"Gururururururuu!"
The moment Set took off in pursuit of the Giant Cicada, the first thing it did was unleash King's Intimidation.
A jolt of pain shot through its body the instant it activated the skill.
If Set had possessed any recovery skills or Magic Items, it might have been able to manage the damage. Unfortunately, Set had neither.
Still, as a Gryphon—a High-Rank Monster—its natural healing ability was undeniably superior to that of ordinary monsters. For now, it had no choice but to rely on that.
A Low-Rank Monster caught in King's Intimidation could easily lose consciousness outright. Even those that stayed awake would often be frozen in awe, unable to move.
But... that only applied to Low-Rank Monsters.
The Giant Cicada was a creature Set had never encountered before, but it was clearly not something that could be called a Low-Rank Monster. After all, no Low-Rank Monster could possibly wound Rei. That fact alone made it obvious the Giant Cicada was a High-Rank Monster.
Thus, even hearing the roar of King's Intimidation burst from Set's throat, the Giant Cicada continued flying through the sky without the slightest flinch.
"Gigigigigigigi!"
No—it went further than that. It immediately launched a counterattack.
"Gururururu!"
Set let out a low growl and beat its wings, instantly pulling away from its position.
Under normal circumstances, Set would have dodged an enemy's attack at the very last second and followed up with a counterstrike. Against this Giant Cicada, however, that tactic was off the table.
The Giant Cicada's method of attack was ultrasound—an invisible assault released over a wide area. Dodging at the last moment and immediately countering was no easy feat, even for Set.
"Gigigigigigigi!"
"Gurururururuu!"
Set twisted its body diagonally to evade the shockwave of ultrasound the Giant Cicada had unleashed across the surrounding area, then fired off Wind Arrows.
Several shafts of wind shot straight toward the Giant Cicada, but the creature used its four transparent wings to forcibly alter their trajectories, evading them entirely.
Perhaps owing to those four wings, the Giant Cicada's aerial mobility and agility were nearly on par with Set's.
"Guru..."
As it continued dodging the repeated ultrasound attacks, Set gradually found its composure.
Having witnessed the assault numerous times, it was beginning to grasp the ultrasound's effective range and destructive power.
Normally, reading an enemy's attack—especially one that combined invisible blades with shockwaves—would have taken far longer. Yet Set, driven by its Gryphon combat instincts, was already beginning to see through them.
Judging purely by the Giant Cicada's innate abilities, such a clear gap between it and Set shouldn't have existed.
The Giant Cicada, its thoughts little more than instinct, let out a cry laced with irritation and doubt.
"Gigigigigigigigigi!"
"Gurururururuu!"
The two creatures wove fiercely through the sky, each unleashing their own attacks.
From the Giant Cicada came shockwaves of ultrasound. From Set came a barrage of varied strikes—water, wind, ice, and fire.
To an uninformed observer, the collision of these powers in midair might have looked almost beautiful.
In reality, it was a deadly exchange of devastating attacks. Anyone caught in the middle would almost certainly lose their life.
Proof of that came when Set dodged one of the Giant Cicada's aerial strikes—dozens of Goblins on the ground were simultaneously slashed apart by the stray ultrasound blades and screamed in agony.
"Guru!?"
Seeing this, Set realized that if things continued, the Dark Elves fighting the monsters—and more importantly, the Dark Elf settlement itself—could suffer serious collateral damage. It beat its wings hard.
It had to draw the battle away from the settlement.
The Giant Cicada, unwilling to let an opponent powerful enough to threaten it escape, immediately gave chase.
One was twenty meters long. The other was two.
There was likely some slight variation, but the Giant Cicada was still nearly ten times Set's size.
Two creatures of such vastly different proportions were now engaged in an all-out game of tag.
Naturally, those on the ground had no chance of missing it.
"Hey! Isn't that Set!?"
"Yeah... it is..."
In one corner of the battlefield, As shouted while firing arrows at monsters that had broken away from the chaotic monster-versus-monster brawl and were heading toward the settlement.
The one who answered was Marina. Despite her brown skin, her complexion was deathly pale.
Normally, she was known for her Rapid Fire—loosing arrows in an unbroken stream—but there was no trace of that skill in the current Marina.
The arrows she fired still struck their targets, such as Goblins, but her movements were visibly sluggish. She looked nothing like the renowned veteran adventurer she was supposed to be.
"Haah... haah... haah..."
With ragged breaths after every shot, Marina nonetheless continued to draw her bow.
For Marina, whose bloodline was deeply tied to the World Tree, the current situation—where the World Tree itself hovered between life and death—had inflicted a severe toll on her body.
Moving even a single finger consumed as much stamina as a full sprint would under normal circumstances.
It was no exaggeration. That was Marina's current state.
Even so, she had no choice but to squeeze out every last drop of physical and mental strength to keep firing arrows and prevent the monsters from reaching the settlement. But she was already nearing her limit.
If all the monsters gathered in the surrounding area had surged toward the settlement at once now that the Protective Barrier was gone, there would have been no stopping them.
"Marina-chan, shouldn't you fall back inside the settlement for now?"
The Dark Elf woman firing her bow beside Marina spoke with clear concern.
Her casual, familiar tone came from having looked after Marina since she was a child.
Naturally, she understood how deeply Marina was connected to the World Tree—and she knew full well that the World Tree's current state was anything but stable.
"I'm fine, I'm fine... I'll manage somehow. For now, just focus on keeping the monsters out of the settlement."
Even as she said that, Marina—barely able to muster any strength in her body—gave up on her bow and switched to Spirit Magic.
Spirit Magic consumed mana, but she still had far more mana than stamina remaining, making it the more efficient option.
"Wind Spirit, hear my wish..."
Marina had spoken that far when her movements suddenly froze.
"Marina-chan!?"
The Dark Elf woman, who had been watching Marina closely, cried out in alarm even as she desperately continued firing arrows.
Her panic stemmed from knowing exactly how skilled a Spirit Mage Marina was. It was extremely rare for Marina to halt a Spirit Magic incantation midway.
That could only mean something significant had happened, but...
"...Eh?"
That something revealed itself.
Not as despair, but as hope.
The Protective Barrier that had shattered and vanished just moments ago like breaking glass had been reconstructed.
Abruptly... as if the earlier destruction had been nothing but a lie.
"What... is this...?"
The sight shocked more than just the Dark Elves. As, who had been frantically drawing and firing his bow, was equally stunned.
"Pororororo!"
While firing Purple Lightning from each of its nine tails and simultaneously taking down nine monsters, Poro tilted its head in clear confusion, as if it had no idea what had just happened.
The only one who likely—no, the only one who definitely understood what was happening was Marina.
Only Marina, with her deep connection to the World Tree, could comprehend it.
And through the magic power flowing into her from the World Tree via the earth, Marina understood exactly who had caused it.
"Rei..."
Before she even realized it, tears had begun streaming down Marina's cheeks.
She herself didn't understand why she was crying. Yet the tears flowed without end.
Within the magic power streaming from the World Tree, she felt Rei's presence. Her body was being filled with his magic power.
It was as though she were being embraced by him... an absolute sense of security washing over her.
"Fufu, I never imagined... I knew I was drawn to you, but to have you rush inside me all at once like this... I can't pull away anymore."
The magic power she sensed from the reconstructed Protective Barrier was the same magic power now filling her from within.
In other words, Marina felt as if she were being enveloped by Rei from both inside and out.
And on her lips rose a smile.
Marina had always worn the smile of a woman, but the expression on her face now was far more alluring, brimming with feminine charm.
Bearing a smile that resembled her previous ones yet was fundamentally different, Marina reached into her quiver and drew an arrow.
Just minutes ago, even the slightest movement had consumed a massive amount of stamina. Now, the way she nocked her bow made that state seem impossible.
If anything, she looked overflowing with vitality.
She released the arrow. It flew straight into the head of an Orc that had been fighting several Cobolts, and the creature crumpled to the ground.
"Fufu, fufufu... Power... power is overflowing within me!"
She felt an overwhelming sense of omnipotence, as if she could take on every monster before her single-handedly.
As watched this transformation with pure astonishment while desperately attacking nearby monsters.
To him, Marina embodied the very ideal of an adult woman.
And now that adult woman was radiating an even more intense sensuality than usual. It was only natural that a young man of As's age would find himself captivated.
"Wind Spirit, hear my words and use your blades to tear our enemies apart!"
The clear voice rang out like a song, and the Wind Spirit immediately granted her wish.
The magic power filling every inch of Marina's body was of the highest quality to the Spirits.
Responding to that power, the Wind Spirit unleashed countless blades to fulfill Marina's desire.
Before the eyes of Marina, As, Poro, and a great many Dark Elves, the released blades carved through innumerable monsters.
While it couldn't match the wide-area devastation of Rei's Fire Whirlwind, the attack still inflicted wounds—some light, some severe—on nearly every monster in the vicinity of Marina's group.
"Th-that's incredible..."
To As, who couldn't use magic, a single attack producing such an effect was nothing short of astonishing.
His partner Poro was also capable of wide-area attacks with its electricity, but Poro's Purple Lightning was limited to one blast per tail—nine in total.
However, the wind blades Marina had unleashed dealt moderate damage to a large number of monsters precisely because of their spread power. As a result, they drew the attention of every monster in the surrounding area.
"Wait, Marina-chan!? What do we do!?"
The Dark Elf woman cried out upon realizing the monsters' focus had shifted toward them, but Marina simply smiled and replied.
"It's fine. If anything, having them focus their attention on us makes them easier to fight."
The bewitching smile Marina wore might have resembled Vihera's.
But unlike Vihera, who smiled because she reveled in battle itself, Marina smiled because she could feel Rei's presence so intimately—enveloped by him from inside and out, as if they had become one.
It looked similar to Vihera's smile, yet was fundamentally different at its core.
Wearing that smile, Marina once again felt her connection to Rei through the World Tree and the earth beneath her. She glanced at the approaching monsters and addressed the Spirits.
"Water Spirit, please hear my wish. Bring forth water that will wash everything away."
The moment she spoke, water materialized from nowhere.
Normally, Water Spirit Magic displayed its greatest effect near existing water sources.
But the current Marina carried Rei's magic power within her body. She could likely make it rain even in a desert.
By comparison, using Water Spirit Magic in a water-rich forest was hardly difficult.
The volume of water that appeared was enough to blanket the sky.
This was not only a testament to Rei's magic power dwelling within her, but also to Marina's own exceptional skill as a Spirit Mage.
The other Dark Elves—being Spirit Magic users themselves—understood all too well just how unbelievable what Marina was doing truly was.
Even As, who couldn't use Spirit Magic, could tell that her current actions defied all common sense.
Under the weight of all those stares, Marina showed no tension whatsoever. Instead, she smiled with genuine joy at being united with Rei's magic power, then swung her hand down.
In that instant, every monster present was swept away by the water. Within the violent torrent, monsters crashed into one another and slammed into trees. Nearly all were killed outright. The few survivors sustained what could only be called critical injuries, and were swiftly hunted down by the Dark Elves and As as they snapped back to their senses.