[{"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-543":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},1328220,1764,"Chapter 543: Ghost (1)","surviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian-chapter-543",543,"\u003Cp>Madderkin Rilgrams.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘I never expected it would be him...’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment I faced him, I felt neither gladness nor suspicion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only confusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You... should have been killed by the village chief.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Eh...?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked at me as if he didn’t understand my muttering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since it was like this, I continued.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Killed by the village chief... what do you mean—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I saw a dagger with your clan’s emblem in their forge.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why was that dagger there?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I... don’t really know. But before leaving the island, our members traded with the locals. They gave away mostly useless items and got way too many magic stones in return.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His testimony exactly matched the village chief’s answer to my suspicions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Which only made things more confusing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘...The chief was innocent?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then what was I doing escaping the village?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was I just making a fuss for nothing?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That thought came, but I shook my head to clear it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Judgment can wait until hearing everything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tell us. What happened to you after we left the island?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Eh? Ah... yes! Got it!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He ran up with a face like “You came to rescue me!” but froze stiff when I coldly interrogated him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“First, we left the island two days after the baron left.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Honestly, his story wasn’t much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They left thinking to do something, but after experiencing that event once, they got scared and headed for the easier Library Island.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like us returning to farm, he apparently felt the need to level up his team first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It was a new creature. It had grotesque wings and a slime-like body, but all sorts of bizarre limbs grew on it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A new monster not even in my database.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wiped out the Silver Lion clan and smashed their ship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But just as Madderkin lost consciousness, drowning and presumed dead,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He woke up on Library Island.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His backpack caught on a rock, barely breathing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Since then... I thought it was too dangerous outside and went down here alone. Then... waited alone until someone came back here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saving food as much as possible, fighting loneliness instead of monsters, he endured alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was the story in summary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I see.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It didn’t seem particularly sad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From what I heard, as soon as the annihilation was decided, he abandoned his team and jumped into the sea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Sounds plausible.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If it’s the Madderkin I know, such a choice fits the situation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Information gathering ends here.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I listened well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now it’s time to verify his story.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Versil.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I ordered the mage to cast verification magic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfortunately, it didn’t work well—he had strong anti-magic—but I didn’t linger and pulled an item from the pocket dimension.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘A bit wasteful to use it here now...’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it smelled suspicious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Madderkin Rilgrams.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m going to check if what you say is true.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No request for permission.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No choice for him anyway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Click—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I activated ‘Distorted Trust’ immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I expected to learn everything even if he hid something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Well then, let’s start with a simple question.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What now?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tell me, what’s your name?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like in the doppelganger forest, a simple test to check if the device works.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why can’t this bastard answer?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tick, tick.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A compass-shaped disc.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only the steady sound of its second hand repeats.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The longer the silence, the denser the air felt on my spine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ssss—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My warrior body calmly acted on instinct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When I came to, my hand was naturally on the hammer handle strapped to my back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Purely unconscious action.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Phew...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But touching the weapon calmed me down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tell me, Rilgrams.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I asked again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What is your name?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He avoided my gaze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His eyeballs, shifted far to the right, looked strange and eerie.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“One last question.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not just resting my hand on the weapon—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I fully drew it and asked again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What is your name?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Playing silent?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Just in case, let’s break all his limbs first.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once I finished the plan in my mind, I gripped the hammer tighter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And just as I was about to swing—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...Ah.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He broke his long silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m... caught...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was short, but somehow his tone changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And indeed it had.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like a glitched audio player repeating the same words, his eyes shook uncontrollably and his voice trembled with anxiety and panic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was clearly terrified.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught—.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...Who are you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I grabbed his neck with one hand and lifted him up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His words changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What do I do?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A feeling I’d never experienced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was the one holding and lifting his neck, but why did I feel so uneasy?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What do I do? What do I do wh—.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then suddenly he closed his mouth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...Ah.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Slowly raising his chin, he looked at me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His rightward eyes were now fixed on me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He then slowly said,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I understand.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if finally realizing something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feeling an unknown anxiety, I raised the hammer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What I have to do.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With those words,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Booooom!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His body exploded in my hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The explosion itself wasn’t huge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More like a slight sting on my hand that held his neck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More like an allergic itch than a wound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But that explosion tore his flesh into thousands of pieces, scattering bones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The cleric... is useless.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Covered in blood and flesh, I stared blankly down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After grasping the situation, I sighed deeply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Damn, I messed up.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I could make excuses, but in the end, I lost because I lacked imagination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I always tried to expect the worst.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet I couldn’t predict this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘...No, how could I have?'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While blaming myself, I also wondered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could I have stopped this if I had known?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fundamental question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How do you stop an emergency escape?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s an unstoppable skill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No god can pull a dead person back to life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s theoretically the ultimate escape skill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the cost is your life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Enough useless thoughts, let’s get organized.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yandel...!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t fuss, I’m fine. Wait, I need to think.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I reassured my worried comrades and took time to analyze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short, it can be summarized in one sentence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Something unknown pretended to be Madderkin Rilgrams.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, who is the culprit?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There’s one suspect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘The village chief.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More precisely, someone the village chief sent?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I don’t think the chief panicked immediately after being caught so easily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anyway, now that we have a suspect, next step is simple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One of the basic elements of deduction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Why? And how?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why and how did they do this? I considered many assumptions but this part remained deeply veiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘To fool me into thinking the chief was innocent? Or maybe just to watch me closely...’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Purpose unknown.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘What kind of thing would allow this?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No essence fits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some skills let you possess others, but it’s very different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mostly the caster must be nearby, with visible threads linking body and caster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘It’s not an essence.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If anything,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘A wraith.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It would be closer to a ‘wraith’ in form.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking that, cold sweat broke out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After long discussions with comrades, we couldn’t discover more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It remained a shaky hypothesis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘The village chief has means to possess others like a wraith.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Better safe than sorry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the Madderkin Rilgrams emergency escape incident,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as things somewhat settled uncomfortably, we led the group to investigate the library.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two changes happened while we were gone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘The books... have respawned.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The summoned books recharged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When we left, most lower shelves were nearly empty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Books strewn messily were now neatly organized, floor clean.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘The stairs ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) reset too.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We had exhausted summoned books, linking stairs to upper shelves where grade 3 monsters appear, but the library was back to its initial state.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Hmm, so what’s the reset criterion? Time?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If so, maybe the trigger is Woo-gi, but that’s unconfirmed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yandel, it’s good news. We can farm essences more comfortably now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah... yeah.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a positive situation as Amelia said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the stair reset hurt, farming theoretically became infinite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there’s negatives too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘With resets, it will be hard to reach the top shelves by simple grinding.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearing Library Island is already hard with a time limit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But complaints can wait until aiming for a clear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘I knew resets happened, so no more wasted time.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I threw away all worries and focused on why we came here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’m actually suited to grind-heavy games.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just zoning out clears all nonsense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「Frost Wolf defeated.」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「Stone Golem defeated.」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「Hobgoblin defeated.」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「Ice Orc Warrior defeated.」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「Yeti defeated.」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「Riture Talismanist defeated.」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We divided into groups for hunting and farming and crazily farmed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Grade 9, 8, 7...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The higher the shelves, the harder the monsters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From when grade 4+ monsters appeared, we focused on finding specific monsters to summon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Magic stones dropped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Experience accumulated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Essence!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Essences for the Anabada members weren’t yet dropping, but a few dropped each day, and my team grew steadily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time passed...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s enough! We’ll stop here today, rest up!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Day 85 since entering the labyrinth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「Character souls resonate, guiding them to a specific world.」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The day had come.\u003C\u002Fp>",1551,"2026-06-05T19:33:16.156Z",1,"novelbin.me","b6dfe5c7cb6d2cfb0dccef3b08c2aa8380ed95225a233a96c10e8041aaf48ad5","surviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian-chapter-544","surviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian-chapter-542",807,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsurviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian-cover.jpg"]