"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Seeing the silver-scaled Dragonias collapse onto the ground, the Centaurs raised a collective cheer.
They had been watching the battle against the Dragonias the entire time.
Rei fighting with the Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear, and Set shattering a Dragonias's body into chunks of meat with a single swing of his front leg.
There was no doubt that seeing those had surprised them... but even so, Vihera's battle against the silver-scaled Dragonias delivered a powerful shock to those watching.
For the Centaurs, the Dragonias were... well, there was significant individual variation, but it was difficult for a single person to win even against most Dragonias in a one-on-one fight.
If it was someone with outstanding strength among the Centaurs, like Zai, that might be a different story.
Regardless, for the Centaurs, the Dragonias were opponents possessing exceptional strength.
And yet, Vihera had overwhelmed a silver-scaled Dragonias—one that was particularly strong even among such opponents... no, one that could be clearly understood to possess strength on an entirely different level.
In reality, the gap in ability was not so wide as to be called overwhelming, and compatibility had played a significant role as well.
Nevertheless, having witnessed the defeat of a silver-scaled Dragonias with that level of strength firsthand, it was no wonder the Centaurs raised a cheer.
"Haa."
Vihera wore a satisfied expression as she stood before the silver-scaled Dragonias.
This battle must have been that satisfying.
Right now, Vihera rivaled even Marina in terms of feminine allure.
It was fortunate that those present were Centaurs... people who did not view Vihera as a member of the opposite sex.
Rei found himself thinking this because Vihera at this moment was filled with a charm that attracted men.
"Here, drink this for now at least."
Taking a glass of cold Fruit Water from his Misty Ring, Rei handed it to Vihera.
At the gift from Rei, Vihera received the glass with a full smile and brought it to her lips.
The sight of her white throat moving as she drank the Fruit Water was so alluring that even Rei found himself captivated.
...She herself probably had no intention of seducing Rei at all.
But still, looking at her in this situation, it would be no wonder if someone made that kind of misunderstanding.
Rei had been captivated by Vihera, but when he saw her finish drinking the Fruit Water, he snapped back to his senses.
"Well? Want another glass?"
"No, I'm fine for now. More importantly... could you store this silver-scaled Dragonias?"
"I don't mind. However, I think it'll be difficult to use as material. Even if you intend to use it for some kind of research..."
"Yes, I understand what you're trying to say, Rei. But it was such a strong opponent. There's no telling if it might be useful for something later, right?"
When put that way, Rei could accept it.
In fact, inside his Misty Ring was the corpse of the golden-scaled Dragonias he had defeated.
He had kept it thinking that it might be useful for something someday.
(From what I could see, the silver-scaled Dragonias was several levels weaker than the golden-scaled Dragonias. Still, it had enough strength for Vihera to enjoy the fight. Does this mean... silver really is below gold?)
Silver being below gold was a value ingrained in Rei from his time living in Japan, and in Elgin as well, gold held higher value than silver.
Considering those circumstances, the values regarding gold and silver in this world were probably the same.
...Of course, even if those values were the same, Rei honestly couldn't straightforwardly accept that the exact same value system applied to the Dragonias as well.
"Got it. Then..."
Saying so, he stored the intact corpse into the Misty Ring.
Seeing that, Vihera showed a satisfied expression.
"Now then, storing the corpses... will take too much time, huh."
To store a Dragonias corpse in his Misty Ring, Rei naturally needed to touch the corpse.
Most of the Dragonias that had been at this base were burned by Rei's magic, leaving no remains behind.
However, the red-scaled Dragonias, due to their strong resistance to fire, had been wiped out by Rei and Set.
If those corpses were left as they were, there was a possibility they could become Undead, but going around storing each corpse into the Misty Ring one by one was also a hassle.
Above all, a considerable amount of red-scaled Dragonias corpses had already been stored in the Misty Ring.
If it were Dragonias with other colored scales, it would be one thing, but Rei's honest feeling was that he no longer needed the red-scaled ones.
At the very least, he had no intention of gathering the corpses himself.
"In that case, it would be faster to just burn all the remaining corpses."
"Gruu?"
Is that okay? Set purred.
Rei understood what Set was worried about.
Since it was currently night, using large-scale Flame Magic would naturally stand out even from a distance.
There was no guarantee that other Dragonias wouldn't see it and come here.
...Though from Rei's perspective, since he had already used large-scale magic when attacking this base, if other Dragonias sensed something wrong and were going to come, they would already be on the move.
"Yeah, no problem. Besides, once we burn this base clean, we'll leave here immediately. Even if other Dragonias come here, by then we'll already be gone."
Saying so, Rei stroked Set.
However, moving now... and putting as much distance from the base as possible would mean they needed to keep running without resting.
There was no doubt it would be an all-nighter.
(That's exactly why we took a short nap in the trench until nightfall, but)
The Centaurs had also taken short naps in the trench, so they should be fully capable of running through the night today.
Of course, they would need to sleep soundly after returning to the campsite, though.
"Alright, let's go."
Saying so, Rei took Vihera and Set, temporarily moved away from the base, and headed toward where the Centaurs were.
The Centaurs naturally noticed Rei and his group, and ran over toward them.
But though they came running, they fell silent as if unsure how to describe the series of events they had just witnessed.
For the Centaurs, this battle... no, this action that should be called a rout, was a shock beyond words for those watching.
At the same time, the battle between Vihera and the silver-scaled Dragonias was captivating for the Centaurs watching from afar.
...Centaurs took great pride in battle.
Because of that, not only Rei's magic that had devastated the base, but the battle Vihera had fought was enough to draw their full attention.
"Um... I don't know how to put it into words, but that was amazing."
One of the Centaurs murmured earnestly.
The others nodded in agreement.
...The fact that most of their gazes were directed at Vihera left Rei with somewhat complicated feelings.
"Anyway, once I burn the Dragonias corpses, we're leaving this place immediately. If other Dragonias find it burning, there's a chance they'll come here out of interest."
Even as he said this, Rei did genuinely wonder if that would really be the case.
Most... no, nearly all Dragonias were ruled by hunger and lacked the ability to think for themselves.
But... precisely because of that, the possibility that upon seeing an unusual sight, they would judge there might be some kind of prey there, or something that could slightly ease their hunger, and come here could not be denied.
The surrounding Centaurs had no choice but to accept Rei's words.
Knowing the threat of the Dragonias firsthand, they could not deny what Rei said.
"But hey, um... the campsite where we're currently staying isn't that far from here, right? Then isn't there a chance they might come all the way to the campsite?"
One of the Centaurs voiced this concern, but Rei nodded in agreement.
"I can't deny that possibility. But if they come our way, that's fine too. There will be fewer of them than those that might come here, and above all..."
Rei paused and turned his gaze to Vihera beside him.
Vihera was satisfied from her fight with the silver-scaled Dragonias, but given her nature, she was greedy for battle.
If she learned that new Dragonias had arrived, she would eagerly and joyfully challenge them to a fight.
Of course, Rei and Set had no intention of hesitating to kill Dragonias either.
In order to reduce the danger to Anastasia and Fana even slightly, the more Dragonias they killed, the better.
(Ah, but thinking about it that way, would it be better to just wait here? ...No, but that would put the others in danger.)
Many of the Centaurs here possessed considerable ability, as expected of those chosen for the reconnaissance unit.
But at the same time, considering the possibility of their settlement being attacked by Dragonias, it was only natural for the settlement to not send their true trump-card elites.
For that reason, if they fought a group of Dragonias in this situation, there was a possibility the Centaurs would suffer casualties.
Furthermore, few people remained at the campsite, and naturally their combat power in case of emergency was small.
Considering those circumstances, he reconsidered that it would be better to return to the campsite as quickly as possible.
"Come on, let's get moving. Once I burn the corpses at that base, we're leaving immediately, so be ready for it. We're traveling through the night today."
At Rei's words, several of the Centaurs showed displeased expressions.
These were the ones who hadn't taken a nap during the day, or those who tried to nap but couldn't sleep due to nervousness.
After all, on the other side of the hill a short distance from the trench was the Dragonias base, and given that fact, there was no telling when the trench might be discovered.
With Set around, they understood in their heads that there was no need to worry, but this was more of a feeling than a thought. It could even be called instinctive.
It was only natural that some would end up unable to sleep due to such fear.
For such people, they couldn't help but wonder how Rei and the others could sleep so close to the Dragonias.
Of course, in Rei's case, he completely trusted Set and had confidence in his own abilities.
Having completed various requests as an adventurer had played a role.
An adventurer had to sleep when they could. Also, they had to wake immediately if something happened.
For example, Rei was normally quite slow to wake up, and it was not uncommon for him to be half-asleep for several minutes... or in some cases, over ten minutes.
But during a request, if something happened he would wake immediately, and he basically never woke up groggy.
This was purely due to experience.
"Well then... let's burn them."
Muttering, Rei focused his consciousness on the Death Scythe and began to chant an incantation.
"O flames, feed upon my magic power and burn the dead to ashes. Let all their regrets be purified by my fire. Resentment, bitterness, jealousy, hatred. All of it is meaningless before my magic power. Flame burns away even grudge and malice. Therefore, with my magic power, return to the heavens."
What was created alongside that incantation was blue flame.
It was not hot at all... rather, looking at that flame would make one's heart feel calm.
But while it was such a flame, Rei's magic power was being consumed in large quantities.
This was the reaction of forcibly adding a holy attribute to fire—just like the spell "Flame Heaven Wheel" that Rei had recently created.
Even so, the magic power consumed was less compared to the "Flame Heaven Wheel."
This was probably due to the difference between what was being added to Rei's fire attribute: purification versus flying through the sky.
In Rei's mind, purification was closer to the fire attribute than flight.
Because of that, the magic power consumption was high, but not unbearable.
This might have been because he was used to the sensation of consuming large amounts of magic power from using the "Flame Heaven Wheel."
And... consuming a large amount of magic power, the spell activated.
"Mourning Flames."
Along with those words, blue flames spread out, purifying all of the Dragonias corpses.