The two flames illuminating the darkness moved in perfect unison. Although one presence was faint beside the intense light of the other, both were clearly visible to the mother body's ten eyes.
They flickered repeatedly in the air, appearing and disappearing as if exchanging signals. They approached silently like predators stalking prey, crossing between burning rocks and vegetation.
The mother body, sensing the humans’ changed aura, trembled its regenerated protrusions. The beast’s instinct embedded in its cells continuously scanned for enemies, trying to survive even in disadvantageous situations. Gathering information bit by bit amidst the chaos, its brain was now filled with a great deal of knowledge.
For instance, although it held the advantage, the humans were the ones being pushed to their limits. Because of this, the humans, who didn’t have much time, were devising a plan to lure it somewhere. And the shining sun, the most fearsome existence, was now deeply anxious about it.
These vaguely sensed facts, though not specific, gave the mother body—constantly fleeing with its retreat cut off—a chance to look for an opening. Lowering itself in the flames and rolling its eyes, the creature found its offspring lingering nearby and swallowed them in one gulp, opening its maw wide.
With each muffled scream between its iron-like teeth, chunks of dissolving flesh were instantly sucked beyond its wrinkled throat. Soon, the mother body’s internal cells creaked, repeating division and proliferation several times. The monster’s body swelled even larger, and a sinister gleam flashed through its muscles and eyes.
The creature hid in the gaps between bizarre rocks, crawling stealthily along the ground while concealing its presence. The demon’s claws attached to its four feet took long strides over earth slick with scattered bodily fluids.
Grasping fallen, burnt old trees and ash, it leaped into the crudely winding mountains. Taking advantage of the subsiding flames, it ran about 2km, and just as it was about to poke its head into the path leading north—
An eerie high temperature that had somehow caught up heated its spine.
"So you were here?"
A human wrapped in dark red flames approached at an imperceptible speed and whispered savagely. By the time its eyes, sensing the sign, rolled upward, the fierce predator’s grasp was already right in front of its nose.
Kwaaang-!
Nero’s claws, trailing flames and slashing through the air, heavily half-destroyed the high rock walls that rose on both sides. The mother body, hiding underneath, hurriedly hardened its wings, barely protecting itself from the collapsing pile of stones.
It immediately turned to flee toward the open sky, but the human from earlier appeared before its eyes again with the scattering wind. Nero, blocking its path with eerie flames flickering, curved his lips upward ominously like a grim reaper.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Feeling threatened, the mother body raised its head at once and aimed its wide-open maw at him. Between its teeth, sparsely packed with flesh and slick with blood, an evil flame different from Nero’s rose in a circular pattern.
The roaring flames flickered violently, then fired forward in the blink of an eye. Stretching out in an instant like lightning, it pierced straight through the air where Nero had been. However, the opponent trailing pale steam had already vanished without a trace from that spot.
The mother body had no time to feel disappointed. It rolled its gleaming eyes busily ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) and leaped, throwing itself in the direction it had fired its breath. But at that moment, though the main body was nowhere to be seen, a human voice echoed through the air as if giving a signal.
"Captain-!"
No sooner had it escaped from between the collapsed pile of stones than black lumps of flame poured down from the sky.
As if the terrible nightmare of Armageddon that had devastated the area was about to repeat, the mother body increased its speed, using its widely spread wings as a roof. However, as flares that seemed capable of melting its hide were fired in succession with each step of its front legs, it hesitated—then let out a sharp howl, calling its minions.
The monsters positioned all around, waiting for the moment, swarmed in response to the queen’s call. The mother body burrowed into the gaps of the solid wall they were building, mercilessly digging its claws into its offspring as it ran forward with all its might.
Every two steps it took, a chaotic mixture of explosions and monstrous cries erupted behind it. Fireballs, as if trying to seize the queen’s tail, repeatedly tore through the waves of monsters.
When the flesh of the burst monsters had stained the earth for about 500m along the trajectory of the queen’s escape, the sacred light that appeared in the sky became one with the bright moon and gazed down intently at the creature.
In his right hand, a glowing spark was clenched, screaming violently as if about to devour everything. The golden greatsword, shaped like lightning, drew in the thunderclouds spread across the sky and occasionally absorbed lightning like a rod.
Heavy waves that had expanded their influence exerted their presence in all directions, centered on Leonardo. The mystical eyes shining bright yellow beneath his swaying golden hair slowly lifted the thick curtain of darkness that had fallen.
Eventually, when the writhing wave of monsters reached the predetermined position, Leonardo—who had been staring intently at the target—raised high the lightning gripped in his hand. At that moment, the pillar of light that had previously pierced the southern sky appeared again, striking down hard over his arm and head.
However, far from being struck, Leonardo absorbed the light into the tip of the lightning he held. The explosive energy tore through the air with a sharp sound, sucked in incessantly toward a single apex.
The small sun, now one with the light, floated leisurely in the middle of the pillar, emitting an unbearable current from its entire body.
Each time the low-frequency current scraped his skin and pierced his chest, the taste of blood rose in Leonardo’s throat. But to control the surging mana, he could only clench his teeth tight without hesitation.
'Hold on, please. Just hold on.'
Because of this, the air boiled, and invisible explosions—large and small—burst out around him. A wind like a storm arose, sweeping across the land where the flames had been dying. The dying embers, mixed with the cutting wind, swelled again and heightened the senses of the two fire mages.
And at that moment, Leonardo grasped the surging lightning with both hands and swung it at once toward the mother body. As air friction erupted in the sky where the high-voltage lightning struck, thunder covered heaven and earth, and a momentary crack appeared in space-time.
The golden scar carved into the air dug into that crack, ignoring resistance as it flew toward the target. The hill of monsters, now grown as large as two pairs of small peaks, was completely annihilated by the strike that traveled at the speed of light.
Amid bodies disappearing without leaving a trace, amid sharp screams scattering into ash, the mother body barely stopped in place, digging its claws in and scraping the ground before the terrifying energy bearing down on it.
Just then, a crescent-shaped trajectory slicing in front of the creature once again split the earth, triggering an earthquake and carving a canyon. In an instant, seawater in contact with geothermal heat evaporated into thick steam, and the mother body’s vision was swallowed by fog, momentarily blurring its perception.
When the aura of a chilling flame seeped through the pale steam, the mother body instinctively spread its wings and leaped in place. However, the speed of the active Armsilver was more than enough to catch the startled monster.
As Nero, grasping flames in both hands, appeared before it in the blink of an eye, the mother body—perhaps judging it couldn’t avoid him—curled into a ball. It wrapped its entire body in its wings, transforming into a huge boulder-like form to increase its defense.
Nero, seizing the timing, instantly moved beneath the mother body. He planted both hands on the ground and did a handstand, focusing all his mana and strength into his left leg, which was still somewhat intact. Then, pushing off the ground with both arms, he kicked the monster above him into the sky with all his might.
Bwaak-!
The thousand-year-old ancient demon that had made the world tremble in fear suddenly became a ball perfect for playing with. Feeling a shock that was by no means light even through its hardened wings, the creature unknowingly soared upward and hung in the air.
The mother body rolled its eyes between its spread wings to check the distant ground and assess the situation. It soon released the hardening and tried to twist away to flee, but this time, a seething golden fire demon appeared in its vision.
Leonardo, tightly clenching his right hand, flashed his lightning-like golden eyes and released a golden aura. He bent his arm engulfed in flames, raising it beside his head, and with a savage smile, drove his fist toward the monster.
White steam and vivid electric currents entwined around the fist cutting through the air. A low voice pierced through, warning the monster right to its face.
"Clench your molars tight."
