Before the eyes of Rei, Vihera, and Set, the individual that had transformed from a normal Goblin into a Goblin Leader let out a fierce cry—no, a roar.
Then, as if drawn in by that voice, Goblins came into view.
What was more, despite passing right by Rei, the Goblins showed no sign of noticing them at all as they continued advancing toward the Goblin Leader.
The number of Goblins that gathered was approximately fifty.
Considering that the packs led by Goblin Leaders Rei had defeated up until now generally numbered around a hundred, there were only about half as many.
"What do you think?"
"Well, over the past while, quite a few Goblin packs have been wiped out. Maybe the number of Goblins in this area has actually decreased?"
"It's possible, but do you think Goblins could ever run low enough in number to be unable to form packs?"
"…The frightening part is that I can't say for certain that it couldn't happen."
Humans, Beastmen, Elves—heck, Goblins could even breed with females of other monsters, and even females of animals.
Rei found it hard to believe that such prolific creatures would ever run so short in number from merely being defeated that they could no longer form packs.
Vihera felt the same way, and she had likely just voiced the idea to test it out.
"If that's the case, the other Goblins will probably take a bit more time to gather."
"Probably."
Vihera agreed with Rei's words and turned her gaze back toward the Goblin pack.
There, Goblins were continuing to gather around the Goblin Leader.
Even watching from here, there was no longer any black mist on the Goblin Leader's body.
What could be called the remnants of Unbris had already vanished completely.
"Following the Goblin pack as is won't serve much purpose. They'll probably head toward Gilm anyway."
"Then where we should head is…"
"Gurururu."
The direction Vihera looked toward at Rei's words was the direction the Goblin that had evolved into a Goblin Leader had walked from.
As if agreeing, Set rumbled its throat as well.
"Right. Investigating that way would give us a higher chance of finding Unbris. Alright, let's go. Actually, no—there's something I need to do first."
Muttering, Rei took the Death Scythe out of the Misty Ring and began chanting an incantation.
Flame, thou shalt exist only within the domain I designate, and nowhere else may thou exist. As payment for thy brief life, feed upon my magical power within the domain and in an instant, sublime thy very existence.
Simultaneously with the chant, Rei drove the pommel of the Death Scythe into the ground.
As the pommel pierced the earth, a crimson line raced across the ground starting from that point.
That crimson line traced a circle, enclosing the pack of Goblins centered around the Goblin Leader…
Wild Dance of the Fire Spirits.
The moment those words left Rei's mouth, the magic activated. A red force field was generated from the line running across the ground, ultimately transforming into a crimson dome.
The crimson dome that had swallowed the Goblin pack whole then produced fire spirits in the shape of lizards.
A massive number of lizards were generated inside the crimson dome, their count far exceeding that of the Goblins.
The Goblin that had become a Goblin Leader shrieked while looking around, but its voice didn't reach Rei.
And given that their leader wasn't properly commanding them, it was only natural that the other Goblins would fall into confusion.
Inside the crimson dome, the Goblins shrieked, and naturally there were individuals who tried to vent their frustration on the lizards within the dome.
However… that action sealed the fate of every Goblin inside the crimson dome.
A lizard that appeared about to be struck by a Goblin exploded, shattering a portion of the Goblin's body.
Furthermore, the shockwave from that explosion caused other lizards to detonate as well, shattering Goblins while yet another lizard exploded—and in this manner, Goblins were killed one after another, caught up in a chain of lizard explosions.
The lizards too exploded from the shockwaves of other blasts, and from those shockwaves yet more lizards exploded—a cascade of detonations chaining together.
The chain explosions of the lizards filled the crimson dome with blasts in the blink of an eye.
"This is… incredible."
Vihera, seeing this magic for the first time, murmured in admiration.
The explosions occurring inside the crimson dome would, by normal reckoning, be exceedingly cruel.
Yet no sound from within reached the outside of the crimson dome.
That was right—not even the sounds of the explosions themselves could be heard, nor the screams or cries of agony from the Goblins whose lives were being stolen by those blasts.
All that was visible from the outside was purely the explosions.
The silent explosions occurring within the crimson dome must have been something of great interest to Vihera as well.
Of course, in Rei's case, he knew what fireworks were, so seeing the crimson dome's explosions didn't particularly surprise him.
The fact that this wasn't the first time he had used this magic was also a significant factor.
(Should I be saying something like… these are some filthy fireworks?)
Rei muttered while observing the result of his magic, but eventually all the lizards generated within the crimson dome must have exploded and vanished. The crimson dome itself began to fade away.
Then, simultaneously, the thick scent of iron rust began to drift through the surrounding air.
After the crimson dome vanished and the remnants of the explosions were carried away and dispersed by the wind, what remained was ground covered in paste—flesh, bone, organs, all of it reduced to a paste so thorough that not a trace of the original forms remained.
This applied equally to both Goblins and the Goblin Leader; all had been turned into meat paste.
(If it were a monster more powerful than a Goblin, it probably wouldn't have been this spectacular. Well, with the corpses left in this state with no original forms remaining, there's no chance of them becoming Undead, so the cleanup is easy.)
Even though it was only about fifty, considering that the effort of gathering and burning Goblin corpses had been saved, using this magic was by no means overkill.
After confirming that not a single survivor remained, including the Goblin Leader, Rei called out to Vihera, who was standing beside him with a faintly displeased expression at the blood stench of the Goblins.
"Vihera, stop spacing out. We're going to search for Unbris, right?"
"…Ah, come to think of it, that's right. I completely forgot after seeing that sight just now."
"Gurururu."
Perhaps sensing something in Vihera's demeanor, Set rubbed its face against her while rumbling its throat.
At such attention from Set, Vihera smiled and stroked its body.
As she petted Set, she seemed to shift her mindset; in less than a minute, Vihera spoke up.
"Alright, let's go. We need to get our hands on even the slightest clue about Unbris right now."
With that, Vihera began walking toward the direction the Goblin Leader had come from earlier.
Naturally, Rei and Set followed after her.
They continued walking through the grassland, but eventually Vihera spoke with a troubled expression.
"Hey, Rei. That Goblin walked this way before it became a Goblin Leader, but its gait was quite unsteady, right? If so, wouldn't it be meaningless to head straight in the direction the Goblin came from?"
"…Now that you mention it, that's true."
Recalling the Goblin's gait, which could aptly be described as staggering, Rei agreed with Vihera's words.
However, unlike Vihera who seemed somewhat uncertain, Rei showed no concern at all.
That was because Rei knew an effective tracking method even in this situation.
"Set, please."
Set, understanding what Rei was asking with just that, rumbled its throat happily.
As if to prove that being relied upon by Rei was an extremely joyful thing for Set as well.
What was activated then was Set's skill: Sense of Smell Enhancement.
Previously, its sense of smell had been sharp enough to lead them to the headquarters of the People of the Hundred Faces outside the city.
Now, in this short period of time, it had risen to Level 4, making Set's sense of smell even sharper than before.
Ultimately, around fifty Goblins had gathered, but tracing the direction that a single specific individual among them had come from was not a difficult task for Set.
"Gururu."
This way, Set rumbled, stepping out in front of Vihera and guiding the two of them.
When Vihera looked toward Rei, he nodded back to indicate it was fine.
Reassured by that, Vihera followed after Set and proceeded alongside Rei.
"I had no idea Set had a tracking method like this."
"Well, it's not a flashy ability."
It wasn't a showy skill like Fire Breath, but it was without question an extremely useful one.
Set didn't have many skills that could be used outside of combat, but Sense of Smell Enhancement was one of those few exceptions.
Skills that were meant for combat but could also be used outside of it, like Water Ball, were by no means rare. Of course, ever since Rei obtained the Dagger of Flowing Water, Water Ball had seen far less use when it came to hydration.
In any case, with Set's current Sense of Smell Enhancement ability, heading to the place where the Goblin that became a Goblin Leader had come from—in other words, the place where it had contact with Unbris—was an easy task.
Following Set's guidance, they continued onward, and eventually a small grove came into view ahead.
It was a truly small grove, small enough that one could tell at a glance that there likely weren't many monsters or wild animals of any significance there.
"…Is this the place?"
"Guruu!"
At Rei's confirmatory question, Set rumbled its throat with confidence.
Tracing the place where the Goblin that became a Goblin Leader had come from led here—that was an undeniable fact even with Set's sense of smell.
"So even a Goblin that lived in a place like this could evolve into a Goblin Leader."
"No, where it lived probably doesn't matter much."
"Really? To evolve, you naturally need to go through many experiences, right? In that case, could a Goblin living in a place like this have such experiences?"
What came from Vihera's mouth was a point that Rei could accept as well.
This grove, too small for high-rank monsters to inhabit, might have been a surprisingly good home for the Goblins.
Of course, if it was easy for Goblins to live there, there was also the possibility that other low-rank monsters inhabited it as well.
But if there was no absolute predator, the likelihood of Goblins surviving would definitely increase.
"…But if that's the case, there's also the possibility that other low-rank monsters are living here, and we can't deny the chance that they've been turned into Leader Species by Unbris's power."
"That's certainly possible. But Unbris can only turn demi-human type monsters into Leader Species, right? If that's the case, then if the others here are monsters of different types…"
"Then no Leader Species would exist."
"Right. Of course, the fact that Unbris turns demi-human type monsters into Leader Species is strictly a characteristic of the Unbris from three hundred years ago. There's no guarantee the current Unbris is the same."
"But in reality, all the Leader Species leading packs so far have been demi-human type, right? Then I think it's fine to assume the same applies this time."
The moment optimistic words left Rei's mouth, Vihera spoke as if to admonish him.
"Listen, Rei. This is only the second time Unbris has been sighted, right? Then it's entirely possible that it has completely different abilities."
That was an undeniable fact.
Having only a single precedent meant there was nothing strange about an Unbris with entirely different abilities appearing.
Of course, Rei wasn't that worried.
The fact was that the packs created so far were all comprised of demi-human monsters.
If it were different from the previous Unbris, the monsters producing Leader Species should have been entirely different ones as well.
He certainly wasn't letting his guard down, but even so, he didn't think Unbris was a completely different entity.
"Gururu."
As if interrupting Rei and Vihera's exchange, Set rumbled its throat.
When Rei and Vihera turned their gazes toward where Set was looking… there, something that could only be described as black mist existed, mingling among the trees.
"…Rei."
"Yeah."
At Vihera's words, Rei gave a short nod.
Set too, seeing Unbris's form, let out a growl.
However, without paying any mind to Rei and the others, Unbris floated and drifted among the trees… and eventually descended toward the ground.
Was it going to move along the surface? Rei had harbored such a question, but the next movement Unbris showed was not remaining on the ground but sinking into it.
Even if it was mist, normally it could not burrow into the ground.
The fact that it could was likely precisely because it was a magical anomaly.
It was proof that, though it appeared to be black mist at a glance, it was not actually mist at all.