By Zephyria The thick dust that had been filling the air slowly cleared. Beams of light pouring down from above landed on Gold Eyes.
And at the same time, a huge shadow that obscured part of that light also came into view. Leonardo’s pupils contracted as much as the Queen’s red pupils.
The opportunity was laid out before him without even needing to subdue the rampaging core. Knowing that such timing didn’t come easily, black sparks flew wildly around Leonardo as soon as he heard Charlotte’s voice ring out.
The flashing lightning, making a threatening sound, clearly asserted its presence even in the darkness. But the determination gathered and burning fiercely in both hands wasn’t just his.
The situation couldn’t be properly discerned near the walls because they were still shrouded in murky dust. But Leonardo clearly knew that the members were struggling there, creating an opportunity for the Legion Commander and him. The fact that the demon beasts weren’t flocking near the Queen despite the core’s frantically ringing roar was proof of that.
There were also some that occasionally tried to climb the walls, but even those were cleanly shot down by someone else. Since every situation was supporting him, there was only one thing he had to do now.
‘Let’s end it in one shot.’
An unusual Aura violently erupted around Leonardo, who had firmly resolved himself. The golden flames, the embodiment of his Magic Power, swallowed the hot air and gradually expanded the radius.
Correspondingly, the destructive energy clutched in both hands surged wildly as if it would explode at any moment. The Magic Power, which was violently screaming, barely coalesced between the ten fingers suppressing its emission.
Hugo, who was feeling that energy intact from a short distance away, also sensed that the time had come and drew out the Magic Power within him to the fullest.
A frosty chill overflowed, and a blue Magic Circle spread out so widely that it covered his body. The complex strokes drawn on its surface converged toward the center as if they were shaping the sun. As Hugo placed his hand there and infused strong Magic Power, the replicated Magic Circles stretched out at regular intervals, forming a magnificent shape like the barrel of a large cannon.
Hugo, aiming the end of it at the Queen’s neck, condensed as much floating moisture as possible in front of him.
This attack was only thought of theoretically, so it couldn’t be said that there was a correct method. However, one thing was certain: what was needed now was not a power struggle between two conflicting Magic Powers, but fusion.
In order to pierce its hardened neck, it was important not only to maximize the properties of both sides but also to adjust the intensity of the energy so that it wouldn’t explode upon impact. And it seemed that the other party also knew that fact without having to be told.
Mirages and water vapor continued to rise at the point where their energies rubbed against each other. But Hugo felt with a sensation etched into his bones that Leonardo was controlling his energy and matching it to his Magic Power.
As his blue eyes glanced in that direction, Gold Eyes, who had felt a similar sensation, also slowly turned this way. No special signal was needed between the intersecting gazes. The two looked at each other and naturally nodded.
As if that were the trigger, the powerful energy that erupted simultaneously became a fierce gust of wind and a shockwave, spreading out to the sides. Amidst that, the two, who had been enduring the opposition of the air they had created, extended the full force of the Magic Power they had grasped toward the sky, as if no one had done it first.
Two pairs of fiercely shining eyes stared as if to pierce through it. Two voices, containing everyone’s wishes, chanted the spell together.
“Hydro Injection.”
“Blaze Wall!”
From the very center of Hugo’s frozen Magic Circle, a whooshing sound rang out, and a high-speed jet of water was fired in a straight line. Due to the tremendous pressure proportional to the speed, not only Hugo, who was floating in the air, but even the members who were nearby were momentarily pushed back.
Ice containing heavy metals to be used as an abrasive was also mixed into the water and flew toward the core. Soon after, a golden beam of light extending from another direction intersected with the jet of water and combined without a major collision, wrapping around and rising up. The wall of flames completely covered the jet of water, which was trying to disperse due to the lurking heat.
The two powerful magics intertwined in the air, increasing the pressure and destructive power by utilizing their opposing properties. Amidst that movement, which was violently surging within the space, the members looked up at the jet of water that momentarily passed by even while fighting the demon beasts.
And that was the same for the demon beasts confronting the humans. The blood flowing through their bodies and the DNA in their cells froze their entire bodies for a moment between the instinct to adapt to Ultrasound and primal fear.
The core, facing that chilling energy head-on, suddenly began to roll its dark red eyeballs in all directions. As if looking for a way out, its eyeballs moved diligently and soon stopped at one point. It was where 9th Battalion Vice Commander Charlotte was.
Charlotte’s gaze was fixed on the transparent membrane covering the Queen’s neck. She, who was more familiar with its Hardening Art than anyone else, doubted her eyes as her thoughts stopped for a moment.
She immediately scanned the walls, quickly searching for her superior’s figure, but Rainer’s figure couldn’t be seen anywhere. Just as uneasiness was creeping in, what caught her eye after all was the monster’s pupils staring intently at her.
As soon as the core made eye contact with her, it suddenly opened its maw as if it had found prey. The tentacles undulating beneath its elongated jaw joints cleared away the spider web, and the opened throat kept panting as if trying to pull something out from within.
Charlotte’s eyes were filled with bewilderment at its sudden bizarre behavior.
By the time she realized the reason for its bizarre behavior, a red mass of flames had been created in the gap of its maw.
“…It’s a breath―!”
Kwaaaang―!
Her scream, close to a shriek, cut through the air. Following that, a fierce explosion and shockwave instantly covered the area where the 9th Battalion members were.
The breath fired from the Queen’s mouth completely destroyed one side of the wall, turning the area around it into scorched earth. The members who couldn’t avoid it were buried under the Boulder, and Charlotte, who belatedly deployed an Aura, also suffered a great blow because she had collided head-on with the firestorm.
But even amidst the screams, something other than her and her members’ safety came to her mind first. It was the spider web that had restrained the core, which had been loosened as half of the formation was disrupted.
Her mind was hazy from the shock of the explosion, and her head was filled with tinnitus. Nevertheless, Charlotte deployed a Magic Circle once more, trying to firmly bind it.
But warm blood was flowing down her forehead, preventing her from opening her eyes properly. She reflexively squeezed her eyelids shut and opened them, watching it through the dust. The core’s red pupils were drawing a long horizontal line.
Charlotte felt a chill run down her spine at that shape, as if it were smiling. It was very ominous.
“No―!”
She belatedly reached out and shouted, but it seemed that it was already too late.
Kwaaang―!
The Queen, suspended in the air, used the recoil of the stretched spider web to fling its body toward the opposite wall.
Just as the massive body was about to crush the remaining members, a shimmering jet of water mixed with blue and gold instantly soared before Charlotte’s horrified eyes. It was a hair’s breadth away from the Queen flinging its body, at a speed that her gaze couldn’t even follow.
The minds of everyone watching that scene from below went blank for a moment.
The two magics that had passed the target, completely fused, exerted an uncontrollable power and extended upward. The place where they split the vast space and the end of them were directed was the product of the great ancestors that should never be touched.
Leonardo’s eyelids, which had forgotten to even blink, slowly widened without him even realizing it.
‘Could it be….’
The huge and beautiful Sealing Magic Circle that the savior of the peninsula had left behind in the old days maintained its position firmly, emitting a majestic light even in the chaos.
The sharply refined aggregate of Magic Power flew relentlessly toward its center.
When the tip of the jet of water reached the Magic Circle, a light that seemed to blind the eyes poured out in all directions.