It had been about an hour since Rei and Set entered the forest along the highway to fulfill their goblin subjugation request. Set, walking ahead, fired a Water Ball into the undergrowth, prompting a sharp shriek. That cry served as a signal for nearly twenty goblins to emerge, encircling the pair.
"An ambush? No, an ambush this deep in the woods doesn't make much sense. We must have just stumbled into a pack," Rei muttered, readying the Death Scythe. His eyes narrowed as he quickly assessed the monsters.
(Two have rusted longswords, three have daggers, and the rest are carrying clubs. I’d heard that the smarter ones occasionally use weapons, but I didn't expect the whole group to be armed. It's possible that only the intelligent ones gathered here, but...)
"Hah!"
A goblin from behind threw a stone as a preemptive strike. Rei channeled magic power into the Death Scythe and swung. The blade sliced through the stone and continued on, cleaving through a nearby giant tree roughly a meter in diameter.
Surprised that a trunk of that thickness could be severed so easily, the goblins froze for a second. Rei didn't waste the opening. As the tree began to groan and lean, he shouted to Set.
"Set! Once the tree falls and splits them up, we pick them off one by one!"
"Guruu!"
As Rei watched the massive tree begin its slow, certain descent toward a cluster of goblins, he gathered his thoughts.
(The guild was right. I should assume a rare species has appeared. And since it isn't showing its face yet, it’s smart enough to know that a commander shouldn't be on the front lines.)
"Gii! Gii!"
"Gii!"
"Gigigii!"
The goblins shrieked, scrambling into two groups to avoid the falling timber. Seeing his opening, Rei gripped the Death Scythe and charged to the right, while Set lunged toward the left.
"Hah!"
Rei plunged into the cluster of goblins disoriented by the falling tree, swinging his massive great scythe with a wide, powerful arc. When infused with magic power, the blade possessed a sharpness that could cut through giant trees as if they were mist. An ordinary goblin had no hope of defending against it. The scythe swept through the air, severing torsos, limbs, and heads without a hint of resistance.
A single flash. With that lone attack, most of the goblins in Rei's immediate vicinity were either dead or dying.
Among the armed goblins, those with rusted longswords had tried to reflexively parry the blow. Perhaps a magic item like the battle axe Vargas used could have held, but trying to stop the Death Scythe with a rusted blade was like trying to catch a waterfall in a single cup. The longswords, arms, and torsos were sliced through in one smooth motion, spilling entrails onto the forest floor.
"Gii!?"
Seeing more than half of their side wiped out in an instant, the remaining goblins broke. They scattered in every direction, fleeing at full speed to save their own skins.
Rei considered pursuing them for a moment, but his request was only for five goblins. If he had time to kill more, it would be more efficient to hunt monsters at a level that could actually serve as nourishment for Set or the Death Scythe. He decided to let them go.
"Gurururuuu!"
Set’s roar echoed from the other side of the fallen tree. Judging that the situation over there was also under control, Rei leaped over the trunk to join his partner.
There, he found the corpses of four goblins. Their bellies had been crushed by Water Balls, their chests torn open by sharp eagle talons, or their throats ripped out by a powerful beak. It was two fewer than Rei’s count, but while Rei had killed his in a single sweep, Set had hunted his targets down one by one. Considering how fast the monsters could run, it was an impressive result.
"Guruu."
Seeing Rei approach, Set rubbed its head against him, practically begging for praise. Rei gave a wry smile at the contrast between the affectionate griffon and the gruesome corpses scattered around them.
He took a moment to stroke Set’s head and offer some praise. Once that was settled, he began the grim task of collecting proof of subjugation parts.
Since there were no materials on a goblin that a guild or shop would buy, the only things worth taking were the right ears and the magic stones.
"Set, keep watch while I harvest the parts and stones."
"Guruu."
Set nodded, and Rei reached into his Misty Ring. Instead of his mithril knife, he pulled out an iron dagger—one of the items he had confiscated from Vargas’s party.
(Using a mithril knife to butcher goblins would be a waste. Since I have this now, I’ll use this dagger. I don’t care if it gets dull or dirty.)
He expertly sliced off the right ears and cut open the goblins' chests, extracting magic stones about the size of a pinky fingernail from their hearts.
(I don't feel any mental distress killing humanoid monsters. I suppose I have the fusion with Zephyle to thank for that. It’s lucky I don't have to mope around and agonize over taking a life. I’ll probably feel some aversion to killing humans, but that's likely it. This isn't Japan; it’s Elgin. When in Rome... Besides, if I were too squeamish to kill prey, I shouldn't have become an adventurer in the first place.)
With those thoughts in mind, he moved efficiently from corpse to corpse.
Though he collected the magic stones, Rei knew that the stones from "the weakest monsters" were unlikely to grant any new skills to Set or the Death Scythe. Still, they were worth one copper coin each—hardly a fortune, but better than nothing. He stored them away in the Misty Ring.
After finishing with the goblins Set had killed, Rei looked at their weapons. The longswords and daggers were too rusted to be of any use. He couldn't repair them himself, and paying a blacksmith would cost more than the weapons were worth. To ensure the fleeing goblins didn't return to scavenge them, he used the butt of the Death Scythe to smash the blades into pieces.
He left the wooden clubs alone. They were just fallen branches; even if he broke them, the goblins could find replacements in seconds.
"Alright, now for the ones I killed. Set, the tree—no, wait."
Rei remembered what had happened in the Forest of Magic. He had been able to store trees in the Misty Ring then, and he should be able to do the same now. He wasn't sure what he would do with a giant tree, but he optimistically figured it might come in handy eventually. He touched the trunk and stored it away.
"Good. Now the path is clear. Set, keep a sharp eye out."
"Guruu."
With the obstacle gone, Rei began harvesting the goblins he had slain. Unlike Set's kills, these were gruesome; the Death Scythe had left bodies in pieces, with limbs and internal organs strewn across the grass. He was searching for the last few heads when he felt a sudden chill—the distinct sensation of being watched.
"Guruu."
Set felt it too. The griffon was restless, his sharp eyes scanning the trees.
(There’s something here, but I can't pin down its location. Is it the rare species? What’s it waiting for? Is it going to let us pass, or is it waiting for us to lower our guard while harvesting? Either way, any monster skilled enough to hide from Set is worth a magic stone. I hope I can lure it out.)
Rei decided to treat the hidden watcher as a target. He cut the ear from the final goblin and reached for its heart—then he heard it. A sudden whistling sound in the air. He kicked off the ground and lunged toward Set.
An instant later, a red projectile slammed into the goblin corpse Rei had just been touching, erupting in a shower of sparks and flame.
"Tch! Fire magic in the middle of a forest? And the focus is sloppy. Set!"
"Guruu!"
Set instantly fired a Water Ball, dousing the flames on the corpse before they could spread to the surrounding dry leaves.
Rei scanned the canopy and felt a presence directly above. He reflexively raised the Death Scythe over his head.
With a sharp metallic clang, a longsword swung down from above. It slammed into the shaft of the Death Scythe and shattered halfway down the blade.
"Hah!"
Rei didn't hesitate. He swung the scythe in a counter-arc. The attacker tried to block with a shield, but the heavy blade sheared through the small shield as if it were parchment.
The figure used the momentum of the impact to flip backward, putting distance between itself and the duo before landing crouched on the forest floor.
Finally, Rei had the chance to see his opponent.
It clutched a broken sword and a shattered small shield, glaring at Rei with pure malice. It was a goblin, but unlike its green-skinned kin, this one had skin as red as blood. It was also a full head taller than the others.
"I see. A rare species. The name fits."
Rei allowed a small smile to play across his lips. Taking the expression as an insult, the red goblin threw aside its useless shield and leveled its broken sword.
"Gii!"
With a sharp cry, a sphere of flame manifested in front of the monster.
(It’s similar to Set’s Water Ball. A Fire Ball, then? It has decent martial skills for a goblin and can use basic attack magic. I guess it’s a magic warrior type. But magic only matters if you can actually fire it!)
Before the rare species could launch the spell, Rei lunged. He closed the distance in a heartbeat, magic power surging through the Death Scythe as he slashed through both the fireball and the goblin.
"Gii!?"
the scythe blade tore through the flame, causing it to dissipate harmlessly, while the tip of the blade left a shallow red line across the goblin's chest.
Panicking as its magic was erased, the goblin threw the hilt of its broken sword at Rei. Its shock was understandable; magic usually can't be dispelled except by other magic or weapons specifically designed to channel magic power. To the goblin, Rei’s weapon was something beyond its understanding.
"You're fast, and you've got magic. You certainly earn the 'rare species' title. But your biggest advantage was your stealth. Once you missed that first strike, you were just prey... hup!"
Rei swung the scythe in a deliberately wide, heavy arc. The goblin scrambled to dodge, but the moment it felt a sense of relief at avoiding the blade, Rei swept its legs out with the handle of the scythe.
"Gii!"
The goblin shrieked, trying to scramble back to its feet, but it had made a fatal error: it had focused entirely on Rei. It had seen its lethal ambush failed, its fire magic erased, and its weapons shattered. It couldn't look away from the threat in front of it.
But focused on Rei, it never saw Set.
While the goblin was still struggling on its haunches, Set had circled around. With the terrifying strength of a lion's foreleg and the precision of eagle claws, the griffon struck the back of the goblin's neck.
"Gii!?"
To Set, a rare species was still just a goblin. The gap in their natural power was the difference between an A-rank and an F-rank. Even if this variant was effectively an E-rank, it was nothing to a griffon. The goblin never even realized how outmatched it was before its neck snapped with a sickening crack, and the light in its eyes went out.
"Good job, Set."
"Gurururu."
Rei gave Set a thorough scratching behind the ears before extracting the magic stone from the red goblin’s chest. This stone was a full size larger than the ones from the common goblins.
He hesitated for a moment, wondering whether the scythe or Set should have it. He decided that Set’s lack of long-range options beyond Water Ball was a weakness that needed addressing.
"Here, Set."
"Guruu."
Set snatched the stone from Rei’s palm and swallowed it whole.
A moment later, the familiar voice echoed in Rei’s mind.
[Set has acquired the skill: Fire Breath Lv.1]
"...It was using Fire Ball. Why did it give him Fire Breath?" Rei muttered with a sigh.
[Set] Skills: Water Ball Lv.1, Fire Breath Lv.1 (New)