LEGEND

Chapter 174

Noticing the adventurers fleeing to the forest, Rei went out to the plains because Hasta didn’t want to see adventurers from the same city be killed.

But what he saw was expected in one sense and unexpected in another.

As expected, the four adventurers were being chased by a Gamelion. Adventurers mainly came here for the purpose of hunting Gamelions, which only appeared around this time. It was a situation where they were running away after being overwhelmed by a Gamelion.

But what was unexpected was the Gamelion chasing the adventurers. Even though they were normally 3m in size, those were like a joke compared to this one. The size of this one was nearly 3 times larger than the one Rei had killed.

Rei and Hasta recalled a Gamelion of such size. It was because Rei had heard Ranga talking about the Gamelion rare species as he was leaving the city.

「……」

Rei turned to look at Hasta, who was stunned.

Even an ordinary Gamelion was a rank C monster, a monster that was clearly a higher rank than Hasta, who was a D rank adventurer.

Actually, with regards to the Gamelion Rei had killed earlier, Hast had only been able to cut off its tail. If Rei hadn’t killed it, Hasta probably would have died.

That said, the rare species that was heading towards the forest where Rei was had to be treated as being one rank higher than normal. That is to say, it was a B rank monster. It was a monster on the same level of strength as the Orc King or Spriggan that Rei had fought himself. It was clearly a massive opponent to Hasta.

「Hasta.」

「……Yes. I know. This is an opponent I can’t fight with my strength at the moment. Should I retreat back into the forest?」

「I would be grateful if you could do that. Calm the four adventurers who are being chased, I will appreciate it if you could explain the situation to them as well.」

「Please leave it to me. I can’t help you in battle, but I’ll do something about that area.」

I will help you! Rei, who had thought that Hasta would say that, was surprised as he gave him some instructions.

Of course, if Rei and Set weren’t here, Hasta would still try to do something himself. Fortunately, extraordinary people like Rei and Set were present. Rei had made an attack that had cleanly killed a Gamelion. Because of that, Hasta knew that even if he tried to help Rei fight a B rank Gamelion, he would only get in the way. Knowing his own strength was one of Hasta’s merits.

As they made some simple arrangements, the distance between the four adventurers to the forest were Rei was gradually shrunk.

But as expected, they were at a disadvantage, running away from a rare species Gamelion, a monster that appeared similar to a rabbit and was 8m in size. As the distance from the adventurers to the forest shrunk, so did the distance from the rare species Gamelion to the adventurers.

The despair of approaching death could be seen on the faces of the adventurers, but they still ran towards the forest Rei was in, which was their only hope.

Given the size of the rare species, it was a wise choice to escape into the forest. That was because it would be impossible for it to slip between the trees with such a huge body. It could chase them after destroying the trees, but if it did that, the rare species’ speed would naturally slow down.

(It seems that this Gamelion is surprisingly fast. It’s too close to those guys for me to use magic without rolling them up in it. In that case, it’s better to get between them to make some room.)

Rei thought to himself as he dashed forward silently. Seeing him off, Set flapped his wings and soared into the sky, ready to launch a surprise attack on the rare species to assist Rei.

「Don’t come—! Run away, run away!」

Among the adventurers being chased by the Gamelion, a warrior like man running at the front shouted towards Rei.

However, Rei didn’t listen to him……no, rather, he shouted back to the adventurers approaching in a loud voice.

「I’ll take over from here. Go to the forest! My friend is waiting there!」

「But!」

Maybe guessing that Rei was a mage from his physique, the man in the lead tried to argue back. But by that time, Rei and the other adventurers were already passing each other by and the rare species was firmly in his gaze.

「-Don’t die!」

In the end, the adventurers ran straight for the forest.

Rei didn’t watch them go. Instead, he was already swinging his Death Scythe at the rare species, which was about 5m away.

「Flying Slash!」

Saying the Death Scythe’s skill, Rei let loose a flying slash. As its name, a slash flew out……

「Gaaa~!」

Maybe it felt the power of the slash. The rare species leapt high into the air with cry.

As expected of a monster similar to a rabbit, its jumping power allowed it to easily jump over the flying slash. It was also a jump on the spot. From this, Rei could see the intelligence of the rare species, who didn’t jump forward to close the distance to Rei and his magic item.

Zing~!

The moment Rei thought that, he heard a sound of whistling air and he swung the Death Scythe almost on reflex.

Kin~!

At the same time, a metallic sound echoed out.

「Gya!」

Right after, he heard the rare species scream.

He glanced at a 3m rope like object fall to the ground for a moment before raising his eyebrows.

(That’s right. Because it’s three times larger, its tail is also much longer than other Gamelions. I won’t need to worry about its whip like tail after that first blow.)

「Ga……gaaaaaa!」

It seems that it was angry that its tail had been cut off so easily. The rare species gave a large cry and showed its powerful fangs, which were overwhelmingly larger than the Gamelion Rei had killed earlier.

Nevertheless, Rei didn’t lose his nerve when confronted by its rage and anger. Instead, he started speaking an incantation while pouring magic power into the Death Scythe.

『Flame, burn the enemy according to my thoughts.』

And with that spell, a 30cm diameter ball of fire gathered at the tip of the Death Scythe……

『Fireball!』

At the same time the magic was completed, Rei swung the Death Scythe and released the fireball.

It was fast enough that it would have been unavoidable for low rank monsters. However, Rei was fighting a rare species of Gamelion, which was usually a rank C monster but was now equivalent to a rank B monster. In addition, because it was a rabbit-based monster, its instantaneous power and speed were quite high.

「Gaaa~!」

With a short cry, the rare species avoided the fireball by jumping sideways. Without pause, it pushed all its strength into its hind legs to jump towards Rei and make him pay for cutting off its tail……

Roar!

「!?」

The rare species looked around on reflex to find the source of the sound and saw that the fireball had burnt a 2m diameter area to nothing with its overwhelming power.

Even the grass that was affected by the magic power of the Forest of Monsters and never withered all year round had been turned to ash before Rei’s flames.

(……Okay. Since the rare species has to worry about me shooting magic at it from behind, it can’t ignore me. The forest should be safe for now.)

Hearing footsteps coming from behind and feeling that the adventurers from before had entered the forest, he poured more magic power into the Death Scythe.

「Ga……ga, gaaaaaaaa!」

Realising that it was being overwhelmed by Rei, unlike its earlier angry voice, the rare species gave a cry as if to inspire itself.

「Magic Shield!」

As if to respond to that cry, Rei readied the Death Scythe. However, he also used the skill Magic Shield to deploy a barrier of light.

「GAAAA!」

It seemed to feel a sense of crisis as Rei approached it. It would suffer a loss if it didn’t do anything. Seeing that, the rare species threatened Rei by revealing its large fangs as he came closer.

The Gamelion was over 8m in size. Its mouth and fangs were huge and for someone of Rei’s size, it could swallow him in a single gulp. Even if that was impossible, if it pierced him with its fangs, it could inject poison. And if that happened, Rei would die.

「You’re too naive……!」

Using abilities unique to Gamelions, it jumped forward to strike with its fangs before entering the Death Scythe’s range.

Gakin~!

However, the fangs that should have struck Rei were block by the shield of light.

Almost at the same time, the magic power loaded Death Scythe was swung.

「!? ……Gya!」

The rare species recognised the blade of the Death Scythe approaching it and tried to catch the attack with its right blade ear almost on reflex.

The sharp blade ear would have been able to block it if it had been an ordinary long sword or spear that had been swung. Alternatively, it might even have been able to cut through the weapon. However, the weapon this time was a magic item. It was also created through the Magic Beast Art that was performed with Rei’s massive magic power. As a result, the rare species’ right blade ear could hardly resist it and it was neatly sliced off. Rei flicked his wrist and swept the Death Scythe around, turning the blade towards the rare species again.

「Power Slash!」

Rei used a second skill.

「Gagyaaaaa!」

As the cutting edge of the blade fell, the power of the attack was increased by the Power Slash skill. The rare species was hit by it, dyeing its usually blade proof fur with blood. It was blown away nearly 5m while raising a shriek. After rolling along the ground for several meters, it finally stopped moving.

「……You’re joking?」

Among the adventurers who were watching from the forest, the man who seemed to be the leader murmured.

The man was the warrior who had briefly conversed with Rei earlier.

However, it was already amazing that he had been able to speak. All his other friends had yet to fix their breathing and couldn’t say anything at all.

Rei had blown away the 8m large rare species. He was only around 160cm and looked to be a delicate child.

Even for Hasta, the scene was unexpected. No voice came out as he looked towards Rei.

At the end of his line of sight, he saw the rare species that had fallen to the ground get up unsteadily. The despair that it had brought the adventurers a short while ago was nowhere to be found. It would be right to call it half dead right now.

While feeling the gazes of those 5 people, Rei focused on the rare species without worrying about them.

The one sided situation that had unfolded so far was because Rei had cut off its tail, its only means of long range attack, at the first blow. Without that, it was clear that Rei would have struggled a little more.

「……」

While watching the rare species get up without concern, Rei looked at the sky for a moment.

There, Set flew around, ready to attack at any time.

(Okay, if I don’t use my time well and it runs away, I’ll end up getting nothing out of it. I’ll decide it here.)

As if to redirect the rare species’ attention to himself, Rei deliberately swung the Death Scythe.

Originally, he would have used this chance to use Flying Slash to strike. But because the rare species had already seen him use it, he couldn’t ignore the possibility that it would use the remaining power in its body to jump past it again.

「Gurururururu~!」

But Rei’s aim was to make it jump.

The rare species didn’t have a way to move in the air as it saw Set rapidly approach with a courageous cry…… The next moment, Set struck its head with his claws, using the momentum from dropping from a high altitude.

If only their physical sizes were considered, the Gamelion was more than 4 times larger than Set. However, Set had the power of a Griffon, an A rank monster, as well as the Bracelet of Herculean Strength that he had equipped. A dive attack from the sky from a place the rare species didn’t expect. As a result, the combination of all these factors demonstrated a tremendous power……

Gokyaa~!

Disregarding the difference in size, the single strike crushed the bones in the head of the rare species.

「Haah!」

And just for the sake of precaution, with a loud cry he closed the distance to the rare species, that had fallen to the ground, and swung his magic empowered Death Scythe……

Slash!

From the top of it’s neck to the bottom, it’s head was cleanly cut off.