By Zephyria Chiiiiik―
The scorched earth sizzled. The soil and Boulder melted and shimmered red in the path of the light beams.
Hot steam created by vaporizing ice and scattered corpses covered the area. Along with uprooted trees and partially destroyed structures.
No signs of life could be found in the devastated scene.
The core, clutching the cliff face and hiding in the clouds, quietly watched the scene.
In the chunks of meat that were faintly visible through the rising smoke, the forms of humans and demon beasts were half-mixed. But the figures of the three humans who had blocked the way were nowhere to be seen, as if they had vanished. The monster slowly rolled its eyes and soon looked up at the sky.
The frozen ice crystals were melting and disappearing in the air. The giant atmospheric vortex that had been growing in size was also doing the same.
Whether the caster had lost control or not, the artificially created natural weapon gradually scattered and returned to its original form. The blood-red eyeballs, which had been assessing the situation, rolled back down to their original positions.
“How boring.”
Soon, the core, spreading its wings wide to the left and right, slowly flew up from the thick smoke. Even in the midst of this, it twitched its sharply raised protrusions and sensed the surrounding air currents. It seemed that quite a few things had hidden themselves nearby in the meantime.
At that moment, the core’s eyeballs, catching a faint smell of blood, rolled upwards. A foolish shadow that had exposed its location hurriedly fled from its sight.
The giant creature’s wings immediately turned in that direction. Its red maw was already wide open, snapping fiercely as if ready to chew up anything.
A few seconds later, the ferocious head soared through the thickly laid clouds. At that moment, Isabella, who had been waiting in the sky, immediately sent a signal to the commanders who had surrounded the creature.
“All-out attack―!”
The core, recognizing the lumps of Magic Power pouring in from all directions in the blink of an eye, once again covered its entire body with hardened wings. The combat suit that had been bitten and pierced by its teeth was only soaked in blood and was flat without anything inside. The enraged monster’s cry echoed fiercely throughout the area of Peak 118.
Kwaaa kwa kwa kwang―!
The creature, avoiding the bombardment and gliding straight down, escaped through the mountain ranges, running madly across the steep cliffs and striking the Boulder with its blunt tail.
The weakened ground, where vegetation had been uprooted, was easily split, and giant Boulders rolled down one by one, gradually increasing in size. The swept-away soil and rock fragments had already become a vast landslide threatening the members below and poured down.
“L, landslide! Everyone, get to higher ground!”
“No, maintain formation! Protect the Barrier Stone!”
While the divided members were unable to make a decision, golems and earth-attribute mages flew in and blocked the onrushing soil head-on. However, perhaps because the pressure was so strong, the pile of earth crossed the foothills and went over to the nearby plains, digging up even the traps under the ground, which were a crucial element of the operation.
Before anyone could shout to evacuate, the impacted traps scattered hazy smoke and caused a violent explosion. Furthermore, it spread quickly like a burning fuse, turning the surrounding area into a wasteland with a chain of explosions.
Kwang― Kwang― Kwaaaang―!
The impact on the ground was so severe that fragments of soil and Boulder flew up to a considerable altitude. As the successive destructive power and vibrations surged, the softened ground began to sink into the empty tunnels. The Barrier Stone, which had just been activated, could not possibly be safe either.
In the midst of that chaos, the core, spreading its wings, rushed towards a point where the space in front was rippling. This was because the poured-out soil had been blocked everywhere else, but only in that area had it burst outwards.
Just as the core was flying unhindered towards the barrier of the breached defensive line, the voice of the troublesome human, who had been thought to be dead, echoed from somewhere.
“Meterion, grab it!”
At that moment, Ice Pillars, rising fiercely, crossed the front of the shattered barrier like bars. Soon after, the dust that had billowed up in the aftermath of the explosion quickly gathered near the ground.
The dust, transformed into a giant hand, instantly swallowed the tail of the flying core as if to prevent it from approaching the barrier. Then, it pulled it back strongly, spinning it around in the air several times, and using centrifugal force, threw it forcefully into the distant sky.
Kyaaaaaak―
The massive creature, which seemed as if it would fly away coolly, could not move as far as expected due to its weight. The creature, roaring sharply, quickly flew high and escaped from the range of the hand in an instant.
But what covered the creature’s vision next was another human who had been thought to have died from the light beams.
As if knowing that the creature would come here, Charlotte activated the Magic Circle she had deployed in advance and fired a transparent thread towards the core’s back. Then, the spiderweb covering the Queen’s body became entangled in its fluttering wings, gradually reducing the range of motion of its bones and muscles.
Because of this, the massive creature, unable to overcome gravity, gradually fell downwards, and Isabella, who had been waiting for the opportunity, detonated a purple orb, soaking the creature’s entire body in potent poison.
As the poison seeped into the cracks in its split hide, the core twisted its entire body in pain. Thanks to the creature angrily spewing flames and yellow gas in all directions, Rainer, who had identified its location even in the clouds, gave a nod to Hugo, who was facing him.
“Supreme Commander.”
Hugo met his eyes and nodded lightly.
The other’s empty left arm, wrapped in a combat suit sleeve, kept flickering in his mind, but as the situation was what it was, he tried to suppress his worried and sympathetic gaze. Both of his arms were also burned because he had blocked the light beams head-on, and the members below had also suffered heavy casualties.
Rainer, receiving the signal with a resolute gaze, immediately deployed a Magic Circle widely in front of the Legion Commander. Then, dozens of Ice Spears floating in the sky pierced through the thundering Magic Circle and poured down in an instant.
Then, towards the core, which was melting the spiderweb with flames and returning to its normal trajectory, they extended with terrifying speed, shining their hardened tips.
The Queen, unable to come to her senses from the linked attacks, soon discovered something sparkling in the sky and hurriedly spread her hardened wings.
But perhaps because she could not withstand the power of ‘real’ Hardening Art and the acceleration added to it, the sharp Ice Spears tore through the creature’s wings as they were and firmly pierced its hide and flesh.
Amidst the creature’s body fluids and screams that burst like fireworks, Hugo and Rainer, who were gripping hardened Ice Greatswords, rushed towards the core at almost the speed of light. Afterwards, they quickly stuck to the rear of the creature and tried to cut off both of its wing joints so that it could no longer fly.
But at that moment, a red mass of flames flickered from the Queen’s maw.
‘……!’
Hugo, who was the first to notice the energy despite being behind, instinctively pushed Rainer away with his body. Then, he urgently warned, putting up a barrier in front of the battalion commanders who were following behind.
“Breath! Get away from it!”
Kyaaaaaak―
No sooner had the two avoided it than the enraged Queen began to emit flames in all directions and violently emit light.
The battalion commanders, who were near the Legion Commander’s voice and the heat that suddenly rushed towards them, also retreated backwards.
From the creature’s maw, a dark red flame, as if spewing out of a flamethrower, erupted explosively.
On a scale that was on a different level from what had been fired at Charlotte inside the fortress, the ferocious flames mixed with black smoke seethed with strong pressure and destructive power. The heat evaporated the clouds floating in the sky and burned all the vegetation that grew on the peaks and the ground.
Because of this, the fire spread to the Council’s temporary outpost, which was positioned on the mountainside and in the area, and a part of the peninsula’s southern land became a sea of fire in an instant. The core incessantly spewed out breath in the fiercely burning flames so that no one could approach it.
At that moment, the sharp sound of air friction tearing through the sky flew towards the Queen’s nape in an instant, aiming for it.
Kiiiiing― Kwang―!
Kyaaaaaak―
The core, feeling threatened by the sudden attack in the midst of the flames where no living thing could possibly breathe, roared fiercely. In succession, ultra-high-temperature lightning bolts, shining blue, flew and relentlessly strafed the creature’s skull and nape.
The core protected its nape with its long tail while diligently rolling its ten eyeballs, trying to find the target of the attack.
Before long, what was reflected in the red pupils that felt heat on its back was a golden fire demon rushing towards it, aiming for its vitals.