al_squad
patreon
Bermuda Chapter 72
🕑 Added 2024-04-26 12:07:58 +0000 UTCChapter 72
Hugo couldn't immediately understand his words. So the moment he heard them, he just stood there, looking at Leonardo's face.
Leonardo met Hugo's gaze as he quietly stared at him, then turned his head as if he hadn't said anything and put the filter in his mouth.
Looking at the smoke dispersing from the corner of his mouth, Hugo gathered his thoughts that had momentarily stopped.
'If not the military, then who on earth?'
His gaze that had been directed at the void soon reached Leonardo's neck and touched that distinct black choker.
There were probably countless people in this empire who wanted Leonardo Blaine.
Even just the Council members didn't want to let him go, and as far as Hugo knew, when he was released, many organizations searched for him, not much different from the Council. As such, his powerful, destructive, and infinite mana was attractive enough to tempt anyone.
However, was there another force capable of controlling him?
According to the records the Council had collected when Hugo was chasing after Leonardo, since his release until now, except for being temporarily affiliated with private subjugation teams or mercenary groups, he hadn't belonged to any organization and had carried out even dangerous and low-success rate missions all by himself.
And the reason that was possible was also because he was extremely strong.
Then, if the military "can't" put that thing on him as Leonardo answered, who on earth could be the one to put it on?
Moreover, they probably couldn't threaten him with anything since he had nothing more to lose. Just what organization, group, or person put that thing on him and why?
Hugo stared at Leonardo's side profile for a long time as he turned his head away. Then, he carefully opened his mouth again.
"Then, who made you wear such a thing?"
At Hugo's question, Leonardo exhaled the last smoke in a long breath, then ignited a flame and burned the short cigarette held between his fingers to ashes. Eventually, he got up from his seat, patted the dirt off his pants, and turned his gaze to Hugo.
That brief moment of silently staring at each other felt quite long to Hugo. Leonardo slightly curled up the corners of his mouth and began to speak.
"Curious?"
That question somehow seemed playful, unlike the topic, reminding Hugo of the smile Leonardo had shown him when he teasingly spoke to him in the central garden of the Council before. So it didn't give him a very good feeling, but Hugo was really curious, so he nodded once without answering.
Then, Leonardo grinned and said,
"Come here."
Leonardo gestured for Hugo to come closer, calling him over. It was because he wanted to call Agrizendro, who always called him like this, at least once.
Seeing that, Hugo narrowed his brows but didn't say much. Soon, he approached Leonardo's side in an instant with teleportation.
As the heavy and refreshing scent was felt right in front of his nose, Leonardo put his hand next to his lips as if to whisper and slightly raised his heels. Then, Hugo slightly bent his waist to match his height.
Leonardo smiled and whispered into Hugo's ear,
"Se-cret."
At the voice that tickled his ear, Hugo's face slightly frowned. He straightened his bent waist and looked down at Leonardo intently. This young man was smiling brightly as if something was so delightful.
As it became clear that he had been tricked, Hugo glared at him for a moment, then let out a small sigh. Leonardo smiled with his eyes curved and tapped Hugo's arm.
"Relax your expression. Are you going to eat me alive?"
Soon, Hugo raised his head and rubbed the area around his eyebrows as if tired. Leonardo added one more playful remark to him,
"I can't say any more. It's a secret."
Hugo glanced at him and decided not to ask about it anymore.
Although it seemed like a trivial joke, he somehow felt that Leonardo spoke particularly playfully when he wanted to change the subject. So instead of asking him more, he was satisfied with briefly shifting his gaze to the choker.
Then, as if he hadn't said anything, he looked at the smiling golden eyes and thought,
'Can't say, huh....'
Kiaaa!
At that moment, a sharp cry of a monster was heard from the peak on the other side. Hugo and Leonardo's gazes simultaneously turned towards there. The peak in the front, the source of the sound, was not very far from where the base camp was located.
Quite a few of them seemed to be there, as the cries were heard one after another from different places. Some members who were patrolling around the base camp hurriedly ran to the edge of the cliff and took out binoculars to assess the situation.
"Is it a Worm?"
At Hugo's words that sounded like he was talking to himself, Leonardo, who had been staring at the peak, answered,
"Yeah. But I don't think there are only Worms."
Worms were unicellular monsters that looked like primordial creatures, resembling an enlarged amoeba cell.
They moved around at a very slow speed, slowly moving with the suction cups at the bottom of their bodies, and those suction cups secreted an acidic liquid, allowing them to climb on top of animal carcasses and slowly melt and absorb the surface to eat their prey.
Because their bodies contained acidic components, they weren't attacked by other entities despite their slow speed, but there was exactly one monster species that was the natural enemy of such Worms.
Hearing Leonardo's words, Hugo guessed and answered,
"It seems there are Dermocas as well."
Dermocas also had acidic mucus on their bodies, so they had resistance to acid. Therefore, they were the only ones that could hunt Worms.
Although it could be inferred that there were Dermocas on the peak across, they weren't clearly visible as it was dark and they were hidden between the rocks and dense bushes.
They were fast, moved in groups, and could call their companions with ultrasound, so the fact that they appeared near the base camp where a large number of people were currently present was a very dangerous situation.
While Hugo was contemplating what to do, Leonardo silently raised his hand towards the front. Hugo asked him,
"What are you trying to do?"
"Shoot them dead."
At the light response, Hugo asked back with a slightly worried face,
"From this distance? Leonardo, can you control it?"
Leonardo answered as if he was asking something obvious,
"Of course."
He soon looked at Hugo with an expression that said, 'Can I shoot?' However, Hugo couldn't easily answer as he had been bothered by Leonardo's unstable mana that he had felt during the day.
But if the members sleeping at the base camp were to have their sleep disturbed by the sound of the monsters, it could have a fatal impact on the speed when they resumed marching as soon as the day broke.
Moreover, Leonardo knew the monsters of the peninsula the best, and he looked very confident, so after contemplating, Hugo decided to trust him. Then, with the thought of stopping him if something went wrong, he said to him,
"You don't have to kill them, just minimize your mana to the point of threatening them."
As soon as Hugo gave permission, a very small red orb appeared in Leonardo's hand. The size was very small, almost like a bead, but the energy contained within it was by no means small. Hugo narrowed his eyes and observed his mana as if gauging it.
Leonardo showed a focused appearance on the target, with the smile from earlier nowhere to be seen. His lightning-like golden eyes were directed towards the bushes that were slightly shaking as the Dermocas moved.
Eventually, the red orb split as if dividing into several, and they were fired in a straight line towards where Leonardo extended his hand, trailing a long tail like an afterimage of light.
Making a whoosh sound as they cut through the air, they accurately hit the Dermocas that weren't even visible, instantly killing them. Their short death throes echoed, and as the surroundings became quiet for a moment, Leonardo rolled his eyes, searching for any remaining ones.
Hugo was looking at Leonardo, unable to let his guard down even as he cleanly dealt with them. Before long, Leonardo spotted a rapidly shaking clump of bushes and was about to aim a beam there when it happened.
Hugo, who had been standing next to him and watching, suddenly widened his eyes a little and swiftly grabbed Leonardo's wrist.
As a result, Leonardo's hand was directed higher than the target point and fired the attack as it was. He then looked at his caught wrist and Hugo alternately with a very perplexed face.
A sizzling sound was heard near the wrist that the large hand had grasped, and hot steam rose.
Just before a fire mage uses mana, the area near their hand is at an extremely high temperature that can even vaporize ice. And the act of grabbing the wrist of such a fire mage right before they use mana was normally impossible unless one was crazy.
When Leonardo was looking at Hugo as if asking what he was doing, the beam that had been fired from his hand flew towards a peak a bit further back. And after a moment, sparks flashed there, and soon, a huge explosion was heard, followed by the sound of rocks collapsing.
Although the distance was far, that quite threatening sound woke up the members in a panic, and the sentry who had been assessing the situation ran over and urgently called out to Hugo, who was above the cave.
"Commander, a landslide-!"
Seeing the chaotic scene, Hugo clicked his tongue and waved his hand, saying to the sentry,
"It's nothing, don't mind it."
Leonardo, who had been dumbfounded by his action, narrowed his brows and asked Hugo,
"What?"
Hugo quietly looked at him and spoke in a low voice,
"Leonardo, I've felt it for a while, but your mana control feels quite unstable to me."
"..."
As Leonardo only furrowed his eyebrows without answering, Hugo calmly continued,
"If the attack you just fired had hit the peak in front and caused a landslide, and if there were members patrolling below, what would have happened?"
Comments
Bernie Jay
Mmmm, I love Leo being playful and Hugo noticing his smiling eyes.
