By Zephyria Cordelia’s Hares royal guard, having completed their reorganization, rode out into the plains once again to deal with the demon beast. Simultaneously with their departure, the doors of the massive gate leading to the Elder Milli Peninsula border area swung open.
In front of the gate, a line of Council Central Branch members, fully armed and ready to enter the peninsula, stood waiting.
Leonardo, enjoying his freedom away from Hugo for the first time in a while, sat perched on the roof of a supply wagon. With him out in the open without handcuffs, the members were wary of him and didn’t approach within a certain radius.
Leonardo paid no attention to those gazes. He merely muttered to himself, seemingly bored of waiting, as he watched the Council commanders standing far away at the center of the gate, appearing to be urgently discussing strategies.
“Why aren’t we leaving? What are they doing over there?”
Meanwhile, Hugo, standing at the very front, along with 3rd Battalion Commander Meterion Kleinder and Southern Branch Deputy Commander Bruno Amos, were in conversation, looking at the small peaks located directly in front of them beyond the plains of the border area.
Although they were small, they were only low compared to other peaks, and they were made of high cliffs, so they were incredibly high when viewed from directly in front.
And the path that the Central Branch led by Hugo had to take was a frontal breakthrough route that crossed the center of the peninsula, passing through those peaks. Although there was a narrow and winding valley path in the middle of the peaks, there were concerns that it would take too much time for a large column to pass through it.
Hugo looked back and forth between a map of the peninsula’s terrain and the peaks beyond the plains of the border area and said.
“If there are peaks in front of us like this, doesn’t it take a long time to enter and return from headquarters?”
“Yes. That is the case, but they are necessary to act as a defensive line to block the demon beast coming from both sides.”
As Hugo pondered at Bruno’s answer, Meterion continued.
“The defensive line only needs to be on the east and west sides, so I believe it would be advantageous for the advance to destroy some of the straight line direction heading south. We must minimize unnecessary stamina consumption in the early stages.”
Hugo nodded at Meterion’s words.
“I agree as well.”
Then, Bruno scratched the back of his head and said.
“Then we’ll have to install explosives…. That will also take a considerable amount of time. It’s also difficult to control the scale of the explosion.”
Bruno’s words made sense. Even if they went all the way there to install explosives, it would still take labor and time.
However, if they were to blow it away with magic, Hugo’s magic, which possessed that kind of scale, was not of a nature conducive to explosions, and if ice covered the valley, it would quickly melt and turn into a sea of water due to Elder Milli’s hot and humid climate. Then, the already blurred vision could be covered in steam, leading to a dangerous situation.
Hugo, who had been rubbing his chin for a moment, spoke to Bruno as if he had thought of a plan.
“We have a powerful bomb that can certainly shorten the time, even though controlling the scale is just as difficult, don’t we?”
“Yes? Do we have something like that?”
Bruno asked back with a puzzled face. Not only that, but Meterion, who was in the same branch as Hugo, also looked at Hugo with a face that said he had never heard of it before. Then, Hugo’s head turned towards Leonardo, who was watching them from afar. Meterion and Bruno also turned their heads in that direction, and as soon as they saw Leonardo, they simultaneously uttered “Ah.”
“Shall we use that bomb? Any objections?”
Meterion asked with suspicious eyes.
“Can that guy really blow away the peaks in front of us?”
At those words, Hugo nodded and replied.
“Actually, I’m worried he might blow away other things too…. But I guess it doesn’t matter.”
Bruno was startled by Hugo’s calm yet terrifying answer and interjected.
“Supreme Commander, no. The straight route in the central direction has sheer cliffs from between the third and fourth peaks, and the scale of the peaks becomes exponentially larger. A landslide could occur if something goes wrong.”
“Then let’s just blow away the three small peaks in front of that.”
“Would…. Would that be controllable?”
Hugo pondered for a moment at Bruno’s worried question before opening his mouth as if he had made a decision.
“I’ll try to control it.”
Soon, Hugo gestured to Leonardo, who was watching them from afar, as if telling him to come over.
Leonardo, who had been watching the three of them, including Hugo, whispering to each other, suddenly told him to come over, wore a slightly unpleasant expression and grumbled to himself.
“Am I their pet dog or something?”
But even as he grumbled, he used teleportation to move to their front in an instant. And he asked Hugo, who had gestured for him to come.
“Why did you call me?”
“Leonardo, look there.”
Hugo said, pointing to the small peaks located in the center.
“Those peaks and the peaks right behind them are the 1st and 2nd peaks. Can you blow those two away?”
“You’ve been wasting time until now to talk about that?”
Leonardo looked at him as if he was frustrated, then immediately stretched out his arm towards the front and concentrated powerful magic in his hand.
As an unusual aura gathered in his hand, a chilling and hot air surged around him. The powerful magic and the suddenly changed flow of air mixed together, creating a strong wind in the area. Bruno and Meterion were startled by the energy emanating from Leonardo and took a few steps back.
However, Hugo did not move away from Leonardo’s side. Rather, he grabbed his right arm and stopped him.
“You must blow away exactly two. You must not touch anything else.”
“Okay. You’re saying I just have to blow away the one in front and the one behind it, right?”
Bruno looked at Hugo with a puzzled face at the words that he had to blow away exactly two.
During the conversation just now, they had clearly agreed to blow away three peaks up to the 3rd peak, but he couldn’t understand why he was saying two. However, Bruno thought, ‘He must have his reasons…’ and watched what the two of them were doing.
As Leonardo amplified the fierce magic concentrated in his right hand even more and aimed it at the peaks, Hugo said in a slightly excessive tone.
“I think it would be better to reduce the magic power a bit.”
Leonardo’s surging aura decreased slightly, as if reflecting Hugo’s opinion. Hugo, as if not satisfied, said to him once more.
“Reduce it more.”
As Leonardo reduced the size of the magic power a little more, the wind blowing around him became relatively calm compared to before. However, Hugo still didn’t seem satisfied.
“It’s still strong. Reduce it more.”
“Ugh, you told me to blow it away! At this rate, I won’t even be able to blow away a neighborhood hill!”
Leonardo, at Hugo’s continued words to reduce it more, flared up and spoke to him as if he was arguing. As a result, Leonardo’s boiling magic power scattered for a moment, and Hugo nodded as if he had found just the right amount.
“Yes, that’s enough.”
Leonardo, who had furrowed his eyebrows as much as possible, asked with half-doubt, half-certainty about the size of the magic power, which had been reduced much more than he had expected.
“Isn’t it too weak? I’m doing it because you told me to, but I don’t know if it won’t fly properly.”
“It’s okay. Just throw it as it is.”
Leonardo was a little uneasy, but he held the magic sphere, in which air and fire were compressed and explosive energy was condensed, in his right hand as if he was holding a ball.
Even with the naked eye, the magic sphere he was holding contained extreme magic powers that seemed to be clamoring to burst out and scatter. To Bruno’s eyes, it looked like a very dangerous and unpredictable nuclear bomb.
Soon, Leonardo stepped his left foot on the ground and adjusted the angle of his right arm, then threw the magic sphere with all his might towards the small peaks in front of him. Then, it instantly cut through the wind and flew towards the 1st peak in front of him.
Everyone held their breath and watched the afterimage of the magic sphere, which was stretching out at a speed too fast to follow with their eyes, creating a trajectory in the air. Leonardo stood still, with his right arm extended forward in the same position he had thrown it, without taking his eyes off it.
Had 1 or 2 minutes passed? It was long past the time when the sound of an explosion should have been heard, but the peaks were not blown away and were still quiet. Meterion, who had also been holding his breath, sneered and said sarcastically.
“Agrizendro, is this what you call control? It seems you overdid the control, you can’t even make a scratch.”
As Leonardo frowned and turned his head to glare at Meterion, Hugo, still fixing his gaze on the front, opened his mouth.
“Leonardo, not yet. Focus.”
At Hugo’s words, Leonardo’s gaze turned to the front once again. After a few seconds, Hugo suddenly put up a large barrier towards the front of the gate where they were standing and said.
“Now.”
Leonardo, who had received the signal, clenched his fist tightly in his outstretched right hand. At that moment, as if that gesture had become the trigger for the explosion, a destructive shockwave erupted from afar, and a sound that shook the heavens and the earth was heard.
The earsplitting roar drew everyone’s attention to that place, and a strong gust of wind and dust blew in, directly making them realize the power of the explosion.
The massive gust of wind that blew in head-on collided with Hugo’s barrier and scattered in all directions, creating a thick cloud of yellow dust. The terrifying magical energy mixed within it scratched their skin, dug into their bones, and sent shivers down their spines.
It was more than enough to engrave Leonardo’s strength into the minds of those around him.
Meterion’s dark eyes, which had been sneering, stared directly at the source of the spreading shockwave. His pupils, feeling a chilling energy, slowly dilated as if he couldn’t believe it.
Not only Meterion, but also Bruno and the members who were waiting behind him, all stared with their mouths wide open at the place where the peaks had been, which had been completely blown away by the explosion and was now wide open.
Behind the receding dust cloud, Meterion’s vision captured a huge canyon where the peaks had been, with the peaks on either side remaining intact and only the back side being cleanly blown away.
He felt goosebumps on his skin at the vast and horrific sight that had been blown away by just one human, and he couldn’t continue speaking with a scowl on his face.
After staring at it for a moment, Meterion very slowly shifted his gaze to Leonardo, who was next to him. Leonardo, who felt his gaze, also turned his head and responded with a leisurely smile filled with pleasure, as if his surprised expression was quite a sight to see.
“Isn’t it a bit big for a scratch?”
Bruno also admired the canyon that stretched out in a cool, straight line before regaining his senses and counting the number of peaks that had been blown away.
“One, two, three. It was blown away exactly up to the 3rd peak.”
At the words that it had been blown away up to the third peak, Leonardo, who had been giving Meterion a relaxed smile, paused and looked back at that place. He narrowed his eyes and counted the number of peaks that had been blown away, then slowly lowered his arm and looked up at Hugo with a slightly cautious expression. Then, he muttered with an awkward look.
“…You kept me in handcuffs, so I lost my sense of scale.”
Hugo smiled faintly and replied calmly to Leonardo, who seemed to be shifting the blame to him but was clearly embarrassed.
“Well done, Leonardo. You blew away exactly the target amount.”
At those words, Leonardo asked back with a questioning face.
“Wasn’t the target up to the 2nd peak?”
“The target was up to the 3rd peak.”
“You told me it was the 2nd peak….”
Leonardo, who had suddenly stopped speaking, frowned after a moment of silence and quickly changed his expression and glared fiercely at Hugo as if he had realized what he meant.
Agrizendro had clearly thought from the beginning that he would not be able to properly control the scale of the explosion and had deliberately said that it was up to the 2nd peak.
The result was fortunate, but Leonardo shot him a look filled with curses instead of saying it out loud at his actions, which showed that he didn’t trust him at all, even though he said he would try to trust him.
Hugo patted Leonardo’s back a couple of times as if he was proud of him and smiled.
“Good work. Go back to the rear now.”
Now that he had finished his business, he was telling him to go back to the rear, so Leonardo glared at his face with a dumbfounded expression. Then, he pushed away Hugo’s arm and moved his steps back without a word.
He seemed to be returning surprisingly obediently, but the members who saw his face, which had turned quite murderous, retreated in droves.
Leonardo couldn’t bring himself to act on it and gnashed his teeth as he thought.
‘I want to punch him just once.’
Bruno quietly stared at Leonardo, who was turning around, then shifted his gaze back to Hugo and couldn’t help but be startled. Even though Leonardo had committed the sacrilegious act of striking the Commander’s arm, a faint smile lingered on the face of the usually cold Commander.
‘Is he… enjoying this? What on earth for?’
However, as soon as Hugo took his eyes off Leonardo’s back, he returned to his usual cold expression as if nothing had happened. After confirming the target ahead, he spoke to Bruno and Meterion.
“The path is open, let’s move out.”