The day after introducing Essetus and Nakuto to the Silva family, Rei’s party went down to the 17th floor of the dungeon.

Around them was the same greenery they had seen yesterday. An endless deep forest.

The difference compared to the day before was that they didn’t go through the undead floor and, as a result, didn’t draw the attention of any monsters due to the putrid smell.

The sunlight that poured down was very bright, but compared to the 35C heat outside the dungeon, the forest heat was rather mild.

This was especially the case since Rei’s party was standing right outside the small room, which was in a small clearing. They entered the forest, the dense foliage would definitely block a lot of the sunlight.

「Set, can you confirm if there are any monsters eyeing us?」

「Gururu~」

Set shook his head at Rei’s question.

Rei’s party had no issues as they had headed out of the dungeon right after reaching the floor, but there were many adventurers who would be attacked by monsters, suffering small and large injuries, because they started to explore the 17th floor immediately after leaving the 16th floor.

The reason for that was, of course, the putrid smell that would cling to their bodies after passing through the undead floor.

Monsters with a keen sense of smell on the 17th floor would quickly start to gather and target them after sensing that smell.

Adventurers who had just reached this floor would often have their sense of smell dulled after being on the 16th floor and wouldn’t realised that the smell on their bodies was enough to attract monsters. Because of that, many who stepped into the forest right away would be greeted by monsters.

In that sense, Rei’s decision the previous day was probably the right one.

「Since it’s a forest floor, it seems like there will be quite a few monsters we’ll be seeing for the first time.」

「As far as I’m concerned, the only memory I have of a forest floor is the battle of attrition we had against that group of Water Monkeys in the dungeon where the Altar of Inheritance was, so it’s not a great memory.」

Elena said that with a small smile on her face.

However, in contrast to her words, she had a somewhat belligerent expression on her face.

「As for the map……there are no fixed paths on this floor, so we can only roughly gauge the direction.」

「Hmm. This floor is quite a profitable one for adventurers, so you would think that there would be paths formed by adventurers repeatedly walking through, but it seems the plants recover quickly even if they are trampled.」

「Kyu!」

Yellow, who had been flapping his wings and flying around the party, suddenly gave a cry.

Looking over at Set, Set also gave a cry as he turned to look into the forest.

「Even without the putrid smell on us, it seems they’re still ready to welcome us.」

「I guess so. But unlike yesterday, the number of monsters is a lot smaller. We should be able to deal with them without much trouble. Let’s head over.」

Elena looked towards the southwest before starting to walk.

Rei, Set, and Yellow followed after her.

As they stepped into the forest, countless trees surrounded them and some of the grass growing under their feet reached up to their waist.

Ivy wrapped many of the thinner trees in thorns.

Rather than growing naturally, it was clear that they grew in a way as to hinder the progress of adventurers.

「This is more troublesome that the forest floor in the other dungeon. The only bright side is that it’s not impossible to walk through. ……Set, are you okay?」

「Guru~……Gururururu~」

There were some areas Set couldn’t pass through, depending on how close together the trees were. But, if he used his size transformation skill to shrink himself, Set could still manage to get through the narrower gaps.

Relieved by Set’s response, they continued to make their way through the forest.

「If I had more knowledge about environments like this, there are probably a lot of materials I could collect.」

Rei muttered to himself as he cut apart the ivy growing in front of him.

At the base of trees, in the shade, behind large boulders, or around fallen trees, several types of mushrooms could be seen growing.

Having grown up near the mountains, Rei had some knowledge of mushrooms. However, that was only with regards to mushrooms that grew in Japan’s mountains. Naturally, it wasn’t possible for him to judge whether the mushrooms that grew here, a different world to Earth, were safe to eat or not.

(Though, that mushroom looks like a cauliflower mushroom.)

In front of his eyes was a mushroom that looked like a crumpled piece of paper, one that he had picked in Japan many times before.

However, as he didn’t know if it was poisonous or not, he suppressed his urge to pick it as they made their way through the forest.

「Guru~!」

As they cut their own path through the forest, Set suddenly gave a sharp cry. At the same time, there was a sound of branch on a tree in their path breaking as the leaves that blocked their vision scattered into the air.

It was Set’s skill, Evil Eye Impact.

After the leaves fell away, what was revealed was a panther like monster, 1.5m in length, excluding its tail.

The difference between it and an ordinary panther was that its fur was green, letting it blend into the forest better. It also had a third eye on its forehead and a long tail that allowed it to wrap around branches to give it a foothold.

「A Forest Panther」

Rei muttered as he recalled what had been written in the monster encyclopedia.

Forest Panthers were a D rank monster that, as its name suggested, primarily lived in forests.

Its green fur allowed it to blend in with the trees, and unlike ordinary panthers, it didn’t actively hunt down its prey, but specialised in ambushing them from the trees.

Its method of ambush was to wrap its tail around a branch and, when its prey passed under it, drop onto the prey, using its momentum to strike the head with a quick strike of its fore claws.

It had enough strength to kill even a B rank monster in a single hit, but the cost was that it no longer retained the characteristic quick movements of a panther.

In addition, the third eye on its forehead had the ability to use magic to change its fur colour to blend in with its surroundings.

Its proof of subjugation was its right ear. As for materials, its third eye was used in alchemy while its long tail, fangs, and claws used as materials in weapons and armour. Their meat was a perennially favoured food and its fur was quite coveted by the rich.

For some reason, the Forest Panther didn’t make a move while Rei told Elena all that information.

While a Forest Panther had the power to kill even a B rank monster in a single blow, once its hiding spot was revealed, there wasn’t much it could do. That’s why, despite its great strength, it was only a D rank monster.

「……I see. As long as you can find it, it isn’t so hard to deal with?」

Nodding at Rei’s explanation, Elena unsheathed her sword whip.

Inside a forest, surrounded by trees, Elena’s combat power was much greater than Rei, who specialised in fire magic and the large Death Scythe.

Of course, Rei still had other means of attack, such as throwing spears.

「Hah!」

With a sharp cry, Elena’s sword whip flew straight towards the Forest Panther, which was staring at her from up on a tree branch.

The tip of her swords tore through the air, but as it tried to pierce the Forest Panther’s fur.

「GRRRRRR-!」

With a loud roar, the Forest Panther fell from the branch……and dodge Elena’s attack as it hung from the branch with its tail.

「What!?」

As Elena recalled her sword whip, she raised a voice of surprise.

Seeing that, the Forest Panther swung back and returned to its place on the tree branch.

「……It’s quite skilled at avoiding attacks.」

Elena muttered in amazement at the Forest Panther’s unexpected actions.

That said, her tone felt hardly threatened.

Why was that? The reason was extremely simple.

The only way it could avoid her attack was to rotate around the branch its tail was wrapped around. All they had to do was to match the timing and attack above and below the tree branch at the same time.

Of course, the Forest Panther knew that. However, despite being a panther, Forest Panthers moved very slowly, it was a monster that specialised in ambushes and surprise attacks. Once it was found, all its strengths would become its weaknesses.

Its front legs, which were strong enough to kill an enemy in a single attack, slowed it down, making it unable to dodge attacks. Even the tail that could support its weight couldn’t easily unwrap itself from a tree branch.

(In other words, all its strengths get turned into weak points.)

「Rei.」

「I know.」

As Rei thought to himself, he understood what Elena was asking and took a spear out from the Misty Ring.

Half of the spear was missing, making it completely useless for most cases.

However, in Rei’s hands, such a spear became a powerful disposable weapon.

「I’ll go first.」

「Sure. Then I’ll go under.」

Exchanging a few words, Rei took a few steps back before twisting his body and throwing the spear in his right hand.

With Rei’s physical strength, the spear pierced through the air as it flew straight towards the Forest Panther.

「GRRRRR-!」

Giving the same cry as earlier, it tried to rotate around the tree branch as if it were an iron bar……but the moment its head was positioned under the branch, Elena’s sword whip flew out. Just before the sword tip pierced its forehead, Elena flicked her wrist, causing the tip to change directions and pierce the Forest Panther’s head from the side.

「GRR-!」

Its death cry became its final cry as the Forest Panther died.

However, perhaps because it died as it was spinning around the tree branch, it’s strong tail suddenly lost its hold on the branch and the Forest Panther fell to the ground with a loud sound.

At the same time, the sound of its neck snapping under the weight of its body echoed out.

Rei and Elena were stunned by the unexpected turn of events.

「Uhh, there’s no point in us staying here, so let’s just collect the corpse for now. It’s a forest, so with the smell of blood, it would be better not to strip the materials here. ……As for me, I guess what I might get from the Forest Panther’s magic stone.」

Rei’s gaze was directed towards the third eye on its forehead.

It had the ability to blend the colour of its fur into its surroundings……in other words, it had the ability to use a camouflage effect. Because of that, if Set absorbed its magic stone, the Optical Camouflage skill would probably level up.

Among Set’s many skills, Optical Camouflage’s ability to make his disappear stood out, making it highly useful.

Because of that, Rei wanted to collect as many magic stones as he could from monsters with similar abilities.

Storing the Forest Panther’s corpse into the Misty Ring, they began exploring the forest again.

「It seems like there are many monsters, like the Forest Panther, that can blend in with their surroundings……luckily, we have Set here with us. The important thing to remember is to not get caught by surprise.」

「Gurururu~!」

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

「Kyu, Kyukyukyu!」

On Set’s back, Yellow also gave a cry to say he was also helping.

「Yeah, we’ll leave to you……」

While getting a warm feeling from looking at the two of them, Rei cut away the ivy blocking his way with a knife.

As he cut away the ivy hanging from a tree branch, he suddenly remembered something.

「Speaking of which, I still haven’t tested my new skill.」

He remembered that he had yet to use the skill the Death Scythe had learnt on the 16th floor, Pain Burst.

In addition, Rei judged that Set’s new skill that could enhance his sense of smell would be highly useful in the forest as he turned to Set.

「Set, can you try using Sense Enhancement – Smell?」

「Guru~」

Set nodded slightly at Rei’s words and activated his skill.

With his sharpened sense of smell, he was able to sense a lot more odours.

「Gurururu~, Guru~……」

Using his sense of smell to perceive the surroundings, Set was able to pick out a monster’s scent.

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