"Well, well. I lost, didn't I? I was doing so well, too."
Vihera let out a small sigh as she watched the blade of Rei’s Death Scythe slice diagonally through the Anomaly Species’ head.
Even so, she didn't stop moving. She spun to evade a spear-like tongue thrust aimed at her, simultaneously severing it with an upward strike from her gauntlet claws.
She watched the severed tip fly off with a look of boredom, then closed in on a Spear Frog with fluid grace. She kicked it upward with her greave-covered foot before slashing it open with her gauntlet claws as if she were merely caressing it.
Spear Frog blood, flesh, and organs scattered across the sand, and for a moment, a heavy scent of gore hung in the air.
However, the desert wind quickly swept the stench away, leaving behind only the tactile memory of slicing through flesh with a blade of magic power.
"Honestly, wouldn't it have been better if they at least tried to discharge fluid to soften the impact like that Anomaly Species did? If they did that, I might have actually enjoyed myself."
"Nn."
Byune gave a short response to Vihera’s remark. They leaped forward to evade a tongue strike from a frog mid-jump, and as they passed the falling monster, they swiftly thrust their dagger into its body, piercing through the torso.
"It might have been an ability unique to the Anomaly Species, but that just makes this rather dull."
Vihera muttered as if she were truly bored—though she and Byune had communicated perfectly with that single sound. She evaded another tongue lashing from behind and impaled her attacker with the blade extending from the heel of her greave.
Until a moment ago, the Spear Frogs had been focused solely on following the Anomaly Species. The moment their leader was slain, however, they began to act independently, as if regaining their own wills.
(Or perhaps it was a relationship like the one between the Sword Bees and the Queen Bee.)
Elena evaded the Spear Frogs lunging at her, flowing magic power into her whip-sword to slash through them one by one.
The way she accurately cut down her enemies even while lost in thought was a testament to her reputation as the Princess General.
"Guruuuu!"
Near Elena, Seto also let out a cry, swinging its forelegs, snapping with its beak, or crushing Spear Frog bodies with powerful kicks from its hind legs.
Realizing they had no chance of winning as their numbers rapidly dwindled, one Spear Frog let out a high-pitched croak—similar to the Anomaly Species, yet distinct. As if on cue, the remaining Spear Frogs still engaged in combat began to flee in all directions.
Byune and Elena immediately began the pursuit.
Rei could not move as he was securing the corpse of the Anomaly Species, and Vihera seemed to have lost all interest in fighting normal Spear Frogs now that the outlier was dead. She let out a sigh as if the battle had been a waste of time and dusted the sand off her mantle with an annoyed expression.
The fact that not a single drop of blood had touched her mantle despite fighting at such close range proved just how high Vihera’s skill truly was.
"Nn!"
Byune, who needed to earn as much money as possible, stabbed their right-hand dagger into the back of a fleeing frog to stop its movement, simultaneously ending its life with the dagger in their left hand.
As for Elena, she transformed her whip-sword into its whip-like form to sever the torsos of several frogs at once or used wind magic to slice them apart from a distance.
After a pursuit that lasted about five minutes, nearly fifty Spear Frog corpses lay scattered across the dunes.
"Whew... Hah... You two are as fast as ever. Sorry to keep you waiting... Oh?"
A few minutes after the last of the Spear Frogs were dealt with, the porter man employed by Vihera and Byune finally caught up, sounding somewhat out of breath.
(No, it’s not that the porter is slow; it’s just that Vihera and Byune are far too fast.)
Rei muttered to himself while looking up at the corpse of the Anomaly Species.
Elena approached Rei while shaking the blood and fluids off her whip-sword and spoke to him.
"What is the matter? Are you not going to store it in your Item Box?"
"Hm? Ah. I was just wondering what to do. You know, because of what happened earlier."
Because Vihera and the others were nearby, he spoke vaguely about the "earlier incident," but Elena understood immediately.
After all, Rei—an outlier in many senses of the word—had lost consciousness, even if only for a short time. It wasn't something she could easily forget.
However...
"Even so, you were collecting the corpses of Stone Puppets and Sword Bees as usual, were you not? Then there should be no particular problem, right?"
"...Oh."
Hearing Elena’s words, Rei nodded as if realizing something obvious.
Indeed, he had been storing Anomaly Species in his Misty Ring until now. Thinking about it that way, it was clear that he could naturally store the Anomaly Species corpse currently beside him.
The fact that he hadn't considered that showed just how much of a shock the magic power backflow from the magic stone absorption had been to him.
In any case, if he left the corpse out in the open, the scent of blood would likely attract more monsters. Judging it so, he quickly stored it in the Misty Ring.
(On the other hand, using this as bait to kill any monsters that approach is also an option.)
Rei finished the Spear Frog recovery, but as he noticed Vihera approaching, he spoke up to hide his internal agitation.
"Too bad for you. Looks like I won the bet."
"Fufu, so it seems. It’s a shame, especially since we were the ones who found it first."
"True. Did they really come after the Sandworm corpses that Rei killed?"
"...Ah."
At Elena’s words, Rei turned his gaze toward the Sandworm corpses lying a short distance away.
In the commotion with the Spear Frogs, he had completely forgotten to collect them. However...
"Oh dear, how unfortunate."
Vihera, following Rei’s gaze to the Sandworm corpses, muttered with a small shrug of her shoulders.
The corpses of the five Sandworms had been intact when the Anomaly Species targeted them, but perhaps the Spear Frogs had snacked on them while fleeing in their confusion, or perhaps they had simply attacked because the bodies were in their way. In any case, they were covered in wounds from head to toe, and their materials were so mangled that stripping them would be a waste of effort.
"...Sigh. Well, whatever."
"Oh, you don't mind?"
Vihera showed a small expression of surprise at Rei’s unexpected response.
However, Elena wore a look of understanding.
To begin with, what Rei wanted were magic stones to absorb with his Beast Magic. And since he had already obtained several Sandworm magic stones and finished absorbing them—even though he hadn't managed to learn any skills—he didn't feel a loss.
If these had been the Sand Snake or the Grand Scorpion, from which he had only obtained a single magic stone, he would likely have been wide-eyed with rage.
"Nn!?"
Byune’s voice called out to Vihera, who was talking with Rei and Elena.
As usual, it was a single sound delivered with an expressionless face, yet Rei and Elena felt a hint of anger contained within it.
Seeing them chatting leisurely while they and the porter were working desperately to strip the Spear Frog materials, magic stones, and Proof of Subjugation Parts, it was only natural for even someone as seemingly emotionless as Byune to get annoyed.
However, Rei and Elena both understood through their past interactions that while Byune didn't show emotion on their face, they certainly possessed feelings. Otherwise, they wouldn't want to pet Seto or Iero every time they had the chance.
"Yes, yes, I understand. As the Young Lady commands."
Shrugging her shoulders slightly, Vihera borrowed a dismantling knife from Byune and began stripping the Spear Frog materials.
"...Ah."
Watching this, Rei let out a sound of realization.
Because of her equipment, Vihera didn't even carry the minimum necessary tools.
He recalled that even when she was traveling with them, she would borrow a knife from Byune whenever it came time to strip materials from monsters.
(But I heard she often acts solo; what does she do then? ...Does she use her gauntlets?)
Since she could slice through the body of a Stone Puppet—which was made of stone, or rather, was becoming magic metal—she could likely strip materials from normal monsters without any problem at all.
"Rei, I am going to start stripping the ones I killed, so please help me."
"Hm? Ah, sure."
At Elena’s request, Rei also took out his usual stripping knife and began working on the Spear Frogs.
He cut off the right foreleg, which was the Spear Frog Proof of Subjugation Part, and then cut off the spear-like tongue which served as material. When doing this, it was vital to cut as close to the root of the tongue as possible.
The tongue was flexible and supple, possessing a certain degree of resistance to slashing attacks, and its tip could easily penetrate leather armor crafted from the hides of low-rank monsters.
It could be used as a tip for a spear, or with a little modification, used as a whip—though there were very few users of such weapons—making it a material with high demand.
Next, he cut off the two hind legs, which were considered a delicacy, and finally extracted the magic stone from the heart.
Because the Spear Frogs themselves weren't that large, and because the number Elena and Seto had killed was small compared to Vihera’s group, the dismantling work didn't take very long.
The fact that the areas where the two groups had fought were separated by a certain distance meant they didn't have to worry about whose kill was whose, which also helped finish the task quickly.
"Phew, that’s that for now. ...So, what are you doing with the Anomaly Species you killed?"
Vihera asked as she handed the last extracted magic stone to the porter man, her gaze shifting to where the Anomaly Species had been lying.
"House Silwa is supposed to buy this Anomaly Species and send it to the guild for investigation. I can't exactly strip the materials from it."
"Well, I suppose so. In that case, shall we return to the surface soon? Even with these mantles, this desert is simply too hot. Oh, and as for our bet, I’ll concede that I lost."
"It was a bet with no real stakes, though."
"Oh? So you realized?"
When Rei turned his gaze from the spot where the Anomaly Species had been toward Vihera and spoke, she replied with a smile.
"Of course. Well, either way, there wasn't much I was going to ask for. It’s fine."
"When you say it so bluntly, it wounds my pride a little."
"Nn—!"
The two of them exchanged words calmly in a place reeking of blood.
Byune turned toward them and signaled with their eyes, rather than words, that it was time to leave the dungeon.
From Byune’s perspective, the Anomaly Species—their primary objective—had been snatched away, so there was no point in staying here any longer.
However, since the materials, magic stones, and Proof of Subjugation Parts obtained by those who had accepted this request would be bought by House Silwa at a higher price than usual, it was still a successful hunt.
(No, is it a matter of stamina? Even with everything else, she is still only ten years old.)
Rei thought this as he looked at Byune, then turned his gaze to Elena beside him.
She must have realized the same thing, as she was looking at Byune with a worried expression.
"True, I am tired from traveling across the desert, and I would like to relax. What do you think?"
"I agree with Byune. Although we weren't the ones to finish off the target of this request, given the number of monsters Vihera and Byune killed, the income should be more than enough."
The porter man agreed as well. As for Vihera, since her target had been taken before her eyes, she probably wasn't in the mood to continue. She nodded to Byune and the porter man, then turned her gaze toward Rei.
"Why don't we go back together? Since the Anomaly Species is gone, it’s better to move as a group than separately, isn't it?"
"I don't mind... what do you think?"
For Rei, having the thief Byune with them was reassuring. Therefore, he asked Elena beside him, but she let out a sigh before speaking.
"I will allow it, provided you do not make any strange advances on Rei. ...Besides, I am worried about Byune."
And so, Rei’s group and Vihera’s group joined forces and headed toward the small room with the magic circle.