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Bermuda Chapter 83
🕑 Added 2024-05-03 11:27:43 +0000 UTCChapter 83
"Platoon Leader, the monster is escaping!"
As the monster that had snatched the injured member immediately jumped into the water, the 8th Platoon leader gritted her teeth and stretched out her hand towards the creature again.
"Air Expansion."
The surrounding air rapidly expanded and exploded as if bursting, causing a huge spray of water. Leonardo, who had been watching their battle, opened his eyes a bit wider in surprise at the unexpectedly large scale.
Water splashed abundantly in all directions due to the aftermath of the magic, and several severed monster limbs were scattered and floated on the surface of the water.
However, the monster had already escaped into the water, dragging the member, and the other member who had been holding his arm was also pulled into the water.
Seeing the black shadow cast on the lake gradually moving away, the 8th Platoon leader shouted,
"Delta team, come into the water with me, and Sigma team, stand by in the air."
"Yes, understood!"
Eventually, about 10 members, including the 8th Platoon leader, all jumped into the water at the same time. The remaining personnel all flew above the lake, standing by to be able to switch immediately.
As the situation became urgent, Flynn hurriedly called the Commander on the radio, but the communication didn't go through, perhaps because he was out of range for radio contact.
Flynn, who had been holding the radio with a worried expression, soon turned to look at Leonardo. He was still sitting on the rock, and when their gazes met, he only slightly raised his eyebrows.
"What."
Flynn thought that if a problem arose, Leonardo would help. It was because the members of the 6th Battalion, who had guarded the rear with him, said that although he wasn't a very friendly person, he always saved them in crisis situations.
However, seeing him sitting as if watching someone else's business, Flynn couldn't easily bring himself to ask for his help.
Leonardo, who saw Flynn hesitating, seemed to have noticed what he wanted to say and just casually crossed his legs and rested his chin.
"The 1st Battalion members are all combat personnel, they'll handle it well on their own."
"But..."
He seemed to have something he wanted to say, but Leonardo turned his gaze to the lake where the members had entered with a cold face.
"Let's just watch for now."
At his resolute words, Flynn, who had been hesitating, reluctantly nodded. Certainly, those who had entered the water now were members of the 1st Battalion, so his worries might be unfounded.
However, after a few loud sounds were heard from inside, some members alternately came up to the surface to breathe and went back down, but no one completely came out of the water.
It meant they hadn't rescued them yet.
As time passed, Flynn, who had become anxious, tried to contact the Commander on the radio again. However, there was still no response.
After a while, Leonardo, who had been indifferently looking at the lake with his chin resting, slowly got up from his seat.
Flynn turned around at the sound of stepping on gravel and looked at him with hopeful eyes, but Leonardo's gaze was directed at the ground, not the lake.
The sticky mucus-like substance that the monster had shot earlier had fallen on the ground and was soaking wet. Leonardo quietly examined it, then knelt down in front of it and touched the sticky liquid with his hand.
The transparent mucus-like substance had strong viscosity and a strange smell. As Leonardo tried to bring it to his mouth, Flynn was surprised and approached him, shouting,
"What are you doing!"
Ignoring Flynn's shout, Leonardo slightly touched the mucus-like substance to his tongue to taste it, then immediately spat it out and said as he got up,
"Give me some water."
Flynn was appalled by his behavior, but at those words, he immediately took out a water bottle from the luggage and held it out to him. Leonardo, who received the water bottle, asked Flynn,
"Is this water from the lake?"
"No?"
Only after hearing the answer did Leonardo take a mouthful of water, spit it out again, and washed the mucus-like substance off his hand. Flynn frowned and asked,
"Why on earth did you taste that?"
Leonardo handed the water bottle back to Flynn and said,
"To figure out what it is. By the way, this mucus-like substance is poison."
"Poison?"
Flynn, whose eyes had widened even more, looked at Leonardo, who had just put it in his mouth, with a worried expression.
"It's fine since I didn't swallow it and spat it out right away. And rather than being the raw form of the poison, it's in a state diluted with the mucus-like substance, so it won't cause much problem even if it touches the skin. As long as it doesn't enter a wound."
At his answer, Flynn let out a big sigh of relief as if relieved. Then, he asked again with newly amazed eyes,
"You knew just by looking at it?"
However, the words that came out of his mouth were different from what he expected.
"I knew by tasting it?"
"What? What if it had been a deadly poison...!"
Flynn was startled and raised his voice, then closed his mouth without finishing his sentence at his nonchalant expression.
It felt somewhat unfair because it seemed like he was the only one getting surprised and angry every time. Leonardo chuckled at Flynn, who looked somewhat resentful, and said,
"Would I have recklessly eaten a poison I had never seen before without any fear?"
"...Then you mean you've seen it before?"
Leonardo nodded as if he had guessed correctly.
"Remember when I told you about the characteristics of the monsters before entering the peninsula?"
"Yeah."
"Among them, there was a creature with poison."
"...Ilaptor."
Flynn answered, recalling his memory. Then, Leonardo said with a smile,
"This poison has the same properties as that fellow's poison."
Flynn, who let out a small exclamation of "ah" at his explanation, suddenly turned his gaze towards the lake. Then, he asked again with a worried face,
"Then, will the members who entered the lake be okay?"
Leonardo also turned his head towards the lake and opened his mouth.
"It's inevitable to swallow some water while fighting, but in the first place, the mucus-like substance is in a state where the poison is diluted, and the lake water is so vast that the small amount won't affect the body."
Although he was still anxious, hearing Leonardo's words made him feel a bit less worried. On the other hand, even though Leonardo said that, he was quite conflicted about whether he should intervene in this battle or not.
It was because no one knew how the diluted poison would act if the battle dragged on and they had to stay in the water for too long.
'Underwater combat is concerning...'
He narrowed his brows and shifted his gaze that had been directed at the lake to look at his own hand. Underwater combat was one of the quite disadvantageous situations for him, who mainly used fire.
Water would constantly try to extinguish the flames. If he tried to maintain the fire by drawing out even stronger mana, it would be even more difficult to control the scale.
If he used electricity instead, the other fellows would get electrocuted, and the attack that might work to some extent was the wind-based attack that the 8th Platoon leader had used.
It was equally annoying that the target was a monster he was seeing for the first time. He knew that monsters could have overlapping properties, but the fact that the creature had the same poison as Ilaptor could also mean that it might have the properties of another creature with acidic components.
Judging from when the 8th Platoon leader attacked, there was no evidence yet that the creature possessed acidic components. However, if it did happen to have them, they could all die miserably if its corpse was blown up in the water.
But aside from all that, what bothered Leonardo the most right now was that more than one or two members had entered the water, so he was most worried that he might catch other fellows as well while trying to catch the monster with his unstable control.
As he was thinking about this and that, he roughly ruffled the back of his head and scanned the surroundings.
'It would be fine if just one person who's good with water comes, where the hell is this guy doing what and not coming?'
If Hugo Agrizendro, a powerful water mage, came, it would be easily resolved, but he, who had said he would look around, was nowhere to be seen despite this commotion, having gone who knows where.
His mana was faintly felt from time to time, but judging from the fact that the scale couldn't be gauged and it was quite faint, it seemed he had gone quite far away.
Of all things, because he had a strange conversation with him last night, Leonardo was quite hesitant to judge and act on his own without him. However, as it seemed it would take time for Agrizendro to return, Leonardo eventually took a step forward and said to Flynn,
"I'll go in, so you go and find your Commander."
Flynn's face brightened and he nodded. Then, he immediately flew off somewhere to find the Commander and the two members. Leonardo, who had been watching his receding back, slowly walked towards the lake while turning his neck left and right and rotating his shoulders back a few times.
He inwardly recited as if making a resolution to himself,
'Close range. Let's only use close range.'
As he approached near the lake, the members floating in the air looked at him with puzzled eyes. Leonardo moved to the center of the lake in one breath. Then, without giving the members a chance to call out to him, he held his breath and immediately jumped into the water.
Comments
Jesse Gibson
Ah I hope he saves them with no problems since the author is determined to give him mana problems
