After defeating the Giant Wolf, there was no guarantee that other monsters wouldn't be drawn in by the scent of its blood, so Rei and Set moved away from the area for the time being.
About ten minutes after leaving the battlefield, they stopped to consider what to do next.
"It's still only mid-afternoon... a little before three, I'd say."
Rather than pull out his pocket watch, Rei looked up at the sky through the gaps in the Forest of Magic's canopy, gauging the approximate time from the sun's position.
It was only a rough estimate, of course. If he wanted the exact time, he could simply take the pocket watch—a Magic Item—out of his Misty Ring and check.
But he judged there was no need to go that far right now.
"Gruu?"
What should we do? Set seemed to ask, turning his gaze toward Rei.
Even so, Set never stopped watching their surroundings.
Naturally, Rei wasn't letting his eyes wander from the area while he rested, either.
Given that anything could happen in their current situation, that was only natural.
They were in the Forest of Magic, after all.
It wouldn't be strange for something to happen at any moment.
"Alright, let's hunt a few more monsters. It'd be a bit troublesome if an A-Rank Monster showed up... but even so, I don't think we'd lose."
Their battle against the Giant Wolf had been a near-flawless victory for Rei and Set.
That said, the truth was they had spammed powerful skills before the wolf could unleash its true strength, preventing it from ever fighting at full capacity.
Considering how powerful that monster had been, fighting it head-on might well have resulted in serious injuries. No—in all likelihood, it certainly would have.
However, not every A-Rank Monster was like the Giant Wolf.
Matchups mattered in battle. An A-Rank Monster that specialized in defense, for instance, would be an ideal target for Rei and Set, who boasted overwhelming offensive power.
"Even B-Rank or C-Rank monsters can let me acquire or strengthen skills. In that sense, this Forest of Magic is basically a bonus stage for us. A vicious bonus stage, but still."
It was precisely because they were Rei and Set—a person and a beast of exceptional ability—that they could treat the Forest of Magic as a bonus stage.
An ordinary adventurer—even one active in Gilm at the B-Rank Adventurer level—would struggle to survive here for long.
Heck, even an A-Rank Adventurer might find it difficult depending on their abilities.
Zakat, who had guided them to the forest, was himself an A-Rank Adventurer, and he'd departed the moment he dropped them off, clearly wanting to put as much distance between himself and the forest as possible.
"Gruurul... Gruurururu!"
Set seemed to agree with Rei's words, but suddenly let out a sharp cry.
Sensing the vigilance in that sound, Rei immediately readied himself for combat.
"Alright, what kind of enemy is next? I've got a bad feeling about this."
The eager look on Rei's face instantly soured—he had recognized the buzzing sound drifting from deep within the forest.
It was a sound that carried nothing but bad memories for him.
A sound he'd heard constantly back in Japan.
That sound that would suddenly buzz right in his ear on summer nights, just as he was trying to fall asleep.
Since Rei's house had been near the mountains, there was no stopping the creatures that made it—mosquitoes—from getting inside.
Even mosquito coils seemed to have questionable effect at best.
And stepping outside meant they'd appear from out of nowhere to bite him.
When he did manage to spot one and swat it, his palm would end up covered in all the blood it had sucked—a thoroughly unpleasant sensation.
As far as Rei was concerned, sucking blood was bad enough on its own, but the real problem was the itching. If they at least didn't make him itch, he might have been able to tolerate them.
"Kill it."
Perhaps the many negative memories of mosquitoes from his time in Japan had come rushing back, but the moment the owner of that sound showed itself, Rei readied Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear, fully intending to kill it on the spot.
"Gruu!?"
Set let out a startled cry at Rei's sudden surge of killing intent.
Set knew Rei's memories to some extent, but even so, he clearly hadn't expected such intense murderous intent toward the source of that sound—the mosquito.
Set picked up on Rei's killing intent, but the mosquito itself showed no sign of caring as it revealed itself.
"Ugh..."
This was the Forest of Magic, after all.
The mosquito that appeared was nearly a full meter long.
Like the Giant Wolf, it looked like an ordinary mosquito that had simply grown enormous. But what Rei felt toward it wasn't the surprise or awe the wolf had inspired—it was pure disgust.
"Flying Slash!"
As if to say he refused to even touch the thing with Death Scythe or the Twilight Spear, he loosed a flying slash that bisected the mosquito's body with ease.
"...Weak."
Rei's disgust gave way to a hint of surprise.
This was a monster of the Forest of Magic. He hadn't expected it to die from a single Flying Slash.
But that assumption was a near-illusion, born from having grown accustomed to combat in the Forest of Magic. Not every monster here was a High-Rank Monster.
Realizing this, Rei decided to at least secure the Magic Stone and approached the mosquito's corpse. But the metallic stench of blood that suddenly hit him, combined with the massive crimson pool spreading across the ground, made his mouth open half-reflexively.
"Ugh..."
This mosquito had probably been feeding on some animal or monster before Rei killed it.
Given the size of mosquitoes in the Forest of Magic, they were far larger than the ones he knew from Japan.
If so, what had happened to the prey that had lost this much blood?
It wouldn't be surprising if it had been completely drained, mummified, and left for dead.
And there, rolling in that pool of blood, was a Magic Stone.
Rei's strike had probably severed the mosquito's heart along with its body.
Wait, thinking about it, wasn't that actually pretty dangerous? If I'd cut it with Death Scythe, that'd be one thing. But with Flying Slash, cutting through the Magic Stone wouldn't have satisfied the conditions for Beast Magic.
Relieved as he was by that realization, there was really only one option when it came to the mosquito's Magic Stone.
"Set, I don't want to feed you this one. Mind if I use it with Death Scythe?"
"Gruu."
Set probably didn't want to swallow a Magic Stone soaked in unknown blood either. He nodded obediently.
"Alright, the only question now is whether I can acquire or strengthen a skill from this thing..."
He washed the blood-covered Magic Stone with the Dagger of Flowing Water, tossed it into the air, and split it with Death Scythe.
But even after cutting the stone, no announcement message appeared in his mind.
Every monster they'd defeated since arriving in the Forest of Magic—though he hadn't tested the Giant Wolf yet—had let him acquire or strengthen a skill. This felt anticlimactic.
"Well, it was that weak. Can't be helped."
Flying Slash was at Level 5 now, a significant step up from Level 4.
Given that, there was nothing strange about the mosquito dying in one hit.
What's more, the mosquito had been engorged with blood, so its movements must have been sluggish.
Even back in Japan, Rei recalled that blood-filled mosquitoes were slow.
Unfed mosquitoes would suddenly change direction mid-flight when you tried to swat them, and it wasn't uncommon for them to escape.
Yet despite escaping, they'd always come buzzing back around him with that annoying drone.
"As for materials... forget it."
He had no idea what kind of materials could be harvested from the mosquito's bisected corpse.
Storing it in his Misty Ring might have yielded something usable later, but Rei couldn't bring himself to touch the thing. He left it where it was and moved on with Set.
"Still, we've been doing nothing but relocating because of the blood stench."
"Gruu? ...Grururu."
Set purred a questioning "Really?" at Rei's words, but after reflecting on everything that had happened since they entered the Forest of Magic, he purred again in understanding.
Rei kept moving through the forest, thinking that lingering blood scent might draw a whole swarm of those mosquitoes.
Then something caught his eye.
A purple fruit, hanging from a branch on a tree a short distance away.
He knew it was a fruit because he'd eaten them several times before in Gilm and other cities.
Of course, the possibility that this was a completely different fruit that merely looked identical couldn't be ruled out.
This was the Forest of Magic, after all.
There might be ordinary fruit here, but poisonous fruit disguised as something safe was equally possible.
That said, the fruit Rei remembered eating had a remarkably rich sweetness that left a faint, refreshing coolness in his mouth afterward—a rare and genuinely delicious fruit.
If this was the real thing, he definitely wanted to pick it.
With that in mind, he approached.
But the moment he reached for the fruit, something lunged at his hand.
"Whoa!"
Rei yanked his hand back on reflex.
An instant later, something sharp sliced through the space where his hand had been.
He called it sharp, but since he'd only recently fought the Giant Wolf, Rei's reflexes were still fully honed—his eyes tracked the attacker clearly.
"A squirrel? No, that's not it... a Carbuncle!?"
The creature that had tried to rake his hand with its sharp claws landed on a branch some distance away and immediately fixed him with a glare.
Now that he could see it clearly, Rei spotted what appeared to be a gem embedded in the forehead of the squirrel-like monster and spoke its name.
This wasn't Rei's first time seeing a Carbuncle.
He'd once seen another adventurer with a Carbuncle as a Tamed Monster—and not just an ordinary one, but a nine-tailed Carbuncle.
Compared to that one, the creature before him had only a single tail. A normal Carbuncle.
Right now, it was baring its fangs at him and growling.
Surprised as he was by the sudden attack, standing still and doing nothing wasn't an option.
This Carbuncle had come at him with clear hostile intent.
Honestly, a Carbuncle was a troublesome opponent for Rei.
The most annoying part was its ability to reflect magic.
He didn't know exactly how powerful a spell it could reflect, of course.
Surely a full-power spell wouldn't just be bounced back without question... right?
Troublesome as it was, Rei would have preferred to avoid fighting it. But with it attacking him like this, there was no opting out.
Did it attack to protect the fruit? No, looking at its behavior, that doesn't seem quite right.
Could the fruit he'd tried to pick hold some special significance for the Carbuncle race? Was that why it had attacked him for trying to take it?
That thought crossed Rei's mind for a moment, but reconsidering the Carbuncle's demeanor, it didn't fit.
"Gruururu?"
Set purred at Rei, who was locked in a stare-down with the Carbuncle. What should we do?
Attack it, or let it go?
"Kill it."
Rei's answer was brief but firm.
Whatever reason it might have, this was an opponent standing in clear opposition to him.
If it fled, that would be one thing. But it was openly directing hostility at him.
Given that, fighting it was the only option.
"Kishaaaaaaaa!"
Sensing from Rei's demeanor that he intended to fight, the Carbuncle unleashed a threatening shriek, baring its small fangs and growling a warning.
Huh? Was a Carbuncle's cry supposed to sound like that? Well, the only Carbuncle I know is the nine-tailed one, so maybe normal ones are different.
With that thought, Rei prepared to respond to whatever the creature did next.