After acquiring Wing Blade, Rei stored the dragonfly's corpse in his Misty Ring, and he and Set began making their way through the Forest of Magic once more.
As they traveled, Set was scanning their surroundings with even greater intensity than before.
The fact that Rei — riding on his back — had been ambushed by the dragonfly clearly didn't sit well with him.
To Rei, that had simply been a consequence of the dragonfly being an extraordinary creature in multiple ways. He didn't think Set had any reason to feel responsible... but as someone deeply fond of Rei, Set was probably still shaken.
"Set, I leave watching our surroundings to you like always, but I'm staying ready to react the instant anything happens. So don't beat yourself up over it."
Rei offered those reassurances, but even hearing them, Set showed no sign of easing up on his heightened vigilance.
"Guruu? Gruu!"
In response to Rei's words, Set purred as if to say, Got it! I'll do my best!
Honestly, Rei would have preferred him to relax a little, but his words had only fueled Set's determination further.
Rei had his misgivings about Set's behavior, but judging that anything more he said would likely be pointless, he decided to let Set do as he pleased for now.
(Besides, this is the Forest of Magic. There's no guarantee there aren't other monsters out there capable of moving at the same speed as that dragonfly. No — if anything, that level of threat should be the norm here.)
The Forest of Magic was so dangerous that even from Gilm, approaching it was strictly prohibited.
Given that, the presence of numerous monsters as dangerous as that dragonfly was hardly unusual. If anything, it was to be expected.
So Set's diligence in scouting was by no means misplaced — even while relying on the Sense of Smell Enhancement skill that had only recently been strengthened and wasn't fully mastered yet.
Rei had been worried at first, but as Set continued using Sense of Smell Enhancement, he seemed to grow fairly accustomed to it. He no longer showed any signs of struggling with the overwhelming flood of scent information like he had when the skill was first activated.
Watching Set handle it so well, Rei couldn't help but feel he needed to work just as hard to master the strengthened Power Slash as soon as possible.
As they pressed on through the Forest of Magic, Set suddenly slowed his pace.
It wasn't an abrupt stop like when they'd encountered the dragonfly, but it was still fairly sudden.
Why had he done that? Rei understood the reason immediately. A sudden action like that in this kind of situation left little room for doubt.
"Alright, what's the enemy this time? Ideally something unknown... or another dragonfly would be nice."
The previous dragonfly had been alone. Since he'd already fed its magic stone to Set, it was only natural that Rei wanted to give Death Scythe a chance to acquire a new skill this time around.
That dragonfly had been a remarkably unique monster. It specialized in mobility and had decent attack power, but defensively it was far inferior to most other monsters. In other words, a single clean hit would bring it down. ...Though with that speed, landing a hit was the hardest part.
While Rei was mulling this over, the bushes ahead rustled and a monster burst into view.
"A tiger? No, not quite. A panther... a black panther?"
Given how suddenly it had appeared, Rei's first thought was tiger, but on closer inspection, it looked more like a panther — another member of the cat family.
Of course, he couldn't be certain it was actually a panther. He was working off hazy memories from his time in Japan, after all.
And while he was calling it a panther, it wasn't truly one. It was a monster based on a panther. After all, it had eight legs.
(If a horse with eight legs is Sleipnir, then what do you call a panther with eight legs? Sleipnir Panther? No, it's a black panther, so Sleipnir Black Panther? That name is pointlessly long.)
Studying the black panther squaring off against Set, Rei amused himself with these thoughts.
Under normal circumstances, riding on Set's back in this situation meant his weight was undoubtedly hampering Set's ability to respond to the black panther's attacks. But dismounting with the creature right in front of them would only create an opening for it to exploit. Considering all that, Rei couldn't just carelessly hop off Set's back.
(This black panther... is it C-Rank? No, probably around B-Rank?)
Even in Gilm, out on the frontier, C-Rank Monsters were one thing, but running into a B-Rank Monster was quite rare. Yet here in the Forest of Magic, C-Rank and B-Rank Monsters appeared as a matter of course. A-Rank Monsters showed themselves too, and it was said that S-Rank Monsters — Dragons — lurked here as well.
Taking all that into account, the Forest of Magic was undeniably a special place in every sense of the word. Perhaps that was precisely why the Zephyle Clan had chosen to build their hidden base here.
But then another thought surfaced — an unsettling one.
What if it wasn't that the Zephyle Clan built their hidden base because of the Forest of Magic, but rather that the Forest of Magic came into existence because the Zephyle Clan built their hidden base? And inside that hidden base was the Magic Circle of Beast Magic — the very same one that had created both the body Rei now inhabited and Set.
If the Zephyle Clan's hidden base was responsible for the Forest of Magic's existence, then in a sense, that could be traced back to Rei himself.
"No, that's just my imagination."
"Grrrrrrrruu!"
"Gaaaaaaah!"
As if triggered by Rei's muttered denial, Set and the black panther both closed the distance between them.
Confirming that the opponent had moved, Rei rolled off Set's back — and mid-fall, hurled the Twilight Spear.
Naturally, a throw from such an awkward position couldn't carry much power. Still, if it served as even a brief deterrent against the black panther, that was enough.
"Gaaah!?"
Perhaps not expecting an attack from Rei, the black panther twisted frantically and dodged the Twilight Spear.
Rei had thrown it on something close to pure instinct, and the spear had been aimed toward the black panther's right shoulder — whether by luck or genuine skill.
Unfortunately for Rei, panthers possessed extremely flexible bodies. And since this black panther was a monster, its abilities clearly surpassed those of an ordinary animal. That was likely why it had managed to evade the strike.
But... even if it dodged Rei's attack, that was only Rei's attack. Set's strike, unleashed immediately after, should have been unavoidable — or so he thought, right up until the black panther wrenched its mouth wide open while still twisting midair.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Gruu!"
The moment the black panther opened its jaws, Set must have already sensed the danger. Instead of following through with his descending front legs, he used his two hind legs to forcibly redirect his momentum.
An action driven by wild instinct — though the usual Set didn't seem to possess any wildness whatsoever.
And it was unquestionably the right call.
What erupted from the black panther's gaping maw was a Breath attack. Not an easily identifiable Fire Breath or the Acid Breath the hornets had used, but one that spewed out a volley of bubbles.
Judging by appearance alone, it was an almost whimsical — even laughable — sight.
But Rei knew exactly what kind of Breath it was. After all, it was one Set himself had acquired.
Bubble Breath.
True to its name, it was a Breath that expelled bubbles — foam and soap bubbles.
At first glance, it didn't seem particularly threatening. The problem was that when those bubbles burst upon contact, they transformed into a sticky liquid that hampered the enemy's movement.
It wasn't an overpowering adhesive that would never let go once touched, but it was more than enough to slow someone down.
Given that, Set's decision to evade the instant the black panther opened its mouth had been a wise one.
*(Or rather — why can a black panther use Bubble Breath!?)
While recovering his stance from the dismount and the throw, Rei couldn't help but wonder.
If it had been the hornets' Acid Breath, he could have... well, very grudgingly, accepted it. Bees and ants were taxonomically quite close, and some ant species produced formic acid. On those grounds, hornets using Acid Breath was at least conceivable.
But a black panther using Bubble Breath...
(No — applying common sense to monsters in the first place is the mistake.)
Righting his posture, standing firm on the ground, and recalling the Twilight Spear to his hand, Rei corrected his thinking.
By then, Set had already put distance between himself and the black panther and recovered his own stance. By coincidence, Rei and Set now had the black panther caught between them in a pincer.
"Set, this one's going to be a hassle!"
"Gruu!"
Set let out a sharp cry in response and glared hard at the black panther...
"Grrrrrrrruu!"
...then unleashed a roar squarely at it.
Instantly, the black panther's movements visibly slowed.
Rei understood immediately what Set had done. King's Intimidation.
The black panther barely managed to avoid being completely frozen in place, but Set's King's Intimidation still carried the effect of reducing an opponent's speed.
If it had been a being superior to Set, it might have been able to shrug off even that slowdown... but while the black panther was a High-Rank Monster, it simply wasn't strong enough to manage that. As a result, it took the full brunt of Set's King's Intimidation.
"Gaaah!?"
The black panther realized its movements had grown sluggish and let out a bewildered cry.
But for Rei — who had been watching for exactly that kind of opening — it was the perfect chance.
The black panther had been aware of Rei's presence as the one who'd thrown the Twilight Spear, but the effect of Set's King's Intimidation had caught it completely off guard. As a result, it was slow to notice Rei closing in from the ground. It tried to evade the swing of Death Scythe... but its body was too sluggish to dodge completely.
Two of the middle legs on its left side — out of eight total — were severed by Death Scythe's blade.
That it managed to keep its frontmost and rearmost left legs was likely a testament to the black panther's natural agility.
But losing two legs against Rei and Set was a death sentence.
The black panther must have realized that continuing to fight while slowed against these two opponents was suicide. It opened its jaws wide, scattered Bubble Breath in all directions, and tried to flee —
"Like hell I'll let you!"
With a sharp shout, Rei hurled the Twilight Spear.
The spear, launched dead straight, pierced clean through the black panther's body as it attempted to bolt.
"Gagyaaah!"
The torso — specifically, the lower back area behind the waist — was run through. And that wasn't all. Shattered, the black panther screamed as it collapsed onto the ground.
Even with its torso split in two — no, outright destroyed — the fact that it was still alive spoke to the tenacious vitality expected of a High-Rank Monster.
Even so, "still alive" was a generous description. Its death was only a matter of time.
Rei had no interest in watching a creature suffer. He brought Death Scythe down and severed the barely-living black panther's neck.
Whether the creature thought in its final moments that it was being delivered from its agony, or whether it wasn't thinking anything at all — either way, the black panther slipped away with what looked like a peaceful expression.
"...Well, I definitely didn't see Bubble Breath coming. ...Here, Set."
With that, Rei split open the black panther's chest, extracted the magic stone, rinsed it with the Dagger of Flowing Water, and handed it over.
Set, perhaps having already suspected as much given that the opponent had used Bubble Breath, obediently took the magic stone into his mouth...
[Set has acquired the skill 'Bubble Breath Lv.2']
The announcement echoed in Rei's mind.
[Set]
'Water Ball Lv.5' 'Fire Breath Lv.4' 'Wind Arrow Lv.4' 'King's Intimidation Lv.4' 'Poison Claw Lv.6' 'Size Change Lv.2' 'Tornado Lv.4' 'Ice Arrow Lv.5' 'Optical Camouflage Lv.6' 'Magic Eye of Shock Lv.2' 'Power Crush Lv.6' 'Sense of Smell Enhancement Lv.5' 'Bubble Breath Lv.2' new 'Crystal Breath Lv.1' 'Earth Arrow Lv.2' 'Power Attack Lv.1' 'Magic Reflection Lv.1' 'Acid Breath Lv.1' 'Wing Blade Lv.1'
Bubble Breath: Breathes out countless bubbles. Bubble size is approximately 1–3cm in diameter at Level 1 and 3–5cm at Level 2. Upon striking a target, the bubbles burst and transform into a sticky liquid that impedes the enemy's movements.