The method of naming a barbarian was very cold. If the child was a son, he used the father's name as his last name, and if he was a daughter, he used the mother's name. As such, there were no surnames in the tribe and all the barbarians treated each other like family. Well, not that that was important now.
Yandel Jarku.
It was highly unlikely that it was someone else with the same name. How many Yandel, Jarkus's third son, could there be? It would be right to see him as my biological father.
«Hahaha! How long are you going to leave my hand hanging?»
Yes, let's wake up first.
Biological father? And? He could be surprised and bewildered, but it wasn't something to be so stunned about. It wasn't like I was really Bjorn Yandel.
«Ah, my mind wandered for a second». I accepted the handshake and took a step back. This is how the presentations ended.
Carlton laughed awkwardly and got straight to the point, the first thing to do when encountering a scout of a different affiliation in a crevice. «Haha, enough presentations. Since we will have to work together from now on, let's discuss how to separate the loot».
When the distribution of the loot was mentioned, Amelia pulled my wrist. «I'm going to talk to my comrade for a moment».
Hey? Talk?
I followed her obediently, although she was confused. When the two of us were alone, I asked in a low voice: «Why did you suddenly want to talk? Hadn't we already decided how to distribute the loot?».
«I didn't bring you to talk about the loot».
«So what?»
amelia asked cautiously: «Are you okay...?».
Only then did I realize why he had called me separately. True, she would have known why I froze there. «I'm fine. I was a little surprised, but I won't cause any incidents as you fear».
«I'm not asking you because I'm worried about an incident...»
Hey? So what is it?
When I stared at her, Amelia interrupted herself. «It doesn't matter, since you say you're fine, it's not for me to worry about. Let's go back. As for distribution, we will continue with what we decided before».
Pretending to end our discussion, we returned to the center and began to officially discuss the loot issue, which ended quickly without any problems. That was because we weren't here to get an essence.
«Do you really agree with just taking mana stones?»
In exchange for giving all the essences to his side, it was decided that we would take the rest. «Not just mana stones, numbered items and crack stones included».
«But it's not even certain that we can defeat the guardian.»
«We have to find out that. Don't worry.»
«Hmm, if you say so». Carlton seemed baffled that conditions were too favorable for them, but he didn't say much more. That ended the loot agenda. «Yandel, over here!»
Ugh, I really couldn't get used to that. Every time they said that name, it made me shudder.
«Hey? I want to talk to those people...»
«You can do it later. Before it seemed like the blade of your ax was dull, you should go sharpen it with a whetstone».
«Hey? I think it's okay... okay!»
As soon as the conversation about the loot ended, Yandel Jarku was called by a comrade and we did not approach them. Time passed so uncomfortable with the distance between us.
«What are they talking about there?».
«They are trying to guess our intentions by not taking an essence».
«¿Adivinar?»
It seemed like an unimportant matter to me, but thinking about it, it was the most natural thing for them. Saying that we wouldn't eat an essence left room to interpret it as saying that we were strong enough not to need an essence on the third floor. They must have been anxious since they didn't know what kind of people we were.
«Bjon, what kind of people were your parents?» Amelia asked me out of nowhere.
His motive was so obvious that it made me laugh. Parents? «Are you curious about my father?»
«A bit».
«So I'm sorry. To be honest, I don't know anything except that he died in the maze when I was very little».
It was not a made-up explanation, but the truth. And not just because he was an evil spirit; The original owner of this body also knew very little about his father. This was common in barbarian society. About 99% of the members of this tribe made a living exploring the labyrinth, after all. It was inevitable that the mortality rate would be high.
«Let's stop talking about this».
When I spoke firmly, Amelia did not investigate further and began to chew jerky.
Draggg.
After some time had passed like this, the door in front of us, which had been firmly closed, began to open.
«It seems that the other portals have also been closed».
It was time to start exploring the crack.
The Temple of a Hundred Colors was a competitive type crack. Only one team could enter the boss room, and this was determined on a first-come, first-served basis. In that sense, we had a good start. Because the five-person entrance was closed early, we were able to resolve issues such as distribution in advance.
Geez, if you're going to waste time on training you should have done it sooner.
«I'll go first».
«Ah! Then I'll stand next to him...»
«Yandel! Come here. There could be monsters coming from behind.»
«¡Wale!»
When I took the lead, the battle formation took shape naturally. Jarku was in the back, and the other three in the center. Of course, training didn't mean much to us. After all, this was the third floor crack, and with a difficulty of five people.
I should clear it quickly and leave before something problematic happened.
When I entered the door with that determination, a stone chamber appeared with the same structure as the previous temple. The size was similar, but there was only one stone statue.
The light flowing from the blue jewel in the statue's hand spread throughout the room like fog.
A boss from the beginning.
After confirming the characteristics of this room through color, I craned my neck and stepped into the fog of light.
Carlton was startled and warned: «H-hey! You don't know what's going to come out!».
Hmm, so you guys don't know this in detail.
Seeing that they knew it was a competitive structure, I hoped they knew. But looking at it now, it seemed like they only found out what kind of place this was shortly.
Boom.
Just then, a huge shadow appeared from beyond the fog. It was bipedal and measured almost four meters: a colossus of blue armor. Normally, it was an intermediate boss type enemy that five scouts from the third and fourth floors would have to catch. But at the end of the day, it was nothing more than a third-floor crack monster. His experience points did not exceed rank 6, and his strength was below rank 5. Even though he was an intermediate boss, he was nothing compared to a rank 5 monster like a troll.
«Low-«
Oh right, I can't say this.
«Oohgahhhhhh!» I let out a primitive scream and rushed forward.
«Wait! We have to fight together...» Carlton said something from behind, but there was no reason for me to listen. Instead of hiding my strength, it would be more comfortable for both parties if I showed it openly.
Gigantization.
First, after matching the opponent's weight class, I jumped and closed the distance immediately.
Salto. Swing.
I sent a complete swing with all my might.
This basic combo broke the Blue Armor Colossus's neck until it was deformed.
«What kind of power...!»
The rookies at the back were full of praise, but they left a bitter taste in my mouth. Was this the misfortune of a tank? Even with my strength, I couldn't kill in one fell swoop.
Geez, what a shame. I should have left it for the harmer.
«Emily!» Simultaneously with my scream towards her, I felt a presence from behind.
Stab.
A dagger brimming with aura pierced the Colossus's heart.
¡Chomp!
Then the Colossus disappeared like light, and the fog that filled the surroundings dissipated. The situation ended three seconds into the battle.
«Why are these people on the third floor...?»
Rookies twenty years ago started bragging that they were rookies. It seemed that only then did they realize that they had just boarded the express bus.
«What are you doing? Hurry up».
«h, v-voy.
***
The third floor crack was a scenic structure. Clearing one room opened another, and only the team that finished it the fastest gained the right to enter the boss room.
¡Chomp!
Even after clearing the first room in three seconds, Amelia and I exercised our true skills to clear the rooms at high speed. Unlike the first phase, we rarely finished everything in a few seconds. If there was a boss type, there was also a quantity type.
The monsters came out for a set period of time, deployed traps and used psychological abilities. As rooms of various concepts passed, the difficulty of the phases increased. This was characteristic of the Temple of a Hundred Colors. Here, each time a phase was passed, characters received status anomalies or permanent upgrades were granted to monsters that appeared in the next phase. Normally you wouldn't charge blindly like this.
«Wait! I've heard of that symbol before. There is something hidden in this place that can lift the curse that weighs on us...»
According to Carlton's advice, the standard strategy was to activate the hidden items in each room. There were also such clues placed openly in each room. At each fork in the road, you could use the symbols to find the rooms where you could lift curses.
«It doesn't matter, I'm not in the mood for that.»
«What do you mean by humor for that? What kind of bizarre...?»
Anything that took the slightest time was omitted. I judged that there was no problem with clearing it even if the difficulty went up. I was going through the crack like crazy.
«Emily, why doesn't this door open?»
«It is the characteristic of the golden room. I don't know the reason, but you have to wait three hours for it to open».
«¿Ah, si?»
Only when we reached the midpoint of the crack did we gather to rest.
«Are you going to rest here?» My question had the underlying suggestion that it would be more comfortable to sit away from each other, as we had been doing.
Carlton smiled awkwardly and said, «It doesn't make sense anyway».
Hmm, that was true, but I honestly didn't expect it to turn out like that.
When I chuckled, Carlton apologized. «I'm sorry. At first we considered you suspicious. We thought you might stab us in the back».
«¿Pero ya no?»
«That's right.»
«Your reason?»
«If you had bad intentions, we would have died a long time ago. It's not that you don't have the ability to get through this rift without the three of us». Carlton gave a logical reason, and then continued: «And more importantly, you don't look like people who would do that».
«Is that an instinct?»
«That's right. Not mine, but Yandel's».
Carlton's gaze fell on the barbarian warrior chewing jerky on the ground. Looking at it now, its side profile looked like mine.
«Rest a little». After a brief conversation with Carlton, I got up from my seat and went to Jarku's side.
«Oh, what brings you here? Oh, do you want some?». Jarku smiled innocently as soon as I arrived and handed me some jerky. I accepted it and put it in my mouth. There was no need to take off my helmet. He had done this so that the mouth area could move up and down in preparation for this situation.
«Isn't it uncomfortable? I don't think I could last a day with that on since it's very stuffy».
«It's okay once you get used to it».
«Hahaha! The adaptability of a human that everyone talks about». Jarku laughed out loud and lay down on his backpack. Then he asked me an unexpected question. «Bjon, do you have children?».
«…No.»
«¿Ah, to? Yo to.»
«What are they called?»
«Bjorn. Bjorn, my son, Yandel.»
So you really are the father of this body.
More importantly, when the clear evidence was put before me, I felt my heart tighten.
«What do you think, it's not a good name?»
«... I think so.»
After that, Jarku had a one-sided conversation for a long time. Most of it was about his son and I listened to him speak silently.
Hit.
Seeing him speak in an increasingly bright tone, I ended up not being able to make eye contact, so I looked away. When I did, I could see Amelia watching me from afar with a pitiful look in her eyes. Thanks to that, I realized the emotion that was settling in my heart.
«Hehe, he's going to become a great warrior. A child of my blood and yours...»
«Eh?»
«Stop, I have to go...»
That was fault.