A savory aroma drifted along the banks of the oasis.
There was no need to wonder what it was or where it was coming from. It radiated from the Earth Crab lying in front of Rei and the others—a creature that had been roasted from the inside out.
"...Well, that certainly smells delicious."
"Indeed."
"Guruu."
Rei muttered the words almost unconsciously, and neither Elena nor Seto found any reason to disagree.
"Gurululuuu?"
Seto tilted its head slightly, as if asking, Can we eat it? Rei hesitated for a moment.
From previous experience, he knew that any prey defeated with the Poison Claw skill was safe to consume. The real issue was the appetite-stimulating scent currently thick in the air. This aroma wasn't confined to their immediate vicinity; it was spreading across the entire area.
That meant the scent had reached every other monster nearby...
"Ah, we’re too late."
"Guruuu!"
Detecting a large number of approaching presences, Rei let out a sigh. Judging that he still had a few moments, he hurriedly stored the butchered legs, claws, and the perfectly roasted torso of the Earth Crab into the Misty Ring.
The shell felt hot to the touch, but while it might have burned an ordinary person, it was of little consequence to Rei.
While Elena and Seto kept watch, Rei finished stowing the last of the Earth Crab and gripped the Death Scythe. Just then, the creatures drawn by the smell emerged from the treeline.
"...Wait, what?"
The words that escaped Rei's mouth were unexpectedly dumbfounded.
They had made it all the way to B15F, and the monsters they had just faced were the likes of the Earth Crab and the Bloody Diles—even if the latter had been so weakened they barely counted as a fight. Given the floor's difficulty, Rei had assumed that whatever was coming through the brush would be an enemy of formidable strength.
Instead, the creatures stepping out from between the trees were bipedal monsters with canine faces.
They held an assortment of weapons—swords, spears, hammers, and axes—that appeared to be either looted from adventurers or crudely fashioned from monster materials. Their armor followed the same pattern, cobbled together from monster hides and wood from the oasis.
Seeing such monsters on this specific floor filled Rei with a profound sense of incongruity.
After all, these monsters were...
"Kobolds?"
In Rei's knowledge, they were among the most common monsters, ranked alongside Goblins and Orcs. Though Rei had fought his fair share of the latter two since arriving in Elgin, he had never actually encountered a Kobold until now.
In one sense, he was lucky, but encountering them on a floor this deep raised a mountain of questions.
Can Kobolds even survive down here? he wondered. Setting aside the upper floors, the monsters on the Desert Floor are ruthless; they devour each other without hesitation. How could Rank E Kobolds... No, these aren't ordinary Kobolds, are they?
"Gurulululululu."
The Kobolds gathered before them, letting out cries that were vaguely similar to Seto's but lacked any of the griffon's depth or majesty.
There were approximately thirty of them in total.
For several minutes, the two sides stared each other down from a distance of five meters. Finally, perhaps out of impatience or a inability to withstand the tension, the lead Kobold swung its spear in a wide, aggressive arc.
The spear whistled through the air—a clear attempt at intimidation.
It was a fatal mistake. Setting aside a greenhorn adventurer, there was no one in Rei’s party with nerves delicate enough to be rattled by such a display.
"Well, what do you think? I suppose we can credit them for not lunging at us instantly."
"Kobolds are known for their group coordination," Elena replied. "I once saw members of the Noble's Faction underestimate them as mere weaklings, only to suffer a bitter defeat. Do not let your guard down."
Elena’s tone suggested she had already decided that peace was off the table, likely drawing on her past experiences with the species.
As their canine appearance suggested, Kobolds inherited the pack-hunting instincts of dogs and wolves. They swarmed their prey in a coordinated rush.
"Guruuu."
Seto didn't know anything about Kobolds, but it could sense multiple presences circling around to flank them. It let out a warning cry, and both Rei and Elena realized they were being surrounded.
"I see. So they’ve survived this floor through sheer preparation."
"Likely so. However... they are still far too green to challenge us!"
The moment Elena shouted, she lashed out with her Whip-sword, intercepting an arrow that had been fired from behind with a single, precise stroke.
That seemed to be the signal. The waiting Kobolds charged Rei’s group all at once.
The leader lunged forward, spear thrusting toward Seto. Perhaps its instincts identified the griffon as the most dangerous foe among them. While Rei and Elena were certainly just as capable, the creatures seemed to have judged their strength based on their outward appearances.
Given the gap in their abilities, the battle was a foregone conclusion. Nevertheless, the Kobold leader lunged with a strike that suggested it was prepared to act as a sacrificial pawn for the sake of its pack.
"Gurulululululu!"
Seto didn't bother parrying the spear. Instead, it stayed low to evade the strike and used that momentum to spring forward, activating its Magic Eye of Shock.
In an instant, an invisible force slammed into the Kobold's face. Skin tore, flesh ruptured, and a spray of blood misted the air.
"Gyaun!"
The creature collapsed, rolling across the ground and screaming in agony. It was unfortunate for the Kobold that Seto’s Magic Eye of Shock was still low-level; had the skill been more developed, the blow would have been a clean, instant kill. Because the impact was relatively weak, the monster was forced to endure the excruciating pain of its shattered face.
"Gaaaaaaaah!"
To end its suffering, Seto opened its beak and unleashed a Fire Breath.
The wide-range cone of flame engulfed the writhing Kobold and, as Seto swept its head, the tongue of fire lashed out at the other monsters in the front line.
"Wind Arrow!"
A short distance away, Elena rained down countless invisible wind arrows upon the approaching pack.
"O flames, let this strike of mine, delivered with your scorching hand, be as a sword. Manifest your power along its path."
As Rei finished his incantation, fire surged from the Death Scythe's butt end. Just as the spell described, the flames took the shape of a burning blade.
"Flame Sword Slash!"
Rei swung the Flame Sword with a wide flourish. However, the strike didn't hit a single Kobold; it merely cut through the empty air.
"Gau?"
One of the Kobolds tilted its head, letting out a confused yip. It clearly couldn't understand why the attack had missed so completely.
A second later, the true nature of the spell revealed itself.
A red line ignited on the ground, tracing the path Rei had cut with his Flame Sword. As soon as the Kobolds stepped onto it, fire erupted from their feet. The front rank of the pack was instantly engulfed.
The flames surged upward, consuming their ankles, knees, thighs, and torsos. Screaming in agony, the Kobolds collapsed, their lower halves carbonized as they hit the dirt. Every single monster that had crossed the glowing red line met the same fate.
The remaining Kobolds froze, unable to comprehend the sudden incineration of their packmates. It was exactly as Rei had intended: a literal wall of charred corpses now served as a defensive barrier.
"Seto!"
"Gurulululululu!"
Seto responded to Rei’s command without hesitation, unleashing another Fire Breath—this time from the rear.
While Rei had been casting his magic, Seto had used a triangle jump off a nearby tree to reposition itself behind the pack. They now had the Kobolds in a pincer.
The torrent of fire surged from Seto’s maw, threatening to reduce the pack to ash. Terrified, the Kobolds tried to scatter, but the only way forward was across Rei’s magical line of death.
A few Kobolds on the right flank managed to scramble away, but they were the only lucky ones. Those on the left found their escape blocked by Elena.
The Princess General lived up to her name. Her Whip-sword was a whirlwind of steel; in its whip-like form, a single swing cleaved through multiple enemies, and in its sword form, it bifurcated Kobolds with terrifying ease.
Had there been a powerful leader on the right flank to rally them, the Kobolds might have fought back like cornered rats. But with an opening available, their instincts for self-preservation took over, and they broke into a full retreat.
By the time the dust settled, nearly ninety percent of the pack had been slaughtered.
"...Whew. I think that's the last of them."
Rei muttered to himself as he stored the Death Scythe back into the Misty Ring and surveyed the area, which was now littered with burned and butchered corpses.
As he began stowing the remains into his item box, he felt a small sense of relief that they had only been Kobolds.
If these had been Werewolves, he thought, we might have actually had a hard time.
While beastmen were humans with animal traits, Werewolves were true lycanthropes, existing in a state between man and beast.
"Well, the corpses are all put away. Let's get out of here before something else follows the scent."
"Guruu."
Seto let out a low rumble of agreement, and Elena nodded.
"I agree. This is a watering hole; monsters are bound to show up sooner or later. If we get pulled into another fight and it snowballs... we'll be exhausted, both mentally and physically."
"...To think, all we were doing was looking for more of those fruits," Rei said with a wry smile. He looked up, and his eyes widened. On a tree just ahead, he spotted two more of the fruits they had been searching for—and these were nearly a size larger than the first.
"Rei? What's wrong?"
Elena looked at him curiously. Rei simply pointed.
"Elena, Seto... look at those."
Surprise registered on both their faces. Even for the seasoned man and beast, the sight was unexpected. There, hanging right in front of them, were two more of the very fruits that had indirectly caused this entire bloodbath.
"Ha... haha. Hahahaha!"
Rei couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Pfft... what is so funny?" Elena asked, though a matching smile was already tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"You're laughing too, Elena. I don't know... it's just... after all that..."
"Guruuu."
Seto let out a cry, urging them to stop stalling and pick the prize. The sound broke what little composure they had left, and they spent the next five minutes simply laughing at the absurdity of it all.
Once they finally calmed down, Rei mounted Seto and flew up to harvest the fruits. They were delicious, but neither of them felt like eating at the scene of a massacre. Stowing the prize in the Misty Ring, Rei and Elena spent a few minutes placating the hungry Seto before the party finally moved deeper into the floor.