Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Bricala
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[Bricala.]
A little different from now.
Silberna said it in a somewhat calm, low, subdued voice.
'Bricala?'
'That bad?'
Kraaaah!
The beast's roar buried Silberna's voice from the memory.
Lightning poured down from all directions, almost as if guarding Bricala. The creature perched atop the spire, its eyes reflecting the now-shoddy Mallidan Wall.
"R-Run aw-!"
Isaac grabbed Sharen as she muttered those words.
He bared his teeth at the terrified girl and shouted.
"If we run, who's gonna fight that thing?!"
"...!"
"I know it's scary, but we have to do this."
The moment the wall fell here, the front lines would break. Who knew how far the damage would spread?
Nearby villages were all but guaranteed to be massacred.
The silver lining was that the beast was already injured.
Blood dripped steadily down the spire, and its roar carried more pain than threat.
But on the flip side...
'It's still this strong even with wounds like that.'
Death throes.
It was squeezing out every last drop of strength, looking like something beyond a mere magical beast.
"Where's the captain?"
He searched for the company commander tasked with leading the remaining troops.
But Jonathan, looking dazed, answered.
"H-He was at that spire over there."
Even from this distance, the crackling electricity made his skin tingle and numb.
Anyone right under it was probably already dead.
"Spears up!"
Isaac bellowed roughly.
Straining his veins to make his voice cut through Bricala's thunder.
"Main force is coming! Hold it back—don't let it cross the wall!"
Isaac, who had seen countless battlefields against the Transcendent Race.
In chaotic situations like this, it would be ideal if everyone followed the chain of command.
But with the commander's status unknown and no clear next in line...
In times like these, the loudest voice grabbing the flag was the fastest way to rally them.
"Spears up!"
"Defend the wall!"
"Main force is almost here!"
As Helmunt's son-in-law and a comrade they'd fought beside until now,
Isaac was trustworthy enough. Everyone started nodding along and following his lead.
Bricala snorted the moment it saw troops gathering around Isaac.
Electricity sparked threateningly from its breath with a crackle!.
Lightning surged across its body again, thick veins bulging on its muscles.
"Scatter! Scatter now-!"
Soldiers hurriedly dashed along the wall and spread out at his urgent cry.
In that instant, Bricala plummeted like a falling bolt of lightning onto where the troops had clustered moments ago.
BOOM!
Part of the wall crumbled, but it held its shape.
Dirt, debris, and currents flew everywhere.
Through it all, Bricala's gaze locked onto Isaac standing directly ahead.
"Grrr."
Crackle!
"Ngh!"
Up close, it wasn't just a sting anymore.
No one could stand in front of it. His eyes burned like they were on fire.
But closing them wasn't an option.
The second he did, Bricala's fist would smash into him without mercy.
"Crimson Blaze Burst!"
While everyone froze under Bricala's pressure and shocks,
The first to move was, surprisingly, the youngest girl there.
Crimson-red Red Aura erupted from her greatsword, engulfing Bricala.
The Red Aura swallowed the surrounding electricity as it reached the beast, but...
"Kraaaah!"
Bricala swatted it away, then slammed its fist into the ground in rage.
"Wh-Why's it acting like that?!"
Sharen cried out at the overreaction.
But Isaac had a hunch.
"Rianna and the Helmunt knights were the main force. It's probably pissed at you for using the same power."
There had to be Helmunt-made scars on its body.
Sure enough, Bricala's eyes fixed on Sharen.
It snorted electrified breath and charged, planting all four hands on the ground.
"Jonathan, help!"
"Glory to the great Helmunt!"
Jonathan rushed to Sharen's side, slamming his greatsword into the ground like a wall.
Seeing it, Sharen mirrored the stance, bracing her greatsword with her shoulder.
BOOM!
Bricala's fist smashed both greatswords at once.
"Gaaahhh!"
"Kuh! Grk!"
They took the brute force head-on but held.
Their Red Auras flared distinct colors, forming a sturdy barrier.
But the beast had four fists.
Bam-boom! Bam-bam! Bam-bam!
No respite—the combos rained down whenever an opening appeared.
"Do something!"
"I'm gonna die!"
Before they could shout, Isaac was already leaping forward.
He stepped on Jonathan's shoulder and vaulted up.
Soaring, he looked down at the beast's head. Amid the stabbing shocks, he drew the sheathed blade from his waist.
'Not messing up this time.'
To atone for his mistake against Nortemus, he'd practiced it endlessly.
The strongest strike Isaac could land now.
Drawing the sword from its sheath in one motion—it was called Iaido.
The sharp sheathed blade slid out silently, slicing through the electricity toward its thick neck.
Shlick!
He definitely cut it.
Isaac made no mistake.
His master would have applauded the clean Iaido hitting true, but...
Crackle-crackle!
Its thick neck bore only a shallow gash unworthy of a scar.
'The electricity dulled the edge...?!'
Even that brief draw couldn't withstand it.
Made feather-light per Isaac's request,
It was ridiculously light, but its durability was abysmal.
"Kraaaahhh!"
The beast bellowed in fury.
It knew.
For that split second, its neck had nearly flown off.
One hand reaching for the greatsword veered toward Isaac instead.
He thought he was dead for a moment.
But just before the fist hit, it twitched and halted.
Pfuk! Pfuk! Pfuk!
While it was distracted, other soldiers stabbed spears into its back.
Thanks to them, Isaac landed unscathed, sighing in relief with cold sweat.
"Isaac, you okay!?"
"Thank goodness!"
The two approached Isaac as he caught his breath, hand on the ground.
As he gritted his teeth, about to apologize for wasting their golden opportunity...
"...Not cold?"
Isaac muttered, stroking the ground.
Numb from the lingering shocks, but a chill pierced his skin.
"Of course it's col—"
Sharen shut her mouth mid-sentence.
She realized the spreading white mist wasn't just from the chaos—it was deliberate.
"What the hell is this?!"
"Ugh! It's cold!"
The cold stabbed even through battle-numbed senses.
Isaac's eyes widened, recalling what he'd once told the two.
'The first Caldias cast magic on the wall to deliberately manipulate the climate and protect the kingdom.'
What if something more had triggered?
The wall sensing danger and activating magic.
Or the runes disrupted by the lightning, going haywire.
Either way.
"Get off the wall!"
Staying here was dangerous.
Crack! Craaack!
Eerie sounds of freezing echoed somewhere.
His boot soles stuck to the ground, hard to peel off.
Northern boots were tough and sturdy, so he could force them free, but
Any longer on the wall, and they'd freeze solid.
"Kraaaagh!"
Bricala's scream rang from behind.
Turning, Isaac saw it struggling, flesh tearing as it tried to lift its feet.
The wall's chill was hurting it too.
'Wait, if we can pin it here—.'
We can stop it.
And maybe freeze it solid to subdue it.
Going down below would be riskier anyway.
It'd just give the beast more room to rampage.
'Unexpected.'
Always before,
He'd only seen the backs of comrades charging into life-or-death fights.
Silent Sword Isaac.
Many praised it as great wisdom.
But Isaac had stood there blankly, watching their struggles, feeling powerless.
Each time, he'd wondered.
Could I do that too?
If I held the sword, fought up front.
Could I charge without hesitation into the inferno where my life was on the line?
'Really unexpected.'
It was literal.
No time to even think.
Isaac was already charging at Bricala.
'All that's left is this sheathed blade and Perlsen.'
He gripped Perlsen.
The sheathed blade would just get blocked by the electricity.
Grasping Perlsen two-handed, he stood before Bricala. The beast tried leaping inward to escape the wall, but
"Where you going?!"
Isaac swung Perlsen wide, slashing its thigh.
A long gash opened, but no blood flowed.
The wound froze faster than blood could spill.
"Grrrng!"
Maybe because of that?
It didn't seem in agony, swatting at Isaac like swatting a fly.
But he'd anticipated it, dodging back and aiming his sword again.
"Kraaaang!"
Another roar.
As if questioning Isaac for blocking its descent from the wall.
Stay here like this,
And both would die.
"Hah."
He tried smirking, but his stiffened cheeks wouldn't move.
Frost crystals formed in his black hair. Hypothermia sapped his strength.
Yet Isaac didn't retreat.
"Either one of us dies—"
Or both.
The lung-freezing cold cut off his words, but
Bricala got the message, surging forward wreathed in lightning.
And then.
Two-colored Red Aura poured from behind.
"God, seriously!"
Sharen, cloaked in crimson-red Red Aura, looked far less affected than the others.
She wore it like armor.
A common method, but hers was precise and fine-woven like a net, partially blocking even the unnatural chill.
Her personal Red Aura, honed from the last fight with Pollu and the snowman to resist the cold.
"Why'd you charge in alone?!"
As Sharen approached, Isaac felt his body warm.
Her Red Aura's influence steadied his trembling hands.
The other Red Aura,
Dark-red and sticky—that was Jonathan's.
Unlike its usual instability full of holes,
It was feral like a beast.
Bricala, struck by it, slid back across the wall.
"Sir Isaac-!"
Jonathan beside him.
His eyes, whites gone and pitch black— a form Isaac had seen once before.
"Hah! Hah! Wh-What if—I turn into a Transcendent?! Then maybe—!"
Isaac smacked the back of Jonathan's head and yelled at his tearful plea.
"Your heart's a rose, remember?! Get a grip!"
Jonathan bit his lip with elongated fangs and bellowed.
"Grooooh! Glory to the great Helmunt! My heart is made of roses!"
"...That's some illness."
Sharen, direct Helmunt blood, muttered. Jonathan pretended not to hear.
His obsession with Helmunt was keeping his sanity intact, at least.
The two differently colored Red Auras enveloped Isaac.
Thanks to them, he could somewhat endure the chill.
"Grrr."
The problem was, to a wise beast, it looked like an opening.
Blue crystals danced through the falling snow.
Mana.
Immense mana, visible to the eye, was condensing toward it.
"Gasp!"
"Th-This is unnerving."
Even Sharen and Jonathan paled. Mana-illiterate Isaac could feel its density through eyes and skin.
And then.
"Kraaaaaah!"
A massive azure bolt of lightning hurtled toward Bricala's head like a whirlwind.
At first, it looked like self-harm.
No, it definitely took damage.
But.
"Kraaah!"
Drool dripped steadily.
Normally, a trivial sight.
"It... isn't freezing."
At Isaac's mutter, the two snapped alert and nodded.
Its drool wasn't freezing.
The lightning cloaking it was leagues beyond before.
The thick white mist couldn't even approach.
Taking damage itself, it had armored in lightning to conquer the cold.
Just like.
"L-Like my method?"
Like Sharen repelling the chill with Red Aura.
Bricala, movement freed, charged the three with thudding steps.