Barbarian in a Failed Game

Chapter 058: Wyvern Hunt (1)

Engaging in a collision with a wyvern descending at tremendous speed from the sky was an endeavor that not even Khan would attempt.

Yet, as long as he didn’t directly hit it, it presented a prime opportunity to strike a significant blow.

Boom!

He pivoted on his left foot, drawing back his right.

It was the stance commonly thought of for throwing a spear, but in his right hand, he held neither a magic sword nor an axe blessed by a goddess.

Just an ordinary spear that could be easily procured in any city, nothing special about it.

The durability of the spear wouldn’t last even a moment under the full force of Khan’s strength.

‘Once should be enough.’

Crash! Bang!

The spear left Khan’s hand, instantly shooting towards the wyvern’s snout.

However, it missed.

By tucking its massive membranous wings and spinning its body round, the wyvern easily dodged the spear and roared again.

‘Fast.’

Indeed, to fully control flight at such speeds, ordinary reflexes wouldn’t cut it.

Above all, from his experience in the game, Khan knew the wyvern’s speed was extremely fast.

But knowing and experiencing firsthand were entirely different realms.

Thud!

The beast prepared to snatch with its forelegs, spreading them wide, but Khan used a back leap to widen the gap between them swiftly.

Rrrrrr!

The wyvern’s sharp claws tore through the innocent ground, as if it carried several legendary swords at its toe tips.

After smoothly pulling its claws from the ground, the wyvern accelerated towards Khan again.

‘It’s going to be tough here.’

The plains were too open.

Considering the wyvern’s speed, hitting it with a normal throw would be difficult, and trying to collide during its descent would place him at too great a disadvantage.

‘In that case…’

Khan’s mind rapidly worked.

Using his experience fighting wyverns in the game, he ran through various conditions and their corresponding win rates, applying his own specs to choose the best course of action.

This was a calculation only Khan, who likely had the most experience battling wyverns in the Midland quest, could make.

‘There, it could be possible.’

Selecting the most advantageous battleground and tactic from his available choices, Khan turned his back to the wyvern.

Provoked by this action, the wyvern pursued Khan’s back with a roar loud enough to deafen, engaging in low-altitude flight.

Although it was practically offering Khan a perfect chance to counter, he ignored it.

“Groooooar──!”

Frustrated that its prey was not falling for its strategies, the wyvern chased after Khan with increased speed.

Despite Khan using consecutive leaps to sprint away, the wyvern’s speed far exceeded his.

Just as the distance was closing tightly, the only obstacle in the meadow blocked the wyvern’s claws.

“Screech……!”

It was the body of a basilisk, butchered by Khan.

For some reason, the wyvern hesitated to attack the basilisk’s corpse, and Khan took the opportunity to retrieve his axe stuck in the basilisk’s face, using another leap to increase the distance.

──────!

‘Damn noisy…!’

Even among dragon kind, there’s no such thing as fraternal affection, but the wyvern’s cries were filled with an overt rage that even Khan could sense.

‘Shit. Was that your lover or something?’

Although the reason was unclear, it was evident that Khan’s actions had irritated the wyvern.

The sound of the wyvern’s wings from behind came with an intense roar, quickly closing the distance.

“Dammit…!”

Now, there were no obstacles left to use for cover.

Having no choice but to turn his back, Khan’s vision was filled with red.

The massive body of the wyvern was right in front of him.

Without a moment to properly stance himself after taking out his axe, he swung his arm with all his might.

Wham──!

“Ugh!”

He had no such experience, but it felt like being hit by a truck.

Pain surged through his body as if all his organs had shifted, sending him flying backward.

This was a firsthand lesson on why it was impossible to engage in close-quarters combat against a wyvern with its overwhelming size and speed.

“If I dash forward like this…!”

Khan’s eyes widened as he tried to put some distance between himself and the wyvern, using the force generated from their collision. Suddenly, a wyvern that had its sights set above Khan spread its claws wide.

“Is the Mark…?”

Useless.

The Mark of the Depths had lost its light long ago, perhaps exhausted from blocking the wyvern’s breath. With a grimace distorting his face, Khan opened his left hand.

Clink!

A string shot from the Silent Thread of Arachne and bound the wyvern’s thick ankles.

Unaware of what had happened, the wyvern moved to tear Khan apart with its sharp claws.

“Ugh!”

With a rough breath, Khan curled in mid-air, flicking his waist as if walking a tightrope. Successfully dodging to the side of the wyvern with a twist in the air.

“Keek?!”

The wyvern let out a startled cry.

Khan didn’t stop there. Once again, he pulled the string towards him and in a flash, reached the wyvern’s ankle.

“Kr─!”

Seemingly realizing it had been tethered by some technique, the creature made a bizarre noise as it attempted to ascend.

“It’s done.”

Slightly lifting the corners of his mouth, Khan flicked his waist again and released the string.

The rebound filled Khan with a strong sensation of buoyancy. However, it was intentional.

Without panicking, Khan rolled his feet to match the approaching ground.

[Leap]

─D-grade Effect, Safe Landing :: Falling damage is significantly reduced.

It was a kind of workaround.

Using Leap at the moment of landing could significantly reduce the damage from falling.

At the beginning of his possession, he had accidentally discovered this method due to a mad Great Warrior making him leap between cliffs as a test for warriors.

Boom-!

It was a speed like he had never experienced before.

It would probably feel something like this if one stuck their head out of a sports car zooming on the Autobahn.

Khan smirked internally at the trivial comparison as he glanced behind.

“He must be really pissed.”

The unique figure of the wyvern was stretched thin, its original form beyond recognition. It was clear that being caught would lead to a dire situation.

But that was a problem if he got captured.

Sneering, Khan leaped again. Surely, thanks to the increased stamina, even using Leap several times didn’t significantly drain his energy to impact the battle.

Considering his upcoming plans, he had to avoid reaching a critical state before slamming it into the ground, so he was paying extra attention to his stamina management.

“Just need to get into the city first. After that…”

Thanks to putting some distance with his last move, he had a moment to gather his thoughts.

As he contemplated his next actions and gauged his chances, Khan suddenly remembered his companions who were now out of sight.

“They must have escaped on their own.”

*

*

*

“What should we do?”

“What else can we do? We follow him and help. What other choice do we have?”

“But… there was a reason the warrior told us to run. With our skills, we’ll only be in the way!”

“Just drawing the wyvern’s attention for a moment would be of great help.”

“But. But…!”

“This is why mages are…”

“Stop, stop! There’s no point in us fighting amongst ourselves.”

Ron, who had been mediating the argument between Jan and Maya, pressed his temples.

“The situation isn’t good….”

Despite trying to keep a rational front, Ron’s mind was just as cluttered.

It was to be expected. Even with a half-life spent as a mercenary, the gravity of the situation was overwhelming.

After all, dealing with monsters like basilisks and wyverns was not something even the most hardened mercenaries typically faced.

‘Can boss win?’

Of course, Khan was strong.

Ron, who had been by his side since the battle with Darkin, knew this well.However, wasn’t the wyvern also a monster of a different class?

‘It’s not like he said he’d fight alone because he thought he could win.’

It meant that this opponent was not the kind to allow for concern over his companions mid-battle.

Ron pondered.

Considering his beliefs, it seemed right to help Khan, but could he and his party really be of any help to Khan?

Such thoughts added to Ron’s hesitancy in making a decision.

“Um, excuse me. Where are you going…!”

Ron halted his thoughts at Jan’s bewildered voice.

A girl who concealed remarkable martial arts skills and ruthlessness within her slender frame and cheery speech silently started walking in the direction Khan had gone.

“Lady. Are you planning to follow him?”

It was a foolish question to ask since the answer was obvious.

What Ron really wanted to ask was whether they could be of any help against a wyvern, a monster beyond ordinary measures.

And Elena’s answer was simple.

“How could a great warrior chosen by the goddess lose to a mere shell of a dragon?”

“What does that mean…”

“In the first place, where could it possibly run to?”

Elena spoke with a quick glance, their eyes meeting.

The pure white brilliance in her eyes felt unlike any human’s.

It was as though something transcendent was speaking through her, conveying its will.

Only then did Ron realize the truth in Elena’s words that “there is nowhere to run.”

Ron’s nearly prophetic intuition was unshackled by the energy carried in Elena’s voice.

‘Every direction poses a danger?!’

There was no safe direction to take.

“Could it be…!”

Ron tried to warn of the seriousness of the situation, but it was as if to say it was already too late as ‘they’ revealed themselves.

It was unclear where they had been hiding, but a horde of hundreds of demonic beasts surged towards their location.

Ron instinctively came to a conclusion.

The size of the horde was determined by the level of the dragon.

Effectively, their actions of eliminating the basilisk and the existing horde had drawn in a new horde of monsters.

The choices left for the party were either to stand their ground until the wyvern was defeated or to follow Khan now and assist him…

‘No, we might get caught in the middle!’

Ron threw the backpack carrying the party’s baggage to the ground to lighten their load and advised the party to make themselves as light as possible.

Among the beast-type demons, many far surpassed human speed.

“Run! I’ll take care of Jan! Hurry!”

“Huh? Ahh!”

Ron, carrying Jan on his shoulder as if he was a piece of baggage, began to sprint.

Clutching his precious hammer as if his life depended on it.

Bang… Bang… Bang…

Sounds of a grave nature could be heard from a distance ahead in the direction they were running; perhaps it was Khan clashing with the wyvern.

Ron’s expression hardened.

‘Taking these beasts to join him might not be the best idea…!’

Should he rather keep the monsters at bay as much as possible to allow Khan to focus on the battle with the wyvern?

No, with their skills, facing what was surely hundreds of the beasts was impossible. They’d be overwhelmed in an instant, like being swept away by a wave.

‘Think… Think…!’

His normally reliable intuition was as if it had broken; that’s how dire the situation was.

“Pant! Pant…!”

Even after running a distance that would not have been surprising to see Al-Rasdel’s castle, neither the walls nor the tall tower in the heart of Al-Rasdel’s city was in sight.

“Growl!”

“Screech──!”

The howling of beast-type demons filled his ears, indicating they were closing in.

Turning around, Ron saw all kinds of demonic beasts, their numbers too large to count, almost close enough to tear the party apart.

If they kept running, they would only end up being cornered to face the horde of monsters.

Someone would need to stay behind to delay the beasts’ advance.

It was time to make a choice.

To choose someone to throw themselves at the starving beasts…

With a grimace, Ron quietly clenched his teeth.