"...So there really was no point in me coming here, huh?"
Rei had been let outside the barrier, but ahead of his gaze, Optis was still rampaging with sheer delight.
Rampage, unrivaled dominance, massacre... various words flashed through Rei's mind, but as he was about to voice them, he recalled his own past conduct and ultimately kept silent.
"No, there was a point in coming here, right? This Protective Barrier can't be entered or exited without a Dark Elf."
"...Ah, I see. Now that you mention it, that's true. Without a Dark Elf, I'd have been locked inside the settlement."
If Rei pushed himself, he could probably force his way through the Protective Barrier, but doing so would place a burden on the World Tree that had just barely recovered.
The World Tree was already weakened from having its magic power and sap absorbed by the Giant Cicada.
...In fact, at one point, it had nearly withered in the truest sense.
Rei had forcibly restored it with his magic power, but it still couldn't be called fully healthy.
While its magic power had been replenished by Rei's, the sap—which could be called the World Tree's bodily fluid and blood—had been absorbed in massive quantities by the Giant Cicada.
Furthermore, though Rei didn't know this, the World Tree's roots themselves had been devoured by the Giant Cicada while it was still in its larval stage.
That being the case, the World Tree was currently managing to maintain its healthy state through Rei's magic power alone, and placing any further burden on it could be called fatal.
If so, then Rei coming all the way here had undeniably been of no small significance.
Right beside Rei, the Light Sphere flickered as if expressing dissatisfaction.
This Light Sphere was something that could be called the will of the World Tree.
Naturally, it could easily let Rei through the Protective Barrier, and it had intended to do so.
But ultimately, it was a Dark Elf who let him through the Protective Barrier, and there was nothing else the Light Sphere could do now.
"Hm? What's that? I get a strange feeling from it... like it's somehow familiar."
Noticing the Light Sphere drifting beside Rei in its flickering light, the Dark Elf Guard asked the question while loosing an arrow at a Goblin trying to flee from Optis's wrath.
"Ah... yeah. It's a thing."
Unable to explain that it was the will of the World Tree right here and now, Rei fell silent.
If he were to let something like that slip, the Dark Elves would undoubtedly cause an uproar.
With monsters currently attacking, such a situation would unquestionably lead to chaos. That was something he wanted to avoid if at all possible.
(Well, knowing it's the will of the World Tree might boost morale, though.)
Even so, considering whether morale or chaos should be prioritized in the current situation, Rei ultimately chose to avoid chaos.
If Optis hadn't been there, he might have chosen the other option.
But with Optis running rampant across this battlefield, he judged there was no need to deliberately choose a course of action that could lead to chaos.
Deciding that staying here any longer would be pointless, and as a way to change the subject, Rei called out to the Dark Elf who was shooting arrows.
"The Protective Barrier has been redeployed, so I'm not needed here, right? Do you know of any place where they're short on combat power?"
"I wonder. We're fighting in clusters like this, so I don't know what the situation is like elsewhere... ah!"
Rei nodded in understanding at the Dark Elf's words as the man swiftly dispatched five Goblins in rapid fire.
"Without reinforcement requests coming in, you can't really tell, huh."
"Yeah. So the fact that no reinforcement requests are coming probably means that everywhere is handling the monsters well enough!"
Listening to the explanation given while drawing a bow, Rei thought for a moment before speaking.
"Got it. Then there's no point staying here, so I'll circle around the perimeter along the Protective Barrier for now. If I find a place that's in trouble, I'll jump in to help."
"That'd be a big help for us."
Since he was fighting here, the Dark Elf talking to Rei had also participated in last night's battle in the forest.
And he had seen with his own eyes just how much power Rei possessed.
Given that, there was no way words like "Rei's power isn't enough" would ever come up.
Rather, he judged that with Rei's power, even a battlefield on the verge of total annihilation could be effortlessly turned around.
"Don't worry about it. This is my job too."
The treatment of the World Tree and resolving the forest's abnormality had been Marina's request.
Subjugating the Giant Cicada, which was believed to have influenced both, and dealing with the monsters it had likely summoned were exactly what Rei wanted to do.
(Though if I say all that and it turns out the Giant Cicada had nothing to do with the forest's abnormality, that'd be pretty embarrassing.)
The abnormality where monsters in the forest entered an excited state and the current situation with the monsters seemed to overlap in some ways.
But that was purely Rei's speculation, with no concrete evidence of any kind.
Because of that, Rei had some lingering doubts, but he said nothing further and sprinted away from the spot.
At that time, Optis cast a meaningful glance toward Rei, but Rei pretended not to notice.
If he engaged Optis in conversation here, he would only waste time needlessly. That was certainly a major factor. But more than that, he had absolute certainty that it would become incredibly troublesome.
Optis also felt disappointed that his playmate was leaving, but as someone in the position of Elder, he had no choice but to feel gratitude toward Rei.
Even so, the fact that he couldn't erase the look of boredom from his expression was probably because Rei was, in many ways, a precious existence to Optis.
But Rei, showing no concern for Optis, took Death Scythe in hand and began moving as if tracing along the Protective Barrier.
(I could use Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor... no, in the forest there's always a risk of something going wrong. Then for now, I'll just deal with the monsters as I am!)
As Rei was thinking that, he spotted three Cobolts running for some reason.
"Awoooooo!"
"Waw waw!"
"Brururururu!"
Each of them crying out desperately as they ran, the sight gave Rei a sense of sheer desperation.
In fact, these three Cobolts were desperately trying to flee from their own deaths, so Rei's impression was by no means wrong.
What was unfortunate for the three Cobolts was encountering Rei during their escape.
Before they knew it, their surroundings were filled with Goblins, Orcs, Ogres, and many other monsters, all fighting desperately to survive.
Driven by the fear that staying here meant certain death, they had fled frantically, joined up with Cobolts who shared the same idea, and escaped... only to find ahead of them Rei, wielding Death Scythe—a being the Cobolts could only describe as a Grim Reaper.
The moment they saw Rei approaching at a speed they could never hope to match... the Cobolts flopped onto the spot, exposing their bellies toward Rei.
What was lucky for these three was that they had discarded their weapons along the way because they were cumbersome during their escape.
Empty-handed, bellies exposed, tails tucked in, and gazes averted away from Rei.
It was a gesture of unconditional surrender.
...A dog's, that is.
Seeing the three Cobolts in his path suddenly perform such a gesture, Rei's mind went blank for an instant from surprise.
Cobolts were monsters with the faces of dogs, but he never expected their behavior to match dogs as well.
And Rei, still running despite his shock, passed right by the surrendering dog... no, the Cobolts.
(Ah.)
He snapped back to himself after passing them, and when he glanced back for just a moment, the Cobolts were fleeing at full speed.
As if they were certain that staying in this place would mean certain death.
In reality, that conclusion wasn't particularly wrong.
If the Cobolts had maintained their will to fight, Rei wouldn't have let them escape.
(Well, whatever.)
Judging from how utterly terrified the Cobolts looked, they clearly felt intense fear toward humans and Dark Elves, and Rei predicted they wouldn't be attacking Dark Elves in the forest for a while.
Deciding that there was no problem leaving them as they were, Rei turned his gaze forward, showing no interest in the Cobolts rapidly receding into the distance.
After running for about another minute, the sounds of battle began to reach him from ahead.
(I thought battles might be happening at every point along the Protective Barrier... but actually moving around like this, it's just as that Dark Elf said—fights are breaking out in certain clusters. ...Is this also the work of that Giant Cicada?)
Rei ran on while tilting his head in puzzlement, but eventually the actual sight of battle came into view, not just the noise.
The absence of an exception like Optis was probably a factor, but the battle between the monsters and the Dark Elves there could be called roughly even.
Though "even" was only because the monsters were fighting among themselves, which was having an effect.
The Dark Elves' attacks were likely directed at those who had strayed from the inter-monster battles.
The three Cobolts Rei had encountered earlier had been ones that separated from the group but also escaped the Dark Elves' attacks.
As he drew closer to the rapidly approaching battlefield, Rei spotted a familiar face.
The man with a nervous-looking expression was desperately commanding the Dark Elves, minimizing their own casualties while maximizing the monsters' losses.
"Heh... not bad, Ragdo."
Yes, the one desperately issuing commands was Ragdo, and the surrounding Dark Elves were following his orders without hesitation.
Ragdo had lost influence after being outargued by Marina, but seeing this scene, no one would think that.
"Lord Rei?! Why are you here..."
"The World Tree's treatment... treatment? Well, anyway, I identified the cause of the World Tree's weakness and managed to separate it from the World Tree. The World Tree has recovered considerably, so I figured I'd do something about the monsters. And then..."
The image of Optis dominating the monsters flashed through Rei's mind.
It was a figure that could truly be called a Dark Elf hero.
...Rei had some reservations about someone in the position of Elder being called a hero, but another part of him accepted it because it was Optis.
"And then? ...Goblins are breaking through from the right side! Prioritize and strike there!"
Even while conversing with Rei, Ragdo surveyed the battlefield, analyzed the situation, issued orders to the Dark Elves, and on top of all that, attacked with his own bow and Spirit Magic.
(Maybe Ragdo is actually pretty incredible?)
Rei had caught glimpses of that before, but the current situation could be described as a spectacular display of fighting on all fronts.
Perhaps because of his poor first impression, Rei had tended to underestimate or look down on Ragdo to some extent, but seeing him now, he couldn't possibly view him that way.
"Lord Rei? What is it?"
"No, it's nothing. At the first place I went, Optis was fighting to his heart's content, that's all."
"Ah, the Elder..."
Ragdo probably understood the general situation from Rei's words. He let out a small sigh before resuming issuing orders to the other Dark Elves.
Watching him, Rei spoke with Death Scythe in hand.
"So, do you need help? From what I can see, it seems even."
"I need it. I absolutely need it. I need it no matter what."
Rei was momentarily taken aback by Ragdo's immediate response.
That was probably how serious his expression had been.
"Alright, calm down. So where should I attack? I can do both ranged and melee attacks."
"Please attack from range. Everyone is using ranged attacks right now, so if you recklessly charge into the enemy formation here, it'll make our allies hesitate with their attacks."
"I see, got it. ...Then, let me go a bit flashy. That'd be better for boosting morale, right?"
"That's... no, you're right. Honestly, I'm worried that doing things too flashily will draw the monsters' attention toward us, but if it's you, Lord Rei..."
He no longer had any doubts about Rei's abilities.
If anything, considering just how much power Rei possessed, Ragdo's honest feeling was that he was grateful Rei had come at this exact moment.
The situation was currently even, but what would happen next was completely unknown.
If the monsters fought among themselves and reduced their numbers, it would be advantageous for them.
But conversely, if the monsters still had sufficient numbers remaining when they turned their attention toward the Dark Elves, the difference in numbers would put them at an overwhelming disadvantage.
For Rei to have arrived at such a time was nothing short of reassuring.
Receiving such a look from Ragdo, Rei gave a small nod, readied Death Scythe... and swung it wide.
"Flying Slash!"
The flying slash streaked straight toward the monsters, slicing through several Goblins, Cobolts, and an Orc—or inflicting grievous wounds upon them.