In response to the goblin subjugation quest, they had entered the forest beside the highway for about an hour. A scream burst out from the bush that Set had fired a water ball into and 20 goblins appeared, surrounding Rei.
「Ambush...no, would they lay an ambush so far into the forest? In that case, I probably ran into this group of goblins by chance.」
Rei muttered while holding the Death Scythe. His eyes quickly observed the goblins.
(2 rusted long swords and 3 similar daggers, the rest have clubs. ...The story was that goblins with high intelligence could use weapons, but all the members have weapons. Though it's possible that only goblins with high intelligence have gathered...)
「Hah!」
A goblin at the back hurled a stone in a preemptive strike. Pouring magic power into the Death Scythe, the stone was cut down in one strike. All the huge, 1m diameter trees in the area were also cut.
He didn't think that he would be able to cut tree trunks of that thickness. Though he was surprised when all the trees started falling, he immediately shouted to Set to take advantage of the situation to fight.
「Set, defeat the goblins isolated by the trees!」
「Gururu~!」
The trees slowly fell, he gathered the thoughts in his mind as they fell towards the group of goblins.
(In the end, its best if I find out if there is a rare species like they mentioned in the guild. I don't see it here, the leader probably realizes that there is a danger at the front lines.)
「Gyi~! Gyi~!」
「Gyi~!」
「Gigyi~!」
The goblins divided into to two groups to evade the falling tree as the shouted something at each other. Rei confirmed the situation and set up the Death Scythe to his right. Set moved himself respectively to the left.
「Haah!」
As the trees suddenly fell down, the goblins were thrown into confusion. Rei entered and wielded the large scythe with abandon. The magic blade cut sharply through the trees without any resistance. The goblins weren't able to block it. Rei's large scythe went through the bodies, limbs and parts of the heads of the goblins without any resistance.
One strike. Most of the goblins in the area died with one hit or where put in a state of near death.
Among the goblins who had weapons, the one with the rusty long sword instinctively thrust out the weapon to block the large scythe. However, compared to the magic item battle axe that Vargas used, using the rusty sword to block the Death Scythe was like telling it to catch a huge waterfall with a small gla.s.s. The resistance was like no resistance, it smoothly cut through the long sword, arm and body, covering the ground in offal.
「Gyi~!」
The remaining goblins divided by the tree, who saw more than half of their group killed in one attack, ran in all direction at full speed to try to escape.
Rei thought whether to chase for a moment, the request to subjugate goblins had only asked for 5. It was better to take the killed goblins as food for Set and the Death Scythe while there was time. Because of this, he judged that they wouldn't chase.
「Gururururu~!」
Set's cry could be heard from the other side of the tree. Rei judged that the other side had been cleaned up with no problems and moved over the big tree to Set.
What was left were the corpses of goblins crushed by water b.a.l.l.s, torn by sharp forefeet claws or bitten to pieces. In total, there were 4. It was two fewer than Rei, Rei had killed 6 with a single blow while Set had knocked down 4. If you think about the fleeing goblins, the fight was good.
「Guru~」
As Rei saw it when he approached, he praised Set and rubbed his head. A wry smile floated onto Rei's face, in contrast with the the goblin corpses scattered around.
After patting him for a little while, he praised Set's results, turned around and began collecting the proof that the subjugation was completed.
By the way, in the case of goblins, not many shops in the guild purchased their materials, because of that, he only stripped the right ears and magic stones.
「Set, keep watch of the surroundings while I recover the proof of subjugation and magic stones.」
「Guru~」
When Rei saw Set nod, he took the mithril knife from his waist...then put it back and took a iron dagger out from the Misty Ring. It was an item he had taken from Vargas's companion.
(As expected, it's too much of a waist to use the mithril knife to cut up the goblins. I obtained this with much effort, I might as well use this dirty and scratched knife.)
The right ear of a goblin, which was the proof of subjugation, was chopped off with the knife, the chest was cut open and a magic stone the size of his little finger tip taken out from the heart.
(Aside from the Water Bear, I don't feel particularly troubled killing human like monsters. Though the fusion with Zepairu may have contributed, when I killed them...I'm lucky I didn't feel hesitant or worried. Though I feel a little disgust at killing something human like, that was it. Maybe because this is Elgin and not j.a.pan, in Rome do as the Romans do. In the first place, it's not good to be an adventurer if you have a feeling of not wanting to kill the target.)
While thinking like so in his mind, Rei cut of a right ear and dug out a magic stone one after the other.
By the way, though he collected the magic stones of the goblins, as they were one of the weakest monsters, Rei judged that it was impossible for Set or the Death Scythe to gain a skill even if they absorbed the magic stones and put the stones into the Misty Ring without hesitation. The magic stone of goblins were sold for the super cheap price of one copper coin, still, it was considered better than nothing.
After finis.h.i.+ng the dismantling of the four goblins that Set knocked down, Rei turned his eyes to the goblins weapons for a moment. However, the long sword and daggers were rusted and useless, he still couldn't repair them by himself. Though it might be possible to ask a blacksmith or weapon's shop, the repair cost would probably make it a deficit. When Rei judged determined that it would be deficit, he crushed the weapons with the Death Scythe's handle so that they couldn't be reused by the goblins that ran away earlier.
By the way, although clubs were also scattered around, he left them as they were. Though he called it a club, they were just branches used as club subst.i.tutes, Rei judged that they could be made immediately just by taking branches from trees in the vicinity and left them alone.
「Well, next are the ones I defeated. Set, the tree...no.」
As he was about to speak, he remembered what he tried in the Forest of Monsters. A tree that was knocked down then could be stored in the Misty Ring. In that case, this tree should also be able to be stored.
Though there was nothing particularly useful in storing the tree, Rei was optimistic about it and thought that it would come in handy.
「Alright. Now the object obstructing the way has been temporarily removed. Set, continue to keep watch.」
「Guru~」
Because the fallen tree had disappeared, there was now s.p.a.ce to move about. Leaving the watch to Set, Rei began dismantling the goblins that he had killed. The goblins where in a different state compare with Set's because he had cut them with the Death Scythe, torsos, hands, feet and heads were everywhere with offal and blood on the ground, flesh was scattered around. In such a state, Rei looked for heads to cut the right ears off, the magic stones were also taken from the hearts. By accident, as Rei reached out to the other corpses, he felt a gaze. It seemed that something was quietly observing them.
「Guru~」
Set was wary of the surroundings and was restless and looked sharply around.
(There's an uncomfortable feeling, but I can't pin down the position. ...Is it the rare species I heard in the guild? What is it's aim? Is it safely waiting for us to leave? Or is it waiting to attack us by surprise when we finish dismantling and are not on guard? I would like the magic stone of that monster if it can hide that not even Set can find it. I should be able to lure it out.)
As Rei cut off the right ear of the last goblin, he made up his mind to wait for a chance to defeat the monster. As he went to take out the magic stone from the heart...Set abruptly kicked the ground and flew next to him.
The next moment, something red hit the goblin corpses that Rei was dealing with a few seconds ago and fire spread out.
「Tch, flame magic in the forest? I can't do anything about that. Set!」
「Gururu~!」
With a cry, Set quickly made a water ball. The flames that were coming from the goblin corpse were successfully extinguished before they could spread to the surrounding vegetation.
While confirming that, Rei quickly looked at the surrounding area, he felt something from the tree above and raised up the Death Scythe by reflex.
Gyin~! A sharp sound was made as the Death Scythe came in contact with a long sword above Rei's head, it cut sword in half when they collided.
「Hah!」
He struck out with the Death Scythe without looking. The thing he attacked pushed out a s.h.i.+eld to block it, it was split in two like the long sword.
Still, by sacrificing the s.h.i.+eld, it escaped the blow from the Death Scythe, using the force from the blow, it landed a distance away from Rei and Set.
Landing there, Rei could finally see the other party before him.
It had a partially broken long sword and a small s.h.i.+eld that had been split in two. However, different from a normal goblin was its skin colour. While a normal goblin had green skin, the goblin in front of Rei had red skin. In addition, it was larger and a head taller than a normal goblin.
「I see, a rare species. I can say that it's strange.」
A smile floated onto Rei's face when he saw the clear differences in appearance compared with a normal goblin. Maybe it took it as a sign contempt, it threw away the s.h.i.+eld that had been cut in two and held the long sword that was missing half the blade...
「Gyi~!」
Right after it gave a cry, a ball of fire appeared in front of its eyes.
(It's similar to Set's water ball. In that case, should I call it fireball? With the sword, the goblin looks like a soldier, it also looks like it can use beginner cla.s.s attack magic. Should I call it a mage knight? However, there's no meaning if the magic isn't fired!)
He kicked the ground and tried to quickly hit and kill the rare species before it could shoot the fireball. He cut through the fireball to the goblin while maintaining magic power in the Death Scythe.
「Gyi!?」
The fireball was cut by the blade of the large scythe and dispersed. He also gave a shallow cut into the chest of the goblin.
It got anxious when he saw its own fireball disappear and hurled the remains of the long sword at Rei.
In a sense, the haste of the goblin was natural, was its magic cut through by other magic? Though it wasn't impossible for a weapon to cut through magic, it was the first time the goblin had seen a magic item that could hold magic power.
「It can certainly use magic, its ability lives up to its name of a rare species. However, your biggest advantage was to hide your presence. Because you missed the killing blow, now you are the one hunted...ha!」
The first swing of the Death Scythe was downwards on purpose...evading it, the goblin was relieved for a moment.
「Gyi~!」
While screaming, the goblin tried to stand up, the goblin's biggest mistake was to focus all his awareness on Rei. A sure kill strike came from the sky. But it was no wonder, without allies, he couldn't cast fire magic without being interrupted.
Nevertheless, it was a fatal mistake to only concentrate on Rei.
Tricked by the handle of the Death Scythe below, Set crept up and knocked the goblin on its back ...with the sharp claws of an eagle, he pinned its neck with the unmatched strength of a lion.
「Gyi~!」
Although Set was taking on a rare species, a goblin was still only a goblin. Even if you look in the Adventurers Guild, there is a huge difference between F rank and A rank. After all, the rare species is still only one rank higher than the normal E rank goblins. To the end, the goblin didn't realize the difference in status, a cracking sound was heard as the bones in its neck were crushed, the life in it was extinguished.
「Set, you've done well.」
「Gururu~」
After pampering Set by patting his head, the magic stone was pulled out from the goblin's heart. The magic stone was larger than the ones from the other goblins, which were only the size of his finger tip.
Although Rei hesitated over whether to let Set or the Death Scythe absorb the magic stone, he judged that it was inconvenient for Set to only have Water Ball as a ranged skill and gave it to him.
「Set.」
「Guru~」
The magic stone in his palm was sucked up by the beak and swallowed in a single gulp.
And...
[Set has mastered『Fire Breath Lv.1』]
The announcement message that he had heard before echoed in his head.
「...It was the magic stone of the goblin that knew fire ball, so why fire breath?」
Rei muttered while spitting out a sigh.
************************************************
[Set]
『Water Ball Lv.1』『Fire Breath Lv.1』new
[Death Scythe]