Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: The Fleeing Horde Lord
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Boom!
Early in the morning.
Isaac was clashing swords with Rianna.
Or could you even call it clashing?
Rianna was deliberately easing off her strength just before their blades met, adjusting so that Isaac's sword wouldn't break.
After the sparring session ended.
Rianna approached Isaac, who was wiping his sweat, and asked flatly,
"When you swing your sword, you tend to fall into the Helmunt family's signature stances."
"……."
"The Helmunt family enjoys crushing with raw power, but that's not you."
"Yeah, you're right."
"The sword you wield is like fine glasswork. Delicate and precise. There's no need to force it into the mold of a Helmunt greatsword."
She almost added a reason why, but Rianna closed her mouth again.
She just didn't want to voice that she would be leaving soon.
"Don't get too hung up on it."
She hoped Isaac wouldn't desperately seek the Helmunt family's approval.
It meant nothing anymore.
But Isaac rejected her advice.
"I have my own goals I'm pursuing with the sword."
"Goals you're pursuing?"
"Yeah. If you say it looks like I'm imitating them, I guess it does right now."
"……."
Rianna could tell he was seeking some unique method, but she had no clue what it was.
No, more than that, there was something else she wanted to ask.
'How on earth did he amass knowledge like this?'
Knowledge about the sword.
Even Rianna was occasionally startled during their conversations.
The depth was different.
If you likened drawing from his knowledge to watering crops with a bucket.
'It's not some mere well.'
It felt like scooping from the vast ocean itself. His knowledge flowed with such profound clarity.
"Isaac, take a look at this."
Silberna, who had been practicing her spear swings off to the side, wedged herself between them.
"Is this the feel you mentioned last time? Like raking fallen leaves with a hook?"
Silberna assumed her stance and swung her spear through the air.
The thrust downward sliced sharply at the surrounding wind, leaving claw-like scars on the training ground.
Isaac watched, stroking his chin, then corrected her form for a moment.
"A bit weak. Your weight isn't fully committed. Put more power into your front foot. You stretching consistently?"
"Yeah, I am."
"You need flexibility for your whole body to engage properly. Especially you—your build puts you at a disadvantage compared to others."
Rianna lowered her head slightly as she listened.
She was on the advantageous side.
"Whatever works, but if you get too locked into one stance, your options will be limited. Practice varying your setups from different angles, and it'll serve you well."
Silberna resumed her practice with Isaac's advice.
'Impressive.'
Isaac exuded the seasoned aura of someone who'd served as an instructor for years.
Rianna personally wanted to hear his thoughts on her own swordsmanship too.
But she felt she didn't deserve it.
"Let's go one more round."
As Isaac requested another bout, Rianna nodded and gripped her greatsword.
Considering the Sword Festival that lay ahead.
Honestly, training like this was pointless once the Helmunt direct descendants cloaked themselves in Red Aura.
'What is it?'
Isaac's eyes gleamed with sharp intelligence. The steady light in them seemed unshakeable, even amid the fiercest storms.
A few days later.
The lined-up Helmunt knights and the soldiers of the Mallidan Wall.
Standing in separate formations, they looked like they were competing to see whose army was superior.
At the forefront of each unit stood the women who symbolized them.
Rianna Helmunt and Silberna Caldias.
Their upright figures were far more solemn than the usual atmospheres Isaac knew from them.
Leading them all was Uldiran, mounted on a massive warhorse, spear in hand.
The wall's main gate opened.
Applause and cheers.
The people remaining on the wall saw them off with salutes, hoping they would end the war with the magic beasts.
Once Uldiran's main force departed, the inside of the wall felt desolate and eerily quiet.
"It's quiet."
Jonathan, who was staying on the wall with Isaac, muttered.
Staying behind didn't mean they could just sit idle.
"This is where it starts."
The main force would advance, beginning to clear out the magic beasts.
But they couldn't kill every single one, and they had gone out to hunt the magic beast responsible for the Great Horde.
They wouldn't chase down every stray—they'd let some slip by.
Those would naturally head toward the wall.
Until the main force returned, the wall's defenses would operate even more rigorously. Most of the remaining soldiers would live atop the wall with barely any rest.
"Did you bring blankets? I heard you need at least three. Someone'll take them otherwise."
"Why would I take them? I can just pop back to the barracks and grab more."
"It's true. They say if you don't stash your underwear or socks properly, they'll vanish too."
"The Helmunt knights didn't feed you some weird rumors, did they?"
"They said it's common at the front lines."
Isaac and Jonathan had already moved their supplies for staying on the wall.
Since they'd be handling meals and lodging there from now on, there was plenty to prepare.
"Ugh, so cold."
That's when Sharen Helmunt sidled up close.
She had been excluded from the main force roster at Rianna's suggestion.
The three headed to the barracks set up inside the wall for the soldiers.
Pre-laid bedding and gear.
The spot where they'd huddle together for the next few days felt a bit novel to Sharen.
It smelled musty, and they'd be bunking with the troops, but Sharen had already grown somewhat accustomed to front-line life.
"This is mine!"
Sharen claimed her spot next to the blanket Isaac had laid out, spreading her own.
On the opposite side, Jonathan had already settled, slipping a hot water skin under his blanket.
"This makes it way warmer. I prepped some for you two as well."
"Thanks."
"Jonathan, you're the best!"
"Heh heh."
Jonathan grinned, pleased by the praise. He'd clearly gathered tips from the other soldiers in his barracks and come fully prepared.
"But man, inside the wall is freezing."
Breathing out, she saw her breath puff into the air. It was the north, sure, but still indoors—this was pretty damn chilly.
"It's a feature of the Mallidan Wall."
Isaac gave a simple explanation as Sharen rubbed her hands.
"You know the north's cold is partly artificial, right?"
"Huh?"
"Pardon?"
Sharen and Jonathan looked at Isaac with curious eyes.
"The north is naturally cold, but not like this. It didn't used to snow year-round."
However, the first family head of Caldias, who built the wall—Wolfdrun Caldias—had devised a clever ploy.
"He enchanted the wall to make the climate even colder. Winter-hibernating magic beasts stay away, snow makes defense easier, and spotting beasts is simpler."
"But that makes it cold for you guys too."
Sharen raised her hand to ask.
Feeling like an old grandfather telling tales, Isaac replied.
"That wasn't an issue for Wolfdrun. He prioritized stopping the enemy over his own comfort."
It was a massive project.
Cooperating with the Mage Tower wasn't hard—they jumped at the chance to handle such large-scale magic.
A fusion of chill and madness.
The Caldias creed: endure personal suffering to block the foe.
There's a reason the nearby villagers revere the Mallidan Wall as sacred.
"So the cold we're feeling now is like the determination of historical heroes to protect the kingdom—"
"Yawn. Jonathan, got any food?"
"Got one bread, but it's frozen solid."
"Hey, I'm explaining here."
"Helmunts have tough teeth. Gimme."
"Here."
Sharen took Jonathan's rock-hard bread—could pass for a club—and chomped down hard.
"Aaaah! My teeeeeeth!"
Her face crumpled as she hurled the bread; it hit the wall with a thud like a stone.
"Sir Isaac, time for your shift."
"Mm."
Isaac stirred at Jonathan's call, opening his eyes. He'd pulled duty until last night, meant to just nap briefly, but slept straight through to his next shift.
"Sharen, wake up."
He roused Sharen, who had fallen asleep curled against him.
The wall's interior was so cold that at some point, the two had started huddling for warmth.
"Mmm."
Sharen buried her face in his chest, wriggling. After repeating it several times to wake her, she finally peeled away slowly.
"Felt like a short nap, but it's morning already?"
The three prepared for their shift together.
It had been three days since the main force left.
They could pinpoint its location from the occasional lightning flashes.
Were they struggling?
Isaac wasn't too worried.
In his previous life, Silberna had said the beast rivaled Uldiran in power.
But now, not only Uldiran was there.
Rianna and Silberna were with him too.
The Great Horde itself would be dispersed without much trouble.
The three climbed atop the wall.
They took their positions, staring blankly outside.
Clouds hid the sun, snow falling over the pristine white landscape.
Rumble! Boom!
Thunder echoed from afar.
It had been frequent lately, which was annoying.
"Oh, I get what Sis meant now."
Sharen bounced excitedly.
"I can feel the mana. For real. It's artificial."
"Really?"
Isaac wasn't sensitive to such things, so he hadn't noticed much difference.
But Sharen was thrilled, claiming she'd caught what Rianna had sensed.
"I felt it too! Haha!"
Even Jonathan chimed in with a bright smile.
"What? For real? You're not lying?"
"Come on, why would I lie about this?"
"Tch, whatever. Thought I was special for noticing, but it's no big deal."
"You really say that?!"
Isaac yawned listlessly amid Sharen and Jonathan's bickering.
"Yawwwn—?"
Even Jonathan felt it?
Something felt off.
Jonathan was human-like, even as a Transcendent hybrid.
The Helmunts were outliers from the start, so that made sense.
Why notice now when they hadn't before?
'Both of them sensed the lightning's mana.'
'They hadn't before?'
'Does that mean the lightning has changed?'
His thoughts bridged cautiously toward the truth.
'It's gotten closer?'
Close enough for Sharen—and even Jonathan—to sense?
"Ah, more are swarming in!"
"They're totally panicked."
Sharen and Jonathan pointed at the magic beast horde racing toward the wall.
Since the main force started operating outside, beasts fleeing in terror or lured in had become common.
Isaac's eyes widened slowly.
'In my previous life... Uldiran handled it alone.'
He'd barely won after a brutal fight.
But now things were different.
Not just Rianna, but Silberna's skills had noticeably improved.
So.
Would it really charge head-on against a force so clearly superior?
Amid the fleeing beasts.
A bloodied, 3-meter humanoid magic beast stood out.
A yeti slipped its palm under the beast's foot.
Then flipped it upward like overturning a table.
Lightning burst from the beast's body like an explosive trigger, rocketing toward the wall at eye-blurring speed before clinging on.
The yeti charred black into a cinder, meeting its end.
"A magic beast's on the wall!"
"It's clinging! Shake it off!"
Rumble!
Lightning struck again.
This time.
Even Isaac felt the thick mana radiating from the wall in all directions.
Just standing atop it made his soles tingle like they were burning away.
Soldiers near it convulsed from shocks, collapsing or charring black.
The beast scaled the wall and stood atop a turret.
Over 3 meters tall.
White, rock-hard skin evoking ice.
Ferocious protruding fangs and four arms.
Weapons embedded in its back and wounds all over proved it had fled.
'I was complacent.'
Many changes had occurred.
The Great Horde's lord had chosen flight due to humanity's reinforced forces.
Lightning no one would have noticed originally.
But Rianna had detected it.
Worried for Isaac's safety, Silberna had agreed to sortie, eager to end the horde quickly.
Looking at each decision.
Nothing was wrong.
Rianna had reported what she sensed.
Silberna and the staff offered sound advice.
Uldiran judged that advancing offered the better odds.
Yet, in the end.
"Grraaaah!"
The overwhelmingly strengthened main force had driven the Great Horde's lord not to fight, but to flee—straight to the wall's worst-case scenario.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
Lightning poured from clear skies around it.
The living calamity pounded its chest with both hands and roared.