It originally had no will of its own.
It merely existed. From the moment it was brought into this world, it had done nothing but tirelessly create and release clones of itself.
Nor did it understand why it had been born. No—it did not even possess the intellect to consider such a question.
What the entity was truly doing was acting purely on instinct, and had Rei known its behavioral principles, he might have compared it to a robot or something similar.
But in the midst of this behavior, the entity suddenly sensed that one of its clones had vanished.
Even then, lacking an ego, it did not think anything in particular of it.
Besides, most of the clones it had created had burrowed into the ground and were constantly acting alongside it.
A few individuals had begun taking separate actions for one reason or another, but it showed no particular concern. It simply kept moving—burrowing into the ground or flying through the air—creating clones, and whenever it encountered demi-human type monsters, it would evolve them into leader species by instinct.
It—the Unbris—had carried out only these actions dispassionately, but on that particular day, something was different.
A significant portion of its body was suddenly annihilated.
Because the Unbris had no ego, it could recognize but not understand things like humans and living creatures.
As for demi-human type monsters like Goblins, it was not evolving them because it recognized them as Goblins. It was merely acting as commanded by the instincts within itself.
It was, so to speak, like a spider knowing how to spin a web from the moment of birth.
Or perhaps like a newborn horse standing up on the spot.
It had moved purely as instinct commanded, but within those instincts, naturally, was the drive to survive.
In obedience to that instinct, it avoided contact with the opponent trying to annihilate its body.
If the Unbris had possessed a clearer ego at this point, it would have put distance between itself and the one destroying it—it would have fled.
But there was no ego within the Unbris. It merely acted reactively, in the moment.
It had put distance between itself and the threat, but the threat showed no sign of stopping, continuing to annihilate its body.
By this point, an incomprehensible, strange sensation existed within the Unbris, one that even it could not understand.
If the Unbris had possessed an ego, it would have described that sensation as terror.
The terror of having its body destroyed piece by piece. The realization that even absorbing its separated clones was meaningless, as everything was being torn away.
And the entity that was methodically carrying out this annihilation.
That was nothing other than terror.
However, the Unbris, lacking an ego, could not understand that what it felt was terror.
Nevertheless, as if driven by something, it widened the distance between itself and the one destroying it—Rei.
Even after opening the distance, the unease within the Unbris would not disappear. It could not make it disappear. It lingered.
Tormented by the fear that everything about itself would be burned away by Rei's magic, it was then that the Unbris finally realized the terror of its own annihilation.
One could say an ego had sprouted.
Something that should absolutely never have sprouted in the Unbris, which was originally a natural phenomenon born from a magical power anomaly.
That ego sprouted, and immediately understood: at this rate, it would be annihilated without being able to do a thing.
Of course, even though an ego had sprouted, it did not possess the intellect to think that clearly.
Still, driven by its ego and the instinct for self-preservation, it desperately sought a way to survive, even as its body was being burned by the flames of Rei's powerful magic.
This too was not deliberate thought, but something it was half-driven to by instinct.
The Unbris tried to find a way to survive and surveyed its surroundings.
The entity trying to annihilate it—Rei—was out of the question. It wanted to get as far away as possible.
Had it burrowed into the ground, Rei would have had no means of attacking it, but perhaps because it felt terror toward the entity known as Rei, that thought never occurred to it.
That left only the beings flying through the sky. But because the Unbris was born from a magical power anomaly, it was able to sense the magical power that existed between Set and Rei.
It did not want to touch the existence connected to Rei, its natural enemy. And ultimately, the only one remaining was Vihera, who was dangling from Set's front leg.
Not thinking clearly, the Unbris, driven by instinct, used nearly all of the magical power remaining within its body.
For an Unbris born from a magical power anomaly, using almost all of the black mist—the magical power that formed its body—was close to suicidal.
But understanding that it would be annihilated by Rei's magic if it did not act, the Unbris instinctively cast that magic on itself. Teleportation Magic.
And before it knew it, the densest part of the Unbris—the part where its ego had sprouted—vanished from the hellfire Rei had created. What lay before it was Vihera's form.
Understanding that the existence before it was the one it needed in order to survive, the Unbris sank into her body without hesitation. Or rather, in this case, perhaps fusing was the more accurate term.
Yes, what the Unbris chose, having judged that death was otherwise unavoidable, was to flee into Vihera.
But the single, critically fatal miscalculation for the Unbris was the very existence of Vihera herself.
Under normal circumstances, it might have taken over her body, or perhaps without Vihera even noticing, the Unbris and Vihera would have fused and become an entirely different entity. Or maybe something else could have happened.
Instead, the Unbris, which had fused by seeping into Vihera's body, was met with fierce resistance from an intense consciousness.
The Unbris, which should have fused with her body in an instant, encountered stubborn defiance.
Within that consciousness, they devoured, eroded, attacked, defended, rejected, and swallowed each other—trying to eliminate one another through a vast array of sensations that could not even be put into words.
Ultimately, their wills clashed in a stalemate, and Vihera's consciousness was lost. As a natural consequence, her hands released their grip on Set's front leg, and she plummeted toward the ground.
"Tch! Vihera!"
Hearing Vihera's scream in the middle of his battle with the Unbris, Rei turned reflexively and saw her releasing her grip on Set's front leg, falling toward the ground.
Because he was using the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, even starting to move the instant he saw Vihera fall from the sky, there was plenty of time to reach her.
He moved toward the spot where she was falling and caught her body, killing as much of the impact as he could.
Vihera was a woman—and moreover, taller than Rei—and she had fallen from a height of roughly a hundred meters.
The impact was something that under normal circumstances would be impossible to withstand.
Even so, the reason Rei was able to catch her without sustaining or causing any injuries was largely because he had the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor activated.
The fact that he had become able to control the temperature of the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor to a certain extent was equally significant.
At any rate, having safely caught the falling Vihera, Rei gently lowered her onto the ground.
While Rei took action, Set remained vigilant around them in case anything happened.
But the black mist that lingered in his line of sight—what could be called the Unbris's residue—gradually faded and vanished, just like the Unbris Rei had defeated previously.
"Did the main body of the Unbris die... no, disappear, so the other Unbris vanished too?"
The reason he could not say it died for certain was because the Unbris had disappeared into Vihera's body.
Given that the Unbris possessed the ability to evolve demi-human type monsters into leader species, if it was inside Vihera's body, it might have some adverse effect.
Thinking that, he wondered what he could do right now, and took a potion out from the Misty Ring.
It was a potion crafted using the Drop of the World Tree, possessing the highest quality among potions.
How it would react to the Unbris entering her body was something even Rei did not know.
He tried to make her drink the potion, and hesitated.
If the potion's effect brought a good result for Vihera, there would be no problem at all.
But currently inside Vihera's body was the Unbris—or rather, what could be called the main body of the Unbris, which had sustained considerable damage from Rei's attacks.
If so, if he made Vihera drink the potion, might it not also produce some favorable result for the Unbris? That was what he could not help but think.
After thinking for a few seconds, he returned the potion to the Misty Ring.
Since this was not something he could judge on his own, he decided that consulting someone like Marina would be the quickest and most practical approach.
"Set, sorry, but I need you to hurry back to Gilm. I need to have Vihera examined by Marina and doctors as soon as possible."
"Gruu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a quick cry.
Having been acting alongside Vihera for a while now, Set was favorably disposed toward her.
Because of that, it was only natural that he felt remorse over the fact that she had been attacked by the Unbris and rendered unconscious while under his watch.
Of course, the fact that he never imagined the Unbris, which had not shown the slightest sign of ego until now, would suddenly use Teleportation to flee into Vihera's body was also a significant factor.
The actions the Unbris had been taking toward Rei were not anything like a counterattack, but rather keeping its distance.
In the sense of putting distance between itself and Rei, the fact that it became able to use Teleportation was perhaps not so inexplicable.
At any rate, he had to hurry and get Vihera to Gilm. He had to, but once again, Set's physical traits got in the way.
The only one who could ride on his back was, as a general rule, Rei.
If it were a child, he might somehow be able to manage, but Vihera was far from being a child.
Wondering if it might be possible since she was unconscious, Rei boarded Set while carrying Vihera in his arms. But it was still impossible.
No, perhaps he could have flown a short distance, but flying from here all the way to Gilm was definitely out of the question.
So after thinking for a moment, the method Rei arrived at was...
"It's different from usual, so it feels a bit strange."
He muttered while looking down at the ground, and then looked up.
What was there was Set's belly.
That's right—currently Rei was flying while being held by the shoulders by Set's front legs.
The unconscious Vihera was cradled in Rei's arms.
After considering various options, he had ended up transporting her this way, but despite Vihera being held in a cradle—what was commonly known as a princess carry—she showed no reaction whatsoever because she was unconscious.
If I had Set directly grab Vihera, she might get injured.
Vihera was clad in clothing so thin it was practically see-through. Even being held by Rei like this, she did not appear to have particularly high defensive capabilities.
Of course, that was merely appearances, but even so, Rei did not want to transport the unconscious Vihera in such a manner.
Set, huh... Right now it's just Vihera, so I was moving around by hanging from Set's front leg, but that's only possible because she has physical abilities like Vihera's. Byune will be coming back here eventually, and when that happens...
Thinking that far, he remembered that Byune was still a child.
If it were a short-distance move, there probably would not be a problem, he thought.
A short distance using Set's wings, that is.
If he thought about it that way, it was not hard to imagine how much distance they could cover even in a short amount of time.
But when I think about moving long distances, I guess I really do need some kind of method. Like when carrying someone who's lost consciousness, like this time... if so, a basket, or something?
What crossed Rei's mind was a wooden basket.
A method of putting Vihera or Byune inside it and having Set carry it.
While thinking about such things, Rei cast a worried gaze at Vihera in his arms.
The reason he was thinking about trivial matters was because when he thought about Vihera, he would fall into an endless spiral of negative thoughts.
Even knowing that and deliberately thinking about other things, he was still, after all, worried about Vihera.
He had passed by Arrogan and his party a short while ago, but he had not even noticed them.
"Gruu!"
At Set's cry, Rei directed his gaze forward. There, seeing the figure of Gilm, he opened his mouth.
"I'll save her. No matter what."
Hearing Rei's voice murmured with resolve, Set began its descent toward the ground.