Hugo’s brow furrowed slightly at Leonardo’s cold words, delivered straight into his eyes as if telling him not to interfere. It seemed Leonardo was once again putting on a brave front despite being exhausted to his limits.
Hugo met his gaze head-on, silently making it clear he wouldn’t let go so easily either. As invisible sparks flared between their locked eyes, the nearby liaison officers instinctively took a step back, creating space between themselves and the two.
As Hugo looked into those fierce golden eyes that showed no sign of yielding, he noticed a redness from fatigue at their corners.
In that moment, rather than feeling threatened, he felt an odd urge to reach out and soothe those reddened eyes—an impulse born more of pity than intimidation.
Hugo closed his eyes for a moment, then reopened them with a quiet sigh. This staring contest was pointless.
Normally, he would have simply given a direct order to force Leonardo to rest, whether he liked it or not. But having resolved to respect his wishes to some extent, it didn’t seem wise now to try and control him by force.
Leonardo held his sharp gaze until Hugo finally released his arm. In the end, Hugo let go gently and instead spoke with earnest emphasis.
"Don’t go too far. Stay close enough that I’ll know right away if anything happens to you."
Leonardo found it strange that Hugo had let him go so easily, contrary to expectations, but he deliberately didn’t answer. He disliked being spoken to as if he were a child being dropped off at the water’s edge.
No matter how tired he was, he wasn’t so weak that he couldn’t take care of himself. He scowled, unsettled by Hugo’s sudden concern, as if the man had undergone a change of heart. Without a word, he turned his back and leapt from his spot.
This time, Hugo didn’t try to stop him. He only called softly after him.
"Be careful, Leonardo."
Hearing that note of concern again, Leonardo paused briefly in midair and glanced back at Hugo.
But it was only for an instant before he turned away and quickly flew off, lest he be caught again.
Hugo watched his retreating figure with a displeased expression, uncertain if this was truly the right choice.
Judging by how Leonardo had been focused on the radio, Hugo suspected that, despite claiming earlier he wouldn’t go to help, he was heading straight to where the others were to provide support.
Hugo disliked the idea of him throwing himself into battle with such a tired body. Still, thinking on the bright side, perhaps it was better for him to be with the other members rather than alone.
And even in his current state, Leonardo was still stronger than most average members. For now, Hugo set aside his concerns. He needed to check on the Southern Branch’s vanguard as soon as possible.
When Hugo turned to leave, the two liaison officers from the Southern Branch were silently exchanging looks full of questions.
Startled when they accidentally met the Commander’s eyes, they quickly tried to hide it.
Hugo glanced at each of them, catching their strange look, but refocused on the urgent matter.
"Let’s move quickly."
****
How much time had passed?
Leonardo was now moving between the towering peaks.
As Hugo had predicted, he had gone straight to search for the coordinates he’d heard over the radio—but even after quite some time, he still hadn’t found them.
The problem was that, unlike teleportation tools which worked purely on coordinates, teleportation magic tied to the caster’s unique mana relied on the caster’s awareness. Unless the place was within his field of vision, he couldn’t teleport directly to somewhere he had never been before.
On top of that, having used vast amounts of mana without rest, he didn’t have enough left to teleport as freely as usual—another reason for his meandering search.
And in remote places like the Elder Millie Peninsula, where the terrain often shifted due to natural forces, the coordinates themselves were less reliable. Height from the ground varied, and without fixed reference points, pinpointing a location was difficult even when the numbers were known.
So Leonardo kept his jumps to short distances within sight and instead tracked the faint mana of the 1st Battalion members, already engaged in battle, using his own coordinate system as a reference.
He really wanted to ignore it all now, but after realizing that the voice requesting support had belonged to that naive kid who’d thanked him the night before, it felt wrong to just leave them.
What a tiring life, really.
Frowning, Leonardo roughly ruffled the back of his head as he scanned his surroundings, bemused at himself for even heading this way.
In the end, he was once again doing something exhausting of his own accord, without anyone telling him to. Still, he tried to convince himself it was just part of the subjugation effort as he gradually approached the coordinates from the radio.
After a long search, the mana of the members grew stronger nearby, and the sounds of explosions and Dermocas cries reached him—he must be close.
Following the noise into a deep valley, he found it cloaked in a hazy mix of fog and smoke. Even though the source seemed close, visibility was almost nil.
Before long, he spotted a group of Dermocas crawling quietly from the split cliff’s crevice. Disgusted by the sight of them huddled together, Leonardo fired off two quick beams of light.
Kwaaang―!
The beams, too fast for the creatures to react to, struck squarely into their writhing mass. Several tumbled over the cliff with fragments of rock, vanishing into the unseen valley below. Those hit nearby screeched and withdrew into the crevice.
Leonardo studied the scene. Whether from the monsters’ burrowing or heavy recent rains, the cliff’s rock and soil looked fragile—a dangerous setting where a landslide during battle could be fatal.
Deciding a prolonged fight here was unwise, he flew lower and heated the surrounding air. As the condensed vapor evaporated under the sudden warmth, visibility improved slightly, revealing a fierce battle on a hollowed mountainside ahead.
The clash wasn’t limited to that spot—sounds of destruction and roars came from behind it and from the base of the cliff. With so many creatures, the members seemed to be fighting in separate groups nearby.
Leonardo headed for the nearest skirmish, flames flickering in his hand. Firing them into the thick swarm of Dermocas, he incinerated those too slow to escape. They shrieked hideously as they burned.
A lone 1st Battalion member, struggling moments earlier, looked up at the sudden ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) powerful magic. Upon seeing Leonardo, he instinctively brightened. Leonardo, seeing his expression, muttered in disbelief,
"Why are you smiling? Do you think I came to help you?"
As their nearby kin were reduced to ash, the Dermocas—perhaps remembering Leonardo’s deadly mana from a previous slaughter—scrambled back into their burrow to escape.
Leonardo glanced around, searching for the naive new recruit who had been the reason for coming here. Only a faint trace of mana lingered; he wasn’t here.
Confirming his absence, Leonardo ignored the member waving at him and moved toward another battlefield.
At that moment, from below the cliff shrouded in white vapor, a massive explosion sounded, followed by the crash of collapsing rock.
