By Zephyria Hugo couldn’t understand his words right away. So, the moment he heard his words, he just stopped and stared at his face.
Leonardo Blaine met Hugo’s gaze as he stared at him silently, then turned his head as if he hadn’t said anything and put the filter in his mouth.
Watching the smoke scattering from his lips, Hugo retraced his thoughts that had stopped for a moment.
‘If not the military, then who on earth?’
His gaze, which had been directed at the air, soon went to Leonardo Blaine’s neck and reached the clear black choker.
There would probably be countless people in this empire who wanted Leonardo Blaine.
Even the members of the Council didn’t want to let him go, and as far as Hugo knew, when he was released, many organizations were looking for him as much as the Council. As such, his powerful, destructive, and limitless magic was attractive enough for anyone to covet.
But, was there another force that could control him?
According to the records collected by the Council when Hugo was chasing Leonardo Blaine, he had not belonged to any organization since his release, except for being temporarily affiliated with private subjugation teams or mercenary groups, and he had performed even dangerous and low-success-rate requests alone.
And the reason why that was possible was also because he was very strong.
So, if, as Leonardo Blaine answered, the military ‘couldn’t’ put that on him. Who on earth could put that on him?
Furthermore, he had nothing more to lose, so he couldn’t be threatened with anything. What kind of organization or group, or who, put that on him, and why?
Hugo stared at Leonardo Blaine’s profile for a long time. Then he cautiously opened his mouth again.
“Then, who made you wear something like that?”
At Hugo’s question, Leonardo Blaine exhaled the last of the smoke, then ignited the short cigarette in his fingers, burning it up. Soon after, he got up from his seat, dusted off some of the dirt on his pants, and turned his gaze to Hugo.
The time they spent silently staring at each other for that brief moment felt quite long to Hugo. Leonardo Blaine slightly curled up the corners of his lips and opened his mouth.
“Curious?”
That question seemed playful, unlike the topic, and Hugo was reminded of the smile he had seen when he was teasing him in the central garden of the Council. So, he didn’t have a very good feeling, but Hugo was really curious, so he nodded once without answering.
Then Leonardo Blaine grinned and said.
“Come here.”
Leonardo Blaine gestured as if to come closer and called Hugo. It was because he wanted to call Agrizendro, who always called him like this, at least once.
Hugo narrowed his brow at the sight, but didn’t say anything. Soon, he teleported and stood next to Leonardo Blaine in an instant.
As the heavy, cool scent was felt right in front of him, Leonardo Blaine slightly lifted his heels, as if he was about to whisper in his ear, putting his hand next to his lips. Then Hugo bent his waist slightly to match his height.
Leonardo Blaine put a smile on his lips and whispered in Hugo’s ear.
“Secret.”
Hugo’s face frowned slightly at the ticklish sound that touched his ear. He straightened his bent waist and looked down at Leonardo Blaine intently. The young man was smiling brightly, as if he was very happy.
As it became clear that he had been tricked, Hugo glared at him and sighed softly. Leonardo Blaine nudged Hugo’s arm playfully, his eyes curved into crescents.
“Loosen up your expression. You’re going to eat me alive, huh?”
Soon, Hugo raised his head and rubbed his eyebrows as if he was tired. Leonardo Blaine playfully added to him once more.
“I can’t say anymore. Secret.”
Hugo glanced at him and decided not to ask about it anymore.
It seemed like a trivial prank, but he felt that he spoke playfully whenever he wanted to change the subject. So, instead of asking him more, he was satisfied with just glancing at the choker for a moment.
Then, as if he hadn’t said anything, he looked at the smiling golden eyes and thought.
‘Can’t say, huh….’
Kiyaaaaa—!
At that moment, the sharp cry of a demon beast was heard from the peak across the way. Hugo and Leonardo Blaine’s gazes turned to that place at the same time. The peak in front, which was the source of the sound, was not far from the place where the base camp was located.
There seemed to be quite a few of them, as the cries were heard in succession from different places. Some of the members who were patrolling around the base camp hurriedly ran to the edge of the cliff and surveyed the situation with binoculars.
“Worms, huh.”
At Hugo’s words, which seemed like a monologue, Leonardo Blaine, who was staring at the peak, answered.
“That’s right. But it doesn’t seem like there are only worms.”
Worms are single-celled demon beasts that look like protozoa, shaped like enlarged amoeba cells.
They move around very slowly, moving slowly with the suction cups on the bottom of their bodies, and they eat by releasing an acidic liquid from those suction cups, climbing onto the carcasses of beasts, and slowly melting and absorbing the surface.
Because their bodies contain acid, they are not attacked by other entities even though they are slow, but there was only one demon beast entity that was a natural enemy of the worms.
Hugo, who heard Leonardo Blaine’s words, guessed and answered.
“It seems like there are Dermokas too.”
Dermokas also have acidic mucus on their bodies, so they are resistant to acid. Therefore, they were the only beings that could hunt worms.
It was possible to guess that there were Dermokas on the peak across the way, but it was difficult to see them because it was dark and they were hidden among the rocks and dense bushes.
They are fast, move in groups, and can call their companions with ultrasonic waves, so the fact that they have appeared near the base camp, where there are currently a large number of people, was quite dangerous.
As Hugo was wondering what to do, Leonardo Blaine silently raised his hand towards the front. Hugo asked him.
“What are you trying to do?”
“Shoot them dead.”
At the lightly returned words, Hugo asked back with a slightly worried face.
“From this distance? Leonardo Blaine, can you control it?”
Leonardo Blaine answered as if he was asking something obvious.
“Of course.”
He soon looked at Hugo with an expression that said, ‘Can I shoot?’ However, Hugo couldn’t easily answer because he was still concerned about his unstable magic that he had felt during the day.
However, if the members sleeping in the base camp were disturbed by the sound of the demon beasts, it could have a fatal impact on the speed when they resumed marching as soon as the day broke.
Besides, Leonardo Blaine knew the most about the demon beasts of the peninsula, and he seemed so confident, so Hugo, after hesitating, decided to trust him. Then, thinking that he would stop him if anything happened, he said to him.
“You don’t have to kill them, so minimize your magic just enough to be threatening.”
As soon as Hugo’s permission was given, a very small red orb appeared in Leonardo Blaine’s hand. The size was very small, almost like a marble, but what was contained inside was by no means a small amount of energy. Hugo narrowed his eyes and watched him as if trying to gauge his magic.
Leonardo Blaine showed a look of concentration on the target, with no trace of the smile from before. His lightning-like golden eyes were directed at the bushes where the Dermokas were moving and shaking slightly.
Soon, the red orb split into several pieces as if dividing, and was fired in a straight line, leaving a long trail like a light afterimage, towards where Leonardo Blaine was reaching out.
They cut through the air with a whooshing sound and accurately hit the Dermokas, which were hidden and invisible, killing them instantly. Their short death throes echoed, and once the surroundings became quiet for a moment, Leonardo Blaine rolled his eyes around, looking for any remaining ones.
Hugo was watching him without letting his guard down, even while Leonardo Blaine was dealing with them neatly. Before long, Leonardo Blaine, who had spotted a rapidly shaking pile of bushes, aimed to fire a beam of light at it.
The eyes of Hugo, who was standing next to him and watching, widened slightly, and he suddenly quickly grabbed his wrist.
Because of that, Leonardo Blaine’s hand immediately pointed higher than the target and fired the attack as it was. Then he looked at his wrist, which was being held, and at Hugo alternately with a rather embarrassed face.
There was a hissing sound and hot steam rose from the area around the wrist that the large hand was covering.
Before using magic, the area near the hand of a fire mage is so hot that it can vaporize even ice. And the act of grabbing the wrist of such a fire mage just before he uses magic was usually impossible unless one was crazy.
When Leonardo Blaine looked at Hugo as if asking what he was doing, the ray that had been fired from his hand flew to a peak further back. A moment later, a flash of light erupted there, followed by a loud crash and the sound of rocks tumbling down.
The sound was quite threatening, even from a distance, and it startled the members awake. A sentry, who had been surveying the situation, rushed over and urgently called out to Hugo, who was above the cave.
“Commander, landslide—!”
Hugo, seeing the chaotic scene, clicked his tongue and waved his hand at the sentry, saying,
“It’s nothing, no need to worry.”
Leonardo, who had been bewildered by his actions, narrowed his brow and asked Hugo,
“What is it?”
Hugo stared at him for a moment before quietly speaking.
“Leonardo, I’ve been feeling it since earlier, but your magic control feels quite unstable to me.”
“…….”
When he only furrowed his brow without answering, Hugo calmly continued.
“What if the attack you just launched had hit the peak directly and caused a landslide, and there were members patrolling below?”