Chapter 35

Leonardo, now completely liberated from the last shackle, began moving at an incomparably faster speed than before.

Judging from the slight soreness in his ankle, it seemed like it had been grazed by the spear, but fortunately, it wasn't severed and was still properly attached.

After checking the condition of his leg once more, he charged toward Andreas, who was on top of the ice wall, without hesitation.

Andreas, seeing Leonardo approaching him at a tremendous speed, tried to restrain him again by gathering the vines on the ice wall. However, he was utterly perplexed as Leonardo's speed had doubled compared to before, and the sturdily woven tree vines were helplessly burning away in the flames.

Considering the sudden burst of powerful mana energy that had been continuously emanating since the loud noise from below earlier, it seemed like something had happened during the confrontation with Hugo.

Deeming that he could no longer hold him with just this, Andreas grasped the tree vines in his hand, spread out a green magic circle, and chanted a spell.

"Wooden Puppet."

Then, the vines wrapping around the wall began to thicken and gather in one place, soon forming a lump the size of a person and wriggling.

In the same manner, the tangled vines in several places formed a total of six lumps, and they made eerie sounds of snapping and compressing the vines within them.

They compressed the exposed soft inner parts of the snapped vines into the interior as if kneading them. Before long, arms, legs, and a head resembling a human shape began to form on that kneaded mass, and a blood color akin to real human skin started to circulate.

As they gradually took on human form, they donned the same face and the same white Council uniform as Andreas, the caster of the magic. Then, they intently gazed at a figure rapidly ascending from below.

What entered Leonardo's eyes, who had reached the top after wrestling with the vines, was the sight of seven individuals who looked exactly like the guy who had been next to Hugo earlier, all staring at him.

As Leonardo faltered at that bizarre scene, the main body and the clones all grinned at him and simultaneously chanted a spell.

"Marionette."

Immediately, the seven Andreas drew their swords in unison and charged towards Leonardo in an instant.

After a brief moment of confusion at the sudden situation, Leonardo created a blazing flame sword in one hand and a lightning sword with high-voltage current flowing through it in the other. Then, he intercepted the swords of the two guys approaching him first from the front, one with each hand.

Clang!

As the swords clashed strongly and the two clones pushed against Leonardo, he alternately locked eyes with the two guys on either side and gauged their strength.

Clones were often weaker than the main body, but perhaps because the caster was a battalion commander, even the clones had exceptional abilities. Trying to face one each with one arm made his entire arm tremble.

At that moment, a chilling air current rushed up from below at a rapid speed, and Leonardo immediately put strength into his shoulders and pushed away the two guys he had been confronting at once.

As soon as he retreated using the recoil, Hugo's ice spear shot up vertically through the gap between him and the clones. It was a close shave, enough to make his heart skip a beat.

Leonardo felt a chill as the ice spear grazed past the tip of his chin. The spear passed him and hit the barrier that the elites were maintaining. With a loud sound that shook the surroundings, the barrier rippled, and the ice spear pierced through it and went straight up into the sky.

Just as Leonardo was about to lower his head again to look at the culprit who had thrown that ridiculously powerful spear, Hugo, wielding a long sword, had somehow already ascended right below him.

The razor-sharp sword energy that flew in an instant slightly grazed the ends of his fluttering golden hair. Leonardo bent his waist in one breath to dodge it while simultaneously striking down his sword towards Hugo. In response, Hugo also swung his long sword to fiercely block the attack.

Despite defying gravity, the blade was incomparably heavier than Andreas'. Leonardo glared at the blue eyes staring at him without backing down, then, unable to hold out any longer, he struck back as if deflecting his sword.

Perhaps because he had used his ice spear to remove the shackles, he seemed a little angry.

'Damn it, it's overwhelming.'

He had somehow blocked the two clones of the other battalion commander with one hand each, but even with both hands, it was overwhelming to block Hugo Agrizendro's single sword. Somehow, the weight of that slender and long sword felt heavier than the greatsword he had wielded in the previous battle.

It didn't seem like the sword's appearance would have more weight, but the pressure pushing against him was much more intense than before, making Leonardo feel that something was strange.

If this place was the Imperial Capital, where there were many things to protect, and he was pushing against him more strongly than before, causing his sword to feel heavy... In fact, it meant that he could draw out more strength than he had shown in the previous battle.

As his thoughts reached that point, Leonardo felt a humiliating suspicion creeping up on him, wondering if Agrizendro had possibly gone easy on him in the battle on the uninhabited island in Frost.

With his mood plummeting rapidly at that unpleasant thought, he strongly deflected Hugo's long sword that flew at him once again, and at the same time, he stretched out his hand towards Andreas' clones rushing around him. Three red beams instantly flew out from his extended fingertips.

Then, two of the clones were hit by the flying beams, burst into flames, turned into tree vines, and crumbled, while one narrowly escaped. Sensing something strange, Leonardo narrowed his eyes and looked at his hand that had fired the beams.

'2 seconds?'

But that was only for a moment. As the tip of Hugo's long sword was aimed at him, he immediately took a stance and swung his sword again. The end of the beam that had missed one clone flew straight toward the ice wall and exploded.

As a result, a large part of the wall that had been impacted split apart, and the shattered ice chunks flew towards the barrier that the elites were maintaining due to the recoil of the explosion.

Hugo, who witnessed that scene during the confrontation, immediately stopped in midair, clicked his tongue, and strongly struck back Leonardo's sword that was aimed at him. Leonardo, who momentarily staggered at that force, lost his balance and was pushed back as it was.

As soon as he drove him away, Hugo immediately caught up with the flying ice chunks and sliced and shattered them one by one with his sword. It was because if the barrier couldn't withstand these large ice chunks like the ice spear he had thrown earlier and they fell over to the other side, the citizens could be in danger.

In the meantime, Leonardo, who had been pushed back, barely regained his posture, and Andreas' clones, seizing the opportunity, charged at him once again.

Leonardo was already in a state of doubled irritation as Agrizendro had pushed him away with force as if discarding him and went to shatter the ice chunks, and now, the clones, not even the main body, were rushing at him.

As a result, his planned priorities changed, and he decided to take advantage of the distance created by Agrizendro to deal with these annoying guys first.

He glared at the clones charging at him in turn, then precisely sliced their necks with the flame sword in his hand. At that fast speed, the clones had no time to dodge, their heads were severed, and they soon turned into dry vines and fell to the ground.

Following that, green vines and two other clones charged at him from both sides, but this time, he didn't face the clones and quickly passed between them, heading towards the back of the ice wall. Since the main body kept creating clones, there was no end to cutting them down, so he intended to find the main body first.

As he circled half of the ice wall, he felt the main body's mana getting closer. At that moment, clones suddenly popped out and repeatedly charged at Leonardo.

"Seriously annoying."

Leonardo frowned deeply as if irritated. With the flame sword in his hand, he tore apart the heart area of one clone, struck another one's face with his elbow and smashed it down, and kicked the solar plexus of yet another one with his foot.

As the clone that had been kicked into the ice wall turned into tree vines, the surrounding vines gathered and absorbed the remaining flesh as if using it as nutrients, crushing it. That gruesome sight made his expression involuntarily frown.

Eventually, Leonardo reached out his hand towards the leftmost guy among the clones rushing at him. Perhaps startled by his action, the clone showed a noticeably flustered expression, but before he could even compose himself, Leonardo grabbed his neck with one hand and mercilessly twisted it 90 degrees.

A spine-chilling sound resembling the snapping of a real person's neck rang out, and the eyes of that clone with the twisted neck rolled back white. The quite vivid sensation of bones breaking and muscles rupturing flowed through his fingertips, but Leonardo, unfazed, ignited flames and thoroughly burned it. The tree vines fell to the ground with a crackling sound as they burned away.

And behind it, Andreas' real appearance was visible, hanging from the vines with a pale face, awkwardly smiling.

Leonardo intently stared at his light violet eyes with a gaze brimming with murderous intent. Then, pointing at him with the fingertips that had snapped the clone's neck, he spoke in a low, brutal voice.

"You, you're annoying."

Andreas felt like every hair on his body was standing on end.