Barbarian in a Failed Game

005. The Kind mage (2)

These days, in fantasy narratives, greenskins like orcs and trolls are typically depicted merely as XP delivery systems for the protagonist.

However, the greenskins of ‘Midland Quest’ are different.

These valiant warriors wield giant greatswords as if they were mere twigs and can easily withstand several thrusts of a dagger, provided their vital points are avoided.

‘Trolls, in some aspects, are even more troublesome than knights.’

While human knights might perish from a few well-placed stabs, trolls can regenerate unless decapitated or completely dismembered.

Even an ordinary troll is that tough, but what about one with two heads? Naturally, both heads need to be taken out for it to die. Its strength is also significantly greater compared to regular specimens.

‘And now, such creatures are being enhanced with dark magic……’

There was no longer any certainty of overpowering them with strength. Killing them in the usual manner of beheading seemed even more challenging……

“This is the worst.”

The target of the mission was found dead, the client had disappeared without a trace, and now, there was the added burden of dealing with undead monsters.

Considering what’s happened since getting involved with a mage, it seemed right indeed. mages are the root of all evil.

“Let’s recover the axe first.”

Doing something was better than doing nothing. Coming to that conclusion, Khan moved swiftly.

A monstrous monkey with half its face melted off charged at him, and with a casual swing of his arm, its body exploded.

That was the signal for battle.

The horde of undead surged towards Khan in a frenzy.

As the stench of rotting corpses grew stronger, indicating their closing distance, Khan forcefully stepped forward.

Boom─!

His superhuman strength overturned the ground where he landed.

Bang! A swung fist burst through the advancing corpses, temporarily creating a gap.

However, the gap was quickly filled again. No matter how much he smashed, tore, and shattered, the ranks of the corpses never seemed to thin.

‘This isn’t efficient at all.’

Seeming to realize that mere punching and kicking wouldn’t suffice, Khan grabbed one of the attacking monsters.

A boar-like monster he had encountered on his way. Gripping the short legs of the undead D-Hog with brute force, Khan swung the D-Hog’s corpse like a cudgel.

Crack──!

Even in death, the D-Hog was robust. It shattered any soft undead it collided with.

‘Good.’

The feeling in his hands was surprisingly satisfying. What’s more, using enemies to defeat other enemies was an incredibly efficient fighting style.

“Come at me, you bastards─!”

It was over in just a few breaths.

The time it took for the sturdy D-Hog’s corpse to be mangled beyond recognition was brief.

Snap!

After breaking about ten creatures, the D-Hog’s corpse finally gave out, having served its purpose. But Khan didn’t care. There were plenty more corpses around.

“Kahaha!”

It was almost a one-sided massacre. With a beast-like monster in one hand and a kobold in the other, every swing of Khan’s arms obliterated several undead.

While executing dual-wielding with corpses, rotten flesh and dark blood splattered everywhere, but his frenzy had long since taken over.

Khan simply crushed the wave of corpses with overwhelming violence. It was truly a battle worthy of the name barbarian warrior.

But even that didn’t last long.

“───.”

The inarticulate roar of the undead tingled his ears.

‘The real ones have finally shown up.’

With the fodder dealt with, Khan’s cool gaze settled.

An orc armored in dark magic-forged armor, a corpse golem kneaded from numerous bodies, a chimera crafted from various monsters…

“Kruck.”

And, unsurprisingly, the most troublesome of them all: an undead made from the body of a mutated troll. The dark mage who orchestrated this dire situation finally deployed his true forces.

‘It won’t be easy just to beat them down.’

Khan flexed and unflexed his fists, sizing up the situation, which was far from favorable.

The physical prowess of Khan, enhanced by his leveling up and the divine strength of a northern barbarian, made his body a formidable weapon. He had reached a level where dealing with orcs and trolls through punches and kicks was feasible.

But his opponents were no ordinary monsters.

“───!”

As if refusing to give him a moment to think, an orc clad in black armor roared and swung its sword.No matter how robust Khan’s physique may have been, the attack was not something he could catch with his bare hands.

Boom!

Right after rolling on the ground to dodge the greatsword, a corpse golem struck down with its fist as if it had been waiting, and Khan countered with a punch of his own.

Crack!

Unable to withstand the impact, the ground under Khan caved in.

“Kieee!”

At the moment a strange scream was heard from behind, Khan’s muscles trembled violently. The veins that bulged ferociously seemed like living creatures, and he pushed back the golem’s oppressive fist, kicking off the ground.

Though it seemed he managed to extricate himself somewhat, Khan bit his lip.

“Damn, they’re not giving me a moment’s rest!”

A chimera, with speed unbefitting its size, aimed for Khan’s nape, its claws ready to tear it apart. A strike that found its gap with deadly precision. This wasn’t a surprise attack a mindless corpse could achieve.

“The mage must be directing them!”

Blood spurted from Khan’s chest as he twisted his body in the air, the chimera’s face seeming to hold a sneer. “Already dead and still so presumptuous…!”

With a searing heat crossing his chest along with the bleeding, Khan harshly grasped the chimera’s wrist that had ravaged his chest, then planted his stance as firmly as if rooting himself into the ground. And then-

Crunch! Screeeech!

The chimera, now with its arm completely torn off, let out a horrendous scream. Immediately after, Khan’s foot, sharp as a spear, struck the chimera’s chest.

Bang!!

The chimera, with its chest blown open, was flung far away as Khan’s eyes radiated with fierce light. Despite inflicting wounds that would have killed a normal creature long ago, the situation did not improve. Khan bled profusely from his chest, unlike the undead, which would simply regenerate.

To end this situation, he had to take down the mage.

However, finding a dark mage who had laid traps from the start and concealed their presence with spells would be difficult without being a mage himself.

During a brief standoff, Khan’s mind raced. Though a barbarian might have mindlessly charged, he had the intellect of a modern person.

“This is a trap set specifically for me. Then, why would a necromancer target a barbarian?” Obviously, to turn them into undead. Khan’s thoughts started with simple speculation then branched into numerous possibilities.

“Necromancy is stronger when it turns a living being into undead rather than manipulating corpses.”

“Orc warriors, corpse golems, chimeras, mutant trolls. Each one is elite in strength. Managing four such beings at once suggests at least a mid-level mage.”

“A mid-level mage’s detection spell only extends a few times beyond their line of sight. They must be nearby, observing and directing the battle.”

Knowledge accumulated through games, experience gained by rolling through another world…

The best solution he could devise was almost a gamble. Well, it had to be, given he had walked right into the mage’s trap.

At least he should be thankful there was a way out.

“Hmph. Shall we give it a try?”

*

*

*

“What in the world is that…!”

The dark mage, who had been overseeing the battle, could not contain his astonishment.

They had been confident. Even a superhuman who had hunted a young ogre, with the forces they painstakingly created, should have been easy prey.

That belief did not waver midway.

After the undead, raised for the purpose of draining Khan’s stamina, were destroyed, the ‘masterpieces’ – the elite undead – had seemed to overwhelm the barbarian warrior.

But the tide turned after the barbarian muttered something and then rendered the chimera incapable of action with a single blow. Suddenly, he started running somewhere, an act that seemed like suicide because a mutated troll that the dark mage had enhanced over several months awaited in that direction.

He was confident in the troll’s regenerative abilities, now close to immortality due to necromancy, and strengthened muscles, which he believed could compete even with an ogre. He thought his decrepit master would drool with envy upon seeing it.

No matter how strong that barbarian warrior might be, he was supposed to be easily torn to pieces in front of the mutant troll.

“No!”

The dark mage, who had been hiding, sprung up. There was no point in setting up traps and making plans otherwise. Not just any ogre, but a warrior who had hunted one – the minions created from such a body would be exceptionally strong, a fact the necromancer knew best.

“Maybe, I could finally escape from my master…!”The dark mage felt the need to intervene and dissolved his magical invisibility.

Instantly, the veil of darkness concealing the mage was lifted.

Surprisingly, the location was the midst of a battlefield where barbarian and undead were clashing, specifically, in the barbarian’s rear.

“Khan-! I will help you!”

From the rear of the barbarian, the dark mage Eliya revealed her form, and the spell manifested from her hands, the ‘Silence Chamber of Arachne’ from the Gray Tower, enshrouded the body of a mutant troll, bypassing the barbarian completely.

To anyone watching, it was clearly a spell cast in aid of the barbarian, who in turn thrust his fist forward in response.

“Grrr───!”

However, the magical bind holding the mutant troll snapped effortlessly, as if there had never been any intention to restrain it, without the slightest resistance.

Pop-.

As a result, the barbarian who allowed himself to be hit by the mutant troll was sent flying through the air.

“Ha-haha! Finally…!”

Eliya laughed out loud while leisurely watching the barbarian collide with a rock and struggle to get up.

“With you! With your prowess, even my master can’t help but acknowledge me. A warrior who hunted an ogre, no less?! You’ll be turned into a superior minion compared to that mutant troll. And then! If that happens……!”

A hint of madness could be perceived in her demeanor, her emotional height reaching an unnecessarily swift peak.

“I could even surpass that foolish master of mine?! Really. Thank you so much! Khan!”

Pfft.

The barbarian, Khan, spat out a mouthful of blood as he struggled to his feet, and Eliya’s shoulders shook with excitement.

“This is why one should not associate with mages.”

Khan watched the spectacle with a cold, motionless gaze. No emotion could be felt from his eyes.

No betrayal, no bewilderment, no question, nothing.

Just self-reproach. At this, Eliya’s head tilted at an eerie angle.

“Huh? You speak words that wound. I quite fancied you, you know……. We did communicate well, didn’t we?”

“Didn’t I say it at the start. mage.”

“What’s that?”

“What happens to those who try to cheat me.”

Khan, who had seized an axe during the collision with the mutant troll, looked at Eliya, a woman with striking brown curls, with an emotionless expression and said,

“They all got buried.”

“Ha-ha. So it was? Indeed.”

Eliya turned her neck back to its original position and smirked lightly.

“Really think you can do it with that body? I don’t want to hurt you any further……. But if you resist, there’s nothing I can do.”

Her scorn deepened at the sight of Khan pulling back his arm, as if blatantly preparing to throw his axe.

“You think it’s a done deal? Assuming my little ones won’t break through and that tiny axe will embed in my head?”

Khan didn’t respond but took a stance ready to throw.

In this damned world that Khan was thrust into, although it was definitely real, oddly, the game system remained intact.

One could gain experience points to level up and acquire skills through repetitive actions.

And over the past few years.

The fate of all mages who taunted Khan in his presence was the same. The axe thrown by Khan embedded in their foreheads, turning them into axe holders.

The proficiency of the throwing skill thus developed, with the addition of a barbarian warrior’s trait of ‘Increased Inherent Skill Proficiency in Combat Series’…

[Throwing (B) – 89%]

It was on the verge of reaching the ‘A’ grade, classified as a top-tier skill.

“Let’s see if you can still laugh with your head split open.”

Before the dark mage could reply.

────────.

It was like a flash of lightning. In an eerie silence as though time had stopped, a whirlwind followed the trajectory of light, decorating the air.

Crack───!

Solid rocks, orcs clad in armor, golems made of flesh, synthesized chimeras were all torn apart by the spiral whirlwind.

Even the mutant troll, which was believed to have near-immortal regenerative abilities, was no exception-.

“I told you yesterday.”

Khan, who performed a miracle, almost more magical than magic itself, with a single axe, trampled over the pulped undead as he approached Eliya.

“Those who tried to cheat me. All got buried.”

Tdark mage- Tdark mage-

Eliya, half her head split yet still tdark mageing, not dead.

Meeting her eyes, Khan reached for the handle of his axe and said,

“Now it’s your turn, mage.”