By Zephyria A firm arm wrapped around his waist.
Feeling the touch, Leonardo’s eyes slid slightly towards Hugo.
Gazes crossed in a silence where not a single breath could be heard. Instinctively, it felt as if they could understand what each other was thinking.
Leonardo, who was half-embraced by Hugo, slowly lowered the hand that had been touching his lips. Then, taking a small breath, he braced his hand on the ground, which had been supporting the back of Hugo’s head.
Feeling the tensed abdominal pressure at the fingertips that wrapped around his waist, Hugo also stopped breathing. The thick Adam’s apple slowly rose and fell, and the blue eyes quietly waited for the moment.
As if time had stopped, the closely intertwined gazes constantly sent signals to each other. It was only a few short seconds, but the tension flowing down their spines shouted incessantly in their minds.
If you want to live, you have to get out of here.
KWA-AAANG!
At the same time, they kicked off the ground and jumped out of the cave, and the large claw hanging at the entrance instantly dug inward. With an agility that didn’t match its size, it was only a hair’s breadth away from the two escaping the cave.
Leonardo, who exhaled the breath he had been holding as soon as he got outside, looked down at the reality of the huge monster and felt his hair stand on end.
The rough skin, as if burned, was cracked along the grain, and yellow gas and flames soared from the gaps.
Four legs with exposed scarlet muscle fibers and bent joints firmly gripped the wall, and the grotesquely protruding lower jaw clashed up and down, as if constantly craving something, secreting an unidentifiable liquid. It was the very image of a hideous monster.
Immediately, he looked at the narrow cave he had been in just a moment ago, and the devilish claws were scraping at the inside as if trying to gouge it out, so much so that the original shape was unrecognizable. The outer wall collapsed as if there had been a landslide, and the broken debris fell into the wave of Illaptors cowering below.
The brief spectacle brought countless thoughts to mind, but there was no time to dwell on the situation as the ten black eyeballs embedded in its head turned 180 degrees and faced this way.
Soon after, the thick tail, which had been drooping, writhed like a ferocious snake and flew through the air. Leonardo reflexively pushed Hugo, who had wrapped his arms around his waist, and used the recoil to create distance between them.
KWA-AAANG!
At the end of the tail that flashed before his eyes, there was a blunt, hard piece of flesh and brutal thorns, shaped like a mace. The terrifying weapon struck the air where the two had been just a moment ago, and then violently destroyed the outer wall on the other side again.
The speed was so fast that it seemed to not be affected by air resistance at all, and it seemed that even a momentary distraction would result in instant death.
Leonardo, who barely managed to set foot on the wall, gasped for breath.
The image of the corpse dangling from the monster’s mouth forcibly dredged up memories from past battlefields. As a result, his heart was beating very fast, and an abnormal pulse resonated from his neck and could be heard in his ears. Even so, his confused mind constantly questioned the existence before him.
‘How on earth?’
The monster was the core, the Queen, for sure. Otherwise, the huge size, the hideous appearance that created a sense of discomfort, and the behavior of the Illaptors crouching quietly below could not be explained.
But the Queen he knew was supposed to be bound by the Sealing and unable to move freely. But right now, the monster’s movements didn’t seem to be restricted at all, even considering that some of the ruins that made up the Sealing Magic Circle had been smashed. On the contrary, it seemed to be in the mood to break down all the walls of this fortress and get out.
A chillingly long and sharp claw flew straight at him, as if not giving him time to think. Leonardo, who jumped away again to avoid it, recalled an ominous hypothesis as he saw the deep claw marks etched into the place he had been stepping on just a moment ago.
There was only one thing that could explain the agile movements.
‘Could it be that the Sealing has already been released?’
When he had tried to save Kenneth a few days ago and had blown away part of the ruins, a strong gust of wind and a huge roar had echoed from this 118th Sealing direction. Just like now.
At the time, the investigator had speculated that the monster had not yet been completely liberated, but that was just speculation, and in fact, the Sealing may have already been released at that time.
If that were the case, the situation would be truly terrible. He, a mere human, could not fathom the Queen’s intentions, as she had waited quietly until the Council entered this place, even though she had been released from the Sealing.
But right now, his Magic Power was clearly suppressed compared to when he was outside. If so, it meant that the Sealing Magic Circle was still effective, but he couldn’t figure out how the situation was unfolding.
The monster, which had stopped moving for a moment, shook its long tail and rolled its crimson-black eyeballs around. It seemed to be gauging which one to catch first. It was such a leisurely sight, as if hunting a rat in a trap, that Leonardo felt his ominous hypothesis gradually solidify into conviction.
Before long, the scarlet pupils tilted towards Hugo, and Leonardo immediately reached out his arm. He shouldn’t attack the monster until he could contact the outside for the operation, but he didn’t have time to think that far right now.
The Queen’s eyeballs turned towards him the moment it noticed the energy, and the heat gathered at his fingertips was fired as two Red rays. The rays, whistling as they flew, struck the monster’s head directly, followed by a loud explosion and a cloud of smoke spreading in all directions.
Leonardo, stepping on the still intact railing, deployed an Aura in front of him and quietly watched the monster. The overwhelmingly large size played a big role in creating a sense of intimidation, but that also meant that the area to be hit by attacks increased, so it was bound to be vulnerable in terms of defense.
But a moment later, the clear eyeballs that appeared in the smoke made him realize that his thoughts were a big miscalculation.
“……?”
Leonardo stared at the monster, which was spewing hot air right in front of him, with disbelief. The monster’s body was clearly over there, but its long neck had come so close that he couldn’t feel its presence, and it was peering into the narrow space as if observing him.
The mouth, filled with rotten blood, and the pupils that were expanding as if to swallow him, gradually tightened his breath. Facing it up close, he instinctively felt his lower eyelids twitch and veins slowly rise on his neck.
In the meantime, the monster seemed to be surprisingly unaffected.
Screech—
The terrible sound of hook-like claws scraping down the wall echoed, piercing his eardrums. The moment Leonardo frowned and covered his ears, the Queen, taking advantage of the gap, opened its mouth and lunged as if to chew through the wall.
“Leonardo!”
At that moment, a blue light flashed from the other side, and sharp ice shards that were hastily created were fired at the monster’s neck with good timing.
The other five eyeballs on the Queen’s head rolled towards that side. The monster, realizing the situation, almost jumped up and climbed upwards in an instant. However, ice was embedded in the skin of its hind leg, which it had not been able to avoid, and a strange liquid splattered in all directions.
Kyaaaaak—
As a cry of pain was heard, Leonardo, who had thrown himself to avoid it, grabbed a pillar and watched the twisting giant body. Perhaps because of the compatibility, the reaction was more violent than when it had been hit by his attack just a moment ago.
But smoke rose from the wall where the liquid had splattered, along with a hiss. The molten Boulder then flowed down the pillars and railings.
Cold sweat flowed down his spine as well.
‘Acid?’
To make matters worse, the core, clinging tightly to one wall, raised its head and began to wail with an ominous sound. It wasn’t the same scream as before, but a roar that was drawn up from deep within the monster’s body.
Hugo and Leonardo instinctively sensed the sharp vibrations that mixed in the air and scratched their skin.
‘Ultrasound.’
Soon after, a fierce gust of wind swept through the entire space, and yellow smoke exploded from the cracks in the monster’s torn skin.
Lava-like flames soared from its body, completely vaporizing the ice embedded in its hind leg. At the same time, the tail, which was swung like a whip, collided mercilessly with the wall, collapsing the Boulder in all directions.
Whether intentional or not, the ash and dust that had accumulated over the past hundreds of years floated up, blurring the view like a smoke screen.
At the same time, the Illaptors, who had been lying flat on the bottom, began to scream as if reacting to the Ultrasound.
Kkiaaaak—
Kkieeek—
The black masses went berserk and vibrated as if to collapse the entire space again. As the monsters climbed the walls at a rapid pace, as if they had lost their ego and were excited, Hugo detonated condensed air spheres to secure his vision. Then, he urgently called out to the two people who were setting up a barrier above.
“Meterion, Roslin!”
As if responding to his call from above, where nothing could be seen due to the swirling dust, a bright light immediately descended. The light, filled with Magic Power, spread to the bottom and instantly dyed the vast space, and a transparent double barrier filled the interior, penetrating deeply into the gaps in the collapsed walls.
As soon as the barrier was strengthened, Hugo gathered Magic Power in both hands again to reduce the number of monsters even a little. And then, a fierce and familiar shout echoed from the writhing mass of demon beasts.
“Uwaaaaa!”
Rainer, with veins bulging on his forehead and around his eyes, was soaring rapidly towards the sky.
He was in a miserable state, his entire body torn and scratched. He was covered in blood, whose it was he didn’t know, making him look like a corpse returned from hell.
Without even having time to welcome his return, who had clung to life and come back, Hugo turned to where the glittering amber eyes were pointing. At the end of it was a monster roaring in a state of great rage, and Hugo hurriedly threw himself to stop Rainer.
“Commander Molton!”
But Rainer, his eyes bloodshot like a madman, was in a state where his reason had flown away to the point where he couldn’t hear anything. He was only covered in anger and murderous intent, and rushed recklessly, aiming only for the core.
If the Queen, who emits Ultrasound, was stimulated any more than this, there was a risk that the plan would go awry before the Barrier Stone could be activated. Therefore, Leonardo immediately kicked off the wall and rushed at Rainer, who was passing by Hugo.
However, even though Gold Eyes didn’t move this time, the Queen somehow grasped their location, grabbed the wall, and swung her tail at the two humans flying through the air as she jumped to the other side.
Leonardo, faltering, detonated a Fire Ball in front of him to create pressure and distance himself from the monster. Meanwhile, Rainer temporarily hardened the volcanic ash floating in the air, using it as a foothold to leap and quickly change direction.
Rainer, who had instantly avoided the giant weapon and appeared in the sky, headed straight for the monster’s head. The tip of the sharp pillar, which had approached the Queen’s skull, was just about to pierce into the dark, murky hide.
Tssueok―
The Queen’s skull, which had a hollow center, made a strange sound and split vertically. Through the gap, a protrusion that had been embedded tore through the thin membrane that covered it and wriggled out.
The mouth of the small monster, wet with mucus and raising its head, split wide open to both sides and swallowed Rainer’s arm, avoiding the tip that was trying to burrow into the flesh of the main body.
At that moment, Rainer was overwhelmed with shock and horror and couldn’t move.
Because the face of the monster at the end of the snake-like tentacle was so familiar.
There was the face of his subordinate, who had been eaten by the monster a moment ago and turned into a corpse.
Wagjak―