BMD 209

Tadak, tadak―

A tree so large that the end could not be seen was eaten by the flames and burned fiercely. The lush leaves had long since turned to ashes, and sparks flew from the cracked stump.

A part of the branch that had once risen powerfully turned into a black charcoal and bent weakly. The branch that fell out with a cracking sound crumbled more than half the moment it fell to the ground.

Leonardo, who was quietly watching the scene, stepped on the parched tree roots and stepped into the flames. He slowly placed his hand on the burning tree trunk, held his breath, and quietly rolled his eyes.

‘It must be around here.’

The pillar was dented along the place where Leonardo’s palm touched. But he didn’t care at all, he just adjusted his energy appropriately and continued to look around for any signs.

Something lurking in a wide radius was felt through the tree roots that had penetrated deep into the ground. The screams of the burning tree and the secret movements were faintly transmitted to his hot fingertips.

In the field that had become a sea of fire due to the fall of the meteorite, the swarming demon beasts and two fire Mages were playing a thrilling hide-and-seek.

Because more than half of the land was engulfed in flames, the Queen who had lost her darkness and her minions were hiding in the cracks of the heated Boulder and moving secretly. Leonardo and Nero used the flames overflowing in all directions to sharpen their senses to find those guys.

At that moment, a black shadow passed by behind a pile of stones piled up nearby. It was a busy movement to avoid being followed, but it was enough to attract the attention of Leonardo, who was concentrating.

The ferocious Gold Eyes that rolled at a terrifying speed stared at that side and took his hand off the pillar he was holding. Then, he stretched out his index finger towards the front and lightly flicked it upwards as if drawing a V in the air.

Kwaaaang―!

At that moment, the pile of stones that had been piled up was blown away as if an explosive had been detonated in the blink of an eye. At the same time, the demon beast hordes hiding behind were surprised and scattered like cockroaches in panic.

The number was not as large as expected, so Leonardo clicked his tongue as if it was bland. Then, he spread his palm as it was, aimed at them, and fired about three lumps of boiling flames.

The flame sphere that had been reduced in size expanded in an instant and stretched out at the speed of sound, sweeping away the guys all at once. The demon beast horde that covered the ground and curved like a wave screamed and completely disappeared at his gesture.

Even the surrounding terrain was pushed by the aftermath of the impact, and holes were blown in the sizzling ground and hills. But that only served to announce the location here, and the huge presence that had been hiding not far away escaped somewhere again.

Leonardo lowered his outstretched arm and looked around for a moment, then jumped up from his spot and flew upwards. He went up to the top of the tree in an instant, and he stepped on the branch and jumped once more, scanning the land swallowed by the fire.

Not only the core but also the minions who came after hearing the Queen’s call were swarming around this area. From time to time, he could easily find groups of black shadows busily moving between the burning vegetation.

The guys could not move according to their will even in the face of the threat of death. They were just buying time for the Queen to survive and faithfully sacrificing their own bodies.

Because of that, he often missed the core before he could even approach it, but Leonardo’s goal right now was not just to chase after it.

‘There’s less than 5km left to the target point. If I keep pushing it like this, I think I’ll be able to get into the range somehow….’

I was expecting that the number of demon beasts would have decreased a lot as the area was devastated by the aftermath of Armageddon, but that was a big miscalculation.

No matter how much I crushed the corpses, new guys came and filled the empty space, so even if I swung my arm once and annihilated a hundred, I couldn’t guess when I would see the end of it.

Therefore, what Leonardo is trying to do now is to continue stimulating the core and drive the demon beasts near the volcano until he receives a signal that the Barrier Stone has been reorganized. Logically speaking, if he continues to threaten the Queen and drag her to the target point, the demon beasts that react to it will gather here one after another and naturally be dragged to the Queen’s side. That was his prediction and goal first.

But as always, the actual battle did not go according to plan. More than anything else, controlling the core’s movement path was not as easy as he thought.

Kwaaaang―!

A violent explosion occurred about 700m away. The soil containing embers soared and plunged to the ground like a rain of arrows.

Even if he didn’t try to grasp the situation, he could tell that the subject of the attack was Nero. However, since the screams of the small fries that should have followed were not heard, Leonardo guessed that the target Nero attacked was the core, not the small fries.

To have escaped that far in such a short time, its movements were very fast and agile, as if Teleport was used by that monster.

However, Leonardo’s brow slowly furrowed as he scanned that side with his eyes, catching something. He had been running around frantically, crisscrossing in all directions, but when he carefully scanned the path the guy had passed, he saw something strange.

The guy was running away from the indiscriminate attacks as if he was trying not to get close to the volcano, but he quickly changed direction again and turned back.

Whether it instinctively sensed the danger or guessed the humans’ plan. He couldn’t accurately grasp the guy’s intentions, but judging from his movements so far, it was clear that he was trying not to be played by this side’s intentions, realizing that he was being driven somewhere.

If the guy recognizes the existence of the volcano, the situation becomes more serious. If that happened, there was a risk that the demon beasts that had been gathered would be led by the guy and scattered elsewhere.

Leonardo, who thought it wouldn’t work, raised his altitude a little higher and went up into the sky. Then he shook his right hand down once and grabbed the blazing Flame Sword in his hand.

‘That’s why you shouldn’t give intelligent guys time to think.’

Before the guy could grasp the action patterns of himself and Nero and deduce the direction he was trying to drive, he had to push them relentlessly so that they couldn’t think. He had deliberately loosened the core to buy time for the Council, but from now on, he shouldn’t afford to be relaxed.

And at that moment, his body, which had been enduring the explosive Magic Power, also told him that there was not much time left. Two consecutive stinging pains occurred near his hot boiling heart.

Reflexively narrowing one eye, Leonardo raised his trembling left hand and pressed hard on the area around his chest, to the point of pain. It was a rather crude method to be called a temporary measure, but applying pressure like this seemed to alleviate the pain somewhat.

This pain, spreading throughout his chest, was also gradually shortening in frequency as time passed. Feeling anxious, Leonardo turned his head and looked beyond the northern ridge. The faint lights stretching towards the sky were already densely coloring the plains’ airspace.

However, no matter how long he waited, there was no sign that the reorganization was complete. Therefore, Leonardo, who had been staring at the empty air, bit his lip and turned around again. He was about to quickly head towards where the core was when—

Phee-ing—

A sharp sound cutting through the air, along with a light extending from behind him. Without even needing to turn around, as a blue flash fell over his head, Leonardo widened his eyes, lifted his chin, and confirmed the signal covering the sky.

Nero, who was also launching attacks towards the core, stopped his movements upon seeing the flare Hugo had fired. And at that moment, along with the white light of Teleport, Leonardo appeared before his eyes.

He flicked a small spark, lightly touching Nero’s arm, and said,

“Nero.”

As brilliant light filled his vision, Nero’s gaze, which had briefly narrowed, quickly met Leonardo’s. Leonardo concealed his pain and forced a smile, asking,

“You remember everything I said, right?”

“Of course. Who do you think I am?”

After exchanging a light word each, the two men nodded to each other, their gazes filled with trust.

Soon, flames containing energy of a different dimension than before soared from the two humans floating in the air.

Brushing back his fluttering hair, Leonardo and Nero lowered their stances. Then, towards the finale of this battle, they dashed forward, taking Leonardo’s voice as their signal.

“Alright, let’s go!”