"……This is a little disgusting, isn't it."
After the Fleeing Adventurers departed, Vihera muttered with evident disgust.
What lay in the direction of her gaze were Lizardman corpses, corpses, and more corpses.
Excluding the Lizardman Leader that had submitted to Vihera—that had surrendered—every single Lizardman lay dead on the ground.
Among them, as one might expect, were two Lizardman Leader corpses as well, and combining all the dead, there were close to thirty corpses in total.
……The reason the Lizardman corpses, originally numbering close to forty, had decreased to around thirty was because many of the bodies had their upper or lower halves rendered unrecognizable by Set's strikes.
If one desperately wanted Lizardman materials, that would be another matter, but with nearly thirty intact corpses still available, there was no desire to gather such mere scraps of flesh.
(When it comes to keeping corpses intact, Vihera is the best at it.)
Looking at the Lizardman corpses he had defeated, Rei thought to himself.
Rei's attack methods were fundamentally based on the Twin Spear Style using Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear.
In particular, a single strike from Death Scythe would easily tear apart—no, sever—a Lizardman's body.
In fact, there were many corpses missing their heads, limbs, or tails.
The Twilight Spear's strikes were primarily thrusts, with occasional blows using the handle.
Neither of those caused damage to a Lizardman's body in the way that would render it unrecognizable. ……That is, compared to Death Scythe.
By contrast, Vihera's attack methods were fundamentally unarmed combat, so while a Lizardman's bones might be broken, visible external damage was minimal.
Of course, Vihera hadn't defeated everything with bare-handed combat either.
She had also created claws of magical power from her gauntlets to slash through Lizardman bodies, and had used the blades generated from the heels of her greaves as well.
But even so, the ones she had defeated purely through unarmed combat were overwhelmingly more numerous.
The most characteristic of these was, as expected, Vihera's inherent skill, Magic Impact Palm.
This attack method, which destroyed the opponent from within, was extremely useful when one wanted to leave the corpse in clean condition.
……Of course, that only meant the exterior was preserved; the internal organs were often destroyed, and depending on the opponent, it could sometimes destroy rare materials as well.
"Anyway, gather the corpses from each area into one place. Then I'll store them away."
Originally, around thirty Lizardmen and two Lizardman Leaders would constitute a very significant income for an adventurer.
But at the same time, an ordinary adventurer would struggle to bring back this many Lizardman corpses.
They would need something like a cart, and given the numbers, one or two carts wouldn't be enough to carry them all.
What made the impossible possible for an ordinary adventurer was, needless to say, Rei's Misty Ring.
Since she had been closest to start with, Vihera gathered the Lizardmen she had defeated and stored them into the Misty Ring, followed by Rei's and then Set's, completing the storage of all the corpses.
The time it took was approximately twenty minutes.
To Rei, it felt like it had taken quite a long time, but if the adventurers who had been attacked by this Lizardman pack had seen this sight, they would have screamed that it was far too fast!
Thus, with all the——intact——Lizardmen stored away, before Rei lay two Lizardman Leader corpses and one Goblin Leader corpse from the day before.
The Goblin Leader corpse was something Rei had taken out from the Misty Ring.
The reason he did such a thing here was simply that this spot was out of sight, and he intended to go ahead and absorb the Goblin Leader's Magic Stone.
"Lizardman materials sell for a fairly good price, and the meat is reasonably tasty. In that sense, you could say this request was a profitable one."
"No, that's because it's us. An A-Rank or B-Rank adventurer might manage, but an ordinary adventurer attacked by a Lizardman pack this size wouldn't be able to handle it."
While extracting Magic Stones from the Goblin Leader and Lizardman Leader corpses, Rei conversed with Vihera.
……Meanwhile, Set was pecking at the meat of Lizardmen too damaged to be stored in the Misty Ring, all while keeping watch on the surroundings.
Since the Lizardman corpses they couldn't recover would simply be left behind, neither Rei nor Vihera said anything about Set's behavior.
There was also the judgment that since the majority of the bodies were heavily damaged, leaving them here wouldn't result in them becoming Undead.
First, Rei extracted the Goblin Leader's Magic Stone, then the Lizardman Leader's Magic Stone.
Being a High-ranking Species of Lizardman, its skin was tougher and more supple compared to a normal Lizardman's.
Even so, it couldn't withstand Rei's physical strength and the sharply honed edge of his knife, and he succeeded in extracting the Magic Stone from its heart.
"Alright. ……Set, you're still in the middle of your snack, huh. Then I should absorb the Goblin Leader's Magic Stone with Death Scythe first."
Holding the extracted Goblin Leader's Magic Stone in hand, Rei muttered.
Given that the Cobolt Leader's Magic Stone had failed to grant a skill, whether the Goblin Leader's Magic Stone would allow him to acquire a skill was something he had to tilt his head at.
But even so, it was an unabsorbed Magic Stone, so there was no option but to try it here.
In front of Vihera, who watched with interest, Rei took the Goblin Leader's Magic Stone in hand……tossed it into the air, and slashed through it with Death Scythe in a single stroke.
[Death Scythe has acquired the skill 'Pain Burst Lv.3']
What crossed his mind was that announcement message.
What he learned was a skill that increased the pain inflicted when attacking an opponent.
"……I see."
At the content of the acquired skill, Rei wore an expression of understanding.
This skill, which inflicted greater pain from the same wound, was something he could accept when he recalled the sight of Pump—a member of Hester's party—being subjected to.
The skills he had acquired so far were, as a general rule, closely related to the monster that had possessed the Magic Stone.
Of course, exceptions existed for anything, and in fact, Set had acquired the Sense of Smell Enhancement skill from a Goblin Leader's Magic Stone.
So it wasn't a certainty, but as a tendency, the skills one could acquire were understandable based on the monster's abilities, characteristics, and temperament.
"How was it? Did you acquire a skill?"
"Yeah. I was able to strengthen a skill called Pain Burst."
So saying, he explained the effects of Pain Burst.
But upon hearing what kind of effect the skill had, Vihera didn't look particularly entertained.
If anything, the curiosity she had shown when asking what kind of skill he had learned had nearly vanished.
For Vihera, who enjoyed battle, the skill called Pain Burst apparently held no appeal whatsoever.
"Hmm……I thought you'd acquire a slightly better skill. Something like the Flying Slash you use all the time."
"No, what part of a Goblin Leader has any element of Flying Slash?"
Even as he said that, considering past events, it was by no means impossible.
In fact, beyond the Sense of Smell Enhancement example, he had acquired numerous skills that would normally make one wonder, why that skill from that monster?
"Well, anyway. Not acquiring a skill from the Cobolt Leader aside, I'm glad I was able to acquire one from the Goblin Leader. So, next up is……"
Rei's gaze was directed toward the Lizardman Leader's Magic Stone.
The Magic Stone that could be called the main prize of this outing.
"Which goes first, Set or Rei?"
"Not me, but Death Scythe. ……Well, I suppose Death Scythe goes first."
Glancing at Set, who was pecking at Lizardman meat, Rei judged that he should go first himself.
(The announcement message earlier——I think Set heard it too, but is Lizardman meat really that tasty?)
Rei had eaten Lizardman meat several times before as well.
It had a texture like firm chicken meat, and he remembered it having a deep flavor.
Even so, it leaned toward a lighter taste, and Rei's impression was that it was inferior to Orc meat, which possessed an intense savory richness.
"Well, that aside……alright, it'd be nice if I can acquire a skill from this Magic Stone!"
He tossed the Lizardman Leader's Magic Stone into the air and slashed through it with Death Scythe in a single stroke.
The Magic Stone was bisected in midair……
[Death Scythe has acquired the skill 'Power Slash Lv.3']
That announcement message crossed Rei's mind.
"Power Slash, huh."
Rei's muttered voice carried something other than joy—a somewhat complex tone.
Perhaps bothered by Rei's demeanor, Vihera spoke with curiosity.
"What's wrong? From the look of it, you acquired a new skill, right? Then I think you could be a little happier about it."
"Yeah, I suppose I should be happy……but this Power Slash is a difficult skill to use."
Power Slash delivered an attack that crushed rather than slashed, increasing the power of a single strike, but the strain it placed on the hands was extremely high.
So much so that if one didn't properly disperse the shock, one could injure their own wrist.
Even at Lv.2, the difficulty was already fairly high, so with the level increasing this time, mastering it would become even harder.
(Though that also means the power has increased that much, so it can serve as a trump card for when it really counts.)
Since the level had gone up, Rei had no intention of wasting the skill.
But it was also a fact that Rei's top priority right now was training in the Twin Spear Style.
Thinking about it that way, it would still be a while before he could master Power Slash.
(Set has already mastered Power Crush, which is a similar skill, though.)
Even if he couldn't master it with his own power, Set could use it.
Thinking of it that way, he couldn't help but feel somewhat pathetic, but he also found himself thinking that if he was going to lose to Set, then so be it.
"Set!"
"Gruu?"
Resolving that he would master Power Slash eventually, Rei called Set's name.
At Rei's words, Set left the Lizardman meat he had been pecking at and raised his head.
Set's beak was smeared with Lizardman blood and fragments of flesh—proof that he had been pecking at Lizardman meat just a moment ago.
Wiping Set's beak clean as it approached, Rei held out the Magic Stone in his hand toward Set.
Set stared intently at the Magic Stone resting on his palm.
Then, extending his beak, he snatched up the Magic Stone and swallowed it whole.
[Set has acquired the skill 'Water Ball Lv.4']
The announcement message crossed his mind.
"Water Ball……Water Ball, huh. Well, if you think about it being from a Lizardman, it's not that strange, is it?"
Lizardmen were, naturally, a race that lived in swamps and wetlands.
Of course, there were special existences like the Sand Lizardmen Rei had fought in Gauche, but those were the exception.
No—considering that even Sand Lizardmen made use of their own private oases, one could say that even Sand Lizardmen were closely associated with water.
Thinking of it that way, acquiring the Water Ball skill from a Lizardman Leader, a High-ranking Species of normal Lizardman, was by no means strange.
"Set, could you test it a little for me?"
Even without being explicitly told what to test, Set understood what Rei was asking.
"Grurururu!"
Crying out loudly at Rei's words……in the next moment, water balls materialized around Set.
There were two of them.
That much was the same as before.
However, the size of the water balls was slightly larger than the ones Rei was familiar with.
He hadn't measured precisely, but they appeared to be roughly fifty centimeters in diameter.
"……The water balls only got a little bigger, huh. Well, if it goes up one more level, it should change dramatically."
That reaching skill Lv.5 would grant power on a completely different level from before was something Rei had experienced himself with Flying Slash.
Of course, there was a possibility that applied only to Flying Slash, but Rei instinctively sensed that, somehow, that probably wasn't the case.
"Alright, could you try firing them at the ground over there?"
"Gruu!"
Crying out at Rei's words, Set launched the water balls.
Though the water balls were slightly larger than before, their flight speed was unchanged.
No—like their size, they seemed slightly faster.
Thus, the two water balls struck the ground……scooping up the surrounding earth while demonstrating slightly higher destructive power than before.
【Set】
『Water Ball Lv.4』new『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.2』『Bubble Breath Lv.1』『Crystal Breath Lv.1』『Earth Arrow Lv.1』
【Death Scythe】
『Corrosion Lv.4』『Flying Slash Lv.5』『Magic Shield Lv.1』『Power Slash Lv.3』new『Wind Hand Lv.3』『Terrain Manipulation Lv.2』『Pain Burst Lv.3』new『Penetrate Lv.2』
Water Ball: Fires two water balls approximately fifty centimeters in diameter. They can be moved freely in the air to a certain extent, and their power is sufficient to crack the surface of a rock upon impact.
Power Slash: Increases the power of a single strike. However, rather than becoming sharper in cutting, it becomes a blow that smashes through.
Pain Burst: When the skill is activated and an enemy is slashed with Death Scythe, the pain inflicted on the enemy increases. At Lv.3, the pain is multiplied eightfold.