43 – 43. Wall Guardian

[Brykalla.]

Unlike now.

Sylverna said it, her voice somewhat calm, yet low and grounded.

[The name of the beast that the First, Volfdrun Caldias, hunted when he established a base in the north.]

‘Brykalla?’

[Guardian of Ice Lightning? Well, something like that is what I remember. That’s where the Great Swarm’s Lord got its name.]

[It was a calamitous thing. Back then, I couldn’t even think about clashing with it, not with my skills.]

‘That strong?’

[If you saw it yourself, you wouldn’t say that.]

KRaaaGH!

His roar buried Sylverna’s voice in memory.

The lightning bolts falling from all directions seemed to be guarding Brykalla, and in the eyes of the thing perched on the spire, the relatively weakened Malidian Wall was reflected.

“R-run away-!”

Isaac gripped Sharen’s shoulder as she muttered.

He spoke to Sharen, his teeth clenched, who was clearly terrified.

“If we run, who’s going to fight that thing!”

“……!”

“I know you’re scared, but we have to do it.”

The moment the wall falls here, the front line will break. The damage could spread anywhere.

At the very least, every nearby village would be annihilated.

The only thing in our favor was that it was injured.

Blood trickled from its wounds, flowing down the spire, and there was pain accompanying its roar instead of just threat.

But, on the other hand.

‘He took a wound like *that*, and he’s still like *this*.’

A death throe, right before the end.

The way he’s squeezing out every last bit of strength, it’s something beyond a mere monster’s caliber.

“Where’s the captain?”

Looking for the company commander, who’s supposed to be directing the remaining troops.

But, lost in shock, Jonathan answers.

“He, he was at that spire.”

Even this far away, the electricity stinging my skin feels like it’s about to paralyze me.

If the spire’s right under the beast, it’s safe to assume he’s already dead.

“Raise your spears!”

Isaac roared, his veins bulging as he desperately tried to outshout the thunder of Brikala.

“The main force is coming! Hold him back from the wall!”

Isaac, who’d seen battle against Transcendents more than a few times.

In this chaos, it’d be good if he could act following the pre-arranged chain of command.

But, with the commander’s life unknown, and no clear indication of who’s next in charge.

At times like this, the one with the loudest voice grabs the banner to get things back under control quickly.

“Raise your spears!”

“Let’s defend the wall!”

“The main force arrives soon!”

As Helmun’s son-in-law, and as a comrade who’d fought together until now.

Isaac was trustworthy enough, and the others began to follow his lead.

Brikala, seeing the troops gather around Isaac, huffed with something like disdain.

The electricity in his breath ‘crackled!’ and flashed threateningly.

His body began to charge again with electricity, and thick veins started to pop out from his muscles.

“Scatter! Scatter out—!”

At the desperate cry, the soldiers hastily began scattering along the top of the wall.

In an instant, like a lightning strike, Brikala landed where the troops had been clustered moments before.

*Kwahhh-aang!*

Part of the wall was damaged, but not to the point where it couldn’t hold its form.

Dust and shards and sparks of current flew in every direction.

Within it, Brikala’s gaze fixed on Isaac standing straight ahead.

“Krrrr.”

*Fzzzt!*

“Kugh!”

Being this close, it wasn’t just a sting.

It was enough to make standing impossible, especially the eyes, which burned like they were melting.

Yet, he couldn’t close them.

In that moment, Brikala’s fist would surely crush his whole body.

“Crimson Flare!”

While everyone was frozen by Brikala’s menacing aura and the electric shocks,

The first to move, surprisingly, was the youngest girl here.

A crimson burst of red light, erupting from her greatsword, engulfed Brikala.

The cascading crimson swallowed the surrounding electric currents before touching Brikala, but…

“Krrraaa!”

Brikala swatted it away, then slammed a fist into the ground in fury.

“W-Why is it like that?!”

Sharen’s shout, questioning the excessive reaction.

But Isaac had a guess.

“Rianna and the Helmunt knights were the main force, right? It’s probably enraged by you using the same power.”

Among the wounds etched into her body, there must be some made by Helmunt.

Indeed, Brikala’s gaze was now locked on Sharen.

Snorting with sparks of current, it charged forward, all four hands on the ground.

“Jonathan, help!”

“Glory to the Great Helmunt!”

Jonathan quickly stood next to Sharen, plunging his greatsword into the ground, forming a wall.

Sharen, seeing this, mirrored the stance, bracing her own greatsword against her shoulder.

*KWAANG!*

Brikala’s fist slammed into both of their greatswords simultaneously.

“Kuuuaaang!”

“HACK! HWERK!”

The raw force clashed head-on, but both stood their ground.

Their separate, colored auras rose, forming a sturdy, wall-like defense.

But the brute had four fists.

*THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!*

The moment an opening appeared, a relentless barrage landed.

“Do something, damn it!”

“I’m about to dieeee!”

Even before those cries, Isaac was already leaping forward.

He used Jonathan’s shoulders as a springboard, launching himself skyward.

Floating there, he looked down at the creature’s head. Even as electrical currents stabbed through him, he drew the sword from his waist.

*This time, I won’t fail.*

He’d rehearsed it countless times, determined to correct the mistake he’d made with Nortemus.

The most powerful strike Isaac could muster right now.

The moment of drawing the sword from its sheath, ending it in a single movement—the ‘Iai’.

The razor-sharp blade slid out silently, slicing through the electricity, hurtling towards the brute’s thick neck.

*SCHLICK!*

He’d clearly cut it.

Isaac hadn’t faltered.

It was a perfect ‘Iai,’ so flawless that even the Grand Master would’ve applauded, directed at its precise target.

*FIZZZZ!*

Yet, on the thick neck, there remained a gash, one barely worthy of being called a scar.

*The electricity… It dulled the blade…?!*

The sword couldn’t withstand even the briefest contact.

He had demanded it be made light, and light it was to an absurd degree, but its durability was consequently atrocious.

“KRaaaH!”

The creature erupted in a furious roar.

It knew, too.

That in a fleeting moment, its neck had nearly been severed.

A hand, reaching for the greatsword, veered off course, flying towards Isaac.

For a split second, he thought he was dead.

But just before the fist connected, it twitched, then stopped.

*Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!*

While he was distracted, other soldiers had run their spears into the thing’s back.

Saved from the punch, Isaac managed to land, a cold sweat slicking his skin as he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Isaac, you alright!?”

“Thank goodness!”

Two figures rushed to Isaac, who was still catching his breath, hands on the ground.

He gnashed his teeth, ready to apologize for squandering the golden chance they’d made, but then,

“…Isn’t it cold?”

Isaac muttered, running his hand over the floor.

A lingering electric sting dulled his sense of touch, but the chill was cutting right through his skin.

“Of course it’s co-!”

Sharen’s mouth snapped shut, cutting off her words.

The white fog that was spreading around wasn’t just from the commotion – it was something artificial.

“What’s going on here?!”

“Ugh! So cold!”

The cold pierced even the numbness of battle.

Isaac’s eyes widened, and a story he’d once told the two resurfaced.

‘The first Caldia used magic to intentionally manipulate the climate, weaving it into the barrier, to protect the kingdom.’

What if it was something more than that?

Perhaps the barrier had sensed a threat, activating some kind of magic.

Or maybe, the spell, thrown off by its electrocution, had gone wild.

Whatever it was.

“Out of the barrier!”

It was dangerous to stay here.

*Crack! Crack-crack-crack!*

A horrifying sound of freezing came from somewhere.

His boot soles were stuck to the ground, refusing to come loose.

The northern boots, they were tough, sturdy things, that’s why I could yank them free with a bit of force.

But stay too close to the wall and you’d freeze solid.

“Krrraaakk!”

Bricalla’s scream tore through the air behind me.

Turning, I saw him, flesh ripping as he fought to pull his foot free, writhing in agony.

The wall’s chill was getting to him too.

*Wait, if I can hold him here…*

We can stop it.

More than that, freeze the damn thing, subdue it.

Taking it down below with us, that’s just asking for trouble.

Giving it a wide-open space to run wild, wider than this wall.

*It’s… unexpected.*

Always.

I’d only ever seen the backs of my comrades as they charged into life-and-death fights.

Silent Isaac.

Many praised his great wisdom.

But Isaac stood there, a stone, watching their battles, feeling helpless.

Each time, the question clawed at him.

Could I do that?

If I held a sword, faced the fight myself.

Could I go, without hesitation, into a fire where my life hung by a thread?

*This is… truly unexpected.*

It was the plain truth.

Because without even time to think.

Isaac was already running towards Bricalla.

*All that’s left is the great sword, and the pulse line.*

I drew the pulse line.

The great sword was useless against the currents pulsing around the thing.

Gripping the pulse line in both hands, I stood before Bricalla. He’d been trying to leap down inside the walls to escape the chill.

“Where d’you think you’re going!”

Isaac’s frost-blade arced wide, cleaving straight into the beast’s thigh.

The wound was long, but no blood flowed.

The flesh froze faster than it could bleed.

“Krrruungh!”

Was that why?

The creature didn’t seem in much pain, only swatted at Isaac like a fly, a paw meant to knock him away.

Anticipating the reaction, Isaac jerked back, his blade still leveled.

“Khaaa-ahng!”

Another roar.

It sounded like a question hurled at Isaac, who was blocking its path to the wall below.

Stay here, and you both die.

“Heh.”

He tried to twist his lips in a smirk, but they were too stiff from the cold.

His black hair was frosted white, and his body grew heavy, the chill stealing his strength.

Yet still, Isaac didn’t retreat.

“One of us dies, or-“

Or both.

The cold, like his lungs would shatter, kept him from finishing the thought.

But his meaning was clear enough; the beast, Brikala, charged, crackling with lightning.

And then, from behind, twin streams of crimson fell.

“Aiiish, really!”

Sharen, wreathed in her rose-red aura, looked much better than the other two.

She wore her aura like armor.

It was a common trick, but her crimson flowed much finer and tighter, a web that warded even the unnatural cold.

It was Sharen’s aura, designed to keep her from shivering, as she had done during her fight with Polu and the snow beast.

“Why’d you rush off alone!”

As Sharen neared, Isaac felt warmth seep back into him.

Her aura’s influence calmed his trembling hands.

Another descent of *jeokgang*.

That crimson, viscous thing belonged to Jonathan, yet.

Unlike his usual, unstable, hole-ridden one.

It was raw and savage, like some beast.

Brikala, hit by it, slid backwards across the rampart.

“Master Isaac—!”

Jonathan stood next to him.

His eyes, the whites vanished, only black remained, a form already witnessed once.

“Haa! Haa! H-hey, maybe—! If I become a Transcendental, then at that time—!”

Isaac, hearing Jonathan beg, tear-soaked, smacked him across the back of the head.

“You said your heart was made of roses! Get your head on straight!”

At those words, Jonathan bit his lip hard, his teeth now long and sharp, and shouted.

“Kruuuooo! Glory to the great Helmunteee! My heart is made of rosesaaa!”

“……That looks like an illness.”

Sharen, a direct descendant of Helmunte, muttered, but Jonathan acted like he didn’t hear.

In any case, his obsession with Helmunte was what kept Jonathan sane.

Two *jeokgang*, each a different color, swarmed to surround Isaac.

Thanks to them, he could withstand the chill to a degree.

“Krung.”

The problem was, that a beast with sentience saw it as a breakthrough.

A mound of blue crystals scattered through the snow.

Mana.

An enormous amount of mana, so much it was visible, was concentrating on it.

“Huk!”

“T-that is a bit unsettling.”

Sharen and Jonathan were momentarily terror-stricken, and even Isaac, an outsider to mana, could feel with his eyes and skin just how concentrated and immense the thing’s mana was.

And then.

“Kroaaah!”

Towards Brikala’s head.

A massive blue lightning strike, like a storm, descended.

At first, it looked like self-harm.

No, in truth, he was clearly damaged.

But.

“Krahh!”

Drool, dripping, wet.

Normally, it would be a trivial, even obvious, sight to ignore, yet.

“It’s not freezing.”

Isaac’s mutter made the other two snap, nodding.

His saliva isn’t freezing.

The electricity crackling around his body is overwhelmingly stronger than before.

The thick, foggy white mist doesn’t even dare approach Brikala.

Even while injured, he endured the cold by shrouding himself in electricity.

Like.

“It, it’s like my way?”

Like Sharen who pushed back the cold with her Red Descent.

Brikala, his movement free again, charged at them, thudding heavily.