The Berserker’s Second Playthrough Novel - Chapter 56

Chapter 56
Chapter: 56

Chapter Title: Tongue, Teeth, and Jaw (4)

—

Dispersing across a woodland choked with carnage—severed appendages, torsos ripped wide, and visceral remains decorating the soil—would typically drive any witness into a state of paralyzing horror or absolute hopelessness.

However, Gayardo, the veteran sorcerer commanding the Magic Tower’s relief squadron, felt quite the opposite.

In fact, a faint smirk tugged at his lips. The sheer volume of the dead didn’t bother him; actually, the more corpses he found, the more encouraged he became. It served as proof that a demonic entity of immense power had haunted these woods.

‘This level of slaughter… a mid-rank demon? No, judging by the devastation, it could be a high-rank one. Our destination was chosen well.’

One concern lingered in his mind. He worried that the local militia or perhaps another support team had already made off with the demon’s remains.

The lingering demonic aura had faded, indicating the hunt was successful, but he couldn’t be sure if the prize was still there. Losing such a valuable specimen right at the finish line would be a catastrophe. Gayardo barked orders to his subordinates.

“Donovan, sweep the perimeter with your sensory spells! Egellon, Sdeilan, push south and east through the brush to locate the carcass. If the military or any scavengers are trying to move it, stop them by any means necessary until I get there!”

“Understood, sir!”

The search concluded swiftly. By the time dawn broke, the mages stumbled upon a clearing saturated in gore. It was a graveyard of mutilated beasts and soldiers who had been either hacked apart or burned to ash. It looked as though the punitive expedition and the monsters had wiped each other out entirely.

And there, resting in the center of the ruins, was the massive form of a high-tier demon, exactly as he had hoped.

“The… the horns… there are two of them!”

“High-tier! We’ve found a high-tier demon’s body!”

One of the mages hoisted the demon’s decapitated head into the air with a triumphant cry. While a few with weaker constitutions gagged at the sight, the majority of the sorcerers were beaming with greed. Gayardo, as their leader, was the most elated of all.

“My sincerest praise, Gayardo! With a trophy of this magnitude, your promotion to the rank of Conjuror is a certainty.”

“Haha, it’s about time—you’ve deserved that title for years!”

“I’m glad I joined your unit instead of the others. This find makes everything worth it!”

The praise came from everyone; even those who normally looked down on Gayardo’s ruthless tactics were now singing his praises, hoping to get a slice of the credit.

“No, this victory belongs to all of us! I’ll ensure the Tower Lord hears of your contributions. Just keep working a little longer, everyone.”

Gayardo wasn’t fooled by the bootlicking, but his mood was so elevated he didn’t mind the transparent flattery. Eager for their coming rewards, the junior mages began the messy work of preparing the demon for transport.

Suddenly, an uninvited figure interrupted their work.

“What do you think you’re playing at?”

A barbarian emerged, looking as though he had clawed his way out of a pit of fire.

His scarred face and massive frame were terrifying on their own, but coated in layers of fresh blood, his presence was so suffocating that the mages froze in place despite outnumbering him.

“I asked what you are doing with my kill.”

“……”

The air grew heavy with silence. The mages looked at one another, uncertain. When the barbarian shifted his axe with an impatient grunt, Gayardo finally spoke up.

“Stand down! Don’t draw your weapons yet!”

With the senior mage stepping forward, the others felt a wave of relief. Gayardo tilted his head back, eyeing the barbarian with a mix of curiosity and disdain.

“A barbarian? A sellsword? I should be the one questioning you. The Golden Highway is restricted—no traveler should be in this sector…”

“I have a permit from the garrison commander. I’ll show it if you insist. But that demon belongs to me, so step away from it.”

Gayardo’s brow twitched. Behind him, the mages gasped, their eyes wide with disbelief. A stunned hush fell over the clearing.

Then, the silence broke.

Gayardo looked from the demon’s massive frame to Kadim’s battered state, clapped a hand to his forehead, and let out a booming laugh.

“Pahahaha! Are you for real? You killed this? By yourself? Do you even realize that’s a high-tier demon? You’re claiming you brought down that mountain of muscle with nothing but your big arms and a sharp stick?”

Subduing a high-tier demon usually required a team of two or three Conjurors. Even a wizard of Gayardo’s caliber wouldn’t dream of a solo confrontation. It was obvious to him that the soldiers’ lives had been traded to kill the beast, and yet this brute was trying to claim the glory.

“If you did this, why are all these soldiers dead? Were they just spectators? You’re telling me all these armed men died without leaving a mark, while you walked away without a scratch to claim the prize? Do you think I’m an idiot?”

“……”

“Oh, look at us, in the presence of a living legend! While everyone else died like dogs, you performed a miracle! Someone call for a poet—or perhaps we should get the scholars from Galentana University to document your life story!”

Mocking laughter rippled through the subordinates. Seeing Gayardo’s confidence, their fear evaporated completely.

Why should they be afraid? There were seventeen mages from the Magic Tower here—elite practitioners of the mystic arts. No matter how imposing the barbarian seemed, he was just one man against seventeen.

After the mages finished their jeering, Kadim slowly opened his eyes. He looked at them with a chilling calmness.

“Take the body if you must. But give me a single bottle of its blood first. I require it.”

The humor vanished instantly from Gayardo’s face.

“Stop wasting my time, barbarian. You think I’d let your filthy hands touch such a specimen? You’re probably planning to sell parts on the black market. Don’t try your luck with me.”

“……”

“I am Gayardo Ordeal, an Invoker of the Magic Tower. I’ll ignore your lies and your attempt to rob the Tower just this once. Now get out of my sight. I won’t tell you again.”

Gayardo was lying. He fully intended to blast the barbarian the moment he turned around. He needed to eliminate the only witness to ensure the credit for the demon remained undisputed.

He waited for the barbarian to tremble, apologize, or run away in fear of his title.

Instead, Kadim just rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“I can’t keep track of your Tower ranks. Where does an Invoker sit? Is that higher than a Conjuror?”

“……An Invoker is the rank just below Conjuror. I’ve had enough of your insolence. If you don’t leave this instant, I’ll put a hole through your head…”

“Good. The last Conjuror I dealt with was a pain.”

“……What?”

A terrifying shadow flickered in the barbarian’s gaze. A cold shiver raced down Gayardo’s spine. Driven by a sudden, primal instinct, he began to recite an incantation.

“[Eldra, Xa…]”

The words died in his throat.

“……Ack!”

Without warning, a massive, calloused hand jammed into his open mouth…

Creeeak-crunch!

…and violently wrenched something away.

“Eeeeee!”

Gayardo collapsed into the dirt, his body reeling from the shock. As he tried to push himself up, he realized his tongue was hanging uselessly, no longer supported by anything. Thick blood and garbled sounds spilled onto the grass.

“E, eek, eeeee…”

Gayardo looked up, his eyes wide with agony.

In the barbarian’s grip hung a wet, crimson mass—it was Gayardo’s own lower jaw.

His face was a ruin of torn ligaments and flapping skin. The jawless sorcerer sprayed blood, reaching out with trembling fingers toward the piece of himself that had been stolen.

“E, eek, ah huk, ah huk…”

“……”

“Ah huk, gi… gi vuh baaa…”

“……You want it?”

“Ah huk, nee… eeeed… ah hur…”

“Then stop talking.”

Kadim dropped the bone and meat onto the ground and crushed it under his boot.

Kwah—crack!

Fragments of bone and teeth were pulverized into the mud. In a single motion, the mage lost his future, his status, and his ability to ever speak a spell again.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Kadim had actually hoped for a peaceful conclusion this time.

He was far from his peak. The blood of the ice demon was spent, and his hydra tattoo was still recharging. More importantly, there were too many mages to guarantee he could kill every single one.

‘If even one of them gets away, I’m in trouble. They’ll report this back to the Tower.’

He had killed mages before, but only when he was certain there would be no trail. If the Magic Tower officially marked him as an enemy, his search for Melissa’s history would be ruined.

……But the world rarely followed his plans.

He couldn’t abandon the high-tier demon’s blood after fighting so hard for it. Since things had already turned bloody, the only option left was to make sure no one survived to tell the tale.

Kadim swallowed a dose of lesser demon blood and began the massacre.

“[Graden, Mol, Delgsium, Sa…]”

Whirrr-crunch!

“……Gurk!”

His axe moved like a localized storm. Mosquito, the weapon named for the way it swarmed, cut through the air and returned soaked in the mages’ lifeblood.

“[Astilro, Mogrein, Noen, De…].”

Whoosh, whish, whish—crunch!

“……Gahk!”

Most of the sorcerers never finished their first verse. Their skulls were split before they could manifest their power, their unfinished magic dying on their lips.

“[……En, Ersinio, Kulramad!]”

A few managed to complete their spells through sheer terror. It didn’t save them.

Crackleshatter—splurt!

The barbarian smashed through pillars of stone, walked through burning vines, and caught flying ice shards with his bare hands.

Whirrr-crunch!

No one lived long enough to try a second spell.

The outcome was inevitable. Most of the reinforcements were merely Seekers—novices with little combat experience. Their only real threat, the Invoker Gayardo, had been neutralized before the fight even started.

The clearing became a slaughterhouse. Those who tried to fight died instantly; those who tried to run were hunted down by his thrown axes.

“Huff, huff… kehk!”

As the last runner’s head was taken, the woods fell silent of human voices. Kadim wiped the gore from his brow and surveyed the area.

He began counting the bodies, but his expression darkened.

‘……14, 15, 16. ……Wait, one is missing.’

He had counted seventeen at the start. Kadim’s eyes narrowed. He was certain no one had outrun him…

Then, he sensed a presence deeper in the thicket.

The realization hit him.

‘Damn it, someone used invisibility and bolted. I knew something felt wrong…’

Kadim sprinted into the trees. Fortunately, the mage hadn’t been able to maintain the spell. He was close enough to run down.

But then, he ran into a complication.

“Aaaagh! Aaaaagh!”

“S-stay back! One more step and I’ll slit her throat!”

“……”

The surviving mage was clutching a woman by her hair, a blade of dark energy pressed against her neck. Kadim scowled. By sheer bad luck, the fleeing mage had stumbled upon the hiding spot of the woman and her unconscious husband.

Under normal circumstances, Kadim would have thrown his axe regardless of the hostage. But these were the people he had told to hide. He felt a small spark of obligation to their safety.

Seeing the barbarian hesitate, the mage’s voice grew frantic and arrogant.

“Heh, heh, I see. You care about these peasants? Back off right now… or I’ll cut her wide open…”

“Hic, hic, hiiic…”

Kadim calculated the odds of hitting the mage before the blade moved.

The odds were bad. Even with his speed, he couldn’t beat a blade already resting on skin. He couldn’t let the mage escape, but he didn’t want the woman to die either…

Just as he was considering sacrificing her for the sake of the secret…

“……”

…he saw a movement in the shadows.

A figure emerged from the underbrush, creeping up behind the distracted mage.

The sorcerer noticed nothing. But the shadow behind him was shaking, his eyes filled with terror as he stared at the opportunity before him. Kadim gave him a sharp, commanding look.

‘Sometimes, a look is enough to push a man to act.’

The shadow’s eyes suddenly cleared.

Fear turned into desperate resolve. The man drew a small blade, let out a guttural scream, and drove it into the mage’s side.

“D-die, you monster!”

Stab!

“Urk!”

Whoosh-roar!

“Aaaaaah! Aaaaaah!!”

The mage’s concentration shattered, and his magical blade dissolved. As the woman scrambled away, Kadim launched his axe.

Whirrr—splunch!

The blade buried itself in the mage’s neck. He fell backward, his skull cracked open, as the unstable magic from his own body began to consume him in flames.

The sound of the fire and the buzzing of insects filled the air in the awkward silence that followed.

The woman could only stare in shock at the scrawny man who had saved her.

The savior himself stood there trembling, staring at his bloodied hands as if he couldn’t believe what he’d done.

Kadim walked over, pulled his axe from the corpse, and placed a heavy hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Good job, Duncan.”

“……”

The merchant could only blink, looking back and forth between his red hands and the terrifying barbarian who stood over him.