The massive magic circle created by Rei's magic erupted into a Flame Wall, separating him and Set from the monsters.
The creatures that had been pursuing Rei's group—more precisely, the ones chasing Set—plunged into the wall of fire one after another, their bodies consumed by flames as they fell.
"Ah... what a waste."
Since their entire bodies were burning, the usable materials and edible portions were inevitably burning too. Worse still, in the case of low-rank monsters, the magic had consumed not just their bodies but even their magic stones.
Rei's lament was aimed squarely at that loss. The destruction of materials and edible meat was regrettable, but the loss of magic stones for Beast Magic was what stung the most.
Among the monsters of a certain level of strength—the high-rank ones—many had survived with their magic stones intact, and some even retained partially unburned bodies. The presence of a fair number of such monsters was perhaps the one small mercy in all this.
"Still... why are they charging into the flames one after another like this?"
The monster that had been flying directly behind Set and thrown itself into the Flame Wall—that much Rei could understand. But the ones trailing behind the particularly fast fliers should have been able to slow down and avoid the wall entirely. It wouldn't have been strange if they had.
Yet for some reason, every single monster that had chased Set hurled itself into the Flame Wall, fully aware it would burn.
Rei couldn't make sense of it. Even so, this wasn't a bad outcome for them, so he let the question linger without pressing further.
"Grrrrrl."
Set looked up at Rei, asking what they should do next. From its perspective, it probably wanted Rei to avoid fighting anymore today.
Rei was well aware of his own mental exhaustion from the two nights and three days in the Forest of Magic. He'd realized as much when he forced himself to concentrate during the battle with the fog monster. That was why he understood Set's concern.
"Don't worry. I'm not planning to fight anymore. But... we do need to gather the magic stones."
A considerable number of monsters had their magic stones burned away. However, that also meant the majority of the corpses scattered on the ground were high-rank monsters. In that sense, this would be a substantial haul from his time in the Forest of Magic for the promotion exam.
Though it didn't seem like any A-Rank Monsters were among them.
If they were A-Rank Monsters, depending on the type, they might have broken through the Flame Wall. ...If that happened, I'd feel bad for Set, but we'd have no choice but to fight.
Like Set, Rei had no desire to fight anymore tonight. But wanting to fight and the monsters actually accommodating that wish were two very different things.
"Set, I have no intention of picking a fight, but if any of them break through the Flame Wall, we're in combat. Stay alert."
"Gruu."
Set nodded, indicating it understood. It seemed to brace itself, but no monster capable of breaching the flames appeared.
Even the Wyvern—undoubtedly the strongest among the pursuers—failed to break through Rei's Flame Wall and plummeted to the ground, still burning.
After watching for a while, the monsters continued to burn to death one after another.
"With this, there's really nothing to worry about. All that's left is... ugh..."
Perhaps those words were a flag.
At the very last moment, the monster bringing up the absolute rear broke through the Flame Wall.
It was a flying turtle.
The creature had withdrawn its limbs into its shell and spun through the wall of fire like a disc.
What was it again? There was something like this in a kaiju movie.
Surprised by the unexpected sight, Rei readied Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear. But in a move that caught him completely off guard, the flying turtle simply plummeted toward the ground.
Since it had tucked its limbs inside, the shell itself was unharmed. But the instant it broke through the Flame Wall, the interior had been effectively steamed and baked—and the turtle monster died then and there.
Honestly, it was an unexpected sight. But at the same time, avoiding an unnecessary fight in his current condition was hardly a bad thing.
"Well, um... that's my magic for you, I suppose."
Watching the turtle that had fallen to the ground, Rei muttered as he lowered his weapons. The fact that it had broken through surprised him, but more than that, he felt relieved that he wouldn't have to fight.
"Grrru."
With the last turtle monster down, every single creature that had pursued Rei and Set through the skies above the Forest of Magic was eliminated. Set was likely reporting exactly that.
"Right. I'd love to rest, but we can't just leave the magic stones."
Watching the Flame Wall created by the fire magic circle fade away, Rei muttered to himself.
He had gone out of his way to use magic to burn every last monster that had attacked at the tail end of his promotion exam in a single sweep. Having done that much, he couldn't just walk away with only the killing to show for it.
He had more or less given up on materials, subjugation proof parts, and edible portions. But magic stones were a different matter. After all, the entire reason he'd gone to such lengths at the very end was because he wanted to obtain at least those.
Low-rank monsters, and even high-rank monsters weak to fire, would have had their magic stones burned away along with their bodies. The magic Rei wielded carried that much overwhelming power. In terms of purely collecting magic stones, it was overkill.
But these were monsters from the Forest of Magic. If the flames hadn't been powerful enough, they would have broken through. They still would have taken considerable damage, but Rei or Set would have had to finish them off directly.
If they'd been in perfect condition, that would have been fine. But while Set was holding up, the current Rei was nowhere near full strength. He knew that, which was exactly why he'd chosen to incinerate the monsters with overwhelming firepower.
"The question is how many magic stones actually survived. ...Set, I'm counting on you."
"Gruu!"
At Rei's words, Set purred happily and dove toward the ground. Why was it in such good spirits? Probably because Rei's magic had successfully burned all the pursuers, meaning no more combat would be necessary.
...Though it was also entirely possible that Set simply hoped some of the charred monster carcasses might yield tasty meat. Granted, it was the meat of monsters burned to death—no seasoning, no careful butchering into easy-to-eat cuts. Even if Set ate it, it wouldn't be all that delicious. At least, that was what Rei thought. But from Set's perspective, it was apparently still worth getting excited about.
Well, maybe not A-Rank Monster quality... but if there are any B-Rank Monsters in the mix, there's a chance the meat is still edible.
Thinking along those lines, Rei dismounted from Set's back after it landed.
"This is... quite something when you see it up close."
Numerous monster corpses littered the ground. However, perhaps because Rei's Flame Wall had burned at such intense heat, many of the fully consumed monsters had been reduced not just to charcoal but partially to ash by the time they hit the ground. Quite a few had barely any remains left at all.
Naturally, those monsters' magic stones had been completely incinerated. Recovery was impossible.
If I'd killed them by destroying their hearts with Death Scythe, I might have picked up a new Skill.
So Rei thought. But among the monsters that had been flying over the Forest of Magic, the truly intelligent ones—the ones deserving of the title high-rank monster—hadn't pursued them at all.
Or rather, some might have given chase initially, but upon seeing Set flee the forest... and then noticing that Set wasn't flying at full speed but was deliberately pacing itself, they'd realized they were being lured. The ones that had pursued Rei and his group to the bitter end were monsters too simple to consider any of that, or monsters with enough intelligence to know better but too hot-blooded to care.
Thinking about it that way, it's not much of a finale. ...Well, even so, getting a decent number of magic stones is nice enough.
Since he'd originally intended this as a final fireworks display of sorts, acquiring a powerful Skill would have been a bonus. That was why he wasn't particularly dejected by the outcome.
Mind you, "not particularly dejected" didn't mean he wasn't a little disappointed.
"Now then. ...Set, first we collect the magic stones. I don't know exactly how many there are, but let's gather everything we can."
"Gruu! ...Grrrl?"
Set nodded immediately at Rei's words. But then it asked, glancing at him somewhat tentatively. Rei understood right away what it wanted.
"Yeah, looking at this mess, gathering materials is hopeless. And more importantly, I'm exhausted and want to rest. So anything besides magic stones—specifically, any parts with edible meat—you're free to eat."
"Grrrrrl!"
At Rei's words, Set happily began its search. It had asked about the meat several times even before they started, and each time Rei had told it was fine. Being given explicit permission must have made its day.
First, it headed for the Wyvern—the largest among the attackers and technically a dragon species.
Wyvern magic stones are pointless to collect, though. Oh, but maybe it was a Rare Species? Or even if it is a Wyvern, there's a chance it's a different subspecies from the ones I killed in the war against the Bestia Empire?
Normally, a Wyvern's appearance would reveal the difference at a glance. But since Rei's magic had burned it to a crisp, there was no way to confirm what kind it had been. He'd caught a glimpse when it charged into the Flame Wall, but the area had been brightly lit by the flames, and multiple monsters were pouring in at the same time. He'd been too focused on whether any would break through to note the Wyvern's specific features. Still, given that it had come from the Forest of Magic, there was a real possibility it wasn't an ordinary Wyvern.
"I'll leave the Wyvern to Set and gather magic stones myself."
Finding corpses whose bodies were charred but whose magic stones might still be intact, Rei dissected them with a regular knife—not his Mithril Knife—and collected the stones. He left the larger monsters with remaining edible portions for Set, focusing on the smaller corpses or those with nothing worth eating.
That said, the yield wasn't particularly impressive.
"This one's a loss too."
He tore open a carbonized corpse—more smashing than cutting—and found the magic stone had turned to charcoal as well. His knife blade chipped the moment it made contact.
"In that case... ah, that monster's over there."
Rei turned his gaze toward the corpse of the turtle—the last creature to be caught in the Flame Wall.
True to its ability to breach the wall, the shell was intact.
...Unfortunately, the contents hadn't fared nearly as well.
I remember seeing somewhere that you can use a sea turtle's shell as a pot for soup... but no, this is definitely a lost cause.
Considering the other monsters had been reduced to charcoal and ash, the turtle's insides were likely the same. Bracing himself, he dissected it—and regretted finding that his prediction had been spot on.