The Flying Slash Rei released severed the branches of a tree growing in the Forest of Magic, but the single strike couldn't manage to deal any damage to the enemy.
Likewise, the Twilight Spear's thrust pulverized leaves and branches as it shot forward in a straight line, but ultimately failed to bring down their attacker.
That said, it had clearly made the enemy perceive Rei and Set as a threat, as no follow-up attack came.
"Set, can you figure out where the enemy is?"
Retrieving the thrown Twilight Spear, Rei asked his partner.
But Set only surveyed their surroundings with a troubled expression.
Normally, Set would pinpoint an opponent's location in an instant.
"Grru!"
Set had activated his Sense of Smell Enhancement skill, but even with his heightened olfactory sense, he couldn't detect the enemy.
This too was an extremely rare occurrence.
"Gruu..."
Set apologized to Rei with an apologetic look.
Rei gave Set a glance telling him not to worry about it—and in that instant, sensed the invisible attack flying in once more and dodged.
"I see."
Having weathered that strike, Rei's expression shifted to one of understanding.
The first attack had certainly surprised him, but that was only the first time.
Once he determined that such invisible attacks existed, dodging them wasn't easy—but it wasn't impossible either.
Of course, pulling that off was something only Rei could manage.
A weaker adventurer would have been killed outright by that opening strike—or even if they were lucky enough to survive it, they would have suffered injuries bordering on fatal.
(A classic first-encounter killer, huh.)
That said, animals and monsters living in a fundamentally might-makes-right world typically only encounter such a threat once in their lives.
Given that, a first-encounter killer was a sufficiently powerful weapon.
What's more, even on the second attack, while not as bad as the first, evading was still no simple feat.
"What kind of monster are you?! The attack method is a pain, but... even so, after taking two hits, I can at least see through it!"
The third invisible attack was unleashed.
The moment he sensed that strike being launched, Rei closed the distance in one explosive burst toward the direction it had come from.
Naturally, this meant he was charging head-on toward an invisible attack, but the instant Rei felt it bearing down on him, he leaped diagonally forward, activated his Sleipnir boots, and kicked off the air in a Triangle Jump to evade—then broke into a sprint toward where the attack had originated.
Rei couldn't pinpoint where the enemy was.
But the fact that it had attacked meant it had undoubtedly been at that location the instant it struck.
If so, his instinctive judgment was to let the enemy attack first and then charge in that direction.
Closing the distance like that... there, Rei finally grasped the enemy's true identity.
Standing on a tree branch was a Mantis Monster.
Naturally, it was no ordinary mantis.
A mantis roughly the size of a human couldn't exactly be called ordinary.
Moreover, about half its body was transparent—and even as Rei watched, that transparent area continued to spread.
Seeing the mantis's condition, Rei recalled that he had indeed encountered a transparent giant mantis once before.
But the mantis he had faced previously wasn't merely human-sized; it had been far larger.
For just a moment, that thought crossed his mind before Rei kicked off the ground.
Activating his Sleipnir boots once more, he ran up through the air and swung the Death Scythe at the mantis, which was still in the process of turning transparent.
The mantis must have judged that Rei's attack was faster than its own transparency.
It instantly brought its sickle-shaped foreleg—the weapon that gave the mantis its name—up in front of itself... and slash!
But the Death Scythe, infused with magical power, couldn't be blocked even by a monster of the Forest of Magic.
The sickle was severed with ease, and blood spurted from the stump.
Watching that, Rei descended toward the ground.
"Giiiigghiiiiighiiii!"
Whether it was agony or rage, the reason was unclear, but the Mantis Monster let out a shriek.
Perhaps because of that cry, or perhaps because of the pain, the parts of the mantis that had been turning transparent rapidly reverted to their normal appearance.
(I feel like I heard somewhere that insects don't feel pain?)
It was half-remembered knowledge, so Rei couldn't be certain whether it was actually true.
He wasn't sure, but even if ordinary insects lacked a sense of pain, the one he was fighting right now was an insect that had become a monster.
Given that, it wouldn't be strange for its insect characteristics to have changed.
"Either way, you can't run now. Next—let's go!"
With those words, Rei was about to leap again... but as if to preempt his action, the mantis dove off the branch toward Rei and swung its one remaining sickle at him.
At a size comparable to a human, the mantis's weight was naturally considerable.
On top of that, it flapped the wings on its back—or perhaps they should be called abdominal—and channeled even that momentum into the power of its swinging strike.
But... Rei casually deflected the sickle strike with the Death Scythe.
"Your attacks were troublesome because they were invisible. But... not when I can see them like this. Set!"
"Grrrlr!"
Catching the mantis's sickle with the Death Scythe, Rei called out to Set, ordering him to attack from the side.
And since Rei was using the Death Scythe in his right hand to block, his left hand holding the Twilight Spear was free—he thrust it straight at the mantis's head.
With the Death Scythe already in play, that made three simultaneous points of attack.
This was clearly completely unexpected for the mantis, which hesitated for an instant over which attack to address... and that instant became a fatal opening.
As a result, it took major damage to its torso from Set's front leg strike, had its head destroyed by the Twilight Spear's thrust, and collapsed to the ground.
"Fairly troublesome opponent. Well, having Set here made it easy enough."
"Grru?"
In response to Rei's words, Set, who had returned to his side after striking the mantis, purred with a questioning tone—Was it really?
Of course it was. Whatever else could be said, they had definitely struggled more than usual.
From Set's perspective, among the battles since entering the Forest of Magic—though it was only the second one—this had been a notably difficult fight.
"Once we dealt with the invisibility, it wasn't that bad. More importantly... I should extract the Magic Stone before other enemies show up."
Saying that, Rei used a knife to cut open only the area around the heart and pulled the Magic Stone free.
"This one goes to Set, obviously. A transparent enemy means Optical Camouflage will probably level up."
Rei did feel some temptation to use this Magic Stone on the Death Scythe instead.
After all, it could turn things transparent.
If he did, would the Death Scythe itself become invisible, or would it gain the ability to unleash invisible strikes like the mantis had?
To be honest, that was what he wanted to test.
That said, considering the sheer usefulness of Set's Optical Camouflage, he couldn't afford to do something like that.
Of course, even using this mantis's Magic Stone, there was a possibility that instead of Optical Camouflage, an entirely different skill would level up or a new one would be acquired.
But... even so, judging from the instincts Rei had developed through acquiring skills via Beast Magic all this time, he had a near-certainty that using the mantis's Magic Stone would raise Optical Camouflage's level.
"Alright, Set. Go ahead."
Saying that, Rei held the Magic Stone out toward Set.
"Gruu... Grrrlr...?"
Set asked whether it was truly alright for him to have this Magic Stone.
Rei nodded.
"It's fine. Right now, leveling up your Optical Camouflage is the absolute priority. This is the Forest of Magic—we should use what we know will be effective."
When Rei spoke with that persuasive tone, Set was finally convinced.
He picked up the Magic Stone from Rei's palm with his beak and swallowed it whole.
[Set has acquired the skill 'Optical Camouflage Lv.6']
An announcement message echoed in his mind.
Just as Rei had predicted, the result of using that mantis's Magic Stone was that Optical Camouflage had risen to level six.
"Oh!"
"Gruu!"
It was the expected result, but the joy welling up inside Rei was still immense.
There had been many times before when he used a Magic Stone on Set or the Death Scythe, predicting it would grant a particular skill, only to end up acquiring something completely different—and such occurrences were far from rare.
Of course, the skills obtained as a result were never bad. Whatever skill it was, it was always sufficiently useful as a Beast Magic ability.
But... when the result differed from expectations, it inevitably gave him cause for reflection, and in that sense, this outcome had been a genuine relief.
Set, too, perhaps pleased that he had met Rei's expectations, was showing visible delight.
"Grrrlr."
Set purred happily and nuzzled against Rei.
Stroking Set, Rei spoke to him.
"Optical Camouflage is one of your trump cards. In that sense, coming to the Forest of Magic was worth it. ...Well, since we're here, maybe I should be more greedily hunting for Magic Stones. Anyway, let's see how much the Optical Camouflage improved... let's test it out. It's level six, after all."
At level one, Optical Camouflage lasted ten seconds. At level two, twenty seconds. Each level added ten seconds to the duration.
But at level five—where the skill received a major boost—the effect suddenly jumped to three hundred seconds. Five full minutes.
If so, how much had the duration extended now that it reached level six?
Naturally, Rei was burning with curiosity.
And so, he immediately had Set activate the level six Optical Camouflage...
"Four hundred seconds, huh."
The result: Set could remain transparent for four hundred seconds—roughly seven minutes.
So from level five onward, the duration increases by one hundred seconds per level? That's another dramatic leap in power.
For Rei, the extended duration of what amounted to Set's trump card was nothing but good news.
"Alright, break's over. Let's move."
While Set had been using Optical Camouflage, Rei had stayed on standby, ready for anything.
Naturally, even during that time he'd been prepared to respond immediately if something happened—but for Rei, it had still served as a sufficient rest.
As long as they were in the Forest of Magic, countless monsters naturally inhabited the area.
Given that, it was necessary to stay alert and ready to respond to any situation, but maintaining constant, unbroken focus would only cause concentration to burn out.
In that sense, the time spent verifying Set's Optical Camouflage had served as a good break for Rei as well.
No monsters attacked, either. Since it's the Forest of Magic, I figured they'd come at us more aggressively, but it doesn't seem that way. ...Was it like this when I escaped the forest before?
Since that was when he first arrived in Elgin, the memory remained vividly etched in his mind.
Compared to back then, today seemed to have an unusually high number of monster attacks.
Though, it was a place called the Forest of Magic.
Expecting the monsters that inhabited such a place to behave in any predictable, uniform manner was an unreasonable assumption to begin with.
"That said, if monsters are willing to attack us, that's actually convenient for us."
An ordinary adventurer, faced with multiple monster attacks in the Forest of Magic, would likely judge it not worth the risk.
Even if they defeated monsters and harvested their Magic Stones and materials, with attacks coming this frequently, they wouldn't be able to carry everything.
Moreover, while manageable at first, the further they pushed, the more the haul would grow—so without something like a Misty Ring, their movement would inevitably slow.
Or if they had someone like a Porter, they might somehow manage, but then the Porter would become a target, which meant assigning guards for the Porter... and the party size would keep ballooning.
"Yeah, there's a reason the Forest of Magic is off-limits."
Convinced, Rei pressed deeper into the Forest of Magic alongside Set.
【Set】
'Water Ball Lv.5' 'Fire Breath Lv.4' 'Wind Arrow Lv.4' 'King's Intimidation Lv.3' 'Poison Claw Lv.5' 'Size Change Lv.2' 'Tornado Lv.3' 'Ice Arrow Lv.4' 'Optical Camouflage Lv.6' new 'Magic Eye of Shock Lv.2' 'Power Crush Lv.6' 'Sense of Smell Enhancement Lv.4' 'Bubble Breath Lv.1' 'Crystal Breath Lv.1' 'Earth Arrow Lv.2' 'Power Attack Lv.1'
Optical Camouflage: An ability that allows the user to become invisible. However, at Lv.6, the user can only remain transparent for approximately four hundred seconds, and roughly thirty minutes are required before reuse after a single activation. Additionally, the user can also render objects they are touching transparent, but if making another person transparent simultaneously, the effect wears off after approximately one hundred fifty seconds.