『……』
Seeing the Scorching Hell suddenly born at the end of their gaze, the Centaurs could not utter a single word.
These were not just ordinary Centaurs. The ones here had steeled themselves, even prepared to die, to protect their settlement—their families, lovers, and friends—from the Dragonias, beings that could be called incarnations of hunger.
Even to such Centaurs, the Scorching Hell brought forth before their eyes left them with nothing but astonishment.
Though that Scorching Hell had been created quite far away, the fierce heatwave—a fragment of the inferno spawned there—reached all the way to the settlement's vicinity.
If anything, it felt as though the temperature around the settlement had risen by several degrees... or nearly ten in some places.
"No problem, then."
Having unleashed such hell, Rei examined the Death Scythe in his hands as if oblivious to what he had just done, confirming its state.
In his original world—Elgin—Rei had been able to use magic freely, at least when it came to Flame Magic.
However, while this was a world where magic existed, it was not Elgin.
Whether the magic he could use in Elgin would also work here was something he could not know without actually testing it.
As a test, that spell had been far too powerful, but Rei had gone through with it anyway.
That was likely because he had a mostly intuitive sense that magic would work here.
"Well, with that taken care of—"
"Gruu!"
Just as Rei was about to say that the Dragonias situation was settled, Set let out a sharp cry, cutting him off.
Sensing something was amiss with Set's behavior, Rei turned his gaze toward the Scorching Hell, thinking, Surely not.
Within the flames at the end of his gaze, something suddenly seemed to move.
That Rei could discern it was because his body, created by the Zephyle Clan, possessed sharper senses than a human's.
And Set possessed even sharper senses than Rei, which was why it had noticed before Rei did.
"GOGAAAAAAH!"
Roaring, figures emerged from within the flames.
Their bodies were covered in red scales, and in terms of shape alone, they resembled Centaurs.
But that was merely because the structure of their upper and lower halves was similar. Looking closely at their detailed appearance, it would be harder to find similarities than differences.
The first thing that left an impression was their size.
They were larger than Rei, and given that the Centaurs—who were themselves bigger than Rei—had said these creatures were even larger, the word "gigantic" was indeed fitting.
In terms of height, they exceeded three meters, making them equal to or larger than Gaga.
Their lower halves resembled dragons... no, lizards, but unlike Centaurs, which all had four legs, these creatures had varying numbers of legs—four, six, or eight.
Their upper halves slightly resembled Lizardmen, but only slightly.
If Rei were to tell Zozo or Gaga that Dragonias resembled Lizardmen, Zozo would protest mildly, and Gaga might actually attack him depending on the situation.
It would be more accurate to describe them as Lizardmen made far more vicious, with all intelligence and reason stripped away.
Both the lizard-like lower half and the upper half were uniformly covered in scales.
However, unlike the green scales of a typical Lizardman, these were red.
"Quite a flashy appearance. I never expected something like that could withstand my magic."
"...N-No. That's not it."
Perhaps hearing Rei's mutter, Zai snapped back to his senses and told him so.
Not it? What isn't? When Rei directed a questioning gaze at Zai, Zai seemed to regain his composure from the very act of speaking. He let out a small breath before opening his mouth.
"There are Dragonias with various types of scales. And depending on the type of scales, their abilities change as well. Those with red scales can eat fire and heat."
"So they can... eat..."
Eat fire and heat.
Hearing that, Rei vaguely understood why the red-scaled Dragonias that had broken through his magic were now charging straight toward him.
In other words, to a red-scaled Dragonias, Rei's existence must have seemed like some kind of exquisite delicacy.
Indeed, seeing the Scorching Hell that Rei had created, making such a judgment was not strange at all.
"By the way, what do you think happened to the Dragonias with other colored scales?"
"What Dragonias can eat differs depending on the color of their scales. Those without red scales were likely burned to death by your magic. ...Magic, right?"
Rei nodded at Zai's confirming words.
He figured that the magic he had used must have been different from the magic Zai knew.
From what Rei had heard, only a small number within the Centaur settlement could use magic.
And judging by Zai's demeanor, even that magic was nothing particularly flashy.
If so, the magic Rei had used—magic from another world called Elgin—might be considered heresy in this world.
"I see. ...Regardless, what will you do about those red Dragonias? Should I take them down? Or will you fight them yourselves?"
"We will fight them. Thanks to you, we were able to eliminate most of the Dragonias that came. I'm grateful for that, but I cannot leave everything to you."
Their pride won't allow it.
Rei could understand that was what he was saying.
But did they really have the luxury to say such a thing in this situation? That was Rei's honest feeling.
The Centaurs were currently cornered.
Considering they had been driven to the brink by the Dragonias, Rei felt they should conserve as much combat power as possible while he was here.
Though Rei harbored such doubts, looking at Zai's expression, he understood that saying anything more would be pointless.
"I see, understood. ...I'll say this just in case, but if you're in trouble, I'm stepping in, alright? There are plenty of things I want to ask you all."
"I know. That said, no matter how strong the Dragonias are, defeating that many won't be difficult. ...Listen, everyone! Our friend here has already defeated the majority of the enemy! He says he can take care of the remaining Dragonias as well. If we let him, we could win today's battle without suffering a single casualty. But... is that acceptable?! Even if he is a friend, he is not one of our settlement, not one of our clan! Will we leave everything to an outsider and merely watch?!"
Zai's words brought back to their senses those who had been mesmerized by the Scorching Hell Rei had created.
...Not only did they regain their senses, but Zai's words inspired many of them, and they turned eyes filled with fighting spirit toward the red-scaled Dragonias charging at them.
The distance between them and the Dragonias had already closed to under two hundred meters. Had they not snapped out of it at Zai's words, they would have undoubtedly been trampled.
In that sense as well, Zai's words were perfectly timed.
"If you have seen our friend's strength, then next it is time to show him ours! Charge! To protect our friends, our families, our settlement... to protect everything!"
"UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"
At Zai's words, everyone who heard them... no, nearly everyone raised a battle cry.
However, there were a few who did not shout, and among them, several were familiar to Rei.
Dratt's flunkies immediately averted their gazes the moment their eyes met Rei's.
They were likely regretting their own carelessness in having picked a fight with him without realizing he possessed such power.
As far as Rei was concerned, he had experienced quite a few unexpected things since arriving in this world, and he no longer thought much of it.
As Rei observed Zai, Zai grabbed his spear and was the first to charge toward the Dragonias rushing at them... more precisely, at their settlement.
As if this were the natural thing to do, the other Centaurs followed Zai, breaking into a run toward the pack of red-scaled Dragonias.
(I hadn't asked about Zai's exact position, but seeing this, is he something like a warlord?)
He was surrounded by companions—though seemingly fewer than Dratt's group—possessed the strength to fight on the front lines himself, and carried a certain charisma.
Considering all of this, there was no doubt he held a high position among the Centaurs.
(Dratt's flunkies are also charging toward the enemy together.)
As for Dratt's flunkies, they simply didn't want to be anywhere near Rei, the one who had created that much of a Scorching Hell... but Rei showed no sign of noticing that.
"Gruu?"
Rei, who had been watching the Centaurs go, heard Set purring beside him and turned his gaze in that direction.
Is it okay to just leave Zai and the others be? Set was looking at him with that kind of gaze, and Rei hesitated over what to do.
As far as Rei was concerned, he wanted to sell the Centaurs a favor, so he wanted as few of them to die as possible.
However, he wondered whether the proud Zai and his people, after having the majority of the Dragonias defeated and then receiving further assistance from Rei, would truly feel grateful.
There was a possibility they would judge that they could have defeated the remaining ones on their own, and that Rei had interfered and tarnished their pride.
Even so, there was no way he could just abandon them...
"Let's watch from above and help if it looks dangerous. Is that alright with you, Set?"
"Gruu!"
Set cried out as if agreeing with Rei's words.
...By that time, the battle had already begun on the front lines.
The Dragonias carried no weapons in their hands.
Many of them had initially held clubs and similar items, but those clubs were, of course, made of wood.
The red-scaled Dragonias, possessing strong resistance to fire, had survived Rei's magic.
However, all of their club-like weapons had been completely burned away by Rei's spell.
Still, even bare-handed, the Dragonias had sharp claws and fangs.
Those two alone possessed enough power to tear prey apart and claim their lives.
Furthermore, the sheer strength of their massive bodies overwhelmingly surpassed the Centaurs as well.
The Centaurs' advantages lay in their agility, their greater numbers, and the combat techniques born from their possession of reason and intelligence.
However, as long as they held those advantages, even if they couldn't win in individual strength, they could leverage their numbers to fight favorably.
And in fact, the Centaurs were pressing the advantage against the Dragonias.
Even so, the Dragonias' strength still exceeded the Centaurs', and above all, they were driven by hunger, so minor pain would not deal effective damage.
Some Centaurs had their bodies slashed open by Dragonias claws, or in some cases, had their flesh torn off.
Additionally, the Dragonias' bodies—both the lizard-like lower half and the humanoid upper half—were covered in scales, and those scales were extremely tough.
For those with low skill or weak strength, piercing through those scales or aiming for the gaps between them was difficult.
"At this rate... even if they win, the Centaurs will suffer heavy casualties."
There were about thirty Dragonias, while the Centaur side numbered nearly three hundred.
If these were ordinary humans, with a numerical difference of nearly tenfold, the larger group would win.
And yet, the scales of battle still tipped toward neither side.
The Centaurs, who had been the rulers of this grassland until the Dragonias arrived, were in this state against just a tenth of their number, making it painfully clear just how powerful the Dragonias were.
Fortunately—and it was truly fortunate—no one had died yet.
But it was certain that it would not be long before casualties appeared on the Centaur side.
"I'm helping."
Watching the battle from the sky, Rei made that decision without hesitation.
If anyone had been watching Rei, they would have wanted to ask what the point of his earlier hesitation had been.
Indeed, up until just now, Rei had been torn over whether to help or simply observe.
So why did he decide to help so readily?
It went without saying: he had judged that, as things stood, even if the Centaurs won, they would ultimately suffer heavy losses.
As far as Rei was concerned, a decrease in the number of Centaurs who would interact with him amicably brought nothing but disadvantages.
Given that, even if it earned him Zai's displeasure, there was no option to not intervene here.
"Set, we're taking down the Dragonias. Will you lend me your strength too?"
"Gruu!"
Stroking Set as it purred... Rei, with Death Scythe still in hand, leaped from Set's back in midair.