Chapter 6

[Dungeon and Stone] is an unusual game.

Although fellow NPCs are essential to making progress in the game, you should never trust them.

Especially if it’s a newcomer you’ve just met.

I’m walking through a cave.

Wobble.

My gait is unbalanced, because I just have the one shoe.

Nevertheless, I feel happy.

This discomfort I feel now is not something I could have felt when I’d been crawling on three legs.

I have regained my human dignity.

Who knows how long that’ll last.

“Hu…”

Advance, using the shield to reasonably protect your upper body.

No need to keep your eyes peeled and survey every inch of the floor.

Because there is light here.

The light emitted by the crystals embedded in the walls and the ceiling brightens the surroundings.

Compared to crawling through the darkness as you bleed out, it’s like a wonderous dream.

To tell the truth, being able to see ahead feels like a blessing from God.

A benediction, to help me exterminate these wicked goblin bastards.

“Waaaargh!”

“Gruck?!”

Surprised by my cry, a goblin jumps out from where he’d taken cover behind a rock.

As I’d already roughly grasped his hiding place, I used my skill as if I’d been waiting for this moment.

“Smash! You son of a bitch! “

Smash is a skill with decent attack power that doesn’t consume MP.

FYI, I created it just now.

Puk –!

The goblin collided with my shield mid-leap and fell to the ground. I rapidly closed the distance and stomped my foot on his ribs.

“Ga, gruck?!”

Don’t try those pitiful eyes on me.

I know how crafty and evil you bastards are.

“Ga, gruck!”

Oh, you’re different?

Then you should complain to your friend who’s gone ahead. Because that bastard made me like this.

Kwajik –!

I slam the shield’s edge down on goblin’s face, as hard as I can.

This one is different from Smash, which only hits an enemy in front by swinging or pushing the shield.

This one is called… Shield Ultimate.

Likewise, created just now.

Swaaaaaaaa –!

Soon, the goblin, who died cleanly, dissolved into motes of light.

Signifying that evil had diminished, and the world had become a little more beautiful.

I picked up the mana stone that dropped as a reward, and roughly stuffed it into my pocket.

This one was the tenth since I entered the labyrinth.

“Hu, these fucking bastards.”

After barely surviving a life-and-death ordeal, I kept encountering goblins.

I was nervous at first, but I soon realized.

At places that boasted the safety of light, the goblins weren’t a threat to me at all.

They weren’t as smart as I had thought.

If you have trouble believing that, just look at that randomly installed trap over there.

‘Couldn’t you at least dig up some soil to cover it? Do you have a brain or not? If you just leave it openly on the road, who the hell is going to step on it?’

The goblin traps were so crude that they could be noticed even from afar. Even if you tried to pass by one without triggering it, most times the goblins would just jump out and attack you first.

Probably what happened with that bastard following me grinning like a pervert, only happened because I actually stepped on a trap like an idiot…

Gradually, after grasping their habits, the battles became easier.

First of all, their main weapon was a short dagger, and their physical strength was only at the level of a child in the upper grades of an elementary school.

In contrast, I was now a muscular barbarian with a physique that towered above them at around 2m. In an all-out fight, a goblin could be subdued in about 3 seconds.

As a result, the only thing I had to be careful of was a surprise attack, but they even helpfully pointed out the ambush locations via those shoddy traps…

‘Hah, being a Goblin Slayer[1] isn’t bad either, right?’

I immediately slapped myself hard on the cheek.

Puk –!

I got so caught up that it actually hurt.

… What had I been thinking just now?

This is obviously a sign of madness.

If not for that, there would be no way I could giggle while thinking such pathetic thoughts.

Don’t be proud of killing a few measly goblins.

It hasn’t even been two hours since you recovered from the verge of death, and none of your new problems have been solved.

“Man, I’m hungry…”

First, the problem of food.

The shield wasn’t the only thing I shed as I crawled through that darkness.

About 5 days’ worth of food was lost due to a hole in the food bag the chieftain gave me.

Of course, I couldn’t wander back into the dark to find it.

This was not the fairy-tale of Hansel and Gretel.

Crunch, crunch.

I took out a piece of bread from my pocket and ate it.

The bread was hard and dry for better preservation, but as I wet it gently with saliva, I could feel the sweetness of carbohydrates on my tongue.

Why was it so delicious?

As if my eating habits had changed after possessing this barbarian’s body.

The piece of bread the size of my palm disappeared in a few bites.

I sighed, feeling a strange taste of regretful bitterness in my mouth.

Thirst.

This was the second problem.

… Fuck, where was I supposed to get any water?

「You killed a goblin.」

「You killed a goblin.」

「You killed a goblin.」

「You killed a goblin.」

「Warning: You are dehydrated. Please find a source of drinking water…」

[Dungeon & Stone] had a satiety system.

Of course, it activated only inside the labyrinth, and there was no need to carry extra drinking water because a meal was enough to fill you up.

But this was not the game.

To be honest, it was closer to another world that was just very similar to the game I knew.

‘The game was hardcore already, but now that this is a reality, the difficulty has become crazy.’

I wasn’t too worried, though.

It’s true that water is a more important resource than food, but even so, the tribe chief hadn’t provided us any water.

Obviously, it should be possible to find enough for self-sufficiency within the labyrinth.

It didn’t take long to actually find it.

“Smash!”

After hours of slaying goblins while wandering around in a cave as complicated as an ant maze.

Chasing after the sound of dripping water, I found a small pond.

An adventurer was already squatting there, drinking. Excluding the party earlier, this was actually my first meeting somebody in the labyrinth…

“…”

There was no conversation.

He saw me coming from afar and left without a word, and I didn’t even bother to approach and talk to him.

All the other adventurers I saw afterwards were the same, too. As soon as anybody saw me, they ran away.

As in the game, there seemed to be an unwritten rule among the adventurers to avoid coming into contact with each other.

Well, maybe they just didn’t want to get involved with a barbarian so completely drenched in blood.

Anyway, while catching goblins, I just kept eating bread when I was hungry and drinking water when I was thirsty, and time flew by.

“One, two, three, four, five, six…”

I counted my loot so far, and it was a total of forty-four mana stones.

With a straightforward conversion rate, it was forty-four pieces of bread.

Thinking back on the time I had been teetering on the brink of death, it was truly a thrilling journey so far. But nothing is free in this world.

In return, I received a bone deep exhaustion.

This was my third problem.

‘I’m getting sleepy…’

Since you were born as a living creature, you must periodically sleep.

Even a high-spec barbarian like me is no different.

So, how do you sleep in a labyrinth teeming with monsters?

There are two ways.

First. Entrust your life to the heavens and just take a nap.

Second. Find a teammate so you can protect each other.

I had already decided which option I would choose.

Entrusting your life to the heavens? In my experience, the heavens weren’t very dependable. At least, in my case, they really weren’t.

‘Let’s find a colleague.’

Of course, that didn’t mean establishing a party formally.

Everyone was in the same tiring situation right now, so I planned to find somebody suitable and form a temporary cooperative relationship.

In fact, even in the game, most of the nights when my character got tired passed like that.

Thump, thump.

After making my decision, I wandered through the labyrinth focusing on movement rather than battle. It was just that, unlike before, I could now see groups of people everywhere.

Thump, thump.

Groups of adventurers in twos or threes were resting, taking turns amongst each other to keep watch.

Based on the appearance and demeanour, I found the courage to initiate contact with a few groups, but all of them ended up in refusal.

“I’m sorry, but we’ve got all the people we need.”

So they said, but they frowned and covered their noses at my approach every time, so the reason was quite clear.

… Motherfuckers.

Just how clean do you think you guys are?

While I was venting inside my mind, someone spoke to me.

“Hey.”

He was a human uncle who looked to be in his thirties.

About 180 cm tall.

He gave off a pretty nice and warm-hearted impression, but in his hand was a hammer covered in goblin blood.

The uncle smiled and asked me.

“Are you looking for a night buddy?”

What the fuck is this bastard saying?

As I instinctively took a step back, the uncle tilted his head.

“Wasn’t that what you were looking for? I thought I could trust my back to you and rest comfortably because you were a barbarian, but unfortunately not, huh.”

Say that earlier, mister…

It seemed that night buddy was a slang for the temporary cooperative relationship I was talking about.

The in-game notation was ‘Night Companion’.

I interpreted it as a comrade at night, but actually hearing it here, it sounded quite perverted.

“… No. I am looking for a night buddy.”

“Is that so? I’m lucky. Then will you come with me?”

“I will.”

So, we became friends for one night.

“My name is Hans.”

“I am Bjorn, son of Yandel.”

“Then can I call you Bjorn?”

The man seemed to have a lot of experience, since he naturally finished the initial introductions and led the conversation from there.

“Three night friends are the best, but looking for another now seems like a waste of stamina. Bjorn, what do you think?”

To put it simply, it sounds like you’re talking about sleeping together.

Just what exactly are you thinking about? I don’t know if it’s because of the snarky tone, but I feel attacked, I tell you.

“Good.”

“Great. If someone asks you to join us, then we should discuss with each other and decide whether to accept or not.”

After a brief discussion, we decided to spend the first night together.

However, the problem was…

“Then let’s decide the order by playing rock-paper-scissors.”

Rock, paper, scissors seemed to be the rule of thumb here as well.

Fuck, I’m not good at this…

Then, as expected, I was the one out of luck.

“Hmm, for some reason I won.”

Screw you.

“Then, I will ask you again. If a goblin or another adventurer approaches, wake me up first. Do you understand?”

“… I get it.”

“Come on then, take this.”

The man lent me a watch with the numbers 0 to 23 on the dial, and was kind enough to teach me how to use it.

“When the short hour hand comes here, you can wake me up.”

Perhaps this was how the people here perceived the barbarians.

“You can’t break it. It’s expensive.”

“… I get it.”

Well, he was just being strict.

Soon, the uncle took out a blanket, covered himself with it, and lay down on the floor with the backpack as a pillow. And very soon, he fell asleep.

Is it time yet? That looks so comfortable.

Would you please lend me those if I ask you when it’s my turn?

“Hu…”

By the way, it was terribly boring.

The goblin bastards were nowhere to be seen, and there were no other adventurers trying to pass through the passage either. Was it because everyone was finding a night buddy to take a break?

As the silence continued, I kept getting sleepy.

Still, time passed quickly as I was leaning against the wall and thinking about the future.

“Hans, get up.”

“… Did anything happen?”

“No.”

“Right. Thanks for your hard work. Then give me back the watch and go rest. I’ll wake you up in two hours.”

Without even giving me time to ask for a loan, the uncle packed the blanket in his backpack and stood up.

Tsk.

I erased my regrets and leaned against the wall at my back.

And pretended to nod off.

Naturally –

No matter how kind and intelligent this man seemed, and even if he had no intention of harming me –

How can I trust a bastard I’ve met for the first time?

Editor’s Notes:

[1] Wait, are you saying the Goblin Slayer light novels actually exist in your earth? So many questions. Usually, game transmigration novels don’t connect to our actual earth, it’s more of a close copy of it. (Or turns out to be a place with a similar historical origin but completely different, like Overlord or Murim Login.)