Bermuda

Liner's solidified left arm was torn off as easily as a tree branch snapping. Blood from the vessels burst in all directions with a rough pulse from the cross-section that had been crushed as if struck by a stone.

The exposed red biceps, revealed as the skin peeled away, stretched like tough jelly before being miserably torn along its grain. Tendons and broken bones dangled, separated from the flesh, amidst the red liquid gushing like a fountain.

It was unimaginable to see on his own arm the same traces he had seen on the severed leg of the Dermocas. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"Aaaaargh!"

"Liner-!"

Liner let out a scream as if his breath were about to be cut off, directly witnessing the chunk of meat being chewed and swallowed by the queen's second mouth. His voice, cracked and mixed with a metallic sound, and the instantly spreading smell of blood terrifyingly altered the flow of air.

In the blood mist mixed with dust, he could no longer fly and fell straight down. Isabella, who had been maintaining the barrier from above, abandoned her role and jumped down. Meterion, caught off guard, had no time to grab her.

"Wait, the barrier-!"

Along with his futilely scattered cry, the transparent barrier that had filled the walls instantly dissipated. The Ilaptors that had been clinging to the front of the narrow caves crawled in one after another as if they had found a way out.

Meanwhile, Hugo, who had barely caught Liner's falling body, instantly froze his upper arm to shoulder where it had been severed. It was to prevent necrosis of the amputation site exposed to the boiling heat.

After quickly moving him to the inside of the railing and letting him lean back against it, Hugo urgently shouted while examining his face, which was turning bloodshot,

"Liner Molten, focus on your breathing, stay conscious!"

"Ugh, urgh, huek-."

However, Hugo's voice didn't reach Liner, who had turned pale and was struggling even to exhale. He was on the verge of mental collapse, not so much because his hardened arm had been torn off, but because of the face of his subordinate he had encountered from an unexpected place.

The complexion of the corpse that had become a monster filled his mind, bursting all at once the trauma that had been internalized. His bloodshot eyes lost focus and trembled.

Leonardo, who had witnessed that scene vividly from the air, froze for a moment at the memories that rushed in along with the fishy smell. However, when he saw the monster's neck approaching Hugo, he immediately came to his senses and ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) once again drew mana into his hands.

And at that moment, Isabella, who had been descending rapidly from above, stretched out her arm towards the monstrous life form that had swallowed Liner's arm. Three spheres were instantly fired from her fingertips where a deep purple magic circle had formed.

The monster, which had quickly chewed and swallowed an arm as big as its own body, sensed the incoming mana and lowered its head, returning to the form of a protrusion. The split skull closed over it as if suturing, protecting the protrusion from the attack.

The spheres that flew straight hit the queen immediately, bursting with a "pak" sound and scattering a mysterious liquid. Subsequently, pale steam rose from the mother body that had been doused with it, but it seemed to only obscure the view once again without dealing any damage.

However, about 2 seconds later, Isabella silently appeared from the floating particles. A giant sickle was now in her hand.

"You monster bastard."

In her eyes, only disgust and killing intent towards the creature were intertwined. She sliced off one of its demonic claws with her icy blue sickle, then approached right above the queen's neck and raised her arm upwards.

But at that moment, the creature's writhing tail looked ominous. The blunt flesh split open like a blooming bud and opened its mouth, revealing a long needle covered in sticky mucus from within.

As it crossed the air in the blink of an eye, the image of the malformed species Leonardo had seen in the crater of the 4th Peak flashed through his mind.

That monster hiding in the lake had also had such a needle at the end of its unusually thick leg. And what had been forming at its tip was clearly poison.

"Oh, sh-."

Leonardo fired flickering lightning at the poisonous needle in barely 1 second and rushed towards Isabella. With these Council battalion commanders losing their reason and recklessly unleashing attacks, not only would the plan go awry, but if left like this, they seemed likely to fall victim to the creature.

As he had expected, Isabella, caught in the urgent situation, was suspended in the air with her swung sickle grasped, looking on with disbelieving eyes.

Her sickle, imbued with deadly poison, was a powerful weapon that could corrode even hard rock with its poison, digging deep. Yet the hide visible before her eyes had only slightly melted where the blade had touched, its surface hardened like diamond, seemingly taking no damage at all.

Isabella, overwhelmed by a sense of powerlessness and confusion in an instant, felt the strength leaving her hands. Having been together for a long time, she knew it even better.

The hardening technique that had just blocked her attack was none other than Liner's ability.

It seemed that what the creature had swallowed was not just his arm.

"What are you standing there stupidly for!"

A voice that sounded like a roar violently shook her consciousness. As she reflexively turned her eyes, having snapped back to her senses, a giant thorn that looked like it could easily pierce through her body had approached within arm's reach.

Isabella immediately tried to leap into the air with her sickle grasped, but strangely, only the tip had slightly pierced and showed no sign of coming out. In the end, she let go of her hand and stepped on the monster's body with her foot, jumping up in one breath.

Just as she was about to gather purple mana flickering with poison in both hands and throw it towards the thorn, a dark shadow and rotten stench approached her feet. In the moment she looked down, a mouth wide enough to swallow the entire vast space was surging towards her at full speed.

It was a speed that was hard to believe for such a massive body, and as she hurriedly stretched one arm downwards, the thought that it was already too late flashed through her mind.

However, as if refusing to allow that, a shadow suddenly appeared and wrapped around her abdomen, pulling her rather roughly. With a force that made her let out an "oof" sound, Isabella was dragged away, and the lower jaw of the thorned monster barely grazed past her eyes.

Thanks to that, the catastrophe of her body being torn apart was averted, but a great impact followed as she collided with the wall.

Kwaaang-!

Isabella instinctively spread a barrier behind her back. Then, hearing the sound of crumbling rocks, she raised her guard over her head, prepared to be covered in debris.

However, the falling fragments only slightly scratched her skin as they passed by, and the impact was much less than expected. The mysterious pain spreading through her forearm was also somewhat bearable.

After a moment of puzzlement, she suddenly opened her eyes, which she had unknowingly closed, and lowered her arms to raise her head.

But her gaze didn't even make it halfway up before stopping at one spot, and her eyelids widened fully. It was because the long thorn she had seen just moments ago was savagely embedded in the wall, crossing right next to her head.

The sticky mucus covering the surface of the thorn dripped down, thoroughly soaking someone's shoulder visible beyond it. The bright shadow that had been there muttered in a trembling voice while exhaling roughly.

"Shit... That was close."

Leonardo, with his brows deeply furrowed, glared at the giant needle that had dug in next to his half-bent neck. If the ice that had risen diagonally from the wall hadn't slowed its speed, it could have been a moment where his head was truly pierced, resulting in instant death.

Meanwhile, he felt an unpleasant sensation as if his shoulder beneath the weapon, which had shattered the ice and penetrated the wall, had become damp. At first, he thought it was because it was soaked in venom, but when he glanced down, it wasn't just that.

Though he thought he had dodged well, the neck and shoulder area of his mage robe was stained red with blood, as if it had grazed him without his knowledge. And it was the left shoulder at that.

'Of all places, it had to graze here...'

Leonardo's eyelids trembled as he clenched his teeth. As he moved the muscle fibers, the pain was vividly felt despite the dulled sensation.

While he was examining the condition of his arm with lowered eyes, Isabella, half-hidden beyond the needle, spoke with a dazed expression.

"You..."

Leonardo, who turned at that short utterance, confronted her with cold eyes.

"Hey, are you crazy?"

"..."

"When your comrade has ended up in that state, you should act more calmly yourself. What were you thinking, rushing in without grasping the situation just like him?"

Isabella, who had received the sharp rebuke, only moved her lips for a moment without being able to answer.

As she was just staring with confused eyes, her words blocked, a cracking sound came from the rock wall behind her.

The long needle stuck between the two of them swayed left and right, digging into the wall, before smoothly pulling out. They instinctively widened the distance between them and hurriedly stood up, barely setting foot on the hollowed-out rock.

As they immediately watched the receding tip, they saw the cracks in the ice revealed as the long thorn was pulled out. And through that gap.

The queen's savage pupils peering inside were reflected.