[{"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-717":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},1327944,1764,"Chapter 717: Prison (4)","surviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian-chapter-717",717,"\u003Cp>There’s a saying in this world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you spend a long time as a prisoner, eventually prisoners start boasting about their shackles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whose are bigger, heavier, stronger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How hard it is to wear them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, you might think, nah, no one really brags about that, but the truth might be otherwise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because I’m no different myself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Good equipment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Status.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Skills and experience, and so on...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feeling proud of what you’ve earned through sweat and blood, wanting others to recognize it, yet sometimes an emptiness sweeps through your whole body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What use are wealth, fame, and power?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because once you return to the real world, it all becomes meaningless hard labor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, the man thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Good equipment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Status.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Skills and experience, and so on...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how much you talk about it, in the end, it’s just boasting about shackles to someone else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sigh, I want to eat Big Mac.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because this world is a prison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was a man quietly looking into a mirror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thump—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His appearance was reasonably decent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wearing full white armor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thump—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man gazed at his reflection for a long while, feeling an inexplicable awkwardness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ah, maybe it wasn’t inexplicable?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Swoosh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He smoothed the upper left part of his breastplate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Where his finger touched was empty, showing only faint traces visible upon close inspection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You know that thing?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like when you stick a sticker for a long time and then peel it off, leaving a mark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thunk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He withdrew his hand from the mark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was no longer a paladin belonging to the order.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having officially left the order, he became an outsider, no longer allowed to use the title ‘paladin.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As proof, he had returned the emblem that was attached to his armor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No longer was he obliged to attend dawn prayers, pre-meal prayers, or the midnight prayers they held every night before sleeping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But still...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thump—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man knelt on the carpeted floor with eyes closed, saying a brief prayer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a habit he maintained every morning even after leaving the order.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The star that rises at twilight will guide us...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, he hated prayers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When in the order, he internally complained about how often they prayed, sometimes even skipping with excuses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet he kept up the morning prayers alone for one reason.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a way, it was the same reason all humans pray to gods.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I, your servant, earnestly beg you, please do not take away your power from me. Have mercy. Save me in times of crisis.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because he was anxious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had built a tank character relying on holy power, and if one day his holy power vanished, he’d instantly become useless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In reality, many who left the order lost their holy power entirely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Honestly, prayers also gave him peace of mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The desire to lean on something exists even for a lump of rock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thump—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a brief silent prayer, the man stood up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking up at the ceiling, he said,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...Please, I beg you. It seems the goddess cares for the baron, so I will continue to serve faithfully by his side. Okay?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the tone was far from reverent for a prayer, it was not unfamiliar to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even during his time in the order, though his lips uttered solemn prayers, his mind spoke like this—and yet his holy power grew steadily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe the goddess preferred this relaxed relationship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...Or maybe not.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Knock, knock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as he was about to leave, a knock came at the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Parab, are you in there?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A familiar woman waited at the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Small build.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Round eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Overall gentle impression, but somehow gave off an aura of stubbornness and justice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Marone? What brings you here? There’s still time before assembly...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Just thought big armor is hard to put on alone... Maybe you need help? But looks like you got it all on already!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hahaha... At first, it was hard for me alone too, but I got the hang of it eventually. Thanks for the concern.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Finished? Want to go together? Assembly time is near.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah, sure.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They left the room together for the meeting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several were already gathered, including a seriously-faced deputy captain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bersil Gowlund.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another prisoner with proud shackles in this vast prison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the way, she recently got new shackles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“At first, I didn’t realize, but lately I feel Yandel’s absence a lot. Gowlund must be having a hard time too...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hahaha... That’s probably true...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Parab smiled awkwardly and tried to catch her breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thump!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even without heavy exercise, his heart throbbed fiercely since he woke up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A symptom started the day he returned to this city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several days had passed, but it still didn’t get easier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This thing just wouldn’t get familiar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still anxious to the point of madness, sometimes panic attacks made it hard to breathe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because of that instinct—whether blessing or curse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Please, let today pass safely.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly feeling worse, he closed his eyes and prayed again to the goddess of this world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pshuuuuuuuuung-!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sound of a fighter jet taking off hit his eardrums.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All the clan members gathered in the clearing looked up in shock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something shot into the sky like a rocket, arcing towards the city center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Slow yet incredibly fast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leaving a clear trail in the sky, something shining was launched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daeang! Daeang! Daeang! Daeang-!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The city wall alarm bells rang in unison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kwaaaaaaaang-!!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon, the entire city shook.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Drdrdrdrdr-!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A faint tremor was felt on basement 6.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I looked at Raven and quietly organized my thoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A portal, huh...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Barbarians don’t dismiss absurd claims; they don’t limit their imagination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the mage seemed unsure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I... well, maybe not. I just faintly felt the typical magical wave of a portal beyond...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if not a ‘guide’ who instinctively senses portals from afar, she was the most sensitive to mana.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So, there really was a portal beyond.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover... I’d heard rumors about this once before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thunk, thunk...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Twenty years ago, at the round table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No, now that much time had passed, it was more like twenty-something years ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There, a fiend named ‘Kagureas’ from another world said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[There is a portal underground in the royal palace.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides the dimensional square, somewhere beneath the palace there’s a portal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe this was it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hopefully it’s not the portal connected to the labyrinth...?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Well, we’ll have to check, but probably not connected to the labyrinth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because ‘Kagureas’ also said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[I only learned by chance, but it seems not connected to the labyrinth.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Well, it was just hearsay.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But since the first discoverer said so, it had some credibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Anything else besides the portal?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That needs a closer look...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hurry up. Maybe we’ve made an incredible discovery.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Did she like the phrase ‘incredible discovery’?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Raven enthusiastically investigated the box (?) where the portal was suspected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She circled around once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Carefully checking for grooves, circled again, floated up with levitation magic to see the top.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kwaang-!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tapping the walls with the flail, even instructed me to dig if I had a shovel...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After trying everything, only one thing was certain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We couldn’t find anything besides the portal’s existence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ah, is there one more thing?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Well, not learned from investigation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hey, Yandel! Look! The ceiling we fell through is restored!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The floor °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° of basement 5 that caused us to fall had been neatly repaired.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because of that, even the faint tremors stopped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It felt like we were completely cut off from the outside now, and panic welled up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Can we use teleport? We can still use teleport, right?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh? Ah... wait a moment!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, Raven seemed to get scared that we might be trapped here forever and quickly drew a magic circle on the ground and did some tests.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yandel...?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Speak quickly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There’s... bad news and good news—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Bad news first.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t think we can use multi-teleport magic here... The mana keeps scattering...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damn, so we’re really trapped here?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sounds crazy, but I kept calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then the good news?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Though invisible to the naked eye, a spatial transfer magic circle is buried beneath this floor. It seems to cause the mana scattering, but if we activate it—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Briefly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We can escape, but we don’t know where we’ll end up.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...So no need to worry about being trapped forever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was reassuring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You know military magic circles, right? This is almost the same. You create a magic circle at a designated coordinate, then consume mana to travel back and forth easily...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Main point.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This magic circle has one circuit. Only two-way travel is possible. So what will you do?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No need to think.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are you sure there’s nothing more we can find here?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes. If there were research facilities, maybe, but with bare hands, this is it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Got it. Then activate the magic circle immediately.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Knowing I’d choose this, Raven started the activation without hesitation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’ll probably take some time. I’ll check if there’s anything dangerous. I’ll tell you when it’s done, so rest.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since it would take some time, I approached the cubic structure in the center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A gray structure, neither black nor white.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its surface was soft enough to leave a mark if touched, yet so durable that dozens of strikes with a flail left no scratch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘If there really is a portal inside, there must be a way to enter...’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hmm, maybe magic or a card key would open the entrance?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if it were magic, Raven would’ve noticed something...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lost in thought, I considered something else not to waste time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Noark.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe a far more important matter than that mysterious box. Who had those bastards allied with, and what were they trying to accomplish?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just wanting to overthrow the royal family didn’t quite add up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘...Zone 7.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And what about zone 7?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Judging from the situation, it seemed ‘Thunder’ had exploded there once more, just before the collapse...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hopefully, it’s safe—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...Huh?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as the incident reached that point, I flinched and stepped back from the box (?).\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no choice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were what looked like human handprints from below the wall I’d been touching earlier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sssuuk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Slowly putting my hand to the handprints, a mirrored handprint on the opposite side twitched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And faintly, a voice was heard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Let me out.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The unexpected chill sent shivers down my spine, but thanks to that, I learned the box’s true nature.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Please.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This box was a prison.\u003C\u002Fp>",1749,"2026-06-05T19:33:18.959Z",1,"novelbin.me","029b13f7662be18ff347fd357f7c56691924971f53573e04e49a6f57c0ccd3ff","surviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian-chapter-718","surviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian-chapter-716",807,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsurviving-the-game-as-a-barbarian-cover.jpg"]