Surviving as a Barbarian in a Fantasy World

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

"…Ha."

Helia let out a small sigh.

Even with the support of Ignisia and Karin, two mighty Hero-class fighters, she had been pushed back.

Now, left alone, there was no chance of victory.

Yet she did not retreat.

Instead, she strode forward with pride.

Ketal's eyes gleamed with interest.

"Looks like you're glad."

"To be honest, I was curious myself. Just how much of my full strength could reach you."

Helia raised her hand high toward the heavens in prayer.

"O sun, descend upon me."

And then the light of the sun descended upon her.

Ketal reflexively shielded his eyes as radiant brilliance fell upon the earth, so bright it disrupted his vision.

"Ohhh."

Ketal gave an admiring sound.

"The sun has descended upon you. You've grown stronger."

The power of the sun.

That divinity itself now resided within Helia's body.

Fierce heat and searing light began to burn the world.

The ground melted, the air roiled, and even the moisture beyond the desert began to evaporate.

It was truly the power of a god.

Naturally, Helia could not bear it fully.

Even simply receiving that power brought her pain, her teeth clenched against the strain.

"…This is not something I can do lightly. At most, one minute."

A time limit—one minute for this ultimate technique.

The countermeasure was simple.

Just avoid it.

It was basically a self-detonating technique engulfing her entire body in flames.

There was no rational reason to humor it.

But Ketal had no reason to follow common sense.

He spread his arms wide in welcome.

"Come."

"Thank you."

Kuuuuung!

Helia charged, spear gripped tightly, thrusting with ferocity.

Ketal twisted his body to evade.

Kiiiiiing!

Everything within the spear's range was pierced by light, burning and melting for dozens of kilometers beyond.

"Hot enough!"

Ketal laughed.

Yet the heat was not negligible.

Enshrouding himself in aura, he swung his axe.

Helia raised her shield.

Boooom!

The clash of heat and force sent shockwaves surging outward, making forests beyond the desert tremble and kindle sparks.

The spear aimed for Ketal's body; Ketal dodged and blocked.

He countered with a kick against her shield.

Neither side yielded—an even struggle.

But that meant the one pressured was Helia.

Her power had a strict time limit.

Urgency showed in her eyes.

Kuuuuung!

She tightened her grip on the spear, pressure swelling until the air itself was pushed aside.

She was about to unleash a great technique.

Quickly grasping the threat, Ketal readied himself defensively.

"Hup!"

Helia drove her spear in a storm of thrusts.

Once, twice, again and again—

Time itself seemed compressed as she unleashed hundreds of strikes.

Kagagagagagagak!

Hundreds of rays pierced the world all at once.

Sand melted into glass.

To any stranger arriving here, this was no longer a desert.

It was a strange forbidden land, everything turned into glass.

"Huff!"

Helia gasped, breath ragged.

The burden of unleashing such a finishing move was immense, leaving her wide open.

"Sharp enough."

Amid the glassy wasteland, Ketal appeared—

unscathed.

Despite the deadly strike, no wound marred him.

He smiled broadly, extending his hand.

Helia tried to pull away, but drained of strength, she could not resist.

He seized her by the neck and slammed her down.

Kuuuuung!

"Urgh!"

Helia crashed into the ground.

Her trembling hand slowly fell as the sun's power drained away from her body.

Time was up.

With a hollow expression, Helia muttered.

"In the end… nothing worked."

Even after risking everything on a suicidal technique, she had not defeated Ketal.

In truth, had Ketal stepped back, she would only have destroyed herself.

It was Ketal's mercy that spared her.

Even so, she had not been his match.

Despair filled her.

Ketal smiled gently.

"What nonsense. Your power was tremendous. Truly threatening."

"Empty words of comfort…"

"It isn't comfort. Look."

Ketal lifted his face.

Helia's eyes widened.

A burn mark was on his cheek.

It wasn't large, nor severe—and with his regeneration, it was already fading.

But it was undeniably a wound.

She had scarred the invincible monster.

That alone filled her with unspeakable satisfaction.

"I'm… satisfied… Then I shall rest now…"

"Rest well. It was enjoyable."

Helia's head slumped.

She had fainted from the divine strain.

"Hm."

Ketal chuckled.

He had enjoyed it greatly.

The combined assaults of earth's greatest heroes, and Helia's final desperate might—he had nearly burst out laughing through the whole battle.

"As expected, Helia is formidable."

Helia was on another level—two or three steps beyond Ignisia or Karin.

Though the wound was gone, she had succeeded in injuring him.

She truly was one of the two strongest beings on the continent before his appearance.

Which begged the question—what of the other?

Ketal turned his head.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

"Tower Master. It's your turn now."

[…You all worked hard.]

Crackle.

The Tower Master appeared, floating in the sky.

He looked over the unconscious heroes and clicked his tongue.

[They look refreshed. Seems they all wanted a piece of you. Must have been hard to hold yourself back.]

"And you just watched."

Of the five heroes who had chosen to fight him—Bayern, Karin, Ignisia, Helia, and the Tower Master—

Bayern had fought alone and lost to his own desire.

Then Karin, Ignisia, and Helia had fought together, only to be defeated.

The Tower Master alone had not joined any battle, merely observing silently.

"They may feel slighted."

[I had no choice. The magic I created isn't suited for group battles.]

His flame-like eyes fixed on Ketal.

[Shall we move elsewhere?]

"Alright."

They shifted to a distant place.

The Tower Master then spoke:

[I have created magic, Ketal. My own, great magic. Care to see it?]

"As much as you like."

Ketal grinned.

The Tower Master snapped his fingers.

Chwararararak!

Countless magic circles unfolded, overlapping until they blanketed the world.

Ketal exclaimed in awe.

"Ohhh!"

He had discussed magic with the Tower Master during his time at the Tower, amassing knowledge.

His own hunger for learning was vast, and in terms of knowledge he rivaled most mages.

Yet even he could not comprehend it.

Not a single circle, nor even a fragment of one, could he decipher.

Nor could any mage in this world—even the Tower Master's disciples.

Such was the level of these high-dimensional formations.

The Tower Master clenched his fist.

[Be fixed.]

Thud.

And at last—the world stopped.

Ketal's eyes widened.

The world itself remained unchanged.

Winds still blew, sand still scattered, mysteries still flowed.

But within a certain radius around them, all was fixed in place.

Matter held its position.

The air stopped.

Even mysteries were frozen.

No—it wasn't simply stillness.

Space and time themselves were fixed.

Wooooosh.

Winds from outside struck the frozen world and solidified instantly.

The drifting sand did the same.

It was as if reality itself had been paused.

Ketal murmured.

"Tower Master? This is…"

[First time using it in combat. Seems it works well.]

The Tower Master's voice brimmed with pride.

[This is the Eleventh-Class magic I created—World Fixation.]

* * *

"…Heh."

Ketal breathed in awe.

The world itself was frozen around the Tower Master.

"This is the magic that scarred the Serpent?"

[An advanced form of it.]

He had heard as much—that with this new spell, the Tower Master had wounded the eternal Serpent.

He had wondered, but seeing it himself, he understood.

"You've embodied the laws of my world here, haven't you?"

[Correct.]

Fixation of results.

By analyzing Ketal's world, the Tower Master had forged a spell that fixed reality itself.

"Ha… remarkable."

Ketal was sincerely impressed.

Though the law was derived from his world, Ketal himself couldn't comprehend it.

Only the Tower Master could wield such a miracle.

Still, he could infer one thing.

"In a fixed world, anything unfixed must be rejected."

[Correct.]

The Tower Master raised his finger.

[It's needless to worry, but once activated I cannot control it. So don't die.]

With that, the frozen world stirred.

To reject the unfixed being—Ketal.

Chajajajajajak!

Everything fixed in place surged toward him.

Like a body rejecting a virus, the world sought to expel him as a foreign object.

Ketal unleashed his aura.

The frozen constants clashed against his world-destroying aura.

Bababababam!

The sand bristled and pierced at him.

Ketal raised his axe to guard.

The world screeched under the strain.

It was absolute fixation.

Not that things pierced, but that they had pierced.

An absolute result.

No Ignisia, no Karin, not even Helia could resist such an attack.

"Ha, hahahahaha!"

Ketal couldn't help but laugh.

"No wonder you could wound the Serpent! Amazing! This nears the powers of those aberrations from beyond! I admit it—aside from me, you are the strongest on earth!"

[That's kind of you! Though I'd rather be first!]

"Sorry, but that's impossible!"

Ketal bared his teeth.

His aura roared wildly.

The frozen world tore apart, shattering.

He stomped the ground.

Kuuuuung!

Destroying everything, he rushed the Tower Master.

The Tower Master hastily seized the frozen mysteries.

Aura and magic collided with a dreadful, otherworldly sound.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]