Ielo's flying strike from the air had completely caught Adria off guard.
Normally, even if Ielo's form went unseen, she might have noticed it from the wind-splitting sound of its flight.
But the opponent Adria was currently facing was Elena, holder of the alias Princess General.
By wielding the Magic Item Wind Fang and unleashing what could only be called a rain of arrows shot from its hilt, she had somehow maintained the upper hand—but even so, she could not afford to underestimate her opponent.
Of course. Elena had accumulated that much of a track record up until now, and that was precisely why she had come to hold the alias of Princess General.
Adria was confident in her own ability, but even so, she could not believe she would win in a straight fight.
That was exactly why she had been fighting by borrowing the power of the Magic Item Wind Fang.
In that situation, being attacked from the sky—not by something with an obvious presence like Set, but by a small being like Ielo—was probably something she could never have anticipated no matter how she looked at it.
...Considering that she had been tailed by Ielo, and that was how this location was discovered, for Adria, Ielo was an existence that could be called her worst possible matchup.
"Ngh!?"
She turned her gaze toward Wind Fang, which had been knocked from her hand and was rolling across the ground, and simultaneously looked around to see what had just collided with her.
What entered her field of vision was the small form of Ielo—looking so young it could only be thought of as a child.
Even so, though her attention was drawn to Ielo, the fact that she was able to move her body on instinct was proof that Adria was a skilled adventurer.
But...though she was captivated by Ielo for only an instant, considering Elena's strength, that single instant had become a fatally critical opening.
The moment Adria reached toward Wind Fang rolling on the ground, about to touch its hilt, Mirage—wielded by Elena—was unleashed at a speed that seemed to tear through the air itself.
Making full use of its characteristics as a whip-sword, the tip of its whip-like blade flew across a distance that would be utterly impossible for a normal longsword.
That blade tip, infused with magic power to increase its power and speed even further, was slammed down directly from above onto Wind Fang's hilt, crushing it in an instant.
"Kh!?"
Seeing that, Adria sharply drew in her breath.
If her hand had reached toward Wind Fang's hilt even a moment sooner, the hilt of Wind Fang would have been severed—or crushed right along with her own hand.
"...Given that it's Rei, he would want this kind of Magic Item, I think."
Elena murmured while returning Mirage's blade to its longsword form.
Elena also knew her loved one's preferences, so she would have secured Wind Fang if at all possible. She had considered using the whip-like blade characteristic of a whip-sword to entangle Wind Fang and bring it to her—but Adria's movements were not slow enough to permit that.
If she had tried to forcibly return Wind Fang to her side, she would have had it taken back before she could manage it.
Given that, the best option was to not let Adria hold the Magic Item.
As a result, what Elena ultimately chose was the destruction of Wind Fang.
"...Not bad. As expected of an Alias Holder."
Having her Wind Fang destroyed—which was the biggest factor maintaining her advantage over Elena—was probably a significant blow to Adria as well.
On her face, which until a moment ago had worn a composed, beaming smile, a hint of impatience—slight though it was—had crept in.
"Now then, your greatest weapon has become unusable like this. Personally, it would be helpful if you would quietly surrender, I think."
Elena spoke words of surrender while holding Mirage in hand.
Hearing those words, Adria surveyed her surroundings.
Dias, who could be called their side's greatest fighting force, was using Wind Scale to fight Vihera in an even battle.
He could not possibly come to reinforce her right now.
Next she turned her gaze toward Zboz and Paul, but they were not engaging in combat—they were talking with Rei.
Normally she would have wanted to ask what they were doing taking such a leisurely action mid-battle, but if the one keeping them occupied was Rei, it could actually be said that Zboz was holding his own.
Zboz had high abilities as an alchemist, but was by no means suited for actual combat.
And the one with him was Paul, whose body was sturdy, yes, but who still ordinarily served as the shop owner of a Magic Item store.
Of course, against a normal opponent, Paul's physical ability would be more than sufficient.
But when the opponent was Rei, it was a different story.
Given the situation where winning in a straight fight was virtually hopeless, Zboz's action of keeping Rei talking to prevent the situation from escalating into combat was by no means a mistake.
(Though it's probably not his true intention.)
While remaining wary of Elena closing the distance between them with Mirage in hand, Adria offered a wry smile in her heart.
The fact that she found herself smiling even in a situation where she was being cornered was probably because Adria was a hedonist through and through.
If it was interesting, the rest didn't matter. That sentiment was the wellspring of everything within Adria.
(Come to think of it, there was one more...)
Adria suddenly realized that there should have been one more ally here.
The man who had come to inform Dias that Rei's group was advancing into the slum district.
But since the battle had begun, he had shown virtually no movement at all.
(Did he escape?)
Since he had originally been treated as Dias's subordinate, it was understandable he couldn't keep up with this fight.
Adria thought that if that were the case, it wouldn't be strange for him to have fled, but...
"Gyaaah!"
At the sudden scream that rang out, she turned her gaze toward the direction the voice had come from.
Given that the surrounding area had become a battlefield, hearing screams was nothing strange.
But the direction the scream came from was wrong.
It was not where they were fighting, but somewhere else entirely.
That was likely the same for Elena. She stopped her advance—having been closing the distance with Adria one step at a time with Mirage in hand—and turned her gaze toward the source of the voice.
What lay at the end of her gaze was the figure of a man rolling on the ground with long needles sprouting all over his body.
The pain caused him to roll on the ground, which dislodged some of the long needles, but conversely drove them even deeper into his body, which in turn brought even more intense pain...and that caused him to roll on the ground even more, trapping him in a vicious cycle.
What had happened required no consideration.
A man who had vanished since the series of battles began was writhing in agony near the man and girl of low combat ability—the answer that could be deduced was only one.
"Too bad. If I'd managed to take a hostage here at just the right moment, there might still have been a chance to turn things around."
"...Does that mean you're already accepting that your side's defeat has been decided here?"
"Well now, I wonder. That may have only been a winning chance in the sense of being able to win easily. Anyway, what I want to say is that giving up on victory so easily would be nothing but a buzzkill."
Hearing the words that came from Adria's mouth, Elena tightened her grip on the hand holding Mirage and simultaneously infused it with magic power.
With magic power infused, Mirage changed its blade from a longsword form to a whip-sword form.
"Then, you absolutely will not surrender? Given that the Magic Item is gone, wouldn't you yourself be the one who best understands that you no longer have any chance of winning?"
"Right. But...precisely for that reason, surrendering isn't interesting for me either. So, I suppose I'll struggle as much as I can...Ngh!"
Simultaneously with those words, a dagger was released from Adria's hand.
The dagger, thrown using only the movement of her wrist, flew straight toward Elena's face, but...
"Naive."
With a single swing while still gripping Mirage's handle, the whip-sword blade in its whip form easily deflected that dagger.
"Now who's being naive!"
What Adria had wanted was the instant opening created when Elena swung Mirage.
Given that Mirage had the shape of a whip-sword, its handling was inevitably worse compared to a normal longsword.
If it had been in longsword form, Adria probably wouldn't have been able to see a path to victory either.
But in its current whip form, there was still a sliver of light.
Of course, she didn't think she could beat Elena in a straight fight even with Wind Fang, but that reliable Magic Sword had now been reduced to wreckage by Mirage.
Even so...even if she couldn't win on pure ability, that was only when fighting head-on.
If she used methods other than that, there was still enough possibility that something could be done.
Yes—like the man had done earlier, by using a weak opponent—or an important one—as a shield.
Exploiting that instant opening, Adria kicked off the ground and rapidly closed the distance to her target, Ielo.
Noticing this, Ielo flapped its wings to escape upward, but...that action was one step too slow.
As long as Adria was human, if Ielo fled to a place beyond her reach, it would be an absolute safe zone for Ielo.
That was certain, but when comparing Adria's burst speed and Ielo's ascent speed, the advantage went to the former.
Her outstretched hand gradually approached to seize Ielo's body.
Ielo desperately flapped its wings to escape that hand, and Adria's hand was about to touch Ielo's body, but...
"Kh!?"
But at the very moment when it was uncertain whether she would touch Ielo's body, Adria quickly withdrew her outstretched hand and forcefully kicked off the ground to evacuate from that spot.
Why she had done such a thing became clear the next moment.
The blade of Mirage, swung by Elena, passed through the space where Adria had been just an instant before.
If she had been unable to give up on securing Ielo in that moment, the Mirage blade swung by Elena would have torn apart Adria's body.
The speed and sharpness of that strike was enough to make even the person who dodged it think so.
"Too bad. It was just a little bit more."
While putting distance between herself and Elena, Adria muttered while holding a different dagger than the one she had thrown earlier.
When she said it was a shame, she meant either that she had been just a bit away from securing Ielo, or that Elena's Mirage blade had failed to catch Adria—both were possible.
"I'll have you know..."
While returning Mirage to its longsword form, Elena turned her gaze toward Ielo, which was flying through the sky toward her.
"I generally understand what you were thinking in trying to secure Ielo, but that has likely ended in futility."
"What do you mean? Are you perhaps saying that you think I can't attack that child—apparently named Ielo—because of its adorable appearance?"
If that was what she thought, she was underestimating her—or so Adria wanted to say, but Elena didn't even offer a smile to Adria, and on top of that shook her head, denying what Adria was thinking.
"I'm not saying I would hesitate to attack Ielo. I'm saying that attacking would be pointless—that's what I'm telling you."
"...Pointless?"
"That's right."
Elena, who had paused her words, stroked Ielo as it came right up beside her.
The sensation was warm yet hard.
As expected of a dragon's child, its scales and the skin beneath them would not be pierced by half-hearted blades.
Moreover, Ielo was not just any dragon's child, but an existence created by Elena using Dragon Language Magic to maximize Ancient Dragon power.
The Adria before Elena was...not an existence that could be dealt with using an ordinary dagger either.
(Well, the areas not covered by scales...like the eyes would be weaknesses, I suppose.)
Precisely because she understood that, Elena had swung Mirage before Ielo could be caught by Adria.
"...Now then, the situation has been completely decided. There's no need to continue a meaningless fight and get injured, is there? I'll have you surrender quietly this time. Of course, having you escape like before would be troublesome."
In response to Elena asking with Mirage in hand, Adria thought for a moment...then once again turned her gaze toward Zboz.
There, the battle had not even begun yet.
(In other words, if I buy time, the possibility that Zboz's trump card could break the current situation is not entirely zero, is it...? I don't know how far Zboz can go against Rei, but he at least has a trump card up his sleeve.)
With only daggers as her weapons, Adria nonetheless pretended to negotiate in order to buy even a little time, waiting for the situation to shift.