Once it was decided that nearly all of the Silver Lion would belong to Rei, the group immediately set about disassembling it.
Elk and Min naturally pitched in to help.
Normally, Rei would find time on a later day to dismantle a monster himself, or else submit a request to the Guild. This time, however, Elk's opinion was that it would be better not to do so.
First, disassembling this Silver Lion would be done by Rei alone, or by two if Vihera—who always acted alongside him—joined him, or by three if Byune had returned to Gilm. But the very first problem was where to dismantle such an enormous monster.
Including the tail, it was about six meters in total length. Even excluding the tail, it was roughly four meters long. The Silver Lion possessed a size that was simply incomparable to an ordinary monster.
Dismantling such a massive body naturally required a space of corresponding size.
Such a place was not easy to come by. Even in the forest Rei typically used as his go-to disassembly spot—a forest not too far from Gilm with a river flowing through it—whether it could accommodate a Silver Lion of this size was questionable due to space constraints alone.
There was also the disassembly warehouse used to process meat for the Full Belly Diner, but there too, the Silver Lion's sheer size posed a problem.
Moreover, it was almost the season for Gamelion, and they felt guilty about getting in the way of that.
Another option was the Guild, which had temporarily stored a massive number of Gamelion corpses for him last year. But going that route would naturally require selling them a fair share of the materials.
Of course, it wasn't that Rei was opposed to selling materials to the Guild, but it was still true that the more options he had, the better.
And so, the safe option that remained was to simply disassemble it right here.
Normally, dismantling a monster's corpse on the spot would raise the issue of material degradation, but in Rei's case, he had the Misty Ring, so there was no need to worry about that.
Rather, dismantling it here meant that no one outside the involved parties would see the Silver Lion's disassembly site. In other words, there was the added advantage of not having to worry about scavengers looking for handouts.
And the biggest factor of all was the advice they could receive from Grimm, who had extensive experience disassembling S-Rank monsters.
"When cutting the Silver Lion's hide, you must insert the blade as if stitching between the strands of fur."
The highest-ranked adventurers in the party were Elk and Min at A-Rank, but even for those two, they had almost no experience extracting materials from an S-Rank monster.
Min had once read about the method for stripping materials from S-Rank monsters in a book, but rather than relying on half-remembered knowledge, being able to receive advice from Grimm—who had actual experience processing S-Rank monster corpses—was undeniably the best course of action.
Furthermore, for typical adventurers like Yohanna and her group—typical only in comparison to Rei, Elk, and the others—it was hard to imagine they would have many opportunities in their lives to dismantle an S-Rank monster or strip its materials. Even so, experience was never a hindrance.
Following Grimm's instructions, everyone except Rhodos—who could not yet move his body—set to work dismantling the Silver Lion.
Meanwhile, Set and Ielo kept watch to ensure no one entered the room.
The only thing on the Deepest Layer of this Dungeon was the Silver Lion, and normally very few people ever came this far.
However, there had been those who challenged the Silver Lion to battle in the past, so it was not guaranteed that someone wouldn't arrive at this very moment with the same idea.
If that happened, it was completely unclear what course of action such a person would take upon seeing Rei's group disassembling the Silver Lion.
Of course, it was unlikely that anyone would be foolish enough to attack Rei's group given the difference in Combat Power and try to steal the Silver Lion's corpse, but it was not an absolute impossibility.
That was because anyone coming this far would do so with the intent of defeating the Silver Lion themselves.
Furthermore, another troubling possibility was that there might be those who would demand a share of the Silver Lion's materials for themselves.
If they could obtain S-Rank materials without having to fight the Silver Lion, there was a very real chance they would stubbornly insist on it, even if it meant being somewhat unreasonable.
...And above all, the most important thing was that they absolutely could not let Grimm's existence be seen.
Under normal circumstances, acting so amiably alongside an Undead monster was clearly abnormal.
"Leave the claws for later. First, focus on stripping off all the hide. Be especially careful with the tail. It is an extremely useful material even for making whips, so handle it with care."
Everyone, including Rei, carefully peeled off the hide so as not to inflict any unnecessary cuts on the Silver Lion's pelt.
The Silver Lion's fur possessed strong resistance to slashing and piercing attacks, but fortunately, Grimm had already opened up a large incision in its belly.
By inserting their blades through that opening, they were able to continue stripping the Silver Lion without any particular difficulty.
However, naturally, the ordinary skinning knives that Yohanna and the others carried were difficult to work with, and it was only after Grimm enhanced their sharpness with magic that they were finally able to make progress on the disassembly.
The resistance of slicing through the skin and flesh was such that, to Yohanna and her group, it felt like a sharpness they could never associate with the knives they were accustomed to using, driving home once again just how incredible magic was.
For Yohanna and the others, as long as they were living as adventurers, magic inevitably carried a strong image of offensive spells.
Above all, having witnessed with their own eyes Rei's Fire Whirlwind and other spells during the civil war in the Bestia Empire, that image of magic had become firmly entrenched in their minds.
Of course, there were also many people who used magic for more peaceful purposes.
The prime example of that would be Recovery Magic.
But as one might expect—or rather, as was only natural—when asked which left a stronger impression, Fire Whirlwind or Recovery Magic, most people would answer Fire Whirlwind.
"The sharpness is incredible. I bought this one after coming to Gilm, so it's a good-quality blade, but even so, I was debating whether to get it resharpened or just buy a new one."
Yohanna murmured earnestly as she guided the blade between the meat and the skin.
The others also murmured in awe at how easily their blades passed through the Silver Lion's body.
"This really is amazing. Just being able to use this magic alone would make disassembling monsters so much easier."
"No, no, more than that—if you used this magic on a weapon, wouldn't you be able to easily take down even monsters with high defense?"
"Fohoho. Unfortunately, that is impossible. This magic is strictly something I developed for the purpose of disassembling monsters and stripping materials. It operates on the premise that the target is dead, so using it on a living opponent would be virtually meaningless."
Grimm suddenly interjected as the companions were conversing.
Yohanna and her group, still unaccustomed to Grimm's presence, froze for a moment at those words.
Eventually, it was Yohanna who spoke up.
"Um, why is there such a condition? If you had made it so it could also be used on living monsters, I think it would have been much more versatile."
Yohanna desperately suppressed her trembling voice as she spoke.
Understanding Yohanna's state while not seeming particularly bothered, Grimm continued.
"To begin with, I can hardly use weapons of any kind. Magic is sufficient as my means of attack. By imposing the restriction that it cannot be used on living targets, I was able to increase its sharpness even further."
"I-I see. Come to think of it, that makes sense."
From Yohanna's perspective, Grimm didn't give the impression of someone who engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
Given that he carried a staff, the image of Grimm using magic in combat was indeed stronger.
(Though getting hit by that staff looks like it would hurt quite a bit.)
Yohanna thought that if an ordinary person were struck by Grimm's staff, they would undoubtedly suffer serious injuries.
Moreover, unlike a normal Skeleton, Grimm was a higher-tier Undead.
In other words, the bones comprising his body were not ordinary bones like those of a Skeleton, but were naturally assumed to be reinforced with magic.
"Now then, hurry up and continue disassembling the Silver Lion rather than chatting. You all do not have much time, do you?"
"I wouldn't say we don't have time... it's more that we just want to get this done before other adventurers show up."
If they were seen disassembling the Silver Lion in a place like this, it could lead to unnecessary trouble, and above all, they absolutely could not let outsiders see Grimm.
Thinking such thoughts, Yohanna slid her knife between the skin and the meat.
"Looks like things are pretty tough over there too."
"Yeah. But here, if we mess up the processing... Elk, no. You can't put the Silver Lion's stomach with the other organs."
Right in the middle of talking, Min quickly cautioned Elk.
What Elk and Min were doing was removing and processing the Silver Lion's internal organs.
More precisely, Elk was removing the organs following Min's instructions.
Min would have preferred to just get it done quickly between the two of them, but given that these were the internal organs of a Silver Lion, they couldn't afford to process them carelessly.
If she had left it entirely to Elk, there was a possibility that the precious Silver Lion organs would have been ruined.
That was why they had settled on the approach of Min directing Elk as they extracted the organs.
Since every drop of blood had already been extracted from the Silver Lion's body by Grimm, the fact that they didn't have to worry about blood while removing the organs was probably a stroke of fortune for Elk and Min.
The one benefiting most from this was Elk, who was pulling the organs out from the Silver Lion's slit-bellied body.
Of course, all the blood had been removed, but other bodily fluids remained as they were.
Given that these were the bodily fluids of a Silver Lion, they naturally held a corresponding value.
However, compared to the other materials, their value was overwhelmingly low, so Rei had said he didn't mind that part, and given the time constraints, both Elk and Min decided not to worry about the fluids.
"Rei, can you hold the head steady?"
"Yeah, leave it to me."
"Elena, are you ready?"
"I am ready on this end as well."
"Marina?"
"No problem."
Rei pinned down the Silver Lion's massive neck.
Because Elk was pulling out organs and Yohanna's group was peeling off the hide, the Silver Lion's body was shifting around to some extent.
While extracting the intact eyeball and pulling teeth, including the fangs, under such conditions...
"Ah, no good after all. The eye on this side is completely destroyed, so it can't be used as a material."
Marina, who was examining the Silver Lion's eyeball—the one that Rei had pierced with the Twilight Spear—sighed in disappointment.
The fact that her every gesture was alluring was not something she did consciously, but rather a semi-unconscious occurrence.
"That cannot be helped. If it had merely been a light poke with a finger, that would be one thing, but I thrust the Twilight Spear into it. If it were still usable after that, the Silver Lion would not have lost an eye in the first place."
Elena, who had been checking on the condition of the fangs, offered those words to Marina.
"I understand... actually, I was thinking maybe since it was a Silver Lion, it might have been fine? It was moving around perfectly fine even with Rei's Deep Flame stuck to its face for so long."
"...Let me just say that I understand how you feel."
Elena had also witnessed the Silver Lion's defensive capabilities during the battle, so perhaps Marina's words made her think that maybe—just maybe—it could have survived, and she equivocated.
"For an Alchemist, the Silver Lion's eyeball is an incredibly precious material. So if possible, I wanted it to be intact for Rei's sake... or so I thought, anyway."
A small sigh escaped Marina's lips.
Even the feathers and fur of Set, an A-Rank monster, were materials that an Alchemist would practically fall over themselves to obtain.
If it was a material from an S-Rank monster, it went without saying just how much value it would hold.
"Rei-san, we've finished peeling off the hide! We're going to start cutting up the meat, so please help us!"
Yohanna's voice echoed through the room.
"Got it!"
There was a note of unmistakable delight in Rei's voice as he responded.
The Magic Stone was one thing, but the Silver Lion's meat was what Rei had wanted the most.
Even with such a massive body, given that it was an S-Rank monster, it was easy to predict that he could devour it all in no time if he set his mind to it.
Since he was going to be cutting up such meat, there was no way Rei wouldn't be happy.
Thus, he joyfully cut the meat into portions, and it took less than two hours for the Silver Lion to be completely disassembled and processed into materials—quite short, considering the Silver Lion's size.