Barbarian in a Failed Game

324. The End of the World (2)

Karyan himself was the sanctuary.

Khan felt it all too clearly. Everything in the world around him was baring its fangs at him. The air he needed to breathe, the ground he had to stand on, even the very concept of time and space seemed completely different from a moment ago.

And above all….

‘This is insane.’

Karyan.

The power his true form held was the most shocking of all. Not even the highest divinity, the God of Death, possessed as much power as Karyan. The Scion of the Arch Demon, Esperus, was the same, and probably even the ancient dragon, Akardnil, was no exception.

‘Is the Sorceress stronger than Karyan in that state? Is that why they sent him in with a sealing formation?’

No, he still didn’t know that. As Karyan had said, and as he had personally experienced in the past, this trial was not about proving his martial prowess.

Therefore.

‘Destroy.’

That was the only thought he had.

Tock-

He sprang off the platform created by the wind spirit. There was no need to explode the ground beneath his feet as he had before. His body, almost perfected, had been raised to a level sufficient to handle it.

And the ash-gray power.

The ash-gray power spread throughout his body was ultimately Khan’s consciousness. Even without intention, the coordination of his entire body happened naturally.

At that moment, when his form, launched like a cannonball, rose to Karyan’s ankle height.

Suddenly—

Boom…!

A red giant’s fist appeared above his head without any warning. It was like a massive meteor suddenly emerging in the sky.

‘Even the distance is at his command…!’

It wasn’t a matter of speed; the fist appeared above his head as if it had leaped through space. It was a scale and speed of spatial movement incomparable to when Augrabes used spatial devouring to launch his sword in hell.

“Hhhrrngh─!”

There wasn’t enough time to react. There wasn’t enough time to think and respond. His arm, holding the sword, moved in a half-circle before his mind could even process it.

The moment the trajectory of the magic sword intersected with the giant’s fingertip, Khan’s vision distorted and warped. It was proof that the space, unable to withstand the pressure, was being pushed away.

Bang.

Crack──!!

It felt as if he were deflecting a meteor that had fallen from the sky – the weight was terrifying. If it had been Khan before his body was perfected, he would not have been able to withstand the pressure and his head would have been crushed entirely.

“Ugh. Guh…!”

He pushed up with his other arm, supporting the blade with both hands. The pressure was so intense that his eyeballs felt like they would pop out.

He closed his eyes.

Ordinary vision was meaningless anyway. This wasn’t a matter of seeing and judging. There was a gap so vast that he had to fight by instinct rather than thought.

『Is this all? Then, you will accomplish nothing.』

“Shut, up─!”

In that moment, black mana erupted from Khan’s entire body, gathering at his fingertips and exploding.

Bam──!!

It was the pure black mana passed on by the Scion of the Arch Demon, Esperus. Even so, it was impossible to push back Karyan’s fist. It merely paused its advance for a moment.

‘That’s enough.’

Khan waited for that brief gap. With one hand now free, Khan gathered the ashen threads into a single point.

Fzzzzt-!

Karyan’s eyes widened at the sight. That sphere of lightning was quite a threat even to Karyan, who had revealed his true form.

‘Yes, delve deeper.’

Is a warrior merely one who desires victory and conquers his enemy?

No, that’s not it.

Rumble──!!

Karyan, blocking the sphere of lightning with his palm, drew upon his holy power.

It was coming.

Transcending the sixth sense, Karyan’s Eyes, which pierced even the laws of the world, began to sound a sharp warning. And as if to prove that warning was not wrong, the sphere of lightning in his grasp exploded.

Boom.

Crackling──!!

Ash-gray lightning tore through the giant’s grip and spread in all directions. Although not at the speed of real light, it was at a comparable velocity.

The lightning, reaching the sanctuary’s edge in an instant, struck the wall.

Rumble…!

Karyan laughed, spitting blood in the horrific pain that shook his very divinity.

Hahaha─!

Karyan’s holy power far surpassed even the highest gods. His sanctuary was so absolute that no divinity could destroy it. And yet, the sanctuary was being destroyed.

The part of the sanctuary that touched the lightning vanished without a trace, reducing its size and diminishing Karyan’s divinity. Of course, to Karyan, it was merely a scratch-

『Bring out more─!』

He saw the possibility. Despite his divinity being chipped away, Karyan intended to use his body as a hammer to further temper Khan, making him stronger and sharper!

He unleashed the holy power he had already summoned. As a red giant, Karyan could unleash any form of attack he conceived in his mind with just a thought.

Of the countless ideas that came to him, Karyan chose the most suitable one.

『I will return it in kind.』

Karyan’s index finger turned into red lightning. Simply put, it was an extraordinary phenomenon, but with Karyan’s true form surpassing even a giant’s, it was something more.

Rumble…….

The red lightning spear, forged from the giant’s finger, filled the sky. To Khan, who was but a tiny dot, it felt as if the entire sky had turned red.

Divine Punishment.

As the name suggested, the bolt of judgment from the sanctuary’s master struck Khan in an instant.

Boom──!!

A mere human could only be consumed instantly by the relentless barrage of lightning. The red lightning rained down on Khan continuously, each bolt imbued with Karyan’s holy power.

Within that storm.

A flash of a sword appeared.

Crack.

At first, it was just a small crack. Even at this moment, in the waterfall of falling lightning, it was merely a slight flaw.

Crack….

However, the successive flashes of the sword light widened the crack even further.

Crack!

As dozens, then hundreds of overlapping sword lights drew along the widening crack, it expanded until it was large enough to fit a person.

Snap!

A sound like something breaking echoed throughout the sanctuary. Karyan, with his unique insight, instantly grasped the nature of the phenomenon.

A hole had been made in the dimension.

By focusing an unimaginable amount of pressure on a single point, it twisted and distorted space, eventually punching a huge hole right in the middle of the sanctuary.

This was more absurd than simply destroying the sanctuary.

Striking a fixed-formed sanctuary and breaking it would be easier. However, purely with physical force, interfering with the dimension itself was a monstrous act beyond human skill.

Rumble….

The hole that had formed absorbed all the lightning bolts that had been pouring down on Khan. Judging further attacks to be a waste of holy power, Karyan began to retract the lightning.

At that moment—

Flash—

Khan’s eyes gleamed from under the red waterfall. Like a predator waiting to tear into its prey’s throat at the right moment. Karyan accepted the chilling premonition with delight and raised his hand from which one finger had vanished.

‘Grow, grow even more.’

He could see it. The ash-gray power surrounding Khan was becoming increasingly solid and beginning to take on a specific direction.

Even with Karyan’s wisdom, he couldn’t comprehend the ash-gray power. It was something bizarre and astounding that pushed away the laws of the world and directly struck at the divine, annihilating it.

Thus, Karyan couldn’t teach anything about ‘that’. He couldn’t even fathom its potential. But what was certain was that he was the only one who could help realize that potential.

‘Just look at the God of Death. That gloomy fellow was shattered.’

In its current ashen state, it was nearly impossible to kill Karyan. Not because of a mere qualitative difference in divinity. Another force that constituted part of Karyan.

‘Chaos.’

His divinity was tainted. Even a transcendent being couldn’t survive once engulfed by chaos. Like the Blood King, who was once half of Esperus, losing his mind and becoming a rampaging monster. But Karyan was different.

He was one of the only two beings who had ascended to godhood by controlling chaos. The red giant seemed to have paint splattered over him, mixing all sorts of colors. Khan, watching the spectacle ‘through Karyan’s eyes’, fired another sphere of lightning.

‘That won’t be enough.’

Karyan didn’t even bother to defend. It was unnecessary. Khan’s ash-gray power was still too immature to penetrate the chaos controlled by Karyan.

Boom──!!

The outcome was as Karyan had foreseen. Even though the blow was strong enough to obliterate part of the sanctuary, Karyan didn’t flinch. Instead, he leisurely prepared for the next strike.

***

『If you get hit, you’ll die.』

Chaos was overlaid onto the giant sword forged from holy power. Khan tried to predict the next attack using ‘Karyan’s Eye’ to its limit, but he couldn’t see anything, as if a thick fog had set in.

‘Chaos…!’

It was because of chaos. Chaos didn’t just enhance Karyan’s power; it also made it impossible to read his intentions. For a moment, Khan’s face twisted in frustration.

‘Since when?’

‘Karyan’s Eye’ was exceedingly convenient. Merely by looking, he could predict his opponent’s next move and further control the flow of battle.

‘Karyan’s Eye’ had played a significant role in allowing Khan to survive and triumph over monsters much stronger than himself.

But since when had he started feeling so helpless without ‘Karyan’s Eye’?

Originally, ‘Karyan’s Eye’ wasn’t a talent he possessed. It was merely something obtained through the game system’s assistance. Before that, Khan had relied on his own senses and experiences to defeat many formidable foes.

The problem was, the convenience of ‘Karyan’s Eye’ had led him to abandon his inherent strength.

Crunch.

‘This is wrong.’

Khan clenched his jaw so hard his teeth felt like they would break, then he roared. A battle cry, a kind of ritual that every barbarian used to boost their fighting spirit.

Khan’s roar echoed throughout the sanctuary as he fiercely opened his eyes. He heightened not only ‘Karyan’s Eye’ but also his natural senses. Moreover, he discarded the complacency of thinking this was just a test.

‘There is no next time. If I fail, it’s all over.’

He abandoned the mindset of just passing the test and solidified his determination to crush Karyan.

To achieve that?

‘I have to strike the core of his divinity. But finding that core in that huge body takes time. And do I even have a way to break through that chaos?’

‘The barrier that the ash-gray power-gray lightning couldn’t penetrate. Collapsing the dimension with physical force? To cause a collapse that would sweep away that enormous body would take too much time. I’d be defeated before that.’

‘Then, do I have anything else at my disposal? Something that could break through this situation… an as-yet-undeveloped potential?’

He didn’t know.

Even if it existed, if he didn’t realize it, it wouldn’t be the answer. That thought strangely brought him peace of mind.

‘In that case, I just have to do what I do best.’

***

『Haha…! Finally, a face that I like!』

Karyan laughed in satisfaction. The once aimless flow of consciousness was now following a single, straight path.

『Yes. Discard unnecessary thoughts in a fight!』

He gripped the giant sword. Following Karyan’s will, the sanctuary sought to lock Khan’s position in place.

The space surrounding Khan compressed, and the ‘constraints’ that covered the entire Hoarfrost Gorge intensified a thousandfold, pressing down on Khan.

『Crush the enemy! That is the only action a warrior should take!』

Boom! Bang──!!

Khan swung his axe at the ‘constraints’ surrounding him and took a rough step forward. His movements were reckless, solely aimed at drawing out the extreme capabilities of his body, completely disregarding efficiency.

Even that step made the sanctuary’s floor ripple like a wave. The next moment, Khan shot up towards the sky like a cannonball, soaring straight towards the giant sword.

Rumble…!

Leaving a faint trail of lightning in his wake, Khan’s form appeared directly beneath the giant sword in an instant. Karyan laughed at the brute simplicity of it and swung his sword.

──────.

There was no sound of collision.

In front of the giant sword covered in chaos, Khan’s ash-gray power was mercilessly shattered. As Karyan momentarily removed the floor, Khan plummeted endlessly downward, then flipped his body.

‘Destroy…!’

As if connected in thought, he kicked off the wind spirit’s platform and leaped up again. He soared past the giant’s ankle, rising to the knee level.

Crash─!!

Khan collided with an invisible wall and immediately launched a sword strike.

The ash-gray power, blocked by chaos, reacted violently, like sparks flying from flint. But once again, Khan was driven into the ground.

『Is this all─! It can’t be─!』

Karyan’s tone was as if urging Khan to bring out something hidden, prompting him to glare fiercely.

‘What more is there to bring out?’

He didn’t know. So he just charged. Again and again. He collided with Karyan’s giant sword and was constantly driven into the ground.

Even so, Khan’s ash-gray power grew denser. The force behind each strike became incomparable to before, and the dimensional collapse through physical force grew even more substantial.

But – it wasn’t enough.

‘Why?’

『At this rate, you will only be defeated─! Bring it out─!』

***

He had lost count of how many times he had been slammed into the ground. His limbs had been severed more than hundreds of times, and over half of his body had been obliterated dozens of times.

While flipping his body in the air, Khan tried to leap using the wind spirit’s power but faltered. The wind spirit’s power was exhausted. Seeing the small fairy form it had reverted to fade, Khan lifted his head.

Karyan was still standing strong. Since Karyan had unleashed chaos, Khan hadn’t been able to land a significant blow, so this outcome was expected.

Was it really possible? To surpass this monstrous Karyan and even stop the Sorceress who had become the God of Magic?

As such doubts began to grow, a voice rang out.

『You fool. Are you going to keep ignoring it until the end?』

Ignoring what?

Khan muttered inwardly, and the answer came back.

『The chaos within you. Why don’t you use it?』

Because if I can’t control it, it will consume me. If I do control it, I’ll become a God and be bound by the laws, just like you.

『So what? Are you just going to keep getting beaten until you die without accomplishing anything?』

Khan shook his head. That couldn’t happen.

‘I have a purpose… to return to Earth.’

No, that’s not right. A chubby middle-aged man, rotting away in an office, was dragged into a fantasy world and forced into the role of a hero, which didn’t suit him.

The God-like being who threw a fit, asking him to deal with the rampaging administrator. The ones who claimed they would change the world and went on a rampage, threatening to destroy everything.

All these could be reasons but not purposes. He hadn’t particularly grown attached to this damn medieval fantasy world. Honestly… even though he had formed some bonds he could call comrades, would he risk his life to save them?

If asked, he’d hesitate to answer immediately. The reason he came here, ready to face death alone, was simply because he wanted to. It wasn’t some grand purpose of saving the world.

‘I’m just doing what I can.’

Even on Earth, he was that kind of person. He did what he could. He didn’t do what he couldn’t. He just handled things within his reach and ignored the rest.

‘And this is within the range of what I can do.’

Ignoring the now faint senses of his body, Khan delved deeper into what he had been avoiding all this time.

Chaos.

It had been there, within him, for who knows how long. He might never be able to turn back. Even if he could immediately destroy Karyan by becoming a God, he could end up as a puppet of the Sorceress, bound by laws.

But….

‘You never know until you try.’

With a clear mind, as he reached for the chaos within, a mysterious voice echoed from behind Karyan, resonating in Khan’s ears.

『You foolish one.』

Khan, somehow recognizing the voice, smirked and grasped the chaos fully.

TL’s Corner:

The fight of Khan and the Gigantified Karyan is like the fight of Asura against Vajra Wyzen in Asura’s Wrath.