Barbarian’s Dark Fantasy Strategy Guide

Chapter 16: Demon （2）

Crack.

The fetal monster, its head split in half, writhes in agony. However, it doesn’t die and instead thrashes around like a fish out of water. Every time the house-sized creature leaps, the ground trembles.

The monster’s head quickly shrinks back. Its recovery speed is extraordinary. Still, unlike Mila, these creatures have a physical form. After a long time, I can finally feel the satisfying impact of my axe.

‘Let’s see if you can recover even if your head is completely severed.’

Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!

As Khalid increases his axe-swinging speed, Mila, who is flying in the sky, interferes by wielding her ice sickle.

Is she trying to protect her children? It doesn’t seem like it. Because the ice flower fragments she created are embedding themselves directly into the monsters’ bodies. Ironically, it’s like a sturdy shield has been created for Khalid.

Even with their bodies being split by the axe and pierced by ice fragments, the fetal monsters continue to advance. It seems like they are being drawn by the chains connected to Mila rather than chasing Khalid.

‘Are those not chains but umbilical cords? They’re moving along with their mother.’

Mila hovers persistently above Khalid’s head while dragging the monsters along. At the same time, she freely blooms ice flowers and scatters the fragments everywhere.

Crackle, crackle!

Khalid avoids taking damage by hiding behind the monsters, but in turn, the monsters writhe in pain. It seems like her plan is to corner Khalid and crush him with the bodies of the fetuses.

To force a miscarriage when they were alive and now turn them into undead to be used as slaves. What a truly terrible woman.

‘I will free you from your bondage.’

Slice.

Khalid severs all the umbilical cords connecting the fetal monsters to Mila with his axe. The monsters collapse on the spot like puppets with their strings cut.

But a moment later, the placenta that was covering them melts away, and the short limbs attached to their bodies begin to swell.

The monsters grow at an abnormal rate. Since they were already enormous even in their fetal state, when they stand on their own two feet, they reach a size comparable to a mountain giant.

It seems I’ve fallen for Mila’s scheme.

“Was that woman waiting for me to cut the umbilical cords?”

“Ahhhhh……”

Mila chants a song of ecstasy as she gazes upon her grown children. The giants, entranced by the melody, bend their spines until their heads touch the ground and stare at Khalid. They resembled four-legged camel crickets more than humans.

All three open their mouths wide simultaneously. Sharp teeth grow in double and triple rows.

Click, click, click.

The giants, with their grotesque neck movements, try to devour Khalid. They push their heads forward as if competing for the prey in the middle. They’ve become quite agile compared to when they were crawling, but it’s still not enough to catch Khalid.

‘It would have been better if you had just stayed asleep. Resent your mother, who made you this way.’

Khalid splits the exposed neck of a giant in half. The neck is so thick that he can only cut halfway through with his hand axe.

However, perhaps because the umbilical cord is severed, the wound no longer heals. The creature, unable to control its bobbing head, tumbles to the ground, tangled with its siblings. With the three giants wreaking havoc together, the people inside the mansion are in danger.

“I’ll send all three of you off together.”

Khalid clenches his fist tightly.

The first technique that the descendants of Volkan learn when they become warriors.

‘Full Power’.

The downside is that the axe can’t withstand it when Khalid uses it and breaks, but there’s no other choice given the opponent.

“Haaah!”

Khalid throws the axe with all his might. The axe, spinning rapidly, flies in a straight line, piercing all three giants at once.

Kuaaaaagh!

The monsters die, their intestines spilling out from their split bellies.

“Ahhhhh……”

Even as the corpses of her children turn to ash and disappear, Mila continues to sing.

But then.

Khalid, looking up at the sky, feels a chill down his spine for the first time in a long while. Hundreds of ice spears, covering the sky above, are aimed at him.

“Were these guys just a distraction?”

Mila’s song wasn’t for her children. It was a funeral song dedicated to Khalid. She merely bought time to cast a grand magic spell with her cunning tactics. She intended to put an end to this long battle with this.

The sharp tips of the spears gleam like stars.

As Mila points her slender finger at Khalid, an ice spear drops from the sky.

Whoosh, Crash!

An ice spear, as thick as a forearm, plunges deep into the ground. Its strength is incomparable to the ice sickle. If he tries to block them one by one, his axe will likely break first.

After demonstrating the power of the ice spear once, Mila begins her full-scale attack.

The courtyard of the mansion, viewed from above, is like a small canvas to her. As she gestures, the ice spears rain down, painting a picture on the ground.

Swish, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.

She first surrounds the outer perimeter and then fills in the inside, like trapping a rat in a cage. He’s trying his best to escape, but his escape route is already blocked.

She has summoned more than enough ice spears to fill the cage. From now on, it’s just a game.

‘Damn it. She’s toying with me.’

The ice fence surrounding Khalid closes in. His axe blade is also severely damaged, limiting his ability to break through.

The space he can dodge in is gradually shrinking. The ice spears, which he initially dodged with ease, begin to graze his skin.

‘Becky had good reason to be afraid.’

This opponent, unlike the Vampire Bat, doesn’t just recklessly flaunt her power, but uses strategies to confuse and pressure her opponent, like a human.

It’s been a while since I’ve been cornered like this.

The thought of these demons swarming within the fence makes my anticipation soar.

‘Now, what do I do?’

Unfortunately, the one I could ask for advice is asleep.

She probably intended to tell me that ordinary weapons wouldn’t work against this demon. That’s why she told me to run away desperately.

But Khalid is a warrior of the Thunder Axe Tribe, a proud descendant of the hero Volkan. He would never run from a fight.

‘Volkan wouldn’t have struggled against a mere evil spirit like this.’

The hero who defeated the Great Demon in the past, Volkan.

According to legend, he possessed a ‘special power’. Of course, he wouldn’t have been able to defeat the Great Demon otherwise.

However, no warrior has ever awakened that power until now.

‘The answer always lies within the rules.’

The warriors of the tribe live by carving their own rules into their hearts, but before that, they must first carve the three ‘Ancestor’s Rules’ left by Volkan.

‘If you cut down a human, your heart will be stained with darkness, and if you cut down a demon, the darkness will be washed away.’

This is the first Ancestor’s Rule.

Why did Volkan convey this message first?

With this one rule, his descendants chose a destiny of eternally fighting demons in the Ancestor’s Land.

‘If I were Volkan……’

I would have gladly passed on that special power to the warriors of the tribe before I died.

But what if that power can’t be passed on to others? There’s no other way than to teach the method, just like Gunnar, my mentor, did to young Khalid.

‘……Ah, was that it!’

Khalid finally understood Volkan’s true intentions.

The first rule wasn’t about shackling the warriors. He used the rule to spread the method of obtaining the special power to future generations.

‘That power already resides within our hearts. We simply haven’t realized it until now.’

Khalid, having gained enlightenment, grasps his hand axe once more.

“Hoooo……”

Khalid closes his eyes at death’s door and calmly calms his mind.

Then, he feels the power of ‘Conviction’ residing in his heart flow into his weapon. The axe also faintly glimmers as if responding to that power.

◈◈◈◈◈◈ ◈◈◈◈◈◈ ◈◈◈◈◈◈

Banshee, the Wailing Specter.

If she wasn’t a newly summoned demon, the people wouldn’t have gotten away with just fainting when she first wailed.

Even the Banshee herself must have been surprised. No matter how underdeveloped her power was, the guy standing closest to her had his eyes wide open.

A Banshee whose signature skill is sealed is no different from a low-level Wraith, but Mila is different. She uses high-level ice magic and necromancy, comparable to the ‘Banshee’s Wail’.

At this point, there’s no doubt that she’s the final boss of the tutorial area.

But isn’t it insane to put a ghost-type demon with ‘Etherealization’ as a passive skill in the tutorial?

Especially in a barbarian warrior tutorial where they’re unfamiliar with magic and faith. If this is the case, they should at least give him a rune weapon.

（Fuck. Why do I have to go through this?）

Becky’s frustration doesn’t subside even in her dreams.

Any experienced, or rather, sane gamer would be outraged. There’s a limit to how unreasonable things can be.

（It hurts……）

Even in a half-conscious state, I can feel the pain.

My skin, scratched by the ice, is not just cold, but burning. My ears are muffled as if I’m underwater, and I hear ringing. I’m not exaggerating, I can really feel that death is near this time.

Suddenly, I feel anger welling up at the voice I heard in my dream.

（What? You said if his wish comes true, yours will too? At least put me in someone who at least pretends to listen to me!）

Becky is so furious that she can’t just lie down anymore. When she finally regains her senses and looks around, what does she see?

A desperate situation where hundreds, thousands of blue ice spears are waiting in the night sky. It would have been better if I had stayed unconscious.

（What is that…… Is that ‘Ten Thousand Ice Spears’?）

This is too much, really.

Is it normal for a tutorial boss to use Grand Magic? The surroundings are already surrounded by a fence of ice spears. There’s nowhere left to step.

Khalid also seems to have given up and closed his eyes.

（Yeah. I’m frustrated too, but you’re the one whose life is on the line, so how unfair must it be for you? In your next life, may you be in a better world…… Huh?）

A warm energy rises from Becky’s resigned chest. The warmth circles around her heart and flows into Khalid’s right arm.

（What…… What is this sensation? Is Khalid doing something right now?）

As the warmth spreads through his body, anxiety and fear disappear. This is affecting not only Khalid’s mind but also Becky’s.

I feel an unknown power.

Swish, swoosh, swoosh!

As Khalid opens his eyes again, countless ice spears fly in, filling his vision. But he feels strangely at ease. He doesn’t think he’s going to die here.

“Pandoraaaaa!”

Khalid throws his axe with his signature yell. Towards the Wailing Specter beyond the ice spears.

Flash!

The final ice spear that Mila sent flying turns to dust in an instant.

“Kugh……?”

Mila is bewildered. She’s sure she filled the ice prison to the brim. On the ground, Khalid is still looking at her. She doesn’t know what happened, but he’s still alive and breathing.

She summons ice spears once more to finish him off.

“……?”

Her magic power doesn’t gather. Moreover, her arms are disintegrating. Her body is crumbling like ice crystals.

The hand axe that Khalid threw is embedded between Mila’s skull. It wasn’t because she was careless due to Etherealization. She didn’t even perceive the axe flying towards her from the beginning.

Mila’s body slowly collapses, pierced by the axe imbued with an unknown power that is neither magic nor divine.

“Ah…… Ahhh……”

The fading Mila reaches out pathetically towards the moonlight.

“Do…… Dominic…… My…… Love.”

The demon dissipates, scattering like snowflakes. The ice prison surrounding Khalid also vanishes simultaneously.

Only the traces of the fierce battle remain in the mansion. The ground is overturned, and the walls are crumbled, but there are no casualties. It was fortunate that the lord’s mansion was located far from the center of the village.

“Phew.”

Khalid sighs. The aftereffects of the battle still linger. More precisely, he can’t forget the new sensation he felt when he defeated the demon at the end.

At that moment, a stone, shining like a jewel, descends from the sky in front of Khalid. A chill swirls inside the translucent stone, as if a blizzard is trapped within.

‘Is this stone…… what the baroness left behind?’

『That’s a ‘Soul Stone’. Keep it safe for now.』

‘When did you wake up?’

『Just now.』

Khalid puts the Soul Stone in his pocket.

『By the way, what was that technique you used at the end? You could have told me about it beforehand.』

‘Well, it’s my first time using that power.’

『What?』

Khalid answers Becky, who is dumbfounded.

‘If I had to put it into words, I’d say it’s the power of ‘Conviction’ inherited from my ancestors.’