Watching from the sky as the monsters fled at the sound of Set's roar, Rei noticed the Light Sphere drift to his side and flicker.
He couldn't grasp precisely what it was trying to convey, but he could tell it was likely expressing gratitude.
"Kyu kyu!"
Rei was petting Set — who had drawn and pinned down the Giant Cicada for so long — while glancing at the Light Sphere when that cry suddenly reached his ears.
"Hm? Ielo?"
At the end of his gaze was a young Black Dragon flying through the air as though it were the most natural thing in the world. It was Ielo, Elena's familiar.
Flapping its small wings, it dove straight into Rei's arms.
"If you're here, that means... ah, of course."
Rei turned his gaze toward the ground and found Elena standing there, her golden hair gleaming in the sunlight.
She held Mirage, its blade still wet with monster blood, and was looking up at Rei as he hovered in the sky.
Naturally, Ara was beside her as well, gazing upward with her Power Axe in hand.
The monster corpses scattered across the area easily numbered over fifty. The vast majority were Goblins, and the ground below was blanketed in what could only be called a sea of blood, flesh, and viscera.
"Set."
"Gurururu."
Rei gave the order while stroking Ielo, and Set descended toward the ground.
The moment they landed, the thick stench of blood washed over them.
With this many monsters slain, the carnage was only to be expected.
"Rei, the fact that you're here means you've defeated that giant monster, yes?"
"Yeah. It took some doing, but I managed to settle it for now. And over here... it doesn't look like there's any major damage. The only corpses seem to be monsters'."
A short distance away, Dark Elves were treating wounded companions, but none of the injuries looked life-threatening. The most seriously hurt appeared to be a Dark Elf with a broken arm — which, considering the circumstances, spoke to how comparatively manageable the fighting here had been.
(Then again, with people injured, I can hardly call it easy.)
Some of the Dark Elves must have noticed they were being watched. They turned their gazes toward Rei.
The looks directed at him still carried traces of awe and fear, but above all, they were filled with deep gratitude.
Everyone understood who had treated the World Tree — and who had been fighting that enormous monster in the sky, one they could never have hoped to defeat themselves.
That was why, though they still felt awe and fear toward Rei, they didn't cower excessively.
Rei, subjected to those stares, quietly looked away.
"Hehe. Wouldn't it be fine to accept their gratitude gracefully?"
Elena smiled at Rei's obvious embarrassment.
Ara, standing beside her, was smiling too.
"Kyu!"
And Ielo, nestled in Rei's arms, let out a short cry as if agreeing with its master.
"Putting that aside."
Rei knew full well he was dodging the topic, but being teased indefinitely wasn't in his nature. He looked up — toward the sky.
They were near the Protective Barrier, which meant the sunlight wasn't blocked by trees overhead.
A spring-like blue sky stretched above them, and the air was warm. Had there not been monster corpses littering the ground and the stench of blood hanging in the air, it might have felt like a picnic.
"Set's roar should have scattered most of the monsters by now, but if any of them stuck around after hearing that, they'd have to be pretty powerful."
"Well, that's true."
Any monster that remained after hearing a gryphon's roar had to be extraordinarily confident in its own strength.
(Personally, I'd welcome a few strong ones sticking around. After all is said and done, the only magic stones I've gotten out of this battle are from the Giant Cicada and two Green Wolves.)
For Rei, who found the haul somewhat underwhelming, powerful monsters lingering nearby would have been exactly what he wanted.
Of course, that also meant the Dark Elves might still be fighting them — and likely dying in the process.
"With that in mind, I'll go patrol the perimeter of the settlement."
Elena nodded without any sign of displeasure.
She would have preferred to stay with Rei, but as someone who bore the title Princess General, she understood full well that the settlement's current situation left no room to hold him back.
"Yes, go do your best. ...Ah, wait. Sorry, but could you take Ielo along with you?"
"Ielo?"
"Kyu?"
Ielo, who had been quietly enjoying being petted in Rei's arms, let out a cry — apparently noticing its name come up.
Elena smiled and nodded at the reaction.
"Yes. Ielo may not cut it as a front-line fighter, but its support abilities are excellent. Especially those scales — ordinary weapons can't pierce them."
"...Wait, are you telling me to use Ielo as a shield?"
"Kyu!?"
At the word "shield," Ielo froze solid in Rei's arms.
Its scales did possess enough defensive power to deflect ordinary attacks. Even so, Ielo was still a child — curious and energetic, sure, but that didn't mean being attacked didn't bother it.
"Hm? Ah, did I give you the wrong idea? I wasn't saying to use it as a shield. I only meant that if Ielo is at your side, it'll be fine even if something happens."
"Kyu..."
Rei stroked Ielo, who let out a relieved whimper, thought it over for a moment... then nodded.
"Understood. If Elena insists, I'll take it along. ...Alright, Ielo. I'm counting on you for a while."
"Kyu!"
"Gurururu!"
Set, having listened to the exchange, broke into a run and flapped his wings.
Elena watched the trio disappear from view, then turned to address the Dark Elves.
"Now then — first things first, we need to clear the corpses! In this season, they'll spoil in no time if left alone. We have to drain the blood and strip what we can before that happens!"
At Elena's command, the Dark Elves rose to their feet.
Truth be told, they would have liked to rest a while longer, but they sensed that if they didn't move now, nothing else would get done today.
If they delayed, beasts and monsters drawn by the stench of blood would appear, the corpses would rot, and things would spiral from bad to worse.
They could still manage the situation now — so they needed to push through.
"Goblins make up the biggest number. We should just extract the magic stones and burn the rest all at once," Ara suggested.
Elena nodded. "Agreed. Goblin meat is foul, and the usable parts are worthless. It'd be one thing if there were nothing else, but right now we have plenty of Orc and Cobolt corpses to process as well. Time is limited."
"Yes."
With that, Ara grabbed the feet of two fallen Orcs — one in each hand — and hauled them away.
The surrounding Dark Elves could only stare in dumbfounded silence.
They knew, of course, that Ara was strong. She wielded a Power Axe that none of them could even lift — that much was obvious.
But seeing her drag two Orcs simultaneously, one in each hand, with their own eyes... that left them with nothing but sheer astonishment.
If she had been a hulking, muscle-bound brute, they might have accepted it. But Ara's build was slender — perhaps calling it "delicate" would be an exaggeration, but she certainly didn't look the part of someone possessed of such raw power.
That gap between appearance and ability made the sight all the more staggering.
...Though when it came to strength that belied one's looks, Rei was cut from much the same cloth.
Beneath the astonished stares of the Dark Elves, Ara went about transporting the heavy monster corpses.
While Ara was drawing looks of admiration, Rei was making his way along the Protective Barrier with Set, Ielo, and the Light Sphere.
They passed several sites that bore the marks of battle, but fortunately the fighting there was already mostly over — the Dark Elves were in the process of cleaning up the aftermath.
In a few spots, Orcs and Cobolts had been left behind by fleeing monsters, likely frozen in place by Set's presence. But while a pack might have posed a threat, scattered individuals were no match for the Dark Elves.
A handful of monsters had belatedly come to their senses and fled as well, but though the Dark Elves loosed pursuit arrows and Spirit Magic after them, they didn't give chase into the forest.
...In short, there was no sign of the powerful monsters Rei had been hoping for.
"Well, it's abnormal for this many monsters to be here in the first place, so I suppose it can't be helped."
The sheer number of monsters sometimes made Rei lose track, but his current location was the strip of land between the Labyrinth Barrier and the Protective Barrier.
When the World Tree was at full strength, this area should normally only contain creatures that had broken through the Labyrinth Barrier.
"...Which means it really was that Giant Cicada behind all this. The Berserker State monsters I've heard about are similar — they act without any will of their own."
"Gururururu."
"Kyu!"
As if responding to Rei's words, Set and Ielo each let out a cry.
The Light Sphere was also flashing brightly, as though wanting to add its own thoughts on the matter.
Proceeding in this fashion — far more leisurely than he'd initially expected — Rei soon spotted another group of Dark Elves.
Among them were Marina and As.
Poro was perched on As's left shoulder, and neither of them appeared to be injured.
"You were fighting here? ...Looks like neither of you got hurt badly, at least."
Relieved, Rei gave Set's back a light pat, and the gryphon descended toward the ground.
"Hm? ...An Aerowing!?"
Spotting the creature lying dead beside the two, Rei couldn't help but voice his surprise.
Both Set and Death Scythe had already finished absorbing Aerowing magic stones, so in terms of materials, it wasn't particularly valuable to Rei anymore. But in another sense, it was very much a prize worth claiming.
There wasn't a great deal of meat on an Aerowing, but what little there was happened to be exceptionally delicious.
The Aerowing dish he'd eaten at Elena's borrowed house had left a strong impression on him.
"Oh my, are you more interested in the Aerowing than in me?"
Marina's slightly pouting tone made Rei flash a sheepish smile, as if to smooth things over.
He shifted his gaze toward the forest — and as if they had timed it perfectly, Vihera and Byune emerged from the trees.
"Rei? Looks like things wrapped up on your end too."
"Vihera? What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean, what am I doing here? This is our assigned sector. Obviously we'd be here."
"Huh? No, then why..."
Rei's bewildered gaze turned to Marina.
Marina smiled faintly and spoke.
"You're wondering why we're here? This sector was handled by just As and me, so we came as reinforcements to areas where fighting was still going on."
"...You took out every monster that attacked?"
Rei's voice carried open astonishment. Hearing it, As quietly turned his gaze toward Marina.
What shone in his eyes was something close to awe.
Because As had witnessed Marina's power firsthand.
He had watched her unleash Spirit Magic, annihilating wave after wave of monsters before his eyes.
It was the kind of feat worthy of the heroes As idolized.
But seeing that power up close, As felt awe alongside his admiration. Precisely because he couldn't use magic himself, the spectacle of extreme-tier Spirit Magic had seized his consciousness entirely.
The fact that it registered as awe rather than terror was likely because As idolized heroes — that was what kept the fear from taking hold.
Bearing As's gaze, Marina stepped closer to Rei.
"Rei..."
She called his name with moist eyes and drew near.
Then she glanced at the Light Sphere hovering at Rei's side and smiled.
As someone of a bloodline tied to the World Tree, she understood perfectly well what that Light Sphere signified. She had grasped it almost instinctively from the moment it first appeared in the courtyard.
"Thank you. For the World Tree. If not for you, Rei, it would have withered completely. And if that had happened... you would have been the savior not just of me, but of every Dark Elf in this settlement. ...Thank you."
With those words, Marina gently pressed her lips to his.
She poured into that kiss the love that truly, unmistakably burned within her.