By Zephyria A blindingly brilliant light covered the southern sky of the continent. Then, driving away the clouds and endlessly expanding its domain, it pierced heaven and earth, dyeing the world golden.
The flashing glare was more intense than the brightness of the distant sun. Even those sleeping hundreds of kilometers away witnessed the bright yellow flash through their eyelids.
As if time had reversed, the entire peninsula brightened in an instant. At that moment, not a single person’s breath could be heard.
As if the peace of a bright daytime had been preserved. Only a pale emptiness shimmered gold, illuminating the blood-soaked land.
GRRRRROOOOOM—
A few seconds later, a heavy shockwave, enough to make one’s entire body tremble, spread from the center of the light that had vanquished evil. It wasn’t a temporary vibration but a destructive energy capable of shaking the southern edge of the continent.
Vast, black smoke billowing upward revealed its form, adding contrast to the light. Soon after, a heavy wave spreading in a circular shape pushed away the clouds and churned the earth, swallowing everything around. It was a terrifying and wondrous spectacle, enough to make one forget they had stopped breathing.
The members holding onto the Barrier Stones were simultaneously crushed by the pressure and slammed into the ground. The heat of the explosion, hotter than solar heat, poured onto their backs as if to melt their skin.
Following that, a thunderous roar from the sky tore through the air, causing severe tinnitus.
The gunfire created by nature echoed like several signal flares. Before long, beyond the gradually fading beams of light, fiercely glowing red lava surged high.
KWAaaaang—!
The wave of the tremendous explosion affected not only the surface but also underground. The volcano, more than half destroyed by the massive shockwave, began to erupt as if spewing out the magma beneath the earth due to the pressure.
The flames of lava scattered across the vast land, and menacing fireballs splashing into the air mixed with volcanic ash, ruthlessly riddling the sky above. From the edges of the peak collapsing at a terrifying speed, thick lava poured down like a waterfall, melting everything nearby.
At the same time, the bodies of the commanders maintaining the Pentagon had long been swept away by the storm. Their consciousness, entangled in the black smoke, was slammed against cliffs and the ground, on the verge of fading away.
Above, gases laden with flames surged, and large boulders reminiscent of falling meteors crossed the void. Due to the lava fragments falling nearby, the ground caved in as if dug out, forming a massive sinkhole.
As the ground right beside him sank in the blink of an eye, Meterion, who had been thrown down on the mountainside, barely regained his senses and flung his body forward. Meanwhile, he rummaged through his pocket and pulled out the Teleportation Device with pre-set coordinates.
There was the Legion Commander’s order to immediately escape outside the defense line once the operation succeeded, before the Barrier Stones fully activated, and to ensure survival.
Boom— KWAaaaang—!
As heart-stopping explosions consecutively pierced his ears, even he, who usually maintained composure, had trembling hands.
“Damn it.”
Meterion, frowning deeply as he pressed the device’s buttons in order, cursed in frustration as his fingers wouldn’t move as intended. Moments later, after barely managing to open a portal in the air, he immediately kicked off the ground and stepped into the portal.
But then, he hesitated briefly, stopping his steps, and glanced back at the gray-filled area behind him.
There, only explosions and scorching flames erupted, and he couldn’t find any trace of those who had carried out the operation with him.
Meterion, scanning the surroundings, then turned away without regret. Then, he jumped alone into the portal and ran toward the outside of the Barrier Stone.
“Charlotte, snap out of it!”
Not far away, Isabella, who had deployed a barrier to avoid the ejecta, instantly grabbed Charlotte’s arm as she was flung away. Charlotte, bleeding profusely from her mouth and nose and nearly in a dying state, slumped in Isabella’s arms, barely gasping for breath.
Confirming that Charlotte hadn’t lost consciousness, Isabella likewise pulled out her Teleportation Device and hastily opened a portal entrance. Just as she was about to jump into the fluctuating spacetime with Charlotte, she flinched at a strange energy spreading behind her and turned her head.
“……?”
Before her eyes was only darkness covered in ash and smoke, and brutally red magma adorning the darkness. Amid the chaotic turmoil and explosions, nothing particularly attention-grabbing was visible.
Isabella, exhaling rough breaths, quickly scanned her surroundings. But then, Charlotte, having inhaled a mouthful of smoke, coincidentally coughed severely as if complaining of breathing difficulties.
Looking down at Charlotte’s drooping head, Isabella had no choice but to support her again, change direction, and jump into the portal. An inexplicable foreboding crept up behind her, but she had no capacity to investigate further, being desperate for immediate survival.
Meanwhile, Nero, who had successfully completely sealed the red thread connecting to another dimension, was at the highest altitude, so he ironically suffered a greater impact from the explosion than the other commanders.
The vortex surging upward wrapped around his body and mercilessly threw him into the hot flames and ash. Because of that, Nero flew over 1 km away without a chance to control his limbs, tracing a parabolic curve as he fell, barely avoiding collision with the ground by about 2 meters.
But with a ringing tinnitus, he felt a hot liquid flowing from his ear. Feeling his earlobe with one hand, sticky blood came off, as if his eardrum had burst.
“Ha—.”
Nero, narrowing his brow and letting out a hollow laugh, staggered momentarily, his steps unsteady from dizziness.
Perhaps because his senses were tangled, his movements had noticeably slowed, and because of that, he only noticed the large boulder flying toward him belatedly.
KWAaaaang—!
Unable to simply kick away the rock seething with lava, Nero instinctively flung his body, narrowly dodging the fireball.
The demon beasts swarming nearby also scattered in all directions simultaneously, but the fireball flying like a comet instantly impaled them.
Kyaaaak—
The agonized screams of the demon beasts surged here and there before vanishing. The flesh of those crushed, unable to escape in time, splattered like rock fragments, sticking thickly.
Nero, half-covered in their bodily fluids, turned his head to avoid the pouring flesh. Then, unintentionally inhaling the pungent gas, he coughed until his breath caught, even retching dryly.
Meanwhile, Nero, rubbing his nose and eyes vigorously with his forearm, raised his head. With bloodshot eyes and nerves on edge, what he desperately sought was Leonardo’s Magic Power.
‘Where is the Commander?’
Although the Commander had instructed to exit the peninsula immediately after the operation’s success, the situation had deteriorated so severely that he couldn’t just leave him behind and escape alone.
The consecutive roars and lava chunks exploding like fireworks scattered his vision and senses, but Nero, covering his nose and mouth with his hand, focused on the faintly perceptible presence of the Commander. It kept appearing and disappearing, so he couldn’t guess from which direction it was coming or what state he was in.
Just then, a faintly rising beam of light from across the erupting volcano caught Nero’s eye. It gradually widened its range to both sides, then undulated like a wave before forming a transparent membrane.
Nero, his eyes wide open, instinctively looked back in the opposite direction, where the lights of the Barrier Stones densely rising across the plain were connecting like a net. They were activating the Barrier Stones, which were on standby, to 100%, intending to trap the remaining demon beasts inside the barrier along with the erupting volcano.
The transparent membrane rapidly encircled the southern region of the peninsula. Because of this, Nero, anxiously scanning the area, after hesitating, jumped on the spot to get out.
But at that moment, he suddenly remembered Felix Montero, whom he had temporarily put to sleep at a passage leading from the plain to the southern ridge.
He had even hidden him in a remote place after knocking him out, so he wouldn’t be easily distinguishable from a corpse. The probability of someone else finding and saving him in this situation was almost zero.
“Damn it—.”
Nero, roughly grabbing the back of his own head, immediately headed toward where he had hidden Felix. Though he was very worried about the Commander, unlike the Commander who was stronger than himself, Felix Montero would be no different from a dead man trapped inside the barrier if he didn’t go.
The entire way there, his vision was completely gray. Moreover, whether there was a problem with his semicircular canals or not, even though he was moving in a straight line, his body staggered.
Still, the place where he had hidden Felix was near the site of the massive explosion, so thanks to the familiar terrain, he didn’t take too long to find it somehow.
Circling around the dry bushes and reeds, one of his hidden legs was sticking out. Hurrying closer, though his upper body had slumped sideways and he was half-collapsed, fortunately, Felix Montero was visible, sleeping peacefully, oblivious to the world.
Letting out a short sigh, Nero swiftly slung him over his shoulder. Then, he turned around once more and stared at the crimson-stained southern sky.
‘Please, please let him already be outside.’
Muttering this inwardly, Nero hesitated several times before taking a step. But seeing the pitch-black volcanic ash approaching closer, he felt that if he continued like this, he and the guy on his shoulder would suffocate, so he had no choice but to turn his body.
Toward the gaps in the densely interlocking barrier, Nero flew swiftly, finding the shortest distance.
The volcanic ash and smoke screens entangled in the air, carried by the wind, seemed to swallow him as they followed closely.