Barbarian in a Failed Game

“Typical demon spawn, spouting nonsense…! Coming to the main temple and saying such things—!”

“…Contrary to the rumors, you’re irritatingly cautious.”

“What did you say?”

Despite the cardinal’s retort, Khan no longer gave him a glance. It was as if he was saying he had no interest in him from the start, offering only a sneer to the empty sky.

‘Come on, then. Show yourself.’

Khan focused on the still-present divine mark of the Goddess of Justice, his Dragon’s Eye gleaming sharply.

Engaging with these hardline cardinals and other small fry was merely a stall tactic. He needed time to locate the entrance to the heavenly realm somewhere within the main temple.

‘I knew there was an entrance somewhere in the main temple… but to think it was in the sky.’

Assuming the information from the Dragon’s Eye was accurate, the passage to the heavens lay high in the sky. It was so well hidden, a minute spatial distortion that even the Dragon’s Eye had difficulty spotting without close inspection.

‘The problem is… there’s no way to open it from this side.’

When he had been caught in the dimensional collapse, it was because he had fallen into a trap set by the Arch Demon’s heir, Aecharis. When he returned to Midland, Esperus had opened the already existing passage for him.

And the passage the demon contractors had opened to summon Behelanokto was effectively done by the demons of Hell. Similarly, unless the heavens opened the entrance first, accessing the passage from this side was nearly impossible.

‘Without Mortalia’s Jewel of Stupor… that would be the case.’

As the wind spirit enveloped his entire body, his vision soared away from the ground. There was no need for the dramatic leaps and bounds he had used before. Following the footholds created by the wind spirit, he swiftly ascended, leaving the crusaders and cardinals below gaping up at the sky.

In the blink of an eye, he was only one jump away from reaching his destination.

『Arrogant—』

A voice with a hint of transcendence echoed. Then, as space distorted, a colossal hand descended like a thunderbolt, as if to punish the human daring to trespass into the sky.

“Get lost!”

Clang…! KABOOM─!!

The enormous mass crushed down with immense force. Even Khan’s body, enhanced by Esperus’s blood, groaned under the pressure, as if holding up a falling meteor. The sheer, primordial weight and force drove Khan straight down to the ground.

Crash!

Khan landed hard, his feet embedding into the earth. He crouched as if ready to spring back into the sky but paused at the sound of a voice.

『Arrogant and yet so magnificent. Born a mere mortal, you have dared to invade the heavens. Surely, you have endured countless trials and achieved great feats. Feats so great that they have shaken the fate of the world.』

The voice was that of a young man.

Yet, somehow, it also carried the resonance of an elderly sage reflecting on life. That voice belonged to a being both human and yet granted centuries of life, a paradoxical existence.

“Executor E-Urel.”

『Indeed. A child who has made himself noble. From the start, you intended to draw me out. Now that I see your face, I understand.』

Just as he said, a smile played on Khan’s lips. However, their conversation was abruptly interrupted.

“E-Executor E-Urel! Weren’t you supposed to be returning to the main temple? Why are you here?! And what is that portal?!”

A hardline cardinal’s voice cut through, brimming with anger.

“Could it be that the barbarian was right about the entrance to the heavens…!”

『I remember your face. I saw you in the heavens. Outwardly, you act as a devout follower listening to the words of the gods, but inwardly, you are a child chasing power.』

It is not your turn.

The voice from the ‘passage’ to the heavens abruptly silenced the cardinal’s outburst. It was a decisive statement that he was unworthy of interrupting.

『Noble mortal, you are now called the Dragon Marquis, but even before that, I was ‘watching’ you. From the turbulent skies of the great demonic realm, I observed you shining brightly and smashing everything like a furious storm.』

“Should I consider that an honor?”

『I watched you of my own accord, so there is no honor in that.』

With the dry tone of an old man, executioner E-Urel spoke. He stated that he had been aware of Khan even before the heavens took notice.

Khan did not know.

Leniyar, who had been confined to Sword Mountain for her misdeeds, had been freed under the orders of Sword Master Valken Leichtahp, which were essentially orders from Executor E-Urel.

When facing the ancient mage ‘Alpha’, who had succumbed to chaos in the demonic realm of the Argon Kingdom, it was E-Urel who had observed the disturbance in the chaos of the great demonic realm and instructed the Sword Master to investigate the major events unfolding on the continent.

『I had anticipated a summons from the heavens. Indeed, they breached the ‘oath’ to extract me from the great demonic realm. Valken, that child, was insistent.』

E-Urel’s voice carried a hint of displeasure as he spoke.

‘That makes sense.’

In Khan’s memory, executioner E-Urel was not an unreasonable or brutal figure. He was a man who saw the purification of the great demonic realm as his destiny. If Khan had followed the original questline, E-Urel would have been a steadfast ally in the final battle.

But now, things were different.

『Regardless, I will fulfill my duty as assigned. My personal feelings are irrelevant before the divine command. What will you do?』

“I told you my purpose from the start. If I am to be judged, the gods of the heavens must come themselves.”

『Very well…. Then prioritize your goal. I will fulfill my duty.』

Additionally,

『Your goal will never be achieved. Absolutely.』

With that final, stern declaration, as if decreed by the heavens themselves, E-Urel’s voice faded.

Then the passage to another dimension began to open, revealing its true form.

It was an entirely pure white door, colossal enough to cram an ogre through it.

Fwooooouuu…!

Trumpets made of gold, attached like ornaments to the corners of the white door, blasted a fierce melody signaling the start of the battle. The demeanor of the cardinals and crusaders on the ground changed completely.

The divine blessing embedded in the trumpet’s melody infused them with holy power. In this moment, the crusaders were transformed into a legion of quasi-paladins….

“Crusaders—! Stop these heretics!”

The cardinals’ divine spells reached their peak.

Unless their heads were severed or their hearts exploded, they could keep breathing. They began to rampage, seemingly forgetting the earlier confusion, forcing the forces of the Borderland Marquis’s domain, led by Natrix, to engage in combat.

“The call of the gods guides me!”

“Punish these vile heretics—!”

Already fanatic in their faith, the crusaders, now directly blessed by the gods of the heavens and sensing the divine presence through the passage, became true berserkers.

As the crusaders charged towards the named warriors of the Borderland Marquis’s domain, who had descended to the battlefield,

CRASH—!!

A section of the fanatical crusaders was instantly swept away.

A bolt of lightning from the sky—.

“Ha! This is fantastic!”

“The dwarves’ firepower is unmatched in the world!”

No, it was a lightning bolt fired from the dwarven magi-engineered cannons.

These cannons were the product of the immense funds, hidden assets, and the mad research of scholars who had moved parts of their facilities to the Borderland Marquis’s domain. Each time these cannons fired, they consumed massive chunks of mana stones, but their power was real.

“Fire again—!”

As the Dwarf King laughed heartily, ten cannons mounted on Natrix’s back unleashed their lightning bolts.

KABOOM!!

Ten streaks of lightning struck the ground.

That alone decimated a third of the crusaders. Despite the divine blessings and the absence of holy armor symbolizing the paladins, they were just moving targets.

But as soon as the cardinals’ healing light enveloped the battlefield,

“They’re getting back up?!”

“They’re not undead, are they?! After taking that hit and standing up?! Damn it!! Fire again! Just melt them down—!”

The crusaders, charred to a crisp, rose like undead. As the dwarves hastily reloaded the cannons in shock,

“We just need to reach that door!”

“Yes. But… it won’t be easy.”

Khan, grasping Indomitable and Draupnir, calmed the excited Great Warrior in anticipation of the upcoming fierce battle.

『They are coming.』

The moment the Spirit of Resentment, sharing Khan’s Dragon’s Eye, issued a warning, the enormous arm from earlier emerged from the pure white gate once more.

It resembled the arm of a giant at first glance, but it was not a part of any biological entity.

‘Aura…!’

Executor E-Urel was an apostle of the Knight God and wielded a power befitting his title. Instead of the holy power exclusive to paladins, he used the knight’s power, aura.

KWAHAAA!!

Before the aura-formed fist could even reach the ground, the Great Warrior, who had sprung up with pure leg strength, clashed head-on with E-Urel’s aura.

… BOOOM!

For a few seconds, the collision seemed frozen in time as the auras clashed and then exploded. The delayed shockwave crashed down towards the ground—

CRACK!

Remarkably, the Great Warrior, who lost the contest of strength, couldn’t even land properly and was slammed into the earth. E-Urel’s aura, though, only lost its arm shape.

『Impressive. A warrior I’ve never seen before… from Hoarfrost Gorge?』

E-Urel, having fully controlled the dispersing aura, began reshaping it into a new form.

A human form. Though the aura was tinged with a blue hue, making it hard to discern the exact appearance, it was clear he took the appearance of an ordinary young man.

The kind of common face one might see walking around the empire’s cities, with worn-out leather armor that had long since lost its protective qualities, and hair that reached his waist, unkempt for ages.

It was exactly how Khan remembered Executor E-Urel.

‘That’s….’

It was not unusual for transcendents to use doppelgangers or spiritual projections. They cleverly circumvent the world’s laws, projecting a small fraction of their true power onto the mortal plane to exert influence.

But E-Urel’s aura-formed doppelganger… was something different.

“Can you do that with aura too?”

『Of course. And… I can do this as well.』

With a stoic expression, E-Urel’s doppelganger took the stance of a swordsman with bare hands. A swordsman without a sword striking a pose might seem ridiculous. But E-Urel was a knight.

FWHAA!!

Stars coalesced.

E-Urel’s hand grasped the blue night sky, within which a star shone brightly.

A star so radiant that it nearly blinded Karyan.

‘Dangerous…!’

Khan instinctively realized.

This was not the authority of the Knight God.

This was E-Urel himself.

A man born human, granted centuries of life, who had continually walked a path of self-imposed trials and hardships.

『Try to block it.』

You will die. That premonition crawled up Khan’s spine just as—

The sword of the night sky, moving in a slow, deliberate arc, created a trail of starlight.

SSSHHHAAA.

The starlight engulfed the entire world──.