Rei and Elena, having enjoyed their time bonding with Seto, continued their trek across the desert of B13F.
Their feet sank into the sand with every step, hindering their progress. The scorching heat, exceeding fifty degrees Celsius, sapped their physical strength, a process accelerated by the intense, direct sunlight beating down from above.
However, they had already grown accustomed to traversing sand back on B11F, and the extreme temperature was mitigated significantly by the enchantments on the Dragon Robe and their protective mantles.
Of course, the fact that they were marching straight toward the stairs leading to the lower floor—rather than taking a long detour along the Dune Ridge—was a testament to the sheer physical strength and endurance possessed by Rei and Elena.
As for Seto, he seemed invigorated after his sandwich, energetically scouting the surrounding area from the sky.
As they pressed on through the desert, a vast forest of cacti eventually came into view.
"Cacti... Rei, do you remember what we heard from Pleiades and the others?"
"Yeah. Some of the cacti on B13F and below are actually monsters in disguise."
"Umu. Keeping that in mind... what is our move?"
Elena asked the question while gazing at the dense cluster of plants—it was so thick it truly deserved the name Cactus Forest. Rei frowned and tilted his head in thought.
"It’s blatantly suspicious to see them growing this densely. There’s almost certainly no mistake in assuming they’re monsters called Cactus-modoki."
"The simplest solution would be to fly over the area... but while you could manage that, Rei, it would be difficult for me."
Whether it was a unique trait granted to him by Beast Magic or a quirk of his species, Seto could generally only carry one person on his back. At most, he could manage Rei and perhaps a small child.
Given that his forepaws possessed enough power to blow away monsters weighing hundreds of kilograms, it seemed a bit unfair that his carrying capacity was so limited.
In any case, since Seto couldn't transport Elena, their options were limited. Specifically...
"We either take a massive detour or force our way through."
"I would prefer to avoid a detour if possible," Elena murmured with a sigh, noting the vast scale of the Cactus Forest.
Rei felt the same way. Since these were a new species of monster to him, he wanted to obtain at least two of their Magic Stones.
With their interests aligned, the two began considering how to best defeat the mimics.
"Ordinarily, the quickest way would be to wipe them out with your magic or mine," Elena suggested.
"If we could. But according to Pleiades, the Cactus-modoki are extremely sensitive to magic power."
"Ah, that’s right. And since they react to any magic power regardless of whether it's an attack or recovery magic, it makes things incredibly difficult."
Elena sighed in response to Rei’s reminder.
As the name suggested, Cactus-modoki were monsters that mimicked cacti and remained perfectly still. However, the moment they sensed magic power, their defensive instincts—or perhaps just their nature—were triggered. They would shed their disguises and launch an assault.
Hearing descriptions of how they fired countless needles from their bodies, Rei had been reminded of a machine gun.
Furthermore, the needles were instantaneously replaced by the monster's body, meaning they never ran out of ammunition.
The fact that every single Cactus-modoki in the vicinity would open fire upon sensing magic made them an nightmare to deal with.
While the needles likely weren't powerful enough to penetrate the Dragon Robe, it was virtually impossible to block every shot from such a wide-area barrage; some would surely find their way into the gaps of his hood or hit areas not covered by the robe.
Elena’s situation was even more precarious; her mantle was designed to regulate temperature and offered almost nothing in terms of defense.
To make matters worse, the only material that could be harvested from these creatures was the Magic Stone that served as a Proof of Subjugation Part. They yielded nothing else. They were the perfect embodiment of high risk and low reward.
(Then again, that’s probably why they’ve managed to proliferate this much.)
If the Cactus-modoki moved around like Treants, they might have been hunted more frequently. However, as Rei saw before him, they were ambush predators that specialized in waiting.
The fact that they grew here, away from the more traveled Desert Ridge, was likely another reason their numbers had swelled.
"Regardless, magic is out of the question. We'll have to kill any Cactus-modoki in our path using skills and physical attacks."
"...It is tedious, but it cannot be helped. Perhaps following the ridge like other adventurers would have been faster after all."
"I won't deny that. However..."
Rei trailed off as he withdrew the Death Scythe from the Misty Ring and leveled it.
"They react sensitively to magic power, but I wonder how they handle skills learned through Beast Magic? Elena, I’m sure we’ll be fine, but be ready for anything. Seto!"
"Guruuuu!"
Even without a detailed command, Seto heard him from above and understood the gist of what Rei wanted.
He gave a cry of acknowledgment and flapped his wings, descending toward the ground. He landed next to Rei and looked at him as if asking which ability he should use.
"Firestorm would be best, but the height of the tornado would be visible to other adventurers. It’s a trump card, so I’d rather not reveal it yet. As for King's Intimidation... I'm not sure. These things barely move to begin with. In terms of reach, Fire Breath is our best bet."
"Guru!"
Seto gave a short, confident cry and took a deep breath, readying himself to spew flames at a moment's notice.
(As for me... I don't have many skills with a wide area of effect.)
Rei thought to himself as he watched Seto.
Among the attack skills available to him—or specifically, to the Death Scythe—there were only three: Flying Slash, Power Slash, and Corrosion.
Corrosion, as the name implied, was meant to rot an enemy's metal equipment and would be useless here. Power Slash delivered a devastating blow, but it was strictly a single-target attack.
Naturally, that left Flying Slash, his most versatile and well-practiced skill.
(Unlike Power Slash, I can use this one continuously.)
Through experience and training, he had learned how to properly dissipate the recoil from Power Slash, but it still wasn't something he could fire off in rapid succession.
He took several steady breaths.
"Seto, let’s go!"
"Guruuuuuu!"
Following Rei's command, Seto let out a loud roar and spewed a torrent of Fire Breath from his beak, intending to incinerate everything in its path.
"Flying Slash! Flying Slash! Flying Slash! Flying Slash!"
Beside him, Rei refused to be outshone. He swung the Death Scythe repeatedly, sending out vacuum blades that tore through any Cactus-modoki in their way.
The Cactus-modoki touched by the Fire Breath writhed in agony before being burned to ash without a chance to retaliate.
Some sensed the danger the moment the flames touched them and tried to fire their needles, but they could not resist the sheer force of Seto's flames and were reduced to charcoal instantly.
Rei’s Flying Slashes were equally effective, cutting the monsters clean in half and ending their lives in a single stroke.
Fortunately, the power of Flying Slash was perfectly tuned for this task. If it had been too powerful, it would have cleaved through one monster and partially damaged the one behind it, triggering a machine-gun-like counterattack of needles. If it had been too weak, it wouldn't have killed the first target, leading to the same result.
As Rei and Seto maintained their assault, Elena joined in. She drew her Whip-sword, channeled magic power into it, and manipulated its whip-like form to sever the trunks of the Cactus-modoki from just outside their range.
(...Wait, they react to the magic power of a spell, but not to magic items?)
Rei noticed this as he watched Elena while unleashing his own slashes. He quickly reached a conclusion.
(So they must react to the spell formula used during casting. Magic items are different because you're flowing magic power into the item itself, not manifesting it externally...)
Even so, he realized that simply flowing magic power into the Death Scythe wouldn't be enough. It wasn't that the Death Scythe was inferior to the Whip-sword; it was simply a matter of reach.
The Death Scythe was two meters long, but even with the blade's length, it was a mid-range weapon at best.
In its whip-like form, Elena’s weapon had a far superior reach. While it didn't quite match a bow, it allowed for effective long-range attacks.
(Maybe I should use a javelin... no, my stock is getting low. I'll need to restock later. Since this is a labyrinth city, there should be plenty of weapon shops and blacksmith shops.)
Even as he contemplated his logistics, Rei continued to swing the Death Scythe. The combined efforts of the two men and one beast mowed down the Cactus-modoki as easily as if they were clearing weeds.
The only issue was that Seto’s Fire Breath was almost too powerful. The intense heat was incinerating the magic stones along with the monsters' bodies.
"Seto, dial back the power of the flames. Magic stones are in short supply, so we should grab as many as we can."
Seto didn't cry out in response—he was busy breathing fire—but the intensity of the torrent spewing from his beak noticeably decreased.
The weakened Fire Breath still engulfed the Cactus-modoki and charred them, but since it took slightly longer, Seto could move his aim to the next target before the magic stone was destroyed.
The two men and one beast cleared every Cactus-modoki within reach and began to move forward.
Each step forward claimed the lives of more monsters. They moved three, four, five steps deep, and the number of Cactus-modoki began to dwindle.
Naturally, they weren't trying to exterminate every monster in the area—there were simply too many. They only focused on clearing a path wide enough to ensure they wouldn't be caught in a needle barrage while passing through.
If a guild official had seen this, they likely would have begged the group to wipe out the whole forest. But for Rei and Elena, fighting monsters that yielded nothing but magic stones was a tedious chore.
(Then again, since they're guaranteed to drop a stone, the guild must consider them a goldmine, given the shortage. Of course, that assumes you can attack from long-range safely, fire rapidly, and actually retrieve the stones afterward. ...Actually, that makes it not easy at all.)
Rei mused on this as they made their way deeper into the forest.
With a bow—the most common long-range weapon—it was difficult to kill a Cactus-modoki in one hit, and arrow supplies were limited. Magic was useless because the monsters would fire their needles the second a spell was cast.
(Maybe if you brought a catapult... no, transporting something like that through the desert is impossible. And you'd run out of ammo faster than arrows. Unless you had an item box user like me, that wouldn't work.)
While lost in thought, the group finally reached the center of the Cactus Forest.
The ground was littered with countless corpses—some burned, some cleaved in two—along with several ordinary cacti that had been caught in the crossfire.
Beyond the carnage, the remaining Cactus-modoki that hadn't been targeted yet remained perfectly still, waiting.
"Alright, let's harvest the magic stones from the corpses first, then we'll keep pushing through at this pace."
Elena nodded at Rei's words, and Seto gave a cry of agreement.