Barbarian in a Failed Game

026. Darkin Subjugation (6)

“What, what’s with the atmosphere?”

“Why do you think? It’s because you showed up out of nowhere without reading the mood.”

“What…!”

Ron, who had burst in at a crucial moment, protested his innocence, but Khan simply ignored him. After all, there was something far more eye-catching than Ron’s intrusion.

‘That guy. Did he always have that pattern?’

Khan faced Darkin, who was looking at him with a perplexed gaze, with astonishment.

The boy, possessing an androgynous beauty, had the same face as Darkin from the fifth act.

However, the golden scales, bone-made wings, and tail were completely new to him.

‘Is it an anomaly because I found him too county?’

No, that wasn’t it.

If that were the case, a similar pattern would have emerged at least once during the game. In other words, it was a special anomaly limited to this episode.

And in this world of the current episode, it was unnecessary to even think about who could cause such an anomaly.

‘The question is, where did this anomaly start from…’

“Let’s just beat him up and find out.”

“You! What kind of trickery have you used! To defeat the inner demons, and to breach through all those undead and chimeras?”

Instead of answering, Khan simply stretched his neck from side to side, warming up.

He had been conservative with his skills, so he still had plenty of stamina left, and the condition of his party seemed fairly reasonable.

There was an unfamiliar face, presumably a spell caster summoned by Bethel from the Mage Tower. He hadn’t expected two of them, though.

“It seems you were the group that cleared the way first. I am Jerome, a magus of the Gray Tower. And this one is my disciple, Jan.”

“I am Gordi Khan.”

“Khan? Khan… where have I heard that name before…”

“Now is not the time for introductions.”

“Ah… Yes, that’s true.”

The graying middle-aged mage, Jerome, had his unnecessary chatter cut off by Khan, who had just finished checking his physical condition.

“Ron. You cover the mage from behind.”

“Anyone comes close, they’ll get a taste of my hammer!”

After Khan had snapped a two-headed puppy’s neck with his bare hands, he left the oddly energized Ron behind and strode towards Darkin, who was confronting Aries near the bone throne.

“Come out─!”

Reacting belatedly to the situation, Darkin, infuriated by Ron’s outlandish babbling, summoned his black magic power, and the named ones started to move.

First was ‘Dark Knight Erendal.’

With undead regeneration, tremendous strength, and the masterful swordsmanship from his previous life, Erendal was a formidable opponent even for Khan.

“───!!”

Erendal’s silent roar spread a black magic that, just by listening, asserted its dominance and sapped strength from its foes.

However, there was a paladin on their side.

“Lord…!”

Aries’s emotional voice rang out, but its effect was undeniable. The paladin’s ‘Cry of Radiance’ countered Erendal’s roar.

Not stopping there, Aries charged forward, not at Darkin but at Erendal.

Clash! Boom!

The black sword and the white sword crossed paths. Like a mirror image, the two knights’ swords traced similar arcs in their duel.

This naturally split the battlefield.

Darkin, the Maggot Ghoul, and Legion Commander Youheim. Khan’s choice was clear. He aimed for the necromancer first.

[Leap (C) – 98.5%]

Khan executed a near-horizontal leap to close the distance instantly. Maggot Ghoul and Legion Commander Youheim’s attempted blockade was clear as day.

“The big monsters are mine.”

Jerome stepped in with support, clearing the path to Darkin with ‘Arceus’s Grip.’

[Such futile efforts!]

Darkin wasn’t just standing idly by. The dragon-human form surged with black magic power, magnifying his minions’ stats with the ‘Aura of Death.’ The spell targeted the heaviest of his named ones, the Maggot Ghoul.

“Grraaaagh!”

Breaking free from the spell’s bind, the ghoul blocked Khan’s path. Its body, seemingly made of wriggling maggots, attempted a powerful smash.

‘I don’t want to hit that.’

The prospect of touching the disgusting creature wrinkled Khan’s face. Instinctively halting his counterattack, he turned his steps towards Youheim.

Thump! Clash!

[Leap (C) – 98.6%]

Among Khan’s favorite techniques, leap-based lateral movement was difficult to control but undeniable in its speed and power.

The sound of rolling steps and the echo of striking the cave walls erupted simultaneously.

Before any black magic could come into play, Youheim’s tremendous form was sent rolling across the ground.

[What…!]

Atop the fallen Youheim, Khan raised his foot again.

Darkin, aware of the incoming charge, muttered an indecipherable spell.

A mysterious black mist enveloped Darkin, and he vanished from his spot using ‘Shadow Stealth,’ a technique previously seen from a dark mage who had attacked the monastery.

Khan’s eyes gleamed.

If approached quickly by an agility-focused character, Darkin would always resort to Shadow Stealth.

“I knew it!”

Khan had anticipated it all along.

Standing above the staggering Youheim, Khan readied his handaxe.

[Throw (B) – 90.1%]

The aftereffects of consecutive skills made his heart race. Despite this, Khan gathered strength.

Whoosh!

The backlash of the leap left fissures on Youheim’s sturdy bones, and a sharp pain pierced Khan’s right shoulder. At the same time, the handaxe sliced through the air.

─────!!!With a terrifying gust of throwing axe, the target of the thrown throwing axe was not Darkin, concealed in shadows, but rather the maggot ghoul standing some distance away. Its massive size, corresponding strength, and even the corpse poison contained within the worms composing its body made it a foe whose damage would double if left unchecked.

So,

‘I’ll take you down first.’

CRASH!

The power of the throwing axe, enhanced by a B-rank strength multiplier, was something mere bugs couldn’t withstand. The maggots, replacing the ghoul’s flesh, were literally torn to shreds. The creature’s large body was merely an obstacle at this moment, completely obliterated before it could even escape the whirlwind’s reach.

“One down.”

[You…!!]

Enraged, Darkin revealed itself above Khan. It had used its survival skill, Shadow Dive, as a charging attack instead. With the throwing axe, assumed to be a magical weapon, now far flung, and a gap in defense opening right after the attack, Darkin made a bold decision. Eliminate the most dangerous variable first!

[Die!]

Darkin’s bone tail whipped around, whooshing through the air and rushing forward. Even Aries, protected by Holy Armor, was easily injured by this strike. Surely, a barbarian without even leather armor, let alone plate armor, would be split in two instantly.

Just then, an annoying voice pierced Darkin’s ears. The mercenary, briefly forgotten among the ranks of paladins, magus of the Tower, and barbarian of Frost Gorge.

“Catch the hammer!”

It was Ron.

Thump-!

A heavy iron hammer, thrown out of nowhere, hit Darkin mid-air.

Of course, for Darkin, who had withstood Aries’s ‘Strikes of Judgement’ with his bare body, the surprise attack had little effect. It merely pushed him slightly in the air. But that was enough.

Crack!

Darkin’s tail, charging with the momentum to finish Khan, only scraped the barren ground.

Damn it…! Darkin immediately tried to retreat into the shadows with Shadow Dive, contorting his face.

“Get— down—!”

But it was not to be.

An unseen force inherent to the Gray Tower momentarily held Darkin’s body captive. He dispelled the bindings with his dark magic, but even that brief moment proved deadly against the foes before him.

[Rise!]

Skeleton warriors, reduced to mere stepping stones for Khan, stirred under the ‘Aura of Death’. Khan involuntarily leaped back as he saw them rise.

[Rise!]

And again.

‘The Aura of Death’ reached towards the back of the Bone Throne, where the pool containing the egg that had rebirthed Darkin stretched forth.

“Argh…”

“Kiiek!”

The disciples of Darkin, used as sacrifices, revived. However, they seemed hardly a force to reckon with, having been drained of all flesh and blood.

[Arise─!]

They all had been closely tied to Darkin through direct or indirect contracts. Not a single drop of blood or flesh wasn’t owned by Darkin, even their souls.

Bound by the contract, their scattered souls gathered as one. The dead become my power. You should have known that.

Darkin’s red lips curved into an arc, mixing together numerous souls into one.

[Wooowooowooowoo…!]

The sorrowful wailing of spirits, mixed with agony, betrayal, and resentment from being absorbed alive, transformed into a potent curse.

“Cough!”

“What is this…!”

Jan collapsed, coughing up blood from the mana backflow caused by the curse, while Ron kneeled, bleeding from his eyes, ears, and nose.

Jerome, who had isolated all sounds around him with a spell, prepared another, as Aries, who had held on through her divine power, was caught off guard and struck by the dark knight Erendal.

And then there was Khan…

“Shut—up—!”

[War Cry (C) – 51.4%]

He bellowed louder than the crying spirits, completely burying their wailing.

‘What on earth is that monster!’

Darkin couldn’t help but be flabbergasted.

How did he simply dismiss the curse of spirits? Could he possess an artifact specializing in curse defense? All sorts of thoughts briefly crossed his mind.

Needless to say, they were all wrong. The curse that could have brought down even the mightiest knight was unthinkable to have been resisted bodily.

[What are you…!]

Startled for what seemed the umpteenth time today, Darkin couldn’t contain his shock and commanded the skeleton warriors and spirits. Block that barbarian!

Physical attacks were futile against spirits. They were the perfect adversaries for a barbarian devoid of even a wisp of mana, especially when bolstered by the Aura of Death.

‘The mercenary and the magus’s disciple are too weakened to fight. The paladin girl…’

Entangled by Erendal, who had the body of a paladin from his lifetime and vast dark magic ensuing from his corruption, along with excellent swordsmanship, they would not be able to join the fight.

Then.

‘Let’s take down the magus first!’

In any battlefield, a mage is a significant variable. Because one spell could turn the tide. Especially if it’s a magus.

The decision was made in an instant.

Darkin stomped the ground fiercely, just like Khan had done.

With the incredible strength of his body, he closed the distance in an instant. From Darkin’s hand, black magic—derived from the power of a demon with a body made of tens of thousands of snakes—erupted. ‘Nebeda’s Hell Serpents’ attacked

Jerome as he was preparing his spell.

And at the same time.

Jerome’s spell was completed.

A high-level magic from the Gray Tower Arcane.

‘Collapse.’

With a cacophony of crumbling sounds, a gray sphere formed in the air, squashing everything within its range. Unable to withstand the force exerted from above, the ground cracked and crumbled.

And the sphere began to rotate.

Like gathering the force it had emitted, the power originating from the sphere created a maelstrom, crushing everything.

“Cough…!”

Jerome coughed up blood. Not due to the strain of casting a spell too powerful.

But because the ‘Nebeda’s Hell Serpents’, which had penetrated his defenses, were wreaking havoc inside him.

Even then, Jerome formed signets. Desperately, he struck his own body with invisible waves. Thud─ Darkin’s fist struck down in that exact spot.

Here arose a question.

Could it be that the magus had failed to adjust his spell? Why did his spell miss him? And Darkin’s head turned back involuntarily.

[…!]

And then, he realized. From the beginning, the spell was not aimed at him!

“Cough… A mage must possess a cold, rational intellect… You riffraff of dark mages.”

Jerome mocked Darkin’s folly. He never intended to finish Darkin with his spell in the first place.

Even the formidable strike demonstrated by Aries failed to make an impact, he had long determined that a spell cast without ample preparation stood no chance.

Neither a paladin nor a magus could inflict a fatal wound on Darkin.

Then, there was only one person left.

“Heave! Heave!”

Youheim, with his sturdy physique, and the wraith that ignored physical impacts entirely, had long been annihilated by Jerome’s spell.

And the barbarian warrior who was fiercely exchanging blows with two undead. Khan held the throwing axe, retrieved by the “Silent Thread of Arachne.”

Panting heavily, steamy breaths emanated from his heated immense body as if his heart, burning from the relentless battles, was about to burst.

He ran.

Boom!

A shriek───!

[Leap (C) – 99.1%]

Skill proficiency surged from battling a formidable opponent. Leap was nearing a B grade. A dull pain was felt in his ankle.

He gritted his teeth.

‘Why does he go to such lengths!’

Darkin had lived through eons. He had believed he knew how to erase fear through countless experiences. But he couldn’t in this situation.

This was a monster. A being born solely for combat, beyond human.

“Shadow Concealment!”

He dare not confront it directly. Fear dictated his choices. Darkness began to wrap around Darkin’s body.

“Iron Hammer…!”

Startled.

The annoying voice he had almost forgotten made Darkin’s head turn. Instinctively, his body reacted, half-expecting another iron hammer flying towards him.

But it didn’t happen. Ron’s iron hammer had been thrown far away long ago.

[This bastard─!!]

The brief anger at being fooled. Darkin quickly regained his composure and focused on extracting himself. Just a bit more…!

“O Divine Justice─!”

It was an explosion of holy power. Light burst forth around Aries. The holy power far exceeded her capacity, overflowing beyond her vessel.

‘Avatar.’

A power exclusively granted to paladins blessed by the gods.

The abundant holy power didn’t take a specific form. It simply spread, filling the cavern.

The opposing dark magic lost its force and dissipated. The darkness shrouding Darkin scattered. The barbarian’s eyes caught sight of the enemy anew.

The light, having served its purpose, faded. Despite receiving a massive blow of divine power at close range, Erendal’s sword, which had refused to fall, skimmed past the unprotected abdomen of Aries.

Khan didn’t stop.

The unexpected appearance of Darkin. The myth of the Western Great Mountains. Golden scales. The main story. All thoughts were wiped clean.

[Throw (B) – 90.9%]

Darkin’s attempt to flee again with Shadow Concealment was thwarted by the throwing axe Khan launched.

The continuous interference replaced the fear filling Darkin’s mind with another emotion.

It was rage.

[This is my territory─!]

Only one barbarian remained. Killing him would solve everything! He was disarmed and at the limits of his endurance! But my body is still intact!

It was a delayed realization.

The draconian clenched his fist.

He ran towards the barbarian, who had almost reached him, fists wrapped in dragon scales.

Bang!

As if driving a stake into the ground. Darkin’s body, launched like a cannonball, moved purely driven by strength in a highly inefficient manner.

Because he trusted in the dragon scales. Even if hit, he could endure. By forcing a one-sided consumption of strength, he would eventually emerge as the victor.

Naturally, Khan was all too aware that he didn’t have many opportunities left.

The toll of enduring the wraith’s curse meant blood continuously flowed from every opening in his face, and even moving forward was difficult due to pain.

He should be thankful that the enemy had closed the distance themselves.

‘In one blow.’

He cleared his mind. The enemy, trusting in their own defense, charged mindlessly. It was a mistake to be corrected.

His power surged.

It wasn’t like the heroes in stories where new strength miraculously appeared in a moment of crisis, but rather gathering every bit of remaining vigor through the effect of a skill.

The recoil caused his vision to blur momentarily. His ears felt blocked, and even the pain dulled.

Then, in a flash- his consciousness returned. A translucent system window obscured his vision, but he couldn’t focus on its contents. Only Darkin, rapidly closing in, filled his sight.

Boom────.

A heavy impact shattered the ground. The lower body, thought to be collapsing from excessive force, somehow remained standing.

Instead of his right arm, which was creaking from overuse of throwing, he pulled his left arm back. At that moment, as the distance closed enough to reach with an extended arm.

He thrust his fist.

Whoom──!

A tearing sound was heard.

Sensing something was amiss, Darkin crossed his arms for protection. Yet, the scene unfolded in an eerily slow motion.

Crack─.

The fist hit the crossed arms.

Scales ripped apart, his arms burst into a spray of blood. Thus, the fist that plunged like a spear battered Darkin’s chest.

Crash……

And that was.

The breaking sound!

The premature end of Darkin Perayas, a calamity of the future.

Boom─────!!!

[Surging Strength (A) – 11%]

─Delivers a strike with all one’s might.

*

*

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[Act 1, The Beginning of the Journey] – Clear!

─Clear Rewards :: Fragment of ???’s Scales, The Blood Vessel, Research Journal of Darkin Perayas, Knight’s Revivial (B).

─Due to the effect of Ancient Bloodline, Knight’s Revival (B) grade increases. Indomitable Will (A) acquired.

[Indomitable Will (A) – 1%]

─When falling into a state unable to fight, overcome it with indomitable will. Ignore stamina consumption and continue the fight for a certain period.