Surviving as a Barbarian in a Fantasy World

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Chapter 331: Hell (2)

The Saintess of the Sun God.

The Tower Master.

And the Barbarian of the White Snowfield.

They had arrived in Hell.

At the same time, they realized something—the poison in the air was intense.

The demonic energy rose.

Merely breathing it in felt as though their insides would rot and be destroyed by its potency.

Helia lightly waved her fingers, and a brilliant light arose, purifying the poisonous air.

But—

“Breathing…”

They couldn’t breathe.

No matter how much air they tried to inhale, they couldn’t feel their lungs filling with oxygen.

The Tower Master muttered with curiosity,

[The air’s composition here is vastly different from that of the surface. A change in its makeup.]

Magic was activated.

The air’s composition shifted to a breathable form for humans.

Only then could they inhale and exhale properly.

“That’s possible? Thank you. It was suffocating not being able to breathe.”

[You didn’t look particularly suffocated to me, but I’ll take the thanks regardless. Still, I didn’t expect even breathing to be impossible.]

This was Hell.

It was clear that this dimension was completely different from the surface.

Ketal looked pleased.

“Well then… they should be coming soon.”

Helia narrowed her eyes.

They were in Hell now.

The demons must have anticipated that someone would come down for reconnaissance.

Surely, they would have prepared for an ambush.

To prepare for this, they expanded their senses and gathered their strength.

However, nothing happened.

[…What’s this?]

There was no ambush, and nothing appeared in their sight.

It was literally an open wasteland.

Something was wrong.

It was too quiet.

“It doesn’t seem like the other side intends to make a move. For now, how about walking a bit?”

[…Understood.]

They began to walk through Hell.

Meanwhile, Helia and the Tower Master were prepared for any sudden attack.

But Ketal’s eyes sparkled as he looked around, even wearing a faint smile.

Seeing this, Helia’s expression turned strange.

They advanced slowly for about thirty minutes.

In that time, nothing happened.

[This is…]

Not only was there no ambush or attack, but they didn’t even see a trace of demons or monsters.

Ketal stroked his chin.

“They’re leaving us alone? This is unexpected.”

[You’re telling me. I was hoping to capture some attacking demons and extract information from them. Our plan’s gone awry.]

So, what now?

Faced with an unexpected situation, the Tower Master and Helia began to strategize.

In the midst of the silence, Ketal spoke.

“Then we’ll scout.”

“Scout…?”

“Since we don’t know what lies ahead, we need to understand this place. Hell itself.”

Hell.

The home of demons.

They had no information about it—what the natural environment was like, how demons lived here, how the monsters survived.

Everything about it was a mystery.

“Instead of staying on guard against unseen demons, it would be more useful to scout out Hell and gather information. What do you think?”

[Hmm.]

“…You’re right.”

It was a logical suggestion, so Helia and the Tower Master agreed.

A grotesque voice sneered.

[So you just want to sightsee in Hell.]

Ketal ignored it.

“Then how about you two move together? I’ll go alone. Scouting from multiple directions will be more efficient.”

[You just want to explore without being bothered, don’t you?]

Once again, Ketal ignored the grotesque voice.

The Tower Master nodded.

[Fine. Let’s meet back here in an hour.]

“Understood.”

With a joyful smile, Ketal stepped forward.

His figure vanished into the distance in an instant.

His movement was so swift that the Tower Master chuckled softly.

[He must have been quite impatient.]

“…He looked excited,”

Helia muttered as she stared in the direction Ketal had disappeared.

“He seemed truly delighted to be in Hell.”

[That’s the kind of man he is.]

The Tower Master replied indifferently.

[He moves according to his interests. Other reasons are secondary. When he said he wanted to come to Hell, it was probably because he wanted to see it for himself.]

“To sightsee Hell…”

Helia murmured in disbelief.

Such a thought was incomprehensible for beings from the surface.

“…He’s dangerous.”

[You’re worried he might take the demons’ side?]

“For someone like him, the concept of good and evil probably doesn’t matter.”

If his only desire was to satisfy his curiosity, then there was no reason he wouldn’t side with Hell.

However, the Tower Master quickly dismissed Helia’s concerns.

[You don’t need to worry about that. He’s the type to value his connections. He wouldn’t betray those he’s bonded with just to join the demons. If he had started out in Hell, it might have been a different story… but he set foot on the surface first. There’s no problem.]

“That’s a relief. Honestly, I’ve been quite anxious. I’ve been constantly worrying he might stab me in the back.”

Helia made a joke that wasn’t entirely a joke.

[Well then… exploring Hell, huh? I never thought I’d see the day.]

The Tower Master quickly processed the incoming information.

Hell was not a world friendly to humans.

The poisonous air, if left unpurified, would rot one’s insides and skin.

Even the air’s composition was different, making breathing impossible.

And it was scorching hot.

They weren’t particularly bothered since they were powerful beings, but an ordinary human would suffer dehydration within minutes from the heat.

[A hellish environment indeed. And what are these?]

In Hell’s landscape stood rotting, decayed trees.

No matter where they walked, the dead trees were ever-present, adding to the eerie scenery.

The Tower Master approached one of the trees, planning to take a sample for research.

He lightly touched it with his fingers.

At that moment—

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KWA-BOOM!

The tree exploded.

A fierce wave of heat engulfed the area.

The explosion triggered a chain reaction with the surrounding dead trees.

Dozens of trees in the vicinity erupted simultaneously.

RUMBLE!

The ground shook, and the explosions filled the space.

Once the chaos finally subsided, the Tower Master and Helia stood unscathed.

Neither of them had a single scratch.

A thin layer of magic and divine protection shielded their bodies perfectly.

Helia frowned.

“…What is that?”

[It reacts to even light contact and explodes. Its power is significant. Even those called superhumans would have trouble defending against it completely.]

Those ancient trees were scattered throughout the entire hell.

They continued to scout hell.

Before long, they discovered an area where demonic energy was erupting.

Like sulfur from a volcano, the demonic energy was seeping out of the ground.

There was no need to approach.

Just as they judged it better to turn back, the demonic energy that had been leaking suddenly moved.

Like smoke, it surged toward the Tower Master and Helia, filling the space in an instant and trying to grab hold of their bodies.

“Do not approach me.”

Helia calmly spoke.

With her words, divine power erupted.

It burned away the approaching demonic energy and pressed down on the ground, preventing it from leaking any further.

[Was that an attack?]

“No. It looks more like a natural phenomenon. It consumes anything that approaches and uses it as nourishment.”

[What a bizarre place.]

The Tower Master chuckled bitterly.

Even after that, they continued to encounter strange things.

A living spring that emitted a bewitching light to lure life in and drown it.

A sudden thunderstorm that rained with explosive force.

Centipedes lurking between cracks in rocks, targeting the nape of their necks.

Their venom was potent enough to corrode even the Tower Master’s defenses slightly.

Everything was bizarre and perilous.

An hour later, they met Ketal.

Ketal’s expression was full of life.

“You look like you’re having fun.”

“I enjoyed myself adequately.”

The Tower Master laughed dryly.

They exchanged the information they had gathered, concluding that most of hell was similar to what they had seen.

[What a horrifying world.]

It was truly a twisted and grotesque world deserving of the name “hell.”

[Survival would be nearly impossible without superhuman abilities.]

While organizing the information, the Tower Master suddenly asked curiously,

[Ketal, you lived in the White Snowfield, right?]

“I did.”

[How would you compare that place to this one?]

The White Snowfield.

A forbidden land.

It was known to be incredibly dreadful.

But no one knew exactly how dreadful it was.

There were occasional survivors who entered and returned from its outskirts, but no one had ventured into its core—no one except an emperor from the distant past.

What could possibly exist inside?

It was a mystery that had intrigued the outside world for ages, but no one knew.

The barbarian before them, however, could reveal everything.

[It’s said there are powerful monsters there. But what about the environment itself?]

The Tower Master finally asked the question he had been holding back.

Helia also seemed interested, listening quietly to the conversation.

“How does it compare to this place?”

Ketal thought for a moment before answering.

“It’s not all that different.”

“…What?”

[Not all that different?]

Both were stunned by the unexpected response.

Hell was filled with all manner of horrors, making survival impossible for anyone below a superhuman level.

And yet, he said it wasn’t that different.

[There are trees that explode just from being touched. Are there similar things there?]

“At least you can see those with your eyes. You just need to avoid touching them. Some of the icy ground in the Snowfield isn’t ordinary ice. The moment you step on it, it freezes your entire body. You can’t distinguish it by sight, so it’s impossible to react. You have to move purely on instinct.”

Anyone who failed to develop that instinct wouldn’t survive.

It was the bare minimum for survival there.

[There are thunderstorms here that strike with immense force.]

“There’s hardly any thunder in the Snowfield. Instead, hail falls. It’s hail that harbors malice toward living beings and aims to kill. Tens of thousands of them fall at once. If you misjudge your response, there won’t even be a corpse left.”

[There were centipedes that could corrode my defenses.]

“There are scorpions there. Their venom can kill even heroic-level barbarians. I’m the only one who survived. Afterward, barbarians tried to imitate me, eating the scorpions, and died miserably, which was troublesome.”

[And the demonic energy smoke that consumes life?]

“There are so many things like that that I can’t even begin to describe.”

Ketal’s expression was genuinely nonchalant.

The Tower Master was at a loss for words.

“…How exactly did your people manage to survive?”

Helia, who had been listening to the conversation, asked with a disturbed expression.

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