The sun had sunk, and darkness held sway over the forest.
The sole source of light was the moon, reigning like a queen in the night sky, but even that moon was currently obscured by clouds, and the moonlight reaching the ground was faint. On top of that, the trees of the forest blocked what little moonlight remained, so it would be no exaggeration to say the ground was enveloped in darkness.
And yet... through that very darkness, a large number of Dark Elves continued running as if it posed no obstacle whatsoever.
Dark Elves possessed Night Vision to begin with. Combined with even the faintest moonlight filtering down, while it wasn't quite the same as daytime, they had little trouble seeing.
Meanwhile, racing through the night forest at a speed that rivaled the Dark Elves was Rei, riding on Set.
Both Set and Rei had Night Vision on par with the Dark Elves.
And in a slightly separated location, Elena was also present. Elena, who had inherited the Magic Stone of the Ancient Dragon, also possessed Night Vision superior even to that of the Dark Elves.
Among Rei's party, the ones who lacked Night Vision were Vihera, Ara, and As. Byune and Poro—the one person and one beast—both had perfectly adequate Night Vision, but since Byune had difficulty communicating quickly with others and Poro refused to leave As's side, the four people and one beast were searching the forest near the settlement under Byune's guidance.
Marina was at the settlement entrance alongside Optis, taking on the role of organizing the other Dark Elves.
"Well then, I'm counting on you."
"Yeah."
The Dark Elf Guard who had been talking with Rei until Marina arrived gave that parting remark to Rei before gradually drawing away. If someone with the power to see through the tree branches from above existed, they might have observed a somewhat distorted but radial pattern spreading outward.
(As expected of Dark Elves, they're well accustomed to operating at night.)
Watching the Dark Elves disperse, that thought crossed Rei's mind.
"Guruu?"
Can I go a little faster? Set turned his gaze toward Rei, seeming to ask exactly that. Rei gently stroked Set's back, granting permission for it to increase its speed.
In the very next moment, Set tore across the ground at what could only be called explosive acceleration. It was the result of unleashing—to a certain degree—the speed it had been holding back until now in order to act alongside the Dark Elves.
The scenery of the night forest streamed past Rei's eyes one after another.
"Set, it's Goblins. Find Goblins, whatever it takes. They're probably the most numerous things in this forest right now, without a doubt."
"Gururururuu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a high cry. Normally, any monster hearing that voice would understand it stood no chance and distance itself from Set.
However...
"Tch, already showing up!"
As Set tilted its body slightly, something whizzed through the space where Rei had been just a moment before. What had flown past became immediately clear the moment Rei turned his gaze forward again.
It was a stone. A fist-sized stone, at that.
Stones possessed extremely high lethality, and yet could be found lying around anywhere. In the darkness of the night forest, they carried deadly force—provided the target couldn't see them or couldn't evade them.
Set and Rei, both with Night Vision, and with physical capabilities that made evading attacks of that speed effortless.
"Gurururururuu!"
Along with Set's sharp cry, numerous arrows of wind materialized in the surrounding air. But those who had just thrown the stones would not be able to spot those arrows. Arrows made of wind were easy to lose track of even in broad daylight. Right now, it was night. No matter how good their Night Vision was, perceiving those wind arrows was all but impossible.
And the wind arrows were released. Their speed was on an entirely different level from the stones that had been thrown at Set and Rei moments ago, and it was impossible for anything in Set and Rei's path to evade them.
"Gyagyagya!"
"Gyagaa!"
"Gyogyugyo!"
The ones who had thrown stones at Rei and Set were pierced, slashed, and screaming as the Wind Arrows struck them one after another. Some had their necks severed so cleanly that they lost their lives without even realizing they were dead.
"Figured it was Goblins."
Given that they had resorted to throwing stones, Rei had considered the possibility they might be Orcs, but the attackers were the Goblins said to be breeding here.
"Wait, Set. The children are going to be okay, right!?"
"Guruu!"
If the missing children had been near the Goblins, might they have been hurt just now? Rei cried out with such concern, but Set purred confidently toward Rei, as if to say it was fine. Rei didn't know how, but learning that Set had acted with the understanding that no Dark Elf children were in the line of fire, he let out a small sigh of relief atop Set's back.
If they—having come to rescue the Dark Elf children—ended up injuring the very people they were supposed to save, the goodwill earned from healing the World Tree would plummet in the blink of an eye. At the same time, Rei also worried it might worsen Marina's position, so the news that only Goblins lay ahead was a relief.
"Flying Slash!"
Atop Set's back, Rei swung Death Scythe and shouted. What was released was a Flying Slash that had reached level five and possessed power orders of magnitude greater than before. It flew straight ahead, severing the tree branches that had been blocking the path ahead and obstructing Set's field of vision. For a moment, Rei wondered if Marina might scold him for needlessly cutting branches, but deciding that killing Goblins took priority for now, he shelved the thought.
"Gyagyagya!"
"Gyaaagaaah!"
"Gyogyogyu!"
These were likely Goblins that had survived Set's Wind Arrows, but their bodies were severed by the Flying Slash and they screamed.
"Set!"
"Gururuu!"
Immediately grasping the intent behind Rei's call, Set charged straight ahead. To reach the Goblins even a moment sooner. The branches that had extended in front of Set, blocking the way as if to bar their progress, had been almost entirely severed by the Wind Arrows and Flying Slash. Thanks to that, Set ran straight ahead without needing to worry about branches...
"Gurururururururuu!"
The instant the Goblins came into view, it let out a high, intimidating cry. What was unleashed was one of Set's skills: King's Intimidation.
At level one, it was far from something that could be called powerful, but against the Goblins in Set's line of sight, it produced a dramatic effect. The moment they heard that roar, the morale of the Goblins—which had already been thrown into chaos by the preemptive strikes of Wind Arrow and Flying Slash—was completely shattered.
Some scrambled to flee, others froze in confusion not knowing what to do, and still others were rendered unable to move at all by the effect of King's Intimidation... their reactions varied, but the one thing they all had in common was their failure to mount any effective countermeasure.
All the Goblins could do in the face of the approaching Set and Rei was cry and wail in confusion. The last few seconds of the Goblins' lives passed that way... and eventually, the bringers of death made their appearance.
"Gurururururuu!"
Set swung its limbs wildly, sometimes using its tail, sometimes its beak to dispatch Goblins... while Rei leapt down from Set and swung Death Scythe, reaping the Goblins' lives as casually as one might pluck weeds.
Through the actions of that one person and one beast, the Goblins that had thrown stones and attacked Set and Rei were annihilated in a matter of seconds.
"...Well, that's about what you'd expect from Goblins."
Lightly flicking the blade of Death Scythe to shake off the blood clinging to it, Rei muttered. Given Rei and Set's combined Combat Power, there was never any reason they would struggle against mere Goblins. The initial stone-throwing had surprised Rei, but once he understood that kind of attack was coming, dealing with it was not difficult.
"Gurururuu"
As if agreeing with Rei's words, Set nodded, looked around, and purred as if to say let's hurry up and go. If what they had defeated had been Orc-type monsters, Rei might have taken the time to store them in the Misty Ring to obtain the meat. But whether fortunately or not, all that lay here were Goblin corpses.
...Even so, ideally they should be disposed of given the possibility of them becoming Undead, but there was no time for that right now. With the need to find Lugdus and the other Dark Elf children, they couldn't afford to waste time here.
(Besides, if this were a main road it'd be one thing, but in the forest, other monsters and animals will clean up the corpses. ...Goblin meat, though... I really can't imagine wanting to eat that.)
Thinking that far, something about the phrase "Goblin meat" caught his attention.
(Goblins are basically everywhere. To the point where you don't even need to go out of your way to look for them. If that's the case, wouldn't finding a way to make Goblin meat taste good be incredibly groundbreaking?)
What method could make Goblin meat tasty was something Rei couldn't yet conceive of. But Goblin jerky was something that nearly every fledgling adventurer relied on at some point. After all, it was cheap. It tasted absolutely terrible, but being able to eat cheaply was undeniably a boon for adventurers. If a method to make Goblin meat palatable were developed, it would without question be a revolutionary breakthrough.
...Of course, what Rei was thinking of was something countless others had naturally thought of before. Dozens, hundreds, thousands of people had tried and failed to do something about the taste of Goblin meat, ultimately giving up. Unaware of this, Rei decided he would experiment a bit once the World Tree matter was settled.
For the time being, storing one Goblin corpse that happened to be lying nearby into the Misty Ring for that eventual purpose, he straddled Set's back once more. Set was puzzled as to why Rei had gone out of his way to store a Goblin corpse in the Misty Ring, but deciding that finding the children took priority for now, it kicked off the ground without further question.
"It's night, and the Goblins are getting more active. That means the danger to the children only grows, so we need to search properly."
"Gururuu"
Giving a short cry in response to Rei's words, Set raced through the night forest.
That battles were breaking out all over the forest was something both Rei and Set could clearly perceive. The sounds of clashing blades, the screams of monsters, and even what sounded like the screams of Dark Elves reached their ears.
"I hope the casualties aren't too bad... hah!"
"Guruu!"
At the end of his sentence, Rei swung Death Scythe. Simultaneously, a stone that had come flying out of the darkness was cleaved cleanly in two by Death Scythe's blade.
"Tch, more Goblins!?"
Rei cried out in irritation, but what came from ahead was not the cry of a Goblin, but a howl like that of a dog.
"Waaooooon!"
From that voice, Rei immediately understood what kind of monster had just attacked them.
"Not Goblins, Cobolts!"
"Gururururuu!"
As if resonating with Rei's voice, Set cried out. But the Cobolts, which would normally flee the moment they heard Set's cry, showed no signs of running whatsoever and continued throwing stones at Rei and Set.
"Tch—!"
Perhaps frustrated that every stone they threw was blocked or dodged, several Cobolts hurled their own weapons—spears, long swords, and daggers. Rei, having expected only stones, was somewhat surprised but batted them down with Death Scythe. In fact, because they threw actual weapons rather than stones, some were poorly thrown and flew off in entirely wrong directions.
"Set!"
"Gurururururuu!"
Without even needing to hear the end, Set understood what Rei wanted and let out a high cry aimed at the Cobolts. It sounded similar to the roar from moments ago, yet was decisively different.
King's Intimidation—the same skill used in the battle against the Goblins—was unleashed full-force toward the Cobolts.
The Cobolts, Low-Rank Monsters just like Goblins, had absolutely no means of countering that roar. Just as with the Goblins moments ago, they split broadly into those who couldn't move and those thrown into confusion...
"Gurururururuu!"
The roar echoed for a third time, and simultaneously, Water Balls generated around Set flew straight toward the Cobolts. The Cobolts that touched those Water Balls had their skin torn and flesh burst, screaming in agony. Screams rising from their companions while they could barely move themselves.
Finally, in their excited minds, the thought arose that the opponent they faced might be something truly fearsome... but before they could act on it, Set and Rei plunged in, and just like the Goblins, all dozen-plus Cobolts lost their lives in a matter of seconds.