Going back a bit of time.

Rei and Set flew out of the forest and climbed straight up.

They flew to a height that would be impossible for ordinary flying monsters to reach, and as if that was not enough, they flew even further up.

The pressure and temperature dropped as the altitude rose, but Rei’s body had been created by Zepairu and he was also wearing the Dragon Robe. In addition, because Set was a Griffon created by Rei’s enormous magic power, Set managed to maintain consciousness in such a harsh environment.

Even so, after climbing to this altitude, they didn’t have the leisure to talk. Rei stroked Set’s neck to convey his thoughts as they danced in the sky.

(Now then, even if I were to create a flaming tornado, which I need to work together with Set to create, I still need to land at least once. If Set’s skill level was higher, then we would be able to attack from further away……no, it can’t be helped.)

Aside from Rei’s own magic, the current range of the Death Scythe’s Wind Hand Lvl 2 was about 150m. On the other hand, Set’s Tornado, which was the key to creating a flaming tornado, had an effective cast range of 1m at Lvl 1.

Because the tornado was the basis and core of a fire whirl, in order to achieve what Rei wanted to do, it was essential that he created the tornado on the ground. And to do that, he had to land on the ground.

(However, that’s why I’ve climbed to this altitude. As expected, even if they are Dragon Knights, they won’t expect Set to be much higher up than them. ……That said, this will only work once.)

It was a surprise attack from an altitude much higher than compared to an ordinary Dragon Knight and other monsters that flew in the sky. It was certainly effective, but once such a method became known, the height they were currently at would definitely be monitored. It was strange to see, but the attacks used by Rei and Theorem were both ones that were highly effective the first time they were used, but would also be very easy to protect against if used a second time.

No, rather, a surprise attack from a high altitude was something that could only be done due to the uniqueness of Rei and Set, so in terms versatility, its use was much less practical compared with Theorem’s strategy of using transition stones, which could be carried out by anyone.

「Guru~」

Set’s cry could be heard as he seemed to ask if Rei had any problems flying at this altitude.

Hearing that, Rei gave a small nod as he turned to look at Set.

Looking past SEt, Rei saw two figures meeting between the two armies before returning to their own camps.

It was clear what that meant.

(In other words……the war has started!)

Rei recalled what he had heard from Runo, the knights and the Neutral faction nobles. The war would begin after representatives from each army had demanded the other to surrender, while refusing to surrender themselves, and returned to their own army. That meant……

(That’s it, now!)

As Rei said that in his mind, the war officially started on the ground. Both the Mireana Kingdom’s vanguard and the Bestir Empire’s vanguard began to move.

The forces on both sides was about 100,000 for the Mireana Kingdom’s army and 150,000 for the Bestir Empire’s army. However, the Royalist section of the Mireana Kingdom’s army that made up the rear remained where it was and showed no signs of advancing. That said, Arius, the commander in chief of the Mireana Kingdom’s army, was not an incompetent person and had prepared his soldiers in formation to fill the gap as soon as the vanguard collapsed.

On the other hand, the main force of the Bestir Empire’s army had moved to follow the vanguard. They had expected the movements of the Mirena Kingdom’s main force to be slow and this move was to take advantage of that.

While watching this situation, Set started a rapid dive towards the Bestir Empire’s army. On his back, Rei had already taken the Death Scythe out from the Misty Ring and was ready to swing it.

Of course, there was no way that the Bestir Empire’s army would fail to notice such a obvious action. However, Set was too fast for them to do anything.

There were, of course, some Dragon Knights, which Rei had judged to be troublesome opponents. But since the majority of Dragon Knights had been assigned to the main team as the Bestir Empire’s trump card to decide the battle, and since the war had only just begun, most of them were still on the ground and were unable to deal with Set.

And as for the few Dragon Knights that had been assigned to the vanguard, they had almost no way to handle Set as he dived down from an even higher altitude. Several Wyverns managed to spit out flames from their mouths towards them, but that was all they could do.

If they had been proper Dragons rather than Wyverns, they might have been able to deal with Set by spewing out a fire breath rather than spitting out fireballs. However, there were no Dragon Knights on this battlefield that could handle a real Dragon and the fireballs that were spat out by the Wyverns failed to hit Set as he fell towards the ground like a meteor tearing through the sky.

Still, it was lucky that some of the fireballs that had been shot at Set had gone in the wrong direction. Some Wyverns were confused by their Dragon Knight’s sudden actions and had shot fireballs into their own forces.

Lost within the havoc of a battle that had just begun, Set fell towards the ground from a high altitude……no, Set was flapping his wings to accelerate even further as he landed in the centre of the Bestir Empire’s vanguard forces.

「UUAAAHHHHHHH-!」

The Bestir Empire soldiers that noticed Rei and Set diving towards them at tremendous speed screamed as they tried to escaped from the drop zone.

The reason for that was because they instinctively realised they wouldn’t stand a chance if they were hit by something falling at that speed.

However, the soldiers’ worries ended up being pointless. Because as the Griffon was falling like a meteor, it spread its wings wide before it hit the ground, slowing its fall abruptly before landing on the ground like a cat.

In that moment, the soldiers in the surroundings were silent at the unbelievable scene they had just saw with their own eyes. It was just a few seconds, but for Rei, that was all the time he needed to make his next move.

「HAAHHHH-!」

Landing on the ground as he rolled off Set’s back, he swung the Death Scythe at the same time, pouring his magic power into the blade as he swept it across horizontally.

Slash-!

With that first swing, nearly five soldiers and adventurers were split in two at the torso, dividing their upper and lower bodies as their blood and organs splattered around.

Rei gave a sharp shout as he swung the blade back, a rich smell of rusted iron rapidly gathering around him.

「Flying Slash-!」

Among the Death Scythe’s skills, Flying Slash had a wide range and was easy to use. As the skill activated, a slash flew out from the blade, cleaving the bodies of several soldiers and adventurers who had been outside the range of the Death Scythe.

In a single moment, more than 10 people were killed.

And the next moment, the soldiers, adventurers and knights around him brought themselves back to reality.

「Set-!」

Rei gave a loud shout. Set instinctively understood what Rei wanted and responded with a loud cry himself.

「GURURURURURURURURURUUUUU–!」

The moment that cry was heard, everyone in the near vicinity stopped moving.

King’s Awe. Although it had no direct offensive power among Set’s skills, it effect on stopping the movement of enemies was much more powerful. And most of all, it was a skill that Rei could use without worry as it didn’t have any signs like Fire Breath or Wind Arrow. With Set’s cry, the cry of a Griffon, an A rank monster, most people wouldn’t suspect a thing if they suddenly froze up. Because of that, to prevent others from finding out that Set was a special Griffon, this was the most appropriate skill to be used in this situation.

Set’s cry had stopped the movements of the Bestir Empire’s army in the area. That was the moment Rei had been waiting for to use his trump card.

Rei glanced at Set for a moment to silently convey his plan. After confirming that Set understood what he wanted to do, Rei began to cast his magic.

Flames, manifest your burning heat as a vortex.』

The incantation transformed the world, gathering flames at the bottom end of the Death Scythe. Then, swinging the Death Scythe horizontally, the compact mass of flames flew towards an area where the Bestir Empire’s soldiers had gathered.

『Twisting Flames!』

The moment Rei said those words, the magic was activated and a flaming tornado appeared.

The soldiers, adventurers and knights who were in the immediate vicinity were all burned up without distinction. Their arms and legs burned, anywhere their armour touched burned, their faces burned and their eyes went a cloudy white from the heat.It was a scene that could be called a scorching hell as the people around the limited area of the flame tornado were burned alive. If this had been a magic cast by an ordinary mage, the only victims would have been those caught in the flames around them. But……

Looking towards the tornado, Set gave a loud cry.

「GURURURUU-!」

At the same time, Rei began to swing his Death Scythe purposefully.

The next moment, a wind tornado appeared, overlapping with the flame tornado. Seeing that, Rei got onto Set’s back because he no longer needed to be here. As if waiting for that, Set flew straight up into the air, knocking the surrounding soldiers away.

And, the moment Set flew up into the sky, Rei activated his Wind Hand skill. Tentacles of wind grew from the shaft of the Death Scythe and extended out towards the fire and wind tornadoes. At the same time, numerous arrow and magic flew towards them from the Bestir Empire army that had regained their movements. However, Set moved his wings as he desired, flying through the sky as if he was the wind itself, dodging all attacks.

Rei’s magic was so powerful that his flames would erode the wind tornado. But with the Wind Hand extending out from the Death Scythe and coming in contact with both tornadoes, the magic in Rei’s Wind Hand was passed onto Set’s tornado. The wind tornado, that had been about to be swallowed up by the flame tornado, suddenly increased in power, reaching the same size as the flame tornado. The moment after they overlapped, the two tornadoes fused as the wind caught the flames.

Yes, a flame whirl was created just as Rei had been aiming for. At the same time.

「Tch, Set-!」

「Gurururu-!」

As expected, it was impossible for Set to avoid all the attacks from the surrounding Bestir Empire army. One arrow flew rapidly towards his body. However, in response to Rei’s warning, Set quickly used the effect of his magic item, the Bracelet of Wind Manipulation, which had the effect of blocking projectiles, blowing all arrows away with the wind.

「Go up!」

By the time Set had reached a height where attacks below could no longer hit them……the ground had turned into hell.

The flame whirl that had been created by magic had wind speeds exceeding 100m/s and a temperature of over 1000°C, burning up the lives of everyone in the area.

Those who had managed to survive Rei’s initial flame tornado but were too close when it merged with Set’s tornado were instantly burned to ashes from the outside in, their corpses scattering as they were sucked into the tornado. Those who were further away were burned away from the inside as their internal organs were burnt to a crisp by the hot gas as they suffocated.

It was the scene of a disaster. The tornado of fire reigned with overwhelming death and destruction that was beyond the power of any single individual’s magic and was tall enough to seem like it was piercing the sky.

The reason why the damage was so great at this time was because the soldiers, knights and adventurers had crowded together in the vanguard to intercept the Mireana Kingdom’s army as the first line of defence. The flame whirl had broken out in the centre of the densely packed area and the surrounding area was filled with people who were unable to escape, spreading the damage further.

Burning to death due to the flames and being cut to death but the sharp wind blades thrown out by the tornado itself. With just those two, the vanguard of the Bestir Empire’s army lost several thousand with many times more people injured.

And……Rei wasn’t done with his work yet.

「Set, keep climbing! Get high enough that you won’t be affected by the fire tornado and keep your distance!」

「Guru~……Gururururu~!」

Nodding at Rei’s words, Set was about to fly higher when he noticed something approaching him and gave a wary cry.

The cause of that was the approach of a Dragon Knight, who was approaching from the Bestir Empire’s main force in an attempt to stop the escaping Griffon.

Many of the Dragon Knights that had been in the vanguard had been burned to death by the flame tornado, both dragon and knight. As a result, the only Dragon knights who could fly freely in the sky above the battlefield were those who had come over from the main army.

「Don’t worry about them, we’ll deal with them later. They won’t be able to do anything about it.」

「Gurururu~!」

In response to Rei’s words, Set gave a cry and sent a glance towards the Dragon Knight that was approaching them before flapping his wings and climbing further into the sky.

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