“About 2 km to the target point, hurry!”
Looking at the flare fired from the vanguard, Bruno raised his voice uncharacteristically. Even while following at the very back, he kept urging the members ahead to increase their speed.
Liner was riding on Bruno’s back, and despite clinging to his superior with just one arm, he couldn’t take his eyes off the inside of the barrier.
Ominous smoke mixed with explosions covered the earth and pushed toward the barrier line. The approaching massive darkness was majestic and terrifying enough to make humans feel like mere insects.
However, there was one more thing that caught Liner’s attention just as much: the intense golden light dyeing the sky near the barrier.
As unstable mana surged throughout the area, Liner was certain the source of the light flashing in the distance was none other than Leonardo Blaine. If so, the Commander must surely be there too.
The problem was that the volcanic ash surging from inside the barrier was about to swallow that light.
No matter how strong or clear-headed a person might be, if trapped in such a place, there was a high risk of panicking and suffocating. Moreover, weren’t the two inside already exhausted from prolonged battle? It was uncertain whether they could hold out until the search team arrived and completed all preparations.
Liner, watching the situation with anxious eyes, pressed close to his superior’s back and said,
“Deputy Commander, please put me down now. If we’re going to break through the barrier anyway, doesn’t it not matter where we are?”
But Bruno answered firmly despite Liner’s request.
“We need solid ground with at least fifty meters of straight-line distance to install auxiliary barrier stones. This area has only short stretches of land along the barrier line, and the ground is weak since it’s in the middle of the lake. If we’re not careful, the barrier might break midway, and the efforts of the two who came all the way south would be in vain.”
Bruno spoke as if he had guessed why they had come south. Moreover, believing it to be the Commander’s intention, he couldn’t help worrying about both the rescue of survivors and the integrity of the barrier.
But contrary to his firm tone, his voice was threaded with rough breathing. Sensing an urgency he couldn’t see from behind, Liner closed his mouth without further argument.
As if aware of that, Bruno added in a barely audible voice,
“We’ll be there soon. Just wait a little longer.”
Liner wasn’t sure if that was meant for him or for those inside. Either way, he only nodded, hoping it would be as Bruno said.
Piiiing—
Just then, another flare crossed the sky. As Liner’s gaze was drawn forward, he saw the light balls of the vanguard group, which had been far ahead, gradually getting closer.
It seemed they weren’t far from the target point. Bruno squeezed out his last strength and pushed his speed to the maximum. Liner pressed close to Bruno’s back as well, minimizing air resistance. They’d traveled a long distance, and were just about to reach the operation point when—
Kwaaang—!
An enormous impact boomed, enough to make one’s heart sink. The barrier right next to them shook violently as if about to shatter. Not only Bruno and Liner, but everyone ahead looked up at it with wide eyes.
The transparent membrane undulated violently, sparks skittering across its surface as it endured the impact of something colliding with it.
Liner’s jaw dropped as he watched. His gaze slid, unthinking, to where the light had been flashing in the sky.
But it was gone. The light had already been swallowed by darkness, disappearing without a trace.
*****
“Augh, ugh, uwaaa!”
“Leo, calm down!”
Leonardo writhed in the extreme pain enveloping his entire body, covering his face with both hands. The dark dust filling the surroundings buried even his voice in it.
Destructive energy unimaginable from the outside pooled inside Leonardo’s body, eating away at his very existence. The red spots that had been spreading so terrifyingly had now covered even his face.
Hideous reddish trails swimming under the skin set off the pain receptors. It was like the pain of a burn, as if the thinnest, most delicate skin were being torn apart.
As the maddening pain continued, Leonardo even thought he’d rather lose consciousness.
He wanted to let go of everything—wanted his nerves to be cut off now. At least then it would be more comfortable than this.
“No, Leonardo! Come to your senses!”
Holding Leonardo’s body, Hugo kept shaking him, clinging to his consciousness.
As if intending to melt even Hugo’s skin, Leonardo was shrouded in golden light, becoming the fire demon itself. But Hugo, hugging the burning fireball even tighter, twisted his expression and repeated, over and over,
“Please. I beg you—don’t give up on yourself.”
A desperation he had rarely felt in his life rose to his throat. Hugo earnestly begged him not to lose himself, begged him not to let go.
Kwaaang—!
At that moment, the barrier membrane twisted sharply, followed by a heavy sound like thunder. Hugo, who had barely avoided a rock flying out of the dust, stared with contracted pupils at the weapon lodged in the barrier.
As another nearby volcano began to erupt, falling debris now reached the lake. If instinct hadn’t caught the shift of air, that last one would have meant instant death for both of them.
Hugo, scanning the surroundings with a taut gaze, tried to secure visibility by scattering the dust. But it was useless—darkness filled everything around them—and in the meantime, Leonardo’s pain-filled screams echoed again, miserable.
Every time he saw Leonardo suffering, Hugo sank into endless self-reproach. Even the cold he poured onto him only skimmed the burning skin before vanishing. The moment the cold tried to touch, it was swallowed by the fire demon, making it impossible to suppress the heat spreading from within.
‘What should I do at a time like this...’
It was a huge mistake to think that simply suppressing the energy would control it. Thick veins stood out along Hugo’s jaw as he ground his teeth.
At this rate, they might die together, still locked in an embrace. Before that happened, he needed another method—something that could dissipate the heat both inside and outside Leonardo’s body at once.
But with Hugo preoccupied with knocking down incoming rocks, it was hard to think clearly. Only a sharpened survival instinct kept him moving, relying on intuition to keep them alive.
At that moment, another rock cut through the air, aimed at them. As the dark shadow entered range, Hugo wrapped mana around an ice spear and swung his arm wide.
With a crack, the huge rock split and flew past on either side, slamming into the barrier membrane. Two chunks bounced off and fell into the lake with a dull rasp.
Splash—
It could have been lost in the explosions, but blue eyes suddenly dropped.
Hugo’s gaze, fixed on the pitch-black lake water, sharpened like a blade.
‘Water?’
For a brief moment, a possibility—something only he could do—flashed through his mind.
Then, alternating his gaze between Leonardo and the lake, he fired condensed cold energy beneath his feet.
The lukewarm surface froze for a moment, and the spreading chill brushed his face, carrying hope with it.
After that, he didn’t hesitate even once.
“Leo, hold your breath.”
Covering Leonardo’s nose and mouth with his hand, Hugo plunged into the water in one breath.
*****
As the two of them fell into the lake together, a huge splash erupted around them. Countless droplets rubbed chaotically against one another, and the surface undulated with a rainlike roar.
Rocks that had fallen in around the same time followed, swallowed by the whirlpool. They sank fast, as if to grab at their ankles, but couldn’t catch up to the two heading for the depths.
Leonardo, on the verge of losing consciousness, felt as if he’d been hit with an icy shower the moment his body submerged. His hazy awareness snapped back, and the burning heat was briefly offset ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) by the cold water.
At the same time, his ears went muffled and the explosions seemed to grow distant. He even had the illusion he was dreaming.
But the ultra-cold current, like being trapped in ice, constricted his blood vessels and numbed his brain. His muscles seized, his body stiffening for an instant—and reflexively inhaling in surprise was the problem.
‘...!’
Water that slipped through the gaps in Hugo’s fingers invaded Leonardo’s nose and mouth.
The faint breath that caught with a “kuk” was forced back down his throat along with the water.
Leonardo struggled for a different reason now, but Hugo only flicked him a glance and didn’t slow his underwater swim. Instead, he moved with steady ease toward a dark, quiet place where nothing else—no being, no object—could follow.
A light ball cut through the water first. As the abyss brightened, Hugo, still descending, accelerated like a mermaid.
With each stroke, he covered ten meters or more, and as if the lake itself had recognized its master, it raised currents to carry the two of them somewhere.
The place the flow delivered them to was a narrow shelf beneath a jutting rock wall. The “roof” wasn’t large, but it was enough to shield their closely pressed heads.
In the deep water where even sound was blocked, Hugo briefly focused on the ripples stirring around them. Yet his gaze—and his mind—stayed solely on Leonardo in his arms.
“...”
Perhaps because of the searing heat, bubbles were streaming violently from Leonardo’s entire body. Though the energy he was emitting had noticeably lessened, his face showed he was suffering badly from lack of air.
Trembling and clutching Hugo’s arm, Leonardo made Hugo immediately remove the hand covering his nose and mouth. The breath he’d been holding burst out at once, and Leonardo instinctively flailed, trying to rise to the surface.
But Hugo manipulated water streams to seize his limbs, then wrapped them around Leonardo as he struggled upward and pulled him back in front of himself.
Once he had him face-to-face, Hugo gently cupped Leonardo’s cheeks, his eyes squeezed shut. He slipped an arm around that elegantly curved waist and drew him in, their lower abdomens pressing firmly together as the distance closed.
Maybe because the water was his home ground, his senses suddenly sharpened. A small hesitation crossed his mind—but he’d come this far, and hesitation was meaningless.
Hugo brushed his thumb lightly over Leonardo’s trembling lips. Then, slowly tilting his head, he drew their faces close.
When Leonardo, sensing the strange current, half-opened his eyes, an unfamiliar sensation had already settled softly over his lips.
