Confirming that Set and Vihera were each holding their own against their respective opponents, Rei turned his gaze back to the Queen.
From the gigantic mass of flesh, an almost absurd number of tentacles had been unleashed. Yet even with that many tentacles deployed, the Queen's fleshy body did not appear to have grown any thinner.
In reality, since she was using them like whips, the mass of flesh was undoubtedly diminishing. But because the original bulk was so enormous, even with countless tentacles deployed, it showed no visible sign of shrinking.
(On top of that, the tentacles have Regeneration Ability too.)
Cutting and crushing the tentacles that came at him with Death Scythe, the Twilight Spear, and his crimson mana, Rei directed a displeased look at the Queen.
For now, it was fine. Rei... and Vihera and Set, too, still had stamina to spare.
But that was only the case for now.
Rei, Vihera, and Set—the two people and one creature—possessed stamina far beyond that of an ordinary Adventurer, but even they could not keep moving forever.
Limits naturally existed, and once they were reached, continuing to fight the Queen would be impossible for Rei's group.
For a brief moment, Rei wondered if he should use a potion, but potions could only heal injuries—they could not restore lost stamina.
That was exactly why he wanted to deal with the Queen while they still had energy to spare.
(That said, the question is how to go about it.)
Since the Queen possessed Regeneration Ability equivalent to a black-scaled Dragonias, half-hearted attacks would not be enough to defeat her. They might be able to inflict pain, but that would be completely meaningless.
...No, if anything, causing the Queen to fly into a rage and attack more fiercely would only be counterproductive.
That was why, in the current situation, they needed to land a fatal blow in a single strike.
"Whoa!"
Rei dodged a tentacle strike aimed at his head and, with a flick of his wrist, redirected Death Scythe to slice through the tentacle—the vibrating section, specifically.
The attacks came one after another, but once he had gotten used to them to a certain degree, dealing with them was not difficult. Occasionally, a strike would catch him by surprise, but with a little caution, those were easy to handle as well.
That was precisely why Rei had the luxury of contemplating how to deal a fatal blow to the Queen.
(With insufficient power, she'll just regenerate immediately. Then what about Vihera's Magic Impact Palm? No, the Queen is too massive for a fatal blow... Wait. Massive? Destruction from the inside... could it work? No...)
Catching a tentacle that had come straight at him with his crimson mana, he tore it free from the Queen's body and spoke.
"I'll just have to try!"
The instant he shouted, Rei kicked off the ground and closed the distance to the Queen in one burst.
The tentacles that had been targeting Rei failed to react to his sudden movement. The ones approaching from front and rear in midair collided with each other, their vibrating sections rebounding off one another.
In the next moment, Rei was right in front of the Queen.
Whether the Queen had noticed or not, however, was unclear.
For that matter, Rei didn't even know where the Queen's face was. If it was located up above, it would be nearly impossible for her to see Rei standing right beside the mass of flesh.
That, too, was fortunate for him. Taking advantage of the fact that the Queen hadn't found him and no tentacle attacks were coming, he began chanting his incantation.
O flame, thou art countless serpents, thy number reaching a thousand, ten thousand. Burn away all of my enemies at my will.
Along with those words, a massive flame was generated at the pommel of Death Scythe... and then the incantation was complete.
Dance, countless flame serpents.
With the activation of the magic, the pommel pierced into the Queen's body... and along with the enormous flame, the pommel that had been plunged into her was immediately withdrawn. From the flame, countless serpents were born, devouring the flesh around them as they rampaged freely.
The moment he cast the spell, Rei swiftly moved away from the spot—because he had absolutely no way to predict what kind of reaction the Queen would have to being devoured by countless flame serpents from within.
Under normal circumstances, she would be screaming from the pain of being devoured and burned by countless flame serpents inside her body.
The magic Rei had used was, so to speak, a derivative or an arranged version of the spell known as Dancing Flame Serpent. Given the nature of the spell, Rei understood how much destructive power it could unleash.
But when the opponent was the Queen, things might be different.
"Screeeeeeeceeeeee!"
Suddenly, the Queen's voice echoed throughout the surroundings.
The moment he heard it, Rei braced himself, wondering if she would send words directly into his mind again. But fortunately, he did not hear the sound of nails scraping against a chalkboard inside his head.
It seemed that if the Queen let out a reflexive scream, she could not project her voice into his mind. Rei breathed a sigh of relief.
In truth, it was not just Rei. Vihera and Set had also been on guard, fearing that the Queen's scream echoing around them might mean her voice would again reverberate in their heads. Fortunately, they too were unharmed.
"For now, it's effective. ...Whoa!"
Seeing a tentacle coming toward him, he swung Death Scythe semi-reflexively and severed it.
What startled Rei about that strike was that it was not a tentacle attack deliberately aimed at him—rather, a tentacle being swung wildly had happened to come his way. Normally, he would have easily dodged an attack of that level. But he had nearly been a beat late because the strike was not launched with the intent of attacking Rei. The Queen was thrashing in pain, and a tentacle had coincidentally swung toward where he stood.
It was precisely because the attack was unintentional that Rei's response had been delayed by a moment. That said, once he knew such attacks existed, dealing with them was not difficult.
"In any case, there's no question that we need to be careful of those attacks. No matter what we do, it's a troublesome behavior."
Taking further distance from the Queen just in case, Rei remained on alert, watching for her movements.
"How's it going?"
"Gruu."
Beside Rei, Vihera and Set approached. Vihera had judged that since the tentacles were no longer targeting her, there was no point staying where she was, and Set had finished off all the remaining Dragonias. They had come to regroup with him.
"You ask how it's going? For now, I slammed a new spell inside the Queen's body. Right now, countless flame serpents—serpents of flame—should be tearing through her flesh and burning her from the inside."
"Ugh..."
She must have imagined the pain. Vihera's beautiful features twisted slightly.
That said, Vihera had no intention of reproaching Rei for using such a cruel spell. After all, the ones who had started devouring creatures were the Dragonias in the first place. The victims had been the Centaurs—and not only them, but every living creature in this area, animal and monster alike.
If that was the case, then having the Queen of those very Dragonias be devoured in the same manner from within her own body could be called karmic retribution.
Of course, Rei had not used this spell out of such reasoning. He had simply judged it to be the most practical method for attacking the Queen, who possessed high Regeneration Ability comparable to a black-scaled Dragonias.
"For now, it's essentially a contest of whether my mana runs out or the Queen's Regeneration Ability hits its limit... something like that."
Though Rei said that, perhaps because he did not actually believe he would lose this contest, a satisfied smile surfaced on his lips.
"So then, what should we do while we wait for the Queen to go down? Are we just going to keep watching like this the whole time?"
"No, that's... well, if you want to attack, I suppose that's fine. If she's being attacked, she'll need to regenerate those areas too, so it should affect her behavior as well. Just, as you can see, tentacles are swinging wildly in all directions, so you'll need to be careful not to get hit."
Indeed, attacking the Queen in her current state carried considerable significance. The Queen, whose body was being devoured and burned by countless flame serpents from within, was surely still pushing her Regeneration Ability to its maximum even at this very moment. As proof, her screams had been echoing without pause since earlier.
That was why, to make her reach the limit of her Regeneration Ability even slightly sooner, they needed to force the Queen to expend more of it—and in that sense, Rei was right that attacking the Queen now was effective.
However, as Rei himself had stated, the Queen was currently thrashing violently because she was being ravaged from within by countless flame serpents. Whether "fortunately" was the appropriate word was debatable, but the gigantic mass of flesh that constituted the Queen's main body showed no signs of moving on its own.
But that was only the case at this point in time, and there was no guarantee she wouldn't take some kind of action from here on.
Particularly, if she were to fire Blood Lasers like the Mottled Dragonias or Breath attacks like the white-scaled Dragonias from the tips of her tentacles, that would be extremely troublesome. Alternatively, if she used the Teleportation ability of the seven-colored Dragonias to flee from this place, that too would be nothing but troublesome for Rei and his group.
That was exactly why, in the current situation, they needed to attack in order to make the Queen reach the limit of her Regeneration Ability as quickly as possible.
"Hmm... then I think I'll take Rei up on his offer and try attacking a little myself... here!"
The moment she announced that, Vihera's foot kicked off the ground, and she charged toward the Queen. Though not as fast as Rei clad in the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, it was still an overwhelming speed that could be called just that.
That said, the Queen showed no sign of noticing Vihera's movement at all. She was still writhing in the pain of being burned and devoured from within.
"Ha!"
Along with a sharp exhale, Magic Impact Palm was unleashed from Vihera's hand. Even against a gigantic mass of flesh like the Queen, the fact that it could directly deliver an impact into her body while ignoring her defensive power meant that she was indeed capable of feeling pain.
The next moment, the Queen's scream echoed across the surrounding area once again.
"Gruuu? ...Gruu!"
Watching Vihera and the Queen, Set decided that he was next. After moving to a position where he wouldn't get in Vihera's way, he charged toward the Queen.
Naturally, tentacle strikes were launched one after another at Set as well. In Vihera's case, she evaded the tentacle strikes with her overwhelming speed and agility, but at over three meters in length, Set's body was overwhelmingly larger compared to hers.
That was why, in the current situation where tentacles were rampaging in all directions, he could not dodge every single attack like Vihera.
But even so, in the end, the most troublesome part of the tentacle attacks was only the vibrating section at the tip. Given that, Set took the attacks flying toward him with his body, catching them on areas other than the tips and then deflecting them, minimizing the damage he took while closing the distance to the Queen.
Perhaps if the Queen could act rationally, she might have been able to chain tentacle attacks together to deal greater damage to Set. But the Queen currently had no composure to think of such things, and the tentacle attacks were not being launched deliberately.
Perhaps thanks to that as well, despite charging into a space where countless tentacles were rampaging, Set reached the Queen's side without suffering any fatal damage.
"Gruuuuuuuuu!"
Set's inherent high physical abilities as a Gryphon, the arm strength boosted by the Magic Item Bracelet of Herculean Strength, and further enhanced by the skill Power Crush—Set's strike carried tremendous destructive power, generating overwhelming force that pulverized a portion of the Queen's gigantic mass of flesh.
"Screeeeeeeceeee!"
On top of already being burned and devoured from within by countless flame serpents, being struck by Vihera's Magic Impact Palm in that state—and then the Power Crush that Set unleashed—was more than enough to make even the Dragonias Queen let out a scream of agony she could not endure.