Barbarian in a Failed Game

“It’s certain that Tilly Ashanumos, also known as Mrs. Roswell, has allied with the Great Forest. The information is reliable since the lord here confirmed it personally. Do you all agree?”

“Why do we need a discussion just to catch one lizard? Just tell me the location, and I’ll slice her up right away.”

“Haha… I appreciate your enthusiasm, but it’s not that simple.”

“Why? Is our ‘lord’… having a hard time killing a fellow lizard?”

Leniyar’s cold gaze was directed towards the high throne where the lord sat, revealing a hint of their differing statuses.

An adult dragon who had taken on a human form for the sake of acting as the lord and had been called the ‘Dragon’s Mate’ by those who had snatched the Borderland Marquis’s territory from the Elector family, along with an inscrutable high elf, and the witch who orchestrated all this…

‘Annoying…’

Ludmilla, who seemed indifferent and unaffected, did not sit well with Leniyar.

After all, Khan had plenty of support to act as the Borderland Marquis without needing to keep a thousand-year-old dragon close. Moreover, the fact that these three had taken the key positions within the most important fortress of the Borderland Marquis’s domain was another irritation.

“What do you mean by that, sword Phantom?”

“Nothing much? Just throwing it out there. Your sensitive reaction makes me think it might be true…?”

“Arrogant wretch.”

Rumble!

A dragon’s anger doesn’t end with just an emotional shift. The hall shook as if a great beast had roared, and the fierce aura of the dragon began to permeate the lord’s quarters.

“How amusing.”

However, Leniyar, exposed to the killing intent, merely chuckled. Aries, who watched with a blank expression, also seemed largely unaffected.

“With all this vigor, why don’t you ever step out from inside the fortress? I’m really curious about that.”

Drawing out the inner forged blade, Leniyar slashed through the storm-like killing intent and sneered.

“That kid paladin and I worked hard to secure the Borderland Marquis’s domain for you. Yet, you gather all these different races and do nothing to help the front lines…”

“Leniyar, that’s because─”

“You damned… Phew… I swept through the demon realms, and now you’re using us as if we’re your subordinates. Isn’t that a bit strange?”

“…”

Neria’s embarrassed and speechless reaction further irritated Leniyar.

Dragon’s mate? Temporary Borderland Marquis? Fortress lord? Interracial harmony? She didn’t care about any of that.

Gordi Khan—whether he took a wife or a concubine, it was none of Leniyar’s concern. What she felt towards Khan was a sense of indebtedness, not romantic feelings.

‘That kid paladin must feel the same way.’

The platinum-haired paladin, still silent, likely shared the same indifference towards who was engaged to whom.

Leniyar and Aries were concerned about something else entirely.

“Are you seriously thinking that bastard’s already dead and plotting something else? Huh?”

The suspicion that they had changed their attitude after seizing the Borderland Marquis’s domain as if they had a new agenda.

“… The frequency of demon realms is increasing. The civil war is becoming more chaotic.”

It was then that Aries, usually taciturn, spoke.

“The royal family is being kept in check.”

“With the war dragging on and a civil war breaking out, talks of losing power are naturally emerging,” Leniyar snorted.

Aries continued her words calmly, not responding to Leniyar’s remark.

“We can no longer neglect the war with the Great Forest. At this rate, we will collapse. Most importantly…”

Recalling the church’s message after subjugating the latest demonic realm, Aries frowned slightly.

“It seems a new divinity has emerged.”

“… Impossible. A new divinity? It’s never happened in countless ages—”

“It’s not entirely unprecedented. The Warrior God of Hoarfrost Gorge was originally human.”

The one who interrupted Natrix’s assertion was Ludmilla. Wearing a faint smile, she slowly approached the platform.

“Regardless of how the heavens immediately recognized it.”

Ludmilla’s and Natrix’s gazes met as Ludmilla reached just below the throne. Natrix’s fingertips trembled slightly.

The moment Natrix met Ludmilla’s eyes, she felt an odd sense of discord.

‘Just now…’

As she was about to summon her dragon eyes to identify the source of the discord, Ludmilla smiled and turned away from the platform.

“I understand your complaints. I’m not very good at considering others’ feelings, so I didn’t think this far?”

You probably didn’t care, Leniyar thought sarcastically, but Ludmilla didn’t react.

“As you know, we haven’t just been idling around either.”

“Hah. What, sending the special forces to raid the Great Forest’s hideout? Such a great deed.”

“That, of course, was a laborious task, but there’s something even more demanding.”

“…?”

Leniyar tilted her head in puzzlement.

For a mage powerful enough to be titled Arch Mage after surpassing the continent’s Tower Masters to say it was arduous? What on earth could it be? As Leniyar’s gaze filled with deep curiosity.

“The Great Forest, allied with demon contractors, will summon demons, and the moment they do, Midland and Hell will be connected. If it’s a passage wide enough for demons to travel, it should be easy for a few mortals to pass through as well….”

Leniyar’s eyes twitched at Ludmilla’s suggestive and meaningful tone. No way, could it be?

“Is that even possible…?”

“A foolish question. Have you forgotten why I’m called a Arch Mage?”

“Spatial magic…!”

“Yes.”

Ludmilla’s smile deepened.

Why would she, who had always outright rejected the persistent offers from the Magic Tower, suddenly accept the Tower’s mages?

In Ludmilla’s standards, the mages of the Magic Tower were mere imitators unworthy of the title ‘mages’, but at least in establishing magic as a scholarly discipline, they were genuine. With the help of numerous mages from the Magic Tower, masters of magical engineering like the dwarves, and the power of Dragon Natrix, Ludmilla had completely established her spatial magic.

“We… No, I intentionally let the Great Forest run wild. To gather enough sacrifices to cause a rift in the dimension. By doing so, I hope to open a passage connected to Hell. And I plan to seize that passage in reverse to reclaim the missing Maya.”

Into the unknown domain where one could interfere with dimensions using magic.

A new Sorceress had emerged, succeeding beyond her era and linking the legacy of the Sorceress Mortalia.

Amidst this historic moment, a long-armed bald man sulked alone in the corner.

‘Boss, please come back soon… At this rate, I’ll die from a nervous breakdown!’

***

‘Are they insane?’

Leniyar furrowed her brow upon hearing Ludmilla’s series of plans. So, they were deliberately neglecting… no, even encouraging the Empire’s chaos?

“I’m perfectly sane, so please don’t look at me like that,” Ludmilla said.

“Hah! You know you look crazy… Wait a moment.”

Realizing something, Leniyar stopped and stared directly at Ludmilla.

“The rumors about a spy within the Empire… Is that you too?”

“Who knows?”

Her evasive answer was more confirming than anything. This woman is out of her mind…! Leniyar seriously considered whether Khan’s plan could be trusted to this woman. If necessary, she was thinking about using force…

“Roswell.”

“… Why are you bringing up that lizard now, little paladin?”

Leniyar asked.

“The Empire’s information. You are feeding it to Roswell, aren’t you?”

“What?”

It was a story hard to believe. It was shocking enough that she was leaking the Empire’s information, but now she was in collusion with that suspicious lizard?

“That’s right,” Ludmilla confirmed.

“Unbelievable…! So, you really are in league with that lizard—”

“Of course, it wasn’t just one-sided. The drake is very interested in his life and also the movements of the Great Forest. We made a deal. We exchanged information about the Great Forest and the Empire.”

“So? Are you saying we should go easy on a double agent when we meet? Huh?”

“No.”

Ludmilla stamped her foot hard in response to Leniyar’s uncertain and cryptic tone.

Crash!

“Are you messing with me?”

The fortress, built by dwarven craftsmanship, was sturdy enough to withstand magical bombardment. Its strength was comparable to the Imperial Palace where the Emperor resided. However, the floor was cut away as if sliced by a blade following Leniyar’s stomp.

It was as if her entire body was sharpened like a blade.

“Hmm….”

Ludmilla looked at the cleanly cut floor and then responded, losing interest.

“Actually, I’d like to ask you to kill that drake if you find it. Make sure it’s done so thoroughly that there’s no chance of survival.”

“What?”

“I’m not sure why, but… that drake feels suspicious. It was always shady, but after he disappeared, it’s like something snapped. It’s hard to read its intentions. Twisted as it may be, it harbors goodwill towards him. It’s a huge wild card. So, I want it dead now. Understand?”

Leniyar didn’t bother to say that Ludmilla herself seemed the most dangerous. She was confident Ludmilla already sensed that. Instead, Leniyar pointed out a flaw in Ludmilla’s plan.

“Fine. Let’s say leaking the Empire’s information and inciting the war was for that damned plan. So? How can you be sure that taking control of the dimensional passage will connect to that bastard?”

“We need a medium. Something deeply connected to him.”

“Where would such a thing be…?”

“Blood. Not just ordinary blood, but someone with a strong, special lineage.”

Though Ludmilla did not know, it was the same principle used when Khan, caught in a dimensional collapse, reconstituted his body using Karyan’s blood.

“If it’s blood…”

In Midland, there was someone who shared the strongest bloodline connection with Khan.

“The Great Warrior?”

“Yes.”

The Great Warrior of the Hoarfrost Gorge and Khan’s biological father.

Gordi, the Apostle of the Warrior God.

“And just in case… I called a few more.”

Ludmilla smiled gently.

“By now, they should be sweeping through the front line and heading to the fortress.”

***

That was a catastrophe.

The chieftain commanding the Empire’s front line, the Roaring Lion, unconsciously took a step back and muttered.

“Those, those insane humans… what are they?!”

Crack!

“Kahaha─! Now these are worthy opponents─!!”

“Karyan, watch over our battle─!”

“Such lively beasts! We’ll keep them alive and take them back to Hoarfrost Gorge!”

As the gray wave surged forward, the front line fell like dominos.

Even the Empire’s knights felt like children before the ferocious Hoarfrost Gorge warriors, who tore and smashed them with their sharp claws. Are they really human? How can a human fight the Hoarfrost Gorge warriors bare-handed…!

The Roaring Lion, hesitating, swung his claws. These were the claws that could tear apart entire knight orders swarming in, no matter how heavily armored.

But it was all blocked so effortlessly.

Thunk.

“Impressive! A big cat!”

Just like a cat’s hiss, lightly.

The gray giant, who had intercepted the blow, displayed a ferocious smile, revealing all his teeth.

“You! I’ll present you as a gift to Khan!”

The strongest warrior of the continent, who had long been secluded in the far northern reaches, had arrived in Midland.

Leading all the warriors of Hoarfrost Gorge.