"GWOOOOOOOOOO!"
A nearly three-meter-tall creature with a dog's head, its entire body covered in fur, and a snake with its own will growing from its hip as a tail—an enemy so bizarre that Rei wasn't sure how to categorize it in his mind—let out a roar upon seeing him approach.
(Ah, considering those features, maybe it's a Chimera. Yeah, I'll classify it as a Chimera rather than a Giant.)
In his mind, he revised his assessment of the opponent from a Giant to a Chimera.
That said, the image Rei held of a Chimera was fundamentally that of a quadrupedal monster.
It possessed three traits—lion, goat, and snake—but the Chimera before him was what could be called a Dog Giant, and while it did have a snake tail, it was vastly different from the Chimera he knew.
The fact that it was bipedal versus quadrupedal alone made it fundamentally different... but regardless, since calling it a Chimera was simply a matter of convenience because he needed some name to refer to the opponent, he didn't dwell on it too much.
If anything, in terms of nomenclature, he could have called it something like Pochi since it had a dog's face, but calling the opponent that would undoubtedly break his concentration in battle.
If so, it was better to stick with Chimera after all.
"GWOOOOOOOO!"
Whether it was reacting to Rei's decision to call it a Chimera, or simply coincidence, was unclear. But the Chimera swung its right hand—armed with sharp claws—at Rei.
By doing so, it naturally turned its back to Set, who was approaching from the opposite side... but the snake extending from the Chimera's hip kept Set at bay as he tried to attack.
Since it extended from the hip, its length wasn't particularly long. Still, it served its purpose of deterring Set from getting close.
...In terms of preventing approach, that is.
"Grrrrrrrrl!"
Set fired Magic Eye of Shock at the Chimera's back.
Magic Eye of Shock didn't have particularly high power, but it still had enough force to scratch rock. It did... but the fur covering the Chimera's body appeared to have quite high defensive capability, and something like Magic Eye of Shock couldn't deal any damage.
Even so, it managed to distract the Chimera's attention for just a moment.
For Rei, that moment was enough to respond.
The Chimera perhaps hadn't expected to settle things with its first strike either; it was a blow that seemed as though it was looking forward to seeing how Rei would handle its attack.
Still, the claws growing from its right hand were sharp, and a slamming strike from a Chimera nearly three meters tall would certainly mean death if it landed.
The difference in height between Rei and the Chimera was nearly double. Swinging down a blow from such a position meant it was undeniably an attack with a large opening.
Rei dodged the wide swing and attempted to sever the Chimera's right arm as it came down... and in that instant, he was startled when the Chimera's arm retracted in a flash.
"Seriously!?"
If the Chimera had been overconfident because even Magic Eye of Shock couldn't scratch it, and had tried to block Death Scythe's strike with its arm, that arm would have been severed.
But the Chimera—as if it had read Rei's intent, or perhaps for some other reason entirely unclear—pulled its arm back, timing it to the exact moment Rei attempted to cut.
"Then!"
He deliberately made Death Scythe's swing wide, forcing the Chimera to create distance... and using the recoil from that strike, he unleashed a blow with the Twilight Spear.
"GWAAUGH!"
Letting out such a strange cry, the Chimera tried to deflect the Twilight Spear's strike with its arm.
From the Chimera's perspective, it knew Death Scythe was dangerous, but perhaps its attention had been focused too much on that. Or perhaps, having blocked Magic Eye of Shock that came from behind, it thought it could also handle the Twilight Spear's strike.
However, that assumption was naive.
The Twilight Spear's strike Rei unleashed pierced the Chimera's arm... and just as Rei thought it would pierce through entirely, he was surprised when the Chimera's fur was cut and the arm wounded, but rather than forcing the issue, it deflected the strike with its arm.
Naturally, even doing such a thing left a large wound on the Chimera's arm.
However, Rei had ideally wanted to sever the arm... or at least render it unusable during the fight. But while the Chimera's arm was wounded, it wasn't to the point of being unusable in combat.
Of course, its combat ability would decline compared to before.
"GRRRAAAAAAAAH!"
Whether it could no longer endure the pain in its arm, or whether it was excited facing a strong opponent like Rei, Rei couldn't tell what reason prompted the war cry.
He couldn't tell, but since he undoubtedly still needed to fight the Chimera, Rei intended to respond in kind...
"Hsssssss!"
Suddenly, such a voice echoed through the surroundings.
To be precise, it wasn't a sound emitted by the dog portion that Rei had been facing, but a sound made by the snake serving as the tail.
The reason the snake made that sound was to warn the Chimera's main body of danger. Yes—the danger of Set, who had been approaching from behind the Chimera.
But the main body, facing Rei, was in no position to avert its gaze. The Chimera surely understood that Rei was not an opponent it could defeat easily.
Furthermore, Rei could see Set closing in from behind the Chimera, so it was better not to let the Chimera's attention shift away from him in order to attack the enemy in a pincer with Set.
"Terrain Manipulation!"
He drove Death Scythe's butt cap into the ground and activated the skill.
The next moment, without any warning, the ground the Chimera had been standing on sank.
"GWORL!?"
For the Chimera, it was likely an unexpected action. Or perhaps, if Rei had launched some kind of direct attack, the Chimera might have been able to respond.
But what Rei did was not a direct attack on the Chimera; it was an attack assist, so to speak, aimed at breaking the opponent's stance.
Considering Set's attack, the Chimera sank a meter and a half. This resulted in roughly half its height being buried in the hole.
Originally, he could have sunk the ground up to five meters, but doing so would have completely buried the Chimera's body and made attacking difficult, and given the Chimera's appearance, it undoubtedly possessed high physical abilities, so it wouldn't be strange for it to easily leap out of a five-meter hole.
That was precisely why Rei came up with the attack method of sinking about half the body for a few seconds... or even just an instant, to confuse the Chimera and slam Set's attack into it during that opening.
And Rei's plan worked perfectly.
Additionally, with half its body underground, the tail snake would naturally also be underground, unable to confirm the approaching Set.
That was what he thought, but...
"Huh!?"
A surprised voice slipped from Rei's mouth. Naturally. The Chimera's tail snake, which by all rights should have been unable to emerge from the hole given its length, poked its face out.
Rei had no idea how it managed that, but he could understand that it must have used some method to extend the tail snake.
And the extended snake, after surfacing above ground, stretched out even further.
Exactly how long it was, Rei couldn't tell. He couldn't tell, but even so, it wouldn't be strange if it were three meters... no, even five meters long.
"Gru!? Grrrrrrl!"
Set, who had been closing in, also let out a cry of surprise at the snake that suddenly extended toward him.
Still, since the Chimera was an A-Rank Monster, it wasn't strange for it to act beyond Rei and Set's expectations.
That was precisely why he converted his surprise into continuing the attack in an instant.
However, what Set aimed for was not the Chimera's main body... but the snake portion that had so abruptly extended its body.
Given that the snake was wary of the Chimera's rear and was the one making such an overwhelmingly tail-extending attack, Set judged that it would be better to defeat the snake portion first.
The snake also understood that Set was attacking it rather than the main body, and bared its fangs in response.
Naturally, Rei wasn't just silently watching the battle between Set and the snake.
The moment the Chimera's body sank into the ground, he had kicked off the earth and closed the distance.
Fortunately, once Terrain Manipulation was used, the terrain remained as is. Death Scythe, which had had its butt cap driven into the ground, could still be used normally as a weapon.
"GWOOOOOOOO!"
Seeing Rei approach, the Chimera opened its mouth wide and roared...
"Wind Breath!?"
Rei let out a surprised voice upon seeing a breath of wind... or rather, a small tornado-like breath, released from the Chimera's mouth.
But even seeing such a breath, Rei didn't particularly change course or anything; he charged straight ahead.
Then, just as the Tornado Breath was about to hit Rei, the Shield of Light that had been drifting around his body moved to the front and caught the Tornado Breath.
Any attack, it perfectly blocks once.
That effect activated reliably this time as well, and the Shield of Light succeeded in catching the Tornado Breath.
"GGAH!?"
The Chimera, having finished firing the Tornado Breath, let out a surprised voice at the fact that its attack had dealt no damage to Rei.
That was how confident the Chimera was in its current Tornado Breath.
Since it was blocked by the Shield of Light, Rei couldn't tell exactly how powerful it was. But seeing the ground gouged out along the breath's trajectory, the Tornado Breath from moments ago was undoubtedly an attack with considerable power.
Watching the Shield of Light shatter and disappear from the corner of his eye, Rei kicked off the ground and further closed the distance to the Chimera.
"Multi Slash!"
He activated the skill and swung Death Scythe.
Multi Slash was a simple skill that merely increased the number of slashes, but if those additional slashes came from Rei's Death Scythe, that alone made for a viciously powerful attack.
Perhaps sensing danger from Rei's swing, the Chimera tried somehow to evade the attack, but with half its body buried in the ground, evasion was impossible.
As a result, it tried to somehow deflect Rei's strike by using its right arm—which had been injured by the Twilight Spear earlier—as a shield, but...
"Too naive!"
The strike Rei swung, in the next moment, severed the right arm and sent it flying through the air.
Not only that, but as it tried to defend with its arm, its torso was also slashed diagonally from shoulder to hip.
Thanks to sacrificing the fur covering its body and one arm, the wound to its torso wasn't fatal, but...
"GGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Still, having an arm severed and its body slashed open must have caused intense pain for the Chimera. Or perhaps, mixed in was the shock of its Tornado Breath not working.
However... Rei didn't ease up his attack even hearing the enemy's war cry.
After using Multi Slash with Death Scythe in his right hand, he impaled the Twilight Spear in his left hand into the Chimera's left shoulder, used it as a pivot to adjust his stance...
"Power Slash!"
The Death Scythe Rei swung shattered the Chimera's left arm... no, destroyed it along with the surrounding left shoulder area.
Previously, Power Slash wasn't a skill Rei could use so casually. It had high strike power, but in exchange, the recoil was severe.
He needed to properly deflect that recoil... which was why using it required considerable preparation and mental readiness.
However, during this Promotion Exam, Power Slash reached Level 5, and with the skill's enhancement, he became able to use Power Slash without worrying about recoil.
The results of that were now before Rei.
Following the right arm, the left arm was also destroyed along with the shoulder and sent flying through the air.
From amidst that, Rei used the Twilight Spear's ability to recall it to his hand and, spinning his body, swung Death Scythe.
"GGAH!"
The Chimera probably understood it was in a desperate situation, but even so, in its current state there was nothing it could do... it tried at least to catch Death Scythe's blade with its fangs, but the blade Rei swung was faster than the Chimera's movement, and severed its neck.
At almost the same time, Set also destroyed the Chimera's tail snake's body with a Power Crush strike... and thus, the battle against the Chimera, believed to be an A-Rank Monster, came to an end.