「……Is that really all there is?」
Rei muttered as he looked at the Ogre’s corpse lying on the stone floor.
The Ogre blood dripped from the tip of the spear in his hand to the floor
There was a wound on the Ogre’s forehead where the spear had pierced through, causing a strong metallic scent to spread into the surroundings.
An Ogre, as Rei knew it, should have been able to shrug off at least some wounds rather than dying from a single blow.
「Is this really an Ogre? Or maybe I’ve just gotten that much stronger since then?」
Rei murmured to himself before shaking his head.
It was true that he felt he had become stronger since he had gone into the dungeon with Elena’s group.
But even so, looking at the way this Ogre died, it felt like the problem lay somewhere else entirely.
「In the first place, is this really an Ogre?」
The Ogre he had fought before was about five meters tall, yet the corpse before him was only about three meters in height.
That was a difference of two meters, and its strength certainly didn’t seem befitting of a C rank monster.
Rei tilted his head in confusion, but then he remembered hearing that the materials from the monsters in this dungeon were of poor quality. If so, maybe this was the reason? He pondered over it.
「Actually, considering the Goblin’s head exploded while this Ogre’s head is intact, it must be fairly strong for this dungeon, but……」
It was still too weak, as he sighed.
「I wanted you to put up enough of a fight to at least make me use the Fire Emperor’s Crimson Armour.」
Although he complained, Rei knew that standing around wouldn’t change anything, so he touched the Ogre’s corpse and stored it into the Misty Ring.
「I got a skill from the Ogre’s magic stone last time……but is this one really going to work?」
He tilted his head again as he looked around.
It was a spacious area with nothing in particular inside.
There were no treasure chests, and naturally, there were no stairs leading further down.
「……How did that Ogre even get here?」
It was much smaller than the Ogre Rei had seen before, but it was still about three meters tall.
It would have been impossible for it to pass through the corridor Rei had just come from……well, maybe not impossible, but definitely extremely difficult.
「If it didn’t just appear here directly……did it force its way through that narrow corridor? Well, it probably isn’t impossible, but still.」
The image of an Ogre squeezing through the corridor by turning sideways or crouching down crossed his mind and he couldn’t help but give a wry smile at the strange thought.
However, that would explain how the Ogre had ended up in this room.
「It somehow managed to squeeze through the narrow corridor, finally making it to this room. But because it didn’t want to go back into the narrow corridor, it just stayed here……is that it? Although it’s also possible it just spawned here directly.」
Having convinced himself of that, he examined his current surroundings once more.
However, once the Ogre’s corpse was stored away, the only things left in the room were the bloodstains and a club.
「I’m not asking for a treasure chest, but I would have at least liked some stairs. ……If there aren’t any stairs here, they must be in the other room. ……I guess I’ll take this at least.」
Picking up the club the Ogre had been holding, Rei stored it into the Misty Ring.
It seemed like it had been made by breaking off a tree branch and it hadn’t even been shaped properly.
The only thing that had been done was to trim off the other branches that would have gotten in the way of swinging it. It was a weapon more accurately described as a large branch rather than a club.
Even so, Rei decided it could at least be used as firewood.
「Did I miss anything……nope.」
He gave the spacious room one last glance before leaving.
「For a newly formed dungeon……it feels both narrow and wide.」
Of course, compared to the dungeons Rei had explored before, the one with the Altar of Inheritance, let alone the one in Exil, this dungeon was incredibly small.
In that sense, it was narrow, but the fact that it already had this much space despite being newly formed was already surprising enough.
It wasn’t much of a threat right now, but if it continued to grow, it might not be that long before it would start causing damage to Gilm.
As he walked straight down the path with such thoughts in mind……he heard the cries of Goblins once again.
「Again? There really are a lot of Goblins. They’re weak, but their numbers make them extremely annoying.」
He sighed, readied his spear, and dashed forward to close the distance to the Goblins walking down the corridor ahead.
He couldn’t help but feel that this was nothing short of bullying the weak.
「Gururururu!」
Along with Set’s cry, his Fire Breath covered the three Goblins that had emerged from the rocks leading to the dungeon.
He then swung his front claws at the Goblins, who were thrashing about and rolling on the ground after being set alight.
There was no way a mere Goblin could withstand a blow from a Griffon……especially one empowered by the Bracelet of Herculean Strength. Their lives were snuffed out instantly.
Seeing that, Set gave a satisfied cry before heading back to the spot he had been lying in earlier……
「Wait, hold on a second!」
Ranga, who had been watching the scene, shouted with his eyes wide open.
In fact, it was impressive that Ranga was able to act so quickly after seeing what just happened.
The other soldiers were all frozen, unable to comprehend what they had just seen.
「Guru~?」
What is it? Set gave a questioning cry.
The round eyes he directed at Ranga were so pure and innocent it was hard to believe he had effortlessly slaughtered three Goblins just a few seconds ago.
Are you going to play with me? Or maybe give me food like usual? Receiving a gaze filled with such expectations, Ranga likely realised that voicing his current questions to Set would yield no answers.
He sighed and scratched his head.
「I guess I have no choice but to wait until Rei gets back.」
「R-Right. ……Even so, to think Set can use Fire Breath……」
One of the soldiers, finally recovering, muttered as if he couldn’t believe what he had just seen.
When Rei returned to Gilm, Ranga had already been stationed at this dungeon.
Because of that, the explanation Rei had given Daska, that Set was a Griffon rare species, hadn’t reached them yet.
「Normally, wouldn’t that make him either a higher ranking species or a rare species?」
「No, but he’s a Griffon, you know? Actually, he’s Set, right?」
「……To me, the fact that it’s Set makes it easier to accept he’s a rare species. I can’t imagine a normal Griffon, even a tamed one, understanding human words that well.」
「Is it definitely a rare species? Not a higher ranking species?」
「I’ve never heard of a higher ranking species of Griffon.」
「Well, a rare species is pretty similar then. In the first place, our senses have been numbed by Set, you normally don’t just get to see a Griffon so easily.」
Listening to the soldiers talking behind him, Ranga gently reached out his hand towards Set, who was looking at him with expectant eyes.
「Gurururu~」
Set stretched his head out towards the approaching hand.
Pet me, pet me, Set seemed to say. Or perhaps, praise me, praise me. In response to those demands, Ranga met his expectations.
Perhaps enjoying being petted, Set gave a happy cry.
「Set is just Set, huh.」
As Ranga muttered while watching Set, the other soldiers nodded in agreement.
At the very least, the Set currently being petted by Ranga was undeniably the Set they all knew.
Ranga truly felt from the bottom of his heart that even if Set was a rare species, there was no need to fear him.
The other soldiers watching Set act so affectionately towards Ranga felt the exact same way.
「He’s so cute……」
「Yeah.」
「I’m so jealous of Rei……」
「Yeah.」
「I want to be a tamer too……」
「Yeah.」
Amidst that conversation, one of the soldiers suddenly spoke up as if realising something.
「Wait a minute. Set is a Griffon, which is an A rank monster. And rare species are generally treated as being one rank higher than their base species, right? Doesn’t that mean Set is an S rank monster?」
「Whoa, that’s amazing. I’ve never seen an S rank monster before.」
「So he’s on the same level as a Dragon?」
「……Wow……I don’t even know what to say besides wow……」
Despite expressing their surprise in words, no one was actually afraid of Set.
They knew what kind of existence Set was, he had lived in Gilm up until now. The fact that they had just convinced themselves that Set was just Set played a big part as well.
Everyone was smiling affectionately at Set despite their surprise.
It was the ultimate proof that everyday behaviour truly mattered.
「H-Hey, Set. Can you do anything else besides Fire Breath? If you can, show us!」
Asked by one of the soldiers, Set turned his head towards an empty space away from the tents.
「Gururu~!」
With that cry, two water balls, each about 40 cm in diameter, appeared around Set.
The two water spheres chased each other, crossed paths, and moved around as if dancing in the air.
The soldiers, including Ranga, were captivated by the sight……and the next moment, the water spheres crashed into each other, spilling water onto the ground.
「Awesome!」
「……Wow, that’s amazing.」
「I never thought I’d see something like this out here.」
While some voiced their admiration, others expressed surprise for a completely different reason.
「Water Ball on top of Fire Breath? Aren’t those opposing elements?」
「And two water balls at the same time. ……Just how strong is he?」
「At the very least, Goblins won’t stand a chance.」
Set, who could freely use skills of conflicting elements like fire and water, was an unbelievable existence to the soldiers.
But that wasn’t all.
「Gurururururu~!」
Facing the rock at the dungeon entrance, Set exhaled his Crystal Breath.
The soldiers, who had expected him to use Fire Breath again, stared at the dungeon entrance, unable to understand what was happening…… More accurately, they saw a single Goblin that had emerged from the entrance become coated in crystal.
However, since Set’s Crystal Breath was low level, it only formed a thin layer of crystal over the Goblin’s body.
If it were just that, even a Goblin could have slowly chipped away the crystal on its surface……
「Gururu!」
As soon as Set finished using Crystal Breath, he leaped forward, attacking the Goblin in a flash.
With a single swing of his front paw, the crystal clinging to the Goblin’s body shattered, and the Goblin’s body was pulverized along with it.
Normally, Set’s strike would have looked nothing short of a brutal attack, but the shattering crystal caught the sunlight, turning it into a somewhat fantastical sight.
Of course, that was only on the surface.
After the Goblin’s body was destroyed and Set landed on the ground, the intense smell of blood and the foul stench of internal organs filled the air.
「Gururururu.」
Perhaps finding the smell unpleasant, Set exhaled Fire Breath once more, completely incinerating the remains of the Goblin scattered on the ground.
The smell of blood from a few seconds ago was replaced by the smell of burning flesh.
While that smell was still unpleasant, the soldiers felt it was much better than the stench of Goblin blood and guts.
A few seconds passed. One of the soldiers finally came back to his senses and approached to check the charred remains of the Goblin.
「……Wow……wait, what’s this? This is……」
The soldier, who had been exclaiming over the burnt remains of the Goblin, noticed a piece of crystal lying nearby.
「I see. This was from earlier……Captain Ranga, what should we do with this? It feels like a waste to just leave it here.」
Ranga hesitated for a moment when the soldier asked while holding the crystal fragment he picked up from the ground, but he quickly answered.
「You’re right, it might be a bad idea for us to dispose of these crystal fragments ourselves. Let’s collect them for now and ask Rei what he wants to do with them when he gets back from the dungeon.」
「Aww……what a waste.」
A different soldier, not the one who picked up the crystal, complained regretfully.
「No, seriously…… how can you say that after watching that scene? That’s a crystal covered in Goblin meat and blood, you know? Even if I was told I could have it, I think I’d pass.」
「Huh? What are you talking about? A crystal is a crystal. Even if you say it was covered in Goblin meat and blood, the person you sell it to won’t know that, right? Still, Set’s attack just now is incredibly convenient. A rare species that can use multiple skills, huh.」
「Hey, hey, don’t get any weird ideas, okay? If you antagonise Rei, you’ll end up just like Azoth Firm.」
Just to be safe, one of the guards warned the soldier who had called the crystal a waste, and the soldier nodded as if it were obvious.
He had absolutely no intention of doing something as foolish as making an enemy of Rei just to earn some pocket change.