Inside the hollow of the tree, the party slept wrapped in robes, cloaks, or the blankets Rei had provided from his Misty Ring. They carried sleeping bags, but Elena had advised against using them in the dungeon. Despite having a gryphon like Set on high alert, they couldn't be certain when a fight might break out. Being trapped inside a sleeping bag would hinder their reaction time in an emergency, so they had settled on this arrangement instead.
Kyuste had initially protested the idea of Elena sleeping alongside commoners, but he had been shot down by the same logic and eventually yielded, however reluctantly.
As the group slept, Vel, who had been on watch outside, stepped into the hollow and approached Rei.
"Rei, you awake?" Vel whispered, careful not to disturb the others.
"Hmm? ...Yeah. Time for my turn?"
"Exactly. Dawn is nearly here, so I doubt we'll see much action, but that’s also when people are most likely to drop their guard. I’m counting on you."
Vel yawned as he spoke. Rei nodded, swapping places with him and stepping outside.
He found a heap of roughly ten Goblin corpses waiting for him. Beside them lay several Water Monkeys that had attacked the party during their forest trek the previous day. These were the monsters that had been repelled during the earlier watches.
"Guruuu."
Set, who had been resting near the hollow until a moment ago, rose slowly and approached him.
"Hungry?"
"Guru."
Set purred a low response from the back of its throat. Rei gave a wry smile, but decided he might as well get to work. He drew his Mithril Knife and began dismantling the Water Monkeys next to the Goblin pile. He cut off the right ears—the Proof of Subjugation Part—and then skinned the hides, which were no longer covered in water since the creatures were dead. Rei had grown efficient at material stripping; his hands moved smoothly without a hint of hesitation. He stored the hides in his Misty Ring before cutting away the limbs, heads, and tails to remove the offal. Finally, he dug a hole a short distance away and buried the remains.
"Before we eat... Set."
Rei called out, offering the magic stone he’d retrieved from a Water Monkey heart.
"Guru!"
Set snatched the stone in its beak and swallowed it in one go, but...
"Nothing, huh?"
"Guru..."
The skill failed to manifest, leaving the duo slightly dejected.
To cheer them up, Rei skewered the Water Monkey meat—chopped into bite-sized pieces for faster cooking—on branches and stuck them into the ground around the campfire. As the meat sizzled, it released a savory aroma that piqued their appetites. Set’s throat rumbled in anticipation. In the middle of the dark forest, time seemed to slow down into a peaceful lull around their small fire.
"Careful, it's hot."
Rei sprinkled some salt from his Misty Ring, placed the skewers on a large leaf, and offered them to Set. The gryphon pinned the branch with its forepaw, tore the meat off with its beak, and swallowed it happily while purring.
Rei took a skewer for himself, added salt and pepper, and took a bite. They were technically monkeys, but as monsters, their meat lacked any gamey funk. Once they finished eating, they sat in companionable silence, waiting for the night to end.
He tended the fire, listening to the crackle and occasionally tossing in more wood. He even pulled out a pot, water, and tea leaves to brew a crude tea for himself and Set.
The night began to fade, and a sliver of light appeared in the east. It was then that Rei felt it—a vibration.
"...What was that? I think the ground just shook."
The sensation returned a moment later. A faint thud, thud reached his ears, growing louder as the vibrations intensified.
Based on the rhythmic nature of the sound, it’s likely the footsteps of a monster, Rei thought. He hoped it would pass them by, but the noise was heading straight for their position.
"Judging by the rhythm, it's just one individual, but it's clearly massive."
He looked back at the hollow tree.
"Intercepting it here is too dangerous. We need to head it off. Set, let's move."
"Guru!"
Rei stepped inside the hollow and nudged Ara awake with his foot.
"Mwah? Whazza...?"
"Wake up, Ara. Enemy approaching."
"Enemy? Enemy... Enemy!?"
True to her training as a knight, Ara reacted instantly. Rubbing her eyes, she reached for the sword she’d kept at her side. The commotion woke the others as well; Elena and the rest began to stir.
"It sounds like a massive monster. If we fight it here, the campsite will be destroyed. Set and I will intercept it, so you focus on guarding the perimeter. Good luck."
"Wait! Lord Rei!?"
Rei ignored Ara’s cry and turned toward the footsteps. The heavy thud, thud was nearly upon them.
He gripped the Death Scythe he’d kept ready for his watch and sprinted toward the sound, Set running silently at his side. He briefly considered flying to scout, but the forest was too dense and the morning light too dim for an aerial search to be effective.
A few minutes later, he came face-to-face with the creature.
"GAAAAAAHHHH!"
The monster roared the moment it spotted them. It was over five meters tall with green skin—clearly a Goblin-type monster. However, its frame was packed with dense, powerful muscle. It carried a crude club made from a tree it had uprooted. Its mouth was a mess of tusks, giving it a truly hideous visage. Rei recognized the creature from his reading.
"An Ogre."
Despite the relation to Goblins, an Ogre was on a different level of ferocity and power. It was a Rank C threat for a reason.
Rei, standing at 165cm, was small for a man, and the monster towered over him at nearly three times his height. His head barely reached its knee. Seeing him, the Ogre raised its club, clearly intent on crushing him like an insect before eating him.
But the Ogre was ignorant. It had no idea who Rei was. Had it known, it wouldn't have been so careless. It would have swung with every ounce of its strength from the start. Instead, because of its low intelligence, it judged Rei solely by his size and dismissed him as insignificant.
Wham!
The club slammed down with enough force to obliterate anything it touched. It was a clumsy strike of raw strength, but it would have been devastating... if it had landed.
"As if I'd let such an obvious attack hit me!"
Rei leaped backward. He watched the club carve a small crater in the earth and taunted the beast with a look of pure disdain. The Ogre didn't understand human words, but it understood contempt perfectly. This tiny creature was looking down on it.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
The beast fell for the provocation. It roared in fury and wrenched its club from the ground.
"Set!"
At Rei’s shout, five Wind Arrows slammed into the Ogre’s back. They weren't powerful enough to do serious damage, but they were more than enough to distract it. As the Ogre spun around in confusion—
"GURURURURURUUU!"
Set’s talons shredded the Ogre’s back.
"GAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Howling in pain and frustration, the Ogre swung its club wildly. But Set was already gone, leaving only a few feathers drifting in the air.
While the Ogre searched for its aerial attacker, Rei sprinted forward with his Death Scythe. The monster was too preoccupied to notice him.
"Sleipnir's Shoes, activate!"
Rei whispered the command. Using his momentum, he leaped into the air, kicking off the empty space to step higher and higher. He reached a height of five meters, hovering directly above the Ogre’s head.
"Gah!?"
"Haaah!"
The Ogre finally looked up, but it was too late. Rei swung the magic-charged Death Scythe. The Ogre managed to raise its club in a desperate block, but it didn't matter. The scythe weighed over a hundred kilograms, and backed by Rei’s superhuman strength and magic power, it sliced through the massive log as if it were soft wood. The blade continued its arc toward the Ogre’s head, but the monster’s survival instinct saved it—it lurched back, escaping a fatal blow, though the blade still carved a deep, bloody gash across its chest.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"
The Ogre stared at the iron-scented blood on its hand. Its rage reached a boiling point.
"GAAAAAAHH!"
It swung the remains of its club—now much shorter after being cut—with even more ferocity than before. Rei focused on evasion. The Ogre’s strikes were slow, but the power behind them was immense; every impact sent dirt and rock flying. He couldn't risk his usual parries or close-shave dodges here.
Fine. I’ve already done what I needed to do. Now I just wait.
Rei darted around the beast, dodging downward smashes and horizontal sweeps. The Ogre was a creature of simple patterns. If it had the intellect to use feints or stomps, it might have been more dangerous, but it was its lack of wisdom that kept it at Rank C.
"What's wrong? Is all that muscle just for show?"
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"
The Ogre swung relentlessly, fueled by insult. Rei didn't counter. He simply provoked it, occasionally using the Death Scythe to deliver shallow nicks to its arms or firing small Fire Balls to leave burns. Once, he even dashed between its legs and crushed its little toe with the shaft of his scythe. Whenever the Ogre focused too much on Rei, Set would rain down Water Balls or Wind Arrows from above.
Ten minutes passed. Then, the moment came.
"Ga... Gah?"
The Ogre’s voice was filled with confusion. It tried to take a step forward, but its leg barely twitched. Its arms felt heavy and unresponsive. Blood froth began to bubble at its mouth, and it collapsed heavily to the forest floor.
"Guruuu."
Set landed beside Rei, its wings beating the air. Rei patted the gryphon’s neck but remained cautious.
"Hah!"
He delivered an Upward Slash with the Death Scythe, severing the Ogre’s right arm with ease. With its guard gone, he redirected the blade toward the thick, muscular neck. It cut through without resistance, and the head rolled away.
"Phew. Even if it were still alive, it's not surviving that. Good work, Set. Those Poison Claws are pretty useful. It’s only Level 1, so the toxin is a bit slow, or maybe it just took a while to circulate through a body that big."
"Gururururuuu?"
Set tilted its head, seemingly unsure itself.
The surprise attack Set had launched at the start—the claw strike following the Wind Arrows—utilized a skill it had gained from a rare Treant’s magic stone. Rei had taken the Treant Subjugation Request with Mirene during his Rank Up Exam. Between the end of the exam and joining Elena’s party, he hadn't had the chance to test it. This was the first time the skill had seen real combat.
"Well, the skill works, and the others are safe. I'd call that a success."
"Guru!"