A monster had appeared.
Upon hearing that shout, Rei wondered if perhaps they were talking about Seto.
However, the voice came not from near Rei or Seto, but from much farther away.
If so, then it wasn't a villager screaming in fright at the sight of Seto...
"Here they come already!"
Rei called out, turning his gaze toward the outskirts of the village.
That said, the village was enclosed by a wooden fence, so he couldn't actually see outside.
Even so, judging that a monster—specifically, the two-headed boars—had appeared outside the village, Rei mounted Seto's back.
"Seto!"
"Grru!"
Seto responded swiftly and broke into a run.
His destination was, naturally, outside the village.
Since Rei had originally been hired by the village chief to defeat the two-headed boars, he couldn't just sit back upon hearing that a monster had appeared.
"Eek!"
"Whoa!"
"Hey, wait!?"
Many villagers cried out in surprise at the sight of Seto running, but Rei and Seto paid them no mind.
While most were initially startled, among them were some who raised voices of encouragement upon seeing Rei and Seto.
"Do your best and take down those monsters!"
The ones shouting that were probably those who knew Rei had been hired by the village chief.
Since it was a small village, the information that Rei had been hired by the village chief had already spread to everyone.
Even so, while some could cheer him on honestly, others couldn't bring themselves to believe in him—whether because he was an outsider or simply because of his appearance—and their reactions ran the gamut.
Still, having voices firmly cheering him on amid all that wasn't a bad thing for Rei.
He cast his gaze toward those who had called out their support for a brief moment and gave a small nod.
Seto ran through the village and arrived at the gate—calling it a gate might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but it was the opening that connected to the outside, at any rate.
They must have heard the earlier shout about a monster appearing. Several villagers had gathered in front of the gate, armed with weapons.
However, the majority of the weapons in their hands were agricultural tools, and Rei found it hard to believe they could fight the two-headed boars with those.
If it were a monster like a Goblin, that would be one thing, but the two-headed boars were said to be about the same size as Seto.
There were a few who held proper weapons rather than farming tools, but one glance at their movements made it clear they were not accustomed to using them regularly.
In fact, it looked like they might accidentally injure their allies—or even themselves.
"Step back! Seto and I will fight the monsters!"
"Grrrrrr!"
Rei shouted, and Seto let out a cry to follow.
Thanks to Rei and Seto's actions, the villagers finally seemed to realize that Rei and Seto were right behind them. They hastily cleared the way.
Seto ran through the opened path.
Upon stepping outside the village, Rei saw the figures of the monsters called two-headed boars for the first time...
"Those are rhinos."
The words slipped from Rei's mouth almost involuntarily upon seeing the two-headed boars' appearance.
Having two heads was, naturally, not a characteristic of rhinos.
But the appearance of horns above their noses was closer to a rhino than a boar.
The fact that they had body hair made them somewhat boar-like, but their faces looked entirely like those of rhinos.
The sharp tusks growing alongside the horns aside.
That said, if the residents of this village didn't know about rhinos, it wouldn't be strange for them to perceive these as boars.
For that matter, Rei didn't even know whether rhinos existed in this region of Elgin in the first place.
In any case, the two-headed boars—no, the two-headed rhinos—numbered five, just as the prior information had indicated.
However, among them, one—presumably the leader-type of this herd—was clearly larger than the others.
While the other two-headed rhinos were about the same size as Seto, the one that appeared to be the leader-type was roughly five meters in length.
(A Rare Species or a High-ranking Species... The fact that it's leading a herd like this probably means it's a High-ranking Species without a doubt. Still, for me, that's a welcome thing, I suppose.)
Rei dismounted from Seto's back, drew Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear from the Misty Ring as usual, and let out a ferocious grin.
From Rei's perspective, the variety of monsters whose magic stones he could absorb through Beast Magic had increased, so this was by no means a bad thing.
Fundamentally, the magic stones that could be used with Beast Magic were limited to one per type of monster.
However, Normal Species, High-ranking Species, and Rare Species were counted as separate categories, so in that sense, it was a welcome arrangement for both Rei and Seto.
...Though to obtain the magic stones, he naturally needed to defeat the monsters first.
"Now then, I don't expect you to understand my words, but... in any case, consider it your misfortune that you came this close to the village and appeared before me when I desire your magic stones... and die!"
That single phrase served as the trigger, and the place immediately became a battlefield.
The first one Rei headed toward was, naturally, the leader-type individual among the two-headed rhinos.
Seeing Rei approach on his own, the opponent bared its fangs from both mouths and lay in wait...
"Grrrrrrrr"
"Gyagyaaaaaa!"
Once Rei was close enough, both heads moved simultaneously, attempting to thrust their fangs into him.
That agile movement was remarkably swift, contrary to what its massive five-meter frame might suggest.
Rei leapt backward to evade...
"Out of the way! Power Slash!"
Seeing Rei jump back, one of the two-headed rhinos must have judged it a chance to attack.
It swiftly charged, attempting to impale Rei with its horn.
However, the Death Scythe Rei swung blew away both heads of the nearly three-meter-long two-headed rhino in a single strike.
Having lost both heads simultaneously, the two-headed rhino collapsed onto the ground just like that.
Under normal circumstances, the thick skin covering its body would not be damaged by ordinary weapons.
The farming tools the villagers carried would undoubtedly not even scratch its surface.
From Rei's perspective, it was an opponent that could be felled with a single Power Slash, but...
(Damn it.)
Having destroyed both heads, Rei realized his mistake.
When he destroyed the heads, he had naturally also destroyed the horns extending from above the creature's nose.
Those distinctive horns would undoubtedly serve as some kind of material, or possibly even as subjugation proof parts.
That was why he had wanted to leave the heads intact if possible...
"Gugyaaaaaa!"
"Gyoaaaaaaa!"
Seeing Rei expose an opening, the leader-type two-headed rhino opened its mouth with a roar... and the moment Rei glimpsed something bright and something white deep in its throat, he activated his Sleipnir boots and leapt, almost reflexively.
Rei moved by kicking off the air, but the two-headed rhino tracked Rei's direction with the movement of its mouths... and in the next instant, Fire and Ice Breath were unleashed from each of the two separate heads.
Furthermore, it kept moving its face even while unleashing the Breath, so the flames and ice pursued Rei as he moved through the air.
"Tch!"
Seeing the enemy's attack, Rei judged that he would be caught at this rate and kicked off the air once more.
However, the direction Rei went by kicking off the air was not higher into the sky... but toward the ground.
Specifically, toward one of the two-headed rhinos that was fighting Seto.
Incidentally, while Rei had defeated one and was dealing with the leader-type, Seto had also brought down one two-headed rhino, leaving behind a corpse that had similarly lost both heads, just like the one Rei had crushed with Power Slash.
With two defeated and one being the leader-type, the remaining normal two-headed rhinos numbered two.
Those remaining two probably possessed a relatively high level of intelligence.
Rather than attacking Seto one at a time, they attempted to strike simultaneously.
That said, Seto was also a seasoned warrior who had survived countless battles alongside Rei.
Sensing that the opponents were timing their attacks together, he considered using their own assault against them.
He matched the timing of their leaping strikes and sprang up on the spot...
"Grrrrrrr!"
With Seto gone, the two two-headed rhinos collided with each other.
Against the two that had crashed together, Seto unleashed a strike from his forelegs from above.
And it was no ordinary strike, but a Power Crush strike.
With that single blow, the two perished, reduced to chunks of flesh.
"It looks like you're the only one left."
Looking at the enemy that had unleashed the somewhat surprising attack of Fire and Ice Breath, Rei spoke those words.
What on earth did the leader-type two-headed rhino feel upon hearing Rei's words? It recoiled almost involuntarily... but naturally, Rei wasn't about to let such a move slip by.
"You think I'll let you escape!?"
He kicked off the ground and closed the distance to the enemy in one burst.
Seeing Rei's approach, the leader-type two-headed rhino attempted to deliver an upward scooping strike with its horns—its greatest weapon—but Rei effortlessly evaded that strike and stepped inside its range.
There were not many means of attack available to the two-headed rhino against Rei, who had come right up close to it.
Precisely because it had a massive body of about five meters in length, there were surprisingly few ways to deal with an opponent that had gotten right next to it... but being a leader-type, the two-headed rhino was also an entity that had experienced many battles.
Knowing that its own weight possessed overwhelming power against enemies, it relaxed the strength in its legs planted on the ground and attempted to crush Rei's body then and there...
"Too slow."
Along with those words, the Twilight Spear pierced the base of the two-headed rhino's neck, halting its movement for an instant... and in the next moment, Death Scythe traced a clean arc, severing both necks simultaneously.
"Whoa."
Rei had been supporting the five-meter massive body with just the Twilight Spear in his left hand, but he immediately leapt away from that spot.
With Rei gone, the torso crashed into the ground, and simultaneously, a massive amount of blood began gushing from its necks.
The Death Scythe's strike had been so sharp that the blood probably hadn't flowed immediately despite the necks being severed.
But the impact of hitting the ground caused a massive amount of blood to begin pouring out.
If Rei had remained in the spot where he severed the necks, he would have ended up with the blood from the necks pouring over his head.
"The blood is... well, whatever. It doesn't seem like it was that high-ranked a monster."
Despite its giant and intimidating appearance, in terms of pure capability, to Rei who had fought it, it didn't seem all that high.
...That said, that was merely because the monsters Rei had fought up until now had been strong. The leader-type entity, which appeared to be a High-ranking Species or possibly a Rare Species, was a B-Rank Monster—though it seemed to fall into the lower tier among B-Rank Monsters.
And the normal two-headed rhinos were about on the level of an average C-Rank Monster.
It was precisely because it was Rei and Seto that they could defeat them so effortlessly. Under normal circumstances, B-Rank and C-Rank monsters were not opponents that could be taken down so easily.
Much less if the villagers had challenged them using farming tools as weapons—they would almost certainly have been counterattacked and killed.
In that sense, the village chief's decision to request Rei for the subjugation was a wise one.
"Now then, I need to deal with these corpses first. Dissecting them here... would be difficult."
The way the villagers looked at Rei and Seto carried an awe close to terror.
Of course, they were probably glad that the monsters threatening the village had been defeated.
But still, seeing Rei overwhelm an opponent they thought they could never match—yes, without even a hint of struggle, a display of fighting prowess that could only be described as a rout—the villagers surely couldn't perceive Rei as the same kind of being as themselves.
...In fact, Rei's body had been created using the Zephyle Clan's technology, so it wasn't wrong to say he was different from the villagers.
In any case, under the current circumstances, even if Rei asked the villagers to help with the dissection, they would almost certainly refuse.
Or even if they did accept, it would likely be out of fear toward Rei rather than willingness.
"Eek!"
Among those watching from the village, a man who made eye contact with Rei let out a small shriek and fled the spot.
Rei thought for a moment that there was no need to be that scared, but upon reconsidering, the man who had run away was the same one who had been struck by the village chief the day before, after suggesting Rei was suspicious when the chief had decided to hire him.
Knowing that the very Rei he had been suspicious of actually possessed power far beyond what he could ever handle, he must have fled in panic.
It wasn't like Rei was going to eat him, he thought, letting out an exasperated sigh.