Chapter 15 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: White Tiger's Pursuit
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I thought it was at least sweeping away some fallen leaves.
Anyone watching a person get sent flying so helplessly would probably think the same.
"Gaaahhh!"
"Huff!"
The escorts meant to protect the nobles could do nothing but scream.
The Transcendent was flaunting its full might without restraint.
"Ah, Lord Isaac!"
Jonathan urgently stepped in front of Isaac and shouted.
"You have to run!"
Staying here meant death.
But Isaac's gaze was fixed solely on the Transcendent in the shape of a tiger.
'Swinging a greatsword?'
Isaac stared piercingly at its greatsword, as if he couldn't even hear Jonathan calling him.
Even after shaking him several times with no response.
Pffuk!
Silberna's spear plunged into the Transcendent's back.
"You... bleed too, huh."
Silberna wrenched up the corner of her mouth in a forced smirk as she yanked out the spear.
Drip... drip!
The thick-looking blood of the Transcendent trickled down its back, and it slowly turned toward her.
"So there's at least one human worth watching."
Despite the spear in its back, it didn't seem greatly pained. Instead, as if its body was finally warming up, it smoothly swung the greatsword through the air to engage her.
Meanwhile.
The other nobles were fleeing.
The brief exchange had already made the outcome obvious, and the innate terror from the Transcendent was too much for the greenhorns to endure.
"Lord Isaac! For now, we have to run!"
Unable to bear seeing Isaac standing there dumbfounded, Jonathan finally tried to hoist him onto his back.
"Jonathan."
Isaac pushed him away and asked.
"You confident in your stamina?"
"Pardon?! Suddenly? What do you mean?!"
"Can you carry me all the way to the Mallidan Wall?"
At the question, Jonathan's eyes widened as he pounded his chest with a fist.
"I will get it done, no matter what. I'm the knight sworn to protect you, Lord Isaac! So right now—!"
"Good. Then wait here."
"Pardon?"
Jonathan, inwardly proud of what had felt like a perfect heroic moment, panicked as Isaac brushed past him.
"Lord Isaac?!"
"Get ready to run. We have to go right now."
"What do you—!"
Jonathan's words cut off.
Because Isaac had stepped right in front of the two fiercely clashing fighters.
"Isaac?!"
Silberna, barely parrying the greatsword, looked at him in shock.
He didn't answer her unspoken question of why he hadn't fled.
'There's only one way to win here.'
The Transcendent would never let a human who had seen it live.
Once it finished with Silberna and chased the fleeing nobles, they'd be caught in no time.
Coldly calculating, even if they started running now, the Transcendent might reach the Mallidan Wall first and lie in wait.
So.
He had to draw its attention.
Show it there was one human it couldn't just brush off.
Isaac volunteered for the role and stepped forward.
How?
To a Transcendent that saw all humans as the same prey.
How could Isaac convince it he was special prey?
"Run! Isaac! That's a monster! Not your average beast!"
Despite Silberna's desperate cry, Isaac didn't slow his steps.
Instead, he kept cross-verifying if his judgment was correct right up to the end.
And finally.
One single phrase.
The moment his breath carried it on the wind.
"..."
The Transcendent halted its greatsword.
"Wh-what?!"
Silberna, struggling to block its blade, was bewildered.
She hadn't heard what Isaac said or why it suddenly stopped.
However.
The Transcendent's gaze was already on Isaac.
"Just now."
Its brow twisted grotesquely, a faint tremor unlike it in its voice.
"What did you say?"
Isaac met the beast's blue eyes with a mocking sneer.
"Raven Swordsmanship. The style Blackhand teaches in-house."
Blackhand was one of the kingdom's noble houses, and one of the dispatched nobles belonged to it.
"I was confused at first. The greatsword swings made me think greatsword techniques. But no. Considering your size and strength, I should've looked at one-handed sword styles instead."
To it, a human greatsword wasn't much different from a one-hander.
"Traces of that style are everywhere. Especially the way you deliberately widen your stance too much to control your center of gravity—it's identical."
"..."
"Want me to tell you something? You don't need to widen your stance that much. Your feet aren't shaped like a human's."
"Grrrng."
The Transcendent unwittingly glanced down at its own stance.
"Know what that means?"
Despite Isaac's meaningful smile, the Transcendent said nothing.
No need to overthink it.
"Blackhand taught you swordsmanship. They must be the ones trying to trade Holstein's contraband too."
But Blackhand apparently had no intention of a fair trade.
Sending a Transcendent instead of gold said as much.
The raiders probably would've met the same end even without touching the beast horde.
"I've always wondered how Transcendents got info on the kingdom and moved on it."
A question lingering since his past life, now answered.
"Turns out there was a traitor in the kingdom."
The Transcendent gripped its greatsword tighter.
Veins bulging, it licked its protruding fangs with a long tongue.
An existence it absolutely couldn't let go.
Not prey anymore.
Now a man who had to die.
"You... just swung a sword a few times."
The Transcendent muttered, sounding somewhat indignant.
It hadn't done anything to reveal its identity.
Short words, greatsword swings—impossible to pinpoint.
"And from that alone, you figured us out... and even the traitor?"
Isaac crossed his arms and chuckled.
"If you think it's 'just' that, then that's as far as you go."
"Hah."
The Transcendent let out a hollow laugh.
It admitted it.
That man was, as he said.
"A sage. A sage of the sword."
Just from a few swings in front of him, he'd unraveled the truth without effort.
"I am impressed by your profound wisdom and knowledge. May I ask your name?"
"Isaac."
"Right, Isaac."
Clearly different from the other random prey.
"You must die."
"Isaac!"
Silberna's urgent voice.
She desperately thrust her spear at the Transcendent's back, but it sliced only air.
The Transcendent had already kicked off the ground, charging straight at Isaac.
The others could be spared.
But this man had to die.
It had gleaned this much from one fight.
Insight into dozens of things from a habitual swing.
'Must kill him!'
Letting him live meant imagining how many times he'd trip them up ahead—terrifying.
The Transcendents weren't ready yet.
His kin needed time to drive out humans and devour the continent!
"Lord Isaac!"
But like Silberna's spear, the Transcendent's greatsword also cut air.
Jonathan, emitting a faint red aura from his whole body, was already running with Isaac hoisted on his back.
"Jonathan, what the hell is that Red Aura?!"
"N-not the time for that!"
Isaac couldn't help lamenting at Jonathan's pathetically weak aura.
A Helmunt knight handling the Helmunt signature Red Aura this poorly?
"Get your head straight! You're the only one who can outrun that thing right now!"
The overwhelming physical prowess of Helmunt direct lineage.
They were the only humans who could match Transcendents.
Helmunt knights trained with those direct descendants and wielded Red Aura.
"O-okay!"
Isaac glanced back as he heard Jonathan's reply.
The Transcendent, greatsword in its mouth, racing on all fours.
"Damn."
Isaac cursed at the insane speed.
Much faster than expected.
Jonathan, as a Helmunt knight, had impressive speed and stamina, but.
They'd be caught any second.
No slipping on the snowy ground despite running, trees sprouting everywhere mere toys to it.
"Jonathan! Head to the rear wall! That's the way!"
"Hah! Hah! Pardon?! What?!"
"Rear wall! Where the beasts are swarming! Go there!"
"Whaaat?! No! Hah! That's beast central! Hah!"
"That's the only way to survive!"
"Hah! Hah!"
Jonathan looked like he wanted to argue but was too exhausted to speak.
The moment Isaac turned to check how far it had followed.
"Grrrng."
"...!"
Already right on their tail.
Close enough to touch if he reached out—Isaac swallowed reflexively.
'This fast!?'
Unable to hide his shock, Isaac drew the sword he'd grabbed.
Swinging while carried wouldn't pack much force, but he had to try.
"Grrrng!"
It gripped the greatsword from its mouth and swung.
Power to bisect them both.
But Isaac angled his blade and barely deflected it.
"Nngh!"
Bracing with his opposite arm against the blade let him hold once.
"Ah, shit—!"
His grip failed, and he dropped the sword.
Just one deflection, and he lost his weapon.
"I won't deny your great knowledge."
The Transcendent muttered with hatred.
It realized its swing was blocked because Isaac knew Raven Swordsmanship inside out.
"But now it's over."
The moment it swung again.
"Sorry, Lord Isaac!"
Jonathan released the hand supporting Isaac's rear.
Then raised both arms to grab under Isaac's armpits.
"Glory to Helmunt!"
"Whoaaa?!"
And hurled him forward.
The single strike, all Jonathan's Red Aura condensed, was phenomenal.
Isaac soared like a bird.
He nearly hit branches mid-flight but curled up and didn't crash.
However.
"Jonathan!"
He worried for Jonathan left alone.
It wouldn't prioritize him much, but one swing to sever his neck was plenty.
With its bizarre hatred for humans, expecting survival was slim.
As he swallowed Jonathan's sacrifice.
Isaac finally hit the ground.
"Nngh!"
Not straight to the dirt.
He sank into something sticky.
He realized belatedly it was beast blood.
Beast corpses strewn everywhere.
And the Mallidan Wall in the distance.
They'd apparently repelled the beast assault well.
"Grrrng!"
Then the Transcendent appeared, descending the mountain.
It had chased on all fours in an instant.
It planned to kill him before he reached the wall.
To make Jonathan's sacrifice meaningful.
Isaac sprinted desperately toward the wall.
Not to survive.
To kill that thing.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Transcendent Race, White Tiger.
That was his name.
Called so for his striking pure white fur.
"Grrrng!"
He was racing across the snowy field under the moon.
To catch and kill the black-haired man in the distance.
'The wall's still far. I can kill him!'
He spurred on harder.
That man absolutely could not be spared.
Even if he died here, White Tiger vowed to rip out his throat.
Reaching the melted ground amid beast corpses and blood, his speed surged noticeably.
As the distance closed in seconds.
Arrows rained down on him.
'They noticed from the wall.'
Cover fire to protect that man, it seemed.
'These arrows.'
His thick hide repelled them. Once close enough.
The Transcendent stopped running and gripped the greatsword in his mouth.
"Graaaargh!"
With a fierce roar, he reared back the greatsword, then hurled it straight.
The spinning greatsword flew at Isaac like a windmill.
Just before impact.
Shreeeeek!
Boom!
A massive spear from the sky split the greatsword in half and sent it flying.
"What...?"
Its blue eyes filled with shock.
A single spear embedded in the ground.
As the Transcendent slowly looked up, atop the wall.
A giant of a man looked down, arms crossed.
"Ah."
Before coming here, the Blackhand nobles had warned him repeatedly.
'Never meet him.'
'He's said to rival the Helmunt family head.'
'The north's hero. Guardian god of the wall.'
The Margrave.
"Uldiran... Caldias..."
The Transcendent realized for the first time in his life he was trembling before a human.
Those coldly sunken eyes saw him no different from the beast corpses around.
"Graaaargh!"
The Transcendent roared and charged again.
Judging he had to kill Isaac somehow, even at the cost of his life.
Crunch! Crunch!
Its legs pounded the ground like hammers.
Seeing Uldiran grab another spear, it charged even wilder.
"Graaarrgh!"
As the distance to Isaac closed, it leaped.
But again.
Shreeeeek!
Another spear sliced through the northern night air.
Crunch!
Something entered its vision.
The spear shaft.
Too late, it realized it had pierced its body, skewering its heart.
"Ah... aaah—."
In lament, it reached out.
"I... saac!"
Because it had let him live.
How many kin would die now.
Mingled with regret, it exhaled its last breath.
White Tiger's body went limp, head dropping with eyes wide open.
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