By Zephyria Tukwaang—!
Leonardo’s fist was embedded in the core’s firmly hardened hide. The smooth surface was crushed by the high temperature and pressure, unable to withstand the force, and was dented.
The massive body, unable to withstand the force, flew backwards in an instant, and the shockwave spread, temporarily suppressing the flames on the ground. At that moment, Nero, who had been ejected from the extinguished flames, cleared away the ashes and caught up with it in an instant.
Nero rotated one and a half times in the air and kicked the monster’s back, which was being pushed backwards, in the opposite direction. With a clear cracking sound, a tingling pain followed as if his ligaments had been surprised for a moment.
“Augh—, my leg.”
He made a grimace and let out a small groan, raising his numb leg and covering it with both hands. But when he saw a bright light approaching the body drawing an arc in the distance, he realized that it was not the time to feign pain and regained his senses.
Soon, Nero put his leg back down and leaped forward. He used Teleport in succession, folding space wherever his eyes could reach.
Leonardo, who had been waiting for the core to fly up, also tilted his body 45 degrees and stepped his left foot into the air. As soon as the monster came within range, he put strength into his lower body and kicked out his right foot in time.
The heated toe penetrated deeply into the gap in the hide that had not been able to harden completely. In an instant, the monster’s hide rippled like a wave, then made a bizarre sound as if its bones were breaking, and it was kicked back in the opposite direction again.
Once, during a mission he had been waiting for, he had discovered a demon beast that curled its body into a ball in times of crisis. At that time, he had spent time with Nero, playing ball with it, but he never imagined that his experience at that time would see the light of day in this way.
Of course, it was a much heavier ball than it had been then, so the damage was no joke each time he kicked it, but to control the agilely fleeing monster, the answer was to keep it spinning like crazy.
Soon, a reddish shadow appeared behind the monster he had passed in the air and swung its fist. Another dull impact sounded, and the rotating body flew diagonally.
After passing the giant ball back and forth a few times, the two had entered a section with thick fog. As their vision turned hazy, Leonardo, sensing that the target point was near, continued to change his position while turning his eyes towards it.
Beyond the clouds hanging thickly between the mountain ranges, magma that undulated in reddish hues was lurking. The moment an ultra-high temperature that was enough to take his breath away brushed past him, his respiratory system felt stinging as if he had swallowed sand. In addition, even opening his eyes was difficult because of the acrid smoke. It was volcanic gas.
He wanted to immediately create wind to blow away the gas and ashes that had settled on his shoulders, but the auras of the Council battalion commanders, who had been ambushing since who knows when, were felt nearby.
Whether or not Nero’s identity would be hidden was half left to chance, so he had to hope that these thickly laid clouds and gases would hide his appearance well. Because of that, Leonardo emitted flames and light from his entire body instead of blowing away the gas. He exposed his position as much as possible, so that attention would be focused on him in the hazy fog.
Shortly after almost reaching the target point, Leonardo sent a signal by launching Magic Power into the sky. Then, Nero, sensing his Magic Power in the darkness and increasing his speed, lifted the monster’s body high into the air. Then, as if it were the final blow, he raised his leg upwards and slammed it down without sparing his body.
Tukwaaang—!
It felt as if his heel and Achilles tendon were breaking, but Nero, with veins standing out on his forehead, did his best to toss the monster to where the captain was. Following the trajectory of the heavy body cutting through the poisonous gas, the thick fog spread widely to the left and right.
As a blurry shadow flew out from the smoke screen, Leonardo once again grabbed lightning in his hand. Then, while preparing to send a signal to the battalion commanders who were holding their breath, he raised his right arm holding the spark high.
‘Focus, just one good hit is all I need.’
Hypnotizing himself that he didn’t feel any pain, Leonardo calmed his pounding heart. At the same time, he widened his eyes, put strength into his grip, and increased the speed of the blood flowing through his entire body. He was planning to kick the monster out into the sky above the crater, then go straight up and strike.
Soon, just as the distance between the core and him narrowed to about 10 meters, Leonardo pulled the output of Magic Power to the maximum.
Wrapped in high-voltage current surging throughout his body, he stepped his left foot into the air, using it as a pivot. He twisted his shoulder blades and chest, aimed at the target, and was about to swing the lightning containing extreme power when.
「You can’t do it.」
In an instant, an ominous voice seized his mind. At the same time, something wriggling caught his eye.
Leonardo, who had been raising his arm, paused.
The monster’s dark red eyeballs, revealed between its wings, were clearly staring at him. The problem was that the part where those eyeballs were attached was not the head, but another part that he had not expected at all.
‘What is that?’
Not only that, but the monster’s hide, hidden by its wings, was bubbling and swelling, making a sound like thick mud boiling. Sensing something strange, Leonardo immediately frowned and held the lightning horizontally. Then, he charged forward, as if to pierce through the monster’s hide. He aimed for the wriggling head and neck area, put strength into both arms, and stabbed strongly.
Kwaddeuk—
With the sound of muscles tearing, the sharp tip of the spark was deeply embedded in the core’s flesh. But at that moment, the monster’s skull, which had released its hardening, split in half before his eyes, avoiding the golden tip.
Three small monsters that appeared in the middle split into one on the left and two on the right. Subsequently, their necks and torsos were torn apart as if pulled in both directions, with tough tendons stretching out and cells wriggling to fill the gaps.
Leonardo, who rushed out scattering white steam and flames, pierced through the bodies of the monsters split in both directions in the blink of an eye. But by then, only one of the completely divided entities was caught at the end of his lightning.
The piece of flesh torn in half drooped like a shed skin. On the other hand, the other entity that dodged to the side flew independently in the sky, watching him as he passed by.
Instinctively turning around, Leonardo met the red pupils drawing an arc. The monster regenerated the flesh that had fallen off like a lizard’s tail, and chuckled as if the other’s expression was worth seeing.
“You can’t kill me. You couldn’t kill me back then either.”
Now that he was seeing the spectacle of monsters even multiplying, he became dazed. As if to make him realize that this situation was not a dream, the monster’s clear voice was hammered into both ears. At the same time, the core, which had quickly regenerated even the torn wings, increased the speed of its heavy flapping, as if trying to escape from this place.
“Fucking hell…”
Leonardo clenched his fist and immediately changed direction. He emitted steam from under his feet and leaped towards the monster.
Thanks to that terrifying regenerative power, the monster escaped from crises in extraordinary ways whenever it felt cornered. Every time Leonardo faced such a sight in a prolonged battle, he had to feel the strength draining from his entire body and being filled with despair instead.
But the place where he had promised to settle things was right in front of him, so he couldn’t just let the monster get away like this.
Flames blazed madly around him in his rage, and golden eyes glowed fiercely between his wildly fluttering hair. A heavy wave as heavy as his low curse swallowed the vicinity, and the monster’s skin pierced by sparks instantly burned and disappeared into dust.
However, Leonardo, who had drawn out such tremendous power, hesitated as he tried to aim for the monster’s rear.
Ultra-high-temperature steam was surging nearby, and magma was boiling right below. If he rashly launched an attack and made a mistake, the entire plan might be ruined.
Right now, he was struggling enough just to handle this power, and he was not in a situation where he could pay attention to detailed control. In the meantime, if the volcano erupted before he caught and killed the core, the situation afterward would be too terrible to even imagine.
As if guessing Leonardo’s anguish, the core rolled its eyes and glanced back, then grinned and tore its mouth wide open. Then, just as it was about to rise vertically and escape from his range, the reversed temperature and terrifying energy heavily pressed down on its head.
A chilling coldness that would freeze the inside of his lungs hardened the reddish-black eyeballs that were about to roll away.
“Good job, Leonardo.”
A cold bass voice echoed from the sky on the back of a sharp Magic Power. Although it was not a loud voice, the vast power permeated every molecule in the air, so it was heard very vividly, as if ringing in the head, to both the core that was rising unreservedly and Leonardo who was following behind it.
Leonardo’s eyes, shifting his gaze beyond the monster’s shadow, saw a bluish figure condensing clouds with a Greatsword. The opponent standing at the center did not emit light, but to the golden eyes looking up, he was more brilliant than any other being.
Before long, small, coldly frozen, swirling crystals seamlessly enveloped Hugo’s blade. The core was trapped in the particles he had frozen, temporarily unable to move its body.
The ice grim reaper, shining both eyes like blue flashes, raised the Greatsword he was holding. And then, towards the core crawling up into the sky, he brought the end of it down as if it were ridiculous.