Spread out across the area before him were countless monster corpses.
Among them, a great number had their limbs and torsos severed. Corpses with all body parts intact were virtually nonexistent—the result of the Flying Slash Rei had unleashed with Death Scythe.
Saying it stretched as far as the eye could see was a slight exaggeration, but even so, many corpses lay scattered before him.
Rei stood with Death Scythe's pommel stabbed into the ground, surveying his surroundings, when Ragdo approached.
Visible exhaustion was written all over his face.
It wasn't as though Ragdo had never fought monsters before. Even so, facing this many at once was a first for him—and naturally, commanding a battle against such a horde was likewise a first.
"Thank you for your hard work. Thanks to you, Lord Rei, we were able to win this battle safely. ...Though, this is the only place where victory has been confirmed."
"Yeah. You were commanding and keeping things close to even, so other locations might be pretty tough."
"No, even if you say that... I didn't expect you to rate me that highly."
"Oh? From what I actually saw, I think you fought well enough. More importantly, if things are wrapped up here, I'd like to head somewhere else soon. Is that alright?"
"...Yes. Please do. Honestly, I'm worried about how the other battlefields are faring."
For Ragdo, protecting the settlement was more important than anything.
Relying on Rei, an outsider to the settlement, was somewhat galling, but when weighing his pride against the settlement's safety, the latter was clearly heavier on the scale.
No, Rei and Marina must have a deep relationship. In that case, he can't be called a complete outsider. ...Though admitting that is also galling.
Considering the status of Marina's—more precisely, her grandfather Optis's—position within the settlement, Rei, who had a deep relationship with Marina, naturally became an important figure here as well.
There were other thoughts on the matter, but right now, securing the settlement's safety took priority.
"Well then, I'll be heading out soon, but... ah, right. Could I have two of the green wolf monster corpses lying over there?"
In the direction of Rei's gaze was a green wolf roughly one meter in length. Its body had been split into upper and lower halves by Rei's Flying Slash, killing it.
Given that its body length included the tail, it wasn't particularly large, but it was still a monster Rei had never seen before, and in terms of securing its Magic Stone, he definitely wanted it.
"In exchange, I'll give you all the Goblins, Cobolts, and Ogres. I'd prefer to keep the Orcs if possible, but whatever you can manage is fine."
"...Are you sure? That would leave you with almost no share, Lord Rei."
Leaving aside the Goblin corpses, which were the most numerous, Cobolt meat—while inferior in taste—wasn't as bad as Goblin meat, and their fur had practical uses. As for Ogres, the variety of uses for their materials was incomparable to those of Cobolts or Goblins.
And the Orcs that Rei wanted, even just to some extent, were considered quite high-quality as food.
Since Rei was offering to yield almost all of that, Ragdo's surprise was only natural.
However, for Rei, the Magic Stone of an unknown monster was more important than the corpses of run-of-the-mill monsters.
It's a shame about the Orc meat, but I should be able to get at least some.
For just a moment, he furrowed his brow at the thick scent of blood permeating the air around him.
Despite having killed this many monsters alongside the Dark Elves, Rei didn't particularly enjoy killing.
Even so, when he or his companions were in danger, he wouldn't hesitate.
"Are those terms acceptable? If so, I'm thinking of heading somewhere else."
"Eh? Ah, yes. If you're fine with it, Lord Rei, we have no objections whatsoever."
"Alright, then it's settled."
With just those words, Rei touched the wolf corpse with its green fur and stored it in his Misty Ring.
Ragdo aside, several of the other Dark Elves nearby had apparently never seen Rei use the Misty Ring before. They wore expressions of shock and fell silent.
Glancing at those Dark Elves, Rei turned his gaze upward.
There, Set and the Giant Cicada were still locked in battle.
Fire, water, ice, and wind were unleashed from every direction, raining down upon the Giant Cicada, whose massive body dwarfed Set's...
"Gryphon Seto, is it? I'd heard he was a Rare Species, and he truly lives up to the name. Fire, wind, water, ice, earth... to wield such a diverse array of skills."
"Hm?"
Rei had been watching the aerial battle, but something about Ragdo's words—spoken beside him while also looking up—caught his attention, and he turned his gaze toward Ragdo.
Perhaps because Rei had looked at him, Ragdo turned back with a puzzled expression.
"What is it?"
"No, did you just say... earth?"
Muttering, Rei began listing Set's known skills in his head.
Earth? ...Did he mistake Poison Claw and Power Crush for earth skills? No, that can't be. If you forced the interpretation, you might think of them as earth attribute, but even so, in a situation where you're not staring intently at that battle, you wouldn't think earth attribute, would you?
As far as Rei knew, Set didn't have any skills that could be clearly identified as earth attribute just by looking at them—like shooting stone spears or hurling lumps of earth.
That was why he felt doubtful and spoke up.
"I don't think Set has any earth attribute skills, does he?"
"Hah? But... ah, look."
As Ragdo's gaze turned skyward once more, there was unmistakably a spear made of earth.
Compared to the spear throws Rei unleashed, its speed was slower, but it was still a strike that would possess considerable lethal power.
It was flying through the sky, and—
"Wait, it's targeting Set!?"
Yes, the destination the earth spear was flying straight toward was not the Giant Cicada, but Set.
Flapping his wings, Set evaded the earth spear hurtling toward him and unleashed a counterattacking Water Ball.
The Water Ball flew straight toward the Giant Cicada, but perhaps because it wasn't a particularly high-level skill, it was easily intercepted by the Giant Cicada's ultrasound.
"Why is that Giant Cicada using earth skills?"
The time Rei had spent fighting the Giant Cicada hadn't been all that long. But still, if it could use earth attribute skills, shouldn't it have used them back then? Such a question crossed his mind.
As its ultrasound demonstrated, the Giant Cicada's primary attack method was wind-based.
Why would such an opponent use earth attribute attacks?
The moment he thought that, what flashed through Rei's mind was the Giant Cicada pupa that had clung to the World Tree... or more precisely, the larva before it became a pupa.
"...I see. It lived underground at the base of the World Tree, beneath the earth, so it wouldn't be strange for it to still be able to use earth attribute skills even after emerging. But Set isn't soft enough to be taken down by something like that."
Rei muttered, but his words carried more than a little bravado.
The Giant Cicada's attacks, if they landed, were capable of inflicting significant damage on Set.
And Set's attacks were easily evaded by the Giant Cicada's ultrasound and high mobility.
If I were there... no, it's too late for that.
When the Giant Cicada had flown from the World Tree, if Rei had been riding on Set's back, things might not have devolved into this near-stalemate.
But if he had done that, the World Tree would have been completely killed by the Giant Cicada.
And reconstructing the Protective Barrier that currently protected the settlement would have been impossible as well.
Thinking of it that way, the current situation was by no means the worst-case scenario.
A roar echoed as a massive flame surged into the sky.
It was an attack from Set's Fire Breath, but Fire Breath, fired in a straight line, was by no means a difficult attack for the Giant Cicada to evade.
Watching that flame, Rei shook his head slightly.
What I need to do hasn't changed.
Muttering internally and clarifying what he needed to do, Rei turned his gaze toward Ragdo, whose attention was still captivated by the fierce aerial battle.
"Ragdo, do you know how the other battlefields are doing? If there's anywhere in danger, tell me."
"...No, unfortunately. We haven't received any information about how the other battlefields are faring. But if they're in a similar situation to here, I don't think they're being pushed back one-sidedly."
Ragdo, brought back to his senses by Rei's words, replied as such, and Rei thought for a moment before nodding.
"Understood. Then I'll patrol the settlement perimeter along the Protective Barrier as planned. Right now Set is keeping that Giant Cicada in check, but there's no telling how long that will hold. I want to finish off the monsters around the settlement quickly and head to reinforce Set."
"Yes, please. This settlement is important to us... an extremely important place. As such, we must protect it no matter what. So if we can borrow your strength, Lord Rei..."
Ragdo bowed his head deeply.
He had various thoughts and feelings toward Rei, but for the sake of protecting his home settlement, he would do anything. If it came to bowing his head to Rei, he would do it as many times as necessary.
Watching Ragdo's demeanor, Rei nodded.
"Leave it to me. I won't slack off against monsters trying to do harm to Marina's hometown, either. Besides, killing monsters benefits me too."
"Benefits, you say?"
"Yeah. ...Well, if you're curious, I'll tell you about it later."
Saying that, he lightly waved the hand not holding Death Scythe and took off running.
He would have liked to get a bit more information about the other Dark Elves, but since Ragdo had been fighting here the whole time, there was no reason to expect him to have intel on other battlefields.
"Please be careful!"
Ragdo called out to Rei's rapidly receding back, unsure whether he could even hear it, while the surrounding Dark Elves bowed their heads toward his departing figure or shouted words of encouragement.
"Alright, first let's clean up the corpses. In this season, leaving them as they are will make the stench terrible, and there's no telling whether the smell might attract beasts or other monsters. We'll leave the detailed dismemberment for later, but let's gather them roughly into piles for now. Once that's done, we'll leave behind just enough combat power to defend this area and head to reinforce the other battlefields."
Following Ragdo's instructions, the Dark Elves began to move.
Rei had fought that hard for their sake, so how could they not give it their all here? That was the sentiment that took hold.
Rei's overwhelming strength had undoubtedly influenced that forward-looking mindset.
They had seen—and heard about—his overwhelming power in the forest the previous night.
But seeing it like this, in a brightly lit place, it was clearly different.
With this, they could manage somehow. Believing that from the bottom of their hearts, they held back the urge to rush to their comrades' aid immediately and instead gathered the monster corpses into one place.
A few monsters appeared along the way, but Dark Elves inherently possessed high combat power.
If they had been attacked in a group it might have been different, but a mere handful of monsters were immediately dispatched and added to the pile of corpses awaiting stripping.
Lord Rei... please...
Ragdo cast one final glance in the direction Rei had departed, then resumed issuing orders to the others.
Some distance away from the battlefield where Ragdo and his group had been fighting, Rei was running alone along the Protective Barrier.
Strictly speaking, the Light Sphere was at his side, so he wasn't exactly alone.
"It's nice that having this barrier means I don't have to worry about getting lost."
Rei had some awareness that he was prone to getting lost, so being able to simply follow along the Protective Barrier was extremely helpful.
As if cheering Rei on, the Light Sphere flickered intensely.
He continued running for about five minutes.
Occasionally catching glimpses in the corner of his vision of the exchanges of fire, ice, and wind in the sky—like fireworks—he grew anxious as he noticed new earth attacks joining the mix.
If the earth attacks were something Set was doing, that would be one thing, but it was the Giant Cicada that was using them.
"Don't get beaten, Set."
As he muttered that, the Light Sphere flickered as if to say Set would be fine.
Seeing the Light Sphere keeping pace without falling behind his speed, Rei let a small smile cross his face... then suddenly fixed a sharp gaze in the direction he was heading.
A strong scent of iron rust—the scent he had already grown accustomed to—was drifting from that direction.
While he didn't possess a sense of smell as sharp as Set's, Rei's five senses, including his sense of smell, were far keener than those of an ordinary human.
In other words, a battle involving bloodshed was taking place where he was headed.
The speed at which Rei's feet kicked off the earth increased further.
What came into view was the sight of many Dark Elves being forced into close combat with monsters.
Perhaps because there was no capable commander like Ragdo, they were fighting without being able to coordinate effectively against the monsters.
"In that case, I'll tear into the flank of that monster group—!?"
Rei had been about to say those words, but he reflexively leapt away from the spot.
Almost simultaneously, an ultrasound was slammed down from directly above, and many of the monster group that Rei had been about to charge into had their bodies sliced apart by the sound blades carrying magical power.