「……Isn’t that a little overkill?」


  「Guru~?」


  Rei muttered to himself as he looked at the corpses of the Sandworms scattered around him……or rather the many bits of Sandworms.

  The worst one was the head of the Sandworm that had exploded from Rei’s Power Slash. It had been scattered into the surroundings as chunks of flesh from several cm to several tens of cm in size.

  Fortunately, because this was a vast desert, the smell of blood was soon blown away by the wind. But even then, the scent of blood could still be felt drifting around them.

  It was enough that even someone that wasn’t Rei, with his heightened sense, would smell a thick scent.

  「……It certainly is a little overkill.」


  Elena said that as she shook the Sandworm blood off the blade of her sword whip.

  Unlike Rei and Set, who had crushed the heads of the Sandworms they fought, Elena had used the sharpness of her sword to cleanly cut off the head of the Sandworm.

  Rei had nothing to say after seeing that.

  「For now, should we just collect the Sandworm corpses and go after the Spear Frog……hm?」


  「Gururu~?」


  「What?」


  Elena stopped herself at the same time that Set and Rei noticed something wrong.

  No, compared to the Goblin Bandit Mage, it wasn’t really anything disastrous. It was just that something was approaching them.

  「This……it’s coming!?」


  It wasn’t moving underground like a Sandworm, nor was it flying through the sky like a flying monster.

  Rei sensed something jumping across the desert rather than flying.

  Although there was still some considerable distance to it, Rei could still sense it because the thing approaching them was massive.

  Furthermore, there were signs of several people approaching them as well, as if chasing after the thing coming towards them.

  Coming into view, the thing had a sand coloured body. If that was it, it wouldn’t have been strange to mistake it for camouflage for the desert. However, with it’s large size, it was impossible to miss.

  With it’s tough hind legs, it jumped a distance of nearly 10m in a single leap. Even so, from it’s continuous jumps, it was clear that it wasn’t at full strength.

  「That’s……probably the abnormal species Spear Frog.」


  「Yeah, probably.」


  Rei nodded in response to Elena, who was looking for confirmation.

  Next to Rei, Set had already crouched down, ready to deal with teh Spear Frog heading towards them.

  Rei and Elena had never seen a Spear Frog before, but there was no mistaking a massive frog like monster 3m in length.

  However, that wasn’t a problem. They could even say they were happy because their target had showed up in front of them.

  The reason why the two of them had such surprised expressions was because of the people chasing after the Spear Frog.

  「But……the people chasing after it……」


  「……Yeah. That’s definitely Vihera.」


  Elena briefly replied to Rei.

  Yes, behind the Spear Frog heading towards them was Vihera and Byune.

  Originally, they had a porter with them, but he had probably been left behind with their speed. The two of them were sprinting through the desert at high speed as they chased after the Spear Frog.

  「Well, anyway……strangely enough, it looks we’ll fighting the Spear Frog together, as Vihera had originally suggested.」


  「……How did they run into us here if Vihera had been moving in a completely different direction to us?」


  As the two of them talked they readied the Death Scythe and sword whip in their hands, waiting for the Spear Frog to reach them.

  If possible, Rei wanted to kill it with his first strike.

  「They found the target, but it’s running away and they’re chasing after it.」


  「Then, why is it heading in a straight line towards us……oh, I see.」


  Looking at the corpses of the Sandworms around them, Elena nodded as if realising something.

  Yes, the pieces of Sandworm flesh that were emitting a strong bloody odour.

  Elena’s attitude made Rei immediately realise what the cause was. His cheeks twitched as he looked behind him, hoping it wasn’t the case.

  Although it was quite small, the oasis was still visible.

  The frog like monster had probably been heading towards the oasis in search of water when it had smelled the scent of the Sandworms.

  「……Do you want to bet?」


  「No, I think I’ll stop here.」


  Looking at the oasis, Rei understood that it was still probably the smell of the Sandworms’ blood and flesh attracting it towards them. Shrugging his shoulders slightly, he turned to look at the Spear Frog, which had already closed the distance to 100m……as he noticed something else.

  It wasn’t just Vihera that was chasing after the Spear Frog……there were numerous small groups positioned about halfway between Vihera and the large Spear Frog.

  Size aside, they were almost the same in appearance to the abnormal species Spear Frog leading the way.

  (In other words, those are ordinary Spear Frogs.)

  Then.

  Rei had been thinking of using magic as a first strike to kill the abnormal species. However, the Spear Frog was rapidly closing in and was less than 20m away.

  Normally, there would still be enough time with that distance, but as it was jumping 10m at a time, Rei didn’t have time to cast any magic.

  However, Rei still had methods of attacking from range. Either using the Death Scythe to send a slash out, or……


  Stabbing the Death Scythe into the desert sand, Rei took out a spear from the Misty Ring.

  It was a cheap spear, missing half it’s tip, making it completely useless as an ordinary weapon. But, for Rei, it was useful as a powerful disposable weapon.

  (That said, I only have about 50 left. Should I go to a weapon shop or blacksmith to replenish them later?)

  Holding the spear like a javelin, he twisted his upper body.

  Just in case, he looked over at Elena and then at the two familiar faces chasing after the Spear Frog.

  Seeing that was enough to understand what Rei was asking for. Elena shouted out loudly.

  「Byune, Vihera, Rei is going to attack, so be careful not to get caught in it!」


  They seemed to have heard Elena’s voice. Vihera and Byune, who had been chasing the giant Spear Frog and the ordinary Spear Frogs, came to a halt while raising a cloud of sand.

  As Rei confirmed that, the Spear Frog closed the distance to 10m. After one more jump, the Spear Frog finally reached them……or rather the area where the Sandworm corpses were……


  「HAAAAAH-!」


  Rei threw the spear with a loud shout.

  The Spear Frog was mid jump and couldn’t avoid it as it was skewered.

  At least, Rei was half confident that that would be the case, and so was Elena, who was holding onto her sword whip just in case.

  And in fact, the spear thrown by Rei with his extraordinary strength certainly hit the Spear Frog in mid air. But……


  「What the hell!?」


  Elena leaked a shocked voice.

  Yes, the spear that was thrown and pierced through the air did hit. However, the moment it hit the Spear Frog’s right side, it slide off the surface of its body before flying away as if it had never touched it.

  They hadn’t been able to tell when the Spear Frog had been continuously jumping from such a distance. But having come so close, they could see that there was an oily fluid being secreted from its body, causing it to shine brightly. The tip of the spear had slid across the oil, causing it to fly off in the wrong direction.

  Fortunately, as the spear tip was rusted and missing half the tip, a faint cut was still made on the Spear Frog’s flank.

  If it had been an ordinary spear, the complete tip would have caused it to neatly slide off due to the Spear Frog’s bodily fluids.

  「Rei!」


  Elena grabbed Rei’s hand, who had frozen up for a moment after throwing the spear with all his strength, and forcibly moved him.

  Set also grabbed the Death Scythe that had been planted onto the ground. A few seconds after Rei was moved away from that location……the 3m long Spear Frog landed where he had just been.

  It seemed like even the Spear Frog couldn’t forgive the injury it had taken after the spear had gone past its prized bodily fluids. Instead of biting into the corpses of the Sandworms it had been after, it turned to face Set, who had moved away from where it had landed, as it gave a blank stare characteristic to frogs.

  At the same time……


  「It’s coming-!」


  「Yeah!」


  Elena gave a brief reply at Rei’s voice. The three of them leapt back from where they had been standing.

  The next moment, the Spear Frog opened its mouth and its tongue shot out at the same speed as Rei had thrown his spear, piercing through the desert sand.

  Its sharp tongue was split in two at the base, as if to prove that it was the abnormal species.

  「Gero!」


  Seeing that its attack had been evaded, it withdrew its tongue back into its mouth as it gave a muffled croak.

  「Guru!」


  Set threw the Death Scythe to Rei as he jumped forward with a cry.

  As if to say he would deal with it.

  「Rei! We can’t bother with it right now!」


  As she called out, Elena looked in the direction where the Spear Frog had come from.

  From that side, the ordinary Spear Frogs had also closed the distance to within 10m.

  For a moment, Rei was unsure of which to deal with first. However, that hesitation was short lived and he gave a sigh of relief as he saw Vihera coming up from behind the swarm of Spear Frogs, slashing at them with claws that extended from her hands.

  Byune also thrust her knife into the back of a Spear Frog, taking it down.

  「I’ll leave the rest to Elena. You’ve got Vihera coming up from behind……tch!」


  The Spear Frog shot its tongue out again, refusing to let him finish. Its tongue pierced through the air trying to pierce Rei’s body as he forcibly twisted his body to the right and into a half crouch.

  At the same time, he swung the Death Scythe.

  However, it seemed that the tongue was able to move freely. The split tongue collided its tips together before flicking out and avoiding the slash.

  「GURURURU!」


  Set, who had moved to the sky without it noticing, attacked from above to take advantage of the opportunity. However, as Vihera and Byune were around, he couldn’t use any skills. Instead, Set tried to strike the Spear Frog on the head with his claws and weight.

  「Guru!?」


  An unusual cry……yes, Set gave an unusual and very confused cry.

  The blow that was supposed to crush its head slid away with a slimy feeling, the moment he touched the Spear Frog.

  The parried attack struck the ground, creating a large pillar of sand.

  「It’s that bodily fluid again!」


  Making a full turn on the spot to maintain the momentum from his missed attack with the Death Scythe, Rei clicked his tongue when he saw what had happened out of the corner of his eye. But, seeing the pillar of sand start to fall down, he smiled as he swung the Death Scythe again.

  「Flying Slash-!」


  The slash was sent out without any loss of rotational momentum as it flew straight towards the Spear Frog……


  「Gegegero!?」


  Slicing off its right foreleg, it continued without losing any strength, widening the wound created by the spear before cutting off it’s right hind leg.

  「You’re overconfident in your defences!」


  Why had the Spear Frog, which had easily deflected the attack from the spear and Set, lost its leg so easily? Part of the reason was because Rei’s flying slash had reached a higher level and was much more powerful. At the same time, it had struck the same spot where the spear had hit, where the Spear Frog was bleeding. Lastly, there was the sand that was starting to fall.

  Of course, as a desert dweller, a little bit of sand didn’t affect its defensive capabilities much. However, that didn’t mean it was completely unaffected. All the flying slash needed was that small difference and, as a result, it lost its front and rear right legs.

  Unable to stand anymore, the Spear Frog collapsed to the ground. In a last ditch attempt, it shot its split tongue out again. However, Rei just swung the magic empowered Death Scythe down, extinguishing the Spear Frog’s life.