Surviving as a Barbarian in a Fantasy World

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Chapter 347: Hero (3)

BOOOOOM!

A clash of power erupted.

The Demon King’s body was pushed back, his face contorted in rage.

He roared furiously.

[Have you fallen so far? Gods! I am the Demon King! You are gods! Should you not stake your very lives to take me down?]

And yet!

[Why? Why did you grant your power to such a foreign entity?]

The Demon King swung his fist violently.

Ketal met it with his axe.

Whenever the two clashed before, the Demon King would step back five paces, while Ketal would be thrown back ten.

The disparity in their strength was undeniable.

But not anymore.

Their collision sent tremors through the earth, distorting and breaking it.

Ketal held his ground, countering the Demon King's attacks head-on without retreating.

CRACK!

Ketal twisted the arm holding his axe, deflecting the incoming fist, and spun his body in a fluid motion.

He stepped forward, gaining momentum, and swung his axe.

BOOOOOM!

The Demon King pulled back—he dodged, unmistakably avoiding the blow.

Ketal grinned.

"Dodging means you fear being hurt, doesn’t it?"

Empowered by the gods, Ketal now had the strength to injure the Demon King.

Realizing this, Ketal chuckled in exhilaration.

In contrast, the Demon King’s face twisted with anger and disbelief.

[Gods! Why… Why did you make such a choice? To shift all responsibility onto this foreigner... And yet, you still dare call yourselves gods?]

The Demon King looked deeply shaken by the gods’ decision to bestow power upon Ketal.

He lamented endlessly to the heavens, unable to focus on the battle before him.

Ketal tilted his head quizzically.

"Is it really that shocking?"

Thinking it over, he couldn’t entirely blame the Demon King.

Heaven and Hell had been created as equals and spent their existence attempting to destroy and exclude one another.

For the Demon King, the sudden appearance of someone like Ketal was akin to an outsider barging into the final showdown.

It made sense for him to feel indignant.

"Still, I’d appreciate it if you could focus a bit."

The one standing before the Demon King wasn’t the gods, but Ketal himself.

His gaze sharpened.

"Shall I make you focus?"

The Demon King continued his cries to the heavens.

In that case, Ketal thought, he’d simply have to show him a god.

Ketal stepped forward, his body darting at blinding speed.

The Demon King, full of wrath, swung his fist.

Ketal didn’t defend.

CRAAACK!

Ketal’s head was smashed to pieces.

The Demon King’s expression shifted in an instant.

[You?]

Swish!

Before he could process the situation, Ketal was already behind him, slashing at his nape.

The Demon King instinctively ducked to evade and countered with a punch.

BOOOOOM!

His fist tore through Ketal’s abdomen, shattering his body into fragments that scattered everywhere.

And then—

The scattered pieces began to transform, each one taking on Ketal’s shape.

Illusions of deceit and lies, hundreds of them, surged toward the Demon King all at once.

As their axe blades closed in, ready to strike—

The Demon King stomped the ground.

BOOOOOM!

Waves of energy rippled outward, obliterating all the illusions.

"Ah, so that’s how you counter it."

Ketal, now at a safe distance, admired the Demon King’s reaction.

Despite having his head smashed and his abdomen pierced, Ketal remained completely nonchalant, even impressed.

The Demon King’s face hardened as he spoke.

[That ability… That was Kalosia’s…]

"The power of deceit and lies."

Ketal grinned brightly as he replied.

He hadn’t simply borrowed raw strength from the pantheon of gods.

What he received were divine authorities.

He was, in essence, a proxy of the heavens.

The implications were simple:

Ketal could now wield the powers of the gods.

"It was my first time using it, but it turned out smoother than I expected. Quite amusing."

Ketal’s expression was one of genuine delight.

The Demon King murmured darkly.

[Gods… How could you…]

"I told you, I’m not a god standing before you."

Ketal casually waved his hand.

From the sky, something hurtled down at great speed.

The Demon King extended his arm hastily.

BOOOOM!

A massive golden sword descended, crashing into the Demon King.

He grabbed its tip and grit his teeth.

[The authority of the God of Swords…!]

The Demon King exerted his strength, shattering the golden sword.

Ketal seized the opening, charging in with his fist clenched tightly, infused with the power of the God of Strength.

Ketal’s full might combined with the authority of strength.

The Demon King clenched his own fist in response.

BOOOOOM!

The air itself seemed to collapse under the impact.

For the first time, both Ketal and the Demon King were pushed back an equal five paces.

Ketal’s eyes widened with awe.

"You’re holding out even against this. Truly monstrous."

The Demon King advanced with a heavy step.

Space itself compressed, the distance between them closing instantly as he threw a punch.

BOOOOOM!

The punch tore through the air.

Ketal barely evaded and placed his hand on the Demon King’s chest.

BOOOOOM!

A violent shock rippled through the Demon King’s body.

As the Demon King raised his elbow to crush Ketal clinging to him, Ketal didn’t retreat but pressed closer to avoid the blow.

[What are you…]

The Demon King’s annoyance turned to realization.

His presence, his very essence, was trembling, as though being dragged downward.

The Demon King immediately recognized what was happening.

The power of the God of Hunger, Federica.

It was her authority.

Ketal spoke cheerfully.

"I don’t have the best relationship with her, but I wanted to try using her power!"

[You!]

The Demon King thrashed violently, creating shockwaves that forcibly pushed Ketal away.

Ketal waved a hand dismissively.

“But it’s not going well. It’s hard to make someone of that caliber fall. You’re not as useful as I thought, Federica.”

BOOM!

The Demon King charged forward, closing the distance.

His movements were aimed to hurl his opponent away, leveraging sheer speed and weight.

Ketal, however, firmly planted his feet on the ground.

“Hoo.”

With a short breath, the earth resonated.

The authority of the Earth Mother forced even the hellish terrain to harmonize with Ketal, lending him strength.

BOOOOM!

The Demon King’s shoulder collided with Ketal.

Yet Ketal didn’t take a single step back.

Like a towering tree rooted deeply in the ground, he held his position unwaveringly.

Seizing the moment, Ketal gripped his axe with both hands and swung it downward.

The Demon King swiftly retreated but couldn’t avoid it completely, leaving a fine line across his chest.

SPLAT.

Blood spattered.

Not red, but black. Ketal murmured curiously,

“Even blood is black for a Demon King, huh.”

[…]

The Demon King’s expression hardened.

In the distant past, even during the war of Gods and Demons, his body had never been wounded.

The gods’ powers were incapable of harming him.

It had been eons since he was last injured.

The war against the oldest beings.

This was his first wound since then.

The Demon King raised his arm roughly, gathering a sphere of dark magic in his hand.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

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[Be crushed to death.]

With a menacing voice, the sphere flew toward Ketal.

Ketal didn’t evade.

He reached out his hand instead.

BOOOOM!

The sphere touched Ketal but didn’t explode. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Instead, it shrank as though being sucked in.

When the sphere finally disappeared, Ketal was holding a long artifact in his hand.

It was a relic forged by the blacksmith god, Hephaestus.

A relic that absorbed and nullified dark magic.

Though it shattered under the strain of excess power, it succeeded in blocking the attack.

CRAAASH!

Ketal took advantage of the opening and swung his axe.

The Demon King raised his arm to defend himself, but his body was forced back.

Stretching out a finger, he conjured a dark light at its tip.

WHIRRR.

It was a black light that pierced through all things, one that even Ketal couldn’t fully block.

But Ketal neither dodged nor defended.

He simply extended his own finger toward the Demon King.

Light of the sun god began to gather at Ketal’s fingertip.

WHIIIIIRRR!

The black light and the light of the sun collided, scattering gray radiance in all directions.

RUMBLE…

Two-thirds of hell crumbled under the overwhelming force, unable to withstand it.

The hellish world was no longer a planet but resembled a cluster of asteroids.

RUMBLE…

The light subsided.

Ketal whistled as he casually waved his finger.

“As expected, the mightiest among the gods. This is quite useful.”

[…]

The Demon King did not move.

The fury toward the gods that had dominated him had vanished.

Now, he merely gazed at Ketal with sunken eyes.

[The gods have granted you all their powers.]

“That’s right.”

[It seems to me they abandoned their responsibilities and fled. But…]

The Demon King gradually collected his strength.

[Either way, my opponent is now you.]

“You’ve finally decided to acknowledge me.”

Ketal grinned with satisfaction.

The Demon King spoke in a low voice.

[The fact that they entrusted you with such power means they can no longer intervene in the mortal world.]

In other words, if Ketal were to die, there would be no one left to stop the Demon King.

Ketal nodded cheerfully.

“Correct.”

[Then, as the Demon King, I shall kill you. Punishment for the gods will come afterward.]

The atmosphere shifted.

The once rampaging power, driven by emotion, now became perfectly controlled.

“I suppose I should get serious too.”

Ketal began to control the powers of the gods he had received.

The divine authorities.

They were indeed formidable powers, and manipulating them was exhilarating.

But ultimately, to Ketal, they weren’t particularly valuable.

The reason was simple.

He was stronger than the gods.

“In the end, it’s someone else’s power.”

Rather than wielding it as a borrowed authority, it was far more advantageous to merge it with his own strength.

Become mine.

He commanded the divine authorities within him, compressing, dismantling, and making them part of himself.

RUMBLE…

The powers of dozens of gods, entities of immense might that existed since the cosmos first found order, were toyed with as if they were mere playthings.

The compressed powers transformed into Ketal’s own with ease, causing him no strain.

“So this is how it feels.”

Ketal chuckled in delight as he hefted his axe.

“Well then, let’s do this properly.”

The gods didn’t matter.

The battle now was between Ketal and the Demon King.

“I’m a hero now.”

A hero’s task is singular:

To slay the Demon King and bring peace to the world.

“We’ve come a long way.”

Ketal murmured with a hint of nostalgia.

He was once a barbarian of the white snowfield.

An outsider rejected by fantasy itself.

But he had dedicated his life to escaping that prison.

At the end of that journey, he finally broke free and reached the realm of fantasy.

After countless adventures, he now stood as the representative of fantasy, facing the Demon King.

It was deeply moving.

Suppressing the trembling in his body, he spoke.

“Your task is to kill the hero and destroy the world. Let’s stick to our roles!”

Ketal charged.

The Demon King roared and clenched his fist.

BOOOOM!

Their forces clashed.

Neither yielded, attacking once more.

BOOM!

And clashed again, resembling a fierce brawl.

A battle of strength and strength.

Neither side gave an inch, each striving to kill the other with axes and fists.

CRAAASH!

The ground collapsed.

The air tore apart, and the sky twisted.

Hell itself, unable to withstand the battle’s force, began to crumble.

Amidst the destruction, Ketal laughed and stepped forward.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

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