"......Eh......"
The moment Rei unleashed Deep Flame on the Flesh Cocoon, a vacant sound slipped from Celestan's mouth—he had reflexively put distance between himself and the cocoon the instant the attack landed.
But that voice likely never reached Rei or Elena.
Though both of them possessed sharper senses than ordinary people, the Flesh Cocoon was roaring as it burned, and the single word that escaped Celestan's lips was completely drowned out by the noise.
......It was only natural for such a sound to come from Celestan's mouth.
The Flesh Cocoon he had desperately tried to resurrect had used his long-time subordinates as disposable pawns to buy time, and just when he thought the seal had finally broken, it was set ablaze.
Through Rei's skill, Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, Deep Flame was a fire endowed with whatever properties Rei desired.
And by that Deep Flame, the Flesh Cocoon was now being completely consumed.
Rei watched those flames with satisfaction.
From his perspective, the seal had been on the verge of breaking, so he had no intention of waiting around for it.
His action stemmed from the simple logic that they should destroy it in one blow before the enemy's seal could fully release.
Or rather, if he had been in a state where he could freely use the Misty Ring, then perhaps...... truly just perhaps, there was a chance he might have waited for the seal to release.
But that was merely a "perhaps," and once the cocoon was burning like this, there was nothing to be done.
Celestan looked toward it, hoping for some kind of salvation...... expecting that perhaps the Flesh Cocoon was withstanding the flames even despite Deep Flame. But what entered his eyes was the sight of the cocoon crumbling to the ground as charcoal, starting from its edges.
It had clearly been burned by Deep Flame and suffered tremendous damage.
"......Oh, I didn't think it would go this well."
Watching the Flesh Cocoon burn away under the Deep Flame unleashed using most of Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, Rei murmured quietly.
As he himself had said, the seal had been on the verge of breaking——no, though it had been half-broken already, he hadn't expected to burn it this effectively when he slammed the Deep Flame attack into it.
The one who felt this most acutely was probably Rei himself, who had actually done it.
And that single remark from Rei's mouth brought Celestan's consciousness back to the present.
"Ah...... ahh...... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
What came from Celestan's mouth was a sound that could only be called a scream.
Raising a mournful cry, Celestan took a step, then two, toward the Flesh Cocoon, which was still burning under Deep Flame's effect.
But he could not approach beyond a certain point.
Deep Flame's effect had trapped intense heat within a certain range of the cocoon.
It was enough heat that if Celestan carelessly approached, his body could very well catch fire.
Rei had been preparing to intervene, thinking that if Celestan threw himself into that heat, he would need to stop him. But fortunately, Celestan seemed to have no death wish; he did not come any closer than that certain distance and simply stood there.
"Now then, the resurrection of whatever was sealed...... the thing you were plotting, Celestan, has ended in failure. What are you going to do from here? If you surrender quietly, we can offer you favorable treatment."
"......"
Rei called out to him, but Celestan showed no sign of opening his mouth.
No, rather, he was in a daze——it even seemed as though his consciousness had drifted away entirely.
(What's going on? At the very least, considering how Celestan was acting until just now, he didn't seem that desperate. He didn't seem like someone trying to break the seal even at the cost of his life. It was more like, "Well, it's interesting, and the seal is about to break, so why not?"...... that was the impression I got.)
From what Rei could see, that should have been the case, but for some reason...... yes, for some reason, Celestan now wore an expression as though he had despaired of everything in this world as a result of failing to break the Flesh Cocoon's seal.
What do you think? Rei turned his gaze to Elena and asked.
But even with Rei looking at her like that, Elena had no way of knowing why Celestan had suddenly ended up in such a state either.
Watching Elena silently shake her head, Rei dispelled Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.
The Flesh Cocoon had already been reduced to a mass of charcoal barely retaining its original shape, and it was clear that it would completely collapse at any moment.
When Rei dispelled Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, Deep Flame was simultaneously dispelled.
Perhaps because the effect of Deep Flame vanished so abruptly, the Flesh Cocoon——still charcoal——fell to the ground from the impact and shattered. The portion connected to the ceiling also turned to charcoal midway and dropped, and the cocoon itself crashed to the floor and broke to pieces.
The sight of the mass of charcoal shattering momentarily gave Rei the illusion that glass had fallen and broken on the ground.
"Ah......"
Without realizing it, a small word escaped Rei's mouth.
But in the end, he did nothing more, silently turning his eyes toward the thing that had become a mass of charcoal.
"Come to think of it, if this thing was a monster, could it have a Magic Stone or something? If so, I'd want to get my hands on it."
The next moment, those were the words that came from Rei's mouth.
Hearing that, Elena briefly wore an expression of surprise, but the next moment she couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Pfft...... Goodness, you had such an unusually serious face, so I wondered what you were thinking......"
"No, but you know too, right? That I have a hobby of...... collecting Magic Stones."
Rei had been about to say he needed them, but even though Celestan was in a state of stunned shock, Rei judged it better not to say such a thing in front of him and hastily rephrased.
At Rei's behavior, Elena smiled again.
"Indeed. Whether that sealed existence was truly a monster is unknown, but the possibility of it being one is still high. If so, there's a chance it possesses a Magic Stone, so why not investigate? I will keep watch over Celestan."
"Alright. Then I guess I'll take a quick look."
Replying to Elena, Rei approached the charcoal that had once been the Flesh Cocoon.
But given the sheer size of the mass of flesh that had been completely reduced to charcoal, Rei was reluctant to touch it directly with his hands.
No——even if it hadn't been turned to charcoal and was still the Flesh Cocoon, Rei would have been reluctant to touch it directly.
Having seen the sight of blood vessels of various colors pulsating within it, his reluctance was only natural.
(But I can't exactly use the Twilight Spear for something like this...... this is why it's good that I bought some throwing spears.)
The Twilight Spear, which alongside Death Scythe served as one of Rei's main weapons.
He couldn't exactly use the Twilight Spear just to deal with a mass of charcoal, so figuring he might as well, Rei tried to take a throwing spear out of the Misty Ring......
"Eh?"
But what came from Rei's mouth was a vacant sound.
Even when he tried to take a throwing spear out of the Misty Ring, he couldn't.
The Flesh Cocoon that had been sealing the Misty Ring's use was now a mass of charcoal right before Rei's eyes.
Given that, it wouldn't have been strange for the Misty Ring to already be usable.
And yet, when he tried to use it, he couldn't.
From the moment he actually tried to use the Misty Ring and realized he couldn't, less than a single second had passed.
Understanding what that meant, Rei instantly leapt backward and put distance between himself and the mass of charcoal.
"Be careful, Elena! This thing is still alive!"
The moment Rei shouted, Elena's face registered surprise.
Naturally. Engulfed by Deep Flame, with its entire body turned to charcoal, it was impossible to think the Flesh Cocoon was still alive.
Even so, the fact that she had Mirage in hand and was stance-ready toward the mass of charcoal a moment later was impressive.
......It probably helped that both Rei and Elena had witnessed the abnormal regenerative power of Deotres and Mirares, whom they had been fighting until just moments ago——that experience allowed them to react so instantly.
Then, as if responding to their vigilance, the mass of charcoal moved...... and the next moment, a single tentacle burst forth, piercing through the charcoal.
Naturally, that tentacle was not unscathed——no, parts of it were partially carbonized in multiple places. The fact that it could still function as a tentacle at all was a sight surprising enough for Rei and Elena who watched it.
But even in such a state, the tentacle swiftly extended through the air...... and the next moment, it pierced the chest of Celestan, who had been sitting on the ground in a state of stunned shock.
"......Eh?"
The one to raise a questioning voice once again was Rei.
Naturally. Rei was the greatest cause of the cocoon being instantly turned to charcoal the moment it attacked after the seal released, and Elena was the one who had fought Mirares, who had been controlled by the Flesh Cocoon.
If it had attacked either of them, it would have been understandable.
But...... the one the tentacle had pierced just now was neither Rei nor Elena. It was Celestan.
Why? It would not have been strange for the two of them to wonder that.
Moreover, according to Celestan, the sealed existence had been bound by shackles so that it would obey his commands. Had he not said so proudly?
"Ge......ga......"
From Celestan's mouth, a voiceless sound leaked out.
A gaze of astonishment, asking why, was directed toward the mass of charcoal...... and within that charcoal, a single glint of light was visible. Despite most of his body being carbonized, Celestan noticed the existence directing a gaze of pure hatred toward him.
It was the head of Gaiska, whose body had been embedded in the Flesh Cocoon.
Not a trace of his former appearance remained, but the hatred in those eyes alone was unmistakably Gaiska's.
Why the consciousness of Gaiska——who until just moments ago could be said to have lost his sense of self——had returned like this was unknown.
It was possible that he had regained consciousness due to the effect of Rei's Deep Flame, but that remained a mystery and could not be said for certain.
Above all, Celestan no longer had the composure to think about such things. His torso had been pierced, and his blood, flesh, bones, and organs were being sucked out through the tentacle that had run through his body, as if drinking juice through a straw.
In the blink of an eye, only skin remained...... and by that point, Celestan's consciousness had completely vanished.
"Elena!"
"I know."
Naturally, Rei and Elena had not been standing by idly watching the sight of the Flesh Cocoon——no, the mass of charcoal——no, Gaiska killing Celestan.
But with Gaiska still alive and the Misty Ring unusable, Rei did not have many offensive options available to him.
Moreover, he had already used his trump card, Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, and had spent much of his mana on Deep Flame to incinerate the Flesh Cocoon.
Of course, given time, his depleted mana would recover, but immediately reactivating Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor was something he simply could not do.
That being the case, the most effective person here was Elena...... and precisely because she knew that, she had immediately begun chanting her own trump card, Dragon Language Magic.
And the instant Gaiska's tentacle absorbed every trace of Celestan's existence——even the skin, the only thing that had remained——Elena's Dragon Language Magic activated.
From behind Elena, a massive dragon's head appeared.
It was not that an entire dragon had materialized; only the head portion of a dragon had manifested.
In this regard, one could say Dragon Language Magic had truly demonstrated its worth.
The dragon's head arched back as though it had a torso to support it...... and then, the next moment, it thrust forward in one swift motion.
That speed was something that even Gaiska, who had absorbed the very existence of Celestan, could by no means react to.
Before he knew it, Gaiska's body——which had been gradually trying to regenerate from the mass of charcoal——was caught in the dragon's jaws. Those fangs alone were taller than Rei's height, and the next moment, the dragon crushed Gaiska and swallowed him whole.
Having bitten Gaiska to death——no, having eaten Gaiska alive——the dragon's head vanished the next moment as though its presence there had been a lie.
......Naturally, after the dragon's head disappeared, no corpse of Gaiska remained anywhere.