Barbarian in a Failed Game

“So, you became an Apostle of the Void… to lead me to this moment?”

Khan pressed his fingertips to his temples, soothing his sudden headache.

“You mean to say you became part of the chaos and stepped outside the repeating timeline.”

“To put it simply, yes. It’s more complex if we delve deeper.”

She added that she could only influence the point in memory where Khan recognized her, allowing the void’s influence to open. But given the timeframe when she opened the void portal atop the Tree of Memories, it was possible.

‘The world’s repetition is like a game with a set beginning and end, endlessly looping.’

What she did was straightforward—taking a game that reset to the start after the ending and forcibly pushing it beyond the ending. As punishment, ‘The ambiguous entity called ‘Heaven’ obliterated ancient civilizations and fast-forwarded time to the present…’

Even the transcendents who survived from ancient times to now didn’t realize it. They were unaware that the current world was also repeating infinitely.

“…You want me to break the cycle of repetition for this world again?”

“You’re the only one who can. Unlike me, you aren’t bound by this world’s rules.”

“How? How did you stop the world’s repetition?”

“You have to reach the world’s end. When you get there, you’ll naturally understand what you need to do.”

“Vague as always…”

Khan expressed dissatisfaction with her unclear answer, but Mortalia only smiled mischievously.

“Please, I know I’m like an enemy to you, but… for the sake of this world.”

Despite her earnest plea, Khan showed no visible reaction—neither affirmative nor negative. Yet, mortalia seemed satisfied, smiling as she turned towards the void portal.

As she signaled the end of their conversation, Khan called out, “Wait.”

There was still something he needed to confirm.

“You said that the ‘you’ of the last cycle wanted to stop the world’s repetition. You succeeded, and one way or another, moved to the next. So… what happened to the ‘you’ from the last cycle?”

She halted dramatically but didn’t turn to face him. The sorrow in her voice was palpable, and it stopped Khan from calling out again.

“You already know, don’t you?”

How the ‘me’ who dared defy the heavens turned out after receiving the divine punishment.

***

“Gasp…!”

As consciousness surfaced once more, Khan kicked out reflexively, feeling confined. CRACK.

The trunk that had swallowed him shattered without resistance. His energetic kick felt almost unnecessary given how easily the tree broke apart. Despite the confusion, Khan slowly extricated himself from the remains of the trunk.

‘My body feels lighter.’

The first observation he made was how surprisingly intact his heavily-taxed body was after the battle. Wondering why, he examined himself and then checked his stats, finding the answer.

『Level: 36』

『Strength: 82』

『Agility: 44』

『Stamina: 46』

『Intelligence: 2』

“Not bad at all.”

His level had increased by two from a single battle. He had crossed the dreaded threshold of level 35, propelling directly to 36. It was known as a particularly grueling level to surpass.

‘Strength has surpassed 80.’

That number alone warranted a sense of achievement. With one of his three main stats—Strength, agility, stamina—now over 80, and the other two in the mid-40s, his character’s baseline stats were nearing endgame caliber.

Reaching such figures without the aid of items or bonuses, purely with the character’s own development, was practically unheard of. His stats alone were beginning to align with endgame attributes. Of course, for true endgame status, proper equipment and multiple S-tier skills were still necessary.

‘An 80 in strength is impressive.’

In a purely mage-focused build, it was common for Intelligence to surpass 80. Given that most of a typical mage’s stat investment went into Intelligence, bolstered with various potions, it wasn’t exceptionally difficult. However, he had never encountered a warrior build with such formidable stats.

‘Could I wrestle an ogre now?’

He chuckled to himself, astonished by his newfound strength.

“Tree of Memories…”

A familiar voice behind him snapped him back to reality. He recalled the woman who had been the host of the Tree of Memories and the First Branch of Paradise. Expecting her to be in a dire condition, he was surprised to see she appeared largely unharmed.

“… The Tree of Memories is dying.”

She gently caressed the groove of the trunk that had held her captive for so many horrific years. Her touch was tender, akin to handling a beloved child.

Through this action, Khan was certain she was indeed the person from the memories he had observed.

“You don’t resent it?”

“It was simply… misguided.”

“Misguided?”

“This child went berserk only to grant my foolish wish. My wish for there to be a place in Midland where elves could live peacefully…”

A lot of thoughts came to Khan’s mind at her words.

For one, the atrocities committed by the elves seemed rather contradictory to this wish, and wasn’t she the one who sacrificed all the elves to become a God?

Of course, having survival instincts honed over thirty years as an overweight man, Khan understood the importance of tact.

“By the way, I must apologize for the delayed gratitude.”

“It doesn’t seem like you’ve done much to warrant gratitude.”

“Nevertheless, many people were hurt because of this child’s actions…”

The owner of the memories Khan had glimpsed—the oldest elf in this world, the First Branch, Skadi—bowed her head deeply.

“I am truly sorry….”

“Enough. I had my reasons for doing what I did. And—”

Khan stopped her from bowing so low that she might hit her head on the ground and turned away.

Natrix, who had wielded the power of an ancient dragon, had reverted to her human form and was watching them. Neria, who had exhausted herself controlling the vision contained in the Essence of the Five-Colored Bird, sat down in relief that the situation was over.

And Elena, who had poured all her holy power into supporting Khan, lay on the ground, having given more than her share as a priestess.

“—my companions are all alive, so save the apologies.”

Skadi straightened only slightly, still looking apologetic. Seeing that expression on an elf’s face was unsettling, made even worse by the fact that even the mental image seen through Karyan’s eyes felt genuine.

An elf without the usual arrogance—what an unknown creature.

“So, is the Tree of Memories dead? Completely?”

Khan tried to dispel his inner discomfort by changing the subject. The answer, however, came from an unexpected source.

『That pesky fool has likely become a part of your mental world, you lunatic.』

‘What do you mean by that?’

『What do you think? That idiot tried to take over your mental world. It was brazen enough to show up in front of me, so I was ready to chew it up— 』

-its escape skills were impressive, though.

Spirit of Resentment’s voice grew even more sinister with laughter.

‘This bastard?’

Khan’s face twisted at Spirit of Resentment’s self-aggrandizing tone. While he knew the Tree of Memories had invaded his mental world, he was baffled by Spirit of Resentment’s presence there.

『Is it really that surprising? How else do you think this thought could echo within your mind? And you, deranged human, it was none other than you who pulled me into your mental world. With audacity, you enslaved me when I wasn’t whole.』

At the point when Khan wanted to spill out curses at every new piece of nonsense that came out whenever its mouth opened, Skadi, noticing the change in Khan’s facial expression, spoke with a curious tone.

“To put it clearly, the Tree of Memories is not dead. The ‘Tree of Memories’ you remember might be a villain who didn’t abandon its stubbornness and sacrificed its children… But originally, that tree’s role was different.”

During the brief silence as Khan tried to understand what she meant.

Rumble…!

The ground they stood on – the vibration caused by the shaking of the Tree of Memories engulfed Khan and the others. If they had let their guard down even slightly, the earthquake was strong enough that it wouldn’t have been strange if they had fallen, and the reason was clear.

‘The giant is still left.’

The Tree of Memories, which had been holding it back, was swallowed by Khan’s mental world, and the giant, now unrestrained, began to rampage even more fiercely.

“It seems we should continue our conversation a bit later.”

“No. We can’t leave everything to our benefactor. As I said, the original role of this tree was different.”

Despite being a host for a long time, Skadi, showing her strength still intact, maintained a straight posture and walked past Khan to stand atop the first branch.

“This child was originally the guardian God of the elves. In the place where its power reaches, the power of spirits grows stronger, and it was possible to quickly recover strength by absorbing the energy of nature. Most importantly…”

Her hand, without a single callus, pointed to the giant rampaging below.

“Even this. It’s fully possible.”

The roots of the Tree of Memories began to sprout and entangle the giant. Fruits began to form all over the branches, and new spirits were born from them.

Colorful spirits, growing to more than tens of thousands, formed proper shapes. The energy embraced by the Tree of Memories was raising the rank of the spirits in a short time, proving it.

“Come to think of it, you also kept a young spirit by your side. Though it seems completely disconnected from the Tree of Memories by external force…”

At that moment, Skadi, who controlled the tree to entangle the giant and nurtured the spirits, pointed to the wind spirit hovering around Khan.

“That child seems satisfied staying by your side. Though it’s modest, I will grant it strength to aid you on your journey.”

The wind spirit, in the form of a small fairy, pointed at its own face with its tiny finger as if to ask, ‘Will you evolve me?’

Skadi smiled gently.

“It’ll only take a moment.”

And indeed, her words were true. The power flowing from the Tree of Memories wrapped around the wind spirit like a cocoon. Not long after, the wind spirit emerged completely transformed.