The creatures on the tree Seto had felled with Power Attack had, naturally, fled from the impact.
The birds perched in the branches were a given, but most of the squirrel-like animals and insects had also scattered...
"Yeah, well... I pretty much expected this would happen."
Rei said this because, when he stored the tree Seto had broken into the Misty Ring, a fair number of creatures remained on the ground.
Insects made up the majority, but there were snakes among them too.
The Misty Ring could only store non-living things.
As a result, any creatures still on the fallen tree hadn't been stored and had been left behind on the ground.
Those creatures too, upon noticing Rei, immediately fled the area.
All that remained were a few carcasses of animals crushed to death when the tree fell.
"Amazing, Seto," Nielson said.
"Gurururu."
While Rei stored the tree into the Misty Ring, Nielson was praising Seto for breaking it with a body slam.
Storing the tree Seto had snapped into the Misty Ring in an instant was fairly impressive in its own right, but... whether Nielson was too focused on praising Seto to notice, or whether she simply thought Seto was more impressive, she showed no sign of commenting on it to Rei.
"Alright, I've confirmed the power of Seto's Power Attack, and I got a tree out of it as a bonus. Let's move on."
"...Hey, what are you planning to do with a tree that big?" Perhaps finished praising Seto, Nielson approached Rei and asked.
She likely had no idea how anyone would use a tree like that.
"A tree like that has all sorts of uses. Once dried, it can be used as firewood, and if I ride Seto and drop it from the sky, it makes a perfectly serviceable weapon."
It was a tree thick enough that four adults linking hands could barely encircle it.
Naturally, its weight was considerable.
There was no doubt it would make a far more vicious weapon than some random rock found lying around.
There were undoubtedly other uses for it as well, so in that sense, storing the tree was by no means a bad idea.
...Though Rei's sensibilities and Nielson's weren't necessarily the same.
"Is that how it works? Well, whatever. So, shall we get going? I hope there's something interesting up ahead."
Despite being the one who asked, Nielson didn't seem all that interested even after hearing Rei's explanation. She said so and left it at that.
Rei didn't particularly mind her attitude either.
Given the situation, he thought it wasn't bad this way.
Rather, it was definitely easier to deal with this level of apathy than having Nielson ask in detail about what the tree would be used for and how.
"Right. Then let's head deeper. There might be something interesting ahead... or perhaps the unknown monsters Seto and I are searching for. Of course, I won't forget to hunt as many Smog Panthers as possible."
He had come to this forest in the first place to obtain Smog Panther magic stones.
Not just one or two, but as many as possible.
Given that, Rei needed to defeat as many Smog Panthers as he could.
Was there a chance of overhunting them to extinction? The thought had crossed his mind, but he judged that worrying about such things when it came to monsters was wrong.
Even if he wiped out all the Smog Panthers here, there might be others living elsewhere. And even if he did eradicate them all here, monsters would simply be born again somewhere else.
Thinking of it that way, he concluded that wiping out the Smog Panthers here wouldn't be a problem.
(The only drawback would be that wiping out the Smog Panthers could change the power balance within the forest. Given the current situation, that village wouldn't suffer too much damage... no, considering the incident with the two-headed rhinos, it wouldn't be completely unaffected either. At any rate, there's no doubt that some kind of impact would reach the village.)
Whether that impact would be good or bad, he couldn't say without actually seeing how the forest's power balance shifted.
That said, Rei didn't want misfortune to befall the village either.
Considering the current situation, he hoped the damage wouldn't be too extensive, if it could be helped.
"Hey, come on. Rei. You're moving on, right? Let's go. I have a feeling that way over there looks more interesting!"
"Interesting... Nielson, weren't you originally here to guide me to where the Smog Panthers are? Is it really okay to change our destination based on a reason like 'it looks interesting'?"
"It's fine. I'll make sure to take you to where the Smog Panthers are in the end! So come on, let's go!"
When she put it like that, Rei couldn't argue.
It was also true that he was—just a little, genuinely just a little—curious about this 'interesting' thing Nielson spoke of.
"Right. Standing around here forever is a waste of time. Let's move on."
"Yes, yes, let's do that."
Nielson was probably happy that Rei had so readily agreed with her.
She flew about the forest cheerfully.
Watching her do so, Rei advanced through the forest alongside Seto.
(Smog Panthers are the main target, but I'd like to encounter other monsters too if possible. I'm not sure exactly when that will happen, but given the current situation... right. I'd like to run into the lizards sooner rather than later.)
According to what Rei heard from the village chief, the spider and deer monsters generally acted alone.
The spider aside, the fact that the deer monsters acted alone was somewhat interesting, but for Rei, it just made them easier to defeat, so it wasn't a problem.
Compared to those two types of monsters, the lizards were said to travel in packs.
In that case, it was easy to imagine they would be troublesome opponents.
A pack, by itself, was a troublesome foe.
If so, it was better to deal with them as early as possible.
(And if possible, I'd want to launch a surprise attack from our side. I don't know if lizards would panic or not, but even so, a surprise attack should be easier than a frontal assault.)
As they advanced through the forest thinking such thoughts...
"Gurururu?"
A cry suddenly escaped from Seto, who had been walking near Rei.
It wasn't the kind of cry one would let out upon finding an enemy and facing battle.
It was a bewildered sort of cry.
"Seto? What's wrong?"
"Gururu, Gururururu."
"Umm, Rei, do you understand what Seto is saying?"
Watching Rei and Seto, Nielson wore a puzzled expression.
She could tell that Seto was perplexed about something, but she probably couldn't understand the specific meaning.
"I don't know the exact details, but I get the gist. It seems he's found the monsters we were looking for... but apparently things are strange."
"Strange? How exactly?"
"I don't know that far. So we'll go and confirm it. Seto has a fix on where the monsters are, so we'll head there. No problem."
"...Are you sure? Well, thinking about the current situation, I guess it's probably fine."
Alongside Nielson, Rei advanced through the forest.
With Seto guiding them, neither Rei nor Nielson would get lost.
After pushing through the forest for about ten minutes...
"Well now..."
"Whoa, amazing."
Such voices escaped from Rei and Nielson as they took in the scene beyond the bushes.
For beyond those bushes was a deer, immobilized by a spider's web.
Not only that, but numerous lizards surrounded the trapped deer, waiting for an opening.
It was exactly the three types of monsters Rei had been searching for, all gathered right here.
In a situation that was as close to ideal as Rei could hope for.
"I see. So this is what Seto noticed."
"...I think Seto was pretty far away when he cried out, but he grasped this situation from that distance? How exactly?"
"Who knows?"
Nielson asked with genuine puzzlement, but Rei merely shook his head at her.
In truth, Rei didn't know how Seto had grasped the situation either.
But given the circumstances, he was certain Seto had perceived it through some ability.
Whether from the sharpness of his five senses, or by sensing magical power, or perhaps the instinct of a high-rank monster.
He wouldn't be surprised by any of those, nor by some other reason entirely.
What mattered was that this situation was almost too convenient for Rei.
The spider was trying to make the deer its prey and didn't want it snatched away by the surrounding lizards.
The deer wanted to somehow escape the spider's web that had caught it, and at the same time, flee from the pack of lizards nearby.
The lizard pack wanted to make both the deer, immobilized by the spider, and the spider itself their prey.
In such a three-way standoff, none of the monsters had noticed Rei and his group hidden in the bushes.
"The first target is... given the situation, the most dangerous one is the deer? Considering its speed, if we carelessly let it escape here, catching up might be difficult."
Difficult, but not impossible.
This wasn't him overestimating his own abilities—he understood from observing the enemy that, with Seto present, they could catch up and defeat the deer even if it bolted.
"Hmm. Then, want me to help out a bit? I just need to keep that deer from running away, right? I think I can manage at least that much."
Those words coming from Nielson were quite unexpected to Rei.
But if she could pull it off, it would definitely help.
"If you can do that, it'd be a big help, but how are you going to stop the deer?"
The deer's size was only slightly larger than average, nothing particularly special.
However, seeing the blades growing from its torso, there was no mistaking that attacking recklessly would put Nielson in danger.
Right now, those blades were sealed by the spider's thread, but if Nielson attacked the deer by some means, the deer would undoubtedly strike back at her.
All things considered, Rei was fairly close with Nielson.
He didn't want to see her get injured... much less killed.
But seeing Rei's worried expression, Nielson smiled and spoke.
"Leave it to me. I'm a fairy, you know? Stopping the movements of a mere deer is nothing."
"...Specifically?"
"Fairies can use magic. With that, I can at least stop that deer's movements."
"Magic, huh."
Rei felt relieved at those words.
He had wondered if Nielson might charge straight at the deer.
But if her method of stopping it was magic, Rei didn't need to worry so much.
"Gurururu."
Once it was decided that Nielson would stop the deer, Seto purred and looked toward the lizard pack next.
He was asserting that he would handle them.
"Got it. I leave it to you."
"Hey, when it was me, you didn't believe me right away, but you believe Seto instantly?"
"Obviously. How long do you think Seto and I have been together?"
In reality, he had only known Seto since coming to Elgin, so their relationship was only a few years old.
Even so, Seto was the one Rei had known the longest in this world.
It was only natural that the degree of trust differed between Seto and Nielson, whom he had only met a short while ago.
"Hmph... how uninteresting. Fine. Then I'll show you just how strong I am. Watch closely, okay?"
"No, it's not like we're having this conversation based on whether someone's useful or not."
Rei said so, but Nielson showed no sign of having heard him and began chanting a spell... and then, in the next instant, the grass at the deer's feet rapidly shot up, entangling its legs and freezing it in place.
"Hehe, how about that?"
"Gurururururu!"
The instant after Nielson boasted, Seto unleashed his King's Intimidation—and not just the lizard pack, but the spider and deer as well were brought to a complete halt.