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Chapter 449

Having thoroughly enjoyed their time with Set, Rei and Elena made their way through the 13th floor’s desert.

Every time they took a step, the tips of their feet would sink into the sand as they lifted their other foot. The temperature was over 50C, sapping their physical strength. As if to accelerate the process, the intense sunlight beat down on thetm.

That said, they had already become accustomed to walking on sand from the 11th floor and the heat from the sunlight was considerably reduced by the effect of the Dragon Robe and desert cloak.

On the other hand, it was probably only due to their physical strength that they were able to walk a straight line to the next set of stairs rather than detouring around the peaks of the sand dunes.

As for Set, after eating the sandwiches, he was in high spirits as he flew through the sky to keep a eye on the suroundings,

As they continued walking, they eventually came across countless cacti.

「Cacti……Rei, do you remember what Pleiades told us?」

「Yeah. He told us that some monsters on the 13th floor could mimic cacti.」

「Mm. Based on that……what do you want to do?」

Rei frowned and turned his head as Elena asked while looking at the innumerable cacti in sight, so dense that it could be described as a cacti forest.

「It’s obviously suspicious for cacti to grow so densely. It’s safe to assume that some of them are actually monsters.」

「The easiest way would be to fly through the sky……but, Rei aside, it would be hard for me.」

Perhaps it was a characteristic of Set that wasn’t found in ordinary Griffons, but whether it was unique to the Magic Beast Art or not, Set could only carry a single person like Rei on his back.

Any more than that and he could only manage if it were children.

And yet, at the same time, a single attack from his claws was enough to send a 100kg monster flying, which was unreasonable in many ways.

Regardless, as Set wouldn’t be able to carry Elena, there weren’t many option available to them.

That was to say……

「We either take a big detour or force our way through.」

「Taking the long way around……is something I would like to avoid if possible.」

Elena muttered with a sigh when she saw how extensive the cacti forest was.

As for Rei, he wanted to collect at least two magic stones from monsters he had yet to see.

As their interests aligned, the next step was for the two of them to figure out how to kill the monsters that were pretending to be cacti.

「I think, to be on the safe side, the quickest way would be to wipe them out with your or my magic.」

「That should be possible. According to what we heard from Pleiades, Cactus Mimics are sensitive to magic power.」

「Yeah. Moreover, because they react in response to magic power and do not distinguish between offensive or healing magic, they are extremely troublesome to deal with.」

Elena responded to Rei with a sigh.

As their name suggested, Cactus Mimics were a kind of monster that mimicked cacti and basically never moved. However, when they sensed magic power, it would arouse their defensive instincts, or maybe it was simply their nature, and they would reveal themselves and attack.

Rei was reminded of a machine gun after being told they would shoot out the countless thorns that grew on them.

In addition, any thorns shot out would be immediately regenerated from their main body, effectively never running out of ammunition.

Such attacks were extremely troublesome to deal with since all Cactus Mimics that sensed magic power would carry out the same attack.

It was clear that their attacks were not powerful enough to penetrate the Dragon Robe, but it was impossible to block all attacks from hitting the gaps in places not covered by the robe.

Furthermore, Elena only wore a cloak that lowered the ambient temperature and it could hardly be expected to provide any kind of protection.

The only materials that could be obtained from Cactus Mimics were their magic stone, which was also their proof of subjugation, there were no other materials.

(It’s a monster that is hard to kill but offers very little in way of rewards. It’s the embodiment of working for nothing, but that’s why they were able to grow so much.)

If Cactus Mimics had been a monster that could move around on its own, like a Treant, they might have been able to kill the ones that attacked them. However, Cactus Mimics were effectively stationary and never moved, as Rei’s group could see. It was also a monster that thoroughly specialised in ambushes.

Other than that, they were so far away from the dune peaks was probably why they had grown in such numbers.

「Anyway, magic is rejected. We’ll just have to kill the Cactus Mimics that get in our way with physical attacks.」

「……It’s troublesome, but I guess it’s unavoidable. It might have been quicker for us to move along the dune peaks where other adventurers pass through.」

「I won’t deny that. But……」

Rei replied to Elena as he pulled the Death Scythe out of the Misty Ring.

「It’s true that they will react sensitively to magic power, but what about skills learned using the Magic Beast Art? ……Elena, I’m sure you’ll be fine, but just be ready to handle anything that comes your way. Set!」

「Gururururu~!」

Even without detailed instructions, Set could hear their conversation from the sky. Hearing Rei call to him, Set more or less understood what Rei was planning.

Giving a cry to say he understood, Set flew to the ground with a flap of his wings.

Moving to Rei’s side, Set seemed to ask Rei what skill he wanted to use with his eyes.

「Fire Tornado would probably be best, but that would be seen by other adventurers because of how tall it is. I don’t want to expose it too much as it’s a trump card. In that case, King’s Awe……I wonder if that would work. In the first place, Cactus Mimics hardly move to begin with. Then, I guess Fire Breath would be the best choice with its attack range.」

「Guru~!」

Leave it to me! Set seemed to say as he took a deep breath, ready to breath out fire at any moment.

(As for me……I hardly have any skills that allow me to make a widespread attack.)

Seeing Set’s response, Rei thought to himself.

Out of the skills Rei……or rather, the Death Scythe, could use, there were only three offensive skills. Flying Slash, Power Slash, and Corrosion.

Among them, Corrosion, as its name suggested, could only be used to corrode an enemy’s metal equipment, making it useless in this situation. Power Slash could deliver a powerful attack, but it could only be used against a single target.

In that case, the only skill Rei could use was naturally the most versatile one and one which he was very familiar with, Flying Slash.

(Unlike Power Slash, it can also be used continuously.)

Although he had become able to mostly avoid the recoil from Power Slash through repeated training and use, it was still a skill he couldn’t use in succession.

He breathed in a little and breathed out. Breathed in, breathed out, breathed in……

「Set, let’s go!」

「Gurururururu~!」

With a loud cry at Set’s words, Fire Breath was spat out from his beak, burning everything away.

「Flying Slash! Flying Slash! Flying Slash! Flying Slash!」

Next to Set, not wanting to be outdone, Rei swung the Death Scythe repeatedly, sending out slashes that sliced through the Cactus Mimics in its path.

The Cactus Mimics that came in contact with the fire breath wriggled and writhe din agony before burning up without being able to do anything.

Some of the Cactus Mimics sensed danger the moment they were touched by the flames and tried to shoot their thorns. However, they were unable to resist the force of Set’s flames and were reduced to charcoal.

The flying slashes that Rei sent out cut the Cactus Mimics in half, killing them in a single blow.

Fortunately, the power from a flying slash was just enough to kill a Cactus Mimic. If it had been any more powerful, it would have killed a Cactus Mimic and half killed ones growing behind it, causing thorns to spray out like a machine gun.

On the other hand, if its power was too weak, it wouldn’t have been able to kill a Cactus Mimic outright, causing thorns to spray out just the same.

Beside Rei and Set, who were continuously attacking, Elena poured magic power into the sword whip she pulled out from the sheath at her waist, changing to its whip form as she sliced the Cactus Mimics that were within her range.

(……They react to magic power but not magic items?)

Glancing at Elena’s attacks as he threw out another flying slash, Rei thought to himself before quickly coming to a conclusion.

(Then, are they reacting to the method of utilising magic power……? Magic items channel magic power internally through the item and not externally, so……)

Although he thought of that, Rei soon realised it would be meaningless to attack using the Death Scythe by pouring magic power into it.

That wasn’t to say that the Death Scythe was inferior to Elena’s sword whip. It was pure a matter of weapon reach.

The Death Scythe was 2m long, but even considering the length of the blade, it was only capable of mid ranged attacks.

On the other hand, the whip form of the sword whip was capable of a much larger range of attack compared to the scythe.

Of course, it couldn’t reach as far as a bow, but it was still capable of long range attacks.

(In that case, I could throw spears……but I don’t have enough spears left. I’ll have to do some serious collecting later. As a Labyrinth City where adventurers gather, there are plenty of weapon shops and blacksmiths around.)

While thinking of that, he continued to swing the Death Scythe, sending out flying slashes. Attacks from the three of them took the lives of the Cactus Mimics as if they were cutting weeds.

The only drawback was that Set’s fire breath was too powerful and turned not only the Cactus Mimics but also there magic stones to ash.

「Set, please adjust the power of your fire breath a little. Since there aren’t a lot of magic stones in circulation, there’s nothing bad with having more in hand.」

Rei’s words weren’t met with any particular cry of acknowledgement as Set was still spitting out his fire breath. Even so, the power of the flames coming from Set’s beak was definitely reduced.

The less powerful fire breath still engulfed the Cactus Mimics before turning them to ash, but it now too a bit longer. As as result, Set would move onto his next target before the magic stones were also burned up.

Killing all the Cactus Mimics that could be hit from where they were, the three of them started moving forwards slowly.

With one step, a new Cactus Mimic would die, with two steps, even more perished. Like that, with three, four, and five steps, the number of Cactus Mimics gradually decreased.

Of course, as they had spread into the surrounding area, it didn’t mean that they would all die. Only the ones in Rei’s path were killed to stop them from attacking.

If other adventurers or guild staff were to see this, they would have told Rei to just wipe them out. But even for Rei, dealing with monsters that gave no materials and only had a magic stone was something extremely troublesome to do.

(Still, at the very least, we can still collect magic stones. So, for the guild, which is short on magic stones……it would be quite a good catch? The only consideration is the ability to safely attack the Cactus Mimics from a far distance with a barrage of attacks and to be able to properly collect the magic stones from the Cactus Mimics that are killed. ……No, that’s the hard part.)

Rei thought to himself as he advanced little by little.

It was hard to kill off a Cactus Mimic with a bow, the most popular form of long ranged attack. At the same time, there were limitation to how many arrows there were. In the case of magic, it would result in the Cactus Mimics spraying countless thorns if an attempt was made to use it.

(Or, if there was some sort of catapult……no, that would be impossible. Its hard enough to bring something like that into the desert and there’s still the problem of running out of ammunition like arrows. At the very least, it would be pointless without having an item box like mine.)

With those thoughts in mind, Rei’s group, which had been making gradual progress, finally arrived in the centre of the area where the Cactus Mimics had been growing.

Spread out before them were countless dead Cactus Mimics as well as burnt up ordinary cacti.

Around these dead Cactus Mimics and cacti plants, the unattacked Cactus Mimics remained motionless.

「Alright, let’s first take out the magic stones from the dead Cactus Mimics, then we’ll keep going like this.」

Elena nodded at Rei’s words and Set gave a cry of consent.