Chapter 121: Great One

Let’s turn back time a little.

So, how was Isaac and Rianna able to cross the dimensions and reach the Malidean Wall?

“Dammit! More of them are still coming!”

“When will the main force arrive?!”

Though they had defeated Helric and sent him back, the Transcendent Race continued to cross over as per the price of the sorcery.

Rianna was holding Isaac tightly, protecting him, while her siblings wielded their greatswords to protect them both.

“Why can’t I be the one holding him?! You’re stronger than me, Sis!”

Isaac really wanted to pretend he hadn’t heard Sharen’s complaint, but the Transcendents’ assault was really too much for her to handle.

“…”

Eventually, Rianna had no choice but to stand up.

“You should rest a little, Isaac.”

When she saw his pale face as he caught his breath, looking as if he might collapse at any moment, Rianna’s expression hardened.

She didn’t want him to be in such a bad state, but she knew that there was nothing she could do for him.

Instead, she just swung her greatsword to drive the creatures away, so that he could take a good rest as soon as possible.

The Transcendents’ numbers weren’t that great.

Moreover, now that the right and left wings rejoined, they had a clear numerical advantage here.

The Transcendents who had crossed over here had no choice but to turn into the human’s prey.

Thud!

“Grrk!”

Rianna’s greatsword pierced the chest of a Snake Transcendent and pinned it to the ground.

As it spilled blood, waiting for its death…

Isaac slowly stood up and approached it.

“Isaac?”

“Maybe…”

He hesitated a little.

Looking down at the dying Transcendent, he eventually muttered.

“I could use the vortex to cross over there myself…?”

It’s like a passage, isn’t it?

If they’re being moved between dimensions forcibly as the price of their sorcery…

Can’t I just use them to cross over there myself?

At Isaac’s question, everyone’s eyes lit up, but it was clear that was a risky method.

“How will you get back then? Even if it succeeds, only a tiny fraction of our forces can go there.”

“…”

“It’s too dangerous.”

Rianna didn’t want him to go.

So, she tried to grab his clothes, but…

Isaac had already reached out and pressed his knife into the Snake Transcendent’s wound.

“Aaaaargh!”

“Tell me. Where did you come from?”

The snake’s tongue moved, splashing around.

It groaned in pain, but just like its forked tongue, it had a loose mouth.

“W-Wall…! W-We were attacking the inner side of the wall!!”

“Inner side of the wall? The Malidean Wall?”

“Y-Yes! Grrk! W-We were trying to avoid Uldiran—”

At that, Isaac’s eyes widened.

Now that the possibility presented itself, retreat was no longer an option for him.

“I’m going to use this one to cross over there.”

“Isaac!”

That was a rare occasion when Rianna raised her voice, but he didn’t back down.

His resolute eyes were filled with the determination to save the Malidean Wall no matter what.

“…Fine. I’ll go with you.”

In the end, Rianna conceded and stepped forward.

“You know that we might not be able to return, right?”

No one knew when the price of the sorcery would end. If it ended before they could return, they might just be trapped on the other side forever.

But Rianna refused to back down.

“I’d rather die with you than worrying whether you’re safe or not for the rest of my life.”

“…”

Isaac’s body flinched for a moment.

His mind wandered to the Rianna from his previous life.

Those words implied, if she had loved him until the end of her life, she would have been living each day worrying about his safety.

With that in mind, he couldn’t tell her no anymore.

“Lohengrin.”

Rianna immediately called the eldest son of the family.

“From this moment until I return, I’m transferring all authority of Helmont to our youngest brother, Edel.”

“Mm. I’ll be taking—What?!”

Lohengrin had naturally assumed that she’d appoint him to the position, but it turned out she appointed the youngest brother who was busy managing the estate with his second brother instead.

Unfortunately for him, Rianna’s decision was final.

“That child has a talent that Helmont doesn’t possess. If I have to specify…”

She takes after Mother.

“If you guide him well, Helmont’s foundation will become solid. This is my order as the family head.”

Family Head’s order…

Lohengrin gritted his teeth, but in the end, he nodded, exhaling a bitter breath.

“I received the Family Head’s command.”

Part of the reason why was because he knew where Rianna was going.

This could just be their last farewell.

At that moment, the Snake Transcendent’s body began to twist. A vortex began to open in the Snake Transcendent’s chest. Seeing this, Isaac and Rianna held each other’s hands and moved towards it.

“Me too!”

“Oof?!”

Suddenly, Sharen jumped on Isaac’s back, tilting his body forward and accelerated the transfer even more.

“So that’s how you got here?”

Isaac nodded at Silverna’s question as she hastily wiped away her tear stains.

They were both in poor physical condition, but seeing each other like this was enough to give them strength.

“…Move.”

A palm moved in, trying to separate the two who were close enough that their noses almost touched.

The gaze that Rianna threw at Silverna had turned similar to the one that she’d throw towards the Transcendent Race in general.

“A-Ahem, I was too happy, so…”

Silverna awkwardly scratched her cheek.

But, the moment Rianna retracted her palm, she rushed to Isaac again.

Befitted of a Northern Hunter.

After locking her prey in with her gaze, her lips moved towards their destination without any hesitation whatsoever, and with such an amazing precision…

Smooch!

When their lips overlapped, Isaac was thrown into a surprise, opening his eyes wide.

Meanwhile, Silverna closed her eyes tightly and did her all to follow the kissing technique Anna had taught her—one that she got from romance novels.

“…!”

Of course, Rianna wouldn’t let them continue just like that.

She quickly tore them apart, causing Silverna to fall on her bottom.

Though she fell, the faint smile on her lips, and the way she licked them with her tongue showed how satisfied she was from that act.

“It’s good that I got my first kiss before dying.”

“Y-You…!”

Rianna stomped her feet, wanting to say something, but…

“What? You’re just his ex-wife, why are you fretting about this?”

Silverna shrugged as she said that.

“You said that, but your face is bright red, Miss.”

Like Anna said, her words were the contrast of her face; it was burning red, and it was obvious that she was trying to appear calm.

“That’s our lady.”

“Hail the Northern Amazon!”

“Northern Women will never let our prey escape!”

Behind them, the Malidean Soldiers quipped, nodding with satisfaction.

Silverna’s aggressive action seemed to have pleased them.

“Whoa…”

Meanwhile, Sharen, who was behind Isaac, uttered that exclamation of surprise while looking at him.

Isaac looked surprised for a bit, but he quickly wiped his lips with the back of his hand and went on with his business as usual.

“How’s the situation?”

“…Huh? A-Ah well…”

While everyone was making a fuss, forgetting about their current situation, he, the person who was in the center of all the fuss, looked calm, as if nothing had happened.

Though she felt strangely upset at this, Silverna quickly reported the situation of the inner wall.

“Honestly, our situation won’t improve just because a few of you came. The wall’s mechanism is malfunctioning, the cold it’s emitting is getting uncontrollable. That stopped the Transcendent Race’s offensive, but… There are still many of them inside the inner wall… Moreover, our supplies are running out. We don’t even have the strength to hold a spear now.”

As she said, the soldiers behind her were clearly emaciated. The fact that so many of them had survived despite being in such poor condition was pretty much a miracle.

“What about the margrave?”

At that question, Silverna’s expression darkened rapidly.

“…Father told me he was going to block the entrance to the inner wall. Since the entrance can only accommodate two to three people at once, he said that he’d block it alone.”

The fact that the inner wall was teeming with Transcendents implied something.

Has Uldiran fallen?

This situation is worse than I thought.

As Silverna had stated, their situation wouldn’t improve even after Isaac’s and Rianna’s arrival.

Seeing how the other soldiers’ expressions also didn’t look bright, it was clear that they shared the same opinion as her.

“…I think I should first confirm whether Lord Uldiran is alive or not. What do you think?”

Isaac asked Rianna and Silverna. The two women were the leaders and commanders of their respective soldiers, after all.

For a moment there, they hesitated.

Rianna was worried that they might have to face the Transcendent Race head-on if they were going to the entrance.

Meanwhile, Silverna wanted to go so badly, but she was afraid that her judgement was clouded by her emotion.

“Honestly, I think that there would be no Transcendents at the entrance.”

Isaac looked through the window in the corridor. The fog completely covered the ground, so he couldn’t see anything down below.

“The Transcendents that have entered are only those that can climb walls or have wings.”

As he pointed to the corpses of the Transcendents, the eyes of the two women flashed.

Due to the urgent situation, they failed to notice it, but as he said, the Transcendents who got in were highly mobile units.

“Then…!”

Expectation settled in Silverna’s eyes.

But, he didn’t say anything.

He didn’t want to give her false hope, so he just nodded before saying.

“Let’s go. The margrave might still be fighting down there.”

And so, they embarked to the entrance of the inner wall.

Their goal, to find Uldiran.

They encountered a few Transcendents here and there, but Rianna’s greatsword cut them down viciously, as if she was venting her frustration on them.

After she cut down a Transcendent that appeared from behind, she walked back to Isaac’s side at the front.

“Hey.”

At that moment, Silverna grabbed Rianna’s wrist and called her in a soft voice.

“…What?”

Her red eyes contained a deeper hostility than when she was glaring at the Transcendents.

“Why does he look so…unaffected…?”

Silverna asked, pointing to Isaac’s back, who was calmly moving forward.

Her face was red with embarrassment as she asked, making Rianna jealous.

“I don’t know.”

“Is it because he’s used to it from doing it a lot with you?”

“We didn’t do it much either.”

“Really? What about back before you two got married?”

Flinch-!

A frown appeared on Rianna’s face as she glared at her.

“Isaac isn’t such a loose person.”

“I know, but… He’s too calm…”

“That’s a given, considering the situation.”

“I guess so, but… Haaa… I wish he’d be a bit more conscious of it.”

Rianna shifted her gaze slightly downward. Silverna’s hand that was holding her spear was trembling.

This sight made her realize that there was a deeper reason why Silverna talked about Isaac’s reaction so much.

She’s scared.

‘Is my father okay?’

They were on their way to look for the answer to that question.

It was inevitable that dark thoughts would occupy her mind, and so she forcibly mentioned Isaac to push those thoughts away.

…

But, even if Rianna knew this, it didn’t make it feel any more pleasant.

By now, they were approaching the inner wall’s entrance.

The closer they got to it, the thicker the cold became, and ironically, the lesser the number of the Transcendents they encountered.

When they finally reached the entrance…

They could see a pair of a man and a woman.

The man was blocking the entrance, while the woman was embracing him from behind.

“F-Father…! Mother!”

Without hesitation, Silverna rushed forward.

The man standing still slowly turned his head. His body was covered in wounds, but the moment he saw his daughter, he let out a wide grin.

“Take care of your mother. At this rate, she’s gonna freeze to death.”

“No, Dear. I’m staying with you.”

Uldiran’s wife, Seleni Cardias, had her arms wrapped around his waist.

Her tears had long since frozen, sticking to her cheeks, showing how desperate she had been.

“Father…? Y-Your legs—“

As they approached the couple, his lower body, which had been covered by Seleni’s body, was revealed.

Everything below his waist was frozen solid.

As if that part of his body had become an ice sculpture.

“T-The wall’s cold—”

“No, that’s not it! This stupid man—!”

Seleni shouted, her tears welled up again.

“He can’t stand anymore, so he froze his own legs—!”

Even as she shouted that, the corners of Uldiran’s mouth didn’t drop.

The group couldn’t hide their bewilderment.

But, at the same time they couldn’t help but admire the man before them.

Just so that he could continue fighting…

He had intentionally frozen his legs to defend the entrance to the inner wall until the very end.

“Silverna.”

At that moment, he called out to his daughter, his voice calm.

“To me, as your father, as long as I’ve given you my final teaching, that’s enough.”

Tears flowed from Silverna’s eyes again. She nodded vigorously and confessed to her father.

“F-Father… Y-You are my proud father…”

Be great.

As the first Cardias had said.

The Guardians of the North, their predecessors, had always been great, and Uldiran was no exception.

And yet, he let out a bitter breath.

“Hmph… In the end, that hunting dog’s words aren’t entirely wrong. If it had been Arandel—”

“Father!”

She didn’t want to hear it.

In her eyes, no one else would have been able to accomplish this much.

Arandel Helmont might have been an extraordinary monster, but that didn’t mean her father was inadequate.

But still, Uldiran couldn’t help but think of Arandel. He believed that if it was him who was stuck here instead, the outcome would surely have been better.

Like a shadow, such a thought continued to follow Uldiran’s back.

At that moment, Rianna stepped in front of Silverna.

“My father… Until the moment of his death, told us to be arrogant. He told us… That’s how to not dishonor those who died by our sword.”

“Hmph, that’s just like him.”

Uldiran nodded.

Then, Rianna continued.

“Father has always been like that. Arrogant. His sword is the one thing he’s most confident of. And he…”

“…”

Perhaps it was due to her calm tone.

The sincerity in her words could be clearly conveyed.

“Never once did he deny the claim that you are his equal, Margrave.”

“…!”

Hearing that, his eyes gradually widened.

Strength unconsciously entered his arms.

That was how shocking and exciting those words sounded in his ears.

“That’s the kind of person he was. He didn’t speak of it, but it’s exactly because he didn’t speak of it why it’s significant. Because it means that he acknowledged it.”

Uldiran Cardias was a man equal to Arandel Helmont.

“Heh, hahaha! That bastard! If he were here, I’d like to give him a punch!”

Rianna closed her eyes, bowing her head.

“Please help us. To get out from here, we still need your strength, Margrave.”

Crack!

Cracks were formed in the ice.

Crack!

As fragments began to fly from the long cracks, Seleni Cardias stepped back.

And then…

Crack!

His frozen legs began to move again.

“Damn Helmont. Provoking me until the end.”

A refreshing smile spread across Uldiran face as he said this.