Malidian Bulwark

“Helmont?”

The instant her gaze landed on the man beyond the barrier, Silberna whispered the word.

No matter how she looked at him, the visage screamed Helmont, leaving Silberna utterly bewildered.

His appearance, though, was unlike anyone she’d seen in Helmund.

From Lohengrin, the eldest, to Edel, the youngest.

Even dredging up memories of Alois, who was gone, she couldn’t find a resemblance.

But why?

‘Something about him feels more…’

Real.

The thought struck Silvana, and she shook her head, quick and sharp.

‘Don’t entertain such nonsense.’

Protecting the bulwark came first.

The Malridian Bulwark, as if having waited, busily moved to meet the Transcendents’ assault.

A vigor animated their steps and actions, for the North preferred a visible foe to mindless waiting.

The variable, however, was the storm-like wind.

Not magic, yet wielding tremendous force, it swirled across the Malridian Bulwark.

The gale, capable of swallowing even a person whole, hindered the formation of proper battle lines.

“My Lady! Are you alright?!”

Silvana, crouched low, only nodded in response to Anna’s query.

In that tense moment, she gripped her spear tightly in both hands and shot to her feet.

“My Lady?!”

Though the gale threatened to sweep away her slender frame, her legs were firm.

A pearlescent aura bolstered her limbs, and she stood defiant, straightening her spine and shouting.

“Do you think the Bulwark of the North cowers before an enemy!”

The words of a valiant woman roused the other soldiers, who slowly rose, assuming their positions.

Even if it was due to the gale, cowering before the enemy was unpalatable.

Each such instance directly impacting morale, Silvana had reacted with appropriate measure.

“…”

The Transcendent forces, judging their wind-based suppression ineffective, also began to move, slowly taking action.

“Do not falter! Respond as you normally would, and there will be no issue!”

Her father, Uldiran Caldias, would arrive soon enough.

Furthermore, if there were no internal problems, Silvana was certain the Malridian Bulwark would never fall.

Because.

“You know why they won’t choose a frontal assault?”

“Because they lack the strength. If it comes down to a straight power struggle, we’re bound to win.”

“So, if they *do* come at us head-on, it means they’ve got nothing left.”

Isaac, you could call him an authority on the Transcended, stated it like that.

“They’ll *never* break through you.”

*Even I, who’ve lived in the North my whole life, wouldn’t say something like that, you fool.*

A laugh, wry and humorless, was all that thought elicited. Silberna, with the terror of the Transcended so clearly etched into her memory…

She had crossed spears with them countless times; their strength was undeniable.

No matter how fiercely Silberna believed in the strength of the Northern Wall, when facing something beyond humanity, there was no such thing as “never,” or “absolute,” or “certain”.

*Don’t talk like you read it out of some book.*

Yet, Isaac’s words – his naive faith in the Northern Wall – were, in truth, the very source from which Silberna drew her unwavering smile.

The Transcended charged toward the Wall.

Some were shaped like beasts, others had wings, some even resembled humans.

Their varied forms were surprisingly similar to the creatures of the Abyss.

This wasn’t just an extermination; this was war.

Especially those sorcerers in the back, wielding staves and showering the Wall with spells that resembled crimson paint, were quite bothersome.

When facing creatures of the Abyss, the best you could expect was flying rocks.

*Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!*

The spells struck the Wall.

But they were pathetic attacks, unable to inflict even the slightest damage or crack upon the Malidian Wall.

“At this rate, rocks flung by creatures of the Abyss would be more of a threat, wouldn’t they?”

“Seems so.”

Anna, positioned next to Silberna, muttered. She tilted her head upwards.

“It’s the ones flying over that are the problem.”

Their superior skin meant even arrows were ineffective. Despite the hail of arrows raining down, they suffered little and landed atop the Wall.

“Absolutely do not fight them alone!”

Individually, they were overwhelmingly powerful. While not every single one, it was clear they were superior to the average soldier.

The Malidian soldiers, prepared for the Transcended, began to respond in groups of three or five.

“Hnnngh!”

Silberna’s spear soared through the air. It pierced the chest of a Transcended, one resembling a crow.

“Keuh-eugh!?”

With a shriek of agony, the creature was dragged towards the earth as if being sucked in by the aura clinging to the spear.

“Hmph!”

Silberna, retrieving her spear through the aura, simultaneously swung it once more towards the Transcendental being she had pulled in, cleanly severing him.

‘Truly a genius.’

Barely six months devoted to mastering the aura.

The woman whom Mook-gum had repeatedly called a prodigy was now displaying remarkable growth.

This time, her spear flew towards other Transcendental beings who had landed atop the barricade.

Anna, on the other hand, was gathering the soldiers, racing along the ramparts.

“Over here! They’re climbing up over here!”

While attention was drawn to the sky, Anna and the soldiers hurled spears and thrust at the Transcendental creatures scaling the barricade.

A chaotic battlefield both above and below, but everyone was united in their response.

Then, a single spear cleaved the heavens.

Pajijijijik!

Infused with lightning, it instantly charred the surrounding Transcendental beings, sending them plummeting.

The single spear, which had seemed destined to endlessly move forward, was now, impossibly, returning along the same trajectory it had come from.

And then, its end.

Kwaak!

The man who caught the electrified spear was named Uldiran Caldius.

Guardian of the barricade.

“Useful enough.”

Isaac had Bricalla’s creations, but those were crafted from the byproducts Rianna had provided.

Of course, a single spear wouldn’t have used all of the bones and hides.

“The Margrave is here-eah!”

“Don’t falter! We are humanity’s bulwark-eah!”

“Protect our families! Defend our nation! Safeguard our peace-eah!”

The atmosphere shifted dramatically with Uldiran’s arrival. No matter how prepared they were, the Transcendental beings’ surprise attack had been a clear threat.

But just the sight of him wielding his spear seemed to promise a resolution to everything.

“Just like my father.”

Beaming with pride, Silberna smiled brightly.

After Arundel Hellmund’s death, they say a new era dawns.

Many praised the Golden Generation, proclaiming they would safeguard the kingdom.

But here.

The last vestige of the old.

The guardian who defended the north stood firm, unmoving in his place.

Upon the highest spire of the Rampart.

The very spot where Brikala once stood, now Uldiran stood, gazing down.

The transcendent’s offensive was, as expected, not overly numerous.

A mere handful compared to the Great Swarm, yet the quality of each soldier was beyond compare.

Still, Uldiran felt no particular sense of impending defeat.

He stood upon the Rampart.

And as long as he stood, it would not fall.

“Hm…?”

While charging Brikala’s lightning to unleash another spear.

Uldiran’s gaze fell upon a red-haired man at the center of the throng.

He could not help but take notice.

“Hellmund?”

Like Silberna, even Uldiran was reminded of Hellmund upon seeing him.

And the man too, was staring back at Uldiran, stirring a battle-lust within the Marchlord’s heart.

“A pity.”

It was wartime, and he was a commander.

He longed to vent his frustrations, that he could never overcome Hellmund’s Arundel.

But to remain true to his role, Uldiran hurled another spear.

The target was the Sorcerer.

The ceaseless stream of inky crimson paint continued to coat the Malidrian Rampart.

It seemed to cause no immediate damage, but Uldiran acted with even greater haste.

‘Surely they are not doing this without some purpose.’

Sorcerers remained a poorly understood force for humanity.

They seemed similar to mages, yet the transcendent did not wield mana.

And their abilities ventured into realms where magic could not reach.

Regeneration of the body, or familial bonding, forbidden arts dealing with vital force—such things are absolutely impossible through mere magic.

* * *

_Pajijijik!_

A lance screamed through the air, a thunderclap tearing the heavens, aimed directly at the shamans.

Yet, the lance never reached its mark, instead deflecting to bury itself in the ground.

A man with crimson hair, head whipping with the motion of his long hair, had deflected Uldiran’s spear with his own weapon.

“Ho?”

Uldiran’s lip curled ever so slightly upward.

The man simply fixed his gaze on Uldiran and stepped forward, offering no words.

* * *

When Isaac and Clarice’s party finally returned to the capital,

the news that greeted them was nothing short of utterly shocking.

“The Malidrian Barrier… it has vanished.”

Not collapsed, nor destroyed.

Quite literally.

The barrier had simply disappeared without a trace.