"Oh, I can see it."
"Gururu!"
Rei muttered with admiration as a grove came into view ahead, and Set rumbled his throat as if to say, How about that?
Given how much he'd been called directionally challenged, it wouldn't be strange for him to feel a little smug about arriving at the grove without getting lost.
...In reality, he had lost his way while running on the ground and had resorted to flying up into the sky several times to confirm their heading. But Rei wasn't about to bring that up.
After all, he had fully accepted that he was even more prone to getting lost than Set.
If this were the area around Gilm, where roads and the like actually existed, they could use them as landmarks. Or if there were forests, lakes, or rivers—things that were easy to use as reference points—it would be a different story. But unfortunately, with none of those present, all Rei could do was leave navigation to Set.
Centaurs, who were born, lived, and died on these grasslands, could probably memorize the terrain using even the most inconspicuous landscape features as landmarks.
Still, I would've liked to talk with Anastasia and the others while we traveled like this.
With that thought, Rei cast his gaze behind him.
There, two deer—while not as large as Set, still of considerable size—trotted along. Anastasia and Fana rode on their backs respectively, and Rei could tell they were chatting about something.
But there was no way Rei could join their conversation, given the current situation.
That was because the two deer instinctively feared Set.
Even following behind Set was only possible because Anastasia and Fana were desperately calming the animals. If Rei tried to join the conversation and had Set approach the two deer, they would undoubtedly panic.
...Or perhaps freeze entirely in terror.
From the heads of both deer, magnificent antlers extended.
Antlers so impressive that their bearers might rightly be called the kings and lords of the mountain.
But even with such magnificent antlers, it seemed the deer still perceived a gryphon as a threat.
Not just any threat, but something they regarded as an absolute symbol of death.
...The gap in power between Set and the deer was indeed that vast, without question.
In practice, despite that overwhelming disparity, Set would never wield his strength recklessly, so they were safe.
Then again, if the deer had been wild animals rather than ones cherished by Anastasia and Fana, there was a chance Set might have judged them as prey.
But fortunately, the two deer were beloved by Anastasia and the others, and Set would never attack someone like that.
"Hey! It's that grove! That's where our campsite is!"
Turning around from atop Set's back, Rei shouted. Hearing his voice, Anastasia waved her hand broadly in acknowledgment.
"Guru..."
At the sight, Set rumbled his throat, sounding just a little disappointed.
From Set's perspective, he would have preferred to stay close to Anastasia, Fana, and the others. It wouldn't have been surprising if he wanted to play with the two deer as well.
But knowing that the deer were afraid, Set wouldn't go out of his way to approach them.
In the end, Set kept Rei on his back and headed toward the grove. But as it drew closer, something suddenly occurred to Rei.
Wait... could it be difficult for those deer to pass through the grove?
The deer were about two meters in body length—quite large. But what concerned Rei even more were the massive antlers growing from their heads.
When it came to whether those antlers could navigate between the trees in the grove... honestly, it would be somewhat difficult.
Because the antlers were so massive, finding a path they could fit through would be a challenge.
But if he left the deer outside the grove, there was a worst-case possibility that they could be devoured by Dragonias.
Looking at Anastasia and the others, there's no doubt they won't agree to release the deer... so worst case, do I cut down trees in the grove to make a path to the settlement? No, if I do that, it'll be harder to respond when Dragonias attack.
Putting the Centaurs in the settlement they were using as a campsite in danger for the sake of two deer was out of the question.
Given that, what he needed to do now was think of another approach.
"If Set could touch the deer, I could carry them through the sky... but that's not going to be easy."
"Guru?"
Set turned his gaze toward Rei's murmur as if to ask, What's wrong?
"No, I was just thinking about how to get those deer to the settlement. Set, you can fly, so you'd manage somehow, but those deer can't exactly do the same, right?"
"Guru..."
Set let out a cry as if in agreement.
Set had also tried stepping out into the grove a few times, but for a creature exceeding three meters in body length, it was—not impossible, but definitely quite difficult.
Whether the deer following nervously behind him could navigate such terrain... Set understood without even needing to think about it that it would be a struggle.
"So I'm wondering what to do. If those deer could just get used to Set, that would be the quickest solution."
"Gururu!"
Even as Rei and Set exchanged words, the grove grew larger before them.
And as it did, Rei noticed something around its perimeter. No—not something. Dragonias.
"Good timing or bad timing... hard to say. Set!"
"Gurururu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a loud cry and broke into a run toward the grove.
"Anastasia! It's Dragonias! You and Fana, wait here!"
Pulling the Death Scythe and Twilight Spear from his Misty Ring, Rei shouted over his shoulder. Without stopping to check whether his voice had reached them, he stayed straddled on Set's back and charged toward the grove.
Set's running speed was markedly different from before. Until now, he had been running slowly, holding back considerably so as not to leave behind the two deer following from behind.
But now was different.
He needed to reach the grove as quickly as possible and eliminate the Dragonias there.
"Gurururururu!"
Set's cry echoed across the surroundings.
If the Dragonias had been ordinary monsters, they would have sensed the danger in Set's cry and fled. But these Dragonias were driven by hunger, and on top of that, they were being led by a High-ranking Species commander.
Because of that, even with the roar of Set—a being clearly superior to them—reverberating all around, they showed no sign of cowering. If anything, they recognized that a suitable mass of meat to satisfy their hunger had arrived, and they let out cries of joy as they charged forward.
"Janjokan-na!"
Among them, one Dragonias—remarkably fast on its feet for its kind—leaped at Set before any of the others.
Fundamentally, Dragonias were slower than Centaurs, but alongside that trait, the individual variation between them was extreme. That was precisely why some among them were specialized for running.
The Dragonias that attacked Set was likely just such a specimen.
If this had been inside the grove, it wouldn't have been able to capitalize on its speed, but fortunately, this was the open grassland outside. For the Dragonias, it was a place where they could fully leverage their combat abilities.
"Gurururu!"
With a sickening crunch, Set's beak crushed the Dragonias's head.
This was not a grove packed with trees; it was an open battlefield where the Dragonias could move freely, which naturally meant the surrounding area also gave Set ample space to fight.
And Set's strength was clearly a cut above the Dragonias. The outcome was only natural.
But even with a comrade dead, the remaining Dragonias showed no hesitation. If anything, they almost seemed pleased that there were fewer rivals to compete with for the meat.
"Alright, Set. I'm joining in. Let's fight together."
"Guru!"
As Rei declared this, leaping down from Set's back with the Death Scythe and Twilight Spear in hand, Set purred happily.
Even in a battle like this, fighting alongside Rei was something that brought Set joy.
Especially here—not in a cramped grove where movement was restricted, but on an open grassland where they could move freely. That made fighting the enemy considerably easier.
The majority of the Dragonias headed for Set. Since they were large enough to rival Set in size, they apparently judged that the small-framed Rei, even if taken down, wouldn't provide enough meat to satisfy their hunger.
Naturally, Rei understood that the Dragonias targeting him were thinking exactly that.
...Even so, they were coming at him in earnest, driven by the need to satisfy their hunger.
"But to think that attacks with absolutely no technique behind them would work—that's just insulting."
Dodging a sweeping claw strike, Rei swung the Death Scythe upward. Rei, whose weight was perhaps less than half—or even twenty percent—of a Dragonias, swung the Death Scythe, and its shaft caught the creature and launched it into the air, where Set's foreleg slammed it back down, shattering every bone in its body against the earth.
Glancing sideways at that, Rei redirected the Death Scythe's blade using only his wrist—flowing straight from the motion that had sent the first Dragonias flying—and bisected a nearby Dragonias diagonally from shoulder to hip.
Under normal circumstances, such a movement would place tremendous strain on the wrist, but thanks to the Death Scythe's ability to feel weightless to Rei and Set, the motion was executed effortlessly.
At the same time, he drove the butt-spike of the Twilight Spear in his left hand into the solar plexus of a Dragonias that had lunged from behind, trying to tear into his neck.
It was the butt-spike rather than the spearhead, but its tip was also pointed, and given Rei's physical abilities, it was more than enough to punch through the Dragonias's solar plexus.
Compared to piercing with the spearhead, the wound was inevitably cruder.
"Whoa! You're as full of fighting spirit as ever, I see!"
Showing not the slightest reaction to its comrade's death, the Dragonias lunged to tear off Rei's flesh. He dodged the strike and, with the creature's neck perfectly positioned in front of him, kicked it with all his might.
Rather than the head being crushed—because he'd struck the neck instead—the Dragonias's head went flying through the air like a soccer ball.
Without watching its trajectory, Rei swung the Death Scythe as he reset his stance, bisecting the torso of a leaping Dragonias. And since that was the last one, every Dragonias that had attacked Rei was annihilated.
"Now then..."
He'd understood from the start that the number of enemies targeting him had been small, so after wiping them out, Rei considered his next move.
Should he assist Set, who was still fighting? Go after the Dragonias that had already entered the grove? Head for the settlement under attack? Or hunt down the commander Dragonias that was surely lurking somewhere nearby?
There were countless options.
What Rei chose was to first help Set deal with the Dragonias swarming around him.
Even if he wanted to reach the settlement, it would be faster to fly there on Set than to push through the grove on foot.
But if he left the remaining Dragonias behind and headed for the settlement with Set, Anastasia and Fana—waiting a short distance away—could come under attack.
In the end, Rei judged that annihilating every Dragonias outside the grove would be the most straightforward approach.
That said, the task itself wasn't particularly laborious. By the time Rei had wiped out the Dragonias that came after him, Set had already taken down a considerable number. More importantly, the total number of Dragonias outside the grove wasn't all that large to begin with.
They had already been overwhelmed by Set alone. With Rei joining the fight, there was no way they could cope.
Through Rei and Set's coordination, the pace of annihilation surged, and in less than a few minutes, every Dragonias at this location lay dead.