Leonardo, now fully freed from the last shackle, surged forward at a speed far beyond what he had before.
Judging by the slight soreness in his ankle, it seemed it had been grazed by the spear, but fortunately, it wasn’t severed and was still firmly attached.
After quickly checking his leg’s condition once more, he charged toward Andreas, who stood atop the ice wall, without hesitation.
Seeing Leonardo approaching at tremendous speed, Andreas tried to restrain him again by summoning vines from the ice wall. However, he was utterly baffled—Leonardo’s speed had doubled, and the thickly woven tree vines helplessly burned away in the flames.
Given the sudden burst of powerful mana energy that had been continuously emanating since the loud noise below, it seemed something had changed during the confrontation with Hugo.
Realizing he could no longer hold him with just vines, Andreas gripped the tree vines in his hand, spread a green magic circle, and chanted a spell.
“Wooden Puppet.”
The vines wrapping the wall thickened and gathered into a mass the size of # Nоvеlight # a person, writhing.
Similarly, six such lumps formed in different spots, emitting eerie sounds of snapping and compressing vines.
They compressed the exposed soft inner parts of the snapped vines as if kneading them. Soon, arms, legs, and a head shaped like a human began to emerge from the kneaded mass, blood-colored and circulating like real skin.
As they took human form, they wore the same face and white Council uniform as Andreas, the caster. Their eyes fixed intently on the figure rapidly ascending below.
What met Leonardo’s eyes, after wrestling through the vines to reach the top, was the sight of seven figures identical to the man who had stood beside Hugo, all staring at him.
As Leonardo faltered at the bizarre sight, the main body and clones all grinned simultaneously and chanted a spell.
“Marionette.”
At once, the seven Andreas drew their swords in unison and charged toward Leonardo instantly.
After a moment’s confusion at the sudden attack, Leonardo conjured a blazing flame sword in one hand and a lightning sword crackling with high-voltage current in the other. He intercepted the swords of the two clones rushing at him frontally, one with each hand.
Clang!
The swords clashed fiercely as the two clones pressed him. Leonardo locked eyes alternately with the two on either side, gauging their strength.
Though clones are often weaker than the original, perhaps because Andreas was a battalion commander, even the clones were exceptionally skilled. Facing one with each arm made Leonardo’s limbs tremble.
Suddenly, a chilling air current rushed upward from below at high speed. Leonardo braced his shoulders and pushed away the two clones he’d been grappling with.
Using the recoil to retreat, Hugo’s ice spear shot vertically through the gap between Leonardo and the clones—a narrow miss that made Leonardo’s heart skip.
He shivered as the spear grazed just beneath his chin, passing through to strike the barrier maintained by the elites. The barrier rippled loudly, the spear piercing through it and soaring straight into the sky.
Just as Leonardo bent his head to spot the culprit of the spear throw, Hugo, wielding a long sword, had already ascended right below him.
The razor-sharp sword energy sliced instantly, grazing the tips of Leonardo’s fluttering golden hair. Leonardo bent his waist in one breath to dodge, simultaneously slashing his sword toward Hugo. Hugo fiercely blocked with his own long sword.
Despite defying gravity, Hugo’s blade was incomparably heavier than Andreas’. Leonardo glared into Hugo’s unyielding blue eyes, then, unable to hold out, struck back as if parrying.
Perhaps because he’d used his ice spear to remove the shackles, Hugo seemed slightly enraged.
“Damn, it’s overwhelming.”
Though Leonardo had somehow blocked two clones of the battalion commander with one hand each, blocking Hugo Agrizendro’s single sword with both hands was overpowering. Somehow, the weight of that slender, long sword felt heavier than the greatsword he’d wielded in the previous battle.
It didn’t seem like the sword’s appearance had changed, yet the pressure pressing against him was far more intense than before, making Leonardo feel that something was off.
If this was the Imperial Capital—a place filled with things to protect—and Hugo was pushing harder than before, causing his sword to feel heavy... then it meant he could draw out more strength than he had shown in their previous battle.
As this thought crossed his mind, a humiliating suspicion crept in: had Agrizendro possibly gone easy on him during their fight on the uninhabited island in Frost?
His mood rapidly sank at that unpleasant realization. He forcefully deflected Hugo’s long sword flying at him again and simultaneously stretched out his hand toward Andreas’ clones rushing in. Three red beams shot instantly from his fingertips.
Two of the clones were struck by the beams, burst into flames, transformed into tree vines, and crumbled, while one narrowly escaped. Sensing something unusual, Leonardo narrowed his eyes and glanced at his hand that had fired the beams.
“Two seconds?”
But that thought lasted only a moment. As Hugo’s long sword was aimed at him again, Leonardo immediately took a stance and swung his sword once more. The end of the beam that missed the clone flew straight toward the ice wall and exploded.
As a result, a large section of the wall cracked and shattered, sending chunks flying toward the elite-maintained barrier due to the explosion’s recoil.
Hugo, witnessing the scene, halted midair, clicked his tongue, and forcefully struck back Leonardo’s sword aimed at him. Leonardo staggered briefly from the impact, losing his balance and being pushed backward.
As soon as he was pushed away, Hugo rushed to intercept the flying ice chunks, slicing them one by one with his sword. If the barrier couldn’t withstand these large chunks like the earlier ice spear and they fell beyond it, the citizens could be endangered.
Meanwhile, Leonardo barely recovered his stance, and Andreas’ clones seized the chance to charge him again.
Leonardo’s irritation doubled—Agrizendro had thrown him away like a toy to shatter ice chunks, and now the clones, not even the main body, were attacking.
His priorities shifted. He decided to use the distance Agrizendro created to deal with these nuisances first.
He glared at the clones charging in turn and precisely sliced their necks with his flame sword. At that speed, the clones had no time to react—their heads severed, they turned into dry vines and collapsed.
Two more clones and surrounding green vines charged from both sides, but Leonardo didn’t face them directly. He quickly slipped between them, heading toward the back of the ice wall. Since the main body kept producing clones endlessly, he intended to find and confront it first.
As he circled half the ice wall, he sensed the main body’s mana growing closer. Suddenly, clones popped out repeatedly charging him.
“Seriously annoying.”
Leonardo frowned deeply in irritation. Wielding the flame sword, he tore apart the heart of one clone, elbowed another in the face, and smashed it down, then kicked the solar plexus of a third.
The kicked clone crashed into the ice wall and transformed into tree vines. Nearby vines gathered, absorbing the clone’s remains like nutrients, crushing it. The gruesome sight made Leonardo’s expression involuntarily tighten.
Finally, Leonardo reached out toward the leftmost clone rushing him. Startled, the clone’s face showed panic, but before it could recover, Leonardo grabbed its neck with one hand and mercilessly twisted it ninety degrees.
A chilling snap echoed, and the clone’s eyes rolled back white. Leonardo felt the vivid sensation of bones breaking and muscles rupturing through his fingertips, but remained unfazed. He ignited flames, burning the clone thoroughly. The tree vines fell crackling as they burned away.
Behind the clone, Andreas himself hung from the vines, pale-faced and awkwardly smiling.
Leonardo fixed his murderous gaze on Andreas’ light violet eyes. Then, pointing with the fingers that had snapped the clone’s neck, he spoke in a low, brutal voice.
“You’re annoying.”
Andreas felt every hair on his body stand on end.
