About an hour had passed since Rei blew away the transparent-scaled Dragonias's assault—roughly that much time had elapsed before Rei and his group finally returned to the Queen's immediate vicinity.
...Though "immediate vicinity" still meant there was roughly a hundred meters between them and her.
But given the sheer enormity of the Underground Space, a distance of a hundred meters could well be considered immediate.
"She's not attacking."
At this close range, what filled Rei's field of vision was a mass of flesh... no, it would be more accurate to call it a wall of flesh.
That was precisely why the current situation struck Rei as surprising.
There was no telling when an enemy attack might come, and yet all the Queen had done so far was launch an Earth Spear and send the transparent-scaled Dragonias to attack.
Other than that, the Dragonias that appeared to have been newly produced were simply waiting by her side.
They numbered roughly a hundred.
However, from what Rei could see, there were no Commander-class Dragonias possessing intelligence among them.
Gold, silver, copper, mottled, transparent, white, black, seven-colored—the intelligent Dragonias Rei had encountered thus far had all been among those types. But the ones in his line of sight now were only red, blue, yellow, green... ordinary Dragonias without intelligence.
(Even so, the fact that they aren't attacking despite being ruled by hunger... is it because of orders from the Queen? Or are there other intelligent Commander-class Dragonias? ...If anything, they might as well just charge at us now.)
Rei was about to—no, not just Rei, but Vihera and Set as well—engage the Queen in battle.
If the ordinary Dragonias interfered during that fight, they wouldn't be able to fight to their fullest.
If so, it would be better to defeat the other Dragonias before battling the Queen... The instant that thought crossed Rei's mind, as if in response, the Queen cried out.
"Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
Along with that shriek, a sensation like nails scraping across a chalkboard surfaced in his mind—no, it was several times more intense than the previous discomfort.
"Hatred... anger... fury... children..."
Simultaneously with the discomfort, a voice echoed in his mind.
It was a string of fragmented words, but considering their meaning, Rei could vaguely imagine what the Queen was trying to say.
(In other words, her children... the Dragonias she produced were slaughtered in massive numbers by us, and she can't accept that. ...It's the natural outcome of a battle, really.)
She had initiated the fight, and because many of her children had died, she resented them for it.
Rei could understand that much.
He could understand it... but that didn't mean he could accept it.
Because of that refusal, the chalkboard-scratching sensation in his mind naturally grew louder.
Honestly, the sound echoing inside his head was more troublesome than Earth Spirit Magic.
(She's not attacking physically from the outside—she's sending it directly into my head. Not even the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor can block this.)
Whether the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor could defend against Earth Spirit Magic—or any other type of attack—was one of the things Rei wanted to test.
But if the armor had no effect whatsoever against an attack sent directly into his mind, then it couldn't block it.
(In other words, Brainwashing and things of that nature can't be blocked even by the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor? Or is it that the armor doesn't recognize this as an attack, and therefore can't defend against it? Just knowing that is a gain.)
Rei had always thought that the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor was a powerful—perhaps overly powerful—skill, but he'd also harbored a suspicion that it wasn't something that could be called absolutely invincible.
The fact that his prediction might have been correct was, in itself, a significant discovery.
"I can only vaguely understand what you're thinking. I don't fully understand, but... you opposed us. And now that we've come this far, neither of us can back down. If so, there's only one thing to do."
So declaring, Rei readied Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear toward the gigantic mass of flesh.
Whether the Queen understood Rei's words, or whether she felt no need to understand them, the gigantic mass of flesh suddenly began to vibrate.
When Rei and his group had been guided here by the copper-scaled Dragonias, the place where a Dragonias was about to be born from the Queen had already been empty.
The Dragonias currently surrounding her were the ones born from there—and it seemed she had no intention whatsoever of producing new ones now.
"Alright... so, what about Vihera and Set? I want one of you to deal with the other Dragonias around here rather than the Queen."
"Ask Set."
Before Rei could even finish, Vihera said it instantly.
For Vihera, the thought of missing a hard-won opportunity to fight the Queen was simply unthinkable.
Or perhaps if there had been a seven-colored scaled Dragonias among the newly born ones, she might have taken an interest... but unfortunately for her, the only ones in sight were the standard, so-called ordinary Dragonias.
On top of that, as was clear from seeing the transparent-scaled Dragonias, the scales of freshly born Dragonias were very soft.
They were far from being opponents that would be enjoyable for the current Vihera to fight.
"Gruu..."
Set, designated by Vihera, cast a briefly interested glance toward the Queen, but nonetheless judged that if someone had to fight the ordinary Dragonias, that was his job.
Above all, there were only about a hundred of them.
If they had been ordinary Dragonias, winning would have been as easy as always, but the hardness of their scales would still have cost some time.
But now, with their scales still soft from being freshly born, attacking would easily crush their bodies—of that there was no doubt.
...Not only that, but if he charged into the enemy at full speed, that alone would be enough to take down many of them.
After dealing with the ordinary Dragonias, if Rei and the others were still fighting the Queen, he would simply join as reinforcements... or so he figured.
"Then, now that it's settled... let's go!"
As if to match Rei's words, Vihera and Set immediately sprang into motion.
Rei and Vihera, straight toward the Queen in their line of sight.
Set, toward the ordinary Dragonias surrounding her.
And when Rei moved, the Queen and her forces naturally began to move as well.
...Though among the Dragonias, the first to react were the ordinary ones.
They surged forward, trying to use their numbers to keep Rei and his group away from the Queen...
"Gururururururururururururururururu!"
As if to steal a march on them, Set, who had halted his movement, let out a roar.
And not just any roar—it was the skill King's Intimidation.
A skill that could halt the movements of opponents weaker than the user, or at least significantly hinder their actions even if they could still move.
Whether it would work on Dragonias driven by the instinct of hunger was something that couldn't be known without trying... but its effect was tremendous.
After all, every single Dragonias that had been about to charge came to a dead stop.
Watching the scene unfold while still on the move, Rei judged that it was probably because the enemy were freshly born Dragonias that the effect had been this pronounced.
In truth, whether that was the correct answer, even Rei couldn't say for certain.
So it was merely a guess that it was probably so, but since it had worked for now, that was good enough.
Some individuals could still move to a certain degree, but with their movements fatally slowed, neither Rei nor Vihera felt any need to concern themselves with them.
"Vihera!"
"I know! We take down the Queen as quickly as possible!"
Vihera responded to Rei's shout with a fierce smile.
Rei nodded at her words and closed the distance to the Queen...
"Vihera!"
Rei shouted to her when he saw the Queen—more precisely, a portion of the vibrating flesh—move.
Hearing Rei's voice, Vihera instantly altered her course, and a split second later, something that might be called a whip of flesh extending from the Queen's body... no, something more appropriately called a tentacle, struck the exact spot where Vihera had been standing an instant before.
And not just any tentacle—its tip was vibrating rapidly, radiating an eerie hum throughout the surroundings.
(In sci-fi and the like, there were weapons like that, but... this is supposed to be a fantasy world!)
In the anime, manga, novels, and games Rei had enjoyed back in Japan, weapons that increased their cutting power through intense vibration were not all that uncommon.
But those were products of science, and he never imagined a living creature could replicate the same effect on its own.
Though, "sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic"... was something Rei had come across in various anime, manga, and games.
In that sense, highly advanced magic appearing like science wasn't all that strange, either.
(Well, the problem is... either way, it's the numbers.)
Tentacles launched in succession from the Queen's body—from the gigantic mass of flesh.
Their numbers were not ten or twenty, but easily exceeded a hundred.
Wielding all of those tentacles freely, and on top of that, without a single one tangling with another, was nothing short of astonishing.
If Rei were to use a weapon similar to tentacles—say, a whip—holding one in each hand, he didn't think he could control them with such freedom.
...Though, admittedly, there would be many who would argue that Rei, who wielded Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear—two clearly different types of long polearms—in both hands and used them with complete mastery, was the one performing at the higher difficulty level.
Fighting with a whip in each hand would be difficult.
But what he held in both hands were the same weapon—both whips.
Compared to that, wielding a spear and a scythe—weapons whose only commonality was being long polearms—with such mastery... by any normal reckoning, that would be the higher difficulty.
Of course, whips were different from spears and scythes in many ways... and above all, the fact that the Queen was simultaneously wielding them by the hundreds meant Rei could hardly even process it.
(But... this is a chance, in a sense. With the Earth Spear that came first, I couldn't confirm whether the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor's defense could block the Queen's attacks. So here...)
Earth Spirit Magic, and a whip with a rapidly vibrating tip.
Between the two, while both were attacks, their nature was vastly different.
That was why taking the whip's strike head-on was dangerous... but even so, to confirm whether the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor was effective against the Queen's attacks, it was absolutely something that had to be tested.
If he didn't test it now, in this situation, and ended up taking a hit suddenly in a more desperate moment—if by some chance the armor couldn't block the Queen's attack, the damage could be fatal.
If so, he needed to confirm right now whether he could withstand her attacks.
(If it breaks through the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, I'll need to respond immediately. ...That said, I think I'll be fine, though!)
A tentacle came flying toward him.
Drawing an arc through the air, multiple vibrating sections rained down toward Rei.
Naturally, even though he was testing the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor's defensive capability, Rei had no intention of blocking every single attack—taking a hit at just one vibrating point was enough.
And then... the vibrating tip of the tentacle made contact with the crimson mana enveloping Rei's body, and the next moment, a grating, unpleasant screech reverberated through the surroundings.
Rei had been ready to immediately fall back and evade if anything went wrong, but fortunately, the Queen's tentacle strike could not break through the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor's defense— at least, not in a single hit.
...That said, that was only for a single strike.
Considering the countless tentacles extending from the Queen's body, whether he could withstand such attacks consecutively was something even Rei didn't know.
But at the very least, being able to take one hit without issue wasn't a bad outcome—and it gave Rei the confidence that he could cope, even when faced with that swarm of tentacles.