Chapter 213

Leonardo, spinning in the air, shot up as if to pierce the night sky. Hugo watched him become a small star in the middle of the darkness, then threw compressed cold air towards the center of the crater.

When the volcano's heat met the cold air, a temporary whirlpool containing white steam was created. It pushed Leonardo's back, sending him even higher into the sky.

The only person who had ever picked him up and thrown him like this was Diego, the former captain of Armsilver's 11th Squad, so Leonardo was almost in a daze experiencing this sensation after several years. As he came to his senses and twisted his body in the air resistance to regain balance, he was enveloped by rough winds and suddenly found himself settled in the upper air.

"Captain!"

A figure flashed before his dizzy eyes. Nero, who had flown up swiftly, lightly caught his staggering body.

Though it was a small sound, Leonardo turned his head with a startled look at the familiar word calling him. Seeing Nero quickly close his mouth and put on the face of a squad member, he thought it was remarkable that he hadn't been discovered until now.

Leonardo blinked his spinning eyes while staring at him, then shifted his gaze downward to the thick smoke sweeping around them.

Due to the cold air Hugo had created, everything below was filled with pale steam. Although the blue lines created by the Council's commanders occasionally flashed, the fog obscured the view, making it impossible to properly grasp not only the situation but even the target's position.

"How am I supposed to aim at anything when it's all covered like this..."

Leonardo, who had been muttering in disbelief with his hand on his head, suddenly stopped speaking and twitched his eyebrows. His lowered golden eyes rose again and moved to Nero, who was stuck close to his side.

'...Could it be?'

Leonardo's expression rapidly hardened, and his Adam's apple slowly moved up and down. Noticing this, Nero stammered, trying to preempt him.

"Wh-what? This level of voice can't be heard down there anyway."

'Was it intentional?'

Leonardo, alternately scanning Nero and the area below, raised one eyebrow at the thought that had just crossed his mind. Then suddenly, remembering Hugo's words about trying to hold it for '10 seconds', he widened his eyes and pushed Nero's shoulder away from him. This was not the time for this.

"Nero, quickly. We need to do it right now."

"What? Now?"

Leonardo created two daggers from flames in his hand and handed one to Nero. Nero, who had been wearing a bewildered expression at the captain's grave voice, grasped the dagger handed to him and his eyes sharpened as if nothing had happened.

Leonardo suppressed his mana that felt about to burst and sharply honed the blade of the flickering dagger.

He hadn't had time to receive information on how to capture the monster, but the spell "Pentagon" he had just heard seemed to be the key.

It was a magic he had been familiar with since the days of fleeing from the Council's pursuit. He had heard that it was a high-difficulty binding magic cast simultaneously by multiple people, so it took some time from casting to completion.

This was because only when the forces were evenly matched and successfully maintained could the target be perfectly bound. It seemed that was also why Hugo had thrown him unnecessarily high.

Of course, he had heard that only the Council's senior commanders could use it, so with their skills, it would be completed relatively quickly. If so, the time given to him would not be long either, and he needed to hurry to bring out 'that' to eliminate the monster.

In the moment their gazes briefly crossed in the air, Leonardo spoke to Nero in a solemn voice.

"Nero. After we kill it according to plan, you leave first before the barrier stones are activated. And get out of this peninsula entirely. So that no one from the Council can find you."

"What?"

Nero asked back with a puzzled face. This was completely different from the plan they had made together just earlier.

"Captain, what are you saying? We agreed to stay together until we left the peninsula, didn't we?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't have time to explain everything now. I'll somehow take care of what you're worried about, so answer quickly. After the operation succeeds, leave the peninsula. Understood?"

"...If I leave alone, it might raise more suspicion. I should stay and at least match our stories."

"Nero."

Leonardo, looking down anxiously, cut off Nero's words in a somewhat authoritative tone. But Nero couldn't readily open his mouth due to his complicated thoughts and hesitation.

Honestly, although they had prepared temporary measures, there was still much to clean up and do that the captain didn't know about. If he disappeared like this, he didn't know what problems might arise.

"Captain, I mean-"

"It's for you, no, for us. There's no time. Just listen to me this once. Okay?"

The swirling smoke around them, and the ominous energy felt from below. The captain's urging voice clearly conveyed that there was no time for conversation, as he said.

But Nero, showing an equally anxious look, only scanned below once, and his firmly closed mouth showed no sign of opening.

Leonardo grasped his hand that couldn't readily answer and added urgently.

"Promise me."

The reason Leonardo was insisting on even a verbal promise like this was because he knew that Nero, who had stayed in the peninsula because of him until now, wouldn't easily listen. But the power of words was quite strong, and he had a small hope that if he could get an answer like this, it might at least put the brakes on any rash thoughts.

Nero's brow gradually furrowed at the sight of the captain repeatedly demanding an answer. He couldn't understand why the captain was suddenly changing his words. Since he wasn't a person to be capricious over trivial matters, Nero felt needlessly worried that there might be a problem he didn't know about.

Finally, just as Nero, who had been hesitating for a moment, painfully opened his reluctant mouth.

Kyaaaak-

An ominous roar of the monster was heard from below. The chilling howl, as if scratching the throat, vibrated the fine particles floating in the air.

If the binding magic had been properly cast, even such waves shouldn't have leaked out, and the two people, sensing that the situation was turning strange somewhere, looked down simultaneously.

Feeling that there was no end to this confrontation of words, Nero met the captain's eyes again and reluctantly nodded.

"Alright. I'll do as you say, Captain."

As soon as Nero's answer mixed with a sigh fell, Leonardo nodded briefly. Eventually, the two showed their hands holding the daggers and their empty opposite hands in front of their faces simultaneously. Then they instantly sliced their palms with the sharply honed dagger blades.

Chwaaak-

It happened so quickly that blood smeared on the blade scattered in the air following the dagger's trajectory. The two, having wounded their palms, extended their left hands dripping with blood forward. Then they grasped each other's red-soaked hands with all their might.

Their blood mixed thickly, and at the same time, intense mana gathered in their hands. Fierce flames spread around Leonardo and Nero, and their hair shook roughly along with that hot yet chilling energy.

As their golden and red eyes were dyed with the other's flame color, Nero spoke first.

"Let's go."

"Yeah."

After this brief exchange of signals, suddenly explosive energy burst out from the two. Perhaps because the surroundings were boiling with ultra-high temperatures, the space distorted like heat haze.

Leonardo and Nero pulled their clasped hands towards themselves, bringing their faces close for a moment. Then, putting weight on their tightly held hands, they pushed each other away with powerful force.

In the blink of an eye, a heavy wave as if space was splitting occurred at the fingertips moving away on both sides. It scattered the swirling dust in all directions, clearing the dark sky to transparency.

A red thread connected by blood stretched long across the night sky, and that vivid diagonal line sucked in the air and gradually widened the gap.

Soon, from the strange space that appeared along with an eerie purple light, a mysterious form revealed itself.