What lay before Rei's eyes was the corpse of the Coconut Crab, its head crushed.
Its shell— which also served as its home— had been shattered, its body scorched by fire, and ultimately its head crushed as well. The Coconut Crab had suffered a thoroughly miserable fate, but in this state, it was nothing more than food ingredients to Rei.
Well, I'll need to ask whether it's actually edible once I get back to Gauche.
Looking over the Coconut Crab once more, the claws stood out prominently.
Those claws had never managed to land a hit on Set, but there was no doubt they possessed considerable power if they connected.
The carapace— including the claws— was undeniably sturdy too, and seemed perfectly serviceable as material.
"There's probably plenty of meat packed in those claws."
In the end, that was the first thing Rei thought of.
He couldn't bring himself to eat Sand Serpent meat, yet he had no problem eating Coconut Crab. If Augusto heard about it, he'd certainly tilt his head in puzzlement.
"Gurururu?"
Set rumbled the question— what are we doing with this?— and Rei immediately pulled out a dismantling knife.
"Edible or not, let's recover the Magic Stone now. I haven't decided whether Death Scythe or you will absorb it yet."
With that, he examined the Coconut Crab's body, which had been shattered by Set's strike. Before long, he discovered a Magic Stone near what appeared to be the heart.
"This is it."
"Gururu."
"Hold on a second."
Set brought his face closer, clearly wanting a look, so Rei took out the Dagger of Flowing Water from the Misty Ring and washed the stone.
"Here, take a look."
It wasn't particularly large, but Set was showing unusual interest in it— perhaps because he had defeated this monster on his own.
Feeling slightly puzzled, Rei stroked Set's head and asked.
"Set, do you want to absorb this Magic Stone?"
"Guru?"
Can I? Set tilted his head.
He had probably been wondering whether Rei would absorb it into Death Scythe instead.
But Death Scythe had already absorbed the Sand Serpent's Magic Stone and leveled up Corrosion. If that absorption had failed to grant a new skill, Rei might have wanted to feed the Coconut Crab's Magic Stone to Death Scythe instead. However, since Corrosion had indeed leveled up, Rei couldn't bring himself to claim the Magic Stone from a monster Set had defeated single-handedly.
Well, I did draw the Coconut Crab's attention at the start... but that was all I did.
Thanks to that action, Set had been able to launch a surprise attack. Still, Rei didn't consider that his own achievement. That was precisely why he had decided Set should be the one to absorb this Magic Stone.
"Alright, here you go."
Rei tossed the Magic Stone to Set, who naturally caught it in his beak and swallowed it whole.
[Set has learned the skill 'Earth Arrow Lv.1']
The announcement echoed in Rei's mind.
"...Well, I expected as much."
The Coconut Crab had defended against Set's attacks using a wall of sand, so it was a given that it could use earth-attribute attacks. Considering that, Earth Arrow was a reasonable outcome.
"So now we have Wind Arrow for wind, Ice Arrow— or rather, water's Ice Arrow— and Earth Arrow for earth. Will we eventually pick up Fire Arrow too?"
Rei wondered, but he had a feeling that absorbing a fire-attribute monster's Magic Stone would just raise Fire Breath's level instead.
"Anyway, could you try using it? Earth Arrow... arrows made of earth should have decent mass, so I'd expect respectable attack power."
"Gururururu."
At Rei's words, Set immediately rumbled and activated Earth Arrow. Five arrows of earth floated up beside him.
"Five, huh. Alright, try firing them at the sand over there."
"Gururu!"
The earth arrows flew swiftly— not as fast as Wind Arrows, but when they struck the sand, they sank in completely.
"...Can't tell the power since it's sand."
"Guru..."
Rei murmured thoughtfully, and Set nodded in agreement. Given that they had struck sand, any attack above a certain threshold of power would inevitably produce the same result.
But using it against the Coconut Crab corpse isn't great either.
The shell was undoubtedly usable as material, and the meat was probably edible. Getting it covered in dirt wasn't something Rei could accept.
Seeing Set looking up at him with round, apologetic eyes, Rei stroked his body and told him not to worry.
"It's not like we need to figure out Earth Arrow's capabilities right this instant. We can just find another monster tomorrow and test it on that. I want to try using Corrosion too, after all."
Corrosion naturally required the opponent to be equipped with weapons or armor. Against an unarmored target— like the Coconut Crab corpse before him— it was essentially useless.
Well, if Corrosion reaches Level 5 or higher, maybe its performance will improve.
For now, it could only corrode metallic weapons and armor, but eventually it might expand to wood and leather as well.
While Rei was lost in thought, Set rubbed his face against him, suggesting it was time to go.
"You're right. If it gets too late, we might not be able to get back into Gauche. Plus, I want to ask about this Coconut Crab. If it's edible, you'd want to eat some too, right?"
"Guru!"
At Set's energetic rumble of of course!, Rei nodded and approached the Coconut Crab, storing it directly into the Misty Ring.
Rei was more of a shrimp person than a crab person, but that didn't mean he disliked crab. Among the fragments of the shattered shell, he stored the larger pieces into the Misty Ring. All that remained were small fragments and scraps of meat that weren't worth the trouble of collecting.
Judging that other monsters would dispose of them in due time, Rei mounted Set's back and flew away from the scene.
Several minutes after Rei and Set disappeared... ants emerged from the nearby sand.
These were not monsters— just ordinary ants. Even the largest ones were no bigger than Rei's fingertip, but the problem lay in their numbers.
A few, a dozen, dozens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands... they appeared one after another, swarming over the Coconut Crab's scraps of meat and even the shell fragments in the blink of an eye.
Their bodies were brown, characteristic of a desert-dwelling species. The meat and shell fragments were quickly buried beneath the swarm, and with their coloring, the mass became nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding desert.
When the ants finally vanished... not a single fragment of the Coconut Crab's shell remained.
If Rei had witnessed this sight, a chill would have run down his spine.
They were ordinary ants, not monsters— mere insects. But in the Felis Desert, their sheer numbers made them predators fierce enough to rival any monster.
They were not to be underestimated simply because they were ants. That was the kind of existence they were.
"Umm... huh? Wait. It should be about time we arrived, but... where is this?"
"Gururu?"
From atop Set's back, Rei muttered in distress.
They were flying over a desert with no landmarks whatsoever, so naturally there was no sign of Gauche anywhere.
No— there should be a landmark. Gauche was a city built around a massive oasis. But that crucial oasis was nowhere to be found.
"...This is bad, isn't it?"
He muttered, yet there was no hint of genuine distress in his voice at the prospect of being lost in the desert. Naturally— inside the Misty Ring he had a Magic Tent, the Dagger of Flowing Water, and a substantial supply of food. Asking him to be seriously worried in this situation would have been unreasonable.
Still, thinking about the people waiting for them in Gauche, he couldn't just stay lost. The desert was an unforgiving place, and it was common enough for people not to return at their scheduled time. But if they exceeded their expected return by a matter of days, it would be perfectly understandable to be presumed dead.
In other words, if they wandered lost for days, Rei could very well be declared dead in the desert. If that happened, Gauche's Guild would certainly contact Gilm's Guild, which would worry Marina.
"Elena has the Paired Orbs, so I could let her know I'm safe... but I'd rather avoid that if I can help it."
Debating what to do, Rei continued flying through the sky on Set's back. Since Gauche was centered around a massive oasis, he had assumed it would be impossible to miss from the air, but...
"I can't see it anywhere. Well, what should I do?"
"Gurururu."
Set, who had been listening to Rei's words, suddenly rumbled.
Thinking Set might have spotted Gauche, Rei looked— but Set was gazing at the ground.
And there on the ground was what appeared to be a four-person party of adventurers.
They were running desperately. So desperately that "full sprint" would be an apt description.
Given the desert terrain, their running speed should normally be slower, but those four were moving at the same speed as if they were sprinting on solid ground.
"Hmm... they're pretty fast. And what's chasing them from behind is... well, well."
Seeing what was pursuing the adventurer party, Rei was mildly surprised. The entities chasing them appeared to be Lizardmen.
However, they differed in several ways from the Lizardmen Rei had encountered before. The Lizardmen he had seen in the Dungeon with the Altar of Inheritance had green scales. In contrast, the ones now in his line of sight had skin the same brown color as the surrounding sand.
And while Rei hadn't known about the Coconut Crab earlier, he did know about the Lizardmen currently on the ground.
Sand Lizardmen. As the name suggested, they were Lizardmen adapted to the desert. They were D-Rank monsters— the same rank as standard Lizardmen— but being specialized for desert combat, they were tougher opponents in the desert than their standard counterparts.
Also, like regular Lizardmen, they possessed a certain level of intelligence, and it was not uncommon for them to coordinate with their comrades to ambush prey, just as they were doing now.
They were a different species from the Desert Lizardmen he had encountered in Exil— similar in appearance, yet distinct.
"...So that's what they're doing."
In the direction the adventurers were running, several Sand Lizardmen were visible ahead.
With scales the same color as the sand, the four desperately fleeing adventurers probably hadn't noticed them. The ambushing Sand Lizardmen understood full well how high their stealth was— that was precisely why they had chosen to lie in wait. It was only natural they hadn't been spotted.
Rei had been able to notice them simply because he was up above.
"I can obtain Sand Lizardman materials and meat, get Magic Stones at the same time, and on top of that, get directions back to Gauche. There's no reason not to help them."
Rei had an aversion to eating Sand Serpent meat, yet for some reason he was perfectly fine with Sand Lizardman— a subjective preference that would puzzle anyone looking at it objectively. But there was no one here to point that out.
Set felt somewhat puzzled, but he didn't press the matter.
"Alright, let's go help them. Set, you take the Sand Lizardmen lying in ambush. I'll handle the ones chasing those four."
"Gurururu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a sharp cry of acknowledgment.
Rei lightly stroked the back of Set's neck, then leaped off his back without hesitation.
From a height of a hundred meters, he naturally began to plummet toward the ground. But just as with the Coconut Crab, he used the Sleipnir boots to kill his velocity, landing neatly in front of the fleeing four-person adventurer party.
"—!? An enemy?!"
The man in his twenties leading the group reflexively shouted at the sight of Rei dropping from the sky, but Rei paid it no mind. From the Misty Ring, he drew not Death Scythe, but the crimson spear— the Twilight Spear.
Rei's usual weapon was Death Scythe, but he judged that the Twilight Spear would be the more appropriate choice against humanoid monsters.
The adventurers were momentarily captivated by the Twilight Spear that had appeared in Rei's hand out of nowhere. Even in this near-desperate situation, it seized their gaze— such was the power the Twilight Spear possessed.
"If you keep going straight ahead, Sand Lizardmen are lying in ambush. My partner is handling them, so just wait here a moment... and watch me take down the ones chasing you."
Passing by the adventurers as he spoke, before they could even process his words, Rei charged at the Sand Lizardmen with the Twilight Spear in hand.
[Set]
'Water Ball Lv.3' 'Fire Breath Lv.3' 'Wind Arrow Lv.3' 'King's Intimidation Lv.2' 'Poison Claw Lv.4' 'Size Change Lv.1' 'Tornado Lv.2' 'Ice Arrow Lv.1' 'Optical Camouflage Lv.4' 'Magic Eye of Shock Lv.1' 'Power Crush Lv.4' 'Sense of Smell Enhancement Lv.1' 'Bubble Breath Lv.1' 'Crystal Breath Lv.1' 'Earth Arrow Lv.1' new
Earth Arrow: Fires arrows made of earth. At Level 1, five arrows.