Barbarian in a Failed Game

『Don’t move recklessly!』

“Don’t ask the impossible! To stay balanced at this speed, you’d have to be someone like Khan…!”

Ron didn’t even have the time to bask in the glory of riding atop a dragon. He had to devote all his energy to maintaining his balance to avoid falling off.

‘What kind of speed…!’

Even the dwarven pirate ship was excessively fast for a mere means of transportation. But the dragon’s full-speed flight was on another level.

After shedding a few tears from the pain of having his hair practically ripped out, Ron had to cling onto the scales with his entire body.

Despite that, Ron had to fulfill his role as a ‘guide’, which meant helping Natrix make tight, evasive maneuvers to avoid the giant’s attacks.

『It’s coming!』

“Aagh…!”

With a warning, Natrix accelerated mid-air again. Ron tightened his grip on Natrix’s scales, using them as a rudder to shift his body. Based on the weight distribution sensed from above, Natrix adjusted her direction.

Fwoosh─!!

This time, they managed to evade the giant’s attack promptly. However, the giant’s onslaught altered the surrounding landscape. As it struck the seafloor, the rebounding seawater created waves.

Waves so massive they could be mistaken for a waterspout.

“Go left!”

Pure massive force was the most straightforward weapon, and Ron followed the ceaseless ringing of his instincts, leaning his body to find the safest gap.

Rooooar──.

Flying precariously, as if surfing on the encroaching waves, Natrix kept a narrow but steady distance. In a situation where any mistake could be fatal, they were performing aerial maneuvers for the first time.

But a dragon is still a dragon. They are nearly perfect, which makes them dragons.

Surpassing experience, only relying on her innate senses, Natrix executed high-level aerial stunts and ascended again where the waves ended.

『It’s coming back!』

There was no time to relax. The tip of the hand, which had exposed the bottom of the sea and was lifted again, disappeared above the clouds.

Of course, if they distanced themselves now, how could the giant fixed in Gigantus attack?

Rumble!

Just then, Khan, who had arrived at the control room, began moving Gigantus.

“Now the real game begins…!”

The already massive giant’s hand grew even larger. This indicated that the navigating speed of Gigantus was extraordinarily fast for its size. Naturally, given that their goal was to distract the giant while escaping, the pressure heightened even more.

And Natrix had already expended significant energy countering the giant’s first attack. If she got caught in another one, she might actually die this time.

But, ‘I knew that from the beginning…!’

The thought of potentially dying had been with her from the moment she left the tower. No, even before that. From the moment they hunted Darkin Perayas together.

“We’ll see it through, no matter what…!”

***

“Uwaagh…!”

How long had they been fighting the ‘Adam-Kell’s Soldiers’ summoned by the alchemist?

Dwarf William, who had been pushing back the golem knights at the front lines, suddenly started vomiting blood. Startled by his abrupt action, Neria, who had been coordinating with him, hesitated, and the emotionless golems raised their mottled swords to finish William off.

“Get back─!”

The one who saved William was none other than Elena. While she swung her flail, always hidden under her nun’s habit, to push the golems back, the half-elf Neria used her trademark agility to pull William to safety.

Having secured William’s position, Elena too began to retreat but stopped, her face twisting at the stench of blood rising up.

“This is─”

Sensing something ominous, she immediately used holy magic to heal her body. But soon, as the nausea returned, Elena cried out in alarm.

“Poison…!”

“Your instincts are sharp. As expected of a priest from the Pantheon Church.”

The alchemist grinned venomously.

-The task of linking the giant’s resurrection spell to Gigantus’s core seemed to be progressing well enough for him to speak.

Yet, he had quietly released a secret toxin, keeping his composure hidden.

“It’s a fake inspired by my master’s colorless, odorless, tasteless poison. For a fake, it works quite well, doesn’t it? It lacks the lethality of the original, but even a small amount will cause all your internal organs to dissolve, enough to kill anyone.”

Elena’s face twisted in pain. Even if she healed herself with holy magic, the poison would seep back in before long. To continue fighting, she would have to constantly use the light of healing.

The bigger problem was not knowing when or how they had been poisoned.

On top of Gigantus, where she couldn’t feel the goddess’s gaze, wasting divine power was the worst idea. And yet, even though Khan had advised that delaying was enough, it would be best to deal with one of the enemy’s leaders.

“I’ll give it a try!”

A strong wind blew from behind Elena, who was seeking alternative methods to deal with the alchemist due to the mysterious poison. If it were an ordinary poison, most of it would have been washed away by now.

But their opponent was one of the greatest alchemists of this age, and the source of the poison was his master, the former tower master.

“If it were a poison that could be dispelled so easily, I wouldn’t be living like this, would I?”

Even the wind conjured by a spell could not dispel the mysterious poison, which continued to torment them.

William, who had been fighting at the front and was the most exposed to the poison, showed signs as his face turned an unhealthy shade of gray.

“Kur’gel.”

Tilly Ashanumos, who had said she would observe the giant, made her appearance. Though she didn’t explicitly reveal her identity, it was clear from her demeanor that she was allied with the alchemist.

“Mrs. Roswell. You’re later than expected.”

“A sea dragon appeared by the giant, so I was delayed. Sorry about that, Kur’gel.”

“No worries. But it seems this was a decoy, wasn’t it? With Gigantus suddenly moving and all… I have a rough idea now. Taking the giant to Paradise—an interesting plan.”

The alchemist quickly deduced the correct answer with the characteristic reasoning of a mage. He understood why they had returned after narrowly escaping death and what he needed to do to prevent it.

“Mrs. Roswell, could I ask you to handle them?”

“That’s not difficult. What about you, Kur’gel?”

“It’s quite obvious, isn’t it? Since the runaway dwarf king has walked right into my mouth, I’ll just have to digest him thoroughly.”

And of course, stop Gigantus while I’m at it.

***

“This royal seal. It should keep moving on its own even without the handle, right?”

“Since the control lever is set on that side, it will keep going in the same direction even if the handle breaks, but why do you ask?”

“That’s good enough.”

Immediately after confirming, Khan grabbed the handle of the hammer, which had become the control lever.

“You’re not seriously planning to break it, are you? You’re not a giant…”

Crack.

“… There’s no way you could break the treasure of the dwarf kingdom, right?”

How did this break?

The dwarf king looked at Khan in disbelief as he snapped the handle off at the base, but Khan nonchalantly tossed the handle to the dwarf king.

“Fix it later if you want. For now, follow me.”

“O-Okay…!”

Holding the broken handle, the dwarf king hurriedly followed Khan, asking,

“So, you’re just going to let Gigantus crash into Paradise? Is that why you broke the handle, so we can escape now?”

“Something like that.”

“What do you mean, ‘something like that’? Is it or isn’t it?”

Khan dismissed the king’s grumbling, making his way to the heart of Gigantus where the core was located.

The place where the rest of the party lured the alchemist to draw his attention.

“Haha…! To think you would come seeking me first. Were you that worried about your companions?”

Gigantus had become an environment where ambushes were impossible due to the high-rise buildings being completely melted by the mixed spirit. Naturally, approaching closely would inevitably lead to detection, and like before, the alchemist welcomed Khan.

The difference from their first encounter was the presence of a familiar face. Khan’s gray eyes and Tilly’s black eyes met. There was no exchange of words between them, but Khan seemed satisfied and averted his gaze.

“You’ve kept them alive.”

“Ah, mrs. Roswell insisted. She said she had plans for them alive. Like other monsters, I suppose she intends to enslave these humans too. Unfortunately.”

The group fighting the alchemist were, at some point, subdued by Tilly while unconscious, much like the Black Wing Duke in the Argon Kingdom. The alchemist, after mocking Khan’s group, deployed an increased number of Adam-Kell soldiers compared to earlier.

“So. What will you do now? If you carry out your plan to crash Gigantus into Paradise, do you think anything will change? Whether it’s you, your comrades lying at Mrs. Roswell’s feet, or that sea dragon risking its life against the giant, all of you will die the same.”

As he spoke, the alchemist quietly readied the secret poison of his master, a deadly venom that could bring down any monster in minutes.

“Considering we’re not far from Paradise to begin with, it’s only a matter of time before Gigantus collides with it. But I’m willing to give you one last chance.”

“A chance?”

“Yes. A chance to save your and your companions’ lives.”

A sneer spread wider across the alchemist’s face.

“Hand over the Dwarf Dynasty’s seal and stop Gigantus. I couldn’t care less if Paradise is destroyed, but I do not want Gigantus, which the giant must absorb, to be damaged. If you accept my offer…”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“Ha…! Are you serious? I’ll ask again. Even if you don’t mind for yourself, what about your companions─”

“Ha! You vile mage! The seal is useless since this bastard already broke it. Let’s all go to hell together─!”

The Dwarf King, his face battered, spat at the alchemist while throwing what used to be the seal’s handle. Naturally, the alchemist’s barrier prevented the unfortunate spit from reaching him, but there was a crack in his smile.

“How foolish…!”

Crash Gigantus into Paradise to die together? Using Gigantus as a bargaining chip would be the rational move. But these fools broke the negotiation leverage themselves, cutting off any possibility of dialogue.

“In that case, I have no choice but to kill you…!”

All mages are embodiments of reason and naturally abhor irrational actions vehemently. The alchemist, Kur’gel, was no different. Rarely displaying anger, he attempted to trigger the poison he had stealthily spread earlier.

“I’m sorry, Kur’gel. It seems this is the end for you.”

“What?”

Crack.

‘What’s this?’

His body wouldn’t budge. It was a situation he had never experienced since replacing more than half of his body with machinery. His body wouldn’t obey him?

Cut, slash…

What shocked him most was that the black tail piercing through his abdomen belonged to none other than Mrs. Roswell.

“You asked earlier, didn’t you? If I had a lover.”

“Ro… swell…!”

“That’s right. I do have a lover. And that person is….”

The man standing right before your eyes.

“Damn it─”

Crunch!