The Red Moon hung high in the sky, and we had just blocked the first Demonic Beast Wave.
The entrance to the canyon was piled high with the corpses of wolves, boars, and Mutant Black Bears.
Yet instead of victory cries, silence filled the air.
At the center of that silence stood Burta, chieftain of the Western Volcano Tribe.
“Why look at me with such frightened eyes, little ones?”
He was wrapping a rope around the neck of a giant Black Bear that was still breathing.
Burta asked with a sinister smile.
The smile of a blood-drenched barbarian over two meters tall inspired a more chilling terror than any Demonic Beast.
Our tribe's young warriors held their breath.
Jakan was the same.
He could not tell what Burta intended.
Moreover, the pressure exuded by the Western Volcano Tribe warriors lined up behind Burta was not something we could ignore.
When Jakan silently gripped his greatsword's hilt, Burta snorted.
“Jakan, you have the eyes of a coward. We made a contract. I intend to receive the remaining fifty potatoes as well. You used your head very cleverly. Did that idea come from the young shaman?”
Burta's gaze rested on me for a moment, but I did not avoid it either.
Jakan did not deny it.
With a small smile, Burta gave the Black Bear a light tap. As though making one final struggle, it roared and charged toward us.
“RRAAAARGH—!”
But its claws stopped right in front of Jakan's nose.
Burta had pulled the rope, strangling its neck.
With choking sounds, the Black Bear tumbled to the ground.
“Why are you doing that?”
Jakan could not hold back any longer and asked. A warrior was supposed to show courtesy even to enemies.
Burta clicked his tongue as he looked at the frowning Jakan.
“As expected, you are children. You need to learn from us how to survive on the battlefield.”
I knew.
Burta was using what was called an exploit, or a strategy guide in my world.
“When the Red Moon rises, Demonic Beasts come in three waves.”
He began explaining kindly.
“Normally, you kill every Demonic Beast that comes. But that is wrong. It is a trap.”
He was right. A wave did not end simply because you killed all the Demonic Beasts.
From midnight, when the Red Moon began, until six in the morning, when the sun rose the next day, Demonic Beast Waves started at two-hour intervals over a total of six hours.
But it was not over after you cleared every wave that came.
The system kept the battle state active for two hours.
If you killed them quickly, the next troops would simply respawn that much faster, or stronger monsters would appear.
“The method is simple. Do not kill the last one. If it does not die, no other Demonic Beasts come.”
Burta wrapped the rope around his wrist and showed off.
“Leave the last one alive, then rest for the remaining time. Save your stamina and prepare for the next fight. This is adult wisdom.”
'......As expected.'
I admired him inwardly. He had correctly seen through the system's loophole, exactly as I had.
At the same time, I grew curious.
'How does he know that?'
Had what he said about learning from adults not been mere bravado? Was it a survival instinct learned through experiencing countless Red Moons?
If so, had the adults of the Northern Rock Tribe not known this?
'In any event, it does not seem like they are trying to attack us.'
They were diligently fulfilling the contract in their own way.
Perhaps reassured, Jakan, who had been tense, relaxed his expression and let out a tired sigh.
Malko, who had been listening, whispered to me with an expression that said he did not understand at all.
“What does this even mean? Barbarian talk hard.”
Just...... Do not think about it.
.
.
.
Thanks to the Western Volcano Tribe's military strength and their exploit, the second wave also passed without major damage.
We had rested enough, and the wounded had received first aid.
It was already four in the morning.
Only the final third wave remained.
By the laws of the game, the final wave always brought out the region's boss-class monster, a Field Boss.
'And Burta will probably move now.'
I watched the Western Volcano Tribe's formation closely.
At last, I saw Burta send a furtive signal to one of the warriors.
The warrior nodded, then quietly slipped out toward the rear of the formation.
Two more agile-looking warriors joined him. A special unit of three in total.
'What they are going to do is obvious.'
In the confusion of the final battle, they would circle to the rear of the village and loot the storehouse, take the children hostage, or try to uncover the secret of the potatoes.
When I signaled Jakan with my eyes, he gave a slight nod. It was a prearranged signal.
[The Red Moon's magic has reached its critical point. The final wave begins.]
SHRIEEEEK!
An ear-splitting shriek shook the canyon.
It was different from the earlier monsters that had made the ground tremble.
This time, it came from the sky.
Above the black wall. A huge shadow glided, silhouetted against the Red Moon.
[Wave 3 Boss : Deadly Venom Scorpion Wyvern]
Just as expected!
When it landed on the ground, a cloud of dust blocked my vision.
Perhaps because it had absorbed an excessive amount of the Red Moon's magic, it was a monster with abnormally bloated wings and a massive venom gland at the tip of its tail.
“It is coming. Raise your shields!”
As Burta raised his axe and shouted, the Western Volcano Tribe warriors formed a shield wall.
CRASH—!
When the wyvern rammed the shield wall head-on, the massive Western Volcano Tribe warriors were flung away like bowling pins by the tremendous impact.
It glided low, sweeping across the ground.
“Ugh—! I will cut you down!”
Something like a transparent haze rose from Burta's body as he swung his axe fiercely.
But the wyvern was cunning.
Just before Burta's axe touched it, the creature twisted its body at a bizarre angle to avoid the attack, then whipped its tail like a lash.
SPLASH—!
“Aaaagh!”
When venom sprayed through the air, the Western Volcano Tribe warriors screamed and retreated.
Their leather armor and skin burned where the poison touched them, and their formation collapsed in an instant.
Even amid that chaos, the three special-unit warriors I had been watching hid themselves in the darkness.
While the wyvern's attention was fixed on Burta, they were moving quickly toward the fence at the outskirts of the village.
'I am sorry, but you are wrong about that.'
This wyvern was not a simple beast, but a cunning hunter.
It had the habit of taking greater interest in weak prey separated from the group and showing its back than in powerful enemies that could match its strength.
The wyvern's vertically slit, serpent-like pupils passed Burta and spotted the special unit moving toward the village.
“SHRIEEK!”
It changed direction, ignored Burta, and began rushing toward the village at tremendous speed.
That was the moment I had been aiming for.
“Uh......?”
Burta cried out in alarm, but it was already too late.
The wyvern was charging to attack the special unit. And our village lay behind them.
“Malko. As I told you, guard the cave entrance. Do not move.”
“Understood! Barbariaaan!”
I had foreseen this, and I had explained and repeatedly urged the children.
Even if a Boss Monster came charging in, they were never to get excited and step forward. They were to guard the cave.
Perhaps my efforts had not been in vain. The young barbarians, inexperienced and easily excited, diligently formed their formation.
After confirming that, I picked up a torch that had fallen to the ground instead of an axe and shouted.
“Jakan! Let's go!”
Jakan nodded and followed me as I ran.
The Western Volcano Tribe's special-unit warriors had gone pale as they watched the huge monster bear down on them.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
The wyvern closed the distance. As I ran, I shouted to Jakan.
“Do you remember, Jakan!”
My breath was rising, but I could not stop.
“I remember!”
Running beside me, he answered with steady eyes.
'Yes. Jakan can do it.'
Trusting him, I ran as well.
The Deadly Venom Scorpion Wyvern was nocturnal. It had the weakness of being extremely vulnerable to sudden bright light.
I had hunted it hundreds of times, so its pattern unfolded familiarly in my mind.
'The problem is that this is reality.'
Suddenly, fear seized me, but my barbarian body was diligently running toward the wyvern.
“RRAAAH!”
A Western Volcano Tribe warrior fiercely resisted the Deadly Venom Scorpion Wyvern's attack, but it was no use.
At last, as the wyvern opened its mouth to swallow one of the special-unit warriors.
“Over here!”
I slipped around to the creature's flank, shouting at the top of my lungs and waving my arms.
When the wyvern's head turned toward me, its yellow eyes fixed on me.
Gulp. But I had to trust my Strength of 25.
Pretending to throw the torch I held at its face, I waited for it to try to avoid the light, then threw my axe with all my strength.
“Barbariaaan—!”
For some reason, the same roar as theirs burst from me.
My heart throbbed with excitement and heat I could not understand.
THWACK!
“SKREEE!”
The axe grazed the creature's forehead, opening a wound. Seizing that moment, I jumped.
WHOOSH—! As I kicked off the ground, my body rose unbelievably high.
Before I could be surprised by my insane physical ability, I raised the torch and seared its eye.
“SHRIEEEEK!”
The creature writhed in pain, flailing its front legs as though to cover its eyes. I quickly landed and rolled to the side.
Then, avoiding the madly stamping feet, I shouted frantically.
“Jakan!”
Jakan sprang from the darkness.
Wow...... His leap was beyond the realm of humans.
I stared blankly, mouth open, at Jakan as he arced over my head.
The greatsword in his hand flashed in the Red Moon's light.
“Barbariaaan—!”
With that roar, Jakan's sword aimed precisely at the soft, scaleless nape I had told him was the creature's weakness.
A blow carrying all his weight.
SHNK—!
There was a terrible sound.
With the sound of hard muscle and bone being cut through like tofu, the huge wyvern's head separated as though it were dancing in the air, then plunged to the ground.
THUD.
Its body fell after it. It had been a single sword strike.
After landing, Jakan looked at his own hand with an expression of unmistakable shock at what he had done.
That was only natural.
'Because his Strength had permanently increased by 1.'
In this game, a stat point of 1 was enormous.
The heat radiating from his body seemed as though it would touch my skin.
[Boss Monster Defeated.]
[The Red Moon's Demonic Beast Wave has ended.]
At the system messages that appeared at just the right time, the breath that had been caught in my throat burst out.
It was over. We had lived!
That was when it happened.
“......”
Burta and the Western Volcano Tribe warriors came running up, out of breath.
They stared blankly at the wyvern's head lying on the ground and Jakan standing above it.
Slowly turning his head, Jakan glared at Burta.
The young chieftain, drenched head to toe in Demonic Beast blood, had eyes fiercer than any predator.
“This is different from the promise.”
Jakan's voice was low.
“We bought you. You promised to protect us. But you failed to protect us.”
Burta opened his mouth, but he had no excuse.
In a warrior's world, results were absolute.
He had failed.
The defensive line had been breached, his honor lost, and even the dirty deed his subordinates had tried to commit had been exposed.
Burta's face flushed red.
'He is not going to attack because he is angry, is he?'
Contrary to my worried expectation, he set the axe in his hand down on the ground.
“I am sorry.”
Then he bowed his head.
“We did not keep promise. Promise is warrior honor. You are right. Western Volcano Tribe failed today.”
BOOM—!
With a heavy sound, Burta knelt before the young chieftain.
“I will pay the price with my life.”
“Chieftain!”
The Western Volcano Tribe warriors around him were shaken, but Burta raised a hand to stop them.
Acknowledging defeat. That was the last pride he could uphold.
Burta, too, was a barbarian.
Tension filled the air.
When Jakan raised his greatsword, Burta closed his eyes as though he were prepared.
But Jakan strapped his greatsword behind his back and held out his hand.
“Stand, Burta.”
“......?”
Burta raised his head with puzzled eyes.
“All barbarians are family. A family's mistake is not repaid with a life.”
Jakan's calm voice echoed across the harsh wasteland.
“And...... I still have much to learn from you. This thing called an adult's wisdom. I have to learn more.”
Burta's eyes widened.
After looking quietly at Jakan for a moment, Burta's large hand clasped the hand Jakan had held out.
“Thank you, chieftain of the Northern Rock Tribe.”
***
Dawn was breaking.
The Red Moon retreated, and faint blue light began to shine on the earth.
As the Western Volcano Tribe was returning, one of the warriors spoke.
“Chieftain. It is not too late even now. If we go back and take the children hostage......”
SLAP.
Burta's palm struck the warrior's cheek.
“Silence.”
Burta glared with killing intent at the warrior, who was looking at him with startled eyes.
“All this time, I was not a warrior, but a raider. Under the excuse of survival, I had grown accustomed to cowardice.”
But what had that young chieftain been like?
Burta remembered his own childhood.
He, too, had once been an upright warrior filled with pride.
“Today, I learned from those children. Barbarians do not learn only from adults. Adults learn from children too.”
Burta straightened his chest.
“From now on, the Northern Rock Tribe is the Western Volcano Tribe's friend. Whoever touches them, Burta of the Western Volcano Tribe will not let it stand.”
His declaration rang through the canyon on the dawn wind.
He had failed today, but Burta was pleased in one way, looking forward to the history that the young chieftain and shaman would write.
.
.
.
And shortly afterward.
The Western Volcano Tribe's encampment.
Inside a barracks some distance from its center, silence filled the air.
Karga, the Western Volcano Tribe's second-in-command, sat deeply reclined in a chair carved from animal bones.
“So the chieftain knelt before that newborn.”
Before him stood a warrior with one cheek swollen dark red.
“Yes. He admitted defeat to that young chieftain and bowed his head. He said the Northern Rock Tribe is now our brother.”
“Brother.”
Karga's lips twisted upward.
Brothers? Friends? In a barbarian world ruled by strength?
Those words were no more than cowardly excuses used by the weak.
“Burta has failed. He is old now.”
Karga slowly rose from his seat.
“The once-mighty Burta has become a dull sword. He knelt before an enemy, and he could not even bring back the promised potatoes from a starving tribe. He is a failed warrior.”
Karga caressed the axe at his back.
“A dulled blade must be sharpened anew. No, it must be broken, and an entirely new sword must be held.”
In the darkness, Karga's eyes gleamed with greed.