Kanzaki Rei spoke, and behind him Edith tightened her grip on the wooden staff in her hands.
Even though they had never actually encountered any danger so far, the group still adopted a serious attitude.
After all, they had already taken the money.
They couldn't exactly slack off now, could they?
Inside the carriage, Edith had already begun preparing the chant for 「Slow Poison」.
Meanwhile, Gaton, the party's defender, had positioned himself at the carriage entrance, ready to jump down at any moment and take the brunt of an attack.
They stood on full alert, braced and ready.
But in the end…
Nothing happened.
Kanzaki Rei simply cast 「Rising Pillar」, followed by 「Ice Lance」.
Two spells flew out.
The scorpion was pierced clean through, instantly frozen into an icy statue—dead beyond any possibility of survival.
…Uh.
Little brother…
Your attack range is way too long.
Just to make sure it wouldn't suddenly resurrect, Kanzaki Rei even followed up with 「Silent Wind Swarm」.
That was caution taken to an almost excessive level.
In the end, it was still Joel who trotted over alone.
Happily gathering the loot.
As expected of the Harvest Month—they collected 2 gold and 12 silver.
The drop rate was indeed high.
So far, every single lord they had killed had yielded additional drops.
This time, the extra drop was also an Earth Crystal.
Kanzaki Rei held the crystal in his palm, studying it thoughtfully.
These elemental magic crystals…
Do they always drop during Harvest Month?
Why does the drop rate feel so ridiculously high?
Scorpions were monsters aligned with the Earth and Poison elements, appearing in burrows and poison-themed dungeons.
Naturally, dungeons themed around scorpion monsters would also have a high probability of spawning them.
Aside from the Earth Crystal, poison-type lords also produced poison-related loot.
Venom sacs, poison stingers…
Anything that contained poison could be sold for a respectable price.
After all, coating weapons with poison was the simplest way to increase additional damage. Items like that were never difficult to sell.
Especially for archers—poison-coated arrows could dramatically increase lethality.
Shooting poisoned arrows from the shadows…
That was practically the definition of underhanded.
…
After killing the scorpion, there was only one Second-Tier Lord left nearby.
They approached it the same way as before—riding the Dragon Rhinoceros.
Everyone followed Kanzaki Rei's instructions and assumed a vigilant posture.
Strictly speaking, it was mostly just for show.
Once they entered spellcasting range…
Kanzaki Rei simply threw out two spells again.
And it was completely finished.
There wasn't even a difficult battle.
The three lords had practically died the moment they laid eyes on Kanzaki Rei.
Even Kanzaki Rei couldn't help but feel a bit reflective after achieving such results.
Looks like the only truly difficult opponent was Izparut.
Against enemies of the same tier… I can basically crush everything.
And if Izparut had really been Level 2…
I might not necessarily lose.
Thinking about it restored the confidence that had been completely crushed during the brutal sparring sessions with Izparut not long ago.
…
After finishing all the Second-Tier Lords listed in the commission, only a single Third-Tier Lord remained.
All four bosses were scattered across different locations within the same plain, so traveling between them didn't take long.
From a distance, Kanzaki Rei stared at the creature's tail, which looked like a massive flail.
Huge.
Its body was roughly the size of two trucks driving side by side.
Bang—
Bang!
The enormous tail—thick, long, and tipped with a gigantic spiked sphere—was constantly swinging back and forth.
Each swing produced a thunderous sonic boom.
Heavy.
Agile.
And filled with terrifying force.
Kanzaki Rei swallowed.
With his fragile physique, if that tail so much as brushed him…
He would probably die instantly.
This… is a Third-Tier monster.
Its thick, rugged hide and massive body radiated overwhelming physical power.
Just by looking at it, it was obvious that it was on an entirely different level compared to the giant snake from earlier.
After hunting multiple lords in succession, Kanzaki Rei suddenly felt as if he were playing Monster Hunter.
Except this version allowed him to use magic.
"Let's go."
Kanzaki Rei lightly slapped the Dragon Rhinoceros.
The beast immediately broke into a run, charging straight toward the target.
But this time, before they even reached spellcasting range, the [Hammer-Tail Horned Bull] suddenly twisted its head toward Kanzaki Rei.
The moment it spotted him—
It charged directly at them.
Kanzaki Rei's lips twitched slightly.
Hey…
Does it have to be that perceptive?
The oppressive aura of a Third-Tier Lord was clearly different from that of a Second-Tier.
Even as that thought crossed his mind, Kanzaki Rei's hands never stopped moving.
The moment he realized the monster intended to ram him, he immediately began casting.
RUMBLE—
Three massive, densely packed walls erupted from the ground!
They stood directly in the monster's path.
It absolutely had to be stopped.
If that body—equivalent to the combined mass of two freight trucks—rammed into him…
He'd end up bruised all over, if not worse.
The distance between them was already short.
Almost in the very next second—
The [Hammer-Tail Horned Bull] slammed headfirst into the Heavy Wall created by Kanzaki Rei.
BOOM!
Cracks exploded across the solid stone wall.
And yet…
It did not break.
「Heavy Wall (LV:195) — Extreme hardness, self-repair, rapid generation, additional hardness enhancement, impact absorption, massive width, massive height, ultimate hardness reinforcement」
Kanzaki Rei's Stone Wall spell had evolved entirely toward hardness.
Throughout his training, he had continuously strengthened it in that direction.
The reason was simple.
This was one of the rare spells he possessed that leaned toward defense.
In terms of offense, Kanzaki Rei lacked nothing.
What he truly lacked was a method of survival.
For a spell capable of blocking enemy attacks like Heavy Wall, Kanzaki Rei had actually practiced it more than any other spell.
But strictly speaking, this was the first time he had used Heavy Wall to block a real enemy attack.
During sparring sessions with Izparut, the wall would either be brutally shattered in an instant…
Or simply bypassed with ease.
Not once had it actually served its purpose.
And today's lord monsters had all been killed by Kanzaki Rei before they could even attempt an attack on the wall.
So…
The [Hammer-Tail Horned Bull] had become the first real test subject for the defensive strength of Heavy Wall.
The sight left Gaton, standing in the carriage, completely dumbfounded.
"…Wait, what?"
"It blocked it?"
"And the first wall held?!"
Kanzaki Rei had erected three layers of Heavy Wall in total, stacked together like three slices of bread.
And yet the monster hadn't even shattered the first layer.
The gap between its strength and Kanzaki Rei's defenses was simply too great.
At this point, the party didn't even need him—the defender—at all!
BOOM!
「Rising Pillar」 erupted!
A razor-sharp earthen pillar shot upward toward the Hammer-Tail Horned Bull's abdomen!
Pshh! Pshh! Pshh!
Blood sprayed into the air—
This earth-spike type skill was extremely effective in many situations.
After all, most monsters had soft underbellies.
And four-legged creatures usually kept their bellies close to the ground.
For ordinary warriors or archers, attacking the abdomen required creating an opportunity or waiting for the right moment.
Only mages—
A class with highly versatile combat methods—could directly launch attacks from beneath the ground using spells like this.
That was also why, even though people constantly complained about mages being slow to cast spells, no one truly disliked having them on a team.
The effect of 「Rising Pillar」 was remarkably significant.
Kanzaki Rei had already closed the distance to within 400 meters.
The Hammer-Tail Horned Bull, pierced by the pillar, found its movements severely restricted.
This was no ordinary earth spike.
Once it pierced into a target's body, the only way to remove it was to snap the pillar itself.
But the hardness of Rising Pillar far exceeded that of normal spikes…
Breaking it would require paying a painful price.
And Kanzaki Rei's offensive would not stop.
「Curse Arrow」
The shadow of the towering wall stretched across the ground.
Within that shadow, fifteen pitch-black curse arrows silently formed.
Pshh!
Pshh-pshh-pshh-pshh-pshh—
All fifteen arrows pierced through the creature's tough hide like flowing water, burrowing deep into the body of the Hammer-Tail Horned Bull.
「Curse Arrow (LV:175) — Weakness Curse, Exhaustion Curse, Defense Softening, Blood Fusion, Penetration, Stealth, Shadow Integration, Complex Dispel, Rapid Activation