Bermuda

The thick dust that had filled the air slowly cleared. Streams of light pouring from above settled on the golden eyes.

And simultaneously, a massive shadow blocking part of that light came into view. Leonardo's pupils contracted as much as the queen's red ones.

There was no need to subdue the rampaging mother body; an opportunity lay before his eyes. Knowing this wasn’t timing that came easily, the moment Charlotte’s voice echoed, black sparks began to fly madly around Leonardo.

The lightning, flashing with a threatening sound, clearly asserted its presence even in the darkness. However, the determination burning fiercely in both hands was not his alone.

The area near the walls was still shrouded in hazy dust, making it impossible to properly identify the situation. But Leonardo could clearly tell the members were struggling there, creating an opening for the commander and himself. The fact that monsters weren’t swarming near the queen despite the mother body's incessant roars was proof of this.

Occasionally, there were creatures trying to climb the walls, but even those were neatly shot down by someone else. With every situation supporting him, there was only one thing he needed to do now.

'Let's end this in one go.'

An ominous aura erupted roughly around Leonardo as he made his firm resolution. The golden flames, a manifestation of his mana, gradually expanded their radius, devouring the hot air.

Along with this, the destructive energy grasped in both hands writhed fiercely as if about to explode at any moment. Between the ten fingers suppressing its release, the violently raging mana barely held together.

Hugo, who felt that energy fully from a short distance away, also sensed that the time had come and drew out his mana to the fullest.

A blue magic circle deployed widely, enveloping his body as frost-like coldness rippled outward. The complex strokes drawn on its surface converged toward the center as if depicting the sun. When Hugo placed his hand there and infused strong mana, replicated magic circles stretched out at regular intervals, forming a majestic shape like the barrel of a large cannon.

Aiming its end at the queen's nape, Hugo concentrated the floating water vapor in front of him as much as possible.

This attack was something he had only thought about in theory, so there was no definitive correct method. However, one thing was certain: what was needed now was not a contest of power between two opposing mana types, but their harmonization.

To penetrate the creature's hardened nape, it was important not only to maximize the properties of both sides, but also to adjust the intensity of the energy so it wouldn’t explode on impact. And it seemed the other party understood this without needing to be told.

Heat haze and water vapor continuously rose at the point where their energies rubbed. But Hugo felt in his bones that Leonardo was controlling his own energy, adjusting it to match Hugo's mana.

As the blue eyes glanced that way, the golden eyes, sensing the same thing, slowly turned as well. No special signal was needed between the crossing gazes. The two looked at each other and naturally nodded.

As if that had been the trigger, the powerful energy that burst out simultaneously spread to both sides, becoming fierce gusts and waves. In the middle of it, the two—enduring the opposing air they had created—stretched out their entire bodies, hurling the mana they held toward the sky, with neither moving first.

Two pairs of fiercely shining eyes stared as if to pierce through the creature. Two voices carrying everyone's wishes chanted the spell together.

"Hydro Injection."

"Blaze Wall!"

From the frozen center of Hugo's magic circle, a high-speed stream of water fired in a straight line with a "kiing-" sound. Due to the tremendous pressure proportional to its speed, not only Hugo, floating in the air, but even the nearby members were instantly pushed back.

Ice containing heavy metals as abrasives was also mixed into the water, flying toward the mother body. Soon after, a golden beam of light stretching from another direction intersected with the water stream, and their violent collision combined, wrapping around the surroundings as it rose. A wall made of flames completely covered the water stream that was trying to disperse in the lurking heat.

The two powerful magics intertwined in the air, using ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ their opposing properties to increase pressure and destructive power. At their violent motion turbulently shaking the space, even members facing monsters momentarily looked at the passing water stream.

And this was the same for the monsters confronting humans. The blood flowing in their bodies and the DNA in their cells froze them for a moment, caught between the instinct to obey the ultrasonic waves and primal fear.

The mother body, directly facing that chilling energy, suddenly began rolling its dark red eyeballs in all directions. As if searching for a gap to escape, the creature's eyes moved busily before stopping at a certain point. It was where Charlotte, the 9th Battalion's deputy commander, was.

Charlotte's gaze was fixed on the transparent membrane covering the mother body's nape. More familiar with the creature's hardening technique than anyone, she doubted her eyes for a moment, her thoughts coming to a halt.

She immediately scanned the wall, quickly searching for her superior's figure, but Liner was nowhere to be seen. Just as anxiety began creeping in, what came into view behind the dust was the monster's pupil, staring intently at her.

The instant its eyes met hers, the mother body suddenly opened its maw wide as if it had found prey. The tentacles undulating beneath its extended jaw joints swept away the spider web, and its gaping throat kept panting as if trying to draw something out from inside.

Charlotte's eyes filled with bewilderment at the creature's sudden, bizarre behavior.

By the time she realized the reason, a red ball of flame had already formed in the gap of the creature's maw.

"...It's a breath-!"

Kwaaang-!

Her cry, close to a scream, cut through the air. Soon after, a violent explosion and shockwave instantly engulfed the area where the 9th Battalion members were.

The breath fired from the queen's mouth completely destroyed one side of the wall, devastating the surrounding area. Members who couldn't dodge in time were buried under rocks, and even Charlotte, who belatedly raised a barrier, took a big hit as the flames collided with it head-on.

However, amidst the screams, what came to her mind first was not her own or the members' safety, but something else. It was the spider web restraining the mother body, which would have loosened as half of the formation was disrupted.

The explosion's impact made her mind hazy and filled her head with ringing. Nevertheless, Charlotte tried once again to deploy a magic circle to bind the creature tightly.

But hot blood flowing down from her forehead kept her from opening her eyes properly. She reflexively squeezed her eyelids shut and then opened them, watching the creature through the thick dust. The mother body's red pupils were drawing a long horizontal line.

Charlotte felt a chill down her spine at that shape, which seemed to be smiling. It felt terribly ominous.

"No!"

She shouted, reaching out belatedly, but it seemed the moment had already passed.

Kwang-!

The queen, suspended in mid-air, used the recoil of the loosened spider web to hurl its body toward the opposite wall.

Just as the massive body was about to pounce on the remaining members, an iridescent stream of water mixed with blue and gold suddenly rose before Charlotte's astonished eyes. It was a split second after the queen had thrown its body, at a speed her gaze couldn't even follow.

The minds of all those watching from below momentarily went blank.

The two magics that had overshot their target stretched upward, perfectly fused and exerting an uncontrollable power. Cleaving through the vast space, what the tip was heading toward was the legacy of the great ancestors—something that should never be touched.

Leonardo's eyelids, which had forgotten even to blink, slowly widened without him realizing.

'It can't be...'

The huge, beautiful sealing magic circle, said to have been left by the savior of the peninsula in ancient times, held steadfastly in place, emitting a majestic light even amidst the chaos.

The sharply honed concentration of mana flew relentlessly toward its center.

When the tip of the water stream reached the magic circle, a light that seemed to blind poured out in all directions.