「Phew, we managed to make it this far. ……Rei, Elena, Set. Thank you for escorting us here.」

There was a small room with a magic circle on the 12 floor. There, Pleiades, who had just come down from the 11th floor, gave a sigh of relief as he spoke to Rei and Elena.

「No, we were also able to learn a lot about the desert floors. It wasn’t an issue.」

In fact, if they hadn’t know that the stairs going down to the next floor would be in the open desert, they would have spent a lot more time on the 11th floor. Even if Set could search the surroundings from the sky, looking for a small enclosed room was completely different from looking for exposed stairs.

「Gurururu~」

Set probably understood that. He gave a cry of agreement to Elena, who replied to Pleiades.

「……It’s good to hear you say that. Then, we’ll been heading back up to the surface. Otis, Sharl.」

「Mm, thanks to both of you……Set as well. If we meet on the surface next time, I’ll buy you drinks.」

「Rei, if you ever get the chance to show us your magic items sagain, I’d love to see them. Also, these desert floors are different to explore compared to the previous floors, so be careful.」

With urging from Pleiades, the three of them finally went back up using the magic circle near the stairs.

Seeing them off, Rei and Elena both looked around.

「Gurururu~?」

What are we going to do? Set seemed to ask with a cry as he looked at the two of them.

Elena spoke up as if to answer him.

「So, what would you like to do? Yellow seems to have some issues, so I’m hesistant to explore this floor right now.」

As long as Yellow stayed inside Rei’s Dragon Robe, Rei couldn’t fight with his Death Scythe……or rather, it wasn’t that he couldn’t, but it would be better for him not to fight. It would have been a different story if Yellow was a little bigger, but it was still a young dragon. It was very likely that it would be in a bad state if Rei had to fight.

「Yes, that’s true. It’s already been a few hours since noon when I think about it. We also need to make some preparations for tomorrow’s exploration. ……Oh, there’s also the magic stones I got on the 11th floor, should I absorb them here?」

Muttering to himself, Rei counted the number of magic stones in his mind.

Three Sandworm magic stones, one Sandsnake magic stone, and one Grand Scorpion magic stone.

(Sandworms aside, the question is how to split the other two. I hope they appear on the 12th floor as well.)

Looking over at Elena and Set as he thought, neither of them seemed to have any particular objections. One gave a small nod while the other a cry.

「All right then, should we absorb them outside?」

「Hm? Wouldn’t it be better to do it here? If it’s the same as the previous floor, it will just be an endless desert outside the room. For adventurers active on these floors, like Pleiades, wouldn’t they see it?」

She was probably concerned for Rei. Elena said that with a worried expression compared with her usual dignified look.

However, after hearing what she had to say, Rei reached to stroke Set’s back with a small smile on his face.

「Don’t worry. I’ll have Set keep an eye out on the surroundings before absorbing the magic stones. It will be hard for both other adventurers and monsters. Compared to the outside, where Set can fly in the sky, it’s harder to watch out for adventurers suddenly emerging from the magic circle. ……Right?」

「Gurururu~!」

Leave it to me! Set seemed to say with a confident cry.

Elena seemed relieved after seeing that. She gave a small nod as she gently reached out to stroke Set’s head.

「Then, I’ll leave the preliminary scouting to you.」

「Guru~」

With Set giving a cry in response to ELena, their party left the room with the magic circle and stairs.

 

 

「……Heh. Well, things have changed a lot again.」

「You’re right, this definitely doesn’t look like the same sea of sand on the 11th floor.」

As soon as they left the room, Rei and Elena took a look at their surroundings while Set prepared to explore from the sky.

That said, the two of them were more focused on taking in the surroundings rather than keeping watch, which Set was doing.

The 11th floor had been a sea of sand as far as the eye could see, the scenery matching that of a stereotypical desert. Compared to that, there were no sand dunes on the 12th floor. The ground was just endless ordinary dirt with many rocks and cacti everywhere.

While it was still a desert, it was a rocky desert.

(This is a little annoying.)

Rei turned his gaze to the large number of huge boulders as he thought to himself.

The fact that there were so many rock naturally meant that there were many places to hide, meaning that there were many suitable ambush locations. Not only that, even if Set flew in the sky like he was currently doing, it wouldn’t be possible to completely explore the surroundings just by looking around like the 11th floor. His sense of smell, hearing, and his sixth sense would become even more important.

「Set, please.」

「Guru~」

Set gave a cry at Rei’s words and flew into the sky after taking several steps.

Watching Set fly off from the ground, Rei picked up a rock that was lying around.

「What’s wrong?」

「Nothing, I just thought that this stone could be used as a weapon.」

「……I don’t think it’s necessary to collect rocks since you already have spears. Especially since desert rocks are likely to shatter even if they hit anything because of the environment they were formed in.」

「Maybe……so!」

Along with those words, Rei threw the rock with a flick of his wrists.

It had just been a thought he had come up with and he didn’t really intend to use them as weapons.

After talking for a few minutes, Set flew back down to the ground with a flap of his wings.

「Guru~」

Seeing how Set’s cry indicated that there weren’t any problems, Rei judged that there probably weren’t any other adventurers in the vicinity.

Still, just in ccase, they moved to the shade of a 5m tall rock a short distance away from the small room.

「Well then, should we start absorbing the magic stones right away? First of all, there are more than two Sandworm magic stones. Set.」

Saying that, Rei threw a Sandworm magic stone, that he had taken out from the Misty Ring, over towards Set.

Catching it with his beak, Set swallowed it as is……

「Nothing, I guess?」

「Gurururu~」

After stroking Set to try to cheer him up, Rei took the curled up, sleeping Yellow out of the Dragon Robe and onto Set’s back before taking out another Sandworm magic stone for his turn. Throwing the magic stone into the air, Rei swung the Death Scythe.

The sharp attack seemed to tear through space itself. The Sandworm’s magic stone was instantly cut apart in mid air before vanishing. ……Without any kind of skill notification.

「Is this also no good? Considering the results from the monsters all the way to the 10th floor, are the monsters from this dungeon just incompatible?」

「How was it at the Altar of Inheritance? Did you manage to get various magic stones back then?」

At Elena’s casual question, Rei dug through his memory……

「I learned and leveled up several skills including Flying Slash, Power Slash, and Water Ball.」

「If you think about it, dungeons aren’t necessarily incompatible, right? The sizes of the dungeons were also different, so that might be an issue. ……Any how, it’s a pity you couldn’t learn any new skills, but you don’t have to be depressed over it. It’s not Rei and Set’s fault that you couldn’t learn any new skills.」

Rei nodded at Elena’s words, who seemed to be tryinig to encourage him.

The next magic stone Rei took out was the one from the Grand Scorpion.

It was a magic stone from a monster at the top of the food chain on the 11th floor, both Set and the Death Scythe should be able to acquire a skill from it. With that in mind, Rei started to consider who would abosorb the magic stone before immediately coming to a decision.

「Set.」

「Gururu~?」

Is it fine for me to take it? Set seemed to ask with his head tilted. Rei gave a small nod in response.

Neither of them had noticed it, but Yellow had been ovewhelmed by the heat on Set’s back and had flown back to Elena’s arms with a flap of its wings.

Rei still had some hesitation as he looked at the magic stone. However, Set’s skills made him come to the decision that it was more promising for Set to absorb the Grand Scorpion magic stone he had.

Currently, Set’s highest level skills were Lv.3 Fire Breath and Poison Claw. The Grand Scorpion had been good at poison attacks. In other words, Set’s Poison Claw could become even stronger. With such expectations, he threw the magic stone over to Set, who caught it in his beak and swallowed it immediately.

【Set has acquired the skill 『Poison Claw Lv.4』】

An announcement echoed through Rei’s mind. It had been a while since he had heard it and he was quite relieved.

He had started to become a little worried because he hadn’t learned any new skills for a while.

「Gurururururururururururururu~!」

Contrary to Rei’s relief, Set gave a joyful cry.

Set’s cry echoed into the surroundings.

Mysteriously, most of the monster that had been heading in their direction instinctively sensed danger when they heard Set’s cry and sneaked back into their burrows or changed their course.

「Did you succeed in acquiring a skill?」

Rei nodded with a smile as Elena asked with a little excitement.

Her hands stroked Set’s back, who was shaking his body with joy.

「So, what skill did you learn?」

「It’s not a new skill, but a strengthening of an existing skill. Poison Claw has become stronger.」

「Poison Claw? That’s a skill that seems to match the Grand Scorpion. Isn’t it also a useful skill for Set? It’s hard to use flashy skills in front of others, but Poison Claw isn’t that visible.」

「That’s right. In that sense, it’s a useful skill. However, I think that poison has become Set’s most powerful skill as a Griffon……」

「That’s for sure.」

If asked whether a skill like Poison Claw matched Set as a Griffon, both of them would say no.

In particular, it was a skill that didn’t fit in with Set’s image.

(Well, that’s why it can be used to strike other people by surprise.)

In the first place, ordinary Griffons didn’t use poison, so the effect would be massive. As Elena said, it wasn’t a flashy skill, so it could be used normally even in places where people weren’t aware of Set’s uniqueness. And, since it had reached Lv.4, the poison would be even stronger. With that in mind, it was a skill that could only be called a killing strike for those seeing it for the first time.

「Gurururu~」

Set seemed to have finally settled down. After giving a howl like cry, Set rubbed his head against Rei while Rei stroked his head.

Rei had a smile on his face as he stroked Set.

Elena also smiled with a soft expression as she watched the two of them.

After a few minutes, Rei finally stroked Set to his fullest and took out the magic stone of the Sandsnake as he focused his mind on the Death Scythe for his turn.

「Well then……Set has mastered a skill. Then so will I!」

Saying that, he threw the magic stone into the air before striking it with the Death Scythe.

Space seemed to tear apart as he slashed and the magic stone disappeared after being cleanly sliced.

【Death Scythe has acquired the skill『Flying Slash Lv.3』】

Such an announcement went through Rei’s mind.

「……Huh? Why is it Flying Slash?」

In his involuntary confusion, Rei turned to look at the Death Scythe in his hands.

However, there was no change and the Death Scythe was still there.

「Rei? What’s wrong? Did you fail to learn a new skill?」

Maybe he looked worried or confused about something. Elena asked without thinking, but Rei just shook his head.

「No, something unexpected just happened.」

「Something unexpected?」

「Yeah. The skill I learned from absorbing the magic stone of the Sandsnake was Lv.3 Flying Slash.」

「Flying Slash……that name, is it that skill? The one that sends a slash out?」

Because it was an easy skill to use, Rei had used it a lot, so it must have left a strong impression. Rei nodded in response to Elena’s question.

「Yeah. But, I don’t know why a Sandsnake……or rather, why I could learn a skill like Flying Slash from a snake monster.」

「That is……is there any sort of similar attack that a Sandsnake can make?」

「If I consider that, it could be possible……well, I was a bit confused about the skill that was upgraded, but it’s nice to be able to learn something at all, so I might test it in a bit.」

Rei tried to convince himself as went to check how much more powerful Flying Slash had become.

On a side note, at a late date, he found out that Sandsnakes had an attack they rarely used where they would shoot out their poisonous fangs, which was probably the reason why Flying Slash was levelled up.

************************************************

【Set】

『Water Ball Lv.2』『Fire Breath Lv.3』『Wind Arrow Lv.1』『King’s Awe Lv.1』『Poison Claw Lv.4』new『Size Transformation Lv.1』『Tornado Lv.1』『Ice Arrow Lv.1』『Optical Camouflage Lv.1』

【Death Scythe】

『Corrosion Lv.2』『Flying Slash Lv.3』new『Magic Shield Lv.1』『Power Slash Lv.2』『Wind Hand Lv.2』『Terrain Manipulation Lv.1』

Poison Claw: Secretes poison from claws and uses the claws to poison any injuries. The strength of the poison changes depending on the the level.

Flying Slash: A skill that sends out a flying slash. The power is high, but only one slash can be shot out.

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