Rei watched the Crystal Dragon tumble from Set's strike while raising his magical power.
The magical power he released surged higher and higher... condensing until it became so dense and concentrated that it was visible to the naked eye and tangible to the touch.
Once it exceeded a certain threshold, red magical power enveloped his body. His trump card—the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor—activated.
"...Well, I should be able to win with this. It'll be fine."
He murmured to himself, turned his gaze toward the Crystal Dragon as it tried to stand, and stepped forward.
One of the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor's abilities was to enhance Rei's physical capabilities.
Rei already possessed physical abilities worthy of being called inhuman, and the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor pushed them even further.
A strike now would undoubtedly deal damage to the Crystal Dragon.
After all, even Death Scythe in its unenhanced state—without the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor—had been able to slash through the Crystal Dragon's armor.
If that was the case, then in his current state with the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor active, he could undoubtedly defeat it.
As he told himself that, the distance between Rei and the Crystal Dragon closed.
Normally, the Crystal Dragon would have noticed Rei approaching. But it had just been subjected to the humiliation of being knocked down by a strike from Set, who was overwhelmingly smaller than itself.
It was a Dragon of high intelligence, and precisely because of that, such a blow from Set was humiliating. It decided to kill the flying beast first.
Additionally, Rei's speed with the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor active was likely far beyond what the Crystal Dragon had anticipated.
The Death Scythe strike he thus unleashed met some resistance but slashed deeply through the Crystal Dragon's armor.
"Gugah!?"
Pain, or perhaps surprise—the Crystal Dragon cried out at having its armor suddenly severed and half-reflexively swung its tail.
The strike came straight at Rei, but...
"Don't think that attack will work forever!"
His enhanced physical abilities meant his five senses were sharper than usual as well. Evading the Crystal Dragon's strike was not difficult for Rei. In fact, he swung Death Scythe to sever its tail, using the creature's own momentum against it.
Clang!
But Rei's Death Scythe strike was deflected, failing to cut through the Crystal Dragon's tail.
This was despite the fact that his earlier strike—without the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor—while not particularly deep, had definitely cut through.
"Wha!?"
A voice of astonishment slipped from Rei's mouth.
He had intended to sever the tail with that strike.
The Crystal Dragon's tail, possessing the same kind of power as a three-section staff or nine-section chain whip, was a poorly matched attack for Rei.
Since he had the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor active, he hadn't known exactly what effect it would have, but given the situation, he had judged it best to sever the tail as quickly as possible.
And yet, the fact that his attack hadn't worked was completely unexpected.
(What's going on?)
The previous strike had landed, so why hadn't this one?
Rei harbored such doubts, but the Crystal Dragon had no intention of waiting while he thought.
"Gugaaaaaaaaaaah!"
With that roar, it swung a foreleg at Rei.
"Hah!"
Rather than evading the foreleg strike, Rei openly met it head-on.
Death Scythe collided with the Crystal Dragon's foreleg claw, and its momentum stopped dead.
"Ga... Gah!?"
The one surprised by that outcome was, if anything, the Crystal Dragon rather than Rei.
Naturally so. Rei, who was smaller even than Set, had caught a foreleg strike that hadn't been pulled in the slightest.
That said, Rei was also surprised. He had swung Death Scythe while the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor was active, yet his attack had failed for the second time, following the tail.
This was likely what it meant to be one of the races standing at the pinnacle of monsters.
Still, compared to attacking the tail and failing to deal damage, this time it was the opponent's foreleg—specifically, the claws growing there.
A downward foreleg strike and the Death Scythe strike unleashed to meet it head-on. That they collided and the attack was negated was something Rei could at least understand.
"Out of the way!"
That was precisely why Rei was able to unleash another strike before the Crystal Dragon could recover its wits.
With his left hand—the one not gripping Death Scythe—he thrust with the Twilight Spear.
His target, however, was the Crystal Dragon's claw.
Rather than the claw itself, it would be more accurate to say he slid the tip of the Twilight Spear into the gap between claw and skin.
Having something forced between one's claw and skin was excruciatingly painful. It was a technique painful enough that it wasn't uncommonly used as a method of torture during interrogations.
Even a Crystal Dragon naturally possessed a sense of pain, so...
"Gugyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
A scream echoed throughout the surroundings.
For the Crystal Dragon, Rei's attack must have caused that much intense pain.
If Rei hadn't been using the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor... or if the spear he wielded hadn't been a powerful Magic Item like the Twilight Spear but an ordinary one sold at a random shop, he never could have pierced between the Crystal Dragon's claws.
The spear would have simply snapped against the Crystal Dragon's toughness.
Assailed by such agony, the Crystal Dragon half-reflexively swung its other foreleg sideways to fling Rei away.
"Whoa!"
Stabbing the Twilight Spear between its claws had been an attack Rei executed almost on impulse.
But the damage it dealt the Crystal Dragon was undoubtedly significant.
...No, to be precise, the direct damage itself wasn't all that great for the Crystal Dragon. But there was no denying it had taken a strike that stimulated its sense of pain. It wasn't direct damage, but the suffering was immense nonetheless.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaah!"
With its foreleg strike evaded, the Crystal Dragon opened its mouth wide.
"I won't let you!"
Understanding what the Crystal Dragon was about to do, Rei hurled the Twilight Spear.
He would have preferred to attack with Death Scythe, but the Crystal Dragon's mouth was outside Death Scythe's reach, and a strike from where he stood definitely wouldn't connect.
That was why he had unleashed the Twilight Spear instead.
"Guoh!"
However, the thrown Twilight Spear was deflected as the Crystal Dragon whipped its head to the side, batting it away with its fangs.
"Tch! As expected of the Dragon Species!"
Having his strike—launched with the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor active—deflected so easily at point-blank range was unexpected even for Rei.
Still, the fact that it had to shake its head to deflect the Twilight Spear was enough to delay the point-blank Crystal Breath it had been about to unleash. Rei used that opening to kick off the ground and withdraw while recalling the Twilight Spear to his hand.
"Grrrrrrrrl!"
Moving to support Rei, Set dove from the sky and unleashed a Power Crush strike enhanced by the Bracelet of Herculean Strength squarely on the Crystal Dragon's head.
It was the same attack he had used to buy time for Rei to activate the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor earlier, but with one key difference.
This time, Set had used Power Crush while diving from the sky.
The strike, incorporating the speed of his fall from high altitude, was naturally more powerful than his previous attack.
The blow slammed into the Crystal Dragon's head, driving it down to the ground.
...Yet the fact that its head didn't shatter demonstrated the Crystal Dragon's sheer toughness.
"Gugyah!"
For the Crystal Dragon, that strike must have been equally unexpected. It let out a scream that barely sounded like a Dragon at all.
But once the Crystal Dragon grasped its current situation, it immediately shook its head violently and sent Set, who had been perched on top, flying.
Even thrown high into the air, Set simply flapped his wings and landed beside Rei, who had been watching from a short distance away, ready to jump in at a moment's notice.
"Thanks, Set. I got out safely because of you."
"Guruu."
At Rei's words, Set purred happily. He was probably glad to have been of help.
"That said..."
After expressing his gratitude to Set, Rei turned his gaze toward the Crystal Dragon, which had risen to its feet and was glaring at him and Set with blatant hostility.
"Now then, how do I bring it down?"
The Crystal Dragon had undoubtedly taken considerable damage from the series of attacks so far, but its movements showed no impairment whatsoever.
And if Rei's guess was correct, it was using its Regeneration Ability to heal the wounds he had inflicted even as they faced each other.
(Moreover, for some reason I couldn't slash through its tail. Did it use some kind of Skill...? No, could it be Dragon Language Magic?)
The Dragon Language Magic Rei knew was strictly what Elena used.
Given that, it wouldn't be strange for the Crystal Dragon's Dragon Language Magic to have an effect like enhancing its defensive power.
Compared to what Elena used—temporarily creating a Dragon's head and firing a Laser Breath from it—it would be a fairly unremarkable effect.
But for a Crystal Dragon whose body was covered in crystal... no, whose body itself was made of crystal, an effect that enhanced defensive power would be the perfect complement to its natural strengths.
Of course, that was merely Rei's guess.
There was also ample possibility that the Crystal Dragon wasn't using Dragon Language Magic at all and had simply employed some kind of Skill.
"No... but when it comes to pain..."
When the Twilight Spear had slipped between its claws earlier, a tremendous scream had erupted from the Crystal Dragon's mouth.
Thinking back on that, perhaps the Crystal Dragon was weak to pain.
The moment that thought crossed his mind, the Crystal Dragon, as if understanding Rei's very words, opened its mouth wide.
"You think such a big move will work just like that?!"
Recognizing that the Crystal Dragon was once again trying to unleash its Breath, Rei surged forward.
In response to his movement, without needing a single word, Set dashed through the trees to circle around to the Crystal Dragon's flank.
What the opponent was trying to use was Crystal Breath.
Rei naturally understood that—and yet, rather than choosing to evade, he charged straight ahead.
He had already witnessed the Crystal Breath's power earlier, so he knew exactly what it could do.
Yet he stepped forward because he had judged that the opening created when the opponent unleashed its Crystal Breath was the perfect chance to attack.
He had tried to do the same thing earlier, but the Twilight Spear had been deflected by its fangs.
But what if what he threw wasn't the Twilight Spear?
Yes—specifically, the Skill called Deep Flame, which could only be used while the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor was active.
That Skill, which could impart characteristics matching Rei's image to the released flames, was precisely the most optimal Skill for this situation.
Once the distance between him and the Crystal Dragon had closed enough, Rei hurled the magical power enveloping his body as Deep Flame.
For Rei, it was a strike born from a simple thought: if defeating the Crystal Dragon from the outside proved difficult, why not attack from within?
"Gugaaaaaaaaa!"
The Crystal Dragon roared at the charging Rei...
"Gugyah? Gugaaaaaaaaaa!"
The roar possessed enough force to make anyone who heard it flinch, but a sound was still just a sound.
The Deep Flame struck the Crystal Dragon's fangs... but unlike the Twilight Spear, it wasn't deflected. It slipped past the fangs, into its mouth, down the back of its throat, and into its stomach...
BOOM!
With a deafening roar, it generated violent flames inside the Crystal Dragon's body and detonated.