District 7(4)

After raiding the Grand Temple of the Leatlas Church, our first stop, we continued along our pre-planned route to save the explorers  trapped in various city facilities.

And then…

“You’re saying… you’ll give us the Essence?”

“Exactly! The stronger you all become, the higher the chances of saving this city, right? Here, take it!”

And so, every time we made an escape, I distributed an Essence.

Ah, of course, I didn’t just hand them out to anyone. Each time we freed a group, I gave one to the highest-ranked explorer among them. It was necessary to keep up appearances for the palace’s sake.

Besides, the Essences we’d obtained on the first basement floor weren’t nearly enough to give one to everyone anyway.

‘Okay, that wraps up the Essence distribution.’

By the time we freed the West Branch of the Public Safety office—our fourth stop—all the Essences I’d set aside for distribution were gone.

“Um… shouldn’t we at least keep a record of who received which Essence?”

Unaware of my tax evasion plan, Auyen and my other allies belatedly voiced their concerns about my actions.

“It is royal property, after all. No matter how noble the cause, they will surely want to verify everything.”

Well, that’s true.

But so what?

Normally, if someone made this kind of “mistake,” it would look very suspicious.

“Eh, why bother keeping records? Too much hassle.”

I am a barbarian.

So, handling things the barbarian way wouldn’t seem strange at all.

“If it’s too much trouble, I can ask around now and make a record—”

“Enough! Who has time for that in the middle of all this?”

“Still…”

Sigh. I appreciate the concern, but—

“Auyen, I said it’s fine.”

When I lowered my voice and cut him off, Auyen looked startled and fell silent.

It seemed he’d finally sensed I had some hidden motive… though he didn’t yet know exactly what it was.

Well, even Amelia had been utterly shocked when she first heard my plan.

She’d said I was probably the only person in the world crazy enough to pull something like this against the royal family.

“Bjoorrnnn! So when are we heading to the next target? I want to fight already…!! Uooohhhh!!”

Just as I was about to resume our advance, Aynar, unable to hold back any longer, started urging me on.

‘…Maybe I should’ve only restored half of her fighting spirit?’

Now that her fighting spirit had returned, Aynar seemed to be acting even more aggressively than before, as if trying to make up for her past humiliation.

 

I wondered if giving her only half would have made her more normal. But then…

‘Nah, that wouldn’t be a spear barbarian. That’d just be a normal spearwoman.’

A barbarian should be like this.

As a Barbarian Lord, I was honestly glad to see Aynar regain her boldness.

So I even changed her role.

Originally, I’d assigned her to follow Versil and guard the rear.

But now—

“Roar, Aynar.”

“Bethel—raaaahhhhhhh!!!”

She was charging alongside me at the very front, smashing anything in sight. All while skillfully utilizing her new skills.

[Aynar Pheneline has activated [Indomitable Spirit].]

[Physical stats are greatly increased for a certain duration.]

[All action-restricting status effects are reduced by 80%.]

The new combat buff turned Aynar into a war chariot, sweeping across the battlefield.

Though it wasn’t complete CC immunity or a cleanse-type skill…

With an 80% reduction plus her magic resistance, most CCs broke almost instantly.

[Aynar Pheneline has cast Focused Shot]

However, she couldn’t effectively use her core Spear Barbarian skill, [Focused Sho].

[For the next strike, the effects of all piercing-type skills will be applied]

That’s because she only had one piercing skill:[Trident Strike].

I even advised her not to use it too much since mana was precious, but Aynar didn’t seem interested in listening.

“How can I resist when my spear glows like this?” she argued back.

‘Once we resolve the city’s crisis, I’ll have to feed her more offensive skills.’

With around three piercing skills, Focus Shot’s power would surpass that of a Level 5 skill.

And it had another hidden advantage.

‘In a way, this skill’s also a conversion-type skill.’

[Focus Shot]’s condition is “piercing-type skills.”

Meaning, it can even synergize with skills from other classes, like archery skills meant for ranged weapons.

In fact, this flexibility is why I chose [Focus Shot] as the Spear Barbarian’s core essence.

“UOOOOOHHHH!!”

Regardless, even without fully utilizing [Focus Shot], Aynar rampaged across the battlefield, it was like back when she was known as the Explosive Blade. Actually, this time she outdid herself.

Well it’s not surprising, since her raw stats had skyrocketed from this upgrade…

[Aynar Pheneline has used 10 attack skills.]

[Passive skill War Machine greatly reduces damage received for a short time]

[Aynar Pheneline has failed to defend]

[Passive skill Endurance slightly increases all resistances]

Her defensive passives had also dramatically improved her combat stability.

And in the midst of all this—

Boom!

Her damage output had risen to an entirely new level.

Against multiple weaker enemies, her old fighting style might’ve been more effective, but her single-target damage was now on a whole different level.

After all, the Verdant Giant Spear was a top-tier spear weapon.

A few thrusts were enough to pierce through most armor like tofu.

“Since when did the Explosive Blade… use a spear?”

“But she seems even stronger than when she used a sword…”

“…The Divine Spear! The Divine Spear has arrived!”

Hearing the explorers’ excited chatter, Aynar turned to me and asked:

“Bjorn, what’s a Divine Spear?”

“It means someone who’s really good with a spear.”

“UOOOH!! I AM THE DIVINE SPEAAAAAR!!!”

And so, Aynar gained a new title.

***

[Aynar Pheneline’s Fame has increased by +1.]

[Aynar Pheneline’s Fame has increased by +1.]

[Aynar Pheneline’s Fame has increased by +1.]

[Aynar Pheneline’s Fame has increased by +1…]

[…….]

After coming back from the underground floor, we drew quite a bit of attention from the explorers who followed, but no one made as strong an impression as Ainar.

“What’s up with that shield…?”

“I’m not sure. But it’s definitely not an ordinary item.”

“Looks like the giant’s women have gotten stronger, too.”

It wasn’t just me Amelia, Misha, and Erwin, who had also gained new essences, showed

noticeably improved abilities, earning admiration from many explorers.

“…I don’t know what kind of exploration they did, but the giant’s back now has wings.”

“At this point, is it even surprising? His name’s already engraved on the Stone of Honor.

One day, when he dies, he’ll be remembered as a legend in this city.”

A little embarrassing to hear, but… they weren’t exactly wrong.

This journey had given us the means to go even further.

Of course, we had to finish this current mission first.

“…Empty again, huh.”

The underground prison of the Explorer Guilds’ Western Branch—the ninth stop on our route—was completely deserted when we arrived.

“I guess our easy win in the last battle really left an impression.”

“I’d expect the other facilities to look like this too.”

From the third facility onward, the Noark forces had been waiting fully prepared, forcing us into heavy fighting.

But by the seventh facility, their forces had noticeably weakened. Now, even the guards and imprisoned explorers had disappeared entirely.

Of course, this wasn’t entirely unexpected.

No matter how much chaos we caused inside, the forces they feared most were the royal army stationed beyond the city walls.

They had to keep troops stationed at the walls in case of emergencies, and pulling too many soldiers to deal with us risked alerting the royal army.

In short, they had no choice but to leave us alone.

‘Tch, guess we won’t be getting help from the royal family.’

Honestly, I had hoped for a different best-case scenario.

I wanted the royal army to launch a full-scale assault and capitalize on the opening we created.

The News of our return from the first basement floor must have reached the royal family by now.

They should know we’re in District 7, and if they noticed the Noark troops being pulled from the walls, they’d quickly realize something was up.

But…

“Guess it’s time to move to the next phase of the plan.”

Since when does the world ever go the way you want?

I had faced this kind of situation countless times. And All I could do now was make a quick decision.

“Next pahse…?”

“I already explained this before. Why are you pretending you don’t know?”

“…”

“We break through the wall ourselves and leave the district.”

I had already discussed this with my party members when we planned our strategy.

But the recently rescued explorers were another matter.

“Huh…? What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you just say the walls are crawling with Noark forces…?”

“Is this even possible?”

“Most of us don’t even have proper equipment!”

“With all due respect, no matter your achievements, this seems reckless…”

There were plenty of ways I could convince them—

I could say our strength was enough to make it worth trying.

Or that if we attacked first, the royal army would almost certainly notice and support us.

Or that no matter how badly we got hurt, once we crossed the wall we could get medical treatment.

A few stirring words, and they’d follow.

But…

“Man, you’re noisy.”

“What…?”

“You’re all grown adults. Why are you whining so much?”

“…Excuse me?”

I looked at the stunned explorers and spoke bluntly.

“If you’re scared, stay behind. Problem solved.”

“…What?”

“Why are you so shocked? Did you think I’d waste time giving you an inspiring speech?”

“…”

Judging from their silence, that’s exactly what they’d expected.

Well, I’m not their dad.

“We’re moving out!”

Without further discussion, I simply took the lead. That was enough.

“…Are you staying behind, then?”

“Are you crazy? I’m going!”

“The Baron must have a plan. I’ll trust him.”

In my view, I’d just saved us twenty minutes.

Since District 7 was practically my hometown, it wasn’t hard to navigate the city.

The wall was visible in the distance, anyway.

The problem was… as we drew closer, the Noark main force spotted us and began

advancing.

“At least twenty times our number.”

“And that’s not even all of them. More will arrive with time.”

And they weren’t just numerous.

The Noark’s main force sent to stop us was filled with individuals radiating a certain aura, and among them was someone I knew all too well.

“Looks like you made it back alive from even that place, Bjorn Yandel. Honestly, it would’ve been better if you’d just died there.”

“…….”

Looking at the figure who greeted me from afar, I let out a dry laugh.

“Pssit.”

This guy… still the same as ever.

 

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