However, after taking a few steps, Nero soon withdrew his ominous gaze from Felix. Then, shaking his head, he quickly changed his mind.
Of course, eliminating... potential problems was the cleanest and best method. But he couldn't dispose of an innocent person who had merely lent his face just to cover up his own carelessness.
Moreover, several people had already become suspicious of him wearing Felix Montero's face. If the original suddenly died in such a situation, it was highly likely that unnecessary suspicion would arise and cause problems later on.
Also, hadn't Felix just said that he had moved Nero himself when he was lying unconscious? Although the location he had been moved to wasn't particularly to his liking... Objectively speaking, this guy was someone to be grateful to—he had done him a favor. He didn't want to become a heartless human who could easily harm such a person.
After considering various thoughts, Nero leaned toward leaving him alone for now.
The problem was that the thought that followed this decision was, What should I do?
‘...What should I do now?’
Nero, who had consistently remained silent without a plan, racked his brain as he followed the person in front. The captain had always said that anything that could become a future obstacle must be uprooted, so even if he wanted to let it pass quietly by relying on luck, that wasn't the right thing to do.
As he continued to scan the other with his peripheral vision, his head gradually began to throb. While having absurd thoughts like whether hitting the back of his head hard would make him lose his memory, Nero kept biting his lip anxiously.
It was then.
Kuung—
As if urging him that this was not the time to be doing this, an ominous roar suddenly came from far away. Along with it, a fierce gust of wind, strong enough to churn up the uneven terrain, rushed in at high speed.
As the familiar mana that had awakened him from his unconsciousness spread through it, Nero—his hair disheveled by the wind—instinctively turned to look at the source.
‘Captain?’
At that moment, Felix pulled Nero down and urgently shouted in a hushed voice:
“Duck your head!”
The shockwave that had been steadily approaching from far away came close, accompanied by vast clouds of dust. As it filled the area, Nero and Felix lowered their upper bodies, and it slammed into the low ice wall they were pressed against.
Kuung— Kwaaang—!
The impact shook the ground beneath them, and a deafening explosion crashed over their heads.
Nero, who had reflexively spread a barrier to block the incoming earth and sand, felt a tingling sensation run all the way to his bones at that moment.
‘This energy...’
His eyes suddenly wide, he raised his chin while still keeping his body low and looked up at the sky. Then, beyond the swirling pale particles, the massive shadow of a roaring monster loomed.
For a moment, his red pupils dilated at the creature’s size, which gave off an incredible sense of pressure despite the considerable distance. But what surprised Nero was not that monster. The powerful wave he seemed to have forgotten for the past few years set his heart racing, like he’d been thrown back to three years ago.
Soon after, the mother body, which had completely crossed the boundary of the ice wall, flew across the golden sky in the blink of an eye, as if fleeing toward the southern peak. Nero followed its trajectory with questioning eyes at the creature’s bizarre behavior—crawling back into the place it had just escaped from.
And a few seconds later, he saw three or four shadows, so small as to be barely visible, catching up to it at a blinding speed. One of them flew at the forefront, emitting powerful energy and opening an overwhelming gap from the others, and Nero could instantly recognize who it was the moment he saw that figure.
“Cap—!”
Nero, who had reflexively sprung up to shout “Captain,” startled himself and clapped a hand over his mouth, glancing to his side.
Fortunately, Felix was lying flat on the ground with his eyes tightly shut, seemingly oblivious to Nero. He was just muttering about wanting to live.
Nero, who had been staring blankly at him, pressed his lips together with a tense face and turned his eyes back to the sky.
Although he didn't know exactly what was going on, the energy emanating from the captain now was on a different dimension from what he’d felt when he faced him earlier. It really felt like seeing him again from those days when they had last gone to the battlefield together.
While this was welcome—joyful, even—at the same time, not being able to grasp what was happening made anxiety creep in. At first, he had hoped that maybe the captain had been freed from his restraints, but Nero knew well that it wasn't something that could be undone so easily.
Therefore, watching the receding figures with a complex gaze, Nero organized in his mind what he needed to do in that brief moment. Soon after, he shifted his gaze from the southern sky and looked down again at Felix, who was trembling beside him.
“...”
Nero lightly cracked his knuckles, clenching and unclenching his fist a few times with a popping sound. Then, with a reluctant expression, he looked away, and after a short hesitation, he struck Felix hard in the back of the head.
Puk—
“Ugh—”
Felix’s body, which had been lying face down, went limp on the muddy ground with a choking groan.
Nero checked his pulse by pressing on his neck, then turned him over so his dirt-covered face was up toward the sky. Then, putting his hands under Felix’s armpits the way Felix had been moving people earlier, he dragged him somewhere nearby.
The place he took him to was right below a wall, where the impact could be minimized even if gusts or shockwaves hit. It was also a good place to hide his body, with plenty of dry grass nearby.
Nero, who had propped Felix’s back against it and seated him securely, knelt in front of him and took out the artifact he had put in his pocket. Then, while busily rummaging through it, he looked at the unconscious Felix with indifferent eyes.
“Sorry, but sleep soundly here until the job is done.”
Not long after, Nero pulled out a mysterious piece of paper from the artifact. The small paper, not even half the size of a palm, had red writing scrawled on a black background, giving off an eerie atmosphere just by its appearance.
Nero hesitated until the last moment over whether to use it or not, then finally brought the paper to Felix's face. Then, staring intently at his closed eyes, he muttered softly as if talking to himself:
“Instead, when you wake up later, you'll be a great hero.”
*****
Leonardo, his eyes shining like flashes of light, gripped his flame sword and swung it mercilessly toward the peak in front of him. The golden current that flew sharply forward cleanly cut through the steep, bizarre rocks. Even the crater of the peak behind it was cleaved away as if by a knife, and the mother body that had been hiding nearby flew up, spewing breaths and slipping its body between the clouds.
Leonardo casually stretched out his hand toward the flames rushing into his view. At that moment, the flames that had been raging wildly, unable to distinguish heaven from earth, calmed as if recognizing their master, then scattered in all directions.
Those that had been burning and emitting thick smoke in the air eventually disappeared without leaving a single spark. But looking at the clouds that had grown even more voluminous from the heat, Leonardo frowned as if annoyed.
“How irritating.”
As the wave of humans filling the plains rushed toward it, the creature immediately abandoned its northern route and headed only southward.
The creature's intention was simple. The southern peaks, with their steep, bizarre rocks and dense forests, had countless spaces where its massive body could hide. Moreover, the south was close to the sea, making it a place where clouds condensed relatively quickly.
When clouds hung between the mountain ranges, the field of vision narrowed sharply, inevitably reducing the accuracy of teleportation and attacks.
Chasing the creature closely in such a situation, Leonardo was now crossing the winding ridges in seconds. It was probably the creature's ploy to ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) deplete his mana and stamina, but he had no intention of playing along anymore.
Leonardo aimed his palm at the huge peak blocking his view and the clouds hanging in its gaps, targeting the area. Then, as he gathered mana in his hand and was about to trigger an explosion all at once—timing it right—he intended to blow away all the irritating obstacles in one sweep.
But at that moment, whether by chance or not, something reddish caught Leonardo's eye.
It was boiling magma flowing sluggishly in the distance, giving off smoke.
“...”
Leonardo's gaze lingered there for a moment.
And just then, he recalled the overly innovative “Plan 5” that he had pointed out, only to have it immediately dismissed at the Council’s final meeting before entering Peak 118.
