By Zephyria A fierce flame soared from the Queen’s entire body. The core’s body, having been struck squarely by lightning, bounced up in an instant due to the recoil of trying to withstand the pressure.
In order to avoid the plunging electricity, the core instinctively hardened its skull, but because its entire body was soaked in rain, there was no place where electricity didn’t flow, so the rest of its body was exposed to high voltage as it was. Gray smoke and the smell of burning flesh emanated from the blackened and twisted hide.
Muscles and flesh twitched in the gaps of the hide that had split open with the roar. Soon, the inside of the core’s skin began to move grotesquely, as if trying to rearrange the tissue to fill the wounded area.
Hugo, who had been hurriedly moving away, stared at the core’s neck, which was suspiciously undulating in that fleeting moment. The round shape that had bulged above its neck the moment it was struck by lightning slid down to its belly, which was covered in thick flesh.
The moment that outline disappeared, what came into view was Leonardo, clutching a long lightning spear and rushing towards the core.
Perhaps because it couldn’t sense his presence due to its protrusions being cut off, the core showed no reaction to the human who had come right up to its nose.
As the core, unable to take a defensive stance, writhed in the pain of electrocution,
The sharp tip of the spear extended at full speed towards its exposed nape.
Kwaddeudeuk―!
The battalion commanders who had been pushed back and the commanders who had surrounded the vicinity forgot even to breathe and stared blankly at the scene.
Hugo, who had changed direction and was flying in again, and Leonardo, who was right in front of it, were the same.
The vivid sound of piercing through tough flesh pierced through the rain and into everyone’s ears.
The surging shape of lightning cleanly pierced through the thick neck. It had all happened in just a few seconds.
“Ha―.”
As a clear sensation tingled along his fingertips, Leonardo exhaled the breath he had been holding back for a moment. No sooner had his trembling breath flowed out over his lips than the spark, half-buried in the flesh, emitted a sharp sound and flared savagely.
The end that had pierced through the back of the core’s neck was entirely covered in red blood, but the heavy rain gradually washed away the surface. The lightning spear, having regained its color, became even clearer in the gaps of the black hide. Soon after, the whispers of the commanders, unable to hide their expectations, followed.
“…He hit a vital spot.”
“Did we get it?”
Leonardo, soaked in the rain and at the center of that hope, forgot even the trembling beneath his eyes and gasped for breath. With his pupils fully contracted, he stared at the core’s eyeballs, which had frozen.
The ten eyeballs fixed on him were flashing with a fierce light. As Leonardo faced them, his elated heart was momentarily replaced by an inexplicable sense of unease.
‘…No, that’s not it.’
He had definitely hit a vital spot, but his intuition was telling him that this wasn’t the end.
As he tightened his grip on the spear, where anxiety lingered, in order to finish it off for sure, the Queen’s front paw, which had been stopped, suddenly grabbed the golden spear that had pierced its neck. Then, it thrust it deeper into its neck, causing the human who was gripping the end to be pulled towards it in an instant.
「As expected.」
No hint of fear or bewilderment could be felt from the streamlined head facing death. Rather, its voice was filled with rage and, as if it had deliberately aimed for this timing, elation.
「I can feel him from you.」
Leonardo, suddenly pulled to the front of the monster’s head and facing its grotesquely grinning face head-on, frowned deeply, and for a moment, his mind became not just complicated but blank.
“…What?”
Why wasn’t the thing that had been stabbed in the neck dying and moving, was the neck not a vital spot in the first place, and if so, how on earth was he supposed to kill it in a situation where even the last hope had disappeared? All sorts of thoughts followed one after another.
But more than anything else, the most incomprehensible thing was the sound the monster in front of him was muttering as it looked at him.
「Although you’re pathetic compared to that guy, you definitely have the same energy as him.」
‘That guy?’
「You don’t happen to be that guy’s bloodline, do you?」
Leonardo, who had no idea who the ‘that guy’ he had heard several times was, felt an unpleasant sensation gradually creeping up on him. But soon, because of the monster that had opened its mouth with its neck pierced and was rushing at him, he had no choice but to hurriedly distance himself without being able to recall the source of that chill.
The Queen lengthened its neck to bite Leonardo’s leg and snapped threateningly. The savagely snarling monster seemed to have changed its target, and instead began to rush madly towards him as he moved away.
“Leonardo, get away from it!”
Hugo, sensing an unusual momentum, blocked the core’s path and temporarily froze the surface of its hide once again. However, the effect was minimal because the core suddenly explosively spewed flames, and the core passed by the troublesome human with dozens of ice spears stuck in its flesh, soaring only towards the small dot of golden light shimmering in the air.
And that fierce momentum,
「It doesn’t matter what. If you’re even slightly related to that guy,」
Seemed ready to tear the target’s entire body apart,
「You’ll have to die here.」
As if to swallow him into its maw.
Rumble― Kugoong― Koong―
Cordelia suddenly raised her head at the energy she felt momentarily.
This was the foothills near the northern plains of the Eldermilli Peninsula.
Hares’ royal guard and Paren’s cavalry had gathered to block the demon beast’s retreat and drive them south, and they were in the midst of engaging with them.
She, clad in red armor and riding a horse, striking down demon beasts with her longsword, stopped amidst the urgent scene and gazed silently at the southern sky alone. The demon beast’s bodily fluids that other knights had cut down splattered on her helmet and flowed down thickly, but she had no time to care about such things.
The peninsula’s sky was already gloomy, but the area her gaze reached was particularly full of dark clouds. Moreover, the weather conditions were not good, and lightning occasionally struck between the mountain ranges, and threatening thunder rumbled in succession, shaking the surroundings.
From the familiar energy spreading within that, she stared at the distant, thick clouds and muttered blankly.
“…Blaine?”
Kieeeek―
At that moment, one of the demon beasts, targeting her as she stood still, rushed straight towards her.
Immediately regaining her senses, Cordelia gripped the reins of her horse tightly, trying to respond head-on with her sword in one hand. However, there was someone who moved faster than her charging, and a cavalryman who suddenly burst out of the bushes fearlessly charged towards the demon beast.
The cavalryman swept away the demon beast as it was and charged for a long time, then immediately returned and trampled the seemingly dead thing under his hooves. He didn’t forget to stab the neck and head with his sword one last time to make sure it was dead.
Seeing the other’s splendid armor and saddle, Cordelia was able to recognize his identity at once. Soon, the one who approached her side, even as he took off his sweat-soaked helmet, spoke to her in that gentle voice.
“It’s quite something that you, of all people, would be caught off guard.”
“…Caught off guard? I never did. I could have handled it, but it just so happened that General appeared.”
Hearing Cordelia’s answer, Paren’s general gave that unique, subtle smile of his. Soon after, the answer “If that’s what you say, then that’s what it must be” came back, but he didn’t seem to believe it.
“But, what were you looking at?”
At the general’s question that followed, Cordelia turned her eyes back to the southern sky she had been watching a moment ago. Then, looking at the flashing thunderclouds, she murmured in a worried voice.
“It seems like something big is happening over there.”
“Hmm… the state of the clouds certainly isn’t good.”
“Yes. Besides, the beacon was lit earlier than expected, and… if Blaine is releasing that much Magic Power….”
Cordelia trailed off and bit her lip. Just then, the general, who had been listening to her words and watching the same direction, suddenly turned his head to Cordelia. Then, erasing the smile that had been on his face, he questioned what he had just heard.
“Blaine?”
At his voice, Cordelia also turned her eyes to the general.
“Yes?”
“When you say Blaine… are you perhaps referring to Leonardo Blaine?”
Cordelia showed a look of bewilderment and silently stared at the general’s face. Because the person who would usually smile no matter what was said had a very serious expression for once.
It didn’t seem like a reaction that would be shown just by hearing someone’s name, so for a moment, Cordelia wondered if she had inadvertently leaked something about the internal affairs of the Empire and fell silent for a moment.
But because the general was staring intently at her as if waiting for an answer, she cautiously nodded before long, trying to understand the intention of his question. She thought that there was no reason to hide it since they were already receiving their help.
“…Yes, that’s right. But… why do you ask?”
“So you’re saying that Leonardo Blaine is here, on the Eldermilli Peninsula?”
Paren’s general seemed quite agitated, unlike his usual relaxed self. Cordelia couldn’t tell whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, so she unconsciously became reluctant to speak once again.
Kugoong― Koong―
And then, another unusual discharge phenomenon crossed the clouds in the southern sky.
Instinctively, Paren’s general raised his head, his gaze naturally shifting to the southern sky Cordelia was staring at. Cordelia blinked slowly, quietly observing the general’s hardened expression, a rare sight.
“…Haha, ha.”
A moment later, a bright smile, unlike anything she had seen before, slowly spread across his face.
“He’s here.”