Was it because he was getting dizzy? Or was his body temperature dropping from being soaked in the rain?
If not that, had the poison spread uncontrollably?
Leonardo barely held onto his wavering vision—something any of those reasons could explain without seeming strange.
As he flew frantically through the pouring rain, his breathing grew rapid and his concentration scattered. Because of that, even the presence of the monster fiercely chasing him was gradually blurring.
Kwoal-- Kwaaang-!
After making an incomprehensible sound, the queen had been consistently targeting only him. It was the same even when the Council's commanders pursued it and poured in an all-out attack—whether its hide was torn or chunks of flesh flew off. It was as if its sole purpose was to strangle him.
"...Persistent bastard."
Leonardo, who briefly glanced at the chaotic situation behind him, dodged the creature's roars stabbing at the back of his head by weaving between the sheer mountain ranges. At the same time, he gradually increased his flight speed while grasping violent sparks in his hand that were growing in energy.
Although he was using his strength for regeneration, the enormous number of monsters the mother body had summoned wouldn't leave them alone.
Meanwhile, all the high-ranking commanders with outstanding combat abilities were struggling to catch just this one mother body, so the plans they had established through long meetings should be considered essentially failed. There was no way humans would have the luxury to control operations in a situation where their lives were immediately threatened.
In the end, excluding whatever might come later, the only way to minimize damage right now was to kill the mother body. But now, even that simple, straightforward task seemed impossible.
'Wasn't the nape the creature's vital point? But if so, it wouldn't have tried to protect it in the first place...'
'Could it be that it doesn't die even when its vital point is pierced? Then how can we kill a creature with regenerative abilities?'
With his mind drowning in endless thoughts, Leonardo passed through bushes collapsed after being burned and crossed the gap of bizarre ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) rocks where rainwater had pooled into a valley and flowed abundantly. As he nimbly slipped past the obstacles before him and quietly waited for the right moment, he suddenly turned his body around as he reached a dead end.
The ancient demon, which had silently approached without him noticing, was right behind him—like an incarnation of hellfire, pushing through the flames spewing from its maw.
Leonardo aimed at the creature's open maw and instantly fired the lightning he had gathered into that gap. Then he immediately changed direction and shot straight up, swiftly escaping the orbit of the mother body's charge.
Kyaaaaa-
Kwaaang-!
As if the attack had landed cleanly, the howl of the creature that had swallowed the lightning rang out along with the sound of its massive body slamming into the rock wall. A landslide followed; rocks large and small collapsed, and dust rose even in the rain.
Leonardo, who had climbed to a high altitude, watched the area for a beat, then raised his right arm and grasped a lightning spear with savage currents running through it. Then, to deliver the finishing blow, he hurled the lightning toward a fairly large cloud without hesitation.
A moment later, as fierce diagonal lines spread through the gaps of condensed water vapor, the sound of air rupturing echoed like gunfire.
As the golden sparks asserted their presence in the clouds, illuminating the darkened sky, Leonardo lowered the arm he had stretched upward and aimed his palm at where the mother body should be rolling. Then, gritting his teeth with the hope of finally ending this, he chanted the spell.
"Thunder Stroke."
At that moment, dazzling light leaking through the gaps in the clouds briefly dyed the sky a bright yellow. Soon after, a thick bolt of lightning fell precisely into the gap in the mountain range, sending gray smoke and bright red sparks flying spectacularly.
The flames, which didn't subside even in the rain, devoured the damp branches and gradually expanded their influence. Unsatisfied, Leonardo craned his neck and cast again and again.
"Thunder Stroke, Thunder Stroke, Thunder Stroke!!"
Each time he shouted, lightning struck incessantly, splitting rock and earth and half-destroying the area. Thanks to that, the ground near the medium-sized peak where the mother body had collided was shattered beyond recognition, and the sizzling heat rapidly cooled under the pouring rain, scattering pale steam everywhere.
Leonardo's breathing was in disarray from the continuous use of large-scale mana. But even then, his cold gaze, slick with rain, stayed locked on the area below where ashes were drifting. He was ready to fire again—to annihilate anything that might crawl out of that gap.
'If regeneration is the problem, we just can't give it time to regenerate.'
However, contrary to his resolve, the mother body always exceeded human expectations.
Piiiing-
The sharp sound of something being fired suddenly rang in his ears. As a hot sensation bloomed behind his back, Leonardo held his breath and reflexively turned his head.
"Blaine!"
But before his gaze could even swing halfway, a dark shadow flashed in and shoved him hard.
At the same time, a hot beam of light shot forward at savage speed, narrowly grazing past the heads of the two people. It wasn't mere heat, but an ultra-high-temperature energy that could threaten even a fire mage.
Kwaaang-!
About one second later, a shockwave like a huge lightning bolt striking the ground shook the surroundings. The destructive beam that had lanced out slammed into the peak rising on the opposite side and punched through the rock wall.
Leonardo, who had barely regained his balance after being knocked aside in that chaos, immediately confirmed with his own eyes the identity of the figure who had pushed him. He'd thought the voice sounded familiar—and it was the 12th Battalion Commander of the Southern Branch.
"You—"
In that moment, he recalled her words that she wouldn't be a burden. But before he could even feel grateful, another threatening beam of light immediately flew in.
Leonardo's eyes widened as he instinctively turned toward it.
Beyond the approaching dazzling beam, the mother body—which should have been bombarded by lightning—was staring this way with its red fascia exposed.
Momentarily shaken at the sight, Leonardo spread a barrier in front of the 12th Battalion Commander clinging to him, shoved her away forcefully, and shouted.
"Get away from me!"
Then he twisted sharply, barely avoiding the beam aimed precisely at his head.
But the problem was what came next. His vision went completely white for a moment from the beam's glare. When his retinas formed an image again, the mother body's raised claws were already within arm's reach, seizing the opening.
"Die."
At the chilling voice—eerie, like a curse hurled at him—Leonardo yanked himself back and tried to block the incoming claws by forming a flame sword.
But in that instant, another dazzling light poured in front of him. This time, it was completely different from the light the beam had emitted just before.
Thick, smooth ice plates that suddenly appeared in the sky began to quickly surround the mother body as if forming a barrier. Thanks to those plates, Leonardo—who had managed to slip out of the creature's reach—watched what unfolded with bewildered eyes while widening the distance in midair.
The triangular ice plates constricted the mother body's form in an instant, shaping into an icosahedron and trapping it inside.
Having lost its target in an instant and being sealed on all sides by opaque ice walls, the mother body frantically raked at the ice, trying to escape. The chilling scrape of claws against ice grated on the ears, but more than that, the sight of ice spears and battalion commanders flying in unison toward the creature caught Leonardo's attention.
And just then, Hugo's order echoed from above.
"It can move the location of its vital point! Stab as deeply as possible anywhere!"
Leonardo, who had been looking up at the sky, hesitated at that voice.
'It can move the location of its vital point?'
It was nonsensical by common sense. If that were possible, wouldn't it be hard to even call a vital point a vital point?
However, Leonardo soon recalled why the creature hadn't died all this time.
The creature's absurd regenerative ability—not only perfectly restoring its severed tail in an instant, but creating wings that hadn't existed before. If it could form blood, flesh, bone, and muscle and attach them anywhere, then moving something like a heart—the "vital point"—wasn't entirely impossible.
He didn't know how Agrizendro had figured it out, but if the hypothesis was true—if the mother body could freely shift its vital point—then there were only two ways to eliminate it, as far as he could see.
Either pulverize its entire body into powder, or pierce every place the vital point could move with sharp weapons.
'If so...'
Leonardo, having made his decision, immediately grasped sharp lightning spears in both hands. Then he charged toward the creature struggling inside the ice wall along with the battalion commanders.
It seemed the opportunity to try the latter had just arrived.
