Bermuda

The scream that cut through the air and echoed in all directions also pierced Hugo and Leonardo’s ears.

Leonardo was familiar with this sound.

An unforgettable sound he had heard on many battlefields.

It was the death rattle of a human filled with ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) pain, uttered just before their last breath when driven to the edge of a cliff.

With his eyes fully dilated, he reflexively tried to leap over the railing, as if sprung like a coil. However, a strong arm grabbed him, preventing him from advancing further and pulling him back two steps.

“Ah, why!?”

As he turned his head with an urgent tone, a broad shoulder and chest blocked his way. Hugo firmly grasped Leonardo’s forearms and spoke in a tense but solemn voice.

“Leonardo, from now on, go back the way we came and find Platoon Leader Russell. She’s probably looking for us too, so you should meet her soon.”

“What?”

“Go explain the situation to her, and gather the commanders to come together.”

Hugo, who had unilaterally conveyed this, patted Leonardo’s lower back once as if telling him to hurry. Then he immediately turned and forcefully kicked the railing in front of him.

The stone railing shattered under his combat boot, and as he stepped on the scattered debris, he was about to leap without hesitation.

“W-wait!”

This time, Leonardo grabbed Hugo. However, his method was somewhat aggressive.

As a soft yet rough heat suddenly embraced his waist from behind, Hugo reflexively inhaled and paused. Because of that, he was pulled back two or three steps and barely managed to regain his balance, and the two hands that had reached out intertwined firmly over his abdomen as if refusing to let go.

Soon, a warm sensation touched his back, and Hugo’s eyelids trembled for a moment. After being momentarily dazed by the unfamiliar situation, he glanced back to see golden eyes pitifully furrowing their brows and looking up at him.

“Then what about you?”

That single question suddenly asked contained many things. Among them, the concern for him that showed first in the furrowed eyes made Hugo only move his lips for a moment, unable to say anything.

However, the urgent situation urged reason, and without time to consider feelings, Hugo finally covered Leonardo’s hands with his own. As soon as the resolute grip easily loosened and fell, Hugo’s fingers, having turned around, lightly brushed Leonardo’s cheek.

“I have to go save my subordinates.”

“...”

“I’m much stronger than you think, so there’s no need to worry. So please, Leonardo.”

Leonardo only responded with eyes full of disbelief, without giving any answer. But after a few seconds of eye contact, Hugo turned around without hesitation.

If Agrizendro hadn’t smiled at him at the moment he leaped into the air, he might have jumped in after him.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

Leonardo wore a complicated expression as he watched the back that was leaving him behind and fading away. Even though he hadn’t been able to hide his dizziness until just now, his figure heading toward the abyss with the sole determination to save his subordinates was truly reckless beyond compare. But at the same time, in a way, it was also the most characteristic action of him.

In the end, Leonardo, who had been hesitating, couldn’t follow and turned his body in the opposite direction. At that moment, as if to shake his newly gathered resolve, stone fragments suddenly fell on his head.

He stopped and looked up to see small particles and sand dust scattering, making the surroundings appear hazy as if in a fog. Soon after, the ground he stood on and the outer wall shook roughly, and eerie cries began to echo from all directions like an ominous omen.

They were clearly from Ilaptors, but it was definitely not the sound of just one, but of several intertwined.

Leonardo looked around, his nerves on edge. The creatures’ howls, like scraping metal, collided with the dome-shaped walls, creating a chain of echoes. The problem was that because of those echoes, it was impossible to know the exact source.

Meanwhile, the two battalion commanders who had been above quickly descended after the Commander. Leonardo, who had witnessed them passing by in a flash, bit his lip as he watched their backs disappearing again.

‘Damn, this really leaves only me.’

With the radio not working and those two going down, he was the only one left to inform the members who might be wandering about the situation.

Leonardo, who had been ruffling his hair as if annoyed, finally jumped back into the narrow cave to fulfill his role. The vibrations coming from that vast space seemed unusual, so he needed to hurry.

Fortunately, thanks to the marks he had left on the walls on the way, there was no misfortune of losing direction. The voice echoing in his head had also stopped, and the troublesome headache had relatively improved.

However, while his two feet were clearly moving forward, his consciousness was still directed toward the receding back. As if he had left something behind there, his mind was completely absent, occasionally bumping his shoulder against protruding rocks.

Following the marks left behind, Leonardo felt the strength in his legs gradually loosening as he turned several curves. When he realized that his speed seemed to have slowed despite running vigorously, he had unknowingly come to an abrupt stop.

“...”

He looked down at his feet that wouldn’t move, quietly catching his breath.

Inside this Peak 118, there were restrictions on mana use to the extent that running was faster than flying. Moreover, in this place where even breathing was difficult due to the boiling air, no matter how great the ice was, it would only be ice melting in fire.

The situation seemed disadvantageous no matter how he looked at it, and he couldn’t immediately decide if it was okay to leave Agrizendro like this. He didn’t deny his strength, but he couldn’t ignore the anxiety rising within him.

And at that moment, as if to urge his dazed mind, a huge roar and shockwave came from the direction he had come. Feeling the familiar mana mixed in it, Leonardo no longer hesitated and placed his hand on the wall.

A red magic circle instantly spread widely from where he touched, seeping deep into the cave wall as if engraving an intaglio. Mana and light leaked along the concave outline, and soon a divine beast burning with fire leaped out from within the magic circle.

This divine beast was the one Leonardo had been continuously creating and erasing underground until recently to gauge the extent of mana consumption. It had nine tails made of flames that blazed fiercely, and its appearance was like a mix between a giant cat and a fox.

Kyung?

This creature, much larger than Leonardo’s height, started rubbing its head against its master, seemingly unaware of the urgent situation with the shaking ground. However, Leonardo, the actual master, furrowed his brows and pushed away that affection with his hand.

“Wait, wait. Hey, we don’t have time for this now.”

As the divine beast tilted its head as if asking why, Leonardo pointed in a direction and commanded firmly.

“Now, listen carefully. Four of you go out this way and find the hiding Ilaptors, and five of you inform the Council members about that location and situation. If you find Nero, that guy will notice first and move on his own.”

Leonardo took out a silver ring from his inner pocket and put it in the divine beast’s mouth, urging again.

“Find the owner of this ring. Understood?”

At his rather urgent voice, the divine beast made a “kyung” sound and flapped its two upright ears as if it understood. Leonardo lightly patted the upper part of its tails and gestured with his chin toward a side path next to him, saying,

“Go now. Hurry.”

The divine beast, which had lightly shaken its body and burst into flames, immediately created a wind and bounced into the complex cave. The nine flames that instantly disappeared into the darkness split into four and five just as the light was fading, scattering left and right.

As soon as it vanished from sight, Leonardo turned his head with a determined face.

With three, no, four battalion commander-level individuals gone, there shouldn’t be any major issues. But from the moment he entered this place, he had an inexplicable bad feeling.

Having sent the divine beast, it was better for the caster to refrain from mana consumption as much as possible, but now didn’t seem to be the time for that.

Leonardo licked his lips and then turned his steps back to where he had come from. A blazing flame sword was once again grasped in his hand extended downward.

“Since when did I start listening so well?”

White steam swirled around him as his body temperature rose. Golden eyes shone faintly between his fluttering hair.

His legs, muscles expanded due to increased blood flow, leaped toward the king’s nest at a speed incomparable to before.

He hoped that nothing would happen until he arrived.

*****

Perhaps because he saw Liner jumping in first, Hugo had no time to think deeply and move. He knew that although Liner had been pretending to be fine all along, he was far from it inside.

Hugo, who had jumped into the fog following him as gravity led, immediately gathered the air and compressed it into a spherical shape. He wrapped mana around it and exploded it at once, scattering the mysterious gas that blocked the front in all directions.

However, because it was so thickly spread, the explosion only accelerated the diffusion speed without having much effect on securing visibility. Rather, the huge vibration and the sudden heat from below caused an ultra-high-temperature backdraft.

Hugo reflexively spread a barrier in front and raised his guard to protect his face. He belatedly put on the gas mask that had been hanging around his neck, but his lungs, already exposed to the gas, felt like they were burning hot as if inhaling flame ashes.

Because of that, as he reduced his speed and looked down into the pitch-black darkness beyond his two arms, this time eerie screams echoed from all directions.

Kaaaak-

Kieeek-

As the pale cries filled the space where he couldn’t see an inch ahead, instinctively, a sense that going down any further would be dangerous flashed through his mind. It was partly because the estimated number was not just one or two, but also because the cries felt different from usual.

It wasn’t a sound made to threaten the opponent, but rather like screams made in terror.

Sensing an unusual sign, Hugo first stopped in mid-air. Then, lowering the ineffective mask again, he shouted loudly toward the lurking darkness.

“Battalion Commander Molten!”

His shout spread widely, seeming to reach all the way down for a moment. However, it was soon drowned out by the noisy cries.

Dudududu-

Instead, as if responding to his call, a strange phenomenon immediately swept before his eyes.