Chapter 229

Thud, his shoulder suddenly felt heavy. Golden hair flowed down, reaching Nero's chest.

Nero couldn't properly comprehend what had just happened. He merely bent his knees and stretched out both arms to support the Captain's body as it collapsed forward.

The upper body leaning against his chest was heavier than expected. Like supporting someone who had no will to stand at all. Caught off guard, Nero staggered for a moment but reflexively stepped back to regain his balance.

His breathing wasn't working as he wished. He rolled his eyes down to glance below.

"...Captain?"

The disheveled golden hair lay limp in his arms. The moisture seeping from the wet hair darkened his navy blue battle uniform even more.

With the color drained from his face, Nero stood blankly for a while.

A chill crept up his spine. He felt like he had experienced a similar sensation before. When he had saved the Captain from the collapsing valley gap? No, it was an even more distant memory.

It was similar to when he had held someone's body on the battlefield three years ago. The skin chillingly cold, the limbs stiffening with rigor mortis...

"Captain, Ca-, damn it."

As these wretched thoughts crossed his mind, Nero shook his head irritably to dispel the ominous feeling. Instinctively biting his tongue that called out "Captain," he supported Leonardo's grotesquely bent neck with his hand.

"Blaine, why, why are you like this? Wake up, come to your senses!"

He shook the other's unsteady body several times, roughly moving his shoulders and arms. Yet the bowed golden head only moved as he shook it, showing no sign of movement on its own.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, Nero quickly bent his knees and lowered his posture. Then he carefully laid Leonardo's body on the ground and first brought his hand close to his nose.

Perhaps due to the massive ice wall that had risen in front, a faint wind blew, mixing cold and heat in the surroundings. Because of this, Nero, in his confusion, couldn't properly distinguish whether what brushed his fingertips was wind or breath.

"No, ah, please... what am I supposed to do..."

Muttering incoherently with his choked voice, he examined the pale face with trembling hands. The gently closed eyelids looked particularly lifeless, perhaps due to being wet. Moreover, the skin that touched his fingertips was almost like ice, and Nero was gripped by fear that the Captain might die from hypothermia.

At a loss in his bewilderment, he soon embraced Leonardo's upper body and began to emit heat. This instantly evaporated the moisture from the wet body, and some artificial warmth spread to the cold skin. But against his ear pressed to the Captain's chest, only an extremely faint heartbeat lingered, as if about to stop.

"Blaine, Blaine! Leo! Hey! Someone—!"

In response to Nero's cry for help, mud-covered combat boots approached as if they had been waiting.

Feeling the presence, Nero turned to look, desperate to grab onto something, but his face, which had been filled with desperation, suddenly became an expression of not knowing what expression to make.

Although he had been constantly watching while borrowing Felix's appearance from the 3rd Battalion, he hadn't expected to face him directly like this.

"What's going on? Did he suddenly faint?"

The one who approached, asking urgently, was Meterion Clinder, the 3rd Battalion Commander. With a rather serious look, he lowered himself and sat in front of Nero. Then, as if to examine Leonardo's condition, he reached out his hand without hesitation.

But Nero, who had reflexively embraced the Captain, half-turned his body to avoid that hand. It was an action born from the instinct to protect the Captain, but he instantly regretted it.

He couldn't gauge how his current appearance would look to this person. Moreover, various thoughts tangled in his mind, wondering since when he had been watching them, and if he might have heard his voice calling out to the Captain.

But right now, the biggest concern in Nero's mind was worry for Leonardo's well-being. So he quickly forgot about hiding his identity and all that. Thinking that asking for help was the priority now, he pleaded with a contorted expression and trembling voice.

"Ba-Battalion Commander, please help."

Meanwhile, Hugo, surrounded by commanders and members, was in the midst of hearing a flood of worried and relieved voices. He was encouraging Liner, who had been deployed to the search team immediately after waking from a critical condition, and receiving unwanted urgent situation reports.

With only one brain to process but dozens of mouths converging, the 8th Platoon Leader, noticing the Commander's tired face, stepped in to mediate once again. However, Bruno, who had the most to say, continued to speak without pause.

"...Anyway, I'm truly relieved that you're safe. We'll leave some members behind to finish repairing the barrier, and then we'll head towards the northern barrier line..."

But at that moment, Hugo, who had been half-listening while rubbing his eyes, suddenly raised his head at a passing sense of discomfort.

His blue eyes scanned the surroundings with a somewhat stiff gaze. Bruno, who had seen this look once before during a meeting, naturally trailed off and observed his demeanor. Eventually, following the Commander's gaze, he turned to look behind, but with so many members gathered, he couldn't tell what he was looking at.

"...Leonardo."

As if answering Bruno, Hugo, his expression hardened, muttered as if entranced. He gently pushed aside the shoulder of the commander blocking his way and hurriedly moved somewhere.

At the Commander's sudden action, the commanders exchanged puzzled glances and stepped back. However, as Deputy Commander Bruno quickly followed Hugo, the rest followed the two without a word.

Pushing through the members who parted a beat late, Hugo strode towards one place with long legs. His steps gradually quickened, and in the end, he was almost running, uncharacteristically. This was because Leonardo's energy, which had been felt faintly, suddenly plummeted at some point.

'What's this? Why suddenly...'

He had been keeping his nerves on edge towards Leonardo all along. So there was no way he had misjudged. It was completely unnatural for it to suddenly die down like this after burning uncontrollably just a moment ago.

Hugo, unable to hide his urgency, tried to suppress his anxiety and followed the thread-like energy.

Soon, when he completely emerged from among the members. His face was frozen cold, dripping with a chilling coldness.

"..."

Two navy blue figures in front were half-embracing a fallen golden light. Hugo, his thoughts stopped, instantly teleported right in front of them.

He strongly pushed aside Meterion, who had been examining Leonardo, and forcefully pulled Leonardo, who had been half-leaning, into his own arms.

"Move."

He even gave a savage warning in a low voice. Meterion, who suddenly had a terrifying force applied to his shoulder, staggered for a moment in surprise. Although he quickly regained his balance, when faced with the blue gaze that looked as if it might grab and throw him, he narrowed his brows and laughed bitterly as if in disbelief.

"Hey, Agrizendro. What is this—"

"What happened? Why is he like this? Leo, Leo!"

Although Meterion tried to argue belatedly, Hugo merely glared at him briefly before immediately turning away. His gaze and mind were already solely focused on Leonardo, with nothing else in consideration.

Supporting the head that seemed about to break with his forearm, Hugo cupped Leonardo's cheek and gently rubbed it. He even pressed his thumb against the lowered eyelashes, trying to push up the closed eyelids. But inside, only the red-tinged whites of his eyes were rolled back. It was evidence of unconsciousness.

"...Damn it."

A low expletive escaped through his gritted teeth. It wasn't the kind of word he would normally use, so Meterion glanced at him.

Hugo's Adam's apple fluctuated busily, having lost his composure. He couldn't understand why Leonardo had suddenly lost consciousness.

Worried that this might also be part of the berserk symptoms, his tense gaze anxiously examined the pale face. He fiddled with Leonardo's wrist while searching for the carotid artery near the choker crossing his neck with his other hand.

As soon as he felt the pulsing blood vessel, he pressed it firmly, but the pulse was strangely weak.

Hugo immediately raised his head and glared at the two people in front of him. Then he demanded in a stern voice, as if pressing them.

"Since when has he been like this? Huh?"

As the angry voice interrogated, Meterion closed his mouth, exasperated, as if he had been accused of knocking him out himself. Instead, Nero beside him suddenly grasped Hugo's forearm tightly. The fierce grip was strong enough to potentially break bones, so Hugo's gaze naturally shifted to Nero.

"Fire mages are vulnerable to hypothermia. It would be better if you withdrew your energy a bit."

Nero, meeting his eyes, warned him in a lowered voice as if telling him to restrain himself.

At that moment, Hugo raised one eyebrow and looked down at Leonardo's face again.

'Hypothermia?'

Leonardo's lips were blue. It made sense, considering he had continuously pushed his mana into that mouth in the cold water.

Hugo, narrowing his eyes and retracing his memories, stared at Nero again. It was because he clearly remembered whose eyes those were.

"..."

Those sharp eyes hostile towards him were undoubtedly those of the mysterious member who had abducted Leonardo during the battle.

Before asking about the relationship between this person and Leonardo, Hugo first took a small deep breath and gathered his energy. Instead, he raised his body temperature by emitting heat with mana, then tightly embraced the cold body to transfer it to Leonardo. All the while, his cool gaze stared directly at Nero.

'This bastard.'

As their eyes met, not hiding their hostility, veins quietly stood out on Nero's neck as he watched. But given the situation, he silently withdrew his hand after squeezing Hugo's arm once more as if to crush it, feeling the cold being withdrawn.

"Commander, what's going on?"

Bruno and the 8th Platoon Leader, who had followed Hugo, approached them. The two were a bit taken aback by the scene before them, but seeing Leonardo unable to support his own neck, they realized the situation was not good.

Hugo looked up at the two briefly without saying much and stood up. Then, lifting Leonardo up, he properly embraced the limp body in his arms.

"There's no time. Let's hurry back."

At the Commander's firm instruction, Bruno and the 8th Platoon Leader nodded their heads at attention. Nero and Meterion also stood up, but the man with ominous blue eyes didn't wait for them.

Hugo rested Leonardo's head on his shoulder, then lightly pressed his forehead against the unconscious man's. Then he turned north, took about two steps, and instantly vanished, surrounded by white light.