The Son-In-Law Of A Prestigious Household Wants A Divorce-Chapter 44: Transcendence

The currently charging Brikala showed a madness that it hadn’t shown before.

Like a whipped warhorse, it forcefully maintained a combat state by burning its body with electricity.

On its two feet and four hands, its charging posture would already be enough to intimidate any humans.

But, the man that was facing the beast had diverged from the word ‘human’, making his move first.

“Glory to Helmoooont!”

Jonathan, the Helmont fanatic.

His thick, sticky Aura that emanated from his greatsword had transformed into something that was Crimson Essence in name only.

Boom!

As the two monsters clashed, Aura and electricity scattered in all directions.

But, there was an obvious gap in power from the start.

The moment they collided, Jonathan’s greatsword was thrown back, and the beast trampled over him, crushing him as it passed.

“Kuuk!”

“What was that?! You acted all tough but you ended up doing nothing!!”

Jonathan’s defenses had been broken through so quickly that Sharen’s reaction came a beat late.

Sharen then tried to unleash a horizontal slash, but before she could even swing her sword, Brikala already deflected her greatsword with its fist.

She desperately unleashed her Crimson Essence from her entire body to resist, but...

“Kyaa!”

She, too, couldn’t withstand the beast’s charge and was thrown away.

Had the direction she was thrown into had been slightly off, she would’ve fallen straight down.

“...!”

From the very start, Brikala’s target had always been Isaac.

It recognized him as the only being in this place that could take its life.

I can’t take this guy head-on...!

Though that was the case, it wasn’t like he had anywhere to run away to either.

Moreover, now that Sharen was knocked away, his body had started to freeze again.

Thud!

He planted his right foot firmly forward.

Abandoning the falchion, he placed his hand on the hilt of his last remaining tachi.

[What do you think is the greatest power of your master’s sword?]

‘It’s fear.’

At that moment, a memory flashed through in Isaac’s mind. A question that he answered without  any hesitation.

Hearing his answer, the Grandmaster grumbled, saying [Correct. Being correct makes you less cute, though] with a smile.

Just like when he answered that question, there was no hesitation in Isaac’s subsequent action.

The moment he placed his hand—which had been trembling and stiff from the cold—on the sword’s hilt, he felt an inexplicable freedom.

The beast knew how to think.

It had wisdom, it could reason, learn, and grow.

And because of that...

Thud!

Brikala stopped in front of Isaac and spread its four hands wide, as if on guard.

It knows. Because it knows, it’s afraid. It learned. Because it learned, it’s cautious.

Isaac asked it a question with his gaze.

My Iai.

Could you follow it with your eyes?

My sword, as fast as a flash of light.

Could you block it again, like you did by chance before?

Brikala then turned its unwavering gaze onto Isaac’s tachi.

It focused its attention on it, trying to gauge when the sword would be drawn from its scabbard.

Little did it know that it was merely a bluff.

A lie staked on Isaac’s own life.

After all...

The moment the tachi was drawn, it would be swept up in the electricity, damaging the blade; it would turn into a sword that couldn’t even cut through flesh.

But the beast didn’t know that. It didn’t even know that the tachi at his waist wasn’t the same tachi as the one from before.

Its reasoning made it stand on its feet, its knowledge paints fear in its mind.

The beast had felt death creeping up close once; its anger awakened.

It knew that it couldn’t easily approach Isaac, but...

This standoff only lasted for a moment.

“Krwaaah!”

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Brikala slammed its fist into the ground. Electricity surged along the wall and enveloped Isaac.

It poured like a wave.

He tried to block it by throwing the falchion he had set aside, but its barely changed anything.

In the end, the electricity engulfed his body.

“Kuhuuup!”

He felt like his entire body would explode.

Until just now, his body was stiff, as if it was about to freeze, but now, his skin felt like it was burning; steam rising along with the smell of charred flesh.

“Kroaah!”

Seeing how Isaac’s stance had completely collapsed, Brikala approached him with thunderous footsteps and...

Smack!

It struck Isaac with all its might using the back of its hand.

“Isaaaac!”

Sharen’s scream echoed.

Thanks to this, Jonathan, who had fainted from the beast’s previous onslaught, woke up again, but it was already too late.

Isaac’s body had already been flung away, pushed off the wall, then fell vertically.

With the wall’s cold affecting his body again, turning his muscle stiff, he felt like ice being crushed; even the wind brushing past his body was painful.

So this is how I’d die.

“Some- fell-!”

“Every- catch-!”

“Sir Isa-!”

The broken voices reaching him like tinnitus was the thing that barely kept his consciousness intact.

In his hazy, whitish vision, he saw the towering wall.

Ah.

Before he realized it, his body had already reached the ground.

But there was no impact.

The impact that he thought would cause his immediate death didn’t happen.

“What the fuck were you thinking?!”

The reason was quickly apparent.

Green mana warmly enveloping his body.

The pain that felt like his entire body was being pounded gradually seeped into his skin and disappeared.

He could move his previously stiff fingers again, and his blurry vision returned to normal.

It was Vivian, the mage from the medical room.

“If I hadn’t caught you with my magic, you would’ve died before I could even give you any treatment!”

She shouted, coughing up blood from her use of healing magic.

“You were the one who told everyone to run—! Cough cough! What were you thinking, fighting up—! Hack! Cough!”

She turned her head to the side and spat out phlegm.

Healing magic was known to be a very taxing magic to use, and judging by her haggard face, she seemed to have consumed most of the mana in her body.

“Ah.”

Isaac slowly got up.

He wasn’t in perfect condition, but he was able to fight again.

“Sir Isaac, are you alright?!”

The soldiers of the Malidean Wall surrounding him asked worriedly.

“What’s the situation? How much damage we suffered?”

Isaac brushed off the ice crystals clinging to his body and asked such a question. The answer came immediately.

“We receive no further damage after the initial surprise attack. It’s thanks to your quick judgment in ordering the retreat, Sir Isaac.”

They said those words, as if trying to reassure him that he hadn’t taken the wrong decision.

But Isaac pushed aside the shoulders of the soldiers blocking his way and trudged towards the wall.

“It’s not over yet.”

Sharen and Jonathan are still fighting...!

As he moved forward with heavy steps.

Other soldiers hurriedly blocked his path.

“You can’t!”

“If you go now, you’ll just die!”

“We’ll go in your stead, Sir Isaac! Please, just rest here!”

“Protecting the Malidean Wall is our duty from the start!”

To those who all insisted they would go instead, Isaac asked with bloodshot eyes.

“You? Going up there? Do you all want to freeze to death together?”

“...”

“You’re right, you guys are the guardians of the Malidean Wall. That’s why you should stay here.”

Because...

“If we die, you guys are the ones who’ll have to stop that beast next.”

The longer Brikala stayed on the wall, the more damage it would accumulate.

Which meant, even if Isaac and the others couldn’t kill it, they could just stall it for as long as possible until it tired itself out.

“It’s because you guys are behind us that we can confidently fight while risking our lives.”

Isaac’s words made the soldiers at a loss for words, becoming unable to stop Isaac from advancing, but at that moment...

An unexpected man came blocking his path in their stead.

“What happened to all your other swords?”

“Antonio...”

He snatched Isaac’s tachi and drew it out of its scabbard.

Crack!

The blade was completely ruined and blackened; completely unusable.

It seemed to have been damaged when Isaac was struck by electricity.

“That sword...”

Isaac held out his hand.

Demanding the silver tachi that Antonio was holding.

“I didn’t mean to give it to you like this.”

But now isn’t the time for that.

Thinking as such, Antonio handed over the silver tachi. He then pondered for a bit, trying to voice out his complicated feelings, but in the end, he just smiled, as if passing on the burden.

“Don’t thank me. Thank the lady yourself when she returns.”

Hearing that, Isaac’s eyes widened slightly.

The tachi in his hand felt surprisingly light, and it was clearly imbued with a mysterious energy.

He realized at a glance that it was made from Argentite.

Isaac nodded slightly and as he walked back towards the wall; his body began to heat up intensely.

“Keeack! cough hack“

Judging by the fact that she was vomiting.

It seemed Vivian had cast a heating spell on Isaac’s body as a final measure.

And that let Isaac advance towards the wall unhindered.

The soldiers made way for him, slowly raising their hands.

Without a word...

They saluted, showing their respect to the back of the swordsman going to fight.

*   *   *[Enlightenment?]

On the stairs leading up to the top of the wall...

As he once again felt that freezing sensation reaching his brain...

The voice of his dear Grandmaster echoed in Isaac’s ears.

[When does one gain enlightenment, huh? Tsk, I noticed that my disciples’ growth had been slowing recently, and here you are, asking such a trivial question.]

The Grandmaster, tilting her cup, filled with alcohol, asked back. Her expression was that of lament.

[When do you think?]

‘...’

[Just answer me. I promise I won’t laugh.]

‘When fighting with one’s life on the line? When one swings the sword with their might, or when one struggles to stay alive?’

[Now that’s a romantic answer!]

Everyone would probably answer that way too.

The most common moment when one would reach enlightenment—a process of shedding one’s old self—would surely be...

During a life-or-death crisis.

With one’s back against a cliff.

[Let me ask you the opposite question.]

The Grandmaster shook the empty bottle of alcohol in her hand regretfully.

She adjusted her posture, looked at Isaac, and smiled.

[Why do people die?]

‘...’

[Is it because they got into a life-or-death situation? Because their life got threatened? Yes. Such a thing happens to everyone. Now, the question is, do they get enlightenment every time that happens?]

Isaac’s steps grew heavier.

[Of course not. That’s why they died. So, don’t put any weight on that. It’s called enlightenment because it doesn’t come from something so common.]

By now, he could see the end of the stairs. The wind blew towards him, as if pressing down on his head.

Before long, he arrived at the top of the wall, passing the stairs that were completely frozen over with frost and icicles.

[Haha! So, do you understand now?]

‘Understand what?’

The high-altitude wind swept over his body.

White, frosty breath flowed out his mouth.

Through the hazy white mist, he saw Jonathan and Sharen lay collapsed.

[You still don’t understand? Enlightenment isn’t something so common. That’s why it’s precious. Hence, you should think in the opposite way.]

Brikala, who had been pounding its chest with its four hands, stopped moving.

As if it was fed up with Isaac’s return, it snorted towards him and roared, pouring out its blazing anger.

[Rather than coming in during something that everyone experiences, like death, don’t you think it makes more sense when enlightenment comes in situations that everyone rarely experienced?]

Electricity pierced in all directions like spears, scattering falling snowballs.

Its condensed mana took the form of electricity, and Isaac marveled at how much of it still remained.

‘For example?’

He took his stance.

Boldly putting his right leg forward.

Putting more weight into his left leg, turning it into a pillar that supported his body.

As his hand rested on the tachi at his waist, he naturally fell into the stance he had always taken.

[For example...]

He remembered the Grandmaster’s smile that resembled a crescent moon.

[Well, you should know well from all the manuals you wrote.]

[Who was it that swung the sword whenever the moon shone brightest?]

‘...’

[Who was it that swung the sword at dawn, watched by the stars?]

[Who was it who watched the moon retreat and the sun rise, drenched in sweat?]

[Who was it that shouted earlier than the rooster’s crow?]

[Who was it that repeated this every day?]

[Someone who spent their time like that... Without a doubt, was ‘uncommon’.]

Thud!

The sound of the Grandmaster stamping the ground with her scabbard overlapped with Brikala’s footsteps.

Isaac, suddenly came to his senses, took in the sight of Brikala in front of him, keeping its distance and on guard.

[That person...]

‘...’

[That is the one who has reached what you call enlightenment.]

Crackle!

Brikala’s electricity poured out in all directions. Just as before, it was about to shoot a wave of current to subdue Isaac’s sword.

His sword slid out as if gliding.

Here, in the Northern Region.

He had swung his sword when the moon shone brightest.

He had held his sword even at dawn, watched by the stars.

He had watched the moon retreat and the sun rise, drenched in sweat.

He had shouted earlier than the rooster’s crow.

And...

He had repeated this every day.

“This sword, the moment it’s drawn—!”

It marks the end. No, even beyond that.

Great Iai.

A silver line was drawn.

It extended, and extended again, reaching somewhere unknown.

The beast’s head falling...

Was simply a process in its advancement.

[Still, don’t you think it’s a little shabby to call it ‘enlightenment’?]

[If we have to name it, we should call it...]

[Transcendence.]