"…It showed up."
Rei muttered as he listened to the cry echoing across the battlefield.
Beside him, Vihera smiled. The opponent she had been waiting for had finally appeared.
Having heard from Rei about the golden-scaled Dragonias, she had taken a keen interest in it. But since this base was smaller than the one Rei had destroyed, she had thought a creature like the golden-scaled Dragonias might not be here at all.
Still, the Dragonias had appeared to be acting under orders, so she had held out hope that a commanding individual must exist. And now, that hope had been fulfilled.
In reality, Vihera had no idea what kind of being the commanding Dragonias at this base actually was.
It might be the same type of individual as the golden-scaled one Rei had defeated, or it might be something else entirely.
Even so, it was better to have one than not.
"Then Set and I will take down the red-scaled Dragonias. Vihera, you handle the commanding one. That work for you?"
"Yes."
Without a moment's hesitation, Vihera nodded, showing no objection.
Then she turned her moistened eyes toward Rei—visible even in the combined glow of the moonlight and the flames burning around them.
Any ordinary man would have been captivated by the overwhelming, magnetic pull of Vihera's gaze. Rei simply nodded.
Seeing that nod, Vihera kicked off the ground and charged toward the Dragonias base… or more precisely, toward the direction the cry had come from.
After seeing her off, Rei and Set began walking toward the survivors.
Initially, the Dragonias had seemed half-confused, caught up in the flames Rei had created. But now was different.
Reacting to the cry that had just echoed across the area, they had quickly regained their composure.
…Of course, just because the Dragonias had regained their composure didn't mean the flames would die out.
Even now, Dragonias were still being burned to death one after another by Rei's fire.
However, these flames wouldn't last forever either.
No matter how much magical power Rei had poured into them, the flames still had what could be called a lifespan.
And that lifespan was by no means long.
Perhaps ten-odd minutes.
But in those ten-odd minutes, the Dragonias had suffered devastating casualties.
The only ones that survived after the flames died out were the red-scaled Dragonias, which possessed strong fire resistance, and a small handful that had escaped death by pure, genuine coincidence.
"Set, let's finish off the survivors."
"Gruu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a cry as if to say "Understood!" and broke into a run alongside him.
Rei figured that if he wanted to dispatch the enemies quickly, borrowing the Centaurs' strength might have been the better option. But while the Dragonias that had taken heavy damage from the flames yet still clung to life were one thing, the red-scaled Dragonias took no damage at all from Rei's fire.
And since Rei hadn't attacked them with anything other than his magic, the red-scaled Dragonias were nearly unscathed.
Asking the Centaurs to fight such opponents would have been cruel.
If the ones here were skilled fighters like Zai, Rei might have made that choice. But they weren't, which meant Rei had to take the Dragonias down himself.
(Besides, the Centaurs came here specifically to watch me ravage the Dragonias base.)
With that in mind, Rei walked forward with Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear in hand, turning his gaze toward the hill.
There, the Centaurs stood with expressions of sheer astonishment—looking as though they simply couldn't believe the sight unfolding before their very eyes.
They knew Rei was strong. They had seen him defeat Dragonias firsthand, and some had likely heard the reports from the messenger sent out from Zai's settlement. Even those who had joined the campsite later from settlements with no prior contact to Zai's should have heard the stories from the others.
But hearing stories secondhand and witnessing Rei ravage a Dragonias base with their own eyes were two entirely different things.
What had just played out before the Centaurs was a sight that, under normal circumstances, would have been dismissed as utterly impossible.
"No way… Am I dreaming?"
One of the Centaurs on the hill muttered as he watched Rei bisect a red-scaled Dragonias's torso with Death Scythe.
His voice trembled—enough that anyone would think he was terrified. But considering most of the others were so overwhelmed they couldn't speak at all, the mere fact that he could mutter those words proved he had more nerve than the rest.
Hearing him break the silence, the others found their voices as well.
"This… isn't a dream, right?" one Centaur said, pinching his own arm.
Had Rei seen that, he might have mused something about how everyone always went for the same cliché reaction. But that was beyond what the Centaurs would ever know.
"Yeah, it's not a dream. Anyone who smells that charred stench in the air can tell this is real."
"I heard the stories, but I never imagined it would be this incredible."
"Set-chan is amazing too, look!"
At the words of a woman who had grown close to Set, the Centaurs—who had been so transfixed by Rei's magic—turned their gazes back to the battlefield.
There, a Dragonias was having its entire upper body shattered by a single strike of Set's front leg.
"No way."
The one who muttered that was someone who knew exactly how much defensive power Dragonias scales possessed.
Dragonias scales were incredibly difficult for the Centaurs to pierce. Given that, killing a Dragonias was no easy feat. Yet Set shattered the upper body—scales and all—with nothing more than a swing of his front leg.
It was obvious that the power behind that single strike was in a league entirely beyond what the Centaurs could muster.
Those who had actually fought Dragonias felt this even more acutely.
"Maybe… with Rei and the others here, they really could do something about the Dragonias?"
"Yeah. But isn't that relying on them too much? Wasn't this supposed to be our problem to begin with?"
"…But…"
Many of the Centaurs found themselves thinking that depending on Rei this much might be a problem.
The very issue Rei had worried about—that the Centaurs were becoming too reliant on him—had surfaced from their own mouths.
If Rei knew, he would undoubtedly have been surprised.
That said, given the current situation, the most effective combat force against the Dragonias was undeniably Rei's group. A battle fought without relying on him would unquestionably result in heavy Centaur casualties.
"Be that as it may, Rei is right there. And there's no doubt he has the strength to cut down the Dragonias one-sidedly."
At those words, everyone nodded.
As the group watched from afar… within the Dragonias base, Vihera was facing off against a single Dragonias.
"Huh. I heard the one Rei fought was a golden-scaled Dragonias, but… so there's a silver one too."
Vihera smiled at the Dragonias before her—the silver-scaled Dragonias.
"Gogaaagagagaga."
The silver-scaled Dragonias let out a guttural, hard-to-parse cry, but Vihera couldn't understand a word of it.
What she did understand, however, was that the creature before her harbored unmistakable hostility toward her.
"Oh my, do I look that delicious to you? Hehe."
Flashing a provocative smile, Vihera taunted the silver-scaled Dragonias.
Whether or not it understood her words, the silver-scaled Dragonias let out a warning growl, keeping Vihera at bay.
(It seems that unlike the others, it doesn't see me as food.)
It wasn't as if Vihera wanted to be eaten, but being dismissed like that was still somewhat galling.
If this had been one of the Dragonias driven mad by hunger, it might have tried to tear into her soft flesh and devour her on the spot.
"Now then… we don't have much time, so… shall we get started? I can't keep Rei waiting."
Listening to the sounds of battle behind her, Vihera murmured.
Even if they were the sounds of combat, what reached her ears was mostly the screams and roars of Dragonias. Occasionally, Set's cries rang out as well.
In any case, she could easily imagine what was happening without looking.
And since Rei and Set were the ones fighting, it was equally easy to imagine that the battle would be over soon.
So what should she do about the superb enemy right in front of her?
If she took too long, Rei and Set might come barging in. Given that they knew Vihera's personality, that was unlikely… but there was still a possibility something unexpected could happen.
…Above all, Vihera wanted to fight the opponent before her to her heart's content, and her honest feeling was that she didn't want to be interrupted.
"Here I come. Make sure you entertain me."
The moment those words left her lips, Vihera was already right in the silver-scaled Dragonias's face.
"Gogaa!"
Startled, the silver-scaled Dragonias swung its arm half on reflex.
That strike was no mere blow. The claws extending from its fingers were sharp enough to tear apart metal armor.
But—
"Too slow."
Effortlessly sidestepping the swing, Vihera slipped into the enemy's guard and drove her fist into the silver scales.
A sharp clang rang out across the surroundings.
"So hard… whoa!"
The silver scales didn't take so much as a scratch from Vihera's gauntlet-clad strike. If anything, the impact left her arm faintly numb.
Naturally, the silver-scaled Dragonias didn't miss that opening. Baring its sharp fangs, it lunged to tear off her soft flesh. But Vihera twisted away and created distance.
She had dodged successfully, but it had been an unexpectedly sharp strike. In the glow of the moonlight and Rei's magical flames, several strands of reddish-purple hair drifted down to the ground.
"Gogagagagagogagadoaddoddo."
The silver-scaled Dragonias snarled at her, but unfortunately, Vihera couldn't understand a word.
"No idea what you're saying, but… anyway, let's keep going."
Vihera kicked off the ground once more and closed the distance.
Since a direct punch hadn't worked, her next move was the magic claws extending from her Hand Gauntlets.
This time, the silver-scaled Dragonias didn't fail to track Vihera's movement as she closed in.
Naturally, it could see the magic claws extending from her gauntlets as well.
Claws against claws. As if to declare exactly that through its stance, it swung its own sharp claws. The next moment, with a high-pitched metallic clink, the silver-scaled Dragonias's claws were sheared through—and simultaneously, Vihera's magic claws snapped halfway.
"Not bad!"
But Vihera had heard from Rei all about the golden-scaled Dragonias. Naturally, she hadn't expected something of this level to kill her opponent. Even with her magic claws broken, she showed no sign of being fazed, immediately flowing into her next attack.
The fist she swung was a feint. She tried to seize the silver-scaled Dragonias's arm and apply a joint lock, but the creature seemed to sense her intent instinctively, breaking free with raw force.
What followed was a brutal close-quarters brawl—fist against fist, foot against foot, with elbows and knees unleashed in rapid succession.
"Ahahahaha! Ahahahahahaha!"
Laughter spilled from Vihera's lips without her even realizing it.
How long did that battle last? Ten minutes, twenty minutes—perhaps even more.
And so the time passed, until—
"Go…ga…"
In the end, it was the silver-scaled Dragonias that collapsed to the ground.
Vihera had won the battle without ever needing to bring out her ultimate technique—the Magic Impact Palm.
…And without so much as a real injury to show for it.