“Barbarians you say.”
It’s unheard of for human communities to live in the demon realm proper.
This is a fact that Sungchul, who basically lived in the demon realm once upon a time, knew very well.
There were former humans living there, but no simple humans.
But what he used to know or think became irrelevant.
The news that the barbarians had annihilated the Varan-Aran Tribal Alliance in just three days had a strong enough impact to shatter Sungchul’s sense of common sense.
“Is that true?”
Sungchul asked again.
He rarely reacted this way.
‘It used to be said that there were three walls protecting the world from the demon realm. The sharpest is the Blood Iron Knights, the firmest is the Storm Battlefront, and the most tenacious is the Varan-Aran Alliance.’
Beyond the question of stronger or weaker, there was a consensus that the most resilient faction that could weather an invasion had to be the Varan-Aran Alliance.
A rugged terrain and dense forest, and the determined and ruthless elves who thrived in such environment, the forest was a thoroughly defended territory.
In that pale forest, untold tens of thousands of demons have lost their way and perished.
Sungchul’s question prompted the Elf prince to nod his head without hiding his grief.
“They have taken over the capital of the tribal Alliance, High D’Varan. I have been told that my uncle, the elder and tribal chief of the confederacy, was beheaded. That his head has been salted and now rests atop their disgusting flag.”
“…”
Sungchul bowed his head in silent tribute to the departed soul of a great man. Although Sungchul didn’t personally know the Chief of the Varan-Aran Alliance, the chief had never shown aggression towards him.
At least on three separate occasions, the man had spotted Sungchul foraging for food in the elves’ forest and took no action.
Had he not shown benevolence then, Sungchul’s meals would have been severely limited.
“So, where are they now?”
Sungchul asked.
Hasserdein’s pupils shook violently.
“Their main forces are still in High D’Varan. They’re burning the entire forest and slaughtering the people. But they will surely not be satisfied and stop there.”
“You’re implying that they’re preparing to do something.”
The Elf prince nodded to agree to Sungchul’s mutterings and continued.
“A small reconnaissance party has already appeared on our borders. They haven’t launched a full-fledged invasion yet, but our soldiers report that each of these monsters are on par with the Thirteen Champions of the Continent. No, that each are all at the transcendent level.”
“Every individual is at the transcendent level?”
It was a claim that made one doubt his ears.
Transcendent.
This refers to those who have achieved the highest possible state attainable by mortals, with their main stats of Strength, Dexterity, and Vitality or Magic Power and Intuition exceeding an average of 600.
Before Sungchul started his activities in earnest, there were very few known transcendent in the entire world.
The Emperor of the Human Empire, the Chairman of the World Parliament, and the leader of the Assassin’s Guild. Just three.
It’s hard to know how that’s changed now, but Sungchul’s guess was that it wouldn’t exceed ten.
And yet, every member of a scouting party is at the transcendent level?
This was far too far from common sense.
But. It was not impossible that this was true.
There must have been a reason that the tenacious Varan-Aran Alliance was wiped out in just three days.
“Anyway, these Barbarians are now lurking around the borders of our Kingdom of Elven Confederation, the Dwarf Kingdom, and even Trowin, which is now controlled by the remnants of the Seven Heroes.”
The Elf prince bowed his head towards Sungchul once he finished speaking. His voice and his entire body was seeped in sincerity.
“To begin with the conclusion, we have no way of stopping these Barbarians at the present. If they were to descend upon us, we will crumble like a sandcastle swept away by the waves. So, please, I beg you to include a priority item on the agenda for this session of the World Parliament on the urgent issue of dealing with the Barbarians.”
The Elf prince said this and then took out the mandate he had received from his father and presented it to Sungchul.
“My father, the King, has expressed that giving up the crown is no issue next to the preservation of our race.”
“…”
Opportunities are born amidst crises.
One of the four major powers, the Elvan Confederation of Kingdoms, was wanting to voluntarily hand over the crown.
What Sungchul was determined to obtain by any means necessary, through threats, quarrels, or perhaps even bloodshed, has come to him voluntarily all on its own.
However, Sungchul did not make the mistake of delighting over the issue of the crown before him.
For pushing one of the four most powerful factions to such desperation, in some ways these Barbarians represented a greater threat than even the deadly yellow miasma approaching from the east.
Therefore, it could become the most excellent leverage.
Sungchul decided to ask.
“Is it true that each of those Barbarians possesses strength comparable to a transcendent?”
Hesserdein nodded firmly.
Sungchul asked a follow up question.
“What is the fastest means of transportation to reach your kingdom’s borders?”
Each race has its preferred mode of transportation.
Humans, who prioritize swiftness, prefer riding airships. While dwarves, who rarely leave their territories, prefer sturdy mobile fortresses.
As for the elves, they typically prefer riding nature’s companions such as unicorns or pegasi who obeyed nobody but the elves. But for long distances, they almost always created a fixed teleportation formation.
Sungchul was aware of the existence of the magic formations in the capital city of La Grange used by the high-ranking officials of the Elvan Kingdom.
Perhaps being an elf herself, Vestiare of the Seven Heroes had created a fixed magic formation that led directly to La Grange.
It was because Sungchul was aware of this fact that he had asked his question to Hesserdein.
“There are magical portals that leads to the Kingdom.”
“Please guide me to it.”
“What is it that you plan to do?”
With a smile, Sungchul answered the elf prince’s question.
“I plan to present a sample to the warlords who are to gather here.”
“A sample?”
“The Barbarians from the north.”
Right away, Sungchul followed Hesserdein to the magic formation used by the Elves.
The elvan teleportation magic formations were spread out across the continent all over like a spider web. The magic formations were typically installed in forested areas, and there were regulations about their operation.
Each magic formations were assigned a rank, and higher ranking portals could freely travel to any lower rank portals. But there was a strict rule that only specific lower rank portals could be used to travel in the reverse to a higher rank portal.
The magic formations were most definitely convenient to use, but it could just as easily be exploited by enemies and allow an invading army to flood into elvan territories. So, the security measures that were in place were an obvious necessity.
And such a rule could not be overruled, even by the authority of the crown prince of an Elvan Kingdom.
Because of that, Sungchul had to pass through 12 different sets of magic formations before he was finally able to arrive at the capital of the Elvan Confederation of Kingdoms, Glenfid.
The transit itself posed no problem, but it was delayed by having to go through customs and procedures that took over two days to complete.
Of course, this much was well within the margin of error until deadline; It was an unintended boon he received for having finished the God’s Dungeon so quickly ahead of schedule.
Sungchul politely declined the crown prince’s invitation to go greet the king and instead took the magic portal that led to the Elven Confederation of Kingdom’s front lines.
There, Sungchul found that the air of the wooded and rugged lands of the elves were filled with great uncertainty.
‘They have deployed almost every available soldier to this border it seems.’
It goes without saying that the elvan army’s prized army of archers were present, as well as supporting mages. But there were Unicorn and Pegesus knights present as well. And even the seldomly utilized living tree fairy was woken up from its long slumber to protect the rear of the border.
To an uninformed observer, it would appear that the Elf Kingdom was preparing to invade other countries with such a concentrated display of force.
This thoroughly demonstrated how fearsome of an opponent the Barbarians beyond the borders were proving to be.
Amidst the gazes of numerous elves, Sungchul was guided to the quarters of the commanding officer of the border defense force.
The commander conveyed necessary information to Sungchul.
“There is a Barbarian reconnaissance party beyond the hill. They are executing captives in plain view of us for us to watch and are blasphemously catching and feasting on sacred unicorns.”
Their numbers was merely thirty.
Yet, before this small reconnaissance party was an army of tens of thousands of elves who were digging in and bracing themselves.
“…I will go.”
Sungchul spoke calmly.
The elves watched in astonishment as a figure known as the Enemy of the World stepped forward.
“Hello, cutie.”
A pure white unicorn next to Sungchul gazed at him with its large eyes.
Bertelgia circled around the unicorn before entering Sungchul’s pocket.
Having retrieved Bertelgia, Sungchul passed through the line of elven forces and passed the wooden fences under the watchful eyes of the elves.
The living vines, allies of the elves, attempted to entangle Sungchul but retreated upon hearing the horn of the elves.
“It won’t take long.”
Sungchul said briefly towards the elves, before disappearing from their sight.
Sungchul swiftly raced through the forest, so fast that he was barely visible to the naked eye.
Soon, he confirmed the direction of smoke rising towards the sky in the distance and corrected his course.
Before long, he heard the distant shouts of the Barbarians.
It was an unfamiliar language he’s never heard, one that sounded like sonorous rough shouting.
“A race that uses an unrecognizable language. It’s quite a rarity in this world.”
Sungchul was struck by the sharpness of the sound of the words in the language that often seemed to start and end with ‘k’ or ‘sh’ sounds.
Soon, Sungchul arrived at the Barbarian camp.
Despite having tens of thousands of enemies very close by, the Barbarians were enjoying their feast without a worry in the world.
Though he had heard of the brutality of the Barbarians from Hesserdein dozens of times, the true extent of the savagery Sungchul witnessed before him was simply beyond his imagination.
The Barbarians were each sitting on wide planks made of wood, but crushed below them were dozens of live elves.
The Barbarians roared in laughter as they spoke in their incomprehensible language as they intentionally flexed their behinds to press down on the elves below them harder.
The elves would tremble in anguish and cause the planks to shake slightly. The Barbarians would enjoy the proof of the elvish suffering in the form of the planks swaying like waves, and press down hard again if the motion weakened too much.
The Barbarian’s entertainment would not last long, however. After only a few squeezes, all the elves below were killed by suffocation.
And when this happened, the Barbarians would shout at the elvan slaves.
The enslaved elves, with their ears completely torn off, quickly moved to lift the planks and remove the corpses, replacing them with new living elves.
The corpses of the slain elves piled up in a corner of the camp like small mountains.
In addition, mangled and brutalized corpses of elves tortured and slain too cruelly to be expressed in words were hung all over the place as to serve as examples for others.
“…That’s too much.”
Bertelgia trembled as she spoke.
“…”
They were as cruel as demons.
No, perhaps they were even more evil beings than demons in some sense.
While the demons killed out of hatred and vengeance towards humans, these Barbarians murdered purely for their amusement and entertainment.
As one particular Barbarian roared loudly in laughter, Sungchul finally revealed himself at the camp before them. He was not holding anything in his hands.
“Urkash?!”
Although they were at a considerable distance, all thirty Barbarians noticed Sungchul’s presence.
Sungchul walked towards the Barbarians without saying a word.
One of the Barbarians stood up while the others laughed heartily, holding their drinks.
They behaved as if they discovered a new amusing plaything.
The Barbarian who stood up jumped from the plank stomped on his seat to kill the elves first before cracking its knuckles and neck and walk towards Sungchul.
Finally, Sungchul and the Barbarian confronted each other face to face.
The Barbarian had a massive yet well-proportioned physique.
‘About 7 feet 7 inches tall. Quite tall.’
In a sense, the Barbarians were a different race.
The Barbarian in front of Sungchul arrogantly muttered something and pointed his finger at him.
Judging by his gestures, it seemed as though he intended to tear off all of Sungchul’s limbs. In fact, the Barbarian pointed to the pieces of elvan corpses discarded in a corner that seemed to have been pulled apart by force.
Even when faced with the sight of the corpses, Sungchul’s expression remained unchanged. Instead, he spoke to the Barbarian.
“First come first serve. Three of you, come forward now.”
The Barbarians roared into laughter upon hearing Sungchul’s words. As they thrashed about their seats, the tormented screams of the elves filled the air.
Then, the frontmost Barbarian raised his fist towards Sungchul.
“Urkash!”
He was going to attack.
The Barbarian’s hand was as large as a cauldron lid, and it reached out to grab Sungchul.
However, before the barbarian’s hand could grab Sungchul, Sungchul’s hand grasped the Barbarian’s hand first. To be exact, Sungchul grasped two of the Barbarian’s fingers.
The Barbarian frowned and tried to remove Sungchul’s hand from his. But when he moved, it wasn’t only Sungchul’s hands that were removed from him.
Snap.
Two fingers fell off and remained in Sungchul’s clenched hand.
The Barbarian’s eyes grew wide as he looked at his mutilated fingers, blood gushing out, and let out a miserable scream.
However, this was just the beginning.
“…If you won’t come, I will pick for you.”
Sungchul threw the Barbarian’s large fingers to the ground and took something out of thin air.
It was his symbol, the Divine Artifact Fal Garaz.
The slaughter didn’t last long.
Sungchul quickly massacred the cruel Barbarians.
While it was true that each individual had physical abilities close to a transcendent, they were not as strong as the rumors suggested, and Sungchul had long since surpassed that level.
The Barbarians quickly realized that the small figure in front of them was not a toy for the feast, but the messanger of death. But such realization came too late for them.
Even before time it takes to drink tea had passed, 27 corpses of the Barbarians lay dead before Sungchul, as well as three live Barbarians that were left hemiplegic.
Sungchul approached the surviving Barbarians.
Fear filled the eyes of the Barbarians in unison.
Sungchul grabbed one of their arms with both hands.
Crack. Crack!
“AAAAHHH!”
The Barbarian’s joints and bones bent and twisted in strange directions.
Soon, a grotesque mess of flesh was born in front of Sungchul.
He crushed the Barbarian into a living ball.
Besides the practical problem that no rope could possibly withstand their strength, it was Sungchul’s punishment for them for the savage brutality they had displayed.
“Drag them along.”
Having returned to the elven army’s camp, Sungchul commanded with a calm tone towards the elven generals.
The elven army obeyed Sungchul’s orders, despite the astonishment and fear.
Soon, a cart pulled by the elven soldiers carried the three Barbarians brutally mutilated by Sungchul.
Although they suffered terrible injuries, the spirits of the Barbarians remained unbroken. They glared at the elves and shouted at them as if they were about to devour them.
Sungchul looked into their eyes.
The Barbarians looked fearful and their shouting was ceased.
Having silenced the Barbarians, Sungchul turned around and gazed at the moon rising in the sky.
The moon, about to reach its fullness, was nearing the month’s peak.
The session of the World Parliament to determine the fate of the world was just around the corner.
Sungchul was now sufficiently prepared.
Sungchul returned to the yellow boundary with the captured prisoners.
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Well damn, that’s David vs Goliath the extreme version, and our MC is no underdog.
Bruh I stopped reading this like even before covid. And it’s still not done lmao.