! The yellow bottle with the fang drawn on it?”
“Ye, s…”
The bear-like man takes the antidote with Misha’s help.
As expected of a solo player, he seems to have stocked up on emergency medicine.
However…
‘[Poison Infliction] might be different, but that antidote won’t work on deterioration-type poisons.’
As I expected, there’s no significant effect even after he drinks the antidote.
The wound heals at a snail’s pace.
And dark red blood keeps flowing out.
Sizzle…!
Two bottles, three bottles, four bottles…
Despite using up several potions, the bear-like man’s condition is getting worse.
It’s inevitable since the bleeding isn’t stopping.
“…….”
The bear-like man, whose consciousness seems to have become hazy from excessive blood loss, can’t even give orders anymore. He’s not even feeling the pain of the potion.
“Avman? Get a grip!”
Misha pats his cheek and shakes his shoulder, but the bear-like man doesn’t come to his senses.
“Wh, what should we do? Ah, the top-grade potion! Bjorn, let’s use that!”
Misha looks at me as if she just remembered the top-grade potion I bought.
I take out the top-grade potion without hesitation.
“Move aside.”
“Ah, okay!”
It’s an item that costs over 1 million stones per bottle.
Well, even with this, the wound won’t heal instantly, but at least it should stop the bleeding.
Sizzle!
As the top-grade potion, which can even heal severed limbs, is poured, the wound that was barely recovering starts to heal more significantly.
The bleeding stops, and his breathing stabilizes.
However, since he’s still in a dangerous state, we continue to pour high-grade potions.
Sizzle!
One bottle, two bottles, three bottles…
For reference, they’re all potions from the bear-like man’s bag, not mine.
He carries around ten high-grade potions, but why doesn’t he have any top-grade ones?
It doesn’t seem like it’s because he doesn’t have the money.
“I think we can stop now.”
After using up five more high-grade potions, the wound has healed more than two-thirds of the way.
So I stop the treatment.
With this much, his life shouldn’t be in danger, so I judge that it’s more rational to finish the treatment after the wound deterioration effect wears off.
“…….”
The bear-like man, who had been screaming in pain from the moment his nerves started to recover, is now unconscious.
I slowly get up.
“Yo, you’ve worked hard.”
Kalson says that to me as our eyes meet.
Worked hard my ass.
“Come to think of it, we haven’t split the loot yet.”
Now that the rift is cleared, we distribute the magic stones.
“Uh, it seems like the calculation is wrong…”
First, we divide the acquired magic stones by grade and give Kalson his share, and he cautiously questions it.
This guy is also strange.
I gave him a lot, not a little, but this is his reaction?
“Just take it. You didn’t even get an essence.”
Kalson’s share was originally only 5%.
Well, it increased to 10% after Jensia died…
But I give him 20% of the magic stones.
It’s the price of silence.
“If you feel bad about it, don’t go around telling people about today’s events.”
“Ah, yes! I understand!”
Although I don’t know if he’ll actually keep his promise, it’s better than nothing.
“But… why did that Miss Jensia do that?”
“Is there any other reason for looting besides money? It seems like it wasn’t her first time either.”
“I see…”
After receiving his share, Kalson leaves the rift through the portal after that one question. It seems like he doesn’t want to stay here any longer after experiencing so much.
That’s when, as I’m chuckling at the sight…
“This is…”
…the bear-like man comes to his senses.
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