Barbarian in a Failed Game

“Why are those guys here…?”

Tulkan wasn’t the only one who had emerged from the dimensional passage connected to Esperus. There was a bipedal fox that looked like a person, a giant with arms thicker than those of an orc, and another creature with a smooth, black egg-like head.

‘Yoro? No, Esperus?’

These self-proclaimed Four Heavenly Kings who had been with Khan in the Blood Domain were gathered together.

The Dragon’s Eye conveyed even more information.

The Four Heavenly Kings, who once merely possessed some physical strength and special abilities, now had their status elevated to the limits of a mortal. Although they were below the boundary of transcendence, by Midland’s standards, they were trained to the extreme of superhuman limits.

Khan grimaced, realizing that Esperus must have done something to enhance them, and then he leapt forward.

“Follow me slowly.”

He wanted his already exhausted comrades to rest and felt uneasy about them interacting with these beings from the Blood Domain too soon.

“Where… are you going?”

“Why are you…? Never mind. Over there, can’t you see? The ones who came out of the dimensional passage.”

“I lost my divinity… so I can’t see.”

“Ah, I see.”

As he ‘perceived’ the Beast God with his eyes, the Dragon’s Eye automatically analyzed and conveyed information about her. She had completely lost her divinity.

It had happened naturally when he broke the chains of the world’s laws binding her.

‘Even so, in terms of power, she’s close to a transcendent? She can’t regenerate as before, but….’

“Is it possible for you to regain your divinity?”

“If I gather faith… but I won’t.”

He felt a firm resolve in the Beast God’s gaze, which awkwardly avoided meeting his eyes.

“Do as you please.”

“Yes.”

He wondered why a being who had just been freed from the shackles of law was following him, but he didn’t bother to find out. She didn’t seem to be planning anything nefarious, and her aura was friendly.

Thud—Bang—!

“Woah!”

“What are you doing here, you guys?”

“Boss…! Vess of the Four Heavenly Kings, crossing dimensions to serve you!”

“Tulkan, Vess. Didn’t we promise to behave properly?”

“Kurtank! How about hiding that wagging tail of yours before you start talking!”

“Khan hyungnim! You’re still as loud as ever!”

Ah—

Suddenly, his head throbbed.

With these noisy guys and the rest of the party combined, it would be nothing short of a madhouse. None of them seemed human, and with the dark magic aura they emitted, they were certainly demonkin.

“Tilly.”

“Yes?”

“Can you take all these guys and join us later separately?”

“Hmmm…”

At Khan’s quiet call, Tilly suddenly emerged from his shadow, smiling as she looked over the Four Heavenly Kings.

“They’re really conspicuous. I think we could use the hideout in the Great Forest.”

While Khan and Tilly discussed where to hide the Four Heavenly Kings, the kings themselves were whispering among themselves as they watched the two.

“Huh? Who are those weak-looking women? Are they perhaps the queen… or something?”

“Tulkan, those outfits are what the human kingdom’s servants wear. According to what’s in my head.”

“Hmph, if what you say is true, then they are our brother’s attendants?”

“I mean, that’s what their attire suggests.”

“I see!”

Step— Step—

While the two discussed how to best conceal the demonkin, the Beast God’s gaze, which had been quietly observing Khan, shifted to Tulkan, who suddenly approached them.

-It wasn’t because of his imposing and confident demeanor.

‘This guy, he’s about to cause trouble again.’

Just like when he had slapped the back of Esperus’ head….

But before Khan’s worries could materialize, Tulkan’s bold statement elicited a snicker.

“You two! If you are our brother’s attendants, you’d better remember us well! We are the most trusted of his new court in the Blood Domain! The first—no, the second to become his followers, I, Tulkan of the Four Heavenly Kings, known as the Rock Skin. No, the Iron Skin! Pay special attention to me!”

“……”

“……?”

The response to his ridiculous statement was divided into two. Tilly wore a subtle smile, as if she had found an amusing toy, while the Beast God couldn’t comprehend what he was saying at all.

Of course, Tulkan was too oblivious to notice the awkward atmosphere.

“What are you standing there for? Show your respect!”

“This idiot….”

He had no idea to whom he was spewing his nonsense. While it was one thing to say such things to Tilly, a drake, saying it to the Beast God, who had recently been the God of a major part of the continent, was another matter entirely.

If there was enough time, he would have liked to keep Tulkan there and explain the identities of the two in detail.

“Tilly. Take care of this fool. We’ll meet up later.”

“Alright. I have a lot of questions for you too. Specifically, about what it feels like to swallow a dragon’s soul….”

Tilly smiled lightly and agreed readily.

“And me…?”

“You go with Tilly too. Otherwise, this conversation will drag on.”

“Alright….”

The Beast God nodded obediently and stepped back as Tilly’s ancient spell enveloped the area.

“Khan!”

“Yoro? Or….”

“It’s Yoro. He provided me with a separate body…. Ah, if you’re interested, I can tell you my story later. But more importantly, Lord Esperus left a message for you.”

The one who was believed to have completely disappeared after Esperus’s resurrection reappeared before him. That alone made him feel conflicted, but the subsequent ‘message from Esperus’ further troubled Khan.

“One of the heavenly divinities has fallen from their position. It could simply be imprisonment, but in the worst case, they might have been stripped of their divinity and completely annihilated….”

***

The sensation of having the long-distance teleportation spell envelop his body was extremely alien. It felt like being completely covered by a gooey slime and swimming within it.

“Feels disgusting.”

“I agree. I never want to experience that again.”

“Well, we had no choice. It’s not perfect yet. But hey, it worked, didn’t it?”

Aries, Leniyar, and Ludmilla shared their thoughts on the teleportation. Right after casting the grand magic from the fortress, they had used a prepared teleportation spell to instantly travel from the fortress to the Great Forest.

“The Great Forest… The divine presence is gone.”

With her platinum hair swaying, Aries scanned the surroundings. Aries was a prospective apostle greatly favored by the Goddess of Justice. Naturally, her perception of divinity was the keenest among them.

The fact that she couldn’t sense the divine presence meant that the Beast God had perished.

“So? I don’t see any dimensional passages or even the barbarian. How do you explain this, witch?”

“It’s a minor error. It shouldn’t be far.”

As Ludmilla confidently stated, they found a heap of barbarian lying on the ground just a few minutes away.

For a moment, they wondered if they were all dead.

“Gaaaah-!!”

“Ugh. Paschuntu… If you hit me more, I’ll die…!”

“Ugh. Uhmmm… Ugh.”

“They’re sleeping quite soundly….”

Instead of waking up the barbarian who were clearly just deeply asleep, they inspected the battlefield.

“This wasn’t a battle between humans. These traces look like several ogres went on a rampage.”

Leniyar, who had begun advancing beyond the level of a Sword Master, scrutinized the battlefield. Just from the remnants of the fight, she could visualize the entities that had fought and rampaged. Within the chaos, her eyes caught sight of a very familiar mark.

“Here. This footprint…!”

Though she called it a footprint, it was more accurately described as a small basin. Leniyar’s eyes gleamed as she pointed it out.

“That’s him….”

The traces of the battle held more information than one might expect. For a sword master, the marks left by blades could reveal the characteristics and trajectory of swordsmanship, and for someone with eyes as sharp as Leniyar’s, even the smallest habits could be discerned.

The unique mark of someone leaping after planting the tip of their foot into the ground was unmistakably Gordi Khan’s.

“Witch! It looks like the spell worked?!”

“Seems so….”

“Why are you so lukewarm about it? After all the trouble we went through?”

“…There’s something that’s bothering me.”

Just as Leniyar discovered Khan through the traces left on the battlefield, Ludmilla analyzed the surrounding energies in her own way.

‘Dark magic… It’s so pure that it doesn’t even carry malevolence. Could it be that the Scion of the Arch Demon has descended?’

The grand magic interfering with the dimensional passage had undoubtedly succeeded. However, even she couldn’t observe the final outcome from afar.

The fact that this place, where the dimensional passage was, still brimmed with such dense and pure dark magic long after the event suggested something significant.

“The Scion of the Arch Demon.”

At that moment, Aries scrunched up her face as if she had caught a whiff of something foul.

Thanks to the authority bestowed by the Goddess of Justice, she could perceive dark magic in the form of a ‘scent.’

The fact that she mentioned the Scion of the Arch Demon was telling.

“Does it seem like they’ve descended?”

“I’m not sure. But the traces continue.”

Aries led the way without another word, and Ludmilla and Leniyar followed silently.

The fact that the barbarian weren’t dead but simply asleep lowered the likelihood of the heir’s descent. However, the continued traces indicated that something had indeed emerged from the dimensional passage.

The real problem came next. If it was Khan who had come out and if he was the source of the dark magic—

More importantly, ‘It’s not just dark magic. There’s dragon energy… and even holy power mixed in.’

Divine, demonic, and dragon energies all mixed together in a battlefield ravaged as if a giant had run amok. Could there be a more chaotic place in the world? Such a place didn’t exist even in ancient times.

‘Moreover, these energies… they’re all emanating from the same direction.’

What on earth could it be?

What lay at the end of this path, and what state was Gordi Khan in?

Just as a small seed of unease began to sprout in their hearts,

“Aries!”

It was the long-awaited, deeply yearned-for reunion. The person who appeared before them with such speed it felt like a teleportation was none other than Khan, now with a more menacing physique than before, creating a massive crater with his arrival.

But there was no time to share in the joy of reunion. With a desperate expression, Khan grabbed Aries by the shoulders and made an absurd demand.

“Pray! Now!”

“……?”

“I’ll explain later…!”

It was a sudden request. The thick scent of dark magic emanating from Khan disoriented Aries. Had he been consumed by a demon? Or had he made a pact with one to survive in Hell?

Despite her doubts, she did as he asked. Aries began to pray. Then, her mind, which had been clouded by ominous thoughts, began to clear. She resolved that if Khan had indeed been captured by a demon, it was now her turn to save him.

She had no doubt that the Goddess of Justice would support her determination.

“……Why?”

However.

“Why?”

No matter how long she waited.

The Goddess of Justice did not respond to her prayers.

As if the God’s very existence had vanished.

“Why……!”

Seeing Aries repeat the word “why” like a broken record, Khan lowered his hand from her shoulder and grimaced. After hearing Esperus’s message at the dimensional passage, he had rushed back, grabbed Leo, and demanded that he pray just like he had with Aries.

And.

‘I… I received no response…….’

Leo, who had collapsed like a terrified child, also failed to sense the presence of the Goddess of Justice. There was only one thing this could mean.

‘The heavens have imprisoned the Goddess of Justice….’

The Goddess of Justice was being prevented from responding to the prayers of her followers, thus preventing her prospective apostle and paladins from aiding the rampaging barbarian on the surface.

Eventually, a thought crossed his mind of the brave girl who would be striving to maintain order within the church.

“Elena……!”

She was in danger.