Barbarian in a Failed Game

Roar!!

The beastified beast troops became tougher and grew sharper claws. They seemed to have lost their reason entirely, ignoring the deaths of their comrades and even sacrificing themselves to sink their fangs into the enemy.

“They’re nothing but beasts!”

This was the remark from Tarak, the First Warrior of Hoarfrost Gorge, after he literally crushed a beastified beast troop.

With Tarak’s skills, the beast troops were not particularly challenging opponents. He possessed the brute strength to cut down the supposedly tough beastmen of Hoarfrost Gorge with a single strike. However, the situation changed after the beast troops underwent their transformation.

Crack! Snap!

The great sword lodged in the back of a beast troop, crawling on all fours, stopped midway, unable to penetrate further. Tarak tried to twist and withdraw the sword, but the internal muscles clamped down on it, refusing to let go.

“Grr─!”

As Tarak attempted to retrieve his sword, another beast troop lunged at him, its head split open by an axe that also shattered the head of the troop clinging to Tarak’s sword.

“Tarak!”

“Pashantu!”

The owner of the axe was Pashantu, the Black Wing Duke’s Great Warrior from the Argon Kingdom and Tarak’s wife. With movements as swift as a leopard, she retrieved her axe and smacked Tarak on the back.

“Get a grip!”

“Ugh, I could have handled it…! Ouch! Stop hitting me!”

Each time Pashantu’s hand struck Tarak’s back, a vicious cracking sound echoed, but no one intervened. Everyone knew better than to get involved and risk getting hit as well.

“That’s why… they say marriage is a grave. Don’t you think so, Leo?”

Crunch!

“I am a Paladin.”

“Paladins can marry, can’t they? And priests, too, often have a child or two. Isn’t your family a lineage of clerics?”

Crunch!

“Well… that’s… ugh! It’s a privilege for nobles! And… there are cases where children orphaned by dark sorcerers are taken in by monasteries as adopted children.”

“So that’s how it is. Oh dear…!”

Despite their seemingly leisurely conversation, the number of beast troops killed by the pair was too many to count.

Leo, having regained the strength comparable to the peak of ‘Traitor Leonir,’ and Ron, heavily armed with magitech from the Tower, were performing admirably even among the barbarian.

Yet, compared to others, they still felt lacking.

Boom! Boom─!!

With a single gesture, Jan drew dozens of magic circles, continuously unleashing gray spells large enough to demolish an entire mansion. Supporting him was the magical swordsman Veil, who expertly wielded lower-tier spells in combat to efficiently cut down beast troops.

And above all….

“They’re absolute monstrosities.”

The Beast King, who had made a grand entrance, was being utterly beaten by the three individuals.

Gordi Khan, the Great Warrior, and Maya Eldred had created a nearly stadium-sized void in the middle of the battlefield. The aftermath of their combat was so immense that neither beastmen nor Hoarfrost Gorge warriors could approach.

The battle was overwhelmingly one-sided. Anyone with eyes would see it that way, and Ron was quietly confident of their victory. But for some reason, he couldn’t shake off a peculiar feeling of unease.

‘It’s as if… it’s as if I’m missing something.’

***

The transformed body of the Beast King was almost reminiscent of an elephant.

And size in itself becomes a formidable weapon. In battles between humans, the difference in body size determines the advantages and disadvantages. Even in a fantasy world where mana and aura can overturn such differences, everyone currently facing the Beast King was far removed from such miraculous powers.

They fought relying solely on pure physical strength and combat skills.

Slash!

The Beast King’s massive forepaw, which could cover an entire upper body, slammed down on Draupnir’s blade. In the instant, Khan twisted his waist on his left foot to deflect the force. The Beast King’s claws slid down the blade.

Bang!

Khan’s fist buried itself into the Beast King’s empty side, causing a resonating thud throughout the Beast King’s entire body. The sensation felt as if he was hammering a fortress wall, not flesh and bone. The hardness of the Beast King’s muscles was on a different level.

Khan followed up with a swift kick aimed at the Beast King’s leg as it attempted to regain its footing. The bone at the joint broke and pierced through the skin.

It was an opening.

Crack!

The indomitable blade struck the exposed joint like splitting firewood. The Beast King bent one knee in response.

『Kraaah!』

As the Beast King screamed, a long spear was driven into its side, up to the handle. Maya, who held the spear, smoothly pierced the flesh as if wielding a Swordsmaster’s blade. Just as Maya drew her short spear from her waist,

Boom!

A force like his entire insides were twisting. With a sense of floating following the shock, Khan urgently raised the Indomitable and Draupnir in front of him. What he saw was the Beast King, supporting himself on his broken leg, having headbutted him away.

“So brutish…!”

Bang…!

The shockwave hit Khan almost at the same time he noticed the Beast King’s approach, sending him flying out of the battlefield. Even with Karyan’s eyes, he didn’t have time to comprehend the attack. The moment he sensed it was the same moment it struck.

Crash! Crash! Crack!

After crashing through more than ten trees and flying nearly a hundred meters, Khan finally came to a halt. As he landed, bracing for the impact on his back, a roar above his head announced the Beast King’s presence.

‘Authority…!’

He could tell without seeing it. The difficulty in responding to the Beast King’s attacks showed that it was using the Beast God’s authority in earnest. However, Khan couldn’t read the exact signs of the authority with Karyan’s eyes. While he pondered this mystery—

He immediately drew out the gray within. The exhilarating feeling and omnipotence filled his body, erasing all pain. He then swung Draupnir towards the front.

Bang! Crack, crack─!!

The strike collided with something invisible, producing a rough noise.

‘An afterimage?… No, it has substance…!’

The flickering illusion at the point of friction revealed the Beast King’s claws. A chilling presage ran down Khan’s spine—

Slash!

‘Damn it!’

There was no doubt. The Beast King’s attack patterns had changed. The ‘acceleration pattern’ and ‘scatter pattern’ seen in the game were gone. Now, he was dealing with substantial afterimages.

He suddenly felt a deep cut cross his back, but he couldn’t afford to pay attention. He thrust the Indomitable towards the Beast King, descending from above.

Rip!

“Using a broken arm as a shield…!”

『Kraaaa─!』

The Beast King, whose arm hung limply with broken bones, opened his vicious jaws wide. Just as Khan was about to thrust Draupnir into him. Crack!

Multiple afterimages appeared simultaneously, biting down on Draupnir and not letting go.

The choice was instantaneous.

Khan let go of Draupnir and Unyielding, and now bare-handed, wrapped his dark energy around his fists like gauntlets. With things as they were, he decided to knock out all his teeth…!

Just as Khan prepared to strike with the resolve to sacrifice an arm like the beast, a giant rock loomed into his view.

“Karyan─!”

Bang!!

A massive rock.

No, a great warrior shoulder-charged a wolf the size of an elephant. The bizarre sight of a 3-meter tall human sending a giant wolf flying with a body slam left them swallowing a laugh. Maya, who had joined late, drove the holy power, gray like ashes, through her entire body and struck the Beast King on the back.

Crack! Bang!!

The Yotun’s spear, a near-legendary weapon Khan had personally chosen for Maya in the past when her physical abilities were lacking, shattered the King’s knee. Maya, having created a perfect opportunity with a single attack, locked eyes with Khan.

『Hmm, a short while should be fine.』

The moment he grasped Draupnir, a voice filled with resentment echoed, and the giant’s blood remaining in the Heart of Gluttony ignited into flames.

Thud!

Feeling the power of gray sacred energy, dark energy, and bloodfire arts coursing through him, he leaped. Though it was a short distance, the afterimages stretched out from his incredible speed. Without giving the Beast King any chance to counterattack, Khan stomped right in front of him with a bang!

Until then, the King had been unable to launch any significant counterattack. Even in the slowed perception of time, the eyes of the beast, calm and unwavering, stared straight at Khan.

Even as an apostle of the Beast God consumed by madness, the beast’s eyes were eerily calm in the face of death. There was no sign of resentment for being attacked by many. It seemed to accept death calmly…!

Crack!!

When he felt a sense of unease and tried to withdraw his sword, Draupnir had already shattered the Beast King’ skull and burst his entire body.

He saw the beast’s will scatter and dissipate instantly. There was no doubt about his death; the death of the King of the Great Forest signaled the end of the war.

However, Khan couldn’t shake the feeling that he had missed something. As he traced the source of his unease, he came to a realization and stopped short.

“The Great Shaman…?”

That’s right.

Amidst the major events—the sudden rise of the Beast God, the descent rituals of the demon contractors, the appearance of the Hoarfrost Gorge warrior, and the Beast King’ assault—he had overlooked the fact that the Great Shaman had not shown up.

If the Beast King was the ruler of the Great Forest, the Great Shaman was like a high priest serving the Beast God. Infamous in the game for wielding strange and powerful shamanistic magic, had the Great Shaman intervened in this battle, it might have been impossible to kill the King.

Yet, the Great Shaman still had not appeared…?

‘I can’t help but think there’s some scheme at play.’

However, the Beast King, who could be considered an apostle of the Beast God, was already dead. They had lost many of their soldiers on the front lines, and half of the tribe leaders had been killed by him and his companions. What could they possibly be plotting now? The more he thought about it, the deeper his doubts grew.

“For now, let’s go back…”

Khan decided to return to the place where the battle had first erupted. As he made this decision, his gaze was suddenly drawn to the remains of the Beast King.

The Beast King, whose spirit had dissipated, was undeniably dead. This was a fact that remained unquestionable even now, and if he were to be resurrected, it would only be as an undead.

But then,

“Why hasn’t his soul vanished and remained here…?”

“My lord, is there a problem…?”

A soul that has left its body naturally faces annihilation. This is the natural order of the world, and unless it is a special case like a transcendent being, it is impossible for a soul to survive intact after leaving its body.

Yet, the Beast King’ soul, despite being shattered and scattered, had not completely vanished. It remained, still existing in its fragmented state.

‘What on earth is…!’

At that moment, a realization struck him like lightning. The Great Shaman, the deaths of the Beast King and his soldiers, the demon contractors, dark magic… The disjointed clues began to piece together in his mind.

There was only one thing the Great Shaman, who had never shown himself until now, could be doing. A primitive faith that diverged from any other magic, dark magic, or holy arts.

It required no special learning, only faith and prayers to the Beast God. The unique aspect was that the power of the shamanistic rituals was enhanced when the shaman themselves were used as the material. In other words, the Beast God was a mad God who made his priests sacrifice themselves.

And at this very moment.

Many soldiers had been driven to their deaths. Even the Beast King, an apostle of the Beast God, had thrown his life into a hopeless battle and calmly accepted death.

“What if it was an intended death from the start…?”

Could there be a more noble sacrifice than that? And if the deaths of all the soldiers were sacrifices to the Beast God, used as material for the shamanistic ritual? If the soul that had not disappeared was the evidence of that?

***

“O most foolish God, descend upon this world using our sacrifice as nourishment and fulfill your goal….”

We devote ourselves to you, our lord…

With those whispered words, the Great Shaman tore open his own chest with his hands. He then pulled out his still-beating heart, overflowing with life force, and raised it above his head.

Following his lead, numerous shamans who had not appeared on the front lines until now also tore open their chests and raised their hearts.

Thus, the shamans slowly—very slowly—accepted their deaths.

The God willingly accepted their sacrifice.

The souls of the Beast King’s soldiers, which did not scatter and stayed in place, returned to the God’s embrace.

『Ah. Ahhh. Children. Ah.』

Blood endlessly poured from the bodies of the priests who had torn out their hearts with their own hands.

『Pitiful. Yet. Joyful.』

The blood did not pool on the ground but gathered in the center left empty by the shamans who sat in a circle. Endlessly—endlessly….

Clank. Clank.

From the place now left with the cold corpses of the shamans, the sound of chains clinking echoed.

It was the sound made by the laws of the world that bound the divinity.

Clank. Crack!

Accepting the heartfelt sacrifices and prayers of his followers, the Beast God broke the chains that bound him.

『Finally. Now.』

Knowing that this act would bring certain doom upon himself.

He surrendered to madness.

Because he was certain that it was his role.

『The. Fate. Of. The. World. Has. Twisted.』