Chapter 3: 3

Barbarian Quest

Chapter 3 – Sky Mountain Range (3)

The men holding bows yelled, “Sir Pordgal! We’re going to fire our arrows!”

“No! We’re going to capture this barbarian! The escaped barbarians will return with a whole swarm! Even I will have to run away if a group of barbarians comes at us. But, as a trophy for discovering a new land, I have to at least bring this barbarian back! It will be a great gift for His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor!” Pordgal yelled back.

He held his sword backward, gripping the blade so as to use its hilt as a blunt weapon. It was a technique in Empire Swordsmanship known as Blade Holding.

“What? Is he fucking with me? Is he looking down on me? He’s going to hold his weapon like that? You’re just asking to die, you fucking bastards.”

Urich shrugged his shoulders to gesture that it didn’t make sense. The enemies that increased their distance from him didn’t even think about shooting their arrows.

‘Are they trying to capture me?’

Urich scowled. It was the first time he was insulted like this. After all, he was the embodiment of fear to the other tribes.

Clench.

Urich’s arms filled with strength. He felt the silence around him.

Pordgal slowly walked to close the distance between them. The surrounding men watched the two intensely.

SWOOSH!

Urich threw a handaxe while running in, and the weapon struck Pordgal’s helmet.

‘The blade of the axe is stuck in my helmet!’

Pordgal’s eyes widened. His helmet flew off with the axe.

‘Did he aim for that? Did he aim his axe at that tiny gap in my helmet and throw it?’

The barbarian in front of him leaped at him and swung his remaining axe, threatening to strike Pordgal’s face.

“You’re just a barbariaaaan!” Pordgal roared and swung the hilt of his sword in return, aiming to strike Urich’s temple.

They exchanged blows, until blood flowed down Pordgal’s face.

“Shoot him! Shoot him!!!”

The men urgently shot arrows in Urich’s direction. Arrows were soon embedded into Urich’s back.

“Protect Sir Pordgal!”

Pordgal touched his cut cheek.

‘Did he purposely hit off my helmet with his handaxe so it’s easier to aim for my head?’

He was a barbarian, but his skills were amazing.

“Surround him!”

The young men surrounded Urich and mercilessly thrashed him with blunt weapons. Urich curled up his body that had been punctured by arrows.

“Stop! Don’t kill him!”

Pordgal stopped them. Urich, who had become a mess, lay on the dirt.

“You were lucky, metal-plate-wearing man,” Urich shouted while laughing.

It was a difference of inches. If his swing had been a bit deeper, Pordgal’s face would have been sliced in half.

“Shut it, barbarian!”

The men thwacked Urich’s face. Words didn’t work on each other, but insults did.

“Sir Pordgal, please get treated quickly.”

“Treat that barbarian as well. We don’t know when those escaped barbarians will return.”

He glared at Urich. The other men pulled out the arrows that were stuck in Urich’s back. He didn’t even blink at the painful sensation.

‘Amazing guts and skill. If all barbarians are that strong… We have to leave here quickly.’

Pordgal was worried. The barbarians who escaped kept lingering in the back of his mind. With just the explorers around him, he wouldn’t be able to deal with them.

“The barbarian’s muscles are different from ours. The arrows weren’t able to deeply pierce him. Normally, they would have reached his innards, and he would have died by now. But even if he is different, the injuries are so deep that if he doesn’t rest, the wounds will fester. If we’re lucky, he’ll survive the journey. But if luck isn’t on his side, he will die.”

“Hmph, that’s why I wanted to capture him without injuring him. Nothing we can do about it if he dies. Now, let’s move already.”

Pordgal bandaged his cheek to stop the bleeding and stood up. He received help from the men around him to take off his plate armor. The separated plate armor was distributed around for different men to carry.

“Stand up, barbarian!”

Urich stood up while restrained by his wrists. There was also a rope around his thick neck. The men planned to choke him and make him faint if needed.

‘Are we going to cross the mountain range? They really were people that came from beyond there!’

Urich’s eyes widened in wonder.

‘There was a whole other world of people beyond the mountain range. It wasn’t a world for dead souls at all!’

Even in this situation, his eyes sparkled. His mind’s eye could already imagine looking at the invisible world beyond the mountain range.

“Follow quickly!”

The men pulled at Urich’s restraints, causing him to tumble around as he followed them.

‘Damn it. It hurts so fucking much.’

The arrow punctures on his back hurt. If he could have herbs rubbed on it and rested, it would’ve been at least a little better. But right now, he had to keep moving.

‘Are they planning on taking me beyond the mountain range?’

His heartbeat picked up. His smile was filled with fear and excitement.

“If we cross that, is it your world there?” asked Urich. His words were useless in any case.

Pordgal and the men looked at him with cold gazes before silently walking again.

* * *

* * *

Urich quickly realized why the tribe’s warriors weren’t able to cross the Sky Mountain Range.

Click-clack-clack—

He could hear the sound of his teeth chattering.

‘It’s so fucking cold! Damn it!”

It was cold enough to freeze sound. The further they climbed the Sky Mountain Range, the colder it got.

SWOOOSH.

A frosty breeze blew past his skin. Urich drew breaths of cold air while his body shivered.

Urich lived in the plains and forests which had a warm climate. There was nothing to worry about even if he ran around naked for all seasons.

“Haha, look at this barbarian. He’s so cold that he doesn’t know what to do!”

“His face is turning blue. Think he’ll be able to go down alive like this?”

Urich wore layers of clothing like the other men. The cotton clothes that he wore for the first time in his life felt strange. The men tended to his wounds every day and even cared for his health.

“Until we are in front of His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor, the barbarian must stay alive.”

Pordgal would request that every time. His exploration team discovered that there were land and people beyond the mountain range.

“Sky Mountain Range.”

Pordgal also called it that. A sense of awe would fill him up whenever he gazed at the mountain range that looked as if it were supporting the sky itself. From that sense of awe, people called this place the Sky Mountain Range.

Pordgal’s exploration team prepared for ten years to cross this mountain range. They were able to overcome multiple obstacles and finally reached the other side. Through his efforts, he was able to learn that there was a new land filled with barbarians.

‘There is worth in conquering this place.’

Pordgal took a small breath, cold air flowing into his lungs.

“Bwaaack!”

Urich, who was at the back, curled up and vomited. The men laughed at him as if they knew it would happen.

“Looks like that barbarian has altitude sickness.”

Pordgal and his explorers were people who had become accustomed to staying in high altitudes. They had slowly trained themselves by sleeping and eating for months up there.

However, Urich did not know about altitude sickness. He simply believed that his body was getting worse because of his injuries.

‘My body is eventually going to get worse. I have to get out of here before it gets really bad.’

Urich used his superhuman willpower to follow the exploration team. He was constantly moving his hands.

‘I have to keep my hands warm.’

He felt his consciousness slowly fading. Even though he was walking slowly, he was out of breath, as if he had been sprinting at full speed. Every second felt as if he were walking in a dream. It was a symptom of altitude sickness caused by the increased oxygen levels in his blood vessels.

“Fuuu, Fuuu.”

Urich waited, sharpening all of his senses.

Vomit kept leaving his mouth, and he was constantly nauseous. He was on the verge of going insane from the cold that he was experiencing for the first time in his life.

“Damn it! We finally arrived. This! Fucking! Blizzard!”

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The exploration team members at the front cheered with joy. They finally arrived at a flat-topped hill that would have been impossible to see in the mountain range. The exploration team had used this place previously as a campsite and traces of it were still visible.

“This view is amazing.”

The exploration team members spoke to each other while looking down the hillside. They could see the vast meadows and forest continuing endlessly.

“Hurry up. We have to prepare the camp before the sun sets.”

Their vigilance towards Urich was relaxed now. Only two people were holding on to the rope around his neck and wrist.

He quickly looked around, reading the movements of the exploration team members.

“You guys all looked down on me.”

They did not understand his words.

“This flimsy string isn’t enough to stop me.”

Urich focused his strength into his arms. The veins in his face became visible. The rope that was wrapped around his wrists was easily snapped. He had superhuman strength—beyond the limitations of a human in the eyes of the explorers.

SNAP.

“Ah, oi, oi! Pull it! Pull on the rope!”

If they pulled on the rope, the blood flowing to his brain would have been blocked and caused him to faint. He already knew this from experience, so he inserted a finger between the rope and his neck to secure enough breathing space.

“Haaat!”

He used the strength in his hips to jerk his head down to the floor. The man who held on Urich’s restraints was violently pulled in and flew towards him.

“Feel free to brag about it when you get to hell. The one who killed you is Urich, warrior of the Stone Axe Tribe!”

He put the man’s head between his elbow and knee and squeezed them together.

CRUSH!

The man’s skull exploded like a watermelon. As the blood and grey matter flowed down to the ground, everyone froze. The heat from the blood warmed up the area around Urich.

“The barbarian escaaaaaped!”

The scattered exploration team all gathered together. Urich pulled out a sword from the dead explorer’s waist.

‘It’s a good sword made from good iron.’

Urich was surprised by the excellent balance of the weapon as soon as he grasped it. It looked like the people that came from beyond the mountain range had greatly innovated their metal craftsmanship.

HWIIIII.

The blizzard raged on. Urich swung the blade and sliced the explorer in front of him. The majority of them were people who were not used to battles.

Even though Urich was exhausted and sick, he was still a warrior of unparalleled skill. These men, who did not spend their lives practicing the sword, stood no chance against him.

SLASH.

Urich cut down five men in an instant. He quickly cleaned the blade with his clothes before the blood could freeze on it. No matter how excellent the sword, if blood got on its blade or froze on it, it would become dull.

“How the hell did he escape from the restraints? Was he able to do that purely with his strength? I guess there’s no point in asking him since he can’t understand what I say.”

Pordgal stepped forward through the blizzard. He hurriedly returned from gathering firewood after hearing the screams.

Claaang.

He grabbed his sword and raised his shield. He was not wearing his plate armor at the moment, so he was no longer in an advantageous spot.

“My name is Urich. Urich of the Stone Axe Tribe.”

Urich raised his sword and kept emphasizing his name. Pordgal understood his intent.

“You are a barbarian. But, if you’re a warrior of this level, you must know about honor as well, ‘Urich’. I am Pordgal Arten, a knight of the Empire. Pordgal Arten!”

Pordgal crossed the sword and shield in his hands to show the etiquettes of dueling. The blizzard blew more ferociously—to the point where bodies would teeter from the force of the wind. The fallen corpses started to get covered in snow.

“Pordgal Arten. I have remembered your name.”

Urich’s shaking body slowly put a foot forward. His stamina was continuously dropping. He had no plans of drawing this battle out.

‘You can’t beat me, Pordgal,’ Urich whispered under his breath like a ghost and extended his arms. His sword slithered like a snake, penetrating through the small gap in Pordgal’s shield.

“Urgh!”

Pordgal stretched out his shield to knock the sword out of the barbarian’s hand.

‘You foolish barbarian! I’ll knock the sword out of your hands with this shield and finish you off while you’re helpless.’

He thought that a barbarian would have no knowledge of how to properly use a shield. In fact, his assumption was correct. To the tribe warriors, shields were just a tool to block arrows. When they entered close-quarters combat, everyone threw away their shields.

Pordgal, however, was a knight of the Empire and was accustomed to using both the sword and shield in close quarters. Ever since he was a child, he practiced until his hands bled. He thought of the countless stances that he was proficient in.

“Huh?”

Pordgal’s jaws dropped from the absurd situation. He did not feel the sensation of a sword hitting his shield.

Urich dropped his sword and charged at Pordgal’s side.

BAM!

He landed a blow on Pordgal’s face with his rock-like hands. Because his muscles were stiffened from the cold, the pain reached deep into his head.

Crack.

Urich grabbed the knight’s right hand and crushed his fingers so that he would be unable to swing his sword.

“Gaaah!”

Urich’s strength was like that of a beast’s. Pordgal could not believe that Urich was the same human that he was. The knight’s fingers were broken and bent backward in an instant. He could no longer grip his sword.

He used his other hand to swing his shield and knock Urich away.

BAAAM.

However, Urich was pushed back only for a moment. His brown eyes remained on Pordgal. Urich then grabbed the fallen sword and swung down.

“Gaaah!”

His foot was severed with his shoe still on it. Crimson blood continuously flowed from the stump.

“It’s a good sword,” Urich muttered to himself and stood on top of the fallen Pordgal.

The fight was over.

“You fought well, Pordgal Arten.”

Urich let go of his hatred and rage. 

Stab.

And with a reverent heart, he swung down the sword, piercing through Pordgal’s heart.

“Your skills weren’t bad, but your sword lacked bloodthirst. It was only that.”

Urich couldn’t sense any bloodthirst from Pordgal’s swings. It was a sword that was still inexperienced in killing people. That was why Urich was confident in his victory.

Pordgal was definitely a skilled knight of the Empire, but lacked experience in cutting people. To Urich, swings that don’t have any bloodthirst were child’s play.

A warrior grows when they kill more and more people. A strong warrior refers to a person who stood on a mountain of corpses. Urich was much younger than Pordgal. However, he was already a warrior that stacked up his own mountain of corpses.

“I’m dizzy.”

Urich finally felt the nausea and leaned his body on a tree. His altitude sickness got worse due to him fiercely moving his body.

“Uweeeck.”

Even though he kept retching, nothing came out. The only thing that happened was his cheeks getting emaciated.

“Sky Mountain Range…”

Urich pointed his fingers towards the sky, then lowered them and pointed back towards his home.

“My motherland.”

Then, he stretched out his fingers in the opposite direction.

“And there is the land beyond the mountain range.”

‘An unknown land.’

Badump, Badump.

His heart raced.

Urich stood up from his spot. He grabbed his long flowing hair with his hand and cut it off with the sword.

Hwiii.

His hair flew away with the blizzard. It followed the wind, towards his motherland.

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Urich of the Stone Axe Tribe, sixteen years old.

It might have been his foggy mind from the altitude sickness that affected his decision-making. It might have been his senselessness from his immaturity. Or it might have been a human’s natural curiosity.

Urich turned his back on his home and walked towards the unfamiliar land.

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