BMD 402

KWA-AAAAANG!

A massive explosion, loud enough to draw the attention of the entire island, echoed throughout the tower. Simultaneously, the humid air instantly vaporized, creating a thick mist. A piece of the black cloak was caught in the blast and flung away. Similarly, Leonardo, pushed back by the gust, spun several times in the air before quickly regaining his balance and landing on a protrusion.

Checking his stinging right hand, he saw the skin between his index and middle fingers torn, soaked with blood.

“Tch.”

He casually wiped his palm on his clothes. More importantly, he quickly scanned the dust-filled air for the Sadist’s shadow.

The limp whip and destroyed terrain were being sucked into the lake. The figure presumed to be the main body was nowhere to be seen.

Leonardo’s eyes narrowed as he looked around.

‘That bastard, he dodged it.’

In the brief moment when a lethal high-voltage current filled the space between them, the eyes behind the mask paused, and he released the whip without hesitation. He then condensed a spiral of ominous energy in his hand, creating a gust and shockwave to create distance. All this happened in just two seconds.

‘The beam exploding on its own was his doing too. If he knew magic, why didn’t he use it from the start?’

Possessing a shape-shifting whip was troublesome enough, but if he had used magic before Leonardo climbed the Surgery Tower, it would have been much more advantageous for him. Back then, he was carrying Ero, a burden.

‘Is there a reason for him to hide his true abilities like me?’

Wearing a mask made it a valid question. The energy felt from the gray eyes within was also not ordinary. However, it was hard to confirm the hypothesis, as he had done many conspicuous things, such as acting as a gatekeeper.

Furthermore, it was most puzzling that he hadn’t passed through the Portal yet, even though he was close to the passing mark. With his skills, he could have easily taken three crystals. He wasn’t a pacifist who only looked for flowers like him.

Leonardo, questioning the man’s actions of rushing at him as if he had been waiting, stood at the end of the tower’s protrusion and looked down. Since the spark had grazed his right shoulder, his condition wouldn’t be perfect. But since he hadn’t been incapacitated, it was necessary to make sure.

He leaned forward to finish it when,

“Leonardo-hyung!”

Ero’s shout came from afar. Leonardo’s eyes widened for a moment, and he reflexively looked up. Without thinking, he leaped from his spot like a spring.

“…is gone!”

‘What is he saying?’

He couldn’t hear properly, but the tone of his voice was urgent. Could the man have targeted Ero? With a sense of impending doom, Leonardo soared upwards, piercing through the clouds above the tower.

Meanwhile, a spectacular sight unfolded before Ero, who was huddled over, clutching the bag of crystals.

“Get away! Get away!”

The dark shapes that had been circling near the Surgery Tower since the beginning of the match. What Ero, who had climbed to the top, witnessed was a mountain of sticky mucus and a swarm of creatures hovering above it. They resembled pelicans with their broad beaks, but they were not birds. The creatures, which flocked together so densely that they darkened the sky, were demon beasts in the form of a mix of birds and insects.

Each the size of a human torso, they had short, thick legs with sharp claws and bristly fur, and they occasionally clutched small Plarinerus crystals. They seemed to play the role of bees and butterflies in helping with the Plarinerus’s hydration in this island’s ecosystem. However, unlike familiar insects, their appearance was far from appealing.

Ero desperately fended off the creatures pecking at his back and head, swinging his bulletless pistol. But with each swing of his arm, his clothes were torn and his skin scratched by the teeth in their blunt snouts and their sharp claws.

What was frightening was that the creatures seemed to have noticed the contents of the bag, as they wiggled their antennae and tried to snatch the dangling bag strap. One or two would have been manageable, but with dozens swarming like bees, Ero’s body, which was pressing down on the bag with all its might, was being shaken by their force.

As his weakening fingers twisted, it was only a matter of time before the mucus-soaked bag slipped from his grasp. Ero, having lost his entire fortune, cried out.

“Ah, no!”

“Ero!”

He quickly raised his head and looked to the side. A surge of heat emanated from the clouds. Following that, an intense and destructive energy, palpable even to those without Magic Power, rushed in. Just as the suffocating pressure tightened around his neck, a desperate voice followed.

“Duck!”

Instinctively, Ero, who had even managed to shout “Leonardo-“, immediately covered his head and bowed down. At that moment, a sharp sound grazed his ears and passed behind him.

KKYAAAAAA-

Suddenly, a wave of intense heat passed by, and a chilling death cry, like a human scream, echoed from above. Startled, Ero was about to raise his head again when a heavy object fell on his face.

“Ugh!”

It was the bag that had been snatched away by the creatures. Since it contained several fist-sized crystals, the impact was like being hit in the face with a rock. While clutching his nose, which felt like it had been broken, Ero squinted at the scene above. Soon, his furrowed brow widened.

“What…”

More than half of the swarm of demon beasts that had been darkening his vision were fading into soot. It was a bizarre sight, as if a circle had been cut out of the densely packed black canvas. Even without understanding the situation, he could tell that an incredibly powerful Magic Power had just passed through that area, sending shivers down his spine.

However, the scene before him was not easily accepted within Ero’s realm of understanding. A vast and enormous hole, as if a wound had been torn in the sky, pushed away the clouds and stood majestically.

Through it, the evening sky was revealed, shimmering with golden afterglow. It was as if the sun had not set, even though it clearly had.

The fact that the monsters that had been attacking him fiercely just moments ago had turned into ashes and were scattering made Ero’s jaw drop uncontrollably. The trembling in his shoulders was not just from fear. He realized anew that he could be shaken by intense joy as well.

“S-so damn strong…”

Muttering with overwhelming emotion, Ero instinctively knew that he had met his savior. As if he had never been scared, he proudly boasted, waving his fist at the demon beasts.

“Haha, you bastards! Did you see that? That’s my Leonardo-hyung’s skill for you!”

He then turned to look at the King he had met while wandering through the jungle, beaming. At that moment, the remaining swarm of demon beasts gathered like a giant organism and surrounded Leonardo-hyung in the air?

Seeing this, Ero’s face turned pale, and he hurriedly secured the bag before jumping to his feet. Just as he was about to shout, “We have to go down!” he fell flat on his face again. Something had caught his ankle.

Reflexively checking his feet, Ero couldn’t help but be horrified.

“Leonardo-hyung, aaaaaaah!”

A black whip was wrapped around his leg, pulling him taut. Ero had been watching the whip’s owner all along, so he knew who was waiting at the end of the line without even looking.

He slammed the muzzle of the pistol he was holding into the edge of the Surgery Tower with a thud and held on. But the power of the grim reaper leading him to hell was immense. It was useless to struggle, scratching the outer wall of the tower until blood filled his fingernails.

“Leonardo-hyung! Save me!”

Leonardo, who was wielding a flame sword and cutting down the bat-like creatures that clung to him, turned around at the sound of another shout. In the meantime, Ero had already fallen off the outer wall of the tower, and clutching the bag, he was falling rapidly with his hand outstretched towards the sky.

“Aish, seriously…”

‘As expected of a burden.’

His hat had long since flown off during the battle. Leonardo ruffled the back of his head as if frustrated. He grabbed the neck of a bird-brained creature that was trying to eat his mask and swung it around like a flail. As a result, several creatures hit by the heavy body were pushed back, and a path to break through the swarming creatures appeared.

Leonardo, raising a guard in front of his face with the corpse of the strangled demon beast, fell at full speed to save Ero. After all, he had the crystals, and he couldn’t join hands with the Sadist and reach the goal.

As he descended through the distorted clouds and dust, he saw the lake filled with byproducts of the battle floating around. By a hair’s breadth, Ero crashed into the lake with the broken protrusion first.

Splash-

A large wave rippled, and spray shot up. Leonardo jumped into it without hesitation.

The water below the surface was so full of debris that it could no longer be called freshwater. The largest proportion of this debris was made up of mucus that drifted like jellyfish.

Leonardo thrashed his arms and snatched Ero, who was kicking his feet. In the process, the mucus stuck to the back and palm of his hand, where he had been injured earlier.

‘…!’

A pain that felt like pouring disinfectant directly onto the wound sharply pierced his nerves. But Leonardo only grimaced for a moment, grabbed Ero by the scruff of his neck, and tried to rise to the surface.

“Ugh!”

At that moment, Ero shook his head in the water, grabbed Leonardo’s arm, and pointed to the core of the tower embedded in the lake below. There was a hole there, big enough for two people to pass through.