"GraaaAAAGH!"
The head that had been spewing Water Breath opened its jaws wide, lunging at Set to tear him apart.
Set was roughly three meters long, but the Gigant Turtle was massive enough to swallow even him in a single gulp.
Its face, however, now bore numerous wounds. Several of its sharp fangs had been severed, and blood flowed freely from all over its head.
"Tch, you're getting real annoying! Set!"
"Grrrrrrrgh!"
In response to Rei's words, Set beat his wings to evade the Gigant Turtle's attack with a cry, and at the same time, numerous Wind Arrows materialized around him.
Then the Wind Arrows were unleashed.
Of course, their power was not strong enough to deal a fatal wound to the Gigant Turtle.
They were, at most, slightly painful — the kind of thing a human wouldn't even feel mid-battle due to combat excitement.
But since the Wind Arrows were aimed at its face, the Gigant Turtle found them unpleasant all the same, and the momentum of its bite weakened ever so slightly.
It was a truly minuscule change, but it was enough for Set to completely evade the attack, and more importantly...
"You can't just keep doing the same thing!"
"GyaaaAAaaaAAaaaAAAGH!"
With a single strike from Death Scythe, its right eye was slashed open, and a scream echoed from the Gigant Turtle's mouth.
"Whoa, Set!"
As if responding to that scream, Set evaded a tail strike coming from behind and a blast of Wind Breath unleashed from the other remaining mouth.
The tail was a linear attack; the Wind Breath was a point attack. Weaving through the gap between the two was something only Set could pull off.
Any ordinary monster that could merely fly would have found it difficult to evade both.
"Haaaaaagh!"
While evading the Wind Breath, Rei hurled the Twilight Spear.
The head that had been spewing Water Breath, now with one eye destroyed, had half its skull shattered the next moment — just like the head that had been spitting Rock Spears — and crumbled to the ground.
That made two of the three heads now down on the ground.
What kind of ecology the Gigant Turtle had... or whether it was even a monster at all, given that it was the incarnation of the Treant Forest, remained unclear. But with two of its three heads crumbled on the ground, there was no doubt its movements would be affected.
"That tail of yours is getting in the way too!"
Whether in revenge for having another head destroyed, the tail came assaulting from behind once more.
It was a strike that could be called a gigantic Morning Star, but on its own, it had no chance of hitting Rei — or more precisely, Set, who had grown accustomed to the enemy's attacks.
Set casually evaded the tail strike, and Rei slashed not at the tip of the tail but at a point midway along it — the flexible, whip-like section — with Death Scythe in a single flash.
The effect of using the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor likely played a part, but without any hesitation whatsoever, and without feeling the slightest resistance, the tail was severed, and its tip went flying off in an unrelated direction.
"GrrruuAAaaAAaaAAaaAAgh!"
With its head shattered and its tail severed, the situation remained extremely troublesome for the Gigant Turtle.
Despite being cut this much, it was not yet wounded enough to call it a fatal injury.
Even so, with two heads crumbled on the ground, it was undeniably having difficulty moving.
And the entity flying before its eyes — a being overwhelmingly smaller than itself — nevertheless possessed the power to wound and kill it.
In order to carry out the act of expanding the Treant Forest, it absolutely had to do something about them.
Acting on instinct, even though it had sustained enough damage that fleeing would have been perfectly reasonable, the Gigant Turtle showed no sign of retreating. Instead, it launched further attacks at Rei.
Wind Breath was unleashed once more, but with the other two heads and the tail that delivered powerful strikes already severed, there was no way it could do anything about Rei and Set in its current state.
If Rei and Set had been fighting on the ground instead of flying through the sky, the turtle could have used attacks like crushing them underfoot with its six legs.
But unfortunately, Rei and Set were flying.
In its current situation, the Gigant Turtle had few methods of attack available.
Though I doubt it's the type to just let itself be taken down without incident.
Keeping wary of the enemy's movements, Rei unleashed a strike with the Twilight Spear to crush the last head... when suddenly, he caught sight of something moving at the edge of his vision and immediately shouted.
"Set!"
"Grrrrrgh!"
Set responded instantly to Rei's call.
Set's five senses were sharper than Rei's. Naturally, the movement Rei had sensed must have been detected by Set as well.
He immediately beat his wings and moved away from his position.
Several seconds after Set moved... a single tree shot through the space where he had been.
"Huh? A tree!?"
Rei, who had been keeping watch on his surroundings from atop Set's back, let out a dumbfounded voice as he watched a tree pierce through the spot where they had just been.
Still in shock, he looked at the Gigant Turtle's shell and saw that several trees had been snapped off midway up their trunks.
Who had done that required no thought. After all, there were only a limited number of people who could detonate an enemy's body from the inside.
But the tree that had just come flying had nothing to do with that.
Even if it had exploded from within, it was inconceivable that it could reach the altitude where Set was flying.
In the first place, Magic Impact Palm was a skill that transmitted shock through the interior regardless of skin, carapace, or armor.
Now, due to the influence of having fused with — or absorbed — Unbris, its effect had been enhanced, transforming into a skill that caused explosions inside the opponent's body. But even so, it did not possess the power to blow something all the way up to Set's altitude.
The explosion generated inside the body was meant to destroy the interior, after all.
In other words, the tree that had just flown up... or more precisely, the Treant, had not been Vihera's doing.
Then whose doing was it?
Thinking that, there was only one person left... no, one creature.
But why now of all times? If it had attacked earlier, when the other heads were still around, it would've been harder for us to defend, too.
The fact that he didn't say it would definitely hit was likely proof of the confidence Rei held unconsciously.
But the answer became clear the moment he looked in the direction the Treant had flown from — at the Gigant Turtle's shell.
Where the Treants had presumably been growing, there was nothing.
Neither the shell nor the Treants' roots remained.
Instead, a red-black fluid was oozing from the area where the Treants had likely been growing.
Seeing that, it was obvious why the Gigant Turtle hadn't used this attack until now.
It was an attack method that literally involved cutting off — no, tearing off — a part of its own body and hurling it at the enemy.
If so, it was only natural that it would want to avoid using such a method as much as possible.
But that would only apply if it had the luxury to do so.
With two of its heads destroyed and its tail severed... and since they were flying through the sky, it couldn't use its massive body for crushing attacks either.
Given that, the remaining attack methods were few indeed, and so it had resorted to a genuinely self-mutilating attack.
If I had to compare, would it be like biting off my own finger and throwing it?
Such a thought briefly crossed his mind, but now was not the time for that.
Even if limited in number, as long as the enemy could employ the tactic of launching Treants, they needed to stay vigilant against it.
Regardless, given that the enemy was attacking with that level of resolve, Rei couldn't afford to hold back here either.
"Set, move up to a higher altitude for now. High enough that even if Treants come flying from that shell, we'll be fine."
"Grrrrrgh?"
Perhaps unable to read Rei's intent, Set let out a briefly puzzled purr.
But the next moment, he beat his wings toward the sky — toward the moon shining in the night sky.
The Gigant Turtle unleashed Wind Breath from its sole remaining head in pursuit of Set, but a breath that only flew in a straight line was, if anything, an easy attack for Set to evade.
Weaving left and right through the air as if dancing, Set flew toward the higher sky.
Once they reached an altitude of about one hundred fifty meters, Rei gave Set's back a light pat... and the next moment, he leaped off.
"Gru!?"
"I'm fine. I've got the Sleipnir boots, too. More importantly, Set, follow up on my attack!"
Rei shouted as he fell.
Seeing Rei, the Gigant Turtle must have judged it the perfect opportunity. It opened its mouth wide.
If Rei had no means of flying, it would blow him away with Wind Breath and slam him into the ground from an even greater height.
That was what it thought.
It was by no means the wrong choice.
That is, if his opponent wasn't Rei.
Normally, anyone falling from a great height and seeing the Gigant Turtle baring its fangs directly below would feel terror.
But Rei, looking at the Gigant Turtle's form, even had a smile on his lips.
Then, as he fell, he poured magical power into the Twilight Spear in his left hand... and in the next moment, hurled it.
Since it was a strike thrown while falling, it could hardly be called a perfectly executed blow.
But it was a strike unleashed while the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor was deployed.
Naturally, its power and speed were several levels higher than a normal attack.
It was a strike that could fittingly be described as a bolt of light.
The Twilight Spear, falling straight down while cleaving through the air, pierced through the Gigant Turtle's mouth the next moment, pierced through its throat, shattered flesh, tore through skin... and passed clean through, exiting from around the middle of the throat.
"Graaaagh!?"
Despite having its throat pierced, the Gigant Turtle let out a voice mixed with surprise and agony.
But Rei, having released the Twilight Spear, gripped Death Scythe... and using the speed of his fall, drove the blade into the Gigant Turtle's neck. In the next moment, the last remaining intact head — the only one of the three that had been unharmed — was cleanly severed and sent flying.
The moment its throat was pierced, the Gigant Turtle may have instinctively tried to evade the next blow.
However, that movement was delayed by a few seconds.
The reason was the Fleeing Adventurers fighting on the ground.
Facing a monster with such a massive physique, they understood that attacking head-on would have almost no effect, and yet they had continued to attack. That effort finally bore fruit here.
Because of that, the Gigant Turtle was completely unable to evade Rei's attack and took it head-on, resulting in its head being severed.
"Whoa!"
Severing the Gigant Turtle's neck was all well and good, but Rei, who had been about to plunge straight into the ground at his falling speed, activated the Sleipnir boots to land several times in midair, killing his velocity before touching down.
Then Rei looked up and saw Set, diving straight down from above, bringing down a front leg strike onto the neck of the now-headless Gigant Turtle as a follow-up attack.
Diving straight down from the sky, beating his wings to accelerate even further, the strike combined the high physical abilities unique to a gryphon with the effects of the Magic Item known as the Bracelet of Herculean Strength and the skill known as Power Crush.
That single strike delivered a tremendous blow to the Gigant Turtle, which possessed a body as large as a small hill.
At the same time, the Fleeing Adventurers' attacks had already damaged one of its legs enough that it could no longer support the creature's weight, and with that added strike, the Gigant Turtle completely crumbled to the ground.
At first, even seeing that, the Fleeing Adventurers couldn't believe it was their victory.
In the first place, hardly anyone had experience fighting a monster this massive, and they had no certainty whether the Gigant Turtle now crumbled on the ground was truly dead.
But the Gigant Turtle, brought down by Rei and Set's attacks, did not move a single step.
On the contrary, seeing blood flowing from its neck, body, the tail whose tip had been severed, and the legs that the Fleeing Adventurers had been attacking, pooling onto the ground, everyone fell silent.
Amidst that, Vihera, who had been fighting the Treants growing from the Gigant Turtle's back, emerged into view.
The slightly displeased expression on her face was likely because, despite the battle against the Treants itself having been enjoyable, the moment the Gigant Turtle died, all the Treants stopped attacking.
Having thought she could fight to her heart's content, she felt like she'd been left hanging.
Looking slightly displeased, she surveyed her surroundings and opened her mouth.
"What are you doing? We won, so celebrate already."
As those words spread through the area...
"U... UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
A victory roar from the Fleeing Adventurers echoed throughout the surroundings.
It continued without ceasing until Rei and Set, along with Marina and the Ranged Unit she led, arrived at the scene.
And among them all, the one who was most overjoyed was undoubtedly Thresha, who had been able to avenge her fallen comrades.