"What was that!?"
Something had just blown through the space where Set had been a moment ago.
That much was an undeniable fact. The problem was that Rei couldn't determine what it was.
"Grrrrrrl!"
As if answering Rei's exclamation, Set let out a cry and shifted away, putting distance between himself and the seven-colored-scaled Dragonias while glancing downward.
Following Set's gaze to the ground, Rei spotted a transparent-scaled Dragonias crouching low — and the nature of the earlier attack suddenly clicked into place.
"That thing did it!?"
As if responding to his shout, the transparent-scaled Dragonias kicked off the ground and launched itself into the air.
Set was currently flying at an altitude of about fifty meters.
Yet the transparent-scaled Dragonias closed the distance to Rei's side in under a few seconds.
If that had been all, Rei wouldn't have been so startled — he would have gotten a clear look at it when it first shot past Set's position.
This time, though, that was impossible.
The reason was simple: the transparent-scaled Dragonias had vanished.
When Rei first spotted it, the creature's scales had been transparent exactly as described — a grotesque Dragonias whose blood vessels and internal flesh were visible through its skin.
But the instant it leaped, its entire form disappeared.
Not because its jumping speed outpaced the eye. It had literally ceased to be visible.
Just like Set's Optical Camouflage.
Understanding that this was the transparent-scaled Dragonias's true ability, Rei channeled mana into Death Scythe and swung.
"Ginja!"
A shriek rang out as the transparent-scaled Dragonias's corpse materialized in mid-air, cleaved cleanly in two from top to bottom — and then plummeted toward the ground.
"I see. If I'd known that kind of attack was coming, I could've——whoa!"
Another seven-colored-scaled Dragonias came sprinting through the air to close the gap, and Set flapped his wings, banking away.
"Vihera!"
"Don't ask the impossible... ha!"
Vihera, gripping Set's front leg, voiced her complaint but still lashed out with a kick at one of the seven-colored-scaled Dragonias bearing down on her.
A sharp, high-pitched metallic ring cut through the air — the sound of her Foot Guards smashing head-on into the Dragonias's scales.
The Twilight Spear Rei had thrown hadn't been in perfect condition, yet it had still pierced the seven-colored-scaled Dragonias's scales. That alone made the sheer force of the weapon easy to imagine.
Even so, Vihera's kick managed to send the creature flying.
Naturally — there was a gap in power between a strike delivered while dangling from Set's leg and a blow from a Dragonias running through the air under its own momentum.
"KyaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Gruu!"
At that sudden shriek, Set flapped his wings and darted aside once more — and in the same instant, a white laser-like beam tore through the space he'd just occupied.
"What's next!?"
Irritated, Rei nevertheless had no trouble guessing what kind of enemy had fired that shot.
The black-scaled Dragonias possessed Regeneration Ability. The transparent-scaled Dragonias had powerful jumping strength and Optical Camouflage. The seven-colored-scaled Dragonias could run through the sky.
Of course, Rei knew this likely wasn't the full extent of their capabilities. He couldn't believe that the seven-colored-scaled Dragonias — only five of which existed — had no ability beyond running through the air.
Still, among all of them, the one whose abilities remained a complete mystery was the white-scaled Dragonias.
Given that, concluding the last attack came from the white-scaled Dragonias wasn't much of a leap... and Rei was dead on target.
Peering down from Set's back, he spotted a white-scaled Dragonias on the ground, mouth gaping open, staring up at them.
That settled it.
(A Breath, huh? Well, it wouldn't be strange for a Dragonias to have one.)
A Dragonias's upper body closely resembled a Lizardman's.
...Not that he'd ever say so to the Lizardmen in Elgin. They'd be thoroughly offended.
In any case, Lizardmen were humanoid lizards — and they also occupied the position of a lower-tier variant compared to dragonewts and similar beings that could be called humanoid dragons.
That knowledge came from the games, anime, and manga Rei had grown up with back in Japan.
Given what they were, it wasn't strange at all for a Dragonias to wield an attack similar to a dragon's Breath.
(Troublesome. These are genuinely troublesome opponents. Long-range attackers, ones that freely sprint through the air for close combat, and ones that leap from the ground to close the distance in a single bound on top of using Optical Camouflage-like abilities. The only ones I can afford to ignore right now are the black-scaled Dragonias... right?)
As far as Rei knew, the black-scaled Dragonias possessed powerful recovery — a force strong enough to be called regeneration.
That was extremely troublesome. Even the Twilight Spear he'd thrown clean through its body had healed over in an instant.
In combat, that was undeniably a serious problem. But here and now, flying through the air, it was equally true that they didn't need to worry about it.
...Unless the black-scaled Dragonias could also heal the injuries of other Dragonias. If that were the case, he'd need to take it out as quickly as possible.
"Anyway, I'll start with you——huh?"
The most dangerous opponents at the moment were the seven-colored-scaled Dragonias, the ones that could freely sprint through the sky.
Timing the moment one of them closed in — and choosing a window free of attacks from the transparent-scaled and white-scaled Dragonias — Rei swung Death Scythe.
The speed, sharpness, and timing of the strike... all combined into a blow that unquestionably held enough power to sever a seven-colored-scaled Dragonias's body.
But what Death Scythe carved through was not the Dragonias's body — it was empty air.
"What!?"
He'd been completely certain the strike would land. The sensation running through Death Scythe's haft made him cry out in confusion.
Why had it missed?
That attack had possessed more than enough power to cut through a seven-colored-scaled Dragonias, and the opponent shouldn't have been able to evade or block it.
Yet what Rei's Death Scythe had sliced through was not a seven-colored-scaled Dragonias — it was nothing but air.
By all rights, the strike should have connected.
Unable to make sense of what had just happened, Rei's thoughts churned in momentary confusion.
"Rei! That seven-colored-scaled Dragonias has teleportation! It just appeared out of thin air!"
Vihera's voice, shouting from where she clung to Set's front leg, solved the mystery.
Appearing out of thin air — that could simply be Optical Camouflage deactivating. But given that only five seven-colored-scaled Dragonias existed, it wouldn't be strange for them to possess that level of ability.
"Tch. I figured running through the sky wasn't all they could do... but what a pain!"
Rei hurled the Twilight Spear from his left hand at the seven-colored-scaled Dragonias that had just teleported.
Since it was a near-reflexive throw, the power behind it was far from full.
But even so, an ordinary monster couldn't block a strike from the Twilight Spear.
Forged from a variety of rare materials, it was a Magic Item of immense power.
Given that, Rei figured even a seven-colored-scaled Dragonias couldn't easily shrug it off...
"Of course that's how it works!"
If the creature could teleport, there was no need to bother dodging or blocking. Just vanish from that spot, and any incoming attack became meaningless.
"Whoa——!"
Sensing killing intent, Rei swung Death Scythe.
"Gigigigi!"
He wasn't sure whether it was the same individual that had evaded the Twilight Spear or a different one, but either way, Death Scythe carved clean through a seven-colored-scaled Dragonias's arm.
The severed limb tumbled through the air, spinning.
...But surrounded by enemies on all sides, he had no luxury to watch it fall.
"Grrrrl!"
Set didn't wait to see the result of Rei's strike. He let out a cry, flapped his wings, and veered away.
An instant later, a Breath from the white-scaled Dragonias ripped through the space Set had occupied, and the transparent-scaled Dragonias — still cloaked in Optical Camouflage — leaped past, missing Set by a hair.
"Rei, shouldn't we pull back from here? Even if we're going to take down the Queen, we should deal with the surrounding Dragonias first."
"Yeah. At that size, it's a shame she looks like a target but isn't one we can hit right now... Set!"
"Gruu!"
At Rei's command, Set immediately began banking away, wings pounding.
Near the Queen stood four special types: white, black, transparent, and seven-colored-scaled Dragonias.
Of those, all but the black could attack Set in the air. If they broke away, the white-scaled Dragonias — whose movement speed was comparable to a normal Dragonias — would fall behind, eliminating the threat of long-range Breath attacks. A relief for Rei.
...He could guess Vihera had suggested retreating because, clinging to Set's front leg as she was, she couldn't fight.
And losing Vihera as a Combat Power was a real blow.
That being the case, Rei wanted to create some distance from the Dragonias swarm first... then, if possible, pick off the pursuing seven-colored-scaled Dragonias, followed by the transparent-scaled Dragonias with its Optical Camouflage and extraordinary leaping power, before mopping up the rest.
Above all, among the Dragonias clustered around the Queen, Rei had spotted a fair number with blue, yellow, green, and other colored scales besides the red-scaled ones.
Rei's opening spell had thinned out the normal Dragonias significantly, sparing only the red-scaled ones.
But depending on where those Dragonias had been positioned, some had survived unscathed.
"I should take out as many non-red-scaled Dragonias as I can."
Eyes on the Dragonias below Set, Rei gripped Death Scythe and began his incantation.
O flames, with my magical power as your source, become arrows that burn all to ash — rain down unceasingly, endlessly, like rain, like a storm.
With those words, countless Flame Arrows materialized around Death Scythe... no, around Rei himself.
Five hundred in all.
Rei unleashed the spell, and the arrows bared their fangs at the enemy.
Shower of Flame Arrows!
The five hundred Flame Arrows, combined with Set's forward speed, rained down in an effect that could only be called carpet bombing.
Of course, the Flame Arrows were only effective against Dragonias without red scales.
But since the entire point was to thin out the non-red-scaled Dragonias, that was no problem at all.
Strike after strike rained down, and the number of non-red-scaled Dragonias plummeted at an accelerating rate.
"All right——whoa, whoa!"
Rei had just begun to feel satisfied with the results when Set suddenly tilted hard, throwing him off balance.
What now!? Rei thought — but then he saw it. A seven-colored-scaled Dragonias had teleported to directly above where Set had just been. In that instant, he understood exactly why Set had made the move.
And when he saw that the teleported figure was missing an arm, he identified it as the enemy from his earlier strike, tightened his grip on Death Scythe's shaft — still humming with the magic he'd just channeled — and readied himself.