Bermuda

A brilliant light that could blind one's eyes covered the southern sky of the continent. Then, driving away the clouds and endlessly expanding its domain, it pierced heaven and earth, dyeing the world in golden hues.

The flashing light was more intense than the brightness of the distant sun. Even those asleep hundreds of kilometers away witnessed the bright yellow flash through their eyelids.

As if time had reversed, the entire peninsula brightened in an instant. At that moment, not even a single person's breath could be heard.

As if the peacefulness of broad daylight had been preserved. Only clear emptiness undulated in golden hues, illuminating the blood-soaked earth.

Kugugugung-

A few seconds later, a massive shockwave that could make one's entire body tremble spread from the center of the light that had eliminated evil. It wasn't a temporary vibration, but destructive energy that could shake the southern end of the continent.

The vast, pitch-black smoke rising upward revealed its form by adding contrast to the light. Soon after, a heavy wave spreading in a circle pushed away the clouds and overturned the earth, swallowing everything in all directions. It was a terrifying, awe-inspiring sight that made one forget even that their breath had stopped.

The members who had been holding onto the barrier stones were suddenly crushed by the pressure and simultaneously slammed into the ground. The heat of the explosion, hotter than solar heat, poured over their backs as if it would melt their skin.

Following this, the sky's roar, like thunder, split the air, causing severe tinnitus.

Nature's gunshot resounded like multiple flares. Soon, beyond the gradually fading beams of light, red-hot lava surged high.

Kwaaang-!

The wave of the tremendous explosion affected not only the surface but also underground. The volcano, more than half of which had been lost to the massive shockwave, began to erupt, spewing magma from beneath the earth as if under pressure.

Lava flames scattered across the vast land, and savage fireballs that had jumped into the air mixed with volcanic ash, mercilessly shredding the sky. From the edge of the peak collapsing at a terrifying speed, viscous lava poured down like a waterfall, melting everything nearby.

At the same time, the bodies of the commanders maintaining the Pentagon had long since been swept away by the storm. Their consciousness, entangled in black smoke, was on the verge of fading out, slammed against rock walls and the ground.

Above their heads, gas laced with flames undulated, and large boulders reminiscent of falling meteorites once again crossed the air. With lava debris falling nearby, the ground caved in as if dug up, creating a vast sinkhole.

As the ground right next to him suddenly sank in the blink of an eye, Meterion, sprawled on the mountainside, barely regained his senses and threw himself clear. As he did, he rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a teleportation device with pre-set coordinates.

This was because there had been an order from the Commander to escape outside the defense line and ensure survival as soon as the operation succeeded, before the barrier stones were fully activated.

Kung- Kwaaang-!

As successive explosions that felt like his heart might drop out pierced his ears, even he, who usually maintained his composure, found his hands trembling.

"Damn it."

Meterion, with a deeply furrowed brow, pressed the buttons on the device in order, but cursed in frustration as his fingers wouldn't move the way he wanted. After a moment, when he finally managed to open a portal in the air, he immediately sprang up and stepped into it.

Hesitating for a moment and stopping, he turned back once to look at the gray-filled area behind him.

There, only explosions and blazing flames burst, with no sign of anyone who had carried out the operation with him.

Meterion, who had been scanning the surroundings, soon turned without lingering. Then he leaped alone into the portal and ran toward the outside of the barrier stones.

"Charlotte, wake up!"

Not far away, Isabella, who had spread a barrier to avoid the eruption, instantly grabbed Charlotte's arm as she was thrown back. Charlotte, bleeding profusely from her mouth and nose and almost in a dying state, barely gasped for breath, limp in Isabella's arms.

Confirming that she hadn't lost consciousness yet, Isabella quickly took out a teleportation device and hurriedly opened a portal entrance. Then, just as she was about to jump into the undulating space-time with Charlotte, she flinched at the strange energy spreading behind her and turned her head.

"...?"

Before her eyes was nothing but darkness covered in ash and smoke, and cruelly red magma embroidering that darkness. In the midst of dizzying chaos and explosions, there was nothing particularly noticeable to draw her senses.

Isabella's gaze, rough with breath, quickly scanned the surroundings. However, Charlotte, who had inhaled a lungful of smoke, coughed violently as if in respiratory distress.

Looking down at Charlotte's drooping head, Isabella had no choice but to support her again and turn to jump into the portal. An unidentifiable sense of foreboding crept up her back, but she was too preoccupied with immediate survival to have the capacity to assess anything further.

Meanwhile, Nero, who had succeeded in completely sealing the red thread connecting to another dimension, took a greater impact from the explosion than the other commanders because he was at the highest altitude.

The vortex that had shot upward enveloped his body and mercilessly hurled him into hot flames and ash. As a result, Nero, who had flown more ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) than 1 km away without even being able to control his limbs, barely avoided colliding with the ground, stopping about 2 m short as he fell in a parabola.

However, along with the ringing in his ears, he felt warm liquid flowing from them. When he touched his earlobe with one hand, sticky blood came away, suggesting his eardrum might have burst.

"Ha."

Nero, brows drawn tight, let out a bitter laugh and momentarily staggered, misstepping from dizziness.

Perhaps because his senses were jumbled, his movements were noticeably slower, and as a result, he only belatedly noticed the huge boulder flying toward him.

Kwaaang-!

Unable to kick away the rock boiling with lava, Nero instinctively threw himself aside and narrowly avoided the fireball. The monsters swarming nearby also scattered in all directions, but the fireball that had flown like a comet crashed down on top of them.

Kiaaak-

The agonized cries of the monsters surged and then vanished here and there. The flesh of those who couldn't escape in time and were crushed splattered like rock fragments, sticking greasily.

Nero, half-covered in the creatures' bodily fluids, turned his head to avoid the falling flesh. Then, unconsciously inhaling the acrid gas, he coughed until he was out of breath and even dry-heaved.

Still, Nero rubbed his nose and eyes vigorously with his forearm and lifted his head. With reddened eyes and nerves on edge, what he was desperately searching for was Leonardo's mana.

'Where is the Captain?'

Although there had been instructions from the Captain to leave the peninsula as soon as the operation succeeded, the situation was so serious that he couldn't just leave him behind and escape alone.

Successive roars and lava chunks exploding like fireworks scattered his vision and senses, but Nero, covering his nose and mouth with his hand, focused on the faint trace of the Captain's presence. Because it appeared and vanished repeatedly, he couldn't guess which direction it was coming from, or what situation he was in.

At that moment, a faintly rising beam of light on the opposite side of the erupting volcano caught Nero's eye. It gradually widened its range to both sides, then undulated like waves before forming a transparent membrane.

Nero's eyes flew open, and as he instinctively turned that way, he saw that the light from the barrier stones densely erected in the plains was also connecting like a net. They were activating the barrier stones, which had been in standby mode, to 100% to trap the remaining monsters, along with the erupting volcano, within the barrier.

The transparent membrane quickly surrounded the entire southern area of the peninsula. Because of this, Nero, scanning the surroundings with an anxious look, hesitated—then jumped in place, trying to get out.

But at that moment, he suddenly remembered Felix Montero, whom he had briefly put to sleep on the path from the plains to the southern ridge.

Having not only knocked him unconscious but also hidden him in a secluded place, he would be hard to distinguish from a corpse. The chances of someone else finding and saving him in this situation were close to zero.

"Damn it."

Nero, roughly messing up the back of his hair, immediately headed toward the location where he had hidden Felix. Although he was very worried about the Captain, unlike him, who was stronger than himself, Felix Montero would be as good as dead if he didn't go—trapped inside the barrier.

The entire view was gray as he headed in that direction. Moreover, as if something was wrong with his semicircular canals, his body staggered even though he was clearly moving in a straight line.

Still, because the place where he had hidden Felix was at the site of a large explosion, it didn't take too long to find, thanks to the familiar terrain.

As he circled around the dry bushes and reeds, one of Felix's legs, which he had hidden, was sticking out slightly. Rushing over, he found Felix Montero peacefully asleep, oblivious to the world, though his upper body had fallen sideways and was half-collapsed.

Nero let out a short sigh and immediately slung him over his shoulder. Then he turned back once more to watch the southern sky dyed dark red.

'Please, please tell me you've already gone outside.'

Nero, who had inwardly pleaded like this, hesitated several times before taking a step. However, seeing the pitch-black volcanic ash approaching closer and closer, he had no choice but to turn, feeling that he might suffocate along with the guy on his shoulder if he stayed.

Toward the gap in the tightly interlocking barrier, Nero swiftly flew, seeking the shortest path.

The volcanic ash and smoke entangled in the air followed him, riding the wind as if to swallow him whole.