Bermuda

The height, even just estimating what the eye could take in, was at least several hundred meters. The unknown space far below was filled with yellow smoke swirling like a waterfall.

This place, where even the slightest breath seemed to turn into an echo, appeared to be a dome-like, enormous space expanding endlessly up and down.

It was so majestic that humans who set foot there would be considered mere insects, and the pupils that had been confined to narrow caves constantly contracted as they tried to take in the vast scenery.

No one could have imagined that such a wide space existed inside Peak 118, and even seeing it directly, it still seemed hard to believe the scene unfolding before them.

However, what surprised the two even more than that was something else. It was the huge and beautiful magic circle covering the center of the sky and the hundreds, thousands of pillars carved out of each rock wall, reminiscent of a temple.

Unlike the natural caves they had passed through so far, this place was full of artificial traces like structures built outside. There were railings on each floor, and old but majestic pillars supported the spaces between them, while strange statues were placed at regular intervals, giving a sense of geometric unity.

These sculptures densely filled the walls on all sides around the magic circle located in the center, and this grand space they wove was like a cage imprisoning the existence that would be bound somewhere here.

This place seemed to be a fortress to seal it.

"..."

Beads of sweat had formed on Leonardo's forehead as he faced the brilliant light coming down from above. It was because the scorching heat rising from the distant bottom brushed against his skin.

However, the feeling of breathlessness upon entering the majestic landscape was not just due to the hot air. Beyond the rising fear, it felt as if he was being overwhelmed by the space itself.

'My head hurts.'

Leonardo frowned and rubbed his forehead and temples with his hand.

The throbbing sensation had become more intense than before, and the chill that ran up his spine awakened his body's cells one by one. Perhaps because he had longed for the day he would reach this place and imagined it countless times, he even felt a strange sense of déjà vu now that the creature's nest was before his eyes.

It was around that time that he realized the auditory hallucination he had been hearing all along had stopped.

Hugo, who had been looking at the huge magic circle floating in the sky, instinctively knew that this was the sealing magic left by Theodore Ragnavalode Raina, the last king of Raina a thousand years ago, as written in the records.

His magic, still intact after a thousand years, went beyond the appreciation of being powerful and beautiful, providing a sense of elation as if facing a holy sun illuminating a sacred realm.

Even seeing it with his eyes, it was unbelievable, and if he tried to grasp it with his hands, it seemed as if it would disappear. A vague feeling as if he were actually facing an ancestor he had only seen in ancient texts and an indescribable hot emotion rippled in his chest.

Hugo unknowingly turned his head. He naturally looked at Leonardo standing next to him.

The golden eyes trembling between furrowed brows and slightly parted red lips caught his attention. With just that, Hugo could be certain.

That he was feeling the same emotion as himself.

Without saying it in words, it was conveyed to him through the trembling breath.

As if their hearts had connected, Leonardo, who had been staring at the other side, slowly turned to look at Hugo. Among the two who had been looking into each other's eyes for a while, Leonardo was the first to open his mouth.

"...This is it, right?"

Hugo nodded at the short but certain question.

"It seems so."

As the returned answer added a sense of reality, Leonardo felt as if his heart were beating violently. As he composed his quickened breathing, he suddenly scanned the area around where he was standing on both feet.

"The Ilaptor you were chasing?"

"It was already gone when I entered this place. It probably hid in one of those places."

Hugo said, gesturing with his chin towards the narrow caves between the straight pillars. Besides the cave they had come out of, there were similar small caves densely hidden behind pillars and statues in this place. It was unknown where they all led, but even at a glance, there were easily over a hundred of them.

Leonardo, who had been scanning that scene reminiscent of a beehive, was suddenly engulfed by a question.

'Then, did the Ilaptor lure us here?'

The caves positioned like a maze in this Peak 118 would be as familiar as home ground to the monsters, though they might feel complicated to humans.

Yet, for a creature that had so many escape routes to have engaged in a chase where it seemed about to be caught while constantly making strange noises didn't seem natural. Rather, it seemed more plausible that it had volunteered to be a guide.

However, hadn't Alec Siles said that Ilaptors were monsters that performed the role of internal peaks, making it difficult for them to break free from the queen's control? If it was following the queen's will, it wouldn't have wanted to expose the nest to humans.

If so, it should have tried to prevent them from reaching this place somehow, but for now, there was no guess as to why the Ilaptor had shown behavior that seemed to be luring them in the opposite direction.

Only some intuition within him sent an uneasy signal that it was certainly not a good thing. And it wasn't long before he realized the identity of that sense of incongruity.

"But."

Leonardo, who had been looking around, moved his lips. Because the space was so vast and he had been distracted by the magic circle in the sky, the internal structure only now caught his eye.

What filled his vision was a vast space forming a circle with a constant curvature. On its ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) walls, there were only narrow caves spaced out that could accommodate one or two people or monsters.

Except for those, there was no hole large enough for any huge being to escape through, nor any place to hide its body inside. If so, the "existence" that the Council's army had been searching for until now should be within this space unfolding before their eyes.

Leonardo's eyes, with furrowed brows, slowly crossed the empty space. He, who had unknowingly held his breath, turned his eyes to Hugo again.

"Where is the mother body?"

Hugo's gaze, which had also been scanning the interior, turned to Leonardo.

There was a question in both of their crossed gazes.

The mother body was not visible.

Chijik-chik-

-...e.., discovered...

At that moment, a noise-mixed sound came from Hugo's radio that hadn't rung for a while. Instantly, both of their eyes turned to the radio.

Chijik-

-Echo4, ...presumed to be ...body's... location ...overed. Coordinates are ...3, ...5.., 12...

The radio, which had occasionally cut out as they advanced towards the center, had completely stopped working after passing through the crack. It could have been because there were no communication targets nearby, but the two had been guessing that the reason was the powerful energy of the mother body interfering with the radio waves.

But the fact that the signal was now being picked up meant that the flow of energy that had been swirling around had stopped or become relatively calm.

Feeling something strange, the two quietly looked into each other's eyes.

If this was truly the place where "that existence" they had been searching for was sealed, and the evidence for that was the magic circle in the sky above, shouldn't the energy that could interfere with radio waves have increased instead?

Yet, the signal that had been cut off all along was suddenly being picked up. It didn't match the theory they had thought of until now.

Chijik-

-...Delta2. Echo4, say again.

-Echo.., ...5. Presumed to be the nest...

Contrary to the two's doubts, sounds from other groups also leaked from the radio.

Although the content that continued to be heard afterwards wasn't clear sentences, combining the words that were faintly heard, it seemed to be reporting that they had discovered the location presumed to be the nest, that is, this space where they were standing now. At that, Hugo, holding the radio in his hand, pressed the side button and responded.

"This is Alpha1, Alpha1. Can you hear me?"

However, exquisitely, the answer that had been coming back was completely cut off at the point of Hugo's voice. He waited for a response for a while, but it was the same.

Hugo immediately leaned on the end of the carved railing and looked around. It was to find other groups that might have reached somewhere nearby.

But as soon as he stuck his head out forward, the heat surging from below was drawn into his lungs, and his vision momentarily blurred again. His brain kept sending warnings that there wasn't enough oxygen, and his body's senses weren't as agile as usual.

Hugo, who had reflexively stopped breathing and tightly closed his eyes, stood still in that place for a moment with his head lowered. Then, Leonardo, who was next to him, noticed the sign and approached, grabbing Hugo's arm.

"Are you alright?"

At the rather surprised voice, Hugo, who was covering his nose and mouth with his hand, nodded once without answering. Then, he forcibly opened his eyes to the pale day and moved his gaze along the intricately carved pillars. However, it was impossible for objects to be seen properly in a situation where dizziness had struck.

Leonardo, who had been watching his appearance with concern, suddenly turned his eyes somewhere. After staring intently at one point, he immediately stretched out his hand towards the opposite side and pointed at something.

"Over there."

Hugo also turned his head in that direction.

It was the entrance of a cave located about 50 meters below on the opposite side, and two flickering shadows caught their eyes in front of it. Because the distance was so far, they looked as small as dots, but the light balls floating around them made it possible to identify that they were at least human.

After confirming the human figures, Hugo raised the brightness of his light ball to the maximum to send a signal. Then, as if the other party had also discovered this side, they began to shake the light ball they were holding in their hand vigorously. A familiar voice echoing through the vast interior was also heard.

"Commander!"

The sound that spread out bounced off the walls and echoed back like waves. It was Liner, the 9th Battalion Commander of the Southern Branch.

Chijik-

-How noisy.

At the unexpected radio sound, Leonardo looked at the radio in Hugo's hand with a face that wondered if he had heard wrong. Just from the tone, he felt like he knew who it was.

But the fact that he could retort in real time, saying it was noisy, meant that he had also heard that shout. Then, he was certainly nearby.

Chijik-

-Charlie3, arrived at the target point. Requesting response from Alpha1.

At the radio transmission that followed, Hugo raised his head and looked up. Two light balls were twinkling and shining far away.

Since the voices of the two group representatives had just been heard on the radio side by side, one was probably Meterion Clinder, the 3rd Battalion Commander of the Central Branch, and the other was Isabella Roslin, the 12th Battalion Commander of the Southern Branch.

As the four light balls of the representatives gathered in one space, Hugo fixed his gaze on the two above and immediately pressed the radio button to respond.

"This is Alpha1, everyone has gathered."

The fact that the vanguards of four groups that had entered from different directions met in one space meant, in other words, that this place was undoubtedly the center of Peak 118.

Eventually, as if to prove that communication had become smooth again, confirmation responses from each battalion commander were heard in turn. However, only the radio of Echo4, that is, the 9th Battalion of the Southern Branch, had particularly broken signals and poor sound quality.

Hugo, who found this strange, turned his gaze to Liner at the bottom and asked again.

"This is Alpha1. Echo4, please respond. Is there any signal-interfering substance nearby?"

-...Echo4, no.., ...obscured by fog.., ...however, exploration ...sent out a scouting..., so...

"...This is Alpha1. Echo4, say again all."

...An, ...that...

Chiiiik-

The 9th Battalion's radio transmission kept cutting off and then suddenly a loud noise pierced their ears. Hugo, who frowned, hurriedly moved the radio away.

Soon, the blinking sensor made a beep and then the power went out completely. It seemed to have been fine for a moment, but it had become unresponsive again.

Hugo looked at his radio, which seemed to have gone bad in an instant, with a dumbfounded face. The fact that the sensor light had gone out completely meant that the communication problem was not just on their side.

"...Why is it doing this?"

Hugo, who brushed his hair back in frustration, gritted his teeth at the end of a deep sigh. After that, he pressed the radio button a few more times, but the already broken sensor remained silent.

While Hugo was examining the radio, Leonardo narrowed his eyes as he leaned halfway over the railing and looked down. It was because a strange phenomenon had been caught in his vision.

After staring for a long time, he straightened his body back up and tapped Hugo's arm next to him, saying,

"Agrizendro, take a look down for a moment."

Hugo, who glanced to the side, moved his gaze following his eye gesture. At first, he thought he was telling him to look at where Battalion Commander Molten was, but that didn't seem to be the case. Leonardo's eyes were directed further down, towards the bottom where yellow fog was thickly spread.

However, even after looking carefully, there didn't seem to be anything particularly noteworthy. Hugo, unable to grasp what he was supposed to see, turned his head and asked,

"What are you talking about?"

Then Leonardo stood right next to Hugo this time. He stretched out his hand in front of Hugo's field of vision and pointed somewhere.

"That yellow smoke, it's rising gradually."

At the ominous words, Hugo followed his fingertip again. Leonardo was pointing not at the center where the gas was rippling, but at the place where it met the wall.

Hugo's brows slightly furrowed. Now that he was aware of it, it was clearly visible. The pillars and railings built on each floor acted as a scale, making the strange rippling even more distinct.

Clearly, when they first reached this place, the mysterious gas they had presumed to be sulfur gas was spread much lower than where Battalion Commander Molten was. But now, the gas they looked at again had already risen so high that at this rate, it seemed like it would reach the feet of the 9th Battalion commanders on the opposite side.

Hugo's eyes wandered in the air for a moment as he detected the suspicious air current. As he mulled over the situation, a strange pattern flashed through his mind.

Currently, the representatives of each group were positioned in the order of Echo4, Alpha1, Delta2, Charlie3, based on the lowest point. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Among them, the first to lose radio signal was Echo4, Battalion Commander Molten, who was at the very bottom.

Judging from the murmuring voices still heard from above, it seemed that the signal had not yet been cut off there.

Then, the second radio to become unresponsive was Alpha1, right above Echo4. Himself.

"..."

The blue eyes watching the rippling gas slowly rolled to the side. The golden eyes were also directed this way.

Silence flowed for a moment between the crossed gazes.

Soon, as if to instill certainty, Leonardo nodded.