— The group advancing through the forest had several elves moving ahead as scouts, guiding them toward their destination.
Mercenaries.
And from the adventuring party, elves had been selected to serve as advance scouts. The masculine-looking elves with bows exchanged glances and nodded to one another as they pressed forward.
They cleared the traps Miranda had set, making the path safe for the main force following behind.
A fortress-like stronghold for the Dungeon assault came into view. Upon reaching the base, one of them turned back to report the safe route to the main force.
The elves waiting with bows spotted the Valkyries keeping watch atop the walls.
"They look like they're actually alive."
"Their shapes, sure enough. Look closer and their movements are unnatural."
"Don't let it fool you, rookie."
The elves looked young, but it seemed some had already reached a respectable age.
Before long, the elf returned with the main force that had been behind them.
"Everything's going smoothly. One person slipped and broke a bone, though."
Upon hearing this, the elves shrugged. In their eyes, slipping in a forest like this was unthinkable. They figured it had to be some other race — a human, a dwarf, a gnome.
One of them spoke.
"They did fine. Everywhere you go, there are idiots who drop out just from the march."
When the elf belonging to the mercenary company said that, the adventuring party's elves tilted their heads with a "Is that so?" look.
From behind, the mercenary company's captain and the adventuring party's leader arrived.
"How's it going? Oh my, they're being quite cautious here, aren't they?"
The cheerful captain was admiring the height of the walls.
They've posted lookouts too. Quite the elaborate setup for a Monster countermeasure. They might actually be expecting us to attack.
The leader offered his cautious assessment, and the captain nodded. Nodded, and immediately set about preparing countermeasures for this very situation.
"Our mages really shine in times like this. They're a bunch of showoffs, you know."
The leader nodded at the captain's words. Before long, several mages walked up from the rear, exchanged a few words with the captain, then took the elves and guards along to positions surrounding the fortress.
After a short while, an elf who had been standing near the captain spoke up.
"Captain, the signal has arrived."
"Good work. Now then—let's put on a show!"
Immediately, magic erupted from three directions at once. Water like a flood surged against the fortress, trying to wash away the earthen walls. Cracks spread through the walls, and when part of them collapsed, boulders began hurtling through the air.
Both structures shattered upon impact, the lookouts were blown away, and a perfect opening for infiltration had been created.
Finally, a massive rain of flames poured down upon the enemy position. Everything went up in fire, growing so bright there was no need for any other light.
Watching the mages who excelled at wide-area magic, the leader murmured to himself.
"At our company, there's only so many places where they can be used. We'd prefer something low-key but powerful… I see, so this is another way to put them to use."
He watched the mercenary company's battle with admiration. Mages who fought in tight spaces, however specialized their role, still needed ways to protect themselves. And magic that packed a punch within a limited range was favored over broad, sweeping spells. Accuracy was also absolutely critical.
Because otherwise, they could end up hitting their own allies.
The captain spoke.
"Well then, shall we get moving? Ah—"
Even as he said that, he signaled the whole group to hold with a hand gesture, when a single girl burst out from the midst of the flames. Purple lightning crackled around her body, and her gaze was sharp as a blade. A girl standing against a wall of fire, looking toward them in the forest.
The leader spoke.
"She was in the briefing materials. That's May. They're deploying her already? They must be taking this seriously."
The captain said.
"Marina, our prey has arrived. If the corpse turns out to be a Kirin, I'm expecting my share."
Marina appeared from behind the leader, wearing a coat with gauntlets and greaves. Her sleeves were rolled up, and she struck her right fist into her left palm.
"Suit yourself. I'm only interested in the ones who are still breathing."
With that, Marina burst out of the forest with tremendous force, and May kicked off the ground, driving her fist toward Marina.
When the two collided, Marina was slightly pushed back. Watching the exchange, the leader issued his orders.
"Alright, let's have a couple of people watch Marina fight. Let me know if she starts losing. When the target's down, secure the corpse. Leader, how about we split things fifty-fifty?"
The leader, well aware that May was very likely the Kirin, thought it over briefly and gave a nod.
"I'll concede the horn. But I won't compromise on anything else."
"We can hash out the details later. Come on, boys! Time for a fun little war!"
Adventurers poured out of the forest one after another and squeezed through the gap in the collapsed wall to pour inside——
——May was being pinned down by Marina.
She could win if she fought seriously, but Marina was a troublesome opponent — that had been May's assessment of her. It seemed, however, that she needed to revise that judgment.
When May delivered a kick, Marina crossed both arms and caught it. It should have had enough force to send her flying, but when Marina uncrossed her arms, May saw her eyes and understood.
"Just like Novem said. The complete opposite of me. You're human, but you're trying to become something closer to a beast, aren't you, big sister?"
At May's blunt assessment, Marina's muscles swelled and her canines sharpened. Her black hair appeared to be standing on end from May's perspective, but what had changed even more dramatically were her eyes.
Her pupils had become vertically elongated.
"How naive, little girl… Strip away a human's skin and underneath, you've got a beast."
Marina's Skill — Beast — was a Skill that provided physical enhancement along with emitting a beast-like aura.
It didn't just boost her physical strength; it increased her body's flexibility as well. And it made her far more aggressive.
Marina kicked off the ground and closed the distance to May's midsection. May threw a kick in response. Marina threw one of her own, deliberately matching her move for move.
Now Marina, who had been at a disadvantage until moments ago, had caught up to fighting May on even terms.
"Too obvious!"
May threw a punch, and Marina caught it in the palm of her hand.
May's fist creaked under the pressure, and without missing a beat, Marina hurled May away. The direction she threw her was toward the forest — away from their base.
Midair, May readjusted her posture and landed on a tree trunk with both feet.
The impact shook the tree, but May raised her head and sensed Marina already closing in.
Marina was throwing a kick straight at her. May dodged, and the kick struck the tree instead, snapping it clean through.
It wasn't a dead tree — it toppled over with a shower of wood fragments and leaves.
"...That's impressive. What level is it at?"
May was asking what level Marina's Skill had reached, and Marina answered with perfect sincerity.
"I'm still just getting started. You're a Kirin, right? I'm counting on you to show me everything you've got."
May watched Marina's grinning expression and thought to herself.
(There are always people like this who are off the charts. They're a real pain.)
May sent purple lightning crackling through the air around her, using magic to try and blow Marina away. But Marina charged straight through it without a moment's hesitation.
The purple lightning scorched Marina's coat and singed her skin. And yet, Marina was smiling.
Marina launched a spinning kick followed by a back spinning kick. May retreated and extended a horn from her right hand.
She had no intention of settling this with hand-to-hand combat, so she moved to cut it short right away.
"I know this goes against Novem's orders, but you're dangerous, so I'm going to end things here."
At those words, Marina let out a delighted laugh.
"Now you're talking, little lady! If you're going to try and finish me off... then I'm all for it!"
When May swept the Kirin's razor-sharp, blade-like horn sideways, Marina caught it with her gauntlet. There was real force behind it. And of course, it had a cutting edge.
May's weapon—the horn of a Kirin—was blocked by Marina's gauntlet. Eyes widening in surprise, May was then punched by Marina and sent flying.
She slammed her back against a tree and fell to the ground.
"I got my hands on some incredibly hard but stupidly heavy metal from the Dungeon. I've been using this baby for a while now. It's tough and won't break. That said, you really are a Kirin. You left a mark."
May had apparently been the first to put a scratch in the gauntlet that Marina had used repeatedly without a single blemish. Marina, who had repeatedly cleared the Dungeon and prepared her own equipment within it—
She was no mere adventurer who was only good with her arms.
May stood up and shook her head as she looked at Marina.
(The burns on her skin have already healed? And if I look closely, the clothes she's wearing under the coat don't have any holes.)
There was no way ordinary clothes could withstand May's Purple Flash.
May reassessed her opponent. Then, parting the blonde hair behind her ears, a horn emerged—and extended backward.
At the appearance of May's two golden horns, Marina looked thrilled.
"Good. Let's both play our trump cards, shall we? Besides, I can barely contain my excitement wondering just how many tricks you've been hiding!"
With that, Marina widened her stance and let out a guttural growl as if bracing against something. May heard a sound like a beast issuing a threat.
Her muscles swelled up, and on the parts of her body that were visible—her arms sprouted body hair, making her look truly beast-like.
A beastkin. In a word, that was what she had become. May said bluntly to the now-hairy Marina:
"You've gotten pretty hairy, sis."
"Grrrrl... Ki-kill..."
Hearing May's joke, Marina didn't seem to register it at all. She had essentially abandoned her higher cognitive functions and gone feral.
Marina charged across the ground. In that instant, May also released her mana to reinforce her body. If it came down to a contest of raw power with hands locked together, the smaller May was clearly at a disadvantage. And in truth, she was losing the strength battle.
However.
"Sure, your strength has increased, but getting excited and lowering your thinking ability isn't good. You were more of a threat just a moment ago!"
After headbutting Marina to stun her, May kicked her in the stomach. But Marina didn't budge, as if May had kicked a massive tree.
Her weight had increased compared to before. What May had thought was just swelling muscle mass also seemed to have increased in density.
May was shocked. She noticed the strangeness in Marina's appearance.
"With physical ability alone, you're keeping up with me? It's amazingly threatening, big sister."
In a world where people, more or less, enhance their bodies with mana, a being that could fight on equal footing with the mythical beast called a Kirin using only physical strength was truly a threat.
Marina grabbed May's ankle and slammed her into the ground. Where May hit, the earth was gouged out, forming a crater.
May was coughing up blood――.
――At the base being raided, the Valkyries were being tossed into cargo wagons.
With swords and spears thrust into their bodies, the adventurers had stopped moving. They were stripping the equipment from the motionless Valkyries and laughing as they examined the torsos, which contained the physical components.
"Hey, these are made with incredible craftsmanship!"
"Wouldn't these sell well to the fetish crowd over there?"
"Then don't get them dirty. If you're gonna dirty 'em, buy 'em yourselves."
The laughing adventurers from the mercenary company worked in pairs to roughly toss another Valkyrie into a wagon bed.
The mercenary company's captain was glaring at his prized sword, which had chipped during the fight with the Valkyries.
"Tch. I stabbed it in the fleshy part, and the damn thing chipped. Even bone should cut easily. What a pain."
He kicked over a lying Valkyrie, causing the prone one to flip onto its back. A spear was embedded in it, and red liquid was flowing from the wound.
Since its limbs were made of metal, they had targeted the torso to disable it. It was equipped with armor, but any gap was enough for them.
Meanwhile, the adventurer party was carefully removing the weaponry from the recovered Valkyries and loading them separately onto a cargo wagon.
Their leader watched the captain and his subordinates.
"Materials you've stripped off should be handled with care."
The Guild Master burst out laughing.
"Sorry about that! I'll have the support crew clean them up later. Well, with this many on hand, getting one or two dirty shouldn't matter. Still, look at the gear they're wearing."
The Valkyries' bodies alone were valuable enough, but when he considered how much their equipment would fetch on the market, the Guild Master couldn't stop grinning.
He knew that Lyle and the others had spent a fortune having it made, and he had also heard that there were merchants eager to buy it all.
"This time we've hit the jackpot. Still, they were awfully cautious, those guys."
The base they had raided was small in scale, with another base still operating deeper inside. That was where the real profits lay, the Guild Master said.
"It just means the money-making spots are spread out… But it really does look like that kid was brilliant when it came to warfare. Scattering his forces like that and losing them."
The leader, however, responded with a slightly different take.
"Absolutely. But the wear and tear on their equipment has been brutal. Some of our companions have already burned through their reserves."
When the Guild Master looked around, he saw members of the party picking up the Valkyries' weapons and testing how they felt in their hands.
"Could you send us some weapons? If we send these bodies to the rear and get weapons brought up to us at the same time, it'd take a lot of pressure off. The problem is… I'm more worried about Marina. I hope she's all right."
He was anxious because there had been no report, but the resistance had been weaker than expected. And because they had recovered the treasure trove that was the Valkyries, neither the Guild Master nor the leader had realized something.
There was nothing else among the spoils that could be called important from Lyle's perspective—aside from the Valkyries themselves.
The leader spoke.
"I'll send someone to verify the situation. If it looks bad, we'd better hurry."
The Guild Master seemed to share the same opinion.
"In that case, I'll send my subordinates. You lot—stop fooling around and move on to the next hunting ground!"
The mercenary company's members and the adventurer parties who had joined as temporary reinforcements were in high spirits—