Rei and Set advanced through the Forest of Magic.
That said, only a few minutes had passed since they entered the forest. If he turned around, he could still see the outside of the Forest of Magic right there.
"Still, it's definitely different from the Treant Forest. I didn't realize it when I was escaping from here before."
When Rei had tried to escape from the Forest of Magic, he had only just arrived in Elgin. Not much time had passed since his consciousness took root in this body, replacing the one he had lived with in Japan, so he had the aptitude but lacked real combat experience as an adventurer. In a manner of speaking, he was like someone who had received advanced training but had absolutely no actual combat experience.
Because of that, he hadn't felt any particular way about the Forest of Magic as a place. For Rei, who knew nothing but this forest, that was only natural.
"Gurururu."
In response to Rei's words, Set purred as if in agreement.
Set, too, had initially not understood the significance of the Forest of Magic, just like Rei. Unlike Rei, who had frequently gone into the mountains back in Japan, Set was born inside a building of the Zephyle Clan through genuine Beast Magic. In terms of experience since birth, Set had far less than Rei.
Even so, since Set was a being created by Rei's magic power, it possessed a pseudo-understanding of Rei's life. And above all, having been born into this world as a gryphon, it also had instinctual knowledge.
For that reason, Rei and Set had safely made it through the Forest of Magic last time—but having experienced many things since leaving, they recognized that the Forest of Magic truly lived up to its name. The air itself felt different from the outside world.
"Whoa! Set!"
"Gurururu!"
Seeing something suddenly fly at him from atop a tree branch a short distance away, Rei swung the Death Scythe almost reflexively. Since they were entering the Forest of Magic, he had naturally already taken the Death Scythe and Twilight Spear out of the Misty Ring from the start.
A sharp metallic sound rang out from the swiftly swung Death Scythe. And while Rei was blocking the attack, Set charged toward the tree that had launched it.
"Gururururu!"
Using Power Attack, which it had just learned, Set slammed into the tree. But this tree was even thicker than the one Set had broken when testing Power Attack earlier. Even with a Power Attack strike, it swayed greatly but did not break.
However, for whatever had attacked Rei, it probably never expected someone to ram into the very tree it was using as a perch. The attack launched at Rei momentarily stopped...
"Gururururu!"
Aiming for that brief opening when the attack ceased, Set climbed the tree with just a few running steps. A gryphon has the upper body of an eagle and the lower body of a lion. Since half of it was lion—a feline—it was only natural that Set was by no means bad at climbing trees.
Against Set, who was climbing the tree with remarkable smoothness, the monster on the branch must have sensed danger. It steadied itself on the swaying branch and launched an attack at the incoming Set.
Just as before, something was fired.
But Set seemed to have read the attack. The moment it was launched, Set kicked off the trunk it had been climbing, instantly closed the distance to the branch, and delivered a strike with its front leg.
"Guruu!"
"Kikii! ...Giiiiiiiigh!"
Perhaps thinking it would take Set's strike head-on otherwise, the monster kicked off the branch to evade. But that opening was exactly the moment Rei had been waiting for.
He hadn't attacked earlier because the thick foliage on the branch made it impossible to pinpoint the monster's exact position. But now that it had leaped from the branch to escape Set's attack, he could see its form.
Of course, being a monster from the Forest of Magic, it possessed high agility. Even when leaping to another branch to flee, it would only be visible for an instant.
However, for Rei, that instant was enough to target the enemy.
The Twilight Spear he threw pierced through the body of the monster that had shown itself for just a flash, sending it crashing to the ground.
The monster thrashing on the ground in pain and shock had the appearance of a monkey. However, it stood about one and a half meters tall, so in terms of size, it wasn't much different from Rei. If anything, its body was covered in considerable muscle, so in terms of weight, it was undoubtedly heavier. Rather than a monkey, it might have been more appropriate to call it a gorilla or an orangutan.
Thinking such thoughts, Rei recalled the Twilight Spear that had been lodged in the monkey's torso back to his hand.
Despite being pierced near the center of its abdomen, the monkey monster was still alive. Of course, while alive, it had been run through by the Twilight Spear, so the wound was arguably fatal. If he just watched and waited, it would eventually die even without Rei doing anything.
He knew that, but he decided to finish it off here.
This was the Forest of Magic, a place where numerous monsters dwelled—including large numbers of high-rank monsters. Because it was such a place, if he waited for the monkey monster to die, there was a possibility other monsters might steal it from him. It was better to kill it here and now, and while leaving the materials and meat aside, at least take the Magic Stone and use it on the spot.
(Meat... monkey meat, huh. I wonder how it tastes. I've seen monkey brains being eaten in a movie before. Well, it's the meat of a monster from the Forest of Magic, so it shouldn't taste bad.)
Even so, from how the fight had felt, it was by no means a high-rank monster.
"It's not B-Rank. So that means it's around C-Rank?"
Not as weak as D-Rank, but not as strong as B-Rank. Of the possible options, C-Rank was the most likely. At the very least, it was clearly a lower rank than the bull monster Rei had fought yesterday.
(Just because they're in the Forest of Magic doesn't necessarily mean they're stronger than monsters outside. I knew that, but seeing it firsthand really makes you think.)
For Rei, he would have preferred if that bull monster showed up again. That said, since it was a monster larger than Set, it probably wouldn't be able to move around so easily inside the forest. Though the Forest of Magic did have considerable gaps between trees, so even Set could walk through fairly easily.
Thinking about such things, Rei finished off the creature and extracted the Magic Stone from the monkey's heart with a knife.
"Now then, I used the bull monster's Magic Stone on Set, so I'd like to use this monkey monster's on the Death Scythe. That alright with you?"
"Guruu."
At Rei's words, Set purred to indicate that was fine.
After voicing his thanks to Set, Rei promptly used the Death Scythe to slice through the monkey's Magic Stone.
[Death Scythe has acquired the skill 'Flying Needle Lv.1']
An announcement message echoed in his mind.
"Flying Needle? Well, the earlier attack was definitely metal, but... I see, it hardened its body hair like metal and fired it. In that case..."
With the Death Scythe in hand, Rei activated the skill toward a tree trunk a short distance away.
"Flying Needle."
As he swung the Death Scythe, five Long Needles appeared from nowhere, flew toward the tree trunk, and embedded themselves in it.
"This is quite a handy skill."
In terms of power, it was only enough to pierce a tree trunk, so it couldn't snap a tree the way Set's Power Attack could. But being able to launch Long Needles with moderate power at long range was undeniably useful.
"I'm slightly unsatisfied with the power, but once the level exceeds five, that'll probably be resolved. Or maybe the number of Long Needles will increase? Either way, that's fine by me."
For Rei, there was no doubt that the Flying Needle skill was a reasonably satisfying acquisition. Pleased with this, he patted the head of Set, who was happily rubbing against him, then stored the monkey monster in his Misty Ring and hurried onward.
"This monkey monster is probably around C-Rank, so A-Rank Monsters are still a ways off. As for S-Rank Monsters, who knows where they even are."
To pass the Promotion Exam, Rei needed to defeat at least two A-Rank Monsters in the Forest of Magic. And that had to be within the two-night, three-day period starting today.
Given the current situation, he didn't think he would find such monsters so easily. Then again, thinking about it normally, A-Rank Monsters were not commonplace. Even among adventurers, they were beings you might only encounter once in a lifetime, if that.
"Well, this is still the outer part of the Forest of Magic. I understand that there won't be those kinds of high-rank monsters unless I head toward the central area or deeper in."
Muttering this, Rei and Set pressed deeper into the Forest of Magic.
Finding high-rank monsters was a factor, but more than that, he wanted to secure a base of operations.
(The fortunate thing is that the Magic Item Worker gave me can tell I'm in the Forest of Magic, but it can't pinpoint exactly where I am.)
If it could track Rei's precise location within the forest, there was a possibility that the place he was currently heading to—the Zephyle Clan's hidden base, where both he and Set were born—could be discovered. Not having to worry about that was extremely helpful.
That said, that explanation was only what Worker had told him, so there was a very slight possibility that Worker might be watching through the gem. However, Rei wasn't displaying the gem openly; it was inside his Dragon Robe. So even if someone could see through the gem, the only thing they would be able to view was the inside of the robe.
In any case, not having to worry about the building was not a bad thing for Rei. Given the current situation, rather than merely not being bad, it was perhaps the best possible outcome.
"Guruu!"
As they walked through the Forest of Magic, Set suddenly purred in a wary tone.
Rei went on alert and surveyed the surroundings. Even compared to the Treant Forest, the Forest of Magic had a fair amount of distance between trees. However, unlike the Treant Forest where trees grew in a somewhat regular pattern, here some trees were quite far apart while others grew nearly adjacent to one another.
Because of that, it was indeed harder to spot enemies compared to the Treant Forest, so Rei quickly scanned the area to be prepared for anything.
(I've barely been in the Forest of Magic that long, and yet... it's quite aggressive. When I left the Forest of Magic before, it wasn't that—no, come to think of the Water Bear, it was actually fairly difficult.)
Even in Gilm, the Water Bear had been purchased for a considerable sum. In other words, it was that rare—and the fact that it had been in the Forest of Magic meant it was unquestionably a ferocious monster. If so, the enemy Set was wary of was likely a ferocious opponent as well.
Thinking such thoughts, Rei waited quietly for the opponent to make its move...
"Whoa!"
Something invisible was approaching. The moment he sensed it, he moved reflexively. The invisible something passed through where Rei had been standing and carved a slash mark into the tree trunk behind him.
"Set, be careful!"
"Guruu!"
Set reacted instantly to Rei's words, but even with Set's sharp five senses, Sixth Sense, and detection abilities, it hadn't noticed the opponent's presence until the attack was already underway.
By that measure, the opponent was undoubtedly worthy of being called a formidable enemy. In that sense, Rei understood firsthand that the Forest of Magic was truly a place where not even a moment's inattention was allowed. He turned his gaze toward where he estimated the invisible attacker to be...
"Flying Slash!"
For the time being, judging that even slightly unsettling the opponent would be worthwhile, he unleashed Flying Slash. Then, figuring it would be lucky if he could finish it off with this, he followed up by throwing the Twilight Spear.
【Death Scythe】
'Corrosion Lv.5' 'Flying Slash Lv.5' 'Magic Shield Lv.1' 'Power Slash Lv.3' 'Wind Hand Lv.4' 'Terrain Manipulation Lv.5' 'Pain Burst Lv.3' 'Penetrate Lv.3' 'Multi Slash Lv.3' 'Blizzard Slash Lv.1' 'Flying Needle Lv.1' new
Flying Needle: By swinging the Death Scythe, multiple Long Needles are created and fired. At Level 1, five needles are produced, with enough power to pierce into a tree trunk.