Barbarian in a Failed Game

Khan was extremely perplexed.

After deciding to use the Blood Vessel immediately, thanks to the consideration of the Goddess of Justice, he tossed the eye-sized red orb into his mouth without hesitation.

As soon as he did, the Blood Vessel, which melted like powder in water, took its place in his right chest. Severe pain followed immediately.

The curse and dark magic contained within the Blood Vessel had been activated.

『How dare you.』

No sooner had the beam of light shot by the Goddess of Justice touched him than the pain vanished, but the real problem arose afterward.

『This filthy vermin─!』

The goddess’s roar shook Khan’s mind like thunder. That alone felt deadly, but the real issue was something else.

『I can sense the divinity of a whore. You dare, not even knowing it’s an object touched by my hand.』

‘Ah, aecharis!’

Another voice intruded on Khan’s thoughts. It was Aecharis, a demon, and one of the scions of the great demons, revealing its presence through the Blood Vessel.

“Damn it…!”

Khan cursed, clenching his teeth. He had no choice but to endure. The Blood Vessel in his right chest became the center of a clash between the powers of two transcendents.

Boom─! Boom─! Boom──!

Gradually, Khan’s right chest turned black.

『Heh heh. Oh, whore of the Pantheon. Are you worried about the safety of the incarnate body? Such a trivial effort cannot surpass the medium in which I have embedded a fragment of my power─!』

The Goddess of Justice, incarnated through Berta’s body, and Aecharis, who had carved his own divine power deeply into the Blood Vessel, struggled for supremacy. For a moment, aecharis seemed to have the upper hand.

『You. An insolent mortal! I have been looking forward to the moment you took this vessel! To take over your body─! A minion created from a Warrior God’s great warrior is perfect to bathe Midland in blood!』

‘This kind of event wasn’t in the game!’

Khan had no idea how the Blood Vessel had become something akin to Aecharis’s sacred object. However, he was filled with the thought that he was bound to lose his body this way.

Yet, on his own, Khan was powerless to resist. Breaking, smashing, slashing—those were his areas of expertise. In this realm of conflict, he was utterly powerless.

“Somehow, please do something…! Weren’t you confident…!”

In the end, all he could do was to urgently request the Goddess of Justice to obliterate the detestable power of Aecharis.

『Merely a part of a great demon, an insignificant thing. How dare you show yourself before me, not just any God, but me─!』

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Khan did not need to urge her. The Godess of Justice exploded with volcanic rage at the demon’s audacious appearance before her.

Suddenly, a pure white radiance appeared in the cramped room, dazzling like the sun at close range, blinding him, though it wasn’t hot. Instead, it felt warm, enveloping Khan’s body.

『To incarnate a part of your divinity. You’ve finally gone mad!』

『I am the goddess who judges good and evil, the scales, as well as the goddess who punishes evil with the sword. You, the foul progeny of a great demon, will regret showing yourself before me!』

『This damned Whore of the Pantheon…!』

Boom…! Boom…!

‘Both of them are completely nuts!’

Due to the divinity summoned by the Goddess of Justice, Khan was practically blind and deaf, save for the sounds of the two transcendents clashing in his right chest.

Moreover, the intermittent outbursts of rage in Khan’s mind from the two transcendents were literally torturous.

It was a wonder how long this standoff would last. Being in a position where he had to wait helplessly made it feel even more torturous.

Sssss.

The scorching sensation in his right chest made Khan’s face distort even more. It was a natural reaction.

An artifact, one of the lowest quality items he had obtained from Darkin’s disciple, the Shield of the Depths, couldn’t withstand the shock and was showing signs of breaking.

At that moment, a certain thought flashed through Khan’s mind.

A way to resolve this situation and at the same time secure the biggest gain, a move that might be akin to a gamble.

‘It’s better than just standing by…!’

“Breathe divinity into the artifact! Just as this demon had used the blood vessel as a medium…!”

Although much of the explanation was omitted, the Goddess of Justice, with transcendental insight, accurately read what Khan had in mind.

“Oh no…!”

The demon, aecharis, let out a distressed scream. It meant that Khan’s scheme was that effective.

No, it brought about a result beyond imagination.

“You wretched being! Do you intend to bestow a shard of divinity upon a mere mortal? You’re out of your mind!”

『I am the Goddess of Justice. Such minor loss cannot tarnish my divinity. However, you will partially lose that filthy disguise that granted your minions freedom to move. This shall serve as the beginning of the end for your minions at the hands of my children!”』

Through their conversation, Khan could somewhat guess the madness the Goddess of Justice had indulged in.

She was not just suppressing Aecharis’s power using the artifact Khan had suggested as a medium. She had actually inscribed a shard of divinity into it, completely eclipsing Aecharis’s influence.

What was once a low-tier artifact to be used and discarded in the county stages of the game had now transformed into a divine relic.

Simultaneously, aecharis’s will, which was transmitted through the blood vessel, also began to fade. The shard of divinity inscribed by the Goddess of Justice was erasing Aecharis’s power within the blood vessel entirely.

As a result, the pain that had been tormenting Khan diminished, and Aecharis’s imposing will inside his head now seemed as faint as the sound of a mosquito.

Eventually, realizing that there was no longer anything he could do, aecharis roared out a warning in his rage.

『You, Pantheon Whore. Do not think this is your victory! I will soon descend upon Midland and devour everything! Your temple cannot stop me! And when that time comes, this mortal will surely become my servant and spread disaster throughout Midland!』

That was Aecharis’s last struggle.

Khan, realizing that the demon’s influence had completely dissipated, regained control over his body, and saw that the divine light that brightened the room had fully merged with what was now a divine relic, no longer just a shield of the depths.

The sudden showdown between the two transcendent beings had finally come to an end.

“Shit. This is really unbearable.”

Khan muttered in despair, having almost died as collateral in a battle between giants. After experiencing an overwhelmingly oppressive event, his mind felt hazy, as if he had just woken from a dream.

Bang-!

Just before someone opened the door, to the point he hadn’t even noticed their approach.

“Ah, ah…! Oh Goddess of Justice!”

What now? Khan turned his head with a grimace at the elated and ecstatic cry from behind him, then his face contorted.

There stood a girl with curly reddish-brown hair and bright eyes—Elena.

‘Why is this insane woman here….’

There was no doubt.

Even though it was the first time he saw her, those mad eyes and the trembling body were all too familiar.

Darkin Perayas’s hardcore boss appearance in Act 5, rampaging like a mad nuisance named NPC, the goddess’s scale, elena, was right before his eyes.

‘What a complete mess, seriously….’

***

Aecharis, the demon prince.

Khan was quite knowledgeable about this entity.

For instance, the pit of Aecharis that Darkin once used was derived from its power, how formidable the demon spawn it commanded in hell were, and how strong it was.

‘Considering it will show up later. It’s impossible not to know.’

Aecharis’s final ramblings about descending onto Midland were not just empty threats.

Had Khan diligently followed the main storyline, he would have had to fight the demon once it descended upon Midland—risking his very life.

‘The problem is… I’ve become entangled with it, separate from the main story.’Who could have guessed that he would carve and hide his power within the Blood Vessel?

It was an event not even found in the game, and even the Goddess of Justice couldn’t detect his full strength until he revealed it.

“Still, the situation isn’t all that bad.”

By sacrificing a part of her divinity, the Goddess of Justice forced Aecharis to also lose some of his powers.

Although it remains to be seen exactly what outcomes this will bring, considering the typically intricate curses he bestows upon his minions, it was definitely a piece of good fortune.

Moreover…

『Mark of the Depths』

─An ancient artifact combined with the divinity of the Goddess of Justice. A rare example throughout the history of Midland, transformed into a kind of holy relic.

─Sanctuary of Justice :: Develops a sanctified area that protects the wearer and those designated by the wearer.

─Resistance to Dark Magic :: Provides resistance to all negative effects associated with dark magic.

『Vessel of Greed』

─A masterpiece created by Darkin Perayas after a lifetime of effort. A serendipitous result from the remnants of Aecharis’s power left within the Blood Vessel.

─Blood Storage :: Capable of absorbing and storing blood.

─Aecharis’s Pouch :: Enables the use of a part of Aecharis’s stomach that swallows and stores everything.

─Health +4

It felt almost too luxurious, receiving two such equipped items at once.

One was ‘Shield of the Depths,’ transformed into a relic akin to that of the Goddess of Justice, and the other, an enhancement of Aecharis’s power to the Blood Vessel.

Both were items impossible to obtain at this point in time, not until perhaps the latter half of Act 3, considering the uniqueness of their sources, they might hold even more potential.

‘And the option of Aecharis’s pouch. If it’s what I think it is….’

It could always be tested later. Since the situation wasn’t ideal for experimenting with demonic powers, he postponed it and surveyed the unchanged scene since he first arrived.

Pleased with defeating Aecharis, the Goddess of Justice left Berta’s body with a laugh. As a result, berta, pale-faced, closed her eyes and could not wake up for quite some time.

And then there was another persistent gaze.

“What is it?”

“…….”

At the end of the duel of transcendental powers, a girl suddenly intruded. Elena, the Goddess’s Scales, bore an innocent face similar to Aries, yet her inner self was that of a mad zealot.

Given that the girl’s gaze fixated right where the Mark of the Depths and the Vessel of Greed were located on his right chest made it all the more troublesome.

‘Is it because of the Mark? Or did she sense the presence of a demon from the Vessel of Greed….’

Either way, it was clear things would get troublesome.

Considering her fanatical faith shown in the game, it was highly likely she wouldn’t stand by idly, allowing a barbaric heathen like him to possess a holy relic.

Similarly, she probably wouldn’t overlook the fact that he implanted an object harboring demonic energy into his chest.

Of course, the girl in front of him was virtually a different entity from the Goddess’s Scales he knew from the game. She was but a child, seemingly too young even to have shed her baby feathers.

‘Right. Even future fanatics, as children, might just be innocent kids….’

“Ah…! Please, punish me for doubting and disrespecting the warrior chosen by the gods!”

Elena, prostrate like she was about to hit her forehead on the floor, begged for forgiveness with a tearful voice, as if confessing her sins before a God.

Absolutely maddening… A scenario fit for the news, a thirty-something man forcing a girl, who would still be a student on Earth, to her knees.

Just as Khan was about to tell her to get up, berta’s eyes suddenly snapped open.

“…….”

“…….”

As Khan and Berta’s eyes met, a peculiar silence ensued.

“Punish me─!”

Elena’s mournful voice echoed throughout the room.