Having departed from Gilm, Rei and his group followed Deetz's lead toward the forest, discussing their next course of action as they moved.
Vihera's horsemanship was exceptional. Despite carrying Byune in front of her, she rode without the slightest wobble.
Deetz's riding skills weren't quite on Vihera's level, but he still managed not to fall from his galloping horse.
During the civil war, selecting members for the Mobile Unit had required a certain degree of horsemanship, since rapid movement was essential. Deetz had been among those chosen, so this came as no surprise.
Both Vihera and Deetz led spare horses in case of emergencies, and alongside those horses ran Set, carrying Rei on its back.
The horses were well-trained enough that the sight of Set didn't spook them or hinder their movement.
"So, what's the plan from here? If you tell me the location, I can ride Set and go on ahead."
It was a move only possible because Set could fly. Being able to deploy the combined fighting force of Set and Rei to a precise point should have been a highly effective strategy when facing five C-Rank Cyclops.
But Deetz shook his head even as he urged his horse faster.
"Given Captain Rei's strength, I'd really like to do that, but... the location is kind of hard to find. We've been moving through the forest overnight since yesterday."
"Hard to find? Set and I go to that forest pretty often, so unless something really unusual happens, it won't be a problem."
What crossed Rei's mind was the incident where a Bestia Empire operative had used a Teleportation Stone, and Set alone had been teleported away.
Set had materialized in a cave deep in the forest, and Rei had chased after it, arriving right here.
At the time, they'd been fortunate enough to link up with the Scorching Wind, so Set hadn't been left alone and lonely... or so he recalled.
Remembering that day, Rei gently stroked Set's neck, right in front of him.
The memory of Set vanishing before his eyes still sent a chill down his spine, even now.
"Guruu?"
Set glanced back while running, as if asking what was wrong. Rei shook his head to signal it was nothing, then turned to Deetz.
"Besides, maybe it's because we've been together so long, but Set is a Gryphon. Its five senses are incomparably sharper than any ordinary animal's. It can also detect magic, so if Surnin of the Scorching Wind casts a spell, Set will pick up on it."
"Now that you mention it, Set is a Gryphon, isn't he. I completely—"
The rest of that sentence was probably best left unsaid.
Set let out a slightly disgruntled purr, and Deetz hurriedly bowed his head.
"Ah, sorry. ...So, if Set's abilities can find Yohanna and the others, could I ask you to go on ahead? Five Cyclops is seriously no joke. If Rei-san and Set are there, we can rest easy even if the Cyclops attack."
"Rei, I'm sure you know, but Flame Magic is off the table, alright? In winter, the snow might have kept forest fires from spreading, but given the current season..."
Rei nodded in agreement as Vihera called out to him mid-gallop.
It was true—spring had arrived, the snow had melted, and fire could spread easily now.
Under those conditions, what would happen if Rei used the Flame Magic he specialized in within a forest was painfully obvious.
"I know. Even if I use magic, I won't use anything with a wide area of effect. The ones with a narrow range are another story, though."
"...If possible, I think you should avoid even the narrow-range ones. There's a real chance the Cyclops will thrash around and the flames will spread."
"I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, Set and I are going on ahead. Vihera, Byune, follow Deetz's lead and come after us."
With those words, Rei lightly tapped Set's back without waiting for a reply.
He did so precisely because he knew every second counted.
Deetz and Vihera understood that, so they saw them off without a word. Byune, cradled in Vihera's arms, waved a small hand to bid farewell to Set and Rei.
"...Think they'll be okay?"
Deetz muttered as he watched Set's figure soar high into the sky.
Taken at face value, those words might sound like he was worried about whether Rei was strong enough to fight the Cyclops. But on that front, Deetz harbored no concerns whatsoever.
As a former member of the Mobile Unit, he had seen Rei's abilities firsthand and had absolutely no doubts.
The anxiety gripping Deetz right now wasn't about Rei's strength. It was the simple, gnawing fear that his comrades might be discovered by the five Cyclops.
No matter how powerful Rei was, it meant nothing if he wasn't there when the fighting started.
"Don't worry."
After Set and Rei disappeared from view, a voice suddenly addressed Deetz's back as he drove his horse toward their destination at full speed.
There was no need to wonder whose voice it was.
Aside from the horses, the only ones here were himself, Byune, and Vihera.
"If you factor in Set's flight speed, they should make it in time without any issue. I don't know the people from the Scorching Wind, but the others are comrades who fought in the Mobile Unit during the civil war, aren't they? Trust your comrades."
"...You're right. Besides, there's no point in me panicking here."
If he was being honest, he couldn't calm down just yet.
But it was an undeniable fact that panicking right now would accomplish nothing.
And panic bred mistakes easily, ultimately wasting precious time.
With that in mind, panicking now wouldn't just be meaningless—it could directly lead to his comrades' downfall.
"Then I'll pick up the pace a little more. ...Sorry, but hang in there just a bit longer."
He directed the latter half of his words to the horse beneath him, gently stroking its neck.
Perhaps heartened by the gesture, Deetz's horse let out a neigh and picked up its pace.
"I wonder why Cyclops would come in a group this close to Gilm."
Mirene murmured quietly as she watched the Cyclops gathered about fifty meters ahead in the forest.
The Cyclops in her line of sight was tearing apart a deer—whose skull it had shattered with a single swing of its club—by brute force, sinking its teeth into a haunch that hadn't even been skinned or dressed.
Blood, fur, and shreds of flesh clung to the area around its mouth, but the Cyclops devouring the raw meat didn't seem to mind in the slightest.
If anything, it looked as though that mess was the finest seasoning of all, licking its lips clean with a long tongue.
The deer had been reasonably large, but against five Cyclops, it vanished in the blink of an eye.
One Cyclops that had finished a leg noticed there was almost nothing left, reached for the only remaining part—the deer's head—and tossed it carelessly into its mouth, crushing it between sturdy fangs.
Watching the deer disappear in a matter of minutes, Mirene furrowed her brows slightly.
Of course, Mirene ate deer meat too. It was practically a favorite of hers.
But that was properly prepared and cooked venison.
She had absolutely no desire to eat it raw—let alone tear a carcass apart by hand and eat it the way these Cyclops were doing.
"Well, I wonder why. Considering the season, it seems most likely they wandered into this area during winter, half-starved from a lack of food, and were only just discovered."
Surnin, who had been observing the Cyclops alongside Mirene, murmured while gripping his staff.
Even though they were about fifty meters from the Cyclops, there was no telling when they might be spotted. The tension was evident in the lack of softness in his voice.
"Still, they eat deer raw, but they actually have the sense to pull up trees and make their camp more comfortable. That's something, isn't it."
Ekril muttered from behind the bushes where she was concealed, and Mirene nodded in response.
"Eating habits aside, they at least have enough sense to tidy up their living space. ...Which makes them all the more troublesome."
"And we've been making do with dried meat and such, without even lighting a fire, since yesterday..."
"...Do you want to eat raw deer meat, Ekril? Without any preparation at that?"
"Umm... anyway, I'd really like Deetz to come back as quickly as possible. What do you think?"
Ekril deflected the question by averting her gaze. Even as they exchanged words, they didn't rustle the bushes they were hiding in or make any careless noise—a fine display of a C-Rank party's competence.
In response to Ekril's words, Mirene shook her head.
"He'll arrive in Gilm, search for reinforcements at the Guild, and then come back. It won't be quick, that's for sure."
"...If only Set weren't involved, they'd be so capable..."
"Did you say something?"
"No, nothing at all."
The words Ekril had meant to mutter only under her breath had apparently reached Mirene's ears loud and clear.
Ekril hastily shook her head as Mirene turned to look at her.
"Calm down, both of you. ...More importantly, it's about time to swap shifts. Look."
At Surnin's words, they turned their gazes behind them. There was Mirene's nemesis—not in the sense of someone she couldn't beat, but in the sense of a heaven-sent rival—Yohanna, approaching with three men in tow.
The fact that they made almost no noise despite moving as a group of four was a testament to Yohanna's team's skill.
Mirene's group of three, Yohanna's group of four who had just arrived, plus two others in the rear watching the horses and wagon while keeping watch for other monsters approaching, and Deetz—that made a total of ten people who had come on this Cyclops subjugation mission.
Originally, only a single Cyclops had been sighted. Not only did they not need to gather this many people, but the Scorching Wind alone should have been more than enough to take it down.
However, upon entering the forest and searching for the Cyclops, they had discovered the carcasses of wild animals—bears among them—as well as Orc carcasses.
That in itself wasn't a problem. But when they examined the remains left behind, they found not just one type of bite mark, but several.
Having concluded there was more than one Cyclops, Mirene had immediately sent Deetz back to Gilm to request reinforcements.
Given that the situation differed drastically from the information they'd been given beforehand, it would have been perfectly acceptable for everyone to retreat to Gilm as a group.
But this forest wasn't far from Gilm. Having learned that five Cyclops were lurking in such a place, they couldn't simply turn a blind eye.
The fact that it was early spring and they didn't have much financial leeway, combined with the fact that they'd already spent a night moving through the forest, probably factored in as well.
For a monster like a Cyclops, taking down even one yielded a decent sum of money.
If they could defeat five, the income would be substantial even after accounting for having called for reinforcements.
Driven by both duty and profit, Mirene, Yohanna, and the others had been keeping the Cyclops under surveillance, observing them so they could launch an attack the moment reinforcements arrived.
"So, how is it? The situation over there?"
At Yohanna's whispered question, Mirene directed her gaze toward one of the Cyclops—the individual that had swung its club to kill the deer with a single blow earlier.
"The one with the club—its shoulder twitches for an instant before it attacks. There's a tell, so evading its strikes isn't difficult."
Mirene and Yohanna, who usually competed fiercely over Set, weren't engaging in any such foolishness right now.
For one thing, they knew how to separate work from personal matters. More importantly, they were facing five Cyclops. If they quarreled here, they'd pay the price with their own lives.
Neither Mirene nor Yohanna had any intention of letting that happen.
"Oh? That kind of straightforward opponent is easy to fight. Nice. ...More importantly, we're here to take over the watch, so go get some rest. Mirene, I can understand, but Surnin over there is a valuable mage. He needs to be our main force in an emergency, so we need him rested."
"I know that. Honestly... wait a moment."
Mirene had been about to retort to Yohanna when she noticed something off about the five Cyclops in her line of sight.
Just moments ago, they had been basking in the afterglow of their brute-force dismemberment of the deer. Now they had gone completely still.
They were all staring in the opposite direction—precisely the direction away from where Mirene, Yohanna, and the others were hiding...
A bad premonition shot through Mirene's mind. Despite being fifty meters away, she held her breath more strictly than before.
Sensing something from Mirene's reaction, the others must have felt it too. Following her lead, they pressed themselves more carefully into the surrounding trees.
And then... the next moment, what emerged from the forest was a Cyclops unlike the others—its skin red instead of green, and larger than any of the rest.