Barbarian in a Failed Game

『This world is twisted.』

Esperus’s words, spoken with a face that resembled Karyan’s, jolted Khan awake. As Esperus looked up at the dome-like shell that enclosed the sky, his gaze was complicated and nuanced.

“Are you talking about hell? Or…?”

『Midland. I’m talking about the dimension you came from. To be precise, I mean Midland and its sub-dimensions… including the heavens and hell. Don’t you find it strange? That realms like hell and heaven, where beings like me, who can twist the laws of nature with our will, reside as mere appendages to Midland?』

“Midland was once ruled by dragons and giants.”

『Hmm. Dragons and giants… One side faced near extinction and had to form a humiliating alliance with humans, and the other was completely wiped out. In my personal view, they were not true divinities. If we must categorize them, they were life forms with an excessively large capacity.』

Don’t you agree?

His tone was not mocking but rather a simple statement of fact.

When Khan shrugged in response, Esperus elaborated with a faint smile.

『Fundamentally, Midland is a dimension where transcendent beings cannot reside. Beings like me, my siblings, and the divine beings are confined to residual dimensions. Only when sufficient sacrifices and proper reasons are in place can we operate in Midland, and only then are we considered transcendents. Yet, dragons and giants were excessively free, despite their restrictions.』

Khan’s mind immediately recalled Natrix.

The young dragon who had invoked an ancient pact and greatly aided him. In the game, the imperial guardian dragon used the power of the pact to bend the restrictions placed on transcendents and was instrumental in the Great Demonic Realm’s conquest. Khan had convinced her to fight at full strength based on this.

‘Was that not true?’

“What about the apostles of the gods? Do those who wield divine authority, like your demons or divine gods, fall into the category of ‘fake’?”

『Hmm… To some extent, yes. Of course, they face many restrictions when wielding true authority. But think about it. Do those apostles you know seem as restricted as demons and gods?』

No—Khan shook his head.

Despite being bound by an ancient pact mediated by the emperor and the highest divine gods—a setting he had dismissed as merely a plot device to curb power inflation in the game—transcendents who left the Great Demonic Realm after the emperor’s death wielded their power without hesitation.

Apostles of the gods, capable of annihilating entire nations with the divine authority granted to them, were not so restrained.

“So… the criteria for distinguishing real from fake. The world’s laws, which you mentioned as the center of this distortion, must be the key.”

Esperus’s smile deepened.

『It is both the beginning and the end of this entire story.』

***

Esperus regarded Khan with a gaze reminiscent of a teacher observing a quick student, causing Khan to furrow his brow. This being had existed for thousands of years, possibly longer, and there was much to learn from him.

“So, what exactly is this law? Is it the will of some higher being? Or do all these dimensions possess intelligence that imposes constraints on transcendents?”

『It’s exactly as it sounds. The law is the law.

‘It’ doesn’t have a concept of self, and even the term ‘will’ is not entirely accurate. It simply exists to maintain certain rules inscribed within the world and to exclude any entity that violates these rules.』

Three spheres floated from Esperus’s fingertips. The largest, a blue sphere similar to Earth, was at the center, with smaller black and white spheres orbiting it. These represented Midland, and the heavens and hell.

『There are more dimensions if you include the smaller ones, but let’s keep it simple. Here’s where the law of the world fits in.』

Esperus then conjured a figure with three pairs of wings on its back. Its face was featureless, smooth like Yoro’s, but otherwise, it resembled the common depiction of an angel. It held a spear shaped like a lightning bolt, pointed at Midland.

‘He made it look like an angel—coincidence?’

『The law primarily affects Midland, but neither the heavens nor hell are entirely exempt. Any excessive interference in Midland results in backlash from the law. However, with the right reasons, some degree of intervention is permitted. This is why my siblings work so hard to increase their followers.』

Esperus asserted that this entire relationship was fundamentally twisted.

『In the end, despite all the talk of transcendence and divinity, we are beings who can do nothing without mortals. Yet, we believe we are superior and more advanced than mortals. Why? Because we can bend the laws of the world.』

Esperus himself used to think this way until he encountered Karyan during his invasion of Midland. Karyan, a mortal who possessed the power to manipulate the will of the world—a true anomaly. Defeated by Karyan and left in a half-dead state, Esperus fled.

The story continued from the memories Khan had seen with Yoro.

『Just before separating my soul and body to attempt resurrection, I had a thought. If a mortal could possess the power of a transcendent—or even a higher-order way of intervening in the world—that would truly be transcendence.』

“So, you used Karyan’s blood to create a human body… Yoro?”

『Yes, as a contingency plan. I left open the possibility of regaining my transcendent state at any time. Meanwhile, I withheld my decision until I could verify whether a mortal could wield transcendent power, like Karyan.』

“And then I showed up.”

『Exactly.』

Esperus smiled gently.

『Whether by fate or coincidence, or perhaps drawn by the blood that makes up Yoro’s body, which I personally find to be the most plausible hypothesis, you appeared before me. The Blood King rebelled against my will, attempting to become a completely new entity. That’s why I sought your help.』

To fully fall into mortality. Or to return to transcendence. Caught between these two choices, Esperus decided to use Khan’s help to suppress the Blood King’s unexpected rebellion and simultaneously confirm his own potential for a decision.

And he made his choice.

『It seems that even if I were to become mortal, I wouldn’t be like you or that individual. It’s as if you were destined from the beginning to be that way.』

Esperus’s bitter reflection. Khan immediately thought of the fact that this world was based on a game.

‘Being set by the game’s rules and unable to deviate from them….’

It was a natural thought. If the game’s objects could break free from their given settings, the game would be a disaster. If a tutorial mob suddenly became overpowered, only a few hardcore gamers would continue playing while the rest would quit.

But this world was clearly a reality.

‘The law wants to keep this world as nothing more than a game.’

He finally began to grasp the concept of the will of the world.

‘It’ was akin to a debugging program.

A being that sanctions and modifies all sorts of bugs occurring in Midland to its liking.

For example, if an NPC in the game started saying, ‘This is a game! We are fake!’ it would be sanctioned. Just as it did with the Sorceress Mortalia. Ending the ancient empire and forcibly bringing about the current era.

And beings like gods and demons, who could break the game’s framework and reshape the world to their liking, were restricted to only acting within the background of the world’s setting. This is what the transcendents referred to as the ‘law’.

This leaves one question.

‘Possessors with game systems who move freely would be the most terrifying anomaly to this law. So, the nature of this game system is….’

『That concludes my story.』

Esperus’s calm voice interrupted Khan’s thoughts, signaling the end of his long tale.

『If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them as a parting gift.』

“… Arch Demon.”

The word was out before Khan had a chance to think. Esperus’s eyes widened in surprise, as if he hadn’t expected that name to come up at this moment.

“Does the Arch Demon really exist?”

『The Arch Demon… Of course, the Arch Demon exists. Our great parent who birthed us. Without the Arch Demon, my siblings and I wouldn’t exist.』

Of course, the Arch Demon exists. The final boss appearing in the game’s ultimate chapter is none other than the Arch Demon. However, Khan’s question carried a deeper meaning.

“Spare me the old tales about him birthing you and becoming part of hell. I want to hear your personal thoughts about the Arch Demon. Have you ever seen the Arch Demon with your own eyes? Have you ever spoken to the Arch Demon? Do you remember your moment of birth, if you were indeed born from the Arch Demon?”

『… Haha.』

Esperus laughed awkwardly, then shook his head as if resigned.

『No. Neither I nor my siblings have ever seen our great parent. We were simply born knowing that we were the Arch Demon’s children. Heaven is likely not much different. You might find your answers by asking that one who seems to favor you.』

That was enough. He had already gotten all the answers he wanted.

『Judging by your expression, you seem satisfied.』

“Yes. Completely.”

The experience bar stuck at 39.99%, the Leap skill stuck at 100% proficiency without leveling up, the sudden rise in unlisted physical abilities, the chaos and ash-gray within him, the higher-dimensional will trying to keep this world as a game, the continually repeating world, the drastically changed world flow and fates of key characters…

Amid these tangled clues, one thing was clear to Khan.

‘If this continues, the world will face another apocalypse.’

And it will be due to the many changes he, the possessor, has made.

‘Just as Esperus suggested, a divine angel might descend to end the world directly.’

The will wants the world to flow according to its set design. He had gotten all he needed. While he was only at the stage of broadly outlining his next moves, he now had clarity on who the true enemy was. The task of figuring out how to kill the will of the world seemed daunting.

But by finding and dealing with the primordial beings, he might get the answers he needed. They were all puppets of the will, keeping the world as a game. He hadn’t found them yet, leading him to take this roundabout way, but now he had solid evidence.

There was one being with a known location…

‘The Great Demonic Realm. I need to take down the Arch Demon that descends there.’

Khan finally understood why he had possessed this world while trying to play the DLC. Only by moving beyond the game’s original ending—killing the Arch Demon—could he reach the true final ending. That’s why it was DLC.

This was more like an expansion pack, but from a gamer’s perspective, more content was always welcome.

‘The experience of smashing the head of a being that might be the creator… this is going to be epic.’

First, though, he needed to get out of hell.

“Now, send me back to Midland.”