By Zephyria Leonardo, his pupils constricted, turned to the side. A black cloak fluttering in the moonlight was visible.
There was no time to sigh. Leonardo grabbed Ero by the waist and threw him to the other side of the collapsed stairs.
“Keep running!”
“Ugh, yes!”
Ero, whose body floated up and down in an instant, twisted his ankle but steadied himself by supporting himself with his palms. He looked back, but only for a moment. Soon, reminded of his role, he entrusted the situation to his brother without complaint and climbed the stairs.
Leonardo checked the troublemaker from behind Ero.
“Ha, that bastard. He’s persistently coming…”
Frowning, he muttered and stood at the waist of the tower, throwing a fireball as big as himself over the wall. When the embers were burned in the air, the humid air and hot wind met, creating a thick fog and turning the area hazy.
Leonardo fired seven shots of blue lightning in that gap.
About 3 seconds later, the concentrated Magic Power that flew in all directions exploded, creating a thunderous sound that shook the heavens and the earth.
He had no intention of hitting the target from the beginning. It was enough to threaten him. Since he couldn’t kill the opponent anyway, he judged that it was wise to shake him off and quickly pass through the Portal.
The loud but deceptive attack worked quite well, and the flickering shadow of the whip disappeared again. Meanwhile, Leonardo dug his fingers into the surface of the destroyed tower’s fiber tissue.
The fingers, heated to ultra-high temperatures, penetrated the inner wall with a hiss, and then scratched the holes that had been pierced as if a beast had made claw marks.
A fence with high-voltage current flowing was formed in the place where his grip had scratched.
It was a temporary measure, but unless the pursuer wanted to be electrocuted, he would not be able to infiltrate recklessly.
Leonardo, who had finished the repairs, was about to follow Ero, who had gone ahead.
“Brother, I think it’s here! There’s a small hole!”
A voice echoed from above. The distance wasn’t that far.
Had he suffered for about 4 hours? A small exclamation flowed between his teeth at the thought of ‘finally’. Leonardo reached out towards the ceiling and fired a Red ray in a straight line. His magic, which soared in the blink of an eye, pierced through five floors of the tower at once.
Only the sound of impact and dust fluttered from the scorched cylindrical trajectory, and no fragments fell. Leonardo jumped up the new path in an instant and met Ero, who was about 4.5 floors above.
There was no need to look around. In the center of the floor, thick cores rose up and down. It looked like stalactites and stalagmites in a cave were about to meet and form a stone pillar.
“Is this it?”
The stalagmite rising from the floor had a flat cross-section facing the ceiling. There were holes in it, and it looked like a lotus root cut in half. If he hadn’t remembered that this was part of a plant, it would have looked like an altar where a legendary sword from the ruins might be embedded.
Leonardo looked at Ero, placing his hand on the altar, and Ero replied with a sullen expression.
“…Brother, what if you blew this up too?”
“Quickly, give me the crystal. We have to put them in together.”
Ero looked back and forth at the floor and ceiling that Leonardo had pierced. But he didn’t argue anymore and took out a total of three crystals from his bag. He handed Leonardo the white one that he wanted so much, and he held the yellow and red ones that he had seen so much.
“Does it matter where we put them?”
“I don’t think there was any explanation, so it should be okay?”
The two looked at each other and nodded.
“I’m putting it in.”
“Yes.”
Taking the short exchange as a signal, they dropped the crystals into different holes. He wondered if this was the right thing to do, but the hesitation was brief. About 2 seconds after the two put in the crystals, the entrance of the hole closed smoothly.
Soon, the cores that rose from above and below extended in length and met in the center like stalagmites and stalactites. When the cross-sections were stacked as if they had been one pillar from the beginning, the seams of the joint disappeared neatly.
The core of the Surgery that had finally become a stone pillar began to writhe on the surface, beyond just twitching. It was as if a flexible and thick hose was moving the liquid inside to another place. At the same time, the fibers that the two were standing on vibrated, as if causing an internal action.
To make matters worse, a roar disguised as a geological fault layer, like a premonition of an earthquake, occurred.
Thud, thump―
“B, Brother.” What is it?”
As irregular shaking and impact sounds continued, Ero, who was nervous, grabbed Leonardo’s arm and stuck to him. Because Ero was a little shorter, Leonardo naturally took a step back while wrapping his arm around his shoulder and pulling him towards his chest. His gaze alternated between the ceiling and the floor that the Surgery’s core had pierced.
‘Why is it doing this? Is it supposed to shake like this?’
His question was short-lived. The ceiling, which had been repeating contraction and relaxation like the cells of a living thing, cracked widely and opened a new path. As if the closed sky was opening, oxygen rushed in, and transparent mucus fell from above.
Sensing that the path leading to the top of the tower had been opened, the two tried to move to the upper floor without either of them saying anything first.
But the moment they took their first step, a tremendous shock occurred, and the entire tower shook violently.
Kwaaaang—!
“Ugh!”
As a result, Ero’s body almost bounced up and down. It was a strong shock that made Leonardo stagger greatly, but he barely managed to regain his balance. Just as he was about to support Ero, a cold feeling scratched his nerves.
The same fierce whip sound as before was heard nearby. Along with it, the sound of tearing fibers was also getting closer. It seemed that the guy outside was hitting the outer wall again to find them hiding in the tower.
Sensing something was wrong, Leonardo lowered his posture, and the black whip pierced through the inner wall and passed over the heads of the two.
It could no longer be called a whip. It was closer to the shape of a giant scythe with a sharp blade.
The scythe, which had changed its shape, cut off not only the stairs leading to the next floor but also the core that had just been injected with the crystal. The severed hose fluttered in all directions, and transparent mucus spewed out.
The two were suddenly covered in a strange liquid, but they had no time to pay attention to such things now.
Even though they were clearly standing properly, their bodies were leaning to one side. The severed floor of the tower slid diagonally, and the night sky hung over the heads of the two.
“…Huh?”
Ero, who was gaping and looking up, turned pale.
From below, the sound of elongated fiber tissue breaking repeatedly was heard. Based on the point where the whip had destroyed the outer wall, the rising Surgery stand was barely holding on and slowly bending over.
Ero shouted as if the world was collapsing.
“Brother, the tower is tilting—!!”
Leonardo, who had also grasped the situation, tucked Ero under his arm like a bundle.
“That crazy bastard—.”
The two, who had jumped from the spot, escaped through the severed cross-section of the tower. The distinction between the wall and the floor was no longer meaningful.
The situation of the Surgery Tower, which they looked down on in mid-air in an instant, was a sight to behold.
The thick Surgery, divided into seven parts like a banana cut for easy eating, was falling to one side.
The sight of a large tower with a height of at least 50m collapsing was truly surreal. At the end of it, a Portal emitting a blue light flickered faintly.
Perhaps because the medium supplying energy was cut off in the middle, the leaking light flickered, looking as precarious as if it would go out at any moment.
Leonardo rushed to the top of the tower without time to think. He stepped on the fragments of the severed Surgery as stepping stones, added momentum, and flew at full speed.
“Hold on tight!”
Because the skin of his lips was fluttering again, Ero couldn’t answer properly. Instead, he hugged Leonardo’s waist tightly like a lifeline.
The total number of remaining people who could pass was 4. Since there were 11 passers from the previous time, the Portal this time might be the last chance in reality.
The moment of the last resort always draws out even the courage that people didn’t have.
To make matters worse, other participants all flew into the air at once. Originally, the opening of the Portal could not be confirmed from the outside because it was covered by clouds, but as the tower collapsed, its appearance was exposed to the eyes of the participants waiting throughout the island.
Everyone’s approach speed was unusual, as if they had been saving their strength for this moment. Nevertheless, Leonardo drew out all his strength and overtook his competitors.
Swae-aek, the annoying noise of cutting through the air followed nearby around that time. Leonardo, who lightly changed direction to avoid the guy’s obsession, glanced back.
The spiral whirlwind gathered in the sadist’s grip was approaching right in front of him.
Just in time, Ero saw the Portal, which had been barely maintaining its lifeline, closing in front of his eyes.
“Brother, hurry—!”
It was the point where they had only 3m left to the finish line. Leonardo met the eyes of the guy in the silver mask.
‘This bastard….’
His golden eyes were furrowed.
Since he was accelerating, the shimmering finish line was within reach if he stretched out his arm once. Nevertheless, the guy’s gaze was only directed at him. The sadist’s actions, which had been questionable throughout the game, were now vaguely understood.
Leonardo concentrated the Magic Power that was fiercely boiling in his left hand. He stretched out his palm and extended his arm towards the silver mask.
‘From the beginning, the purpose was me.’