"Your strength is monstrous as always."
Seeing the Dragonias annihilated, Anastasia approached Rei and said as much.
Fana, meanwhile, was waiting a short distance away with the two deer.
She had probably wanted to come along too, but the deer were still terrified of Set.
...Well, given that they had just watched Set overwhelm a creature they could never defeat in a head-on fight, their terror was only natural.
"Is that so? Dragonias have fairly strong physical abilities, but that's all they have going for them. They don't use their heads to choose where to attack, and their strikes are purely instinctive. Speed aside, there's nothing sharp about them. Honestly, once you get used to them, there aren't many opponents this easy to fight."
"...I think that's something only you could say, Rei."
Anastasia's voice carried a hint of—no, a fairly strong sense of exasperation.
The truth was, she felt he could only say that because of his own overwhelming ability.
In reality, the Centaurs had suffered heavy casualties in their battles against the Dragonias.
Looking at that fact alone, it was obvious that fighting Dragonias was no simple matter.
But... Rei shook his head at Anastasia's words.
"That's not quite true. The Centaurs Vihera has been training are getting to the point where they can take on Dragonias and win normally."
From what Rei had observed, what made fighting Dragonias troublesome wasn't so much their extraordinary physical abilities as something more akin to their mentality.
They were ruled by hunger, and minor attacks had no effect on them at all.
...No, to be precise, damage was probably being dealt, but Dragonias driven by hunger simply couldn't register it as such.
That was why, unless struck with a massive—ideally fatal—blow in a single hit, Dragonias couldn't recognize the damage they were taking.
And dealing only superficial damage was meaningless. They prioritized sinking their fangs into the enemy's body, tearing off flesh, and drinking blood over any concern for their own injuries.
Because of this, they appeared bizarre to the Centaurs... and unable to comprehend that bizarreness, the Centaurs would unconsciously slow their reactions in battle.
But Vihera possessed strength surpassing even that of Dragonias, and as a Battle Maniac, she forced them to confront a different kind of madness entirely during their mock battles. While they couldn't be said to have fully grown accustomed to that madness, they had at least become capable of dealing with it to some extent.
As a result, they no longer felt unconscious fear when facing Dragonias, and in a sense, they could now fight at their true potential.
Rei explained all of this to Anastasia, but the exasperated look she gave him in return left him unsure how to react.
"Did something happen?"
"Listen... are you trying to turn the Centaurs into some kind of separate combat species? Well, I suppose it might be necessary for their survival, but."
"Hm? ...Well, never mind that. Anyway, our current base camp is inside this grove. What should we do about the deer? I imagine it'll be quite difficult for them to pass between the trees."
As Rei changed the subject, Anastasia shot him another exasperated glance... but at the same time, clearly understanding that navigating the deer she had been riding through the grove would be difficult, she appeared troubled as she gazed at the trees.
"What about Set? Set is bigger than the deer, so wouldn't he also have trouble getting into a grove with this many trees packed together?"
"Set goes from the sky."
"...Ah, I see."
"Gruu!"
Anastasia seemed convinced by Rei's words.
Set rumbled his throat at her, practically demanding praise with an unmistakable "Aren't I amazing!" demeanor.
Anastasia stroked Set as she turned her gaze back toward the grove.
If it were herself or Fana, they could make their way through the grove without any real difficulty.
But precisely because the deer possessed magnificent—no, overly magnificent—antlers, threading through the trees growing in the grove would be a challenge.
"This is a problem."
"If the deer wouldn't struggle when Set grabbed them and flew them through the air, we might be able to manage somehow..."
"Impossible."
"Yeah, I figured. ...Is there nothing your Spirit Magic can do, Anastasia?"
With Spirit Magic, surely she could at least shift the trees slightly? Rei thought so, likely because he knew Marina, a fellow Spirit Magic practitioner.
Of course, Rei also knew that Marina, as a Spirit Magic user, was outstanding—no, she possessed overwhelming talent and skill that couldn't be adequately captured by a word like "outstanding."
Anastasia herself had said something similar in the past.
But even so, Rei figured that much should at least be within her power...
"Impossible."
Anastasia declared it without hesitation.
"I'm not asking you to move every tree in the grove, just the ones where the deer need to pass through. Still impossible?"
"Still impossible."
Anastasia answered flatly.
Is it really that difficult? Rei was about to ask, but then he noticed Anastasia staring at the grove with an unusually stern expression, and a question formed in his mind instead.
"Did something happen?"
"This grove... it isn't an ordinary one, is it?"
The words that came from Anastasia's mouth were unexpected—and yet, Rei found he could accept them.
The trees growing in this grove were not ordinary.
After all, even the Dragonias had been ordered not to break them.
Considering that, it was obvious the trees here were anything but normal.
That had been one of the reasons Rei suspected something lay buried beneath the settlement...
(Did I just hit the jackpot?)
It was an unexpected turn of events, but like a stroke of unexpected fortune, he was genuinely pleased.
"I believe there's something underground in the settlement—something the Dragonias are after. Right now, the Centaurs are excavating it... if I bring you there, would you be able to figure out what it is?"
"That's... hard to say. I won't know until I actually go and see for myself. But if there is something there, I think I'd probably be able to tell."
Even if she wasn't quite as extraordinary as Marina, Anastasia was still a highly capable Spirit Magic practitioner.
Moreover, as an elf, she had a strong natural affinity with the Earth Spirit.
Because of that, Rei understood that bringing Anastasia to the settlement carried significant meaning.
"For now, the deer can wait. Since you sensed something about this grove, we need to get you to the settlement as quickly as possible."
"...You're right. But you're not going to do anything like releasing them, are you?"
The deer clearly meant a great deal to Anastasia.
Seeing her expression, Rei nodded.
"I know. Worst case, I'll knock them out and have Set carry them."
That was truly a last resort.
If he actually did that, the deer would naturally develop hostility toward him.
Since they would be working together going forward, having them hold a grudge against him wasn't exactly ideal.
...That said, with the importance of bringing Anastasia to the settlement having grown, he couldn't afford to let something like that hold him back.
"I'll think of another method too."
There was no doubt that Anastasia, given how fond she was of her deer, had her own feelings about the situation.
Rei nodded to her, then stored Death Scythe—difficult to wield in the dense grove—into his Misty Ring and set out carrying only the Twilight Spear.
But even after entering the grove, there was no sign of any Dragonias.
The Dragonias that had been near the grove's edge had attacked Rei's group—more precisely, the massive walking meal that was Set—in order to sate their hunger, and every last one had been annihilated by Rei and Set.
The Dragonias that hadn't been near the outskirts must have headed for the settlement.
"The fact that no trees are broken means the Dragonias have a commander. I can't tell what kind of scales it has, though."
Commanders were generally stronger than normal Dragonias.
Thinking that Vihera was probably delighted by the appearance of such an opponent, Rei pressed deeper into the grove... and suddenly spotted a figure fighting Dragonias.
For a moment, Rei wondered if it was Vihera, but he quickly dismissed the idea.
He had asked Vihera to defend the settlement, which meant that if a commander Dragonias attacked, she would be the only one who could handle it.
Given that, he couldn't imagine the person fighting out here in the grove was her.
When Vihera said she would protect something, she wouldn't neglect that duty by getting absorbed in combat.
...In fact, the figure fighting was a Centaur—and one Rei recognized.
"Asdena."
Rei called the name at almost the exact moment Asdena's spear thrust pierced through the gaping maw of a Dragonias lunging to tear off flesh.
At the spot where Dragonias had previously lost their commander's influence and gone on a tree-breaking rampage, five Dragonias corpses already lay scattered.
Having just created a sixth corpse on the ground, Asdena exhaled heavily, scanning his surroundings... and then spotted Rei.
"Rei? You're back?"
"Yeah. I've cleared out the Dragonias on the outside of the grove for now, but... how many are left inside?"
"The numbers themselves aren't that large. The fact that I can come out here to the settlement's edge and pick them off tells you that much."
"...First of all, why are you doing something this dangerous?"
The question came straight from the heart.
Rei genuinely didn't understand why Asdena was out here.
Asdena was exceptionally strong for a Centaur.
He was probably one of the most powerful individuals among the Centaurs in the Reconnaissance Unit.
But... even so, he was naturally no match for Vihera.
At the very least, venturing into the grove alone to fight Dragonias, the way Vihera did, came with considerable risk.
"If you're asking why, I can only say I want to get stronger."
"I'd say you're already plenty strong among the Centaurs."
Asdena had always been formidable by Centaur standards.
And through repeated mock battles with Vihera, he had gained power that was incomparable to what he'd had before.
"That's true. But... I can't beat Zai."
Those murmured words carried a clear longing for strength.
Asdena was strong—there was no denying that. But there was always someone above.
Setting aside the extraordinary existences like Rei and his companions, even among the Centaurs alone, there was Zai.
The one who led the Reconnaissance Unit. The strongest Centaur in the unit.
Asdena knew full well just how powerful Zai was... and that was precisely why he admired him.
He wanted that kind of strength for himself.
That was what had driven him to do something so reckless.
Rei didn't grasp every detail, but he recognized that Asdena being safe was what mattered most, and spoke up.
"So? I have to ask—the settlement is safe, right?"
"Of course it's safe. To Vihera, Dragonias are nothing more than playthings. ...Though it might be a different story if there were silver-scaled Dragonias involved."
Those words were more than enough to put Rei at ease.
"For now, let's annihilate the Dragonias that made it into the grove."
"...What's the rush?"
Asdena asked, puzzled by Rei's urgency.
In response, Rei cracked a smile.
"Right. There's a lot to it, but... to put it simply, I've found someone who might be able to solve the mystery of this grove."
"!?"
The words were clearly the last thing Asdena expected.
His eyes went wide, and he opened his mouth to speak.
"Really?"
"Yeah. At the very least, she sensed something was off about this grove just by looking at it, so I'd say it's worth getting your hopes up."
"That's... that might really be true."
Asdena understood that this grove—where Dragonias were forbidden from breaking trees—was special.
But understanding it was special and knowing what specifically made it so were two different things.
If someone who could unravel that mystery had appeared...
And more than anything, if that secret could be uncovered, then perhaps the seemingly endless excavation work might finally come to a close. Spurred on by that hope, Asdena broke into a smile.