The monster—a chimera combining a pig, a boar, and a bird that had grown massive in an instant—blocked Reliu's strike with its fangs, only to be blown backward the next moment.
Reliu held his ground, making it clear the monster had lost the contest of strength.
Though it possessed a massive frame over three meters in length, roughly the same size as Set, it still couldn't match Reliu's raw power.
Reliu stood with his longsword still extended from the swing, surprise evident on his face.
"Hey, hey. Something that small gets this big?"
"Grr!"
Though it probably wasn't answering Reliu's words, Set loosed a Wind Arrow at the blown-back monster.
Twenty arrows formed of wind surged one after another toward the creature.
However, while Wind Arrow had the advantages of speed and low visibility, its raw power wasn't particularly strong.
Even so, the monster, unable to recover its stance as the wind arrows struck home in succession, grew increasingly frustrated—
"Bgiyah!"
In the next instant, the Twilight Spear Rei had thrown pierced clean through the monster's face, through its torso, and the spearhead emerged from the other side of its body entirely.
There was no surviving a blow like that. The monster let out a scream and crumpled to the ground.
"...Man, that surprised me."
Reliu said as much with his longsword still in hand, though his expression showed less surprise than his tone suggested.
The fact that he could react immediately even in a sudden situation was proof of just how many real battles Reliu had survived.
"Right. It changed size in an instant. ...Marina, do you know this monster?"
"Yes. It's a C-Rank Monster called Drasnon."
"Drasnon, huh."
At Marina's words, Vihera gazed at the corpse of the monster called Drasnon.
A creature that could be called a chimera of a boar, a pig, and a bird.
It was hard to say it looked anything like what the name Drasnon would suggest.
However, the mere fact that it could freely change its body size made it a threat to adventurers.
Moreover, when small, it had an extremely adorable appearance.
If someone had a fondness for cute things, it wouldn't be unusual for them to let their guard down and approach it.
(Though it worked out lucky for us, I suppose.)
Monsters with the ability to change their body size weren't common.
That was exactly why Rei was pleased to have obtained the Drasnon's corpse.
After all, it could raise Set's Size Change skill to Level 2.
(Still, how much longer until the effect jumps dramatically at Level 5?)
Feeling slightly dejected about that, Rei stored the Drasnon's corpse into the Misty Ring.
"If only another one would show up. ...Too much to hope for, I guess."
He scanned the surroundings, but whether Drasnons were solitary monsters or there was simply only one inside the dungeon—either way, he couldn't find anything resembling a Drasnon nearby.
Regretting this, Rei and the others pressed deeper into the forest.
Along the way, they discovered several Goblin, Cobolt, and Orc settlements beyond the ones Rei's group had already burned, and proceeded to burn those down as well.
However, while burning Goblin and Cobolt settlements was fine, they refrained from using Flame Magic at the Orc settlements—which would have reduced the targets to charcoal—and instead attacked normally.
After wiping out several settlements in this manner, evening eventually fell over the forest.
"What do you want to do? Head back for today? Or we could camp out here."
At Reliu's words, Rei immediately chose to camp on the spot.
The biggest factor was that coming all the way back here with everyone tomorrow would be a hassle.
There was the option of using the Set Basket to travel to the ruins of the settlements they had burned, but Rei's judgment this time was that it was better to simply camp where they were.
(Besides, I want to absorb the magic stones, too.)
The ostrich-like monster, Grinbo.
The chimera of pig, boar, and bird, Drasnon.
Compared to the Grinbo, the Drasnon only had one magic stone, but in exchange, Rei was virtually certain that absorbing it would grant a skill.
Of course, without actually absorbing the magic stone, he couldn't fully confirm that, so it wasn't a guarantee.
In any case, absorbing magic stones was something he wanted to show as few people as possible.
In that sense, camping inside the dungeon was the ideal arrangement, rather than staying at an inn like the Green Springside Pavilion where there were always plenty of people around.
However, even while camping, there were those like Reliu and Byune who didn't know about Beast Magic, so he couldn't absorb the magic stones with complete peace of mind.
(Reliu is only traveling with us this time, but Byune... should I teach her about Beast Magic? Since she'll probably leave the party in a few years, I don't need to tell her all my secrets like I did with the other three, but I could at least teach her about Beast Magic.)
Every time they camped and he needed to absorb magic stones, taking the time and effort to move elsewhere to avoid being seen was quite tedious.
If that was the case, then wouldn't it be fine to at least let her know the premise—Beast Magic? Rei pondered the question.
His long association with Byune, and the fact that he couldn't imagine her ever betraying the party, was probably the biggest reason he reached that conclusion.
As long as she was with Rei's group, she would never struggle for food, and earning money wasn't difficult either.
At the very least, compared to when she had dived into dungeons alone before meeting Vihera in Exil, she was earning an incomparably greater amount.
Given all that, Rei couldn't imagine Byune turning on them going forward.
...Naturally, if Rei and the others betrayed Byune, that would be a different story, but of course Rei had no intention of doing any such thing.
"Alright then, let's find a decent spot and set up camp. ...Well, it's not as difficult as all that sounds."
Reliu offered a slight smile.
In truth, all the preparation camping required was taking out the Magic Tent, and the cooking Oven could be pulled from the Misty Ring and activated for immediate use.
The only thing others might need to do was set up a bonfire.
But even that could be handled in no time at all.
As for food, with Rei's Misty Ring, they could eat freshly made, proper meals.
Of course, they also used the Magic Item Oven to cook for themselves, so in that sense they couldn't match a professional Cook.
Still, eating food you had prepared yourself sometimes tasted better than what a professional Cook could make.
"Now then, let's get started. Reliu, Set, Ielo—I'm counting on you three to keep watch around the perimeter. If any monsters come at us, feel free to take them down."
"Gru!"
At Rei's words, the first to purr as if to say "Leave it to me!" was, naturally, Set.
Atop Set's head, Ielo also cried out as if saying "Leave it to me, too!"
Reliu—a secret Set enthusiast, though he was now half-open about it—nodded, having no objection to acting alongside Set.
And so they immediately set about preparing camp... but naturally, the preparations were over almost before they started.
"I think this every time, but this is not the camp preparation I know."
Reliu, having finished patrolling the perimeter with Set and Ielo, muttered earnestly as he took in the scene that had spread out before him.
In truth, if an ordinary adventurer caught sight of Rei's group's camp, it would be perfectly natural for them to want to scream, "You've got to be kidding me!"
That was just how abnormal the sight before them truly was.
Of course, if someone envied another's Magic Items, they should simply work hard to obtain them themselves... but even understanding that, it was only natural to feel it was unreasonable.
After all, even Reliu, an Alias Holder and A-Rank adventurer, was half-dumbfounded by what lay before him.
"We can live easily and comfortably, so what's the problem?"
"...If you said that to an ordinary adventurer, they'd be jealous enough to tear their hair out."
"Probably. I know that all too well. But in my case, there are plenty of things besides Magic Items that make people jealous, so I've stopped caring."
"Ah... yeah, that's..."
At Rei's words, Reliu scratched his head and looked around.
He gazed without particular reason at the red-dyed autumn sunset—though they were inside a dungeon, so it wasn't real.
Set's existence. The existence of Elena and the others. The various Magic Items.
In particular, Rei possessed an Item Box said to be one of only a handful in the entire world, so no matter how you looked at it, expecting him not to be envied was simply impossible.
If Rei at least looked like an imposing, heavily muscled man, not that many people would think such foolish things.
But unfortunately, Rei was small in stature and had what could only be called a feminine face.
For those who didn't know his true ability, being told not to feel jealous of someone like Rei would be asking the impossible.
No—even those who did know his ability and never confronted him directly still harbored jealousy in great numbers.
Perhaps understanding the hardships Rei had endured to get here, Reliu averted his gaze from the sky—dyed red by the sunset and exuding a somewhat melancholic atmosphere—and spoke to Rei again.
"You've been through a lot, working hard at all sorts of things. Nod nod."
"...Those words are subtly unsatisfying, somehow."
Looking faintly displeased, Rei nonetheless said nothing more and set about preparing the meal.
That evening, Reliu's portion was slightly smaller than everyone else's—probably on account of this.
[Set has acquired the skill 'Size Change Lv.2']
As that announcement message echoed in his mind, Rei felt a wave of relief.
After dinner ended, there was free time before bed.
Normally, even if one carved out such time while camping in a dungeon, truly enjoying it from the bottom of one's heart was a rare thing.
But the members of the Crimson Lotus Wings were each individuals who could be called formidable, and they savored their free time to the fullest.
Byune, the only one in the group without quite that level of ability—though even so, it was remarkable given her age—was acting together with Vihera, so there was no problem.
During that free time, Rei and Set slipped away from the campsite to absorb the magic stones of the monsters they had defeated today.
The Grinbo and Drasnon, with their magic stones extracted but otherwise undisassembled, rested inside Rei's Misty Ring.
Among them, the first one he tried was the Drasnon's magic stone—the one from the creature that had been changing its body size.
Figuring it would probably be fine, he fed it to Set. Rei's prediction hit the mark perfectly, and he succeeded in raising Size Change's level.
"Gru!"
How was it? Set purred happily, pleased to have acquired the skill.
As Rei stroked Set and told him to try using the skill right away, in the next moment, Set's form shrank down to about seventy centimeters.
At the slight—definitely slight—result, Rei hesitated over what to say.
But he soon realized that Set had grown.
When Set had been about two meters long and used Size Change, he had shrunk to roughly one meter.
That same Set now exceeded three meters in length.
So the fact that he had shrunk to about seventy centimeters meant the effect of Size Change had undeniably grown stronger.
"Which means at Level 3 it'll get even smaller... and at Level 5, it might shrink down to about Ielo's size?"
"Gru?"
Really? Set tilted his head, looking slightly pleased.
"Well, that's the feeling I get, at least. ...Alright, on to the next."
He took out the Grinbo's magic stone and gave it to Set first.
[Set has acquired the skill 'Tornado Lv.3']
The announcement message echoed in his mind once again.
"Lately, we've been acquiring skills at a pretty high rate... well, we're happy about it, so it's fine."
So saying, he next drew the Death Scythe, tossed the Grinbo's magic stone into the air, and slashed through it in a single stroke.
[Death Scythe has acquired the skill 'Multi Slash Lv.2']
For the third time, the announcement message resonated in his mind.
[Set]
'Water Ball Lv.5' 'Fire Breath Lv.3' 'Wind Arrow Lv.4' 'King's Intimidation Lv.3' 'Poison Claw Lv.5' 'Size Change Lv.2' new 'Tornado Lv.3' new 'Ice Arrow Lv.3' 'Optical Camouflage Lv.5' 'Magic Eye of Shock Lv.1' 'Power Crush Lv.5' 'Sense of Smell Enhancement Lv.4' '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' 'Wind Hand Lv.4' 'Terrain Manipulation Lv.3' 'Pain Burst Lv.3' 'Penetrate Lv.3' 'Multi Slash Lv.2' new
Size Change: Shrinks from its original size. At Lv.2, it becomes approximately 70cm.
Tornado: Creates a tornado. The size of the tornado varies by level. At Lv.3, it reaches approximately 5m in height.
Multi Slash: Enables multiple attacks in a single strike. At Lv.2, two additional slashes are added alongside the original attack.