Rei and Set advanced through the Forest of Magic.
About twenty minutes had passed since they defeated the Orc Nagas, but so far there was no sign of any enemies attacking.
"I figured we'd be getting into fights more often. Could it be that this area was the Orc Nagas' territory?"
Given that they had been moving in such a large group, the Orc Nagas were obviously monsters capable of coordinated group action. If so, it wouldn't be strange for them to work with their kind and maintain their range of activity as a territory.
However, that in itself raised a question.
(Those Orc Nagas were by no means powerful monsters. In an ordinary forest, maybe—but could they really maintain a territory large enough to sustain that many of them in the Forest of Magic? Thinking about it logically, I really doubt it.)
In the sense that every single Orc Naga could use magic, they were undoubtedly an extremely unique species. However, the power of their magic was by no means high. At the very least, the ones Rei had fought only fired Water Arrows.
If this were outside the Forest of Magic, an attack that amounted to carpet bombing with Water Arrows would have been a devastating tactic. But this was the Forest of Magic. Here, powerful monsters would... Just as that thought crossed his mind, Set suddenly purred.
"Gruu!"
What filled that voice was vigilance. Having heard it countless times already in the Forest of Magic, Rei immediately readied Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear, staying alert and ready for whatever came.
"Where? ...Above!?"
Scanning the surroundings, Rei noticed Set looking up at the sky and realized the enemy was coming from the air.
That said, it wasn't particularly surprising. Even before entering the Forest of Magic, they had confirmed that multiple monsters were flying through the sky above. And the trees growing in the Forest of Magic were spaced quite far apart—enough that even Set, with a body length exceeding three meters, wouldn't feel cramped—which meant it wasn't difficult for a monster flying overhead to spot a target on the ground.
That was exactly why, when Rei heard the enemy was coming from the sky, he was already prepared to respond.
He was prepared, that is, until he saw the creature diving from above while snapping tree branches. A look of astonishment flashed across Rei's face.
The creature diving toward them, while not as large as Set, had a considerable bulk. If that had been all, Rei—having fought many monsters up to now—would have been surprised but able to respond immediately. But the story changed entirely when the creature crashing down had large wings and the upper body of an eagle.
"A Gryphon!?"
"Grlrl!"
As if in response to Rei's shout, Set used Power Attack and body-slammed the creature diving from the sky.
"Gugyaa!"
Letting out a cry entirely different from Set's, the monster was sent flying. Just when it seemed it would crash into a tree trunk, it flapped its wings, righted itself in midair, and landed on the ground.
"Gyaaa, gyaa, gyaaaaaa!"
The monster let out a cry that seemed to be a mix of screams, rage, and shock.
Set's Power Attack carried enough force to snap a tree trunk. The monster had somehow managed to avoid being slammed into one, but it had undoubtedly taken damage.
Watching the eagle upper body standing on the ground and glaring sharply at Rei and Set, Rei finally recognized the monster's true identity.
"A Hippogriff."
A Hippogriff—a monster said to be born between a Gryphon and a mare. Its upper body being that of an eagle was the same as a Gryphon, but its lower body was that of a horse. Since it was not a pureblood Gryphon, its abilities were inferior. That said, it could still fly, and having inherited Gryphon blood, its upper body was that of an eagle. Its rank fell below a Gryphon's A-Rank, but it was still a B-Rank Monster—more than worthy of being called a High-Rank Monster.
"Should I be happy about this or disappointed... Hard to say."
Even so, Rei kept his weapons at the ready, prepared to react the instant the Hippogriff moved.
Since the Hippogriff was a close relative of the Gryphon, Rei wondered whether it might be an awkward opponent for Set. At the same time, defeating it meant obtaining a B-Rank Monster's Magic Stone, which made it a welcome encounter for Rei.
"Grlrlrlrlrlu!"
Showing absolutely no concern for Rei's thoughts, Set charged toward the Hippogriff.
"Flying Needle!"
Half on instinct, Rei activated his newly acquired skill to support Set. Five Long Needles flew straight toward the Hippogriff—a precise strike positioned to avoid Set's path while hitting the target.
However, the needles Rei fired passed right through the space the Hippogriff had occupied and embedded themselves in the tree trunk behind it. Whether the Hippogriff had reacted to Rei's attack or had been trying to intercept Set, Rei couldn't tell.
In any case, the Hippogriff charged straight at Set, who was clearly the superior opponent. Whether it lacked the awareness that it was a close relative of the Gryphon, or simply didn't care, was unclear.
Regardless, the Hippogriff closed the distance and unleashed a strike with its front leg at Set.
"Gyaaaaaa!"
The strike was sharp—so sharp that a direct hit on the Orc Nagas they had fought earlier would have undoubtedly killed them. But no matter how powerful a strike was, it meant nothing if it didn't connect.
Set spread its wings and forcefully changed direction without barely slowing its running speed. It wasn't an extreme shift—merely a slight adjustment. But it was enough to evade the Hippogriff's strike.
The Hippogriff's front leg swung through the space where Set's body should have been... and in the end, sliced through nothing but air.
"Gruu!"
As if to show the Hippogriff how a front-leg strike was really done, Set unleashed a similar attack. But while it may have been the same type of strike, it was fatally different from the Hippogriff's.
Without understanding what made it different, the Hippogriff took Set's attack head-on.
"Gyaun!"
Letting out a yelp like a dog, the Hippogriff was sent flying by Set's blow.
Seeing the distance open up between them, Rei hurled the Twilight Spear.
"Set!"
Alerting Set to the spear—which tore through the air itself as it plunged forward—Set abandoned its attempt to follow up on the reeling Hippogriff...
"Grlrlrlu!"
What it released was Ice Arrow.
Fifty ice spears converged on the Hippogriff, its body already pierced and immobilized by the thrown Twilight Spear. In that same instant, the spear returned to Rei's hand.
"Gya..."
Without even able to let out a final scream, the Hippogriff's eyes went dark and it crumbled to the ground.
"...Looks like it was just the one."
Rei kept his eyes on the Hippogriff's corpse as he looked up at the sky. Much of it was obscured by branches, making it impossible to fully assess what lurked above. But seeing as no new Hippogriffs came diving down even as he waited, the one they had killed must have been the only hostile one.
"I would've liked there to be one more, though," Rei said, unable to hide his disappointment. But fundamentally, a Hippogriff's ecology was similar to a Gryphon's. Considering that Gryphons generally lived solitary lives without forming flocks, Hippogriffs were likely the same.
"Grlrlrlu."
Praise me, praise me—Set padded over to Rei and purred.
Rei stroked Set but offered a mild warning.
"Set, I'm glad you took down the Hippogriff, I really am, but... that might have been a bit of an overkill."
"...Gruu? Gruu."
At Rei's words, Set first purred with a puzzled Really? But when it looked back at the Hippogriff's corpse, it apparently recognized the truth of those words, and purred apologetically.
After all, fifty Ice Arrows—each powerful enough to pierce a tree trunk—had been driven into the Hippogriff all at once. And the Hippogriff's body was only about two meters long. What happened when that much firepower hit something that size?
A battered rag—that was Rei's honest impression of the remains.
Whether it had been coincidence or deliberate aim on Set's part, Rei couldn't tell. Fortunately, the wounds around the heart, where the Magic Stone was located, weren't too severe. However, checking the Subjugation Proof Part and salvaging usable materials would undoubtedly be a difficult task.
Using the meat for food would also be a challenge.
(If I turned it into ground meat... no, the skin and organs are mixed in, so that's out. Plus it's scattered all over the ground.)
The Hippogriff was a monster with an eagle upper body and a horse lower body. Because of that, it could have yielded delicious meat—as poultry (though not chicken) and as horse meat.
(Ah, but horse meat is commonly eaten, so setting that aside, I wonder how eagle meat actually tastes.)
When Rei was in Japan, horse meat was sold in supermarkets. There was a dish that simmered horse meat with ginger and onions to remove the gaminess, along with konnyaku noodles and bamboo shoots—Nemagaritake, thin bamboo shoots different from ordinary Bamboo Shoots—in dashi and soy sauce. He remembered it being incredibly delicious as a horse bowl rather than a beef bowl.
In Elgin, where Soy Sauce was unavailable—or more accurately, might exist but hadn't been found—making a similar dish would be difficult. Still, since dishes using horse meat existed, if they had been able to secure the Hippogriff's lower body, they could have eaten well.
Moreover, since the Hippogriff was a B-Rank Monster, its meat was undoubtedly delicious.
"Ah... for now, let's just wait for another Hippogriff to come at us. And when it does, we'll take it down in a way that doesn't wreck the corpse. Sound good?"
"Gruu!"
Set let out a cry of understanding.
(Still, Gryphons and Hippogriffs are supposed to be close relatives. Despite that, Set was perfectly willing to eat one.)
Rei found that slightly unexpected. At the very least, the upper body shared the same eagle form as Set. Thinking about it that way, it wouldn't be strange to be a little surprised that Set wanted to eat a Hippogriff.
That said, that was purely Rei's own common sense. Forcing it on Set would be wrong. Besides, even if they were close relatives, it wouldn't be strange for Set to simply recognize them as a different species.
(Or maybe, because Set isn't a normal monster but one created through Beast Magic, its instincts might differ from those of other monsters.)
Set was not a monster born naturally from a parent, but one created through Beast Magic. Because of that, it wouldn't be strange for there to be various differences between Set and an ordinary Gryphon.
"Anyway, this Magic Stone... goes to Set. Set did most of the work in taking down the Hippogriff, after all."
"Grlrlu?"
Can I really have it? Set purred at Rei's words.
For Set, being able to use the Hippogriff's Magic Stone was of course welcome. But it also seemed to wonder whether it might be better used on Death Scythe.
Understanding Set's thoughts, Rei still concluded that the Hippogriff's Magic Stone would be best used on Set. Part of the reason was that while the Hippogriff took major damage from Rei's Twilight Spear throw, it was Set that had actually claimed its life. But more simply, Rei was curious to see what effect a Hippogriff's Magic Stone—the stone of a Gryphon's close relative—would have on Set.
Would it grant a new skill, or strengthen an existing one? There was no way to know without trying.
(The Hippogriff can fly... will something related to that be enhanced? Well, I can't say until we actually try it.)
With that in mind, Rei handed the Magic Stone to Set...
[Set has acquired the Tornado Lv.4 skill.]
That announcement echoed through his mind.