Barbarian in a Failed Game

Chapter 86: The Dungeon (2)

‘Midland Quest’ fundamentally guaranteed a high degree of freedom, but it was a semi-open-world game where additional adventure areas and quests became available depending on the character’s growth and quest progression.

Naturally, diligently searching the fields of Midland often led to hidden sub-quests or encountering sudden events, exhibiting plenty of open-world elements.

There were enthusiasts who focused solely on such events, putting the main quest on the back burner.

Of course, Khan, who had little interest in hidden stories or Easter eggs, only focused on the sub-quests known for their generous rewards, primarily pushing forward with the main quests.

However, even the extremest of skippers couldn’t just overlook dungeons.

‘After all, they offer substantial experience points, and with some luck, high-grade items might drop.’

But now, with the game becoming reality, the existence of ‘dungeons’ was a hard pill for Khan to swallow, like his status window. After all, the concept of a massive subspace, completely isolated from the outside and crawling with horrific monsters, seemed too far-fetched.

Yet, the people of Midland accepted the existence of dungeons and demonic realms as natural. Some theorized demonic realms were the result of a dark mage’s experiments. Others believed ancient mages meddling with dimensions caused a belated manifestation. However, it seemed like no one truly knew.

What was clear was the extreme danger of these demonic realms. It became known to the people of Midland with the arrival of the ‘Great Demonic Realm,’ which swallowed a third of the continent.

‘Eventually, a great demon would descend there….’

Killing the great demon that descended in Midland and completely purifying the Great Demonic Realm was the final chapter of Midland Quest.

Owing to the dialogue uttered by the great demon that appeared, Khan became aware of the existence of ‘Old Gods’ dwelling in other dimensions, which also kept him from giving up on returning to Earth.

It’s important to note that the great demon descended into Midland through a demonic realm. Demons generally resided in ‘Hell,’ considered a lower dimension of Midland, preferring to exert indirect influence through dark mages or demonic followers.

Similar to how gods in the pantheon managed the continent through their followers from ‘Heaven.’ The price of a true descent was immense, especially for the great demon regarded as the parent of all demons.

Khan speculated that the existence of the demonic realm might reduce the cost of dimensional travel or even make it possible.

That’s why he once roamed the continent, clearing demonic realms.

‘It was then… when I met Tilly.’

Was it encountering something unimagusnable in such a place? Overwhelmed by sudden thoughts, Khan frowned. While he was momentarily lost in thought, the duke’s forces he had previously evaded with a breakthrough had approached nearby.

Ahead was a demonic realm with unknown dangers, and behind, an army determined to capture him. Either choice led to a perilously dangerous situation, but for Khan, there was no other option.

‘If I were to turn back now, I wouldn’t have started in the first place.’

Above all, he had matters to settle with the one who wielded puppetry. About the source of the soul-manipulating spells… and Tilly’s existence.

“Let’s go in.”

Khan declared his decision, and almost simultaneously, the party stepped into the entrance of the demonic realm.

The moment he stepped across the boundary of the demonic realm, sound disappeared as if his very senses had malfunctioned, and he felt paralyzed, unable to feel anything. Moreover, his vision blurred, akin to wearing ill-fitting glasses.

Thanks to his experiences of assaulting demonic realms several times, Khan didn’t panic and calmly regulated his breathing. The sensory disruption didn’t last long.

After a few breaths, touch returned first, and by the time he fidgeted his fingers and confirmed his limbs’ movements, smell and sound were perceived normally again.

And through the blurred vision, a clear image formed. A corridor laid with smoothly polished gray stone. Decorations made of gold and silver. The interior, evidently a product of lavish expenditure, felt antique.

However, long lines scratched across the walls significantly marred the corridor’s aesthetics.

“Is there really no significant problem at first glance…?”

The appearances of the demonic terrains showed stark differences, dividing into those where the spaces engulfed by the erosion were replicated as they were, and those that underwent significant transformations due to the erosion.

In the latter cases, the original spaces could change to sizes several times larger, or in extreme instances, living creatures and objects could morph into grotesque tentacled monsters.

For now, what was visible seemed to be of the former case, but… it was impossible to know how the interior had transformed, and a proper assessment could only be made after seeing the creatures engulfed by the erosion.

“I never thought I’d come back to this wretched place, especially not from a frontier kingdom…”

“Come to think of it, you’ve been inside a great demonic terrain before, haven’t you?”

“I wouldn’t say I’ve been inside. I only fought off monsters near the entrance. But… even that was a horrific experience.”

One could only hope this place wasn’t as bad. Muttering to himself, Kal Elson stepped forward with his sword ready, deciding to lead since he was the only one in the party with experience regarding demonic terrains.

Khan didn’t bother to correct Kal Elson’s thoughts and positioned Pashantu at the very back, placing himself in the middle to complete their formation.

“This place is strange. I worry whether Karyan can watch over my battle.”

“Even now, my dear aunt, you think of dying honorably.”

“Ha ha ha─! Even after passing the warrior’s test, you speak such naïve words. If one can face their inevitable death as a mortal in the way they desire, honorably, there can be no greater glory! Despite having been told this ad nauseam!”

“I got tired of hearing it during the warrior’s test.”

Khan grimaced, recalling the long-winded speeches his ‘father’ had given during the county days of his possession.

“Death is the end, what honor is there to seek in that? Especially if one dies in a foreign land far from home. After all, no one will acknowledge my death.”

“Forgotten? Karyan watches over our noble deaths. That’s why we strive to die honorably as warriors.”

“…Well, I’m not sure about that.”

Perhaps deep down, Khan still harbored doubts about whether this world was an illusion. Had he truly believed this world to be real, he might have sought meaningful connections and settled somewhere to live his life.

Utilizing the endlessly growing body of a barbarian warrior and knowledge from the future, he might have worked towards gaining fame and becoming a hero.

Yet, he never attempted to build deep relationships and dismissed the notion of fame as pointless, settling for the life of a wandering mercenary while searching for a way to return, aimlessly-.

“If you truly believe that, consider this, my foolish nephew.”

“What nonsense are you on about now…”

“Think about when you die. Your friends, lover, parents remembering you as a great and noble warrior.”

Several rebuttals ran through his mind, but Khan eventually chose silence, not just because of the faces that flashed across his mind the moment he heard her advice.

“Let’s stop the chit-chat and talk about this damned corridor.”

Kal Elson suddenly stopped walking and turned around to speak. Despite the lengthy conversation between Pashantu and Khan, the corridor, warped by the demonic terrain’s erosion, had not ended.

“The corridors of the grand castle are known to twist and turn like a maze. But this…”

“It feels like we’re walking the same section over and over.”

“Exactly! That’s what I was trying to say!”

Even if the map Lebron had shown was a total mess, walking this much without any change was definitely a strange sign. Considering they had entered a space influenced by the demonic terrain made it all the more peculiar.

Khan carefully examined the surrounding decorations and what appeared to be parts of a magic circle, marked by white lines, as he continued walking. A few more minutes passed in this manner.

“Indeed, the same space keeps repeating itself.”

It was only then that Khan, having gained certainty, decided that moving further was pointless and stopped in his tracks.

“Shit. I thought it was too quiet for a demonic realm. So, this is how they screw with us. I’d prefer the monsters. At least you can slash through those with a sword.”

“Hmm.”

As Kal Elson grumbled in annoyance, Khan, who had been pounding the walls of the corridor with his fists, drew his axe. Before Kal Elson could even ask what he intended to do, Khan swung the axe with all his might, striking the wall.

Kal Elson winced and covered his ears with his fingers, as though a bomb had gone off. “As if to prove he’s not a barbarian.”

“Hey. You know, the structure of a demonic realm remains fixed until the erosion is completely resolved. That kind of attempt won’t even leave a scratch… Wait, what?”

Kal Elson’s attempt to scold Khan’s reckless behavior faltered as his words trailed off in shock.

The wall Khan had struck with his axe was now crisscrossed with cracks, like splintered glass. Even Kal Elson, who could easily slice through a knight’s aura and a mage’s spells, couldn’t alter the demonic realm’s invariability. Yet, the barbarian’s brute strength with an axe had shattered that law.

“How did you…?”

“Who knows.”

‘I truly have no idea’. Khan let out a hollow laugh.

Among the characters he had developed in games were monsters so formidable that even transcendent beings could barely handle them.

Yet, even those characters couldn’t physically break through a demonic realm. It might have been merely because the game prohibited destroying the map. However, compared to heroes who had slaughtered the demons of hell and laid to rest the dragons and giants of Midland, Khan’s strength should have been insignificant.

‘Could it be…’

Khan’s gaze shifted to the axe in his hand.

It was a piece created with decent craftsmanship by Wagner’s dwarves, but it underwent a complete transformation after being blessed by the Goddess of Justice in Al-Ranzas. In terms of the game’s rating, it was beyond ordinary and magical items, ranking among the rarest. And among those, it was quite superior.

‘All the hero-class characters were wrapped in legendary and mythical grade items. But…’

A weapon blessed directly by a supreme god of the pantheon was unprecedented in all his gaming records. If there was any plausible explanation, it likely lay in the blessing bestowed by the Goddess of Justice.

‘If not that, then…’

As his gaze unintentionally drifted towards his right chest, Khan shook his head.

Regardless of the reason, the fact that he could break the immutability of the demonic realm remained unchanged. A cold smile played on Khan’s lips as he reached this conclusion.

“What’s with that ominous smile?”

“What do you mean?”

“If it’s what I think you’re planning, just stop! Who knows what kind of hellish situation will unfold…!”

‘We’ll see when we try.’

“Hey, hey! You brute!”

“I’m honestly curious, too.”

Khan replied with a smile in his voice, lifting his axe once again.

“I’ve often smashed through building walls, but this will be the first time breaking a demonic realm.”

Boom──!!