There was no need to question what she meant. Almost instantly after she had finished speaking, a faint sound could be heard echoing from somewhere. It was as if someone was slowly stepping on fallen leaves or perhaps chewing on something brittle, a faint and eerie sound. Despite looking around, there were no signs of other people or creatures. Yuder felt his senses come to life, tingling throughout his body.

Following the chilly sensation that warned of danger, he slowly lifted his head. His eyes met with a monster perched high up in a tree, rustling leaves and drooling incessantly.

A monster!

Fall back.

Yuder, ignoring Lornas screams, stepped forward. The monster met his gaze with indifference, its tail hanging down, swaying while it continued to tear and munch on the leaves. Although its size was comparable to a small puppy, its tongue was long and thick, and its teeth sharp. He almost laughed upon seeing the dark, smooth fur, tinged with purple spots, and thorns embedded in its tail, which was much longer and thicker than its body.

Is this why I had that dream yesterday?

Though much smaller than when he had seen it in his previous life, he recognized it immediately. The monster was like a miniaturized version of Pethuamet.

Do you know anything about that monster?

I dont. Its the first time Ive seen this monster.

The chances of a monster with the property of absorbing magic appearing were incredibly slim, and though it was too pessimistic to imagine, what would Lorna say if the possibility was now realized? Yuder was curious, but he decided not to confirm recklessly when the answer was not certain.

Originally, people had given a separate long name to differentiate between the giant Pethuamet and the small ones. But if, as Yuder suspected, Pethuamet accidentally swallowed the amplification circle and became giant, there would be no need for such distinction if it was, in fact, the same as the smaller ones.

Yuder decided to simply refer to the monster as Pethuamet while inspecting the creature's surroundings.

There used to be a horde, but now theres only one?

Monsters that appeared in groups usually did so altogether. The probability was high that there should be a horde of similar monsters nearby if that one was here. But no matter how much he searched the upper parts of the surrounding trees, he could not spot any other monsters.

Yuder raised his hand towards the Pethuamet, which was still tearing at the leaves. Flames streamed out, burning the end of the branch the monster was perched on. Moments later, the shaking branch fell. Pethuamet, having fallen to the ground, squirmed helplessly on its back before eventually righting itself with its tail. It sluggishly shot a jet of black fluid towards Yuder in retaliation, but the weak attack failed to reach him, scorching only the innocent earth and grass before extinguishing. It was a mere matchstick flame compared to the terrifying power he had seen in his previous life.

Could this small, pitiful creature really be the same monster he had seen in his past life? It seemed so frail that one punch might kill it, an anticlimax that left him feeling empty.

Yuder watched the monsters movements as it scurried about, seeking refuge, its short limbs flailing. As it moved, the thorns at the end of its tail, which dragged along the ground, left marks on the soil.

"Ah... that trace, it seems to match the one that has been lingering here and around the ruins since yesterday. I think it was left by that creature, not another monster."

Lorna, who had been retreating, seemed relieved when she saw the monster, which appeared much weaker than she had expected, and approached it. Yuder turned his head towards the magic circle where he had been moving the magic stones just moments before. The faint traces left there and the ones left by the Pethuamet, which was now spinning around in place, looked strikingly similar to what she had said.

"...I see."

He had thought that the creature which left those traces would be large, given that most of the monsters that had appeared due to the anomaly were of considerable size. With this new piece of information, his previous assumptions began to churn in his head again.

'If my thoughts are correct, it can't be mere coincidence that these traces were left only in this area, full of magic power.'

"Sir Aile. This creature keeps heading toward the magic circle. Perhaps we should kill it and then investigate further," Lorna called to him.

While Yuder was lost in thought, the Pethuamet that had been spinning in place suddenly picked up a direction and slowly began moving toward the magic circle. It greedily licked up any noticeable grass and fallen leaves along the way, but being so small, it did not seem to make a difference.

Yuder was about to draw his sword from his hip to kill the Pethuamet when he paused, looking down at it.

"Why do you hesitate?"

"I'm curious why it keeps wandering near the magic circle and the Magic Spring. Do you mind if we observe it for a bit?"

"What?"

Whether Lorna was surprised or not, Yuder had shifted his gaze to follow the Pethuamet's movements. The creature had reached the edge of the recovering control circle and was sniffing around, its snout lifted towards the sky. It stuck out its long tongue through its large mouth relative to its body, but the invisible wall created by the protection circle did not allow the monster's approach and bounced it back.

Even after being repelled several times, the Pethuamet did not stop sticking out its tongue and disappointedly nibbled on the grass nearby. It then slithered around the blocked-off area, continuously sniffing around until it found something and quickly stuck out its tongue. This time, it had picked up a fragment of a dark blue stone. The moment the tiny shard, smaller than a fingernail, reflected the light and gleamed, Lorna's eyes widened and her lips parted.

"That looks like the fragment of a magic stone I was cleaning up earlier...!"

Before her muttering could end, the Pethuamet had already shoved it into its mouth.

"No!"

Unable to wait any longer, Lorna activated her magic tool. A sharp wind spell erupted from the short club-like tool she held in her hand, striking the monster's head.

With a piercing scream, the Pethuamet spewed black bodily fluid. Its entire body turned a deep purple, then black, over and over again. Its entire body began to swell like a boil, prompting Lorna to cry out.

"Are you just going to watch? We need to deal with it now!"

Yuder drew his sword, holding it by the handle and forcefully stabbed downward, piercing the Pethuamet. The creature, pinned to the ground, convulsed a few times before weakly sticking out its long tongue. Only after he pulled out his sword and cut off that tongue did its squirming movements finally come to a complete stop. Just as in his previous life, that long tongue was indeed its weak point.

While Lorna hurriedly ran towards the magic circle, Yuder knelt on one knee, examining the dead Pethuamet's corpse.

"It's gone."

"What is?"

"The shard of magic stone it had put in its mouth."

"It must have dropped somewhere since we killed it before it could swallow."

Lorna was busy examining the magic circle, seemingly indifferent to this matter. But to Yuder, it was not the same. The shard of magic stone was nowhere to be found, neither inside the gaping mouth of the dead Pethuamet nor in the surrounding grassy area. Then he noticed a faint blue light flickering amidst the piece of severed tongue soaked in black body fluid.

"Ah, here..."

He hurriedly picked it up, but the light flickered once more before going out completely, never to return.

"..."

Damn it. An unspoken curse lingered in his mouth for a moment before disappearing.

'But I didn't see it wrong. I can't show this to Lorna, but I have to tell her.'

This was definitive evidence that supported his speculation that Pethuamet was a monster that absorbed magic power. However, seeing Lorna so engrossed in studying the magic circle, his original plan to show her the severed tongue and explain his theory suddenly changed.

'...To what extent will she actually believe and consider what I say?'

They had been discussing the possibility of a magic-power-absorbing monster just before Pethuamet appeared. Even if he said that such a monster seemed to have actually appeared now, he had a strong premonition that she might dismiss it as a misunderstanding or view it as an attempt to disrupt her research.

'To that mage, the most important thing is the continuation of her ongoing Magic Spring research. She wouldn't welcome any topic that could potentially interrupt it.'

Nevertheless, Yuder had no doubt that he wasn't mistaken. The light he saw had the same color as part of the magic circle that flickered from Pethuamet's severed tongue in his dream last night. He glanced at the tongue in his hand before hastily stuffing it into his pocket.

'I'll have to take this and show it to Micalin. It would be better if the same kind of monster doesn't appear again.'

However, his bad premonition usually turned out to be accurate in such cases. After stopping the restoration of the magic circle, going into the Magic Spring, verifying that it looked no different from yesterday, and coming out again, they encountered another Pethuamet.

"It's the same monster from before!"

It was smaller than the Pethuamet they had killed earlier. Yuder killed it again with his sword, protecting Lorna as they quickly returned to their base.

They headed straight to Micalin and began reporting what had happened that day. Yuder, who had merely listened to Lorna's reports a step behind her the day before, did not do the same today. After her lengthy explanation about the magic circle and the Magic Spring, and her brief addition about the monster, he went out with her, but soon snuck back to Micalin on his own.

Micalin, who had been busy checking his books, looked puzzled when he saw Yuder.

"Hmm? Do you have something more to say?"

"Yes. I have something personal to discuss regarding what happened today."