By Zephyria ‘Instead of helping, I have a condition.’
Nero, who had been briefed on the core’s main characteristics and even helped devise a strategy, suddenly said that.
‘…A condition? What condition?’
‘I’ll go over there and join the fight first, so you absolutely must not move until the antidote takes effect, Captain. Absolutely. You look terrible right now. You can barely feel your left arm, can’t you?’
‘……Well, how long will it take for the antidote to work?’
‘I don’t know. The detoxification time varies depending on the degree of poisoning. But it should work within three or four hours. Unless there are any other problems.’
‘Three or four hours? Hey, you want me to just watch for a few hours in this situation?’
‘Were you planning to fight in that condition?’
Nero’s face, as he retorted as if dumbfounded, flickered before his eyes. But Leonardo, recalling the conversation as he flew through the rain, shook his head, trying to dispel the image.
‘I’m not asking for hours. Just hide somewhere and rest, even if it’s just for a moment. Even just for a few minutes.’
‘…….’
‘You need to rest first to kill him for sure. If you keep trying to step up, are you going to drag him out of the peninsula or something?’
‘Tch, do you even have the strength to drag me?’
‘Oh? Want to try? Want me to show you?’
Even with a gesture to stop, Nero took out every kind of medicine from his Artifact and shoved it into his mouth. Only after covering his face with a gas mask and disguising himself with Magic Power did he turn to leave. Even then, he turned back several times, holding his numb hand and repeatedly urging him.
‘Listen to me. Don’t come near me until the paralysis disappears. You’ll only be a hindrance.’
The last words, deliberately emphasized, were extremely irritating, but if he lingered on the battlefield in a state of reduced combat ability, he would likely become a target without even being able to launch a proper attack. Knowing this well, Leonardo could only sneer with narrowed eyes and couldn’t say anything else.
‘Alright.’
But he wasn’t the kind of person to stay put.
“Sorry, Nero.”
Leonardo glanced in the direction Nero had disappeared and muttered with a dry smile. At the same time, his body rapidly charged towards the massive peak visible in front of him.
He was heading near Peak 118, where the battle had been raging earlier, a little away from the site where the core’s roar could be heard. But the aftermath of the intense battle was spreading in all directions, so it was by no means a safe place. Occasionally, Destruction Beams flew by, collapsing the cliffs and causing piles of Boulders to cascade down the slopes menacingly.
Arriving at such a dangerous place, Leonardo immediately began searching for the entrance buried in the dirt as soon as he landed.
Agrizendro had first discovered Dregalianif on Peak 118 about three hours after entering the interior. It wasn’t exactly the very beginning of the cave, but it was a location that could be reached within 30 minutes if one followed the marked traces from the entrance.
He knew Nero’s strength better than anyone else, but he also knew that his strength made him look suspicious in the eyes of others. That’s why Leonardo couldn’t just stand by. Frankly, it wouldn’t be surprising if some of the more perceptive people, including Agrizendro, were already questioning Nero’s identity.
Moreover, it was foolish to wait alone for the Antidote Herb to take effect while others were risking their lives in battle. Therefore, Leonardo, who had returned to Peak 118 to find Dregalianif for the last time, groped along the surface of the cliff, busily wandering around the area presumed to be the entrance.
However, the terrain, twisted by the landslide, was so messed up that it was impossible to even estimate the direction properly. Furthermore, the collapsed rocks and soil had piled up nearby, making it unlikely that entry would be easy even if a path were found.
Scanning every detail of the terrain around the perimeter of the peak, Leonardo estimated a suitable location to blast a path with Magic. It had to be a place where the wall was made of rock, reducing the risk of landslides, and where the entrance was less likely to be blocked again by swept-away soil.
After searching the area relentlessly for about ten minutes through the heavy rain, a location suitable for an entrance finally came into Leonardo’s view. However, the horrific sight that unfolded before his eyes caused him, with his pale face, to stop abruptly.
Crunch— Crunching—
“Ugh… Ugh, ugh, ugh….”
A bizarre sound of flesh being chewed off the bone was heard through the rain. At the same time, the faint moans of a human being, unable to even form words and whimpering as his vocal cords were stimulated by pain, flowed gently.
The air, thick and humid, was filled with the reek of blood. Amidst the bleak monochrome, the crimson blood was excessively vivid.
‘…This is.’
This was clearly the northern entrance to Peak 118, where the Council had set up an outpost for the operation. Leonardo, who was included in Group 1, had also entered the interior through this path, so he was familiar with this place despite the altered terrain.
But the base, half-destroyed by the collapsed rocks, the cold corpses that had failed to escape from the gaps, and the swarming demon beast hordes that were brutally violating the souls that were not yet cold. It was a very different sight from what Leonardo remembered a few hours ago.
Blood flowing from the damaged corpses mixed with the rain and trickled down the hill of bodies. As the red liquid and pungent odor gradually soaked beneath his feet, Leonardo’s pupils, which had been shaking violently, contracted uncontrollably.
From his murderous expression, an intense aura emanated, and each time a raindrop fell on his head, it instantly evaporated into the air. As an ominous current slowly enveloped the surroundings, one of the Illaptors, which had been burying its head in the intestines of a corpse, sensed something and looked up.
The Illaptor still had a piece of tender flesh and throbbing organs in its maw that hadn’t even begun to stiffen. Perhaps because the thick blood had numbed its sense of smell, it seemed to have belatedly recognized the presence of a living human.
The remaining dozens of Illaptors, clustered and wriggling on the corpses, had not yet grasped the situation. The only one that had raised its head howled as soon as it saw the golden flames, but it was already far too late.
By the time the other Illaptors raised their heads in response to the sound, the lightning of judgment that had descended from the sky was blasting their bodies into pieces.
Kwaaaaang—!
The hideous demon beasts, unable to even utter a death cry, vanished in the blink of an eye, along with the corpses they had been devouring.
In the midst of it, Leonardo found two relatively intact bodies and slung them over his right shoulder. He tried to lift another one with his left arm, but he couldn’t muster the strength, so he simply bit down on the collar and quickly flew to another location.
The limp bodies, the cold temperature, and the silent heartbeats told him that they were no longer of this world. But Leonardo, unable to stand by and watch the dignity of human beings being devoured before his eyes, quickly moved the three corpses to a place he thought was safe.
As he crossed the towering, menacing rocks and reached a wide plain, the corpse that Leonardo had been holding in his mouth fell to the ground with a thud.
“……”
There, an unimaginable number of corpses were scattered, a sight that couldn’t even be compared to the horrific scene he had just witnessed. The demon beasts, drawn by the Queen’s call, were concentrated in the area, ravenously dismembering the flesh as if they had been starving for months.
The crushed and torn pieces of flesh no longer resembled anything human. Leonardo, growing cold in the rain in the midst of it all, could only gape with a hollow expression.
Soon, a long Flame Sword was gripped in his hand as his eyelids and lower jaw trembled. He lost his reason and charged towards the demon beasts, clutching his boiling rage in both hands.
Kwaaang! Kwang!
“You bastards, get out of here—!”
With veins bulging savagely on his neck and forehead, the hot flames dyed the earth red. The madness-filled Gold Eyes glowed hotly, blurring his vision as he was soaked by the flowing rain.
“You monster bastards, get out of here—!!”
Wherever Leonardo swung his sword, the ground cracked, pieces of flesh flew, and the surroundings sizzled. In the explosively rising steam, the chilling screams of the demon beasts never ceased. In the midst of it, he frantically slashed at the last remaining one, unleashing all sorts of curses into the air, expressing the anger that weighed on his chest and the fiercely surging Magic Power. The golden light flashed repeatedly.
A moment later, the sword, which he had been wielding as if possessed, was planted in the ground, and his body, consumed by dizziness, staggered, leaning on the sword with both legs. By the time he knelt on the ground, panting heavily, not even a trace of a demon beast could be found within a 3km radius.
Staggering, Leonardo returned to the place where he had left the corpses he had been carrying earlier. The blood-soaked magic robe had long lost its original color, and his pale skin and even the golden hair that had radiated brilliant light were soaked and contaminated with the demon beasts’ dark blood, leaving no place untouched.
Returning to his original position, Leonardo looked down at the scattered corpses with a fierce gaze, sat down next to his last remaining achievement, and laid them down neatly. Then, he personally closed their unclosed eyes and offered a silent prayer in front of them, hoping they would rest in peace.
But the silence of the prayer did not last long. Sobs dripped down from his trembling shoulders.
His hands, which had failed to protect anything, twitched painfully. Then, he ended up grabbing and tearing at his face and hair.
“Aaaaaah—!”
Clenching his fist in his right hand, Leonardo screamed as if he were suffocating from the piercing self-loathing. The ground was gouged out and cracked as he slammed his fist down to relieve his frustration.
The terrible sense of helplessness he had felt on the battlefield three years ago. The memory of that time crawled up his entire body again. The voice of a curse rising from the ground pulled at his skin, and the hallucinations of people begging to be saved echoed from all directions.
Leonardo screamed so desperately that he tasted iron in his mouth.
“Damn it, why still, why haven’t things changed? Why am I still so weak—! Why!!”
Countless people were sleeping with their eyes open on the wasteland. They were all people he could have saved if he had been just a little wiser and a little stronger.
But why was he still seeing the same scene as back then, why was he still struggling with helplessness? Would he ever be able to escape this scene?
Frustration washed over him, making it difficult to even breathe. He didn’t realize that hyperventilation had reached his throat, and he could only keep banging his head on the ground.
A sound of stifled sobs caught in his throat. His smooth forehead was horribly torn, and blood dripped down. Leonardo, distorting his messed-up face and trembling all over, called out to a god he didn’t even believe in, as he always did when faced with this situation.
Please, just once. Just once, give me the power to protect them.
I don’t care what happens to me, please save the people.
Please don’t abandon the young creatures you created like this.
He prayed so earnestly and slammed his fist down until the back of his hand was completely scraped. The bloodied skin repeatedly struck the protruding rock fragments as if trying to self-harm.
Yet, the pain felt in his hand was not that great. The pain of his heart being torn into a thousand pieces and rotting black was greater.
His body, twisted in despair, stirred the ground as if it would burrow into the earth. And then, a small glass bottle rolled out of Leonardo’s inner pocket of his magic robe.
Thud—
A small glass bottle, no bigger than half the size of his palm. Inside were three or four oval solids, red and white in color.
It fell to the ground without rolling away and lay intact before Leonardo’s eyes.
The fear that it might cause some side effects was instantly erased by the sudden appearance of what seemed like a revelation.
Instead, it whispered softly to Leonardo’s face, stained with tears, like an evil demon.
If you want to gain power, bear it.
‘Good luck, pretty boy.’