While Rei and Noiz were engaged in an inhuman battle, a different inhuman battle was taking place elsewhere on the Brissa Plain.
「GYAAAAAAAAAAA！」
As the water dragon charged towards her with a loud cry, Vihera leaped up to avoid the attack.
The next moment, the water dragon’s charge created a large hole in the ground where Vihera had just been standing.
Seeing that from mid air, Vihera smiled……twisting her body to regain her balance as she landed on the ground before closing the distance to Digma.
The water dragon, that is to say a dragon made out of water, possessed unparalleled power.
In fact, considering how big it was and that it was completely made of water, it would be foolish to even consider a direct clash against it.
As for Vihera’s signature attack, Magic Palm, it was only effective against enemies with a physical body.
The water dragon was only a pseudo living creature and its body was made up of nothing but water.
As a result, even if if Vihera used Magic Palm against it, it could easily recover as long as it had water to spare.
There was no point in fighting against a puppet like that, so she could only attack the puppeteer controlling it.
Reaching that conclusion in her mind, Vihera dashed straight for the puppeteer……Digma.
However, in some sense, that was also a mistake.
It was true that the water dragon was a creation of Digma, but it was also a water spirit.
That meant that it had a certain level of self awareness.
Because of that, as soon as it realised the person it had made a pact with was under attack, it responded of its own accord.
「GYAAAAAAAA！」
The water dragon swung its tail at Vihera as she charged towards Digma.
It could also have attacked using Water Breath, but with Digma and Vihera lined up, it would have affected Digma as well.
Which was why it decided to attack with its tail.
「I knew that was coming.」
The tail attack from her right, made by the water dragon, was something that Vihera had expected.
She made a light leap just before the attack hit her.
Pushing against the water dragon’s tail, which felt solid despite being made of water, she used the momentum from the attack to push her even faster towards Digma.
「I see. To think that someone would use my water dragon to attack like this……it’s quite surprising.」
Digma didn’t seem as surprised as his words indicated as he readied the magic sword in his hand.
As an A rank adventurer, he wouldn’t be shaken up by something so simple as he calmly intercepted Vihera’s charge.
(From her fight against the adventurers earlier, she is likely capable of dealing a fatal blow from a single touch. If that’s the case, I’ll have to watch her hands.)
From what Digma had seen, everyone who had been hit by Vihera had been knocked unconscious.
Though they were unconscious and not dead, Digma still considered it to be a fatal attack considering what could happen on the battlefield after falling unconscious.
You wouldn’t be able to dodge arrows and you would be able to respond to any enemies that approached either.
No matter how you looked at it, it was nothing but fatal.
「In that case, all I need to do is to keep my distance.」
He muttered to himself as he gripped his magic sword tightly.
As his title suggested, Water Dragon Digma’s specialty was undoubtedly his water elemental magic.
However, that alone wouldn’t have been enough to make him an A rank adventurer……let alone earn himself a title.
As he had demonstrated in his fight against Rei in the tournament, Digma was also confident in his weapon skills and he did indeed possess that level of strength.
「Come on, let’s do this!」
Vihera gave a bold shout towards Digma as she strode forward with the graceful movements of a feline beast.
She had already poured her magic power into her gauntlets to create claws, with the goal of using them to deal with Digma’s magic sword.
Vihera also made sure to always place herself between the water dragon and Digma, preventing the water dragon from making any careless attacks.
『Water spirit, become a whip to strike my enemy.』
At Digma’s words, four whips made of water suddenly appeared around him.
They all curled back, ready to strike at Vihera.
As the the four whips sprang forward with a whoosh, Vihera didn’t choose to dodge to the side or retreat, instead she pushed forward.
As she moved forward, she tilted her body slightly to avoid the whips.
At the same time, she swung the claws that extended from her gauntlets, cutting the whips in half as the severed tips fell to the ground, forming puddles of water.
Dodging and attacking all four whips in the same way, within the blink of an eye, they had all turned back into ordinary water.
But, Digma had expected that.
No, rather, he would have been in trouble if that hadn’t been Vihera’s response.
In the short gap that Vihera’s attacks presented, a shield of water formed in front of him.
Seeing the shape of the familiar looking shield, Vihera thought of the person she loved as she paused on reflex.
「Magic Shield!?」
Yes, it was the exact same shape as the Magic Shield that Rei could create.
The only difference was that Rei’s shield was made of light while Digma’s was made of water.
「So you know. It’s slightly different from Crimson’s, but I can assure you that it is still quite strong. ……More importantly, is it okay for you to stop moving?」
「-!?」
Digma’s words brought Vihera straight back to reality.
She was stuck between Digma and his water dragon. ……No, she had been.
In the moment that Vihera had paused, Digma had moved diagonally in front of her.
With that positioning, the water dragon no longer had any reason to hesitate on its attack……
「GYAAAAAAAAAA！」
With a loud roar, a huge amount of water poured out from the water dragon’s mouth.
The water breath was targeted straight at Vihera.
The moment she saw that, Vihera leaped to the side.
Even Digma could only describe her explosive power as incredible.
While she wasn’t able to avoid all of the water, the water breath was unable to hit her properly.
Some of her thin clothing was soaked, but she didn’t suffer any significant injuries.
「HAAAAAH-!」
Her wet and thin clothes only stuck to her body more, making her already eye catching body even more tempting to men’s eyes.
However, Vihera didn’t seem to care about her appearance……instead she seemed to show it off as she punched out.
That said, no matter how attractive she might have appeared at the time, it was impossible for Digma to be distracted by her in the middle of combat……especially when Vihera was also punching him.
Using the water shield to block Vihera’s punch, he thrust out his magic sword in response.
Behind them, the water dragon waited for an opportunity to strike after they separated.
Vihera’s attack easily destroyed the water shield as soon as her claws made contact with it.
This had all gone according to Digma’s prediction up to this point, which was why he had made a thrusting attack with his own sword.
However, the feeling that Digma felt in his hand wasn’t that of cutting into flesh, but rather hitting something metallic.
At the same time, a high pitched metallic clang echoed out and Digma realised that his magic sword had been bounced back.
What happened? The question loomed at the back of his mind, but his body had already made its next move before he could give it any thought.
Rather than counteract the force of his magic sword being repelled, he twisted his body to match its momentum.
His response slowed the sword’s movement, making it easier for him to connect his next move.
As he spun through the air, Digma quickly checked his magic sword for breaks or chips, which fortunately there were none.
『Water spirit!』
With the momentum from his spin, he sent another sword thrust towards Vihera, who was blinded by the sudden jets of water that shot up from around her.
Vihera ducked to avoid the sharp tip of the magic sword that appeared from the water curtains as she unleashed a spinning kick with the blade that extended from her heel, slashing Digma’s leg.
「Gah-!」
Vihera’s counterattack sliced Digma’s leg, under the shin.
Digma gave a pained shout as he jumped backwards.
Putting some distance between himself and Vihera, he spoke again.
『Water spirit, heal me.』
At his words, the water floating around Digma covered his injured leg.
Due to the shallow slash, the wound wasn’t very deep, so it vanished after a few seconds.
「……It’s quite troublesome that you can also use healing magic.」
Vihera brushed back her wet hair as she frowned slightly.
She would have normally launched herself straight into another attack.
But……turning her head, she saw the water dragon, ready to attack her the moment she tried to do make any attack.
If she had really made an attack, the water dragon would also have attacked.
「I guess so. I find you to be the more troublesome one though. Not only were you able to block my magic sword, but you were also able to react the moment your line of sight was blocked. Normally, that would be enough to make someone pause for a moment……or even a few seconds.」
As Digma spoke, he swung his magic sword, causing it to make a whooshing sound as it sliced through the air.
That action alone was more than enough to show how skilled Digma was.
「Really? I’ve been through my fair share of hellish situations after all……!」
Vihera dashed forward as soon as she finished speaking.
A split second later, the water dragon behind her spat out a water attack. But, by the the time the attack reached where Vihera had been, she was long gone, reaching out in front of Digma.
「Whew-!」
With a sharp breath, Vihera swung her left hand.
The claws that extended from her gauntlet went straight for Digma’s chest.
With the sharp tips, it would have pierced through Digma’s leather armour without any issues.
Realising that he couldn’t afford to take the hit carelessly, Digma jumped backwards to avoid it.
But……that was what Vihera was aiming for.
As Digma jumped backwards, Vihera stepped forward, bringing her outstretched left had back to a close position.
And, as she did that, she thrust out her right hand……not with any kind of claws, but ah open palm, touching Digma’s leather armour.
Digma shuddered as he sensed something fatal in Vihera’s movements. He tried to thrust his sword out towards Vihera……but it was easily blocked by the claws that extended from the gauntlet on Vihera’s left hand.
Then, just as Digma attempted to stop Vihera using his left hand……
「Hah-!」
With a short shout, magic power poured out from Vihera’s palm, penetrating Digma’s body as the destructive power was unleashed.
Of course, Vihera had no intention of killing Digma with her Magic Palm.
If she had, Digma’s body would have exploded from the inside out at this point in time.
However, Digma was an A ranked adventurer and one with a reasonably good personality.
Killing someone like that during the civil war would only be detrimental to the Bestir Empire in the long run.
Top class adventurers above B rank were already rare and those with titles had contributed far more to the Bestir Empire than the average noble.
If her younger brother, Mercurio, survived the civil war, Digma would undoubtedly become a valuable asset.
Vihera might have already left the Bestir Empire, but it was still her home country and she couldn’t bring herself to kill someone who could be of great use to her brother.
As Vihera looked at Digma, who was lying unconscious on the ground, she suddenly turned around.
There, the water dragon was looking back at her, as if ready to attack at any moment.
If the water dragon had been created using ordinary magic, it would remain under the control of the mage who created it.
In other words, the moment the mage lost consciousness, the water dragon would also disappear.
But, this water dragon hadn’t been created with ordinary magic, it was something formed from spirit magic.
In other words, it possessed it’s own consciousness.
That was why it didn’t disappear even after Digma lost consciousness. Instead, it remained ready to protect Digma, wary of Vihera, who was standing beside him.
「Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill him.」
「GYAAAA」
The water dragon gave a short cry.
It seemed to doubt whether Vihera was telling the truth.
However, Vihera didn’t seem particularly concerned about the water dragon as she picked up Digma.
「That said, i can’t leave him here like this. It would be a problem if he joined back up with the punitive force after waking back up, so I’ll have to take care of him for now.」
With those words, Vihera started heading back to her camp.
Perhaps believing Vihera’s words, the water dragon turned back into ordinary water as it collapsed to the ground in a large splash.