Barbarian in a Failed Game

Blood spurted from his left shoulder.

By the time he realized it, the beast that had slashed his shoulder was long gone from his sensory range. No, it moved so fast that it was impossible to tell if it had ever left.

‘I can’t catch it…!’

The moment Karyan’s eyes caught sight of the red line and the instant he got wounded by the sword strike.

The speed was such that there was virtually no margin of error between the two moments. Even with an agility stat reaching 50, all Karyan could do was barely recognize the attack’s trajectory with his eyes.

Dodging or counterattacking was an impossible feat against such rapid speed-!

“Hyungnim…!”

“My king!”

When Khan suddenly staggered, bleeding, toolkan and Vess, alarmed, tried to rush to him. There wasn’t even time to warn them not to approach. Khan immediately raised Draupnir diagonally.

Swooosh!

The sound of the air being torn echoed futilely. He thought he had correctly read the trajectory and swung his sword, but it merely sliced through empty space, missing the beast entirely.

In fact, it would have been better if it had just missed.

Drip.

Blood flowed down his arm. He only realized he had been cut when the burning sensation ran down his arm. While his sword had cut through the air, the beast’s blade had inflicted another wound on Khan.

Although it wasn’t a fatal wound, it was more than enough to heighten his alertness to the highest degree.

“The Blood King’s Sword…!”

At that moment, Kurtank screamed, revealing the beast’s identity, and a murmur spread among allies and enemies alike.

The loyal servant who stood shoulder to shoulder with the Blood King’s Shield, Tenel, and one of the few who wandered the Blood Domain for the Blood King. A Demonkin General few had met in person.

Also known as the fastest being in the Blood Domain.

Slaaash!

“Ahhhh!”

The sound of flesh being torn and Kurtank’s scream erupted simultaneously. It meant the Blood King’s Sword had abruptly changed targets.

Even Khan, with Karyan’s eyes, couldn’t react in time to such an astonishingly swift strike. Considering her physical abilities were among the weakest of the Demonkin Generals, her chances of surviving were virtually zero.

However, Kurtank’s quick thinking saved her life.

-The moment she realized the Blood King’s Sword had entered the battlefield, she used her powers to control the Blood King’s Shield, Tenel, to protect her.

As a result, the Blood King’s Sword only managed to cut through Tenel’s carapace. It didn’t kill Kurtank.

‘Damn it…!’

Of course, this didn’t mean the situation had improved. If anything, the sight of Tenel’s sturdy carapace being split apart served as a chilling warning to everyone: no one could escape from him.

Bang─!

Seeing Khan bleed made one of the powerful demonkin believe he could take him on. Khan crushed the demonkin’s head with the back of his hand and shouted.

“Gather around Kurtank!”

He judged that their chances of survival were higher if they used the Demonkin Generals, brainwashed by Kurtank’s enchanting ability, as shields rather than being defeated individually. After guiding his subordinates to gather in one place, Khan did the complete opposite of his own order.

Boom!

Wielding an axe and a sword in each hand, he charged forward, scattering rapid strikes. Instead of joining his army, he attempted to break through the enemy lines, a sight so terrifying that even the demonkin took a step back.

Each strike of his resounded with earth-shaking power. Even the martial demonkin, who valued physical strength above all, couldn’t withstand his attacks. The bodies of demonkin, once proud warriors, mixed with the dust and scattered.

But there was one being who could stop his charge.

“Ugh…!”

Khan let out a groan as a shallow wound appeared on his back. The burning pain from the wound quickly spread throughout his body, as if poison was coursing through his veins.

Bang. Crackle!

Khan suddenly vanished with a powerful leap. At the same time, the defensive walls surrounding Fadis exploded, causing an uproar.

“Huff.”

Khan grimaced as he landed inside the city with all his strength. Closing his eyes briefly and concentrating, he sensed a foreign substance flowing through his veins.

“Spit!”

He activated the control over his blood granted by the Heart of Predation. Pulling the foreign substance up to his throat, he spat it out, grimacing at the green liquid that emerged from his mouth. His stomach, hardened from his time in Midland, was nearly turned.

At first, he thought it might be insect fluid, but on closer inspection, it was sticky and slightly squirming.

“What the hell…”

That thing was inside my body?

As he muttered, he felt the presence of demonkin within the city approaching, having noticed his intrusion.

“The enemy leader has infiltrated!”

“Capture him! The Blood King’s Sword will judge him!”

The demonkin approaching from within the city had an intimidating presence, making it puzzling why they hadn’t come out sooner. They seemed to be at least a level or two higher than the demonkin who had been acting tough outside.

Crunch. Boom!

Still, they weren’t a match for Khan. Occasionally, some particularly tenacious ones tried to hinder him, but when Draupnir’s blade split their skulls, their resistance quickly ended. Yet, even that brief resistance served its purpose.

Buzzzz!

It sounded like the amplified buzzing of hundreds of bees. Immediately after hearing that noise, Khan instinctively turned around, using the flat of Draupnir to defend. His feet dug into the ground from the force.

Crack.

An unusual shockwave traveled through the blade. More importantly, this was the first time the Blood King’s Sword had revealed itself. The creature was a massive mantis, about 1.5 times Khan’s size, entirely red and with scythe-like blades on its forelimbs sharper than any master-crafted sword.

“I will execute the King’s adversary here.”

“Go ahead and try…!”

Clang…!

Khan clicked his tongue in frustration as he slammed his fist against the flat of his blade in a sudden attack.

If the creature hadn’t retreated in time, he would have burst its forelimbs through the contact with his blade. It might have been the first and last chance to clash weapons directly.

‘Too fast.’

Its speed made any effective counteraction nearly impossible. Had the creature not revealed its position with that noise before covering the distance, Khan would have had his back exposed.

If there was no time difference between perceiving the attack trajectory and the attack reaching him, he could only predict the attack.

Moreover, any allowed attack would inject that bizarre green liquid into his body. Knowing this, the creature focused on inflicting shallow wounds instead of going for vital points.

In that case—

‘I have to create the opportunity myself.’

Khan’s eyes, once filled with wariness, transformed.

Dugeun.

Those were the eyes of a hunter, like the wolves of Hoarfrost Gorge.

***

Elda, the Blood King’s Sword, watched the “adversary” with an emotionless gaze.

Despite the adversary’s diminutive appearance, they possessed tremendous strength, which led Elda to prioritize hunting them over the previously irritating Kurtank. The adversary’s actions were highly irksome to Elda.

Fleeing?

“You are inviting death.”

The king had acknowledged his adversary as a “target to be killed”. Therefore, Elda had been ordered to harvest the adversary’s head. But what was this pitiful display?

It was natural for prey to flee, but for prey acknowledged by the king to flee in such a disgraceful manner was unacceptable. It was an insult to the king who recognized the adversary as worthy.

“I’ll kill you instantly.”

As Elda’s wings flapped, his form appeared directly above the adversary.

To those who couldn’t match his speed, his blade was synonymous with absolute death. A mere graze from his blade would cause the poison he carried to fester from within, often resulting in a swift beheading.

Elda was confident his blade would deliver death once more.

“……!”

Suddenly, the adversary crashed through a building’s outer wall with their shoulder, disappearing inside. Simply entering a building wouldn’t allow them to escape Elda’s blade. However, Elda was momentarily startled when the adversary’s presence vanished like a lie.

“Foolishness.”

Despite this, his surprise didn’t last long. Just because the adversary wasn’t visible didn’t mean they had completely disappeared.

Slash. Crackle!

The architecture of Fadis, known as the paradise of demonkin, was incredibly ornate. Elda’s merciless slashes completely split the building in half, and strikes rained down upon the collapsing debris.

Even Tenel, with his solid carapace, would have been shattered by these countless, relentless slashes. Elda was certain of the adversary’s demise.

‘As expected, demonkin who only rely on brute strength are no match.’

After all, strength had its limits. Like Tenel and the other Demonkin Generals, the king’s adversary was just another brute, using simplistic methods based on their strength and size.

And such brutes always met the same fate. They either surrendered or met their death before his unimaginable speed and deadly blade.

“You certainly had power beyond the other Demonkin Generals, but in the end, you were no different. Indeed, the true king of this Blood Domain is the Blood King alone.”

In contrast, the Blood King wielded not only physical strength but also truly immense power. Before him, trivial strength and size were meaningless. Even Elda’s prized speed, blade, and poison were rendered irrelevant.

“…Now, it’s time to butcher the remaining enemies.”

Reaffirming his loyalty to the Blood King, Elda turned his back on the building. And that was the moment. The moment the wolf from Hoarfrost Gorge had been waiting for.

『Cloak of the Night Walker』

─A magical item in the form of clothing, inscribed with a spell to conceal one’s presence. It allows the wearer to blend deeper into the darkness and become almost imperceptible.

─If the wearer possesses stealth-related skills, additional enhancement effects are granted.

─This equipment has been enhanced with the Disguise Robe of Mortalia.

『Stealth (C) – 11%』

─Grade C Effect, silence :: Suppresses noise generated by movement to an extreme degree.

Having maintained the stealth skill he previously had no opportunity to use, Khan, now riddled with dozens of stab wounds, revealed himself and grabbed Elda’s wing joint as if seizing his collar.

“What the…?!”

Elda’s bewildered question, laden with the meaning of how Khan survived, was met with a chilling smile from Khan.

“It’s all about the skills, you bastard─!”

『Indomitable Will』

A skill that allows the user to continue fighting as long as they maintain a thread of life while in a critical state. As Indomitable Will infused vitality into his body, Khan lifted Elda by the wing joint, using it as a handle, and activated another skill.

『Dragon Fang Cannon』

An A-rank skill evolved from a throwing skill.

This time, he wasn’t throwing an axe but the giant mantis itself.

“Die─!”

Crack.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Elda’s body, driven into the ground, pierced through the solid earth of the Blood Domain. The propulsion force of the Dragon Fang Cannon tore up the ground, causing Elda’s remarkably tough body to twist grotesquely, with his wings ripped off and unrecognizable.

Yet, Elda couldn’t die, thanks to the demonkin’s tenacious vitality.

“This… isn’t demonkin power. Who… the hell are you…?”

“Me?”

The words Elda managed to utter with great difficulty reached Khan through the vertical hole he had punched. Having successfully captured Elda alive, Khan crouched at the edge of the hole and replied.

“I’m the super strong invisible barbarian.”