Chapter 105

It was as if yellow dust had settled everywhere from the collapsing piles of earth and cliff fragments, making it impossible to see an inch ahead. Every time he breathed, sandy dust was drawn into his lungs, causing Leonardo to cough incessantly.

Unable to even open his eyes properly due to the stinging sensation, he let out a hollow laugh at the weight of the massive cliff pressing down on his back and head. It was quite ridiculous how he was barely standing, supporting it with his trembling arms and body.

A moment later, when the coughing subsided, Leonardo muttered toward the void beyond the dust in a rather hoarse voice,

"If you were going to come, you should have brought some other guys with you. What are you going to do coming alone..."

His voice scattered into the narrow space under the cliff. Then, the 8th Platoon Leader, who was likewise supporting the cliff and standing with difficulty a short distance away, spoke with a furrowed brow,

"If I hadn't come, you would have been crushed to death, and you still have a lot to say."

"Doesn't it look like we're about to get crushed to death together now?"

The two people, who had each thrown a remark, glared at each other silently with the swirling dust between them.

Creak—! Thud—!

As if to inform them that their battle of nerves was meaningless, the cliff they were supporting gradually descended further. Because of that, Leonardo, whose upper body was bent even more, swallowed dryly as he heard the sound of earth and sand crumbling.

The upper part of this cliff was barely stopped, precariously resting on the edge of the opposite precipice, but it looked like it would collapse at any moment if either of the two people acting as supports let go. Amidst that, the new squad member and the outsider were lying unconscious near Leonardo's feet.

They had collided with a pile of falling rocks while trying to escape from the cave by flying under the cliff.

Fortunately, it didn't seem like there was any visible blood or that they had hit their heads, but it definitely couldn't be called a good situation. Moreover, the worst of the worst was that the 8th Platoon Leader, who had come to find the new squad member, had ended up in this ridiculous state together with him.

Leonardo felt the sensation in his back and shoulders disappearing beyond just numbness due to the weight pressing down from above. The 8th Platoon Leader said her platoon members would find them soon, but that untrustworthy statement was the same thing the new squad member had persistently said earlier.

The soil had softened from the rain that had fallen for days, the ground had been impacted by the battle with the Dermocas, and there were also the tunnels dug by the creatures. From what Leonardo could sense, this mountain was on the verge of collapse.

In this situation, it wouldn't be the first time for the Council's delayed response, and enduring like this until they arrived was a suicidal act.

After pondering for a while and reaching a conclusion, he asked the 8th Platoon Leader in a very reluctant voice,

"Hey, you can use teleport, right?"

Then, after a brief silence, she answered in a doubtful voice,

"Why are you asking that?"

"Why do you think? To escape, of course."

The 8th Platoon Leader shifted her gaze toward his direction, thinking it was an absurd idea. As the dust slowly settled, his unusually high-saturation golden eyes could be seen staring this way.

She also wasn't particularly fond of this situation of being together with Leonardo.

However, the pressure pressing down from above was getting stronger, and although she had said those words earlier, she couldn't be certain that her platoon members, who must be preoccupied with the confrontation with the Dermocas, would find this place soon.

And since the golden eyes looking at her seemed quite serious, she decided to change her thoughts a little instead of dismissing it as a completely absurd idea.

The 8th Platoon Leader immediately surveyed the surroundings to find an escape route. Then, she found a position where they could avoid the cliff if it collapsed and roughly calculated the distance. It seemed possible to escape alone.

Next, her gaze turned to the two people lying unconscious at Leonardo's feet. There was no way she could just leave behind a subordinate and a civilian who had lost consciousness.

"I can do it alone, but it's impossible to move while taking someone with me."

At her words, the corners of Leonardo's mouth slightly rose.

"Then that's good. You see that space where light is coming in at the end over there? On the count of three, we'll immediately get out that way."

"Wait, what about Kenis and that guy?"

"Kenis?"

At the name Kenis, Leonardo followed her gaze and looked at the collapsed individuals. There was no way a platoon leader of the Council would know the name of the outsider, so it seemed the name of the new squad member who had been with him was Kenis.

Come to think of it now, he only knew that he was sometimes called 'Ken', but he didn't even know the guy's name properly.

"I'll take both of them with me."

At Leonardo's somewhat reckless words, the 8th Platoon Leader spoke with an absurd expression,

"This cliff will collapse the moment either you or I let go. And you're saying you can escape with those two in that short time?"

"...I'll have to try first. We can't keep going like this anyway."

'Although there's not much mana left.'

Hearing Leonardo's seemingly irresponsible answer, the 8th Platoon Leader made a very untrustworthy expression. It was because she knew that the mana she sensed from him now was different from usual.

However, the situation was what it was, and she knew well that he was strong, so she didn't argue further.

"Fine. Since there's no other way, I'll follow your words for now."

When she made a decision faster than expected, Leonardo looked at her with surprised eyes. Eventually, after checking the two 'luggage' lying in front of him and the position they needed to move to once each, he conveyed clearly in a low voice,

"I'll count from one to three, then we let go at the same time and move to the position. The moment we hesitate, we'll be crushed to death."

Hearing Leonardo's words, the 8th Platoon Leader answered while intently gazing at the side where light was coming in with sharp eyes,

"Okay, I'm ready."

Lightly drawing in his mind the situation of immediately picking up the two unconscious people and moving with teleport, he licked his dry lips once with his tongue.

"...I'm counting."

And just as he slightly opened his mouth to count 'one',

Rumble—!

The ground shook and the earth and sand poured down like water. As the cliff they were supporting tilted and seemed to overturn from the force, Leonardo and the 8th Platoon Leader looked at each other with urgent faces and shouted,

"Three—!"

The two of them let go of the cliff almost simultaneously with the shout.

The 8th Platoon Leader immediately used teleport and moved to the space at the end of the cliff they had discussed earlier in one breath. Leonardo quickly lowered his body, grabbed the two sprawled individuals with both hands, and likewise used teleport toward the space visible in front of him.

However, he had an 'oops' moment.

The amount of mana consumed when moving alone and when moving with two more people was on a different level. On top of that, he had used up almost all of his remaining mana and was extremely exhausted from searching for Kenis, so the travel distance was slightly insufficient compared to what he had anticipated.

As he abruptly stopped midway, the cliff passed right over his head.

Feeling his back being terrifyingly crushed, Leonardo, who had become urgent, stepped on the ground, expanded the air, and threw his body with all his might toward the space he had aimed for. The 8th Platoon Leader attacked the collapsing cliff to cover for him.

Boom—!

With that attack, the rock shattered and a very small gap was created. Thanks to that, he nimbly escaped through the gap, but Leonardo couldn't control his speed and tumbled on the ground, entangled with the two men he was carrying.

Because of that, he must have accidentally swallowed some dirt, and when he felt a thick taste in his mouth, a curse almost rose up.

Shaking his head to regain his senses, he roughly kicked Kenis, who was sprawled on top of him, with his foot and lifted his body to spit out the foreign substance a few times.

After narrowly escaping from the crisis of being crushed, the sight of the brutally collapsing pile of rocks in front of him felt even more eerie. However, the relief of being alive was short-lived, as the real collapse began due to the recent impact, and he sprang up, pushed the back of the 8th Platoon Leader, and shouted,

"Hurry, get out, hurry!"

"I'm going!"

The 8th Platoon Leader, who rarely raised her voice, grabbed the back of the neck of the outsider among the two 'luggage' rolling around and escaped outside. Leonardo immediately followed her, slinging Kenis, whom he had kicked earlier, over his right shoulder.

The 8th Platoon Leader continuously caused explosions in the air, making the chunks of rock falling over their heads spread out to the surroundings. However, it only temporarily created space, and it was realistically impossible to block all the rocks pouring down from above.

Leonardo wanted to help her, but his mana and stamina had almost reached their limit due to the teleport usage a little while ago. Now, he was in a state where it was challenging even to put up a barrier and cling to the wall to follow her up.

Leonardo held Kenis, who kept slipping, in place and clung to the cliff with only his left arm. As he put strength into his left arm to the point where his blood vessels might burst, the tingling sensation intensified.

However, the cliff they had to climb was so high that it was dizzying, and it felt like the terrible memory of doing endurance training was being revived through the sensation in his body.

He gripped the edge of the cliff with all his might, causing blood to rise to the tips of his fingernails, but he was unaware of it. As he endured like that with all his strength, at that moment, a powerful mana energy that he couldn't say he hadn't been waiting for brushed against his skin.