“There it is.”

Just a few minutes into Ville Forest, our target appeared.

Six goblins—a D-rank monster that resembles a green-skinned imp. Since they formed a group of five or more, they were classified as C-rank, which meant we couldn’t let our guard down.

“Let’s go, Flare.”

“Right!”

Once we spotted the target, everything flowed smoothly. Flare burst out from behind a tree, charging toward the group of goblins.

“Hah!”

“Gyaa!”

“Geh!”

“Gah!”

The goblins couldn't keep up with Flare’s swift movements. In an instant, three of them were reduced to mana stones.

“Gyaa!”

“Coming for me, huh?”

One goblin had managed to avoid Flare’s initial attack and started running toward me. Maybe it thought I’d be an easier target than her. Though it wasn’t wrong, I wasn’t that easy to take down.

Drawing my dagger, I faced the goblin head-on.

“Graah!”

“Too slow.”

“Gyah?!”

I dodged the goblin’s leap and stabbed my dagger into its side. Green blood spurted out, but it wasn’t a fatal wound. I quickly stepped back to put some distance between us.

“Grgh…”

“No more charging, huh?”

The goblin, now cautious after my counterattack, kept a wary distance. Then, it picked up a rock from the ground and threw it at me.

“That’s not going to hit.”

I dodged the rock easily, kicked off the ground, and closed in on the goblin. The rock whizzed by, only inches from my face, as I advanced on the goblin, whose outstretched arm left it wide open.

“Hah!”

With one swift strike, I cut through its neck. The goblin let out a final cry and transformed into a mana stone.

“Looks like you’re done too, Ike!” Flare called.

I turned to see that Flare had already taken care of the remaining goblins and had been watching my fight. We’d successfully defeated all six goblins without a scratch.

I felt a sense of growth. While I’d never struggled much with goblins, the fight usually would have taken a bit longer. With Flare’s independence, I could focus entirely on my own movements. Both she and I were becoming stronger.

“Our goal is to take down ten goblins. Let’s stay sharp,” I said.

“Got it!”

Afterward, we encountered another group of eight goblins deeper in the forest. This time, Flare handled them all on her own.

“That was fast,” I murmured as we walked through Ville Forest, tucking away the fourteen mana stones in my bag.

“Does it usually take longer?” Flare asked.

I nodded. “Goblins usually live much deeper in the forest. I expected it would take at least thirty minutes to find them, but it only took a few minutes this time.”

“Interesting. Either way, finishing early is good, right?”

“Yeah… though—”

Suddenly, I felt like I’d missed a step and halted. I looked down and frowned at what I saw.

“What… is this?”

The ground was unnaturally sunken in, stretching in both directions for over a meter. It looked suspiciously like the footprint of some massive creature.

But this was odd. This area was supposed to be inhabited only by D- to C-rank creatures. There shouldn’t be anything of this size around here.

I tried to shake off my unease when—

“Ahhh!”

A piercing scream echoed through the forest.

“Ike!” Flare shouted.

“Yeah, it came from that direction!”

The scream came from further along the sunken area, and Flare and I dashed toward it at full speed.

“This… can’t be…”

In a small clearing ahead, I froze at the sight before me.

Two girls stood there, their backs to us. One, with long golden hair, held a sword; the other, with short silver hair, wielded a dagger. Both were injured and crouching in pain.

In front of them loomed a monster.

A massive, single-eyed creature wielding an enormous club—a cyclops, five meters tall.

This monster was supposed to live deep within the forest. A B-rank creature, rumored to possess strength close to A-rank.