BMD 110

Thud—! Thud—!

Convinced that this was the signal from the Squad Leader, Squad Leader 8 reached out her arm to launch another attack.

However, Flynn, who had been quietly sensing the vibration, blocked Squad Leader 8, stopping her.

“Just a moment. This vibration, it seems like a signal.”

“Isn’t the Squad Leader signaling that he’s under here? We need to reduce the pressure from above as much as possible—.”

“No, it’s not that kind of signal….”

‘One short, one long. Again, one short, two long.’

“A… W….”

As Flynn concentrated on the reverberation and muttered, Squad Leader 8, who had been quietly watching him, realized that there was meaning in this vibration. She immediately switched her stance and listened to the vibration along with Flynn.

The vibration echoed again, one short, one long.

“A.”

After the vibration echoed several more times, the ground became silent as if nothing had happened.

Flynn and Squad Leader 8 stared at the quiet ground beneath their feet, then looked at each other and said.

“AWAY.”

A moment of silence passed between the two. It was Flynn who broke it first.

“It seems like there’s a message we missed earlier…. Roughly, is it telling us to get away from this spot?”

“Probably….”

At that moment, a coldness rushed up from beneath their feet.

As the inside of the pit became chillingly cold, the two who were facing each other widened their eyes and immediately turned around and ran outside. The other members who had gathered around, hearing the noise, also moved away from the pit without knowing why, seeing them running out.

“Everyone, get away!”

Squad Leader 8 created a strong gust of wind to push the surrounding members back. Flynn also erected a barrier towards the pit he had escaped from and stepped back. Everyone at the search site, seeing the sudden actions of the two, thought something big had happened and scattered in an orderly fashion.

Only Dellua, alone in the sky, shouted forlornly.

“What’s going on?!”

Under their command, the members who were in the front, left, and right, within a certain radius based on the dug-out pit, all evacuated.

But after a long time, the deep pit, where something seemed about to happen, remained silent. The tense members became restless when nothing happened. As the scene became noisy, the scattered members of the 1st Division hurriedly flew over and asked the Squad Leader and Flynn.

“What’s going on!”

“Don’t get close.”

Squad Leader 8 gestured for those members to come back.

At that moment, the vibration began to echo again from under the ground where there had been no reaction. This time, they listened carefully to see if it was another signal, but the cycle was quite irregular, and the intensity was incomparably stronger than before.

Suddenly, the magic detectors that Flynn had installed in the area began to detect abnormal magic power and flashed all around. At the same time, the more the vibration echoed, the more eerily powerful magic power rose from the ground and overflowed into the area.

The members positioned around the area panicked at the unusual energy and hurriedly erected barriers. However, the members of the 1st Division and Flynn, who knew that magic power very well, shouted towards the deep ground where the vibration was echoing fiercely, with faces full of emotion.

“Squad Leader!”

Kwaaaaang—!

A huge shard of ice tore through the members who had moved to the sides and burst out like an active volcano from the deep pit.

The destructive energy that surged from underground stretched out in a straight line, covering the mounds of dirt with ice and halving the cliff in front, forming a terrifying ice canyon. Thanks to this, the wasteland was split in half like the miracle of Moses.

The steam mixed with dirt and dust that had obscured the view in that brutal scene flew away to the other side. Soon, two figures could be seen walking out with difficulty from the ground in between.

Thud—!

One person in the steam plunged a greatsword held in his hand into the ground. He paused to catch his breath, then let go of the arm of the person next to him, whom he had been half-dragging and supporting. Then the person next to him collapsed on the spot.

Squad Leader 8 and the members of her squad immediately ran towards the two figures upon seeing them. Pushing through the wavering steam, what appeared before them was Hugo, breathing heavily, using the greatsword stuck in the ground as a support, and Rainer, Squad Leader 9, lying collapsed at his feet, breathing roughly.

The deep pit visible behind them was covered with ice on all sides and was deeply dug like a cave. Even at a glance, the depth was considerable, and it was so dark that the end could not be seen, so it was impossible to guess how deep they had been buried.

And inside, there was no sign of anyone else.

“Are you two alright?”

Squad Leader 8, who had been focusing on the air leaking from inside the pit in case there was anyone else, carefully asked the two who looked exhausted.

The members of the squad quickly approached Hugo and Rainer and supported them. Rainer, who had been lying on the floor, was raised by the members, half out of his mind. He frowned and muttered, looking at the face of Squad Leader 8, who asked if he was okay.

“I’m alive….”

Hugo’s powerful magic power that broke through the ground was also felt by Dellua, but she couldn’t just be happy about the Squad Leader’s safe return. Rather, she had to worry about her own condition first.

The stickiness flowing down her philtrum from earlier had now become two lines. As her concentration gradually scattered, the huge soil and rocks floating in the air began to shake slightly, and small grains began to fall. The members below felt an ominous energy and raised their heads.

Dellua, sensing that she had reached her limit, frowned and shouted with all her might.

“Everyone, run away from under here—!!”

Starting with her shout, countless mounds of dirt floating in the air poured down like a waterfall. The members who were nearby scattered in panic, and the members of the 6th Division who had been assisting Dellua from their respective positions left their positions and hurriedly flew to the Squad Leader who was on top of the dirt pile.

In the sudden situation, Squad Leader 8 hurriedly flew into the air, erected a barrier, and shouted to Hugo below.

“Squad Leader, please evacuate quickly!”

The members of the 1st Division hurriedly tried to move the Supreme Commander and Squad Leader 9, but unlike Rainer, who was being half-dragged, Hugo did not move from his spot. Feeling that his breathing had become somewhat calm after breathing in the outside air, he gripped the handle of the greatsword tightly instead of evacuating with the members.

At that moment, the ground shook, and a huge magic circle spread out on the floor, and thick ice pillars began to rise diagonally in a tangled manner.

Squad Leader 8 and the members of the 6th Division, who were in the air, hesitated and stepped back at the sight of the huge ice pillars rising sharply. Dellua, who was in the middle of the dirt pile, was startled and stumbled backward, narrowly avoiding the sharp ice that brushed past her face as if it would cut her nose.

The ice pillars that rose from the ground interlocked like an impenetrable fortress, blocking the soil and rocks pouring down from above. The members who were protecting their heads close to the pillars were helped by their comrades and hurriedly escaped from the ground as the falling debris gradually stopped.

Thanks to this, the search site became a scene of chaos, but a secondary accident in which members who had not been able to escape were buried was prevented.

After a while, when the pillars that had been rising threateningly subsided, the members of the 6th Division hurriedly searched for their Squad Leader, who might be mixed in with the dirt pile that had only partially fallen.

Dellua, lying sprawled on top of the half-collapsed dirt pile, gasped for breath and stared at the chilling pillar that had sprung up right next to her body.

“Squad Leader, are you alright?”

She, who had been lying exhausted, wiped the glorious nosebleed that crossed her philtrum with the back of her hand as the members approached.

Then, glaring at the end of the sharply shining pillar, she wondered if the Squad Leader knew she was here when he did that.