CH 459

「Now then, since we’ve had lunch, it’s time to continue our exploration.」

After storing away the magic tent he had taken out from the Misty Ring, Rei called out to Elena, who was stretching lightly nearby to refresh herself.

As she twisted her upper body, Elena nodded in agreement.

「Yeah, we ate here because it was a good location, but even though the magic tent can keep away low ranking monsters, I couldn’t help keeping it in my mind. I agree with moving on.」

「Guru~」

Set, who had been eating outside the magic tent instead of with Rei and Elena in order to stay on guard against monsters attracted by the smell of blood from dismantling monsters, gave a short cry.

「Sorry for making you eat outside Set. But we’re relying on your senses.」

「Gururururu~!」

Leave it to me! Set seemed to say with an immediate cry. One of the reasons he was in such a good mood was probably the fragrant smell coming from nearby.

Before eating their lunch, Rei had cut apart the Skyfang and roasted its meat with magic and given it to Set.

It wasn’t because Rei felt guilty about eating lunch inside the magic tent……but more so that Set would be content while keeping guard outside.

Set felt it was a pity that he couldn’t have lunch with Rei, but he was still happy to be able to eat as much Skyfang meat as he wanted. The result was reflected in his mood.

(Well, he did eat that much meat.)

The Skyfang meat that had been cut up and given to Set had been significantly reduced.

Obviously, there had been more raw meat since Rei hadn’t roasted it all, so it was clear that some of it had ended up in Set stomach while Rei and Elena were eating lunch inside the tent.

「Let’s leave here then. We’re still near the entrance of the 14th floor, so if we want to make it to the 15th floor today, we will need to hurry.」

Rei had no objections to Elena’s words and they left the dead end.

They made their way back to the fork in the path near the maze entrance without running into any other monsters.

(You could definitely say we are lucky……but isn’t this a bit too good to be true?)

Rei looked confused at their current situation.

Even though it had been a dead end, they had still dismantled a large number of monsters for their materials. Naturally, there was a strong scent of blood in the area and it wouldn’t have been strange for any monsters to show up. No, it was rather strange that no monsters had been attracted by the blood at all.

Or maybe there was some other reason. While thinking that way, Rei’s party proceeded down the left path at the fork.

As they moved forward cautiously……Set soon noticed something.

Rei noticed it next with Elena hearing something ahead of them shortly after.

Ordinary adventurers would probably have missed the barely audible sound.

It was the sound of something heavy striking the ground.

「……Rei.」

「Yeah. It seems like the reason why monsters haven’t appeared is finally showing itself. Well, I wonder what will come out?」

「The safe assumption is that it’s probably fighting some adventurers.」

The most likely scenario came from Elena’s mouth. Then, as if noticing something, Set, who had been staring at the winding path ahead with a sharp gaze, tilted his head in confusion. Yes, as if he had noticed something unexpected.

「Guru?」

「Set? What’s wrong?」

「Guru……Gurururururu~!」

Set gave a cry as he tugged on Rei’s Dragon Robe with his beak in an attempt to make them hurry up.

While wondering what was happening, Rei and Elena decided that it wasn’t useful to just stay where they were and made their way through the winding path with Set.

The path was winding mostly due to the presence of several large rock……after which an eye opening sight eventually came into view.

It was an area that could be considered an open space of sorts, just like the previous location where Rei had absorbed the magic stones and stripped materials from monsters. But what surprised Rei was the person standing near the entrance to that open space.

She was small in stature and, at first glance, appeared to be nothing more than a child.

In fact, she was a child.

She was wearing a cloak to protect herself from the desert heat, but the face peaking out from beneath the hood was familiar to Rei’s party.

「Byune!?」

Elena was the first person to recognise her and ran over.

Rei and Set ran after her.

「Mm.」

Byune greeted Elena with a brief sound as usual.

「Are you alone today? ……No, you don’t have to answer that.」

After asking Byune, Elena heard the sound of constant battle from within the open space.

「Mm.」

Looking in the direction Byune pointed towards, Rei, Elena, and Set saw a person fighting a monster over 4m tall.

The person was covered by a cloak, but it was clear who it was since they were working with Byune and fighting a 4m tall monster without any visible weapons.

「Vihera huh? But……that’s a Cyclops, right? Isn’t it dangerous to deal with one alone all things considered?」

「Mmm.」

At Elena’s question, Byuen tilted her head slightly with barely any change in expression.

Her gaze didn’t reflect any emotions, but Elena, who had interacted with Byune to some extent, could sense the trust in her eyes.

「Cyclops, a nasty monster has showed up. If there are any other monsters around, it’s no surprise they didn’t come our way.」

Just in case, Rei took out the Death Scythe from the Misty Ring.

The Cyclops was a one eyed giant monster over 4m tall and with monstrous strength befitting it’s massive size. It also had enough intelligence to know how to wield weapons. It had a single horn growing from its head and barely wore any clothes other than the fur of monsters and animals that it killed around its waist.

They preferred to attack with pure physical strength, but could also shoot magic power from its eye in the form of a shock wave.

It was a C rank monster and the proof of subjugation was its right ear. Its skin was tough enough to be used as armour and its horn and eye could be used as materials and catalysts in making magic items. Its bone and sinews were also used in the production of weapons.

「Even if a Cyclops is a C rank monster, it’s close to B rank. It’s hard to believe that a monster with such strength would be found on the 14th floor……watch out!」

The Cyclops swung down a 3m long hammer made of some kind of metal as Rei quickly threw a stone from the ground at it. When the stone hit the Cyclops, it slowed down for a moment allowing Vihera to move to the side to dodge it. Jumping onto the hammer as it hit the ground, leaving a crater, she ran up the shaft and onto the arm of the Cyclops as she tried to strike its eye with the blades extending from her arms.

However, the Cyclops seemed to be waiting for her as it bared its sharp fangs and attempted to bite her.

Realising she was at a disadvantage, Vihera changed the timing of her kick to the Cyclops’ shoulder before leaping past its head and landing on the ground. Facing it with a large gap between them, Vihera shouted with excitement.

「AHA, AHAHAHAHAHAHA! I never expected to find such a powerful monster in such a place. I thought it was going to be a boring request, but I’m in luck today! Come now. Show me your boiling blood. This is the moment where our lives collide, our blood ignites. For this moment that makes my heart boil! Oh, please don’t get in our way!」

It seemed like her excitement was at her peak. She looked at the Cyclops with wet eyes as if she were looking at a beloved partner and glared at Rei before dashing forward and lunging towards the Cyclops.

「GAAAAAaAaaaaaAAaa–!」

The Cyclops probably had its own thoughts as it looked at Vihera. Raising a loud shout, it raised its hammer and charged at her.

As soon as it saw that Vihera was within range, it swung its hammer again. But this time, instead of swinging it down, it swung it sideways in a cleaving motion.

It had probably expected Vihera to move sideways in an attempt to avoid it, but she jumped instead, landing on the hammer like before.

However, the difference this time was that instead of running up the Cyclops’ arm towards its head, she stayed on the hammer as it moved sideways.

The moment the hammer finished its arc and stopped, she spun on the spot and slammed her heel into the Cyclops’ hand.

……No, the armour at her heel was a magic item similar to the ones on her hands, so using magic power, a blade that extended from her heel stabbed into the right thumb of the Cyclops’ hand that was holding the hammer.

The blade from her heel struck with inhuman strength and severed the joint of the Cyclops’ thumb in a single blow.

「GAAaaa–!」

Unlike its brave shout from early, the Cyclops gave a scream in pain.

However, as expected of a C rank monster, while screaming, it let go of the hammer it could no longer support and swung a fist towards Vihera, who was still in the air.

If it had been fighting an ordinary opponent, it would have been a fatal strike, crushing its target and slamming it into a rock face. However, the woman it was currently dealing with was someone known as the Mad Beast within Exil.

……Blades extended from Vihera’s heel like before.

Naturally, the Cyclops’ fist was pierced by the extended blade. Vihera twisted her body the moment the blade pierced the hand, destroying all the bones in the back of the Cyclops’ hand.

Jumping off the fist, she spun in the air before landing on the ground with barely a sound and quickly confronting the Cyclops.

「GAAaaaAAaaaA-!」

The Cyclops screamed in pain like before……no, it screamed in even greater pain as it held down its destroyed left hand with its thumbless right hand.

「Phew, you really are strong……I’m a little tired from all my exertion. I’d like it if you improved your skills further……but it’s pointless to tell a Cyclops that.」

Their series of exchanges seemed to have been unsatisfactory for Vihera. She no longer had her earlier excitement. Giving a small sigh, she stepped towards the Cyclops, which could no longer use its hands, in order to finish it off.

The Cyclops had the ability to heal itself through something like regeneration, but as expected, the wounds to its hands couldn’t heal in such a short period of time. As Vihera approached it, it took several steps back.

As Vihera continued to walk towards it, it continued to step back, until after a minute……

「G-Ga?」

Eventually, the Cyclops’ back hit a rock wall. There was no more room to escape.

「Fufu~, where are you going? Your opponent is right here, isn’t she? Come on, you’ve got no skills, only strength and barbarism, so it would be a disgrace if you were intimidated. At least fight with the pride of a C rank monster to the very end. Otherwise……you’ll end up as a mere lump of meat, won’t you?」

One of the reasons why the normally ferocious Cyclops was so frightened by Vihera was due to her extraordinary strength. However, a bigger reason was Vihera’s love for combat to the extent that she was called the Mad Beast.

A bloodthirsty beast. There probably weren’t many people more fitting of the expression than her.

Her cloak, stained with Cyclops blood, fluttered in the wind as she took one step towards her opponent at a time, who was backed into a rock with no way of escape.

There was a wet light in her eyes from pleasure of the struggle, though less than her previous peak.

If someone without any prior knowledge were to see Vihera now, they might have been blinded by the look in her eyes that could be best described as lascivious.

However, those that did know her would probably be frozen and unable to move from her expression filled with madness.

Cloaked in such madness, she approached the Cyclops that had gone from fighter to prey. ……Eventually, with a single blow, the Cyclops’ head exploded and its life disappeared with it.