"Rei, over there! It's probably over there! My intuition is telling me so!"
Nielson shouted as she flew right beside Rei's head, pointing toward a section of the forest.
Normally, even if Nielson arbitrarily picked a direction like this, there would be no reason to think it meant anything.
And yet, having already killed several Smog Panthers by following Nielson's directions, Rei didn't have the option of ignoring her guidance.
"Seriously, how are you finding them? Like I guessed earlier, did the Chief grant you some kind of ability?"
"What are you talking about! This is my own ability! My intuition as a fairy is telling me so!"
Perhaps because she had rested inside a tree and recovered her stamina and focus, and because she had actually found Smog Panthers multiple times in the directions she indicated, Nielson was clearly getting carried away.
That said, neither Rei nor Seto made any move to reproach her for the time being.
After all, Nielson's directions hadn't been wrong so far.
If she got even more carried away and actually did something to harm Rei or Seto, he figured a little punishment might be in order.
Fortunately or unfortunately, it hadn't come to that yet.
"Is that so? In that case—"
"Gruu!"
As if to cut Rei off, Seto suddenly rumbled.
Had the fog already rolled in?
Rei scanned their surroundings, but there was no fog to be seen. Just an ordinary forest stretching out around them.
Given the situation, the fact that Seto had gone out of his way to rumble like that could only mean one thing—something was there.
"Seto? What is it?"
"Gruruu."
In response to Rei's words, Seto turned his gaze toward a certain direction... and bolted.
"Ah, hey—what in the world is going on!?"
Nielson shouted in confusion as Seto suddenly took off.
The forest was dense with trees, and the ground wasn't exactly made for walking, let alone running. It was by no means easy terrain to traverse.
Yet Seto tore through the forest at a speed that suggested he was on a paved highway.
Despite his massive frame of over three meters in length, the way he wove through the gaps between trees evoked the image of a supple wild beast.
...Then again, since Seto's lower half was that of a lion, calling him a wild beast wasn't exactly inaccurate.
It was a completely different sight from the adorable creature everyone fawned over in town.
"Whoa, wait... Seto, that's amazing."
A gasp of surprise escaped Nielson at the uncharacteristic display.
To Rei, though, this was just another side of Seto he already knew. Nothing worth getting worked up over.
"Is it? That's Seto for you. Anyway, if he's moving like that, there's no doubt he has a reason. Let's follow him."
"Eh? Hey—wait up!"
Nielson chased after Rei, who had broken into a run behind Seto.
For her, being left behind by both Seto and Rei out here was extremely dangerous.
As a fairy, Nielson was decent at magic, but she was by no means skilled in offensive spells. She could use them to some extent, but if told to take down a monster on her own, that would be a tall order.
That was exactly why she couldn't stand being left behind, and she immediately gave chase.
"You're fast!"
As a fairy, Nielson could fly, so her movement speed was naturally considerable. Her body was small, but the ability to fly carried tremendous significance.
Even so, while Seto had the head start, Nielson couldn't catch up to Rei at all—and he'd started chasing after her.
She knew full well from their battles so far that Rei and Seto were highly skilled. She understood that. But even so, the current situation was undoubtedly far beyond what she'd expected.
She desperately chased after Rei.
Nielson was a fairy who had grown up in forests. While not to the same degree as Seto, threading through the gaps between trees in flight wasn't difficult for her. In fact, compared to the much larger Seto, her small frame gave her an advantage when it came to flying through dense woods.
Pursuing Rei with fairy pride driving her on, she finally spotted him stopped ahead and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hey, what happened in the end—wait, whoa... this is amazing."
What Nielson saw upon arriving at the spot was a deer, bisected cleanly from neck to tail, as if cleaved in a single stroke by a longsword.
Several blades extended from the deer's body, and the cut that severed it had threaded through the gaps between those blades without striking a single one.
"Right? That's Seto's Wing Blade—a Skill that turns the outer edge of his wings into blades to slash through."
Hearing Nielson's murmur, Rei spoke with a hint of pride.
Nielson didn't know it yet, but it was a strike from Wing Blade—a Skill Seto had recently acquired, or more accurately, leveled up.
For Seto, he probably just wanted to try out his new Skill. And since he was the only one who had used a deer's magic stone before, he likely wanted to hand this one over to Rei.
"Grururu."
Yet Seto approached Rei looking oddly disappointed... almost dejected.
"Eh? What's wrong, Seto?"
Bewildered by Seto's sudden downcast demeanor, Nielson could only stare.
In response, Rei extracted the magic stone from the bisected deer corpse, stashed both the corpse and the stone in his Misty Ring, and then produced the Jet-Black Dagger before speaking.
"Seto killed this deer using Wing Blade, the Skill that turns the outer edges of his wings into blades, like I mentioned earlier. In other words, slashing through an enemy with those blades means... just like how a longsword's blade gets filthy when you bisect something with it, Seto's wings get dirty too."
Water poured from the Jet-Black Dagger, washing away the grime caked on Seto's wings—the deer's blood, scraps of flesh, fragments of internal organs, and bodily fluids, all rinsed away.
If Nielson had known that the water produced by the Jet-Black Dagger was so exquisite it was called the Water of Life, she would have stared in disbelief at the sight of it being used to wash Seto's wings.
In this situation, exactly how and why things had come to this... it wouldn't have been strange at all if she couldn't make sense of it.
Then again, for Rei, the Jet-Black Dagger produced unlimited water as long as he supplied his own mana, so he had no reason to hold back from using it just because it seemed wasteful.
"Ah, I see. Seto's Skills are convenient, but some of them can be a bit awkward to use, huh."
"Something like that. There—good as new."
"Grurururuu!"
At Rei's words, Seto purred happily and gave his body a vigorous shake, scattering water droplets in all directions. The sight reminded Rei oddly of a dog.
"Thanks, Seto."
"Gruu!"
"Huh? Why are you thanking Seto? Shouldn't Seto be the one thanking you for the wash? Or are you saying that because he killed that monster on your behalf?"
"Yeah, something like that."
In truth, Rei was grateful that Seto had taken down the deer for him. But more than that, Seto had obtained the magic stone—the deer's magic stone that only Seto had used before—specifically for Rei's sake. That weighed heavily.
(At this rate, I'd really like to kill a spider myself.)
Since Seto had killed a deer that Rei hadn't even been tracking, Rei naturally wanted to return the favor by killing a spider on Seto's behalf.
That was what Rei thought, but unfortunately, he couldn't find spiders the way Seto had found the deer.
Fundamentally, spiders and deer were different beasts. Spiders that stayed still and waited for prey to stumble into their webs were far harder to spot than deer that actively roamed about.
Of course, there were various types of spiders, including some that aggressively hunted on their own. But from what Rei had seen of the spider he'd killed, it had built a web and didn't seem like the type to move proactively.
If that was the case, finding one would indeed be difficult.
(Should I lure one into a web and find it that way...? But even to use bait like that, I'd need to locate the nest first. And that's the hard part.)
In the end, the quickest way to find a spider would be to have Seto track one down. Then, once they found it, Rei would kill it in Seto's place.
...Though, knowing Seto's personality, even if Rei insisted on being the one to finish it off, there was no guarantee Seto wouldn't just do it himself.
"Anyway, we got the deer. Nielson, where are the Smog Panthers?"
"Ehh... even when I tell you where they are, you and Seto don't listen to me. So what's the point of me telling you anything else here?"
For some reason, Nielson was sulking.
Rei hesitated over how to respond. But given the current situation, the fact remained that they needed Nielson's help.
"Then should we head back? We've already bagged the minimum number of Smog Panthers. If the Chief asks why we came back, we'll just have to tell her the truth."
"Hold on just a minute!"
Nielson shouted without a moment's hesitation. Her cry echoed through the surrounding forest, loud enough to make one worry that a monster might hear it and come investigating.
"What's wrong? You won't tell me where the Smog Panthers are, so searching any further in this situation is going to be difficult. That being the case, it makes more sense to wrap up here and head back, don't you think?"
"Over there! I said over there! Come on, let's go! If we've got time to stand around here, we need to take down as many Smog Panthers as we can!"
Nielson pointed in a certain direction with an enthusiasm that made one want to ask what had happened to her attitude from moments ago.
To Rei, it seemed like she didn't need to be that terrified of the Chief, but that was likely a reaction only he would have.
The fairies of the Fairy Dwelling in the Treant Forest were certainly a rowdy bunch, but they obeyed the Chief's orders without fail.
...For fairies, the Chief was evidently that significant a figure.
Even on the Seremuse Plain, where Rei had first encountered fairies, the ones causing a commotion with bones had ultimately obeyed the Chief when she appeared.
Rei had only seen two Fairy Chiefs in his life, but considering that both instances had played out similarly, his line of reasoning was probably sound.
(Wait, then... what does it mean that the Chief has her eye on Nielson? I can't imagine Nielson being able to do the same things as that Chief. If so, then Nielson's behavior... no, I don't need to go out of my way to puzzle over that.)
Deciding that speculating about fairy politics here wouldn't accomplish much, he dropped the thought.
For whatever reason, Nielson had indicated where the Smog Panthers were. That much was certain.
Rather than probing carelessly and killing her motivation, it was better to simply follow her lead, find the Smog Panthers, and take them down.
(The deer's magic stone... I'll save it for later.)
Since they had just rested, taking another break here would likely make Nielson suspicious. He decided to absorb the magic stone after Nielson fell asleep that night.
Of course, if an opportunity presented itself before then, he wouldn't pass it up.
After all, using a magic stone with Beast Magic was simple—Seto just had to swallow it, and Death Scythe just had to cut it. With even ten-odd seconds to spare, absorbing a magic stone was entirely feasible.
"Over there, huh. Alright, let's move. Seto, if you spot any monsters along the way, I'm counting on you."
"Gruu!"
At Rei's words, Seto rumbled as if to say, Leave it to me!
And so, Rei and his companions set off once more in the direction Nielson indicated.
"Hey, Rei. You're pretty fast for running through a forest. Not as fast as Seto, though."
"Maybe you can't tell from up in the air. Why don't you try running on the ground instead of flying and see for yourself?"
"Ehh... if I did something like that, someone like me would get caught right away."
Bantering back and forth, they pressed forward without a trace of tension.