"…You got here remarkably fast."
Rei called out to the figure rapidly approaching him. His tone held none of the fighting spirit one would direct at a hostile opponent—it was the easy familiarity of someone addressing a companion.
The one addressed opened her mouth with a slightly exasperated look.
"If Set had been running at his normal speed…or flying through the sky for that matter, I wouldn't have caught up."
The one who answered Rei was Vihera. Having finished her battle with the seven-colored scaled Dragonias, she had likely rushed after Rei.
Part of the reason was probably concern for Rei's safety, but more than that, she likely didn't want him defeating the last remaining seven-colored scaled Dragonias.
Of the originally five seven-colored scaled Dragonias, Rei had already defeated three. For Vihera, who relished battles against powerful foes, her fight with the seven-colored scaled Dragonias had been thoroughly satisfying—enough so that she genuinely wished to fight the others as well, if possible.
And so, thinking that perhaps she might still have a chance, she had hurried after Rei. But judging from his current state, she determined she had made it in time.
"You haven't defeated the last one yet, have you?"
"No. Unlike the other seven-colored scaled Dragonias, this one seems capable of teleporting over considerable distances."
With that, Rei explained what he knew about the final one, along with what he could infer—prefacing it all with the caveat that these were merely predictions, not confirmed facts.
"Hmm. From the sound of it, an interesting opponent."
"I figured you'd say that."
Despite having just defeated a seven-colored scaled Dragonias moments ago, Vihera murmured without showing the slightest sign of fatigue, and Rei responded casually.
To Rei, Vihera's fondness for fighting formidable enemies was somewhat nerve-wracking, but as combat power, she was a thoroughly reliable presence. That was precisely why having her alongside him in this situation—where the enemy's abilities were still unclear—was reassuring.
Though naturally, Rei had every intention of fighting the enemy himself as well.
"So, you were walking slowly to provoke it?"
"Something like that. No matter how that seven-colored scaled Dragonias can use its allies' internal organs to extend its teleportation range, in the end, it's still a Dragonias. Which means…"
"If you approach the Queen, it will come out to stop you."
Vihera finished Rei's thought.
Rei nodded at her words.
"In addition, the closer we get to the Queen, even if it has long-distance teleportation, it'll lose the opportunity to use it. There's also a possibility it might go against instinct and abandon the Queen."
It even used its own ally's internal organs for its own sake. Given that, Rei wouldn't be particularly surprised if it abandoned the Queen.
"Would it really go that far? If they share the same instincts as ants or bees, then even if they could abandon their comrades, they wouldn't be able to abandon the Queen, would they?"
"I don't entirely disagree, but I think the possibility still exists. Honestly, if it weren't for the Queen, the Dragonias wouldn't be that much of a threat."
When it came to what made the Dragonias terrifying as a species, it ultimately came down to their numbers. Not just any numbers, either—they possessed a certain quality, individually stronger than the Centaurs who served as warriors.
When exactly the Dragonias had begun their activity was something Rei did not know. But if the Queen had produced every single Dragonias Rei had defeated so far, that reproductive capacity was nothing short of terrifying.
Compared to such a Queen, the last remaining seven-colored scaled Dragonias was undoubtedly at the pinnacle of individual ability among Dragonias—but ultimately, that was all it was. For the Centaurs it would be exceedingly troublesome, but a single specimen could not overcome their numbers.
(Its individual power is strong among Dragonias, but in the end, that's all it is.)
With Rei's, Set's, or Vihera's level of ability, even as an individual, they could probably manage against the Centaurs.
(Ah, but it can walk through the sky, so if it used that, the Centaurs would be helpless.)
Many Centaurs excelled at archery, and many could use magic like Dolfina. But even bows would naturally have a limited range, and considering magical energy consumption, with the exception of someone like Rei, rapid-fire casting was not possible. In that sense, even if the seven-colored scaled Dragonias became the only one left, simply surviving would not be difficult.
"Rei? What's wrong?"
"No, I was just thinking that even if that seven-colored scaled Dragonias betrayed the Queen, surviving on its own would probably be manageable."
"True. The ability to walk freely through the sky is that powerful."
Vihera knew that Rei and Elena could walk through the sky using their Sleipnir boots, albeit in a limited capacity, and she understood how much that broadened one's combat options.
"I'd love to have them myself if I could, but…I'm too accustomed to these Foot Guards."
Walking alongside Set, who was carrying Rei, Vihera muttered. For her, the Foot Guards—which could generate blades at the heels via mana—were an extremely valuable attack method. Being able to walk through the sky like the Sleipnir boots would certainly be convenient, but there was no mistaking her strong attachment to her current Foot Guards.
"…Right."
Rei averted his gaze from Vihera's Foot Guards—or more precisely, from her pale, soft-looking, shapely thighs—and nodded.
What Vihera wore was a thin garment so sheer it was almost transparent, like what a Dancer or Prostitutes would wear. Wearing something like that and exposing her legs meant that naturally, much of Vihera's attractive legs would be visible.
If it just caught his eye during normal circumstances, Rei wouldn't be particularly bothered. But when he found himself staring at them up close once again, he couldn't help but feel a sense of bashfulness.
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing."
Vihera must have noticed something was off about Rei's demeanor, but unable to understand the reason, she asked with slight confusion. Rei brushed it off with those words.
"Hmm. So that's the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, right? Aren't you going to release it yet?"
"Yeah. I plan to keep it active until we take down the Queen."
"Must be nice, having that. It's quite a convenient skill."
"I won't deny that."
In truth, the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor was an extremely reliable skill for Rei. It enhanced his physical abilities, including all five senses, and the crimson mana alone possessed overwhelming defensive power. Then there was Deep Flame, which allowed him to unleash that crimson mana as flames exactly as he envisioned them. It was truly an all-purpose skill, capable of handling combat from short to medium range.
It couldn't deal with long-range attacks, but with the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor active, Rei could close the distance in the blink of an eye. Taken as a whole, it was undeniably a powerful skill—so much so that he could think of few more convenient.
That said, this was a skill Rei could use precisely because he possessed enormous magical power and was specialized in Flame Magic; an ordinary mage probably couldn't even activate it in the first place.
"If we're talking about skill convenience, wouldn't you say your Magic Impact Palm is just as powerful?"
At Rei's words, Vihera smiled with confidence.
In truth, the skill known as Magic Impact Palm was an extremely powerful one. No matter how high-performance the armor the opponent wore, no matter what scales they had to deflect attacks, no matter what fur they had that absorbed impact—it was a skill that completely ignored all such defenses and delivered a shock directly into the enemy's body.
Of course, while not to the same degree as Rei's Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, it was not a skill that could be mastered so easily. For starters, it required directly touching the opponent's body with one's own hand. Naturally, enemies wouldn't just let an approaching attacker do as they pleased—which was precisely why no one short of someone with extraordinary close-combat prowess like Vihera could wield it effectively.
"Gurururu."
Set listened to the conversation between Rei and Vihera with a hint of envy. He did not possess his own unique special skill like they did. In reality, Set was a special existence that continually learned new skills via Beast Magic through Magic Stones. In that sense, one could say he also possessed sufficiently powerful skills.
"Anyway…setting aside talk of skills, I'd like to deal with the last seven-colored scaled Dragonias here if possible."
"True. There's no question it'd be troublesome if it escaped. Is there a possibility it's already not here anymore?"
If long-distance teleportation was possible, then leaving this Underground Space should also be feasible. And if it had decided to cut its losses and abandon the Queen, there was naturally no reason to remain.
"It's entirely possible, but whether it could actually go through with it if push came to shove…honestly, I can't say that with confidence."
Rei had also been considering the possibility of the seven-colored scaled Dragonias abandoning the Queen, but protecting the Queen was something akin to instinct for Dragonias. Given that, Rei couldn't imagine it abandoning her so easily.
(Though even with just me and Set, they were liable to attack us, and now with Vihera joining us, it's also a fact that they're powerless to do anything.)
If there had still been individuals that could be called the seven-colored scaled Dragonias's subordinates, there was a real possibility it could have tried to separate Rei's group. But as things stood, nearly all of the Dragonias had been killed by Rei's group, and the combat power available as subordinates was virtually nonexistent.
Given that, the options available to the sole surviving seven-colored scaled Dragonias were not numerous.
(The Queen might have already produced more, but…even so, a few more appearing in the current situation wouldn't change anything.)
Even if ordinary Dragonias increased in number, against Rei's group, they would only serve as a brief stalling tactic. Alternatively, if seven-colored scaled Dragonias increased, they would be a formidable addition in terms of combat power—but if they could increase that easily, there would have been more than five when Rei first saw them.
In that case, the seven-colored scaled Dragonias had no combat power after all—
Just as he thought that, Rei looked upward.
"Ugh."
What he muttered—with distaste, truly from the bottom of his heart—was because a massive quantity of Dragonias corpses was floating in the sky above. Or more precisely, raining down toward them.
What had happened was easy to imagine. The last surviving seven-colored scaled Dragonias had teleported a whole batch of Dragonias corpses at once.
As far as Rei knew, the teleportation of a seven-colored scaled Dragonias should have been limited to teleporting only itself. How exactly it could teleport such an enormous quantity of corpses was a question that arose in his mind—but given that it was originally supposed to only teleport short distances yet could now teleport over considerable range by using other Dragonias's internal organs, he could surmise there were still other hidden methods of that nature.
Even so, he never expected the enemy to resort to a tactic like this.
"Rei, can you handle this?"
Having followed Rei's gaze and grasped the situation, Vihera spoke. For her, the battle with the seven-colored scaled Dragonias had been enjoyable, but a rain of corpses and internal organs falling on them was something she had never anticipated in the slightest. What's more, being fundamentally specialized in single-target combat, Vihera had no means of dealing with all the corpses currently raining down on them in one fell swoop.
In that sense, Set also had several methods for attacking everything within a certain area all at once, but in the current situation, Vihera judged it best to leave it to Rei. Indeed, the current Rei—with the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor active—could handle something like this with ease.
"Got it."
He murmured, imbued the crimson mana with the image of flame, and unleashed it skyward as Deep Flame.
The Deep Flame raced through the air at arrow-like speed, eventually colliding with the falling corpses and generating an immense blaze—burning every single corpse in the sky to nothing, leaving not even ash behind.