Barbarian in a Failed Game

“Like my comrades, you say…”

Khan’s eyes gleamed sharply. The mere thought that a goblin could have taken down Ludmilla, Alejandro, and Maya and devoured their bodies was infuriating.

“You think just because you became a demon’s contractor, you’re something special?”

“Kik! Not a demon. Contractor; I am. an apostle. of a God!”

Though he mocked the creature, Khan, as a veteran of the Midland Quest, knew not to underestimate it.

A demon contractor.

Unlike ordinary worshippers who offer their souls and sacrifices to borrow a demon’s power, a demon contractor receives a portion of the demon’s power directly, similar to the relationship between a God and its apostle.

An apostle of a God typically gains superhuman abilities. Depending on the God’s rank, an apostle can even reach the level of a transcendent.

‘If it’s Aecharis’s contractor…’

It would be correct to consider them at least on par with the apostles of the highest divine gods. At a minimum, they would be at the extreme pinnacle of superhuman strength, and purely in terms of power, they could even touch the level of transcendents.

The memory of the fearsome divine aura displayed by the southern Beast King when he became a demon contractor during the war with the Empire in ‘Midland Quest’ made Khan’s eyes narrow with heightened tension.

‘It’s possible Ludmilla couldn’t handle it.’

Even if she had reached a new level of magic in the Hoarfrost Gorge, a solo mage tends to have lower combat effectiveness compared to their specs. Especially if dealing with Aecharis’s demon contractor…

‘Powers related to devouring are difficult to deal with, regardless of type.’

The powers of Aecharis primarily specialize in ‘devouring’. Thus, when dealing with his minions, one must be wary of their ‘mouths’ and as a melee combatant, one naturally ends up operating within their range.

Ranged warriors also struggle, as spells and arrows can be devoured, rendering attacks futile.

‘Of course, there are strategies to counter them.’

As one of the game’s primary bosses, the endlessly resourceful veteran players wouldn’t have left it unchallenged.

“Kik…! I will eat you and offer you to my God!”

But despite his wariness, the Little Giant’s attack remained fundamentally goblin-like. Direct and straightforward.

Chomp!

In an instant, the creature was right in front of Khan, jaws yawning wide. Had he been even a fraction slower in pulling back, his head would have been swallowed.

Of course, it was an expertly calculated dodge.

『Karyan’s Eye』

Since the scope of attacks was limited to its mouth, for Khan, who possessed Karyan’s Eye, it was merely prey.

Boom─!

The fist that had shattered the ogre’s jawbone also struck the Little Giant. Taking advantage of the failed attack, Khan’s fist precisely collided with its lower jaw. A typical goblin’s head would have exploded entirely.

‘Still intact…!’

But the sensation transmitted through Khan’s knuckles told him otherwise. The creature was perfectly fine, and his punch had had no effect. It felt as if he had punched the liquid monster toy he used to play with as a child.

“Hoo!”

Taking a deep breath, Khan’s chest swelled.

If punches don’t work? The answer is simple.

‘I’ll just have to crush it with greater force!’

The Little Giant was defenseless in midair after being struck on the chin, and in that fleeting moment, Khan was confident he could land a dozen more attacks on its body.

Slash, slash, slash──!!

Unyielding, in his right hand, left afterimages as it struck. Every time an afterimage was left, the Little Giant’s body bore clear axe marks.

The synergistic effect of the strengthened wind spirit’s ‘acceleration’ and Khan’s heightened agility stat made his combos overwhelming, leaving the Little Giant rolling helplessly on the ground.

But.

“Kik. Kikik. Kikik…!”

The creature stood up laughing.

“Is. that. all?”

Despite having been hit by the same attack that had split an ogre’s skull, it didn’t even wobble. Even more shocking was the fact that it wasn’t bleeding at all.

To be precise, it was exuding dark energy instead of blood─

‘Damn it.’

Cursing under his breath, Khan drew Draupnir, recalling the memories of the Southern Tribes who had tormented players with similar abilities.

‘Satiety Conversion… of all the rotten powers.’

The power of Satiety Conversion allows devoured life forms to be converted into dark energy within the creature’s stomach, which is then used as a form of HP.

Unless obliterated entirely using spatial magic, the only way to kill it is by accumulating pure damage to completely empty its stomach—a highly tricky power.

And then he realizes.

How many frontier kingdoms had fallen into this creature’s hands? How many humans sacrificed, devoured into its stomach?

How much accumulated damage would it take to completely empty that stomach?

『Yes, despair more──!』

Aecharis, who was observing the fight through his contractor’s eyes, burst into laughter.

『This space is my domain, where even the Harlot of the Pantheon cannot interfere! This time, no one will come to your aid! Not the young dragon roaming the skies, nor the bizarre mortal who wields spatial magic!』

The malevolence in Aecharis’s voice, echoing through the space itself, was overt and strikingly clear. For an ordinary mortal, hearing such a voice would be enough to shatter their sanity.

But it had no effect on Khan.

“So what.”

With a dry face, practically contrasting his earlier curses, Khan’s body shot forward like a cannonball. He had realized the truth by now.

The reason why the creature was still relatively unharmed after fighting against Ludmilla and his other comrades on the front lines: the current state of the creature made it almost impossible to kill.

Given enough preparation time, Ludmilla might have had a chance to deal with it using spatial magic. But Khan had been caught in Aecharis’s trap before that could happen, and the Little Giant had escaped through Aecharis’s Pit, leaving no quick way to kill it anymore.

Therefore, Khan had only one option left.

‘Beat it until it dies!’

Whether it took a thousand hits or ten thousand. No matter how much dark energy was stored in its stomach, he would beat it until all was depleted.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The Little Giant was ultimately not a match for Khan in combat. It couldn’t retaliate and was beaten like a sandbag for a long time. Whenever the creature tried to counterattack by opening its jaws wide, Khan preemptively blocked the attack using Karyan’s Eye.

Just like when it became the King of Greenskin Warriors, any strategy involving enduring attacks with brute endurance and counterattacking with devouring power was completely foiled.

Nevertheless, “Kik. Kikik!”

The Little Giant remained nonchalant.

“Huff. Huff…!”

Khan, desperate, continued his relentless assault, as though he was racing against time. Even an almost immortal Troll Fighter, assuming it protected its heart and head, would have died hundreds of times over from the incessant attacks Khan unleashed, numbering in the hundreds and thousands, without rest.

However, the Little Giant’s stomach never emptied. Even though the dark energy it bled flooded up like a river, reaching their waists.

‘Still……!’

Snap.

As an unsettling realization began to seep into his mind, Khan bit his lip, drawing blood, to maintain focus. He continually reminded himself that there was no such thing as an unkillable monster in this world.

『Have you still not given up? It’s a pointless struggle, worm!』

As if to break his resolve,

『Even if by some miracle you survive, escaping from here is impossible─! This land is a sub-dimension closer to hell than Midland…! Kahahaha!』

Aecharis’s taunts tried to crush him every time he reinforced his determination.

‘There must be…’

He pushed the Little Giant even harder despite the taunts. And luckily or unluckily, before his stamina ran out, he recalled something. A way to obliterate the goblin before him, screw over Aecharis, and ensure his own safety.

The ultimate resort and best gamble he could choose now that he was trapped.

‘Just as Augrabes’s domain was neutralized with a similar power of space. By opening Aecharis’s pouch, I’ll make the spaces collide…!’

The point of collision was obvious. Grabbing the neck of the Little Giant, who had been beaten to the point of being as pliable as pizza dough, Khan tightened his grip.

The creature, thinking it found an opportunity, sneered with its characteristic kikiki laughter and opened its mouth wide. And as if waiting for this moment, Khan grinned as he maximized the opening of Aecharis’s pouch, which had naturally expanded along with the evolution of the Heart of Predation’s internal space.

“Let’s see if you can eat this too.”

***

『A dimension…?!』

As soon as Khan had leaped onto the ground to deal with the altar, Natrix sensed an anomaly below. A dimensional rift had opened as if to devour Khan mid-descent, swallowing him instantly.

『Aecharis…!』

With a dragon’s vision, Natrix quickly understood the nature of the trap. Opening a pre-prepared sub-dimensional entrance, Aecharis had abducted Khan without a trace.

And through her dragon sight, she realized there was nothing she could do to intervene. The power to manipulate dimensions was a colossal force, not granted to most gods.

This capability belonged exclusively to Aecharis, the demon that devours the world. Only Aecharis could open the closed dimensional portals he had created.

『Karyan’s descendant…!』

Natrix, at a loss, fluttered her wings in distress before the dimensional rift that had swallowed Khan. Time seemed to stretch endlessly.

But then, the dimension that had swallowed Khan began to collapse from the inside. A dimension’s collapse doesn’t simply end with its disappearance.

The pressure generated at the collapse’s coordinates explodes outward, sweeping everything within its range. This is why spatial magic is extremely dangerous and complex. Even a slight mistake could lead to an inescapable death, caught in spatial pressure.

But Natrix was a dragon, and with the powers of the dragon sight and dragon words, she dispersed the pressure from the collapsing dimension and descended to search for Khan.

However, no matter how much she searched,

『What on earth…?』

Khan was nowhere to be seen. It was as if he had been swallowed by the collapsing dimension itself.