After hearing from Marina that a magical anomaly had taken the form of a monster, Rei and Vihera returned to the Wheat Inn at dusk.
In Rei's room, the two sat facing each other.
Though they were alone together in a man's room, it wasn't as if they were having any sort of risqué conversation.
Well, Vihera wouldn't have minded that—in fact, she would have welcomed it—but what was taking place in Rei's room right now was a discussion about their plan of action from tomorrow onward.
"A magical anomaly that becomes a monster, huh. You used to dive into Dungeons, didn't you? Have you ever heard of anything like that?"
Rei asked from the sofa, and Vihera shook her head from the seat across from him.
"No, unfortunately I've never seen such a monster. I only learned the name Unbris when Marina told me about it. Honestly, I think it's an extremely rare case."
"Probably. There's no record left in the Kingdom of Mireana. It happened in the Bestia Empire...and even then, only once, nearly three hundred years ago."
"Yes. And in the end, they couldn't defeat the Unbris back then either, right? Time passed, and it eventually just vanished. If that's the case, then even in the worst scenario, it would disappear on our end too if we just wait long enough, wouldn't it?"
That was right. The two had heard from Marina that they were ultimately unable to defeat the Unbris—the entity born when the magical anomaly said to have appeared in the Valley of a Hundred Demons became a monster.
In the end, the situation was brought under control when the Unbris vanished before anyone knew it. However...
"If that's the case, then Leader Species will just keep increasing until the Unbris disappears."
At Rei's words, Vihera let out a small sigh.
Until the Unbris vanished, many Demi-human Species Type Leader Species were created in the vicinity of the Valley of a Hundred Demons.
Marina's conjecture was that the reason the Unbris could turn monsters into Leader Species was likely because it was giving its own body—the magical anomaly—to the monsters.
Given that the Unbris's body had gradually grown smaller over time in the Valley of a Hundred Demons, that conjecture was not necessarily wrong.
(Well, it's also possible that the magical anomaly comprising its body simply dissipated as time passed...but it's better to prepare for the worst-case scenario.)
Thinking seriously about things wasn't something Rei particularly enjoyed either.
But he had no choice but to do so.
That was because the Unbris had one major point of difference from ordinary monsters.
That single point alone made it clear that conventional wisdom wouldn't apply.
"A monster with no Magic Stone...huh."
That was right. Normally, regardless of species, a monster always possessed a Magic Stone.
But in the case of the Unbris, it was said to have none.
To begin with, its appearance was that of a black, smoke-like entity, and it was unclear whether it even possessed a will of its own.
At the time, the adventurer who first saw the Unbris desperately searched for a Magic Stone, but nowhere in its mist-like, gaseous body was one to be found.
Because of that, they ultimately could not defeat the Unbris, and were forced to keep killing the endlessly spawning Leader Species. After that continued for several months, the Unbris suddenly vanished.
Due to the matter with the Magic Stone, there were also opinions that perhaps the Unbris was not a monster at all, but rather some kind of phenomenon. However, the only confirmed case was the single one found in the Bestia Empire, and its detailed ecology remained a complete mystery.
"It's my birthplace, and I knew about the Valley of a Hundred Demons, but...I had never heard of such a story before."
At Rei's words, Vihera murmured reflectively.
It was an event from nearly three hundred years ago, and the only time the Unbris had ever been confirmed was that single instance.
With such a rare case, it was only natural that Vihera wouldn't know about it with only a modest amount of study.
That sufficient information remained to be found if one researched properly was likely because preserving such records was the Guild's job.
And in practice, the fact that it was proving useful now, just like this—Rei thought that preserving knowledge was truly remarkable.
"Anyway. This situation is similar to the Valley of a Hundred Demons from three hundred years ago, but it's not confirmed to be the Unbris. There might be another cause entirely. Considering that, we should be cautious even when searching."
"You're right. Even if it's limited to high-rank adventurers, with this many differences..."
Seated on the sofa, Rei and Vihera each voiced their resolve not to let their guard down.
After hearing Marina's explanation about the Unbris, Rei and Vihera were naturally tasked with resolving this matter—specifically, resolving the incident likely caused by the Unbris.
However, it was not a Nomination Request directed at Rei and Vihera specifically, but rather a request that only high-rank adventurers could accept.
Strictly speaking, Vihera's Adventurer Rank was not yet B-Rank, so she could not be called a high-rank adventurer. But in Vihera's case, her abilities were more than sufficient to be considered B-Rank equivalent, so Marina had granted her permission.
Of course, they were not assigning the search and subjugation of the Unbris to all high-rank adventurers.
If they did something like that, the response to the monster packs would inevitably fall behind.
For an ordinary adventurer, dealing with packs that exploited superior numbers was inevitably difficult.
But when it came to high-rank adventurers, dealing with a pack alone was not easy—but it was not impossible either.
In other words, even if multiple packs attacked Gilm at once like before, dealing with them would not be difficult.
Even so, if it were strictly individuals or small groups, and the monsters used their sheer numbers to infiltrate Gilm, it would be difficult to intervene.
In any case, from tomorrow onward, searching for the Unbris would be Rei and Vihera's duty.
With Set as his mobility, Rei alone could cover a wide area for this kind of search request.
In that sense, it was safe to say that Rei and Set were the greatest combat assets for the Unbris search.
Naturally, Vihera intended to accompany Rei and Set.
Rei had no particular reason to refuse, so he accepted.
The reason he allowed Vihera to accompany them was that even with Set carrying Vihera dangling from his front leg, their speed would not drop significantly.
"Still, a monster with no Magic Stone, huh...I can't muster any motivation for that."
"Hehe, that might be true for you, Rei. Well, the same goes for me, though."
Rei lacked motivation because he would be unable to obtain a Magic Stone usable for Beast Magic, and Vihera's reason for lacking motivation was that she had no means to attack a mist-like monster like the Unbris.
Not only was it immune to physical attacks, but perhaps because it was born from a magical anomaly, it also possessed high magic defense, and ordinary attack magic would not work on it.
In many ways, it was a troublesome monster.
And the only thing the Unbris could do was make contact with Demi-human Species monsters and evolve them into Leader Species.
It was an existence that could only be described as troublesome, and given that it was a mist-like entity with no Magic Stone, it was impossible to obtain a Subjugation Proof Part.
Though, given that the only confirmed case was a single example from three hundred years ago, and even then they ultimately couldn't defeat it, what constituted a Subjugation Proof Part had never been determined in the first place.
"Thinking about it like this, the Unbris might be closer to a disaster or natural phenomenon than a monster, just as we heard."
"Even though it's moving around, when it's unclear whether it even has a will of its own?"
"It's not that unusual for disasters and natural phenomena to move around. Tornadoes move around perfectly fine on their own."
His own namesake, the Flame Tornado—Fire Whirlwind—moved across the ground.
When he first used Fire Whirlwind, it barely moved at all.
But the Fire Whirlwind that Rei used now could move freely, albeit roughly.
Thinking of it that way, a natural phenomenon moving around wasn't so strange.
Of course, in this world called Elgin, given the existence of magic, there were inevitably things that differed from natural phenomena on Earth.
"Either way, what we need to do doesn't change. All we can do is search for the Unbris. Whether we can find it and defeat it is another matter, though."
"You're right. Set is with us, so the expectations placed on us are probably greater, but will you be alright?"
"I wonder. Considering Set's abilities, it wouldn't be surprising if we could find it. If the Unbris has a scent, that is."
Set's Sense of Smell Enhancement skill had gone up three whole levels in this short period of time.
If they could get close to the Unbris even once, they should be able to find it at any time using the effects of Sense of Smell Enhancement.
Though, finding the Unbris in the first place is the hard part.
The fact that it was a mist-like entity was based solely on eyewitness accounts from the Valley of a Hundred Demons, and it wasn't certain that the Unbris this time would also be a mist-like entity.
No, even before that, it wasn't even clear whether the current situation was actually caused by the entity known as the Unbris.
Marina believed it was the Unbris's doing based on the phenomenon of creating Leader Species from Demi-human Type monsters, but they hadn't actually confirmed its appearance.
Well, I can't imagine there are many other entities out there with the characteristic of evolving Demi-human Type monsters into Leader Species. Thinking of it that way, the Unbris is definitely the most suspicious.
Given that there were extremely few precedents to begin with, speculating about what kind of opponent it was was largely meaningless.
The best course of action was to be ready to respond immediately no matter what happened.
"For now, it starts tomorrow. Whatever we do, being on the back foot like this isn't any fun."
"You're right. If anything, I wish it would evolve not just Demi-human Type monsters, but more powerful ones. That would have been a bit more fun. Or, even if Demi-human Type, something like a Cyclops."
Perhaps recalling the battle between the Werewolves and the Cyclops, Vihera murmured with a slightly disappointed tone.
As Cyclops were also Demi-human Type monsters, Leader Species did exist among them.
However, perhaps because their individual strength was overwhelmingly greater compared to other monsters like Goblins, High-ranking Species were extremely rare.
Whether thanks to that or not, the absence of a Cyclops Leader Species appearing might have been unfortunate for Vihera, but for everyone else, it could be called fortunate.
"Telling you not to worry would be strange, but if the Unbris truly exists, then it's only a matter of time before a High-ranking Species of Cyclops appears as well. Though Marina probably doesn't want one to show up."
For Marina, in her position as Guild Master, a High-ranking Species of Cyclops actually appearing would be a headache-inducing problem.
Many skilled adventurers were present in Gilm, but those who could not defeat a Cyclops were by no means few either.
Given that, Marina would certainly prefer that a monster like a Cyclops Leader did not appear.
However, from Vihera's standpoint of wishing to fight strong enemies, and from Rei's standpoint of needing Magic Stones for Beast Magic, both hoped that a Cyclops Leader would appear if possible.
"Well, there's no point in us discussing that either way. If anything, it would be nice if we could be the ones to find the Unbris."
"The probability of that is high. Having Set, who can fly, is significant. We can search an area many times—dozens of times greater than anyone else. But if this incident really is the Unbris's doing, then the problem becomes how to find something mist-like."
Mist was easy to spot visually if it was thick. But conversely, if it was thin, it was hard to see.
Thinking of it that way, the Unbris could be considered a monster with extremely high stealth capabilities.
Whether the Unbris, which possessed no Magic Stone, was truly a monster at all was a question even for Rei.
"If it turns monsters it touches into Leader Species, then things would be convenient for us if we could capture it somehow."
"You're saying unreasonable things again."
At Rei's abrupt remark, a voice of exasperation escaped Vihera's lips.
Indeed, what Rei was saying was that unreasonable.
And naturally, Rei himself understood that it was unreasonable.
Even so, the fact that it could evolve monsters into High-ranking Species—even if limited to Demi-human Types—was a tremendous benefit for Rei, who needed to gather Magic Stones.
Besides, right now it's only Leader Species...but maybe it could create Generals, Mages, or even Kings or Queens...
Rei seriously considered whether there was some way to capture the Unbris.