The plan was to attack the Garangiga inhabiting the underground lake from the sky and lure it onto land.
Entrusted with this fundamental premise of fighting a Boss Monster, Set soared through the air with Rei on his back.
The original plan had been for Set to go alone, but carrying Rei hardly affected Set's flight speed or agility. Having Rei's hands available also meant he could block or intercept any attacks from the Garangiga. And above all, the biggest factor in the decision was that Set was most emotionally stable when Rei was by his side.
"Set, the Garangiga's long-range attack is supposedly just spitting venom, but that's only for a normal Garangiga. I can't imagine this one is the same, so stay alert."
"Grrrrl!"
Set purred at Rei's words as he stroked its neck, as if to say, "Leave it to me!"
Watching Set's response, Rei gazed once more at the airspace above the underground lake—the place they were about to enter.
The underground lake served as the Garangiga's boss room, which meant the airspace above it would likely be classified as part of that boss room as well. That, however, was merely Rei and his party's assumption. Still, from the atmosphere pervading the underground lake, Rei had a strong feeling that this was correct.
In other words, if they plunged into the airspace above the lake as they were, there was a very high chance the Garangiga would attack.
(Still... no matter how you look at it, that's just cheating, isn't it?)
Even from their current position, they could make out the silhouette—or perhaps "snake shadow" would be more accurate—of the Garangiga swimming freely through the underground lake.
Its size was entirely different from what Rei had heard from Marina. It was, in the most literal sense, on an entirely different scale.
(Normally, a Rare Species or High-ranking Species moves up one rank, but... I really can't see this as just that.)
According to Marina, the Garangiga was a C-Rank Monster. By classification, the one currently swimming leisurely through the underground lake would be treated as a B-Rank Monster. But there was no way anyone looking at the creature in front of them would recognize it as such.
(Should I just try throwing the spear from here?)
If he did, he could attack one-sidedly from a safe position. The thought crossed his mind, but Marina had specifically asked him not to if at all possible. She said it precisely because she knew just how powerful Rei's spear throws were. Her reasoning was that if it were attacked while its target was outside its movement range—outside the boss room—there was no telling how the Garangiga might react.
Granted, Rei had thought that attacking from the airspace above the underground lake was more or less the same thing. But in any case, their interception preparations were already in place thanks to Rei and Set's actions. Given that, it went without saying that they couldn't just change their attack method on a whim.
"Well then... let's go."
At Rei's words, Set purred and finally plunged into the airspace above the underground lake.
The very next moment after they entered, the Garangiga swimming below clearly changed its behavior. It didn't attack them yet, but it stopped moving and turned its face toward where Rei and the others were.
Thanks to the lake's high transparency and the moss that glowed like illumination, they could see this clearly even from above.
(There's no doubt it's focused on us, but it doesn't seem ready to attack. ...This must be its alert posture?)
With the Twilight Spear in hand, Rei concentrated on the Garangiga below, watching as it observed his every move.
Whether or not it was reacting to Rei's demeanor, the Garangiga deftly undulated its body through the water, swimming until it was directly beneath Set. It was clearly targeting them.
Recognizing this, Rei channeled magical power into the Twilight Spear to seize the initiative.
What caught Rei off guard was that the Garangiga's movements changed the very instant he poured magical power into the weapon. It was clearly reacting to Rei's magical power—or more precisely, to the act of Rei channeling magic into the Twilight Spear.
Then, as if jumping, the Garangiga surged up through the water with tremendous speed and broke through the surface.
Its massive head was clearly larger than Rei had anticipated, even though he had understood as much from a distance. To be precise, the Garangiga's sheer presence made its form appear even larger than it was.
"Take this!"
"Grrrrrrl!"
Rei hurled the magic-infused Twilight Spear. At the same time, Set cried out loudly, and twenty Wind Arrows materialized and fired in unison.
After releasing the Twilight Spear, Rei thought he would at least deal some damage to the Garangiga. If things went well, maybe he could pierce through its body and inflict a near-fatal wound.
But the Garangiga swiftly twisted its body in midair as it leaped. The Twilight Spear pierced through the space where the creature had been a moment before, hitting nothing but empty air.
The empowered spear didn't deal a fatal blow, but it did manage to slash through quite a few scales where it grazed the body. Still, what should have been a piercing strike merely left a thin cut on the skin. Naturally, it wasn't anything that could be called a fatal wound.
And the twenty Wind Arrows that Set had fired...
"Shhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
As the Garangiga let out a sharp shriek, a third eye—one that hadn't existed moments before—appeared on its forehead. The instant that eye opened, every single Wind Arrow was shattered.
Wind Arrows weren't particularly powerful in terms of raw force. But their speed and near-transparency made them quite difficult to intercept. Despite that, the Garangiga had annihilated them all just by opening its third eye.
And it wasn't just the Wind Arrows that were caught in the attack. The third eye's strike also reached Set, who had fired the arrows mid-air, and Rei, who was straddling Set's back.
"Gruh!?"
Fortunately, perhaps because destroying all the Wind Arrows had weakened the attack considerably, the force that reached them no longer carried enough power to deal significant damage. Even so, enough remained to throw off Set's balance in flight, and Set flapped its wings frantically to stabilize itself.
Rei used the Twilight Spear's Special Ability to summon it back to his hand while simultaneously swapping it with the Death Scythe stored in the Misty Ring. That he could pull off such a maneuver while Set was still recovering its balance mid-air was perhaps partly due to it being a semi-instinctive action.
"Set, the job's done. To the shore!"
"Gruh!"
Having somehow regained its balance, Set quickly nodded at Rei's words, flapped its wings, and headed for the shore.
An instant later, a stream of liquid pierced through the space where Set had just been.
Seeing the shore rapidly approaching, Rei had a bad feeling and looked up at the ceiling. What he saw was a cavern roof that was visibly melting—and even bearing slash marks.
(They said it spits venom, but it can fire it compressed this much!? Isn't that a Water Cutter!?)
The ceiling had been slashed apart by water pressure, and the splatter that burst from it would corrode anything it touched. This was no longer mere venom-spitting; it was something that should be called Water Breath using venom, or perhaps a Water Cutter.
That vicious attack left only one option: evasion. And not the kind of tight, last-second evasion Rei excelled at, either—doing so would mean taking damage from the venom splatter. This was a strike that demanded a wide, almost exaggeratedly large margin of safety.
"Set!"
"Grrrrrrrrl!"
At Rei's cry, Set let out a sharp call and flew toward the shore.
To cover Set's retreat, Rei cast Flying Slash behind them.
(Tch, maybe throwing the spear would've been better after all!?)
So he thought, but retrieving items from the Misty Ring involved a time lag—brief, but undeniably present. Against a typical enemy, it would be no issue at all. But against a monster like the Garangiga currently chasing them, that single instant could become a critical opening, one that might well prove fatal.
The one saving grace for Rei was that the Garangiga was pursuing Set exactly as planned.
The Flying Slash he unleashed had reached level five, its power drastically increased, but against the Garangiga, it failed to strip away even a single scale. Even so, the fact that the attack came right as the Garangiga was about to strike helped ensure that Set escaped unscathed.
(That shockwave from before that blew away all of Set's Wind Arrows... if that's the same type of attack as Set's Magic Eye of Shock, this is going to be a real problem.)
Set's Magic Eye of Shock was an extremely convenient skill that dealt impact damage to an opponent the instant it activated. But in exchange for that convenience, the actual damage it inflicted wasn't all that significant. Compared to Set's Magic Eye of Shock, the Garangiga's version of the same type of attack had wiped out all twenty Wind Arrows with shock alone, and still had enough residual force left to reach Rei and the others.
While it might have been the same type of skill as Set's Magic Eye of Shock, the difference in power was immense.
Granted, the eye on the Garangiga's forehead was currently closed, and even if someone told him it was there, he wouldn't be able to tell. It would be an extremely troublesome skill if it were fired in rapid succession under the current circumstances. The fact that it wasn't doing so meant there was likely some reason for it—a somewhat optimistic assumption, but that was how Rei read the situation.
Then, thanks to Set's flying speed, they reached the shore in the blink of an eye.
Elena and the others were not right at the water's edge, however. Since they were luring the Garangiga onto land to fight it, it was only natural that they would try to engage it as far from the underground lake as possible.
"Set, your speed!"
"Gruh!"
At Rei's words, Set spread its wings wide and slowed down. Normally, reducing flying speed while being chased by the Garangiga was nothing short of suicide. But knowing this full well, they still slowed down—because if they maintained their current pace, Set would likely crash into the dungeon's narrowing walls or ceiling before reaching the far end of the shore where Elena and the others were waiting.
Set landed at the deepest point of the shore, the furthest spot from the underground lake. Having already reduced its speed considerably by spreading its wings, it killed all remaining momentum with just a few running steps upon touching down.
Using its powerful lion legs, it instantly whipped around to face behind.
At that same moment, Rei leaped off Set's back, drew the Twilight Spear from the Misty Ring, and assumed his familiar Twin Spear Style.
Just as expected, the Garangiga was emerging from the underground lake and heading straight toward them. It slithered across the ground, undulating its body at a speed that belied its massive form.
"Tch, the speed barely changes even on land," Reliu spat, watching the approaching Garangiga. Since it normally lived in the water, he had honestly hoped it would be sluggish on land.
"Expecting that is a waste of time. ...Anyway, attack!"
Marina unleashed the Wind Blade she had prepared while Rei and the others were luring the Garangiga in. That wasn't all—she nocked arrow after arrow onto her bow and fired them in rapid succession.
Elena also generated Wind Blades through magic and released them. While they were both Wind Blades, there was a significant difference between Spirit Magic and standard magic. The blades Elena produced were fewer in number than Marina's, but each individual one was larger.
Set fired Wind Arrows once more, Rei unleashed another Flying Slash, and not to be outdone, Reliu loosed a Wind Slash. The attacks, all fired at once, flew straight toward the Garangiga...
"Dodge!"
Seeing the Garangiga open its mouth as it bore down on them, Rei recalled the sight from moments ago and instinctively shouted.
That everyone was able to react instantly to Rei's words was only to be expected from a gathering of experts. As for Byune, Vihera had grabbed her and pulled her to safety.
The Water Cutter of venom slashed through the space where Rei and the others had been just a moment before.