Chapter 103: Malidan Barrier

“Helmut?”

The moment Silverna laid eyes on the man outside the barrier, she mumbled under her breath.

No matter how she looked at him, everything about him screamed ‘Helmut,’ which left Silverna feeling bewildered.

Yet in truth, she had never seen such an appearance in Helmut before.

Starting from the eldest son, Lohengrin, all the way down to the youngest, Edel…

Even if she recalled Alois, who had died, she couldn’t quite say any of them resembled this man.

And yet, for some reason—

‘He feels more… real.’

It felt oddly genuine. Silverna suddenly shook her head, trying to dispel the strange thought.

‘Don’t think about pointless things.’

First and foremost, protecting the barrier took priority.

As if it had been waiting for this moment, Malidan Barrier bustled with activity to repel the onslaught from the Transcendents.

In fact, their steps and actions carried a certain liveliness. Rather than waiting aimlessly, the North far preferred having the enemy in plain sight.

The only real obstacle was the storm-like wind.

It wasn’t magic, yet it howled through the Malidan Barrier with tremendous force, as if it would swallow people whole.

Its fierce gusts made it difficult to form proper defensive lines.

“Miss! Are you alright?!”

Hunched over against the wind, Silverna only nodded in response to Anna’s urgent question beside her.

In that tense moment, Silverna gripped her spear in both hands and sprang to her feet.

“Miss?!”

Her frail body looked as if it might be carried off by the gale, but her two legs stood steadfast.

A white aura supported both legs, allowing her instead to straighten her back and shout boldly:

“Do you really think the North’s barrier would cower before its enemies?!”

Galvanized by the fierce cry of this spirited young woman, the other soldiers slowly got up and steadied themselves.

They already disliked the idea of crouching down when the enemy was right before them, even if the cause was the storm.

And since such details directly influenced morale, Silverna had responded perfectly.

“…….”

The Transcendent forces, sensing their gusts had failed to break the defenders’ spirits, also began to move in earnest.

“Stay calm! Handle them the way you always do, and there’ll be no problem!”

After all, her father, Uldiran Caldias, would arrive soon.

Moreover, so long as there were no internal issues, Silverna firmly believed Malidan Barrier would never fall.

Why was she so certain?

[ Do you know why they don’t pick a direct confrontation?

Because they’re that short on combat strength. If we engage them head-on, we’ll end up winning in a contest of raw power.

Which means if they’re coming at us openly, it’s proof they’ve got nothing else left. ]

Isaac, an authority on the Transcendents, had once said so.

[ They’ll never, ever break through you. ]

‘Not even I, who’ve lived in the North all my life, would dare say something so absolute, you fool.’

The words would make her laugh dryly whenever she recalled them. Silverna bore a clear memory of the horror the Transcendents could unleash.

She had crossed spears with them more than once, and their power was undeniable.

Even though Silverna carried tremendous pride in the North’s defensive walls, she still thought there was no such thing as an absolute guarantee when facing beings beyond human limits.

‘Don’t act like you’ve witnessed it all firsthand.’

Still, Isaac plainly trusting in the North’s barrier was exactly what allowed Silverna to wear a confident smile at this moment.

The Transcendents charged toward the barrier.

Some took the form of beasts, some had wings, others looked almost human.

They came in a surprising variety of shapes, much like demonic beasts, lending the battle a strange resemblance to a monster subjugation—

But this was war.

The ones at the rear, brandishing staves and bombarding them with deep crimson ritual like splatters of paint, were particularly annoying.

When facing monsters, usually you just had to watch out for flying boulders at worst.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Their spells collided with the barrier.

Yet, not even the slightest damage or crack formed on Malidan Barrier under their feeble barrage.

“This is nothing. The rocks monsters throw at us are more dangerous than this.”

“Indeed.”

Anna, standing beside Silverna with her weapon at the ready, glanced upward.

“The flyers are the real issue.”

Their superior hides could even repel arrows. Despite the rain of arrows unleashed upon them, the Transcendents sustained only minor injuries before landing atop the barrier.

“Never fight them alone!”

Individually, their combat power was overwhelming. Even if they weren’t all that strong, it was obvious they surpassed ordinary soldiers.

Well-prepared against Transcendents to begin with, the soldiers of Malidan quickly formed squads of two or three to counter the invaders.

“Hrrmph!”

Silverna’s spear soared high into the sky, piercing the chest of a crow-like Transcendent.

“Grrruk?!”

Letting out a strangled cry, the creature convulsed, body dragged earthward as if sucked in by the aura clinging to Silverna’s spear.

“Hup!”

As Silverna retrieved her spear through that same aura, she whipped it around again at the hapless Transcendent now yanked down within reach, finishing it off cleanly.

‘So this is what they meant by calling me a genius.’

It had only been half a year since she had immersed herself in honing her aura.

The woman whom Silent Sword had repeatedly called a prodigy had achieved dazzling growth.

Now her spear spun toward the other Transcendents landing on the barrier.

Meanwhile, Anna was rallying soldiers as she sprinted across the ramparts.

“Over here! They’re scaling the wall on this side!”

In the brief moment their eyes were drawn to the sky, Anna and the soldiers hurled or thrust their spears at the Transcendents climbing up the barrier.

It was a chaotic battlefield both above and below, yet everyone moved in unison to fight back. And then—

A single spear sliced through the air.

Crackle!

Charged with electricity, it instantly scorched the surrounding Transcendents pitch-black and sent them plummeting from the wall. The spear, which looked like it would continue flying straight ahead, suddenly reversed course along the same path it had taken.

Its destination—

Thud!

The man who caught the spear crackling with lightning was none other than Uldiran Caldias—the guardian of the Malidan barrier.

“Not bad,” he remarked.

Though Isaac possessed a Bricalla blade, that was something crafted from the byproducts Rihanna had provided. Naturally, they hadn’t used up all the bones and hides on just one weapon.

“The Margrave has arrived!”

“Don’t give in! We are humanity’s shield!”

“Protect our families! Defend our nation! Uphold peace!”

The very appearance of Uldiran alone radically changed the atmosphere. Even though they had prepared for a Transcendent ambush, it was undeniably threatening.

But now that Uldiran was here with a spear in hand, it felt as if everything would somehow turn out alright.

“He really is my father,” Silverna said with a proud grin.

After Arandel Helmut died, people spoke of a new era dawning. Many praised it as a golden generation that would safeguard the kingdom from here on out.

Yet here he stood—

The last living legacy of the old age, the guardian of the North, firmly holding his ground.

Atop the highest spire of the barrier—where Bricalla had once stood—Uldiran now surveyed the battlefield below.

As expected, the Transcendents’ offensive did not involve large numbers. Compared to a massive swarm, their forces were almost meager. On the other hand, the quality of each and every soldier was incomparably higher.

Even so, Uldiran felt no hint of impending defeat.

He was standing on top of the barrier.

So it would never fall.

“Hm…?”

He was in the middle of charging lightning into Bricalla again, preparing to hurl the spear once more. Then his eyes fell on a red-haired man at the center of the Transcendent group.

There was no way not to notice him.

“Helmut?”

Just like Silverna, even Uldiran thought of Helmut when he saw that man. In fact, the red-haired man was also staring right back at Uldiran. Feeling his battle-lust surge, the Margrave murmured:

“A shame.”

It was wartime, and he was a commander.

He had long harbored a bit of regret over never surpassing Arandel Helmut, but now was not the moment for settling old scores. Fulfilling his role took precedence. Uldiran threw his spear once more.

This time, he aimed for the spellcasters.

Like splashes of dark red paint, their attacks rained down continually, inching closer to staining Malidan Barrier. They caused no real damage yet, but that only made Uldiran act faster.

‘They wouldn’t do this for no reason.’

For humans, Transcendent spellcasters remained a mysterious force. They looked similar to sorcerers, yet the Transcendents did not manipulate mana, and they clearly operated in realms beyond conventional magic.

Regenerating bodies, enslaving followers, meddling with life force—such forbidden arts were impossible via normal magic.

Crack!

A spear roaring with lightning tore through the sky toward the spellcasters.

However, before it could strike them, the spear was batted aside and embedded itself into the ground.

The red-haired man had swatted away Uldiran’s spear with his own weapon, long locks whipping about in the wind.

“Oh?”

Uldiran’s lips curled into a faint smile.

That man, too, silently stepped forward, eyes fixed on Uldiran.

***

Around the time Isaac and Clarice returned to the capital with their companions, the first news that greeted them was nothing short of shocking.

“Malidan Barrier… has vanished.”

It wasn’t collapsed or destroyed.

Quite literally—

The barrier had suddenly disappeared without a trace.

– – The End of The Chapter ––

 

[TL: Join Patreon to support the translation and to read up to 5 chapters ahead of the release: https://www.patreon.com/readingpia

 

Join our Discord server for regular updates and have fun with other community members: https://discord.com/invite/SqWtJpPtm9 ]