Rest flew through the air and arrived at the wetlands in the eastern part of the Sabnock Plains.
The chilled night wind caressed Rest's body, but perhaps due to the heat smoldering in his core, he didn't feel the slightest bit cold.
"Well then... shall we kill?"
Looking down at the ground from the sky, Rest realized he was unusually excited.
Despite it being the dead of night, his eyes were razor-sharp, and his body burned as though set ablaze.
(Is this what they mean by blood boiling and flesh yearning...? To think such fighting spirit was dormant inside me!)
Fighting spirit... or perhaps it was more like a different emotion altogether. But setting that aside.
Rest enhanced his vision with magic and surveyed the wetlands below.
"Hmph..."
Even with his night vision reinforced, he naturally couldn't see through to the monsters lurking beneath the mud.
If he wanted to hunt worms, his only option was to lure them out from the depths of the swamp.
"No problem. Easy enough."
High on adrenaline, Rest cast his magic.
This was a method he absolutely would never have employed had Yuri or Urla been with him.
"[Monster Lure]"
Lines of light shot above Rest's head, tracing geometric patterns.
The magic circle, built around concentric rings, had the effect of warding off evil—that is to say, it drew monsters toward it.
The man once known as the Foolish Prince... Rodele Aiwood had also used a Monster Lure magic item on the plains, triggering the Sabnock stampede.
Ironically... it was Rest, the very man who had defeated Rodele, who now employed the same method.
"Master Maitis said that magic which lures monsters is a forbidden art... something about using it as sparingly as possible, right?"
If one were to misuse magic that lured monsters, it could drive villages, towns, or even small nations to ruin.
That was precisely why it had been designated a forbidden art — one that could not be used or taught without permission.
Still... the person who had taught Rest that very forbidden art was Jalana Maitis, the eldest of the court magicians. A wizened old woman.
She had only said "use it as sparingly as possible," so Rest, whose reason was already flying out the window, figured, well, close enough, and went ahead and used it.
"Oh, they're here."
Not long after Rest cast the spell, changes began to manifest.
His presence detection magic was picking up responses. Multiple ones, no less.
"GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The first one burst forth. Just as he had expected — a larval-stage worm.
The worm lunged at Rest with frenzied excitement, snapping its jaws.
"Star Eater."
Rest manipulated the wind to dodge the worm's maw and slammed a pitch-black sphere into its torso.
In an instant, a chunk of the worm's body was gouged away and swallowed into the darkness.
The Dark Star... a black hole capable of sucking in any target of its choosing.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Annoying."
Rest muttered the word and continued moving through the air.
He carved away at the worm's body, grinding it down and drawing the pieces into the Dark Star as he went.
"GYA...OOO..."
Its massive flesh thoroughly devoured, the worm collapsed into the swamp.
With a squelch, it sank into the mud and never surfaced again.
"Ha ha ha ha ha! Looks like I ate another worm!"
First dinner, then a late-night snack — eating worms like this, what was there to say?
At this point, he couldn't even deny it if someone called them his favorite food.
"GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Then a second, a third, and a fourth worm burst out in quick succession.
Whether or not they knew their comrade had been taken down, they emerged and immediately locked onto Rest as a hostile target, lunging at him.
Even for Rest, facing three worms all on his own was no small task.
"[Flash]!"
However, Rest cast a different piece of magic.
Just moments ago he had used dark magic, but now he suddenly switched to the opposite attribute — light magic.
A blinding flash of light pierced the dark night, searing the worms' eyes.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!?"
Worms were dragons that dwelled beneath the earth. Their eyes seemed to have degenerated somewhat... but they weren't completely gone.
If a blinding light was suddenly thrust upon them in the pitch-black night, it would be enough to pin them in place.
[Wind Control] Naturally, Rest had his eyes shut.
He flew forward relying entirely on his presence detection, eyes closed, and slammed a Dark Star straight into a worm.
"That's two."
"GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Three. Four."
"GYAAA……!"
Rest used every trick in his magical arsenal to dodge and weave through the enemy's attacks, cutting down worm after worm.
From the experience of fighting them during the day, he already knew their killing methods.
He wasn't trying to be dead weight or anything—but since he could go all out without worrying about Yuri and the others, he actually found it easier to fight this way.
"This is insane… I'm actually starting to have fun…!"
Rest realized he didn't hate fighting nearly as much as he thought.
Even back when he fought Rodele, there had been something that connected him to his opponent in the heat of battle.
He'd never considered himself battle-crazed… but dinner had only sharpened that thrill running through him.
"I can still feel it—that urge to kill… more and more…!"
"GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Just then, screams echoed up from the depths of the earth, reverberating layer upon layer.
At the same time, his presence detection magic snagged on something enormous—a colossal monster.
"So it finally shows its face… Kept me waiting, didn't you."
With a strange, almost longing feeling settling in his chest, Rest waited for the thing to appear.
"GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Before long, the mud erupted, and 'it' appeared.
From the earth emerged a colossal worm, clearly larger than the larvae seen thus far.
With a gaping maw and sealed eyeballs, the enormous worm—the kind capable of swallowing an entire town—materialized before Rest.