While the battle between Rei and Noise raged on, the clash between the Mercurio Army and the Subjugation Army was also naturally intensifying.
In fact, since the victor of this battle would ultimately emerge as the winner of the civil strife, one could argue that the combat here was even more ferocious.
"Ufufu, ahahaha! What’s wrong? Come on, entertain me more, much more! You came to the battlefield of your own accord, didn't you? Then surely you can handle attacks like these!?"
"Dammit, why is she like this...!? Aren't princesses usually supposed to be more refined!?"
"She’s heading your way! Protect Lulon!"
"Blast it, targeting the archer is common sense, but this speed is no joke!"
"Kyaaaaaaaah!"
With a scream, the archer called Lulon collapsed to the ground.
While there were no visible external wounds on her body, the adventurers knew that was no guarantee of safety. This was because the warrior who was supposed to serve as the tank for this adventurer party had been the very first one taken down.
The man usually acted as the tank using leather armor and a shield, but since this was a war, he had equipped metal armor for the occasion. However, the opponent who had just floored their fellow archer in a single blow had also stripped the tank of his consciousness with a single strike, as if to declare that such armor was utterly meaningless.
Observing the slight tremors in their comrades' limbs and feeling relieved was not a pleasant experience for the remaining adventurer men.
(Shit, I knew we shouldn't have participated in a war like this. We already had information that Crimson was participating on the other side... if only I'd taken that warning more seriously!)
Inside his mind, the adventurer man vented a grand torrent of abuse toward his comrades who had made the decision to join this war—and toward himself for not opposing them more forcefully.
To begin with, the number of adventurers participating on the Subjugation Army's side was surprisingly small. This party was one such group among those few adventurers. As a C-Rank party, they were positioned relatively high in the overall adventurer hierarchy. In fact, considering that reaching Rank A or B was reserved for only a handful of talented individuals, one could say they were at a rank nearly equivalent to the pinnacle for an ordinary adventurer.
Because of that, the men possessed a certain degree of confidence in their own abilities... but encountering a being like Vihera on the battlefield was their ultimate stroke of misfortune.
"Dammit! There's only one of her! Use our numbers to surround and crush her!"
When the man shouted in desperation, his comrades raised their voices in unison. It was a shout to rouse themselves... a roar. Even if their opponent was a princess of this Empire, they attacked with the hope that they could surely overcome her if they all struck at once.
However...
"Fufu, an all-or-nothing strike certainly has power, I'll give you that. But unfortunately, with your level of skill, you're no match for me, are you?"
She evaded the swung longsword and touched the adventurer man's torso with her hand; that alone was enough to make him crumble to the ground. It was the same for the man holding a spear and the man holding a mace. Before they knew it, the entire adventurer party that had been fighting Vihera lay prone on the ground.
Even so, it was fortunate for the adventurer party that Vihera harbored no killing intent. It was their courage—standing their ground without fleeing even after understanding the overwhelming difference in combat power—that she admired. It was a display of holding back precisely because she had taken a liking to opponents whose actions bordered on reckless bravado.
Vihera understood that this battle was a civil strife. In other words, in order to avoid depleting the nation's strength, it was important to knock the opponents unconscious while keeping them alive whenever possible.
Though, of course...
"Hyahahaha! What a fine woman, there’s a fine woman right here! She's mine, she's mine! This woman is all miiiiiine!"
A man lunged at Vihera from behind. Assaulting her with the intent to claim Vihera's voluptuous body—noticeable even from the rear—as his own, the man intended to slash off one of her limbs with his longsword before making her his prize.
Her outfit, made of thin fabric that was practically transparent and resembled something a dancer or a prostitute might wear, possessed more than enough charm to stimulate the instincts of a man excited by the battlefield.
However... the misfortune for this man was that he did not know who Vihera was.
Vihera herself fully understood that she radiated a charm that attracted men. It was a fact that she continued to wear such clothing even knowing that. Because of that, she understood well that those who were drawn in and attacked her were the types who would sooner or later cause problems within the Empire.
That was precisely why she channeled magic power into her gauntlets to create claws. She intended to turn and decapitate the man with them in an instant, but in the next second, she quickly leaped away from the spot.
"Fuheh, what's wrong, sugar? Are you scared of me? But you're gonna be my gupya-pya..."
The man was unable to finish his sentence, his body suddenly torn apart by a dragon that flew in from the side. The mangled body did not scatter across the surroundings; instead, it flowed into the dragon's body... into a body made of water.
Yes, what had suddenly appeared before Vihera was a dragon shaped by water. Its size was just under a body length of 10m. There was no doubt it was the most massive entity on this battlefield.
Facing the dragon made of water, Vihera wore a smile. It wasn't the protective smile she had shown while fighting the adventurer party earlier, nor was it the mocking smile she had worn at the words of the despicable man who had attacked her immediately after.
It was a captivating, bewitching smile that would inadvertently steal the eyes of any man—or even any woman—who saw it. It was the smile she wore only when she encountered an opponent she felt was truly strong.
"Digma of the Water Dragon... I believe. I've heard rumors about you before, and I've heard stories from Rei as well... but may I ask what you intended by that just now?"
The true meaning behind those words was a question of why he had attacked his own ally. Vihera did not believe the man standing beside the Water Dragon was her own ally.
That was only natural. If an A-Rank adventurer were affiliated with the Mercurio Army, it wouldn't be strange for it to be a much bigger topic of conversation. The Mercurio Army already possessed a force exceeding ten thousand soldiers, but even so, there was no way a famous individual like Digma wouldn't stand out. In other words, since he was undoubtedly someone affiliated with the Subjugation Army, her question was natural, as he had killed someone who had been trying to attack Vihera.
However, in response to Vihera's question, Digma opened his mouth as if it were of no consequence.
"Those who pollute battle with their own lust are an eyesore."
The voice that leaked from his mouth was one that could truly be described as a beautiful voice. To that voice, which would normally leave one enchanted, Vihera spoke without appearing to feel anything in particular.
"Fufu, I see. You have exactly the kind of personality I heard about from Rei. ...May I ask one thing? Why are you with the Subjugation Army?"
"It’s not a particularly complicated story. I simply wanted to try fighting Crimson in a state without any restrictions. That is the only reason."
"...I see."
She could have asked if they hadn't already fought in the Fighting Tournament, but she didn't voice it. In the Fighting Tournament, the battlefield was extremely limited to the arena, and the options for attack were significantly narrowed. Furthermore, both Rei and Digma—who freely manipulated the Water Dragon created via water spirit magic—were individuals who excelled more at wide-range attacks.
In other words, it was easy to understand that they hadn't fought each other with their full power during the Fighting Tournament. In fact, the Water Dragon Digma had used in the Fighting Tournament was an incomplete version consisting only of the head, and Rei also hadn't been able to use his specialized flame magic as he pleased, nor was his partner and other half, Seto, present.
"But then, is it alright for you to be playing around with me here? You must already know by now that Rei isn't here, right?"
"Yeah. The one rampaging in the Subjugation Army's Rear Unit would be him. ...However, unfortunately, it seems that spot has already been taken by another. It’s regrettable, but since the upper management of the Subjugation Army called upon that person specifically to handle Crimson, I can't really complain."
"...You're saying there's a force capable of opposing Rei? If such a person existed, I thought it would be you."
As an A-Rank adventurer, the name of Digma of the Water Dragon was quite famous. Even for Vihera, meeting him for the first time, she could understand that he possessed that level of strength just by facing him like this.
An opponent more suited for Rei than even this Digma... thinking that, the figure of a certain individual suddenly came to mind. The being who was also a close friend of her own father, the Bestia Empire Emperor. The individual who was an S-Rank adventurer and the champion who had defeated Rei in the Fighting Tournament.
However, she shook her head, thinking that couldn't be possible. According to the information reaching the Mercurio Army and the stories she had heard directly from Rei, that person... Noise, was supposed to have received permission to enter the Mountain of Magic, which is normally forbidden, as a prize for winning the Fighting Tournament, and should have headed there.
Considering the day this civil strife broke out, Noise would undoubtedly have already headed for the Mountain of Magic, and as long as that was the case, it was unthinkable for him to be on this battlefield. To begin with, Noise almost never lent his hand to battles between humans, and even in those few exceptions, it was due to a request from his close friend, Trajist.
However... reality easily betrayed Vihera's thoughts.
"He’s there, isn't he? The one who actually fought Crimson in the Fighting Tournament and won."
Please stop, Vihera inwardly pleaded, but Digma simply readied his magic sword and spoke.
"Crimson, who defeated me, an A-Rank. But... I wonder if he can win against the S-Rank Immovable?"
Vihera's expression stiffened at the answer she had least wanted to hear.
Why? she wondered. He was supposed to be a person who absolutely wouldn't be here.
As if understanding the doubt floating in Vihera's eyes, Digma let out a small sigh before opening his mouth.
"I suspect he likely felt the same way I did."
"You mean he wanted to fight Rei without restrictions?"
"Yeah. Especially in the case of the Immovable, he’s had one of his own skills stolen by Crimson. Considering that, it’s not a strange story at all, is it?"
"That is..."
Even if he was her father's close friend, Vihera herself had never even spoken directly with Noise. Thinking of it that way, if she were told that things had turned out like that, she couldn't exactly deny it with certainty.
"At any rate, the main prize was taken by the Immovable. But as someone hired by the Subjugation Army, I can't simply leave the battlefield without fighting. ...It was just as I was thinking that when the combat happening here caught my eye."
Digma quickly swung the magic sword he held. That sword speed was worthy of an A-Rank adventurer; he effortlessly swiped away an arrow that had come flying toward him. It was an arrow fired from his flank, but the greatness of Digma lay in how he accomplished the feat effortlessly without even using the Water Dragon or even looking in the direction the arrow had come from.
"I see. So in other words, you want to fight me."
"Simply put, I suppose that’s how it is."
"...Even if I look like this, I'm someone entrusted with a unit."
Even if she was currently leaving the unit to her lieutenant, she couldn't leave it like that forever. Normally, Vihera would want to enjoy a fight with an Alias Holder A-Rank adventurer to her heart's content, but with the fate of this civil strife at stake, she couldn't simply go on a rampage according to her own battle lust.
"I see. But if you leave me be like this, I believe the damage to your side will only grow. Is that acceptable to you?"
"That is true," Vihera had to nod at Digma's words.
Even now, the Water Dragon existing beside Digma stood out terribly within the battlefield due to its size. That wasn't all. The Subjugation Army's side wasn't in chaos because they understood the one manipulating that Water Dragon was their ally, but the Mercurio Army's side couldn't help but be cautious about when that Water Dragon would bare its fangs at them.
As a result, their attention was divided, and the Mercurio Army's casualties were gradually increasing. ...Though, for the Subjugation Army, there were many who were terrified due to the influence of Rei rampaging in the rear unit.
With a sound as if her thin raiment were rustling, Vihera faced Digma while taking her stance.
"It seems I'll need to do something about you here. And I'm the only one in this place who can do that."
Vihera muttered as if to convince herself, but upon her lips was unmistakably a smile... a bewitching smile.