By Zephyria As Hugo’s gaze, which had turned cold unlike when he looked at him, turned downwards, Leonardo twisted his waist and followed the end of his gaze with puzzled eyes. Perhaps he hadn’t noticed it because it was buried in the cold energy that wrapped around his body, but a ray of light that had pierced through the black smoke was already stretching towards them.
Leonardo, who had stretched out his neck and peeked out, widened his eyes for a moment and leaned his upper body back. Then, without realizing it, he pounded Hugo’s shoulder with his fist, urging him to move quickly.
“Go back, go back!”
Hugo, who narrowed his brow at the somewhat violent urging, glanced at Leonardo and stepped back lightly.
Pheeing― Ping―
Two rays of light that flew in a straight line soared into the sky with a time difference.
As the hot heat barely brushed past his eyes, Leonardo, with one hand on Hugo’s shoulder and the other hand out, aimed his palm through the dark smoke. Then, he concentrated all his senses on his fingertips and drew out boiling Magic Power in a short time.
A heavy voice that scratched his throat flowed out from between his lips along with a drop of blood.
“Dragon’s Breath.”
The crimson energy that rippled in his grasp was fired into the ground in the blink of an eye.
Emitting a destructive light, it vertically split one-third of a nearby peak, and instantly swallowed the traces of collapse laid on the ground.
The seawater, which temporarily bounced up and evaporated at the same time, formed a thick fog that covered the ground. All sorts of Boulder fragments and dirt were mixed in the gap, and soared into the sky at once by the shock wave.
The terrifying power pushed even Hugo, who was holding Leonardo, back 30m with a strong recoil. Only after he spread a Magic Circle in the air and stepped on an ice barrier he made in the air could the two people, who were almost flying away, barely stop.
Hugo was inwardly surprised by the pressure that pushed him without giving him a chance to do anything, and realized why Leonardo had been thrown away as if bouncing off his own power earlier. But as ultra-high-temperature steam spewed out like crazy, he had no time to think about anything else. His eyebrows, which had been enduring the heat, were momentarily distorted in pain.
Chee-ik―, a sharp sound that scratched his ears dug between the two as if to scorch their touching arms and chest. The ice vaporized at a rapid rate, and a low groan flowed from Hugo’s mouth.
Although it was a fairly small voice, it was clearer than any other sound to Leonardo’s ears, who was watching the monster. Leonardo, startled once again, pushed Hugo’s arm away and tried to forcibly escape from his embrace.
“Let go, I said let go! Do you want to die? You’ll get burned!”
“Just wait a moment, Leonardo. I’m okay―.”
The smell of burning fibers brushed past his nose through the roughly rising smoke. Leonardo struggled in impatience, fearing that it would lead to the smell of burning protein. However, the firm arms that pressed against his upper and lower body showed no sign of letting him go. Rather, it seemed that the more he struggled, the more they tightened, which had the opposite effect.
Leonardo was embarrassed by the Legion Commander’s incomprehensible actions. Then, in the end, he tried to suppress his energy rather than using force. Even in the midst of that, Hugo’s gaze was on the red bloodstains that flowed and hardened on Leonardo’s lips.
He wanted to wipe away the traces that seemed as painful as the internal injuries he had suffered, but he was sure that this guy would run away again if he did. Unable to do anything, Hugo, who had been looking over it with troubled eyes, opened his mouth when Leonardo’s energy had become relatively calm.
“I said I’d explain later, so I won’t ask you what happened now. But if you continue to use Magic Power like this, your body won’t be able to handle it.”
Hugo’s face and voice contained urgent and sincere concern. The hands that supported his back and pressed his arms gently conveyed earnestness rather than an intention to persuade.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious either. But the more it is like this, the more careful you have to be with your attacks. In a situation where we’ve already come to a long-term battle, you might think that plans and tactics are meaningless, but in order to eliminate a guy with high physical abilities and intelligence, I think we need a different method than this indiscriminate melee.”
“…What method?”
“First, I’ll look at the situation and create an opportunity, then―.”
Kugung― Kung―
At that moment, a series of explosions and the core’s roar heard from under the ground interrupted Hugo’s words. The two people, who had been looking at each other in the sky, looked down again.
The commanders who had followed were attacking the core, and Magic Power of various properties was exploding at regular intervals. It wasn’t visible in detail due to the smoke screen, but other demon beasts that had been drawn by the roar also seemed to be screaming as they were caught up in the attack.
Leonardo, who was looking at the ground covered with sizzling and black smoke, slowly rolled his eyes and grasped the situation.
Originally, he was going to settle things with the core alone, but as the sun set, the situation turned unfavorable for him. He could destroy hundreds of demon beasts with one blow, but it was difficult to hit just that one. The reason was this light that was constantly emitted from him.
The light that brightened as the sky darkened exposed his location, making it difficult to ambush, and since the place where the thing hid its body was mostly shady, he had to rely on his senses rather than his sight.
In the meantime, the Council’s commanders were surprisingly showing a higher hit rate than him in sniping the thing. Since they were much smaller than the monster, it was easy to hide their appearance and presence, and it seemed that the core’s nerves were focused on him, who was floating in the sky now.
In other words, he was the one who could most concentrate the core’s attention, and conversely, the Council’s commanders were the ones who could move secretly while avoiding the thing’s eyes.
So Leonardo, who judged that he could seize a pretty good opportunity if he cooperated with them, suddenly put his arms around Hugo’s shoulders and neck, which he had been pushing away until just now. Then, he looked at the blue eyes that had become closer and cautiously opened his mouth.
“You’ll create an opportunity?”
Hugo, who glanced down at his shoulder, nodded lightly as he met the sparkling Gold Eyes.
“Yes.”
“Then, you know, do you remember what I said at the meeting before?”
Hugo raised one eyebrow and asked back at Leonardo’s sudden words.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about plan 5. The one that all the other guys laughed at.”
Answering that way, Leonardo raised his trembling left arm and pointed to one of the small volcanoes located not far away. Red magma was thickly boiling in the crater, where red light flickered along the perimeter, making it possible to guess the heat even in the darkness.
Hugo narrowed his brow and looked at it, then suddenly lowered his head and scanned the path that Leonardo had driven the core along. The traces of destruction that had continued from the north were heading towards the small volcano that Leonardo’s fingertips were pointing to. Moreover, the distance from other volcanoes that could cause a chain explosion was quite far, so it was a location where damage could be minimized.
Realizing that he was moving with intention rather than just launching an attack, Hugo looked at Leonardo again and answered his words.
“I remember. You said we should blow up the volcano.”
“Let’s do that now.”
“…….”
“I know it sounds crazy, but as you said, you’ve seen it while fighting so far. Stabbing, poking, and launching ambiguous attacks one by one won’t work on that thing. If the thing can move its vitals, we have to blow up all the parts that can be moved at once to barely kill it.”
Leonardo seriously preached his opinion. However, Hugo could not easily agree.
Blow up the volcano. It might be an easy thing to say for this hot, burning golden fireball, but at least it was difficult to accept from the perspective of ordinary human common sense.
“But Leonardo, that’s….”
“If I lure the core and buy time, reorganize the Barrier Stone locations, and reactivate the barrier using the explosion as a signal, at least the damage won’t go to the imperial mainland. If the erupted lava sweeps away the other demon beasts that followed the core, it can replace the already destroyed trap. Then the number of guys trying to run out after the King dies will be much smaller.”
As the explosions echoing from below intensified, Leonardo’s words became faster and more unstoppable. Anxiety was projected onto his crumpled fine brow and voice, but Hugo only met his eyes and did not utter any answer for a while.
Then Leonardo put both arms on Hugo’s shoulders this time. Then, he brought his face a little closer and persuaded him with earnest eyes.
“You’ll create an opportunity for me?”
Hugo, who glanced down at his shoulder, nodded lightly as he met the sparkling Gold Eyes.
“5 seconds. 5 seconds is enough. I’ll lure the thing near that volcano, so hold the thing still above it for just 5 seconds so it can’t move. I’ll take care of the rest.”
In fact, 5 seconds was a very short time to kill the core, but ironically, it was an absurdly long time to hold the thing.
But if he could somehow explode the thing and the volcano together within that time, he thought that he could kill the Queen and most of the demon beasts, even if there were some errors.
Hugo, who had been gazing at the radiant colors that he was emitting, pursed his lips for a moment and then closed them again. The golden hair fluttered between the white steam, and the eyes that had been hidden became more clearly visible.
Leonardo’s eyes were full of burning will, but Hugo could not easily respond to that will. He thought the risk was too great. And frankly, he wasn’t sure if this was even possible.
The monster in the 118th peak, which had been chased with a less than 10% chance of success, had brought unspeakable and terrible results to this land. No one had expected the situation to turn out like this, so it couldn’t be blamed on anyone, but Hugo, the chief executive officer, felt the shoulders on which Leonardo’s hands were placed were heavy at this moment.
Trying to force himself to loosen his stiff mouth, Hugo unconsciously turned his gaze to the sky in the north. It was because the wind was blowing from there at that moment.
The wind was blowing the steam rising between Leonardo and himself to the south.
Hugo followed the end of it and slowly turned his head, placing his gaze on the coastline to the south. Because his profile looked very complicated, Leonardo waited quietly without saying anything.
At that moment, Hugo recalled Dellua’s words defending Leonardo at the last meeting. Since the direction of the wind would send volcanic ash and harmful gases towards the sea rather than the territory, there might be problems such as abnormal weather in the future, but her argument was that it was a pretty good method, putting that aside for now.
Thinking that far, he realized that there were no plans or tactics to rely on other than Leonardo right now. The only light was earnestly telling him, and ignoring that intention was no different from abandoning hope.
“…….”
After a while, Hugo’s gaze returned to Leonardo.
Then, meeting the Gold Eyes that were staring straight at him, he opened his mouth after a short sigh.
“10 seconds.”
Leonardo’s eyelids moved slightly at the words that came out of his tightly closed mouth. Hugo watched the small movement carefully and told him clearly once again.
“I’ll somehow hold it for 10 seconds.”
Hugo loosened his grip on Leonardo’s tightly held waist and thighs.
Then, he blinked slowly once, and clearly conveyed his determination to take responsibility for whatever ending came at the end of this.
“Let’s do it, as you say.”