Brald Landon

**Brald Landon** was a veteran AA-Rank adventurer who specialized in broadsword and shield combat. He was the leader of the Dire Tombs Exploration Party, where he met his untimely end due to the sabotage of his party member Lucas Wykes.

## Appearance

Brald is a noble-looking man that stands at about 1.8 meters. He wears a white metal armor that covers his shoulders and chest only, with a cape behind him. He has trimmed blond hair with sharp hazel eyes, which makes him seem like a real lady-killer, in Arthur's words.

## Personality

Brald has a gentleman mannerism, offering Arthur and Jasmine a handshake and an innocent smile on their first meeting. He is confident and takes the lead through the dungeon dive. Brald is a cautious man and may lose his temper when party members disobey his precaution. He becomes reckless upon entering the underground floor where the Elderwood Guardian resides, mindlessly hacking at the vines.

## Background

Brald was a veteran adventurer who lead his own party along with Reginald Bastion, Kriol Masser, and Kriol’s fiancé Clara. Over the years, the four would go on countless adventures, eventually becoming A-Rank adventurers together. The group would unfortunately experience a tragedy when Clara was killed during a dungeon exploration.

## Season 3

Shortly after becoming an AA-Rank adventurer Brald went on a solo exploration into the Dire Tombs, a dungeon infamous for housing undead mana beasts. During his solo raid Brald discovered a hidden entrance that could take him to the bottom of the dungeon. Believing there was an artifact that allowed the creatures to reanimate, Brald marked the entrance before retreating to form the Dire Tombs Exploration Party; consisting of his teammates Reginald and Kriol as well as A-Rank conjurer’s Elijah Knight, Lucas Wykes, Oliver Hemmbet, Samantha Tempest, and AA-Rank augmenter Jasmine Flamesworth and her partner A-Rank augmenter Note.

As the party entered the first level of the dungeon, the group noticed the lack of mana beasts until Brald spotted Batrunners hanging from the ceiling. With everyone in formation, Brald ordered everyone not to waste their mana on the beasts and focused on normal combat. Lucas however, ignored his leader’s orders and engulfed the Batrunners in his Heat Cyclone. Infuriated by his disobedience, Brald scolded Lucas for wasting his mana though Lucas snidely commented that he got the job done. As the group continued to move, Brald rediscovered the secret entrance he had marked. As everyone climbed to the top Brald gave one more warning to the group to stay on guard as he still has no idea what other dangers await them.

While navigating the second level, Samatha was distracted by the sudden rise in temperature when Note saved her from what seemed to be a trap. Brald however revealed that the secret entrance did not contain traps the last time he entered. Note deduced that it was the work of a mana beast. With the group now on high alert they continued to march forward while enduring the rising heat from the next level. Finally arriving at the exit, Brald stopped the party from moving forward as he could sense there was an ominous pressure coming from the cavern ahead.

While making their way through the cavern of geysers, they are ambushed by the sudden appearance of a giant Cavern Worm beast. Kriol quickly put up a barrier between themselves and the monster as Brald reveals that the monster was not present the last time he explored the level, surprising Kriol. The worm began to act strangely as it made tunnels around the party before retreating into the ground. After Kriol put down his water barrier, Oliver expressed his desire to continue the exploration and asked Samatha to follow along behind him in an effort to impress her. Brald warned Oliver not to continue as they needed to asses the situation. Brald’s warnings only fall on deaf ears as Oliver tried to take charge and walked away from the group. As Brald attempted to pull Oliver back, Note noticed the ground was about to erupt and pulled Brald back to safety as he ordered Lucas to cast heatwave barrier around everyone. Before note could warn Oliver to cast a barrier for himself, the entire cavern was engulfed in a sea of fire, bursting from the geysers. As the flames and steam settled the group could only look on in horror at Oliver’s skeletal remains.

As the group regain their composure, Note suggests they should move out. Brald agrees and orders everyone to evacuate before the cavern ruptures again. While they rush towards the exit they are again attacked by the Cavern Worm. Kriol shields the group from the Worms attacks as Brald commanded Elijah and Samantha to stun the worm while it was distracted. While the duo are able to push back the worm, their attacks were not strong enough to harm the monster.

Together with Jasmine and Reginald, Brald attacked the worm head on with Reginald attempting to attack the worm in its blind spots while Brald and Jasmine distracted the beast. While the three are able to hold off the worm they are unable to cause any serious damage. Realizing the worm has a high density to fire attacks, Note increased the heat of his flames and took the opportunity to slice at the worm, creating an opening for Jasmine to injure. Before Brald could order Lucas to finish it off, the worm suddenly retreated into the ground. Believing the situation to be dealt with Brald ordered everyone to evacuate the cavern. Unfortunately the group realized too late that the worm was in fact distracting them before the next eruption. As everyone quickly attempted to shield themselves, Brald noticed Samantha panicking and was unable to quickly form a barrier in time and in the heat of the moment shielded her from the eruption at the sacrifice of his right arm.

Narrowly escaping the cavern, the party took the time to rest while Brald had his arm cauterized by Note. Lucas began to lash out at Brald for their party’s short comings while Brald argued that Lucas was just as much at fault for freezing up during the fight as well as during the eruption. Note, however silenced both of them with his aura pressure and reminded them that they have bigger things to worry about. While Lucas tried to fight back, Note remarks that while Lucas is powerful he has made it apparent that he is also a liability, silencing the arrogant noble.

Note advised Brald that as the party leader he needed to make a decision on whether or not he should continue with the exploration. Not wanting to give up after coming so far, Brald insisted on continuing the exploration as his final dungeon raid, while appointing Note as the new party leader as he was the most level headed and capable of leading the group. With everyone’s agreement (except Lucas) Note accepted the role and continued the exploration.

Making their way towards the end of the tunnel, the party find themselves at another roadblock, as the tunnel was blocked off by a metal wall. Reginald and Jasmine work together to bypass the wall with their combined power, which leads to a forest surrounded in mist. While the group tried to assess the area Kriol dropped his shield and ran into the mist whilst screaming for his deceased fiancé. Jasmine deduces that the mist in the area is inducing hallucinations, which Brald and Reginald confirm as they witnessed Clara’s death. While Samantha put up a water barrier, Lucas once again lashed out at Brald and Reginald for the party’s misfortunes. Brald however does not argue with Lucas.

After Jasmine blows the wind away with her Banshee’s Howl, the party is surprised at the sudden appearance of so many vines. Afterwards, Brald, Jasmine, and Note hacked away at the vines to clear a path. As the vines continued to grow back rapidly, Brald began to attack recklessly, screaming that mere vines would not be able to hold back an AA-Rank adventurer. While distracted by his own madness, Brald was entangled by the roots. Note quickly freed Brald from the vines and reprimanded Brald for his behavior, asking if he was planning on leaving the dungeon alive. Ashamed of his actions, Brald tried to regain his composure and defend his teammates only to be consumed once again at the sight of the perpetrator of the vines; The Elderwood Guardian.

While Reginald and Elijah tried to hold off the monster, Note tried to help the party escape. While Reginald was captured by the Guardian, Note ordered Lucas to aid Reginald, only for Lucas to attack Note pointblank. Believing they were all goners, Lucas attempted to sacrifice his teammates while he escaped alone. As his teammates laid injured, Brald quickly sprinted to Elijah to protect him from the Elderwood Guardian. Brald unleashed his full power in an attempt to hold off the beast, burning a giant gash into it’s body. While the attack injured the Elderwood Guardian, it did not leave any significant damage, only infuriating the monster as it set its sights on Brald. With his spirit broken, Brald laid down his sword as the Elderwood Guardian entangled him in its vines, killing the veteran adventurer.

While his efforts were in vain, Note was able to recover in time to use his integrate phase of his beast will to kill the Elderwood Guardian. After the remaining exploration members escaped, the adventurer’s guild dispatched a recovery team to retrieve the bodies of the deceased members, including Brald who was returned to his family.

## Relationships

Kriol and Reginald: Kriol and Reginald are Brald’s longtime friends and teammates who he has gone on countless adventures with. Kriol and Reginald trust Brald to lead them in their dungeon raids, having absolute faith in him. Brald was also close to Kriol’s wife Clara and was mournful when she died.

## Abilities & Skills

Brald is an augmenter mage, someone who can use magic within their bodies to enhance their attacks but also able to shoot out magic after reaching a certain level. Brald was a veteran adventurer capable of analyzing and adapting to his situations, always keeping his guard regardless of the level of threat he faced. As an AA-Rank Adventurer, Brald was capable of soloing dungeon raids, even managing to explore halfway through the Dire Tombs, a dungeon that had not successfully been explored, single handedly.

**Fire Elemental:** As a light yellow core mage, Brald has a single specialization in fire that he emits from his body when in combat. He can engulf his armor and sword in flames to augment their strength. He is able to change the level of heat to strengthen his flames. His flames were powerful enough to defend against an S-Class Elderwood Guardian.

**Swordsmanship:** Brald is a skilled swordsman who specializes in broadsword and shield combat, defending himself before striking his opponents. By augmenting his shield with his fire, Brald is able to withstand extreme levels of heat that would normally incinerate a person, his shield however is not large enough as he was barely able to protect his teammate Samantha at the cost of his right arm.

## Quotes

* (To Note) *"I'll keep going. This will probably be my last dungeon raid so I might as well make it last."*

## References

1. ↑ The Beginning After The End Webcomic: Season 3 – Episode 70
 The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 2 – Chapter 30
2. ↑ The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 2 —Chapter 30
3. ↑ The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 2 — Chapter 31