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Chapter 444

The distance to where the spider monster and adventurers were fighting was about 1km. As he ran towards them, Rei shouted towards Set.

「Set! Go ahead of us! Protect the struggling adventurers and keep the spider monster in check! Kill it if you can!」

「GURURURURURU~!」

Giving a loud cry from the sky, acknowledging Rei who was running across the ground, Set flapped his wings and headed for the site of the battle, leaving Rei and Elena behind.

With his sharp eyes, Set was able to identify the state of the battle clearly even from 1km away.

The giant 4m spider monster was grey all over. Only two adventurers were still fighting the spider while the other three members of their party were lying on the ground nearby.

Two of them were probably already dead, one had their neck bent the wrong way while the other had been shredded in two. The third person didn’t seem to have any external injuries from Set’s point of view, but even so, the fact that they weren’t moving meant that they were either dead or, if they were still alive, were unable to move for some reason.

The last two who managed to continue fighting had already suffered several injuries. If they continued to fight as is, there was no doubt they would end up as spider food.

In fact, the giant spider used one of its right legs to flick away the sword of an adventurer while swinging a left leg down on his head……

「GURURURURURURU~!」

At that moment, Set descended with a sharp cry. He slammed his claws into the giant spider’s left leg that was about to be swung down, snapping the leg in half.

Unfortunately, Set’s attack was too quick and too sharp. If Set’s blow had been a little less powerful, he might have been able to use his strength to pull the spider’s leg down and knock it off balance or blast it away.

However, because his attack had been too powerful, it simply shattered the spider’s leg, and as a result, didn’t affect the spider’s footing at all.

「W-W-W-What!?」

Perhaps the most surprised person here was the adventurer who was nearly killed after his sword was knocked away.

Seeing a Griffon suddenly appear, he couldn’t help exclaim without thinking.

「A-A Griffon!? How did it end up on this floor!?」

The other adventurer, a man with a spear, also shouted out as he wiped the blood from his forehead.

He might not have heard anything about Rei, or perhaps being on the verge of death had caused his mind to be unable to think of it. He quickly moved away from the two monsters as the adventurer with the sword also crawled over to him.

Glancing at them, Set judged that they probably wouldn’t get caught up in the battle and turned to face the giant spider, which was twice as big as himself.

「GYAAAA-!」

The giant spider raised a threatening cry with a muddied sound.

Normally, it should have been able to tell the difference in strength between itself and Set. But, the excitement of battle, the anger and pain from losing one of its legs, and other factors probably prevented it from making rational judgements.

When it saw that Set didn’t back down from its threats, it turned one of its legs towards Set and……

「GURURU~!」

Set felt an unpleasant premonition in his mind and jumped away from where he was.

The next moment, thread was shot out from the tip of the spider’s leg, striking where Set had just been, immediately solidifying.

Normally, the organ that would shoot out thread was located at the tip of a spider’s abdomen, but this spider was able to shoot thread from the tip of its leg, probably because it was a monster.

「Guru-Gururu~!」

Set judged that it would be dangerous for him to stay in one spot and swiftly jumped around as he looked for a gap.

As the two adventurers watched the situation, the one with the spear suddenly spoke up.

「Hey, get ready.」

「Get ready? Ready for what?」

The adventurer with a sword responded without thinking at his companions sudden words.

If he had just been told to run away, he would have understood, but get ready? The man with the spear spoke with a smile on his lips as he answered back.

「What are you talking about. You know what I mean. Two monsters are fighting over us. If one of them gets taken down, we’ll use the opportunity to take the other one down as well.」

「……Are you serious!? One of them is a Griffon! There’s no way we stand a chance against the reaper of the skies!」

「Hmph, even if it’s a Griffon, it doesn’t matter if we ambush it right after it finishes fighting. As for its nickname of reaper of the skies, that’s only because it can fly, right? Then it won’t matter if we attack it while it’s on the ground.」

「You want me to attack someone who helped us as we were about to be killed like those guys?」

He glanced over at the three dead people on the ground.

Two of them were clearly dead, but one of them looked unharmed at first glance. However, his eyes and mouth were wide open and his tongue was stretched out, it was clear that he was dead.

The giant spider……or Rock Spider, as it was officially called, had ambushed them and that man had been the first to be attacked and had died due to poison.

Some of them had brought antidotes specifically for the desert, but the Rock Spider’s attack had killed the man before they had been able to administer the antidote.

That said, even if they had the time, they might not have given him their antidotes. That was because……

「In the end, they’re just a bunch of guys who put together a temporary party.」

The man with the spear just spat those words out.

Yes, this party of five were adventurers who had just formed a temporary party outside the dungeon before rushing straight in.

Because of the attack on the Silva family, some members of various parties had gone to support the Silva family. Because of that, there were quite a few people who had to form temporary parties to enter the dungeon.

Most adventurers had decided to take a break or to do more training, but those who desperately needed money gathered to form temporary parties.

Of course, many of them dealt with each other sincerely even if they were only in temporary parties. However, there were also those who considered temporary party members as people to take advantage of.

The man with a spear was a perfect example of that.

The man with the sword thought for a few seconds about his companion’s words……and looked at the Griffon, which was in a fierce fight with the Rock Spider. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he thought of something.

His brain started to turn as he recalled the rumours circulating around Exil.

The name of an adventurer who was followed by a Griffon. The person who had earned a title in the spring war.

「Wait. I think that Griffon might be a tamed monster of Crimson. So, if that Griffon is here……」

「Of course, I’m also here.」

They had thought it was only the two of them when a third voice called out.

Turning in the direction the voice came from, they saw two people, one wearing a robe and holding a huge scythe, and another wearing a cloak, ready to draw the sword at her waist at any moment.

It was easy for the man with the sword to guess who the person in front of him was. After all, it was obvious, considering the Griffon fighting the Rock Spider and what he had just been saying a few seconds ago.

「Crimson.」

「Yeah. ……By the way, I heard something interesting earlier, you were planning to ambush Set.」

「T-That is……」

Their discussion had been overheard by someone who absolutely should never have heard what they were talking about. Cold sweat ran down the back of the man with a sword.

The danger he felt coming from Rei far exceeded teh danger he had felt when the Rock Spider had knocked his long sword aside.

However, the man with a spear stepped forward and pushed him aside as spoke up.

「Of course, it stole our prey. And, what’s wrong with killing monsters?」

「……Didn’t you hear what he just said? Set……the Griffon, is my companion. He’s also wearing a Necklace of Subservient Monster to prove it. And you would attack him?」

The man with a spear smiled as if waiting for Rei to say that.

「In other words, you’re responsible for what that Griffon did? In that case, I demand compensation.」

「……Hah?」

Because he couldn’t understand what the man was saying proudly, Rei let out a dumbfounded voice.

In a way, it was amazing for someone to make Rei react like that. If any of the adventurers Rei knew heard about this, they might even praise the man for his feat.

……However, you could be sure that they would look at him with pity right after.

「So, compensation. You killed the monster we were fighting. Isn’t it natural for you to compensate us for that?」

「……You guys were about to die, I just saved you didn’t I?」

「Of course not. I was preparing to unleash my trump card that would turn the table on it. Then your Griffon intercepted my prey and stole it. Compensation is natural. What? Even though you have a title, you can’t even take responsibility for what your tamed monster did?」

Rei’s cheeks twitched under his hood at the man’s words.

However, even if the man with a spear’s words were shameless, and clearly a lie, it was true that Set had started fighting the Rock Spider before they had actually asked for help. In that situation, the man wasn’t technically wrong.

「Since you have a title, you must have earned quite a bit of money, so why don’t you just give us a gold coin?」

「I refuse. If you say we stole your prey from you, then why don’t I just tell Set to stop fighting the monster?」

Perhaps Rei’s response was unexpected, but the man with a spear spoke up in a panic.

「U-Unfortunately, the trump card I was preparing has already become useless due to time constraints. You can’t give the monster back to us now. I demand proper compensation.」

(Does he think if he keeps asking for compensation, I’ll agree to anything he says?)

Sighing at the man’s request, Rei turned to look at Set, who was fighting the Rock Spider.

As its name suggested, the Rock Spider had a rock like body that boasted high defence. However, even so, it couldn’t block the attacks from Set, who was equipped with the Bracelet of Herculean Strength, and its injuries slowly started to increase.

If they continued to fight, it would definitely end it’s Set’s victory.

Watching the fight play out, Rei turned to face the other adventurer.

「Are you of the same opinion?」

「……No, that Griffon saved our lives. I don’t want to make any false accusations to extort money from you.」

「You-! What are you talking about! They stole the prey we were fighting for! What’s wrong with claiming compensation!?」

The man with a spear shouted at him to try to stop him from saying anything necessary, but he pretended he heard nothing as turned to give a bow a towards Rei.

「I’m really sorry, we were saved thanks to you.」

「I see, I’m glad you’re a decent person. Otherwise……in a dungeon, you never know what accidents might happen.」

The moment the word ‘accidents’ came out of Rei’s mouth, a cold chill ran down the spines of both adventurers.

It was clear what he meant by that.

「Y-You! Are you threatening me!?」

The man with a spear shouted at Rei.

Not just Rei, even Elena as well as the other adventurer looked at the man with a pitying gaze.

「No? I don’t intend to do that. But, isn’t it true that you never know what kind of accident might occur in a dungeon? After all, many adventurers don’t come back from the dungeon. Isn’t that right?」

「That is……」

The words that came out of Rei’s mouth were facts, just as how Set had stolen their prey.

Because of that, the man with a spear couldn’t say anything. Rather, he didn’t dare say anything for fear that Rei would silence him in an ‘accident’.

And, as they continued to face each other silently……

「GURURURURURU~!」

Eventually, Set’s cry of victory echoed out.

Rei turned to look over and saw the Rock Spider lying on the ground.

Looking at the corpse of the Rock Spider, Rei spoke up as it was no use continuing like this.

「Then, how about this? We’ll take the monster’s magic stone. You guys can have all the other materials.」

They would lose the most valuable material, the magic stone, but they would receive everything else, including the proof of subjugation. The man with a spear was quite happy with that in his mind, but outwardly, he nodded with a reluctant expression.