[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-surviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian":3,"chapter-surviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian-surviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian-chapter-346":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Surviving the Game as a Barbarian",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1327466,1764,"Chapter 346: Seclusion (1)","surviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian-chapter-346",346,"\u003Cp>Objectively, her specs were slightly better than mine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And her equipment…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Overwhelmingly superior.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, she had participated in the war for over a year and had killed countless Noark bastards, so her combat experience would also be greater than mine now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there was no need to be intimidated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Erwen had made one mistake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Swoosh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Distance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Spirit King contractor or not, distance control was an archer’s lifeline. At this distance, I had the advantage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And besides, she wasn’t even mentally stable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“At, attack you? How… how can I do that… to you…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Geez, she was the one who called me an evil spirit earlier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wasn’t going to give her time to think.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Things could get messy if we both went all out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clench.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I made a fist, my hand the size of a watermelon, and dashed forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whoosh!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…my fist, which I thought was a surprise attack, cut through the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She’s fast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…Don’t… don’t do this…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Well, I had expected this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment I stopped, my foot slamming into the ground…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「Character has cast [Eye of the Storm].」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…a whirlpool appeared around me, pulling everything towards its center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t combined with [Transcendence], so the radius was only 5 meters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it was enough to cover the entire room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whiiiiiish!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bed, blanket, pillow, bookshelf, desk, carpet, and so on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything that weighed less than 500 kilograms was caught in the wind and flew around the room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Including Erwen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…This is!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Erwen, who had fought Stormgush on Parune Island, looked confused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She probably didn’t expect this skill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I hadn’t shown it to her when I was proving my identity since it wasn’t one of my original essences.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whoosh!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Erwen, who had also been through a lot, immediately improvised. She summoned the wind spirit and tried to resist the pull.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“St, stop it…!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stop what?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I told you, there’s something wrong with your head.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I walked towards her, maintaining [Eye of the Storm].\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whoosh!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…I punched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, I didn’t expect it to hit her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I thought she would dodge back, and then I would use [Gigantification] to extend my reach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Well, that was the plan…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thud, thud, thud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…but the furniture and other items that had been flying around the room suddenly fell to the ground as [Eye of the Storm] ended.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…….”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…Erwen was standing there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her eyes closed, right in front of my fist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had no choice but to ask.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If she hadn’t stopped at the last moment, my fist would have definitely hit her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But why?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why didn’t you dodge?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Erwen slowly opened her eyes and spoke, her expression on the verge of tears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Because… you would have been hurt…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huh?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My mind went blank at the sudden turn of events.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re right… I, I know… there’s something wrong with me… but… even so…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Erwen continued, her voice trembling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How… how could I hurt you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Uh…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Right… I see.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Drop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was speechless, watching a teardrop fall from her cheek and hit the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…….”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This makes me look like the bad guy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>____________________\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had a sincere conversation with Erwen after that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a long and rambling conversation, often going off on tangents, but to summarize:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She hadn’t been in her right mind since I died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had endured a long period of pain and obtained the Pureblood of her tribe, driven by the desire for revenge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The war broke out as soon as she gained power, and she sought out dangerous battlefields, thinking it was her chance to take revenge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s when she contracted the Spirit King.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I admit it was excessive, but I never intended to imprison you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…she had boarded up the windows and only allowed me to go out at night because she was worried about me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rumor that I was an evil spirit had spread throughout the city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She couldn’t control herself, thinking that she might lose me again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then what about Amelia?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…Her too. I can’t trust her. I’m confident that I would never betray you, but… I don’t know about her. I’m so anxious…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…….”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But I, I won’t do it again. I won’t stop you even if you want to make her your companion. Honestly, I’m still uneasy, but…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uneasy, but…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…Because you don’t want me to.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hmm, is she being sincere?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It didn’t seem like she was lying…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was worried that she might suddenly snap again, but she seemed genuinely sincere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She even said this:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My essences. I’ll remove them all tomorrow if you tell me to. Even if it means… I won’t be able to protect you anymore…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most of Erwen’s essences were obtained through her achievements in the war.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But she’s saying she’ll remove them all?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…Why would you do that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a reason I couldn’t understand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Were we that close?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn’t say it out loud since it would be rude in this situation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…It’s better not to remove your essences.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…I’ll do as you say.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But if this happens again, I’ll remove a few of them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, if that’s what you want—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m not saying this for me, I’m saying it for you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was being 100% sincere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Erwen wasn’t in her right mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I kept telling her sweet words and took advantage of her fear of being hated, it wouldn’t be difficult to control her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But that wasn’t right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That wasn’t what companions were for.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had learned that from a mage in Lalkas’s Maze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“For… me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…I said firmly,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, for you… no, to be precise, for our relationship.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ou, our relationship…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…Do you understand?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I asked again, grabbing her shoulder, and Erwen answered,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ye, yes…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…You really understand, right?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>____________________\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My life didn’t change much after that conversation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I continued to live a reclusive life, going out to the garden at night and leaving the windows boarded up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only thing that changed was Erwen’s attitude.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mister, here’s your equipment.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Erwen, who had been acting like it was fine for me to just hide in this house, started actively helping me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, it was equipment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No. 2988 Mark of the Guardian Corps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It didn’t have any stats or active effects, but it gave a 50% shock absorption bonus to shields, making it one of the core items for shield barbarians.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…You had this?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, there’s no way I could sell it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed like Raven had taken charge of the inheritance distribution, and she had been keeping this earring after receiving it by mail.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But why are you giving it to me now? You asked about my equipment before.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sorry… I hid it because I didn’t want you to go back to the labyrinth.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Right, it wasn’t my imagination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘If I hadn’t resolved the situation back then, I would have really been raised in this house…’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I shuddered, but she wouldn’t have actually done that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I dismissed my unease and focused on something else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had assumed that all my old equipment had been sold and was circulating in the market, but now I had a different thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The others might have kept some of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…I’ll have to ask them. But one thing’s for sure, Avman Urikfrit sold everything.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Avman did?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes. I heard he took the less meaningful items, like your subspace ring.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hmm, I see.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He took the things that were difficult to sell, so he could sell them without feeling guilty?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was a bit disappointed, but it wasn’t important.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘As long as I have this earring and that, I can just get the rest again.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I could just have my armor and shield remade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the other Numbered Items weren’t that expensive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you know who took my necklace?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah, the one that transformed magic stones into weird things?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its official name was No. 7777 Garpas’s Necklace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a necklace that transformed magic stones into random materials. It was like a gacha version of alchemy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So it wasn’t a very valuable item.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At least not until you had enough money to trigger the hidden event.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Actually… I wanted that necklace, so I sent a letter to that mage… no, Arrua Raven, a while ago.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So? Who took it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Misha Kaltstein.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I sighed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was the only one among my companions whose whereabouts were unknown. Well, I did hear that she was with Lee Baekho at the Round Table…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But that just made me more confused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was all a mystery.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…….”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I decided to think positively.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Misha and I were close.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She would probably be keeping it safe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Hmm… maybe not?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wasn’t sure anymore, since two years and six months had passed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I decided to think about it later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Anyway, I think Ainar probably took my armor and weapon… Then did Raven get the rest?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was contemplating the whereabouts of my scattered equipment when I suddenly thought of an item.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Ah, the Orb of Fire… I wonder what happened to that?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the only Bound item I had.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I was considered dead in this time period, it would have been sold, and if not, it would probably still be in someone’s possession.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘If it’s the latter, then Raven probably has it…’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Phew…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more I thought about it, the more I sighed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although I had gained a lot from the past, there were also many things I had to take care of.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mister, aren’t you going to eat?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah… I was just lost in thought.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I dismissed my thoughts and ate the food Erwen had brought. And after our meal, we had a brief discussion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are you going to do?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…I have to clear my name first.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Should I… use my influence to create an opportunity…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Erwen suggested proving myself in front of the royal family, but I refused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was too early.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I would have to do it eventually, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something political going on with my case.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I think we have to be more careful with this. If something goes wrong, it could affect you and the entire fairy tribe.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…You’re… so kind.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ahem. Anyway, that’s why… Can you focus on gathering information about Raven and Avman? We don’t have to worry about Erwen anymore.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Okay! I will.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Erwen then left for the sanctuary, and I lay down on the sofa in the living room to take a nap.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s when…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Knock, knock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…someone knocked on the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Erwen wouldn’t knock.\u003C\u002Fp>",1759,"2026-06-05T19:32:49.065Z",1,"novelbin.me","1e13a8a5e46208c19b6736f45b6929a88fcfb13ce2b49ad65e5893083152f7a5","surviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian-chapter-347","surviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian-chapter-345",807,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsurviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian-cover.jpg"]