Hunting The Flame Tiger Brennen Tiger

“Ground Shrink!”

It was a special skill possessed by Sword Saints.

In an instant, I closed the distance to the Brennen Tiger. The distance that had taken me so much time with Silent Step became zero in the literal blink of an eye.

“As if I’ll let you!”

I slammed a blow with Heavy Strike + Swift Sword into the Brennen Tiger.

The Brennen Tiger screamed and staggered greatly. The flames that had been about to swallow Misha turned in a completely different direction.

The Brennen Tiger’s fighting spirit had not weakened.

It was glaring at me with angry eyes.

Without taking my eyes off the Brennen Tiger, I called out to Misha behind me.

“Are you okay!?”

“Yeah! Thank you!”

Nyankoromochi stood beside me. Then it let out a threatening hiss.

It was a fresh start. …Well, it was a start not from a negative, but from zero. That was not so bad.

Nyankoromochi and I challenged the Brennen Tiger.

Attack power, defense power.

As expected of a B-class monster, it was certainly powerful, but I did not think it was too strong. The three of us—Nyankoromochi, Misha, and I—dealt damage little by little.

We could do this—

We could win!

It was when I thought that.

“Guoooooooooooooooooooo!”

Together with an angry roar, the Brennen Tiger’s body suddenly burst into flames.

…W-what, it ignited!?

Overwhelmed by the heat, I unconsciously stepped back.

It cloaked itself in flames, huh—how was I supposed to attack this? I had no choice but to cut in while prepared to get burned… did I…

While I was hesitating like that,

“Meow!”

Nyankoromochi suddenly punched the Brennen Tiger.

The mysterious force field covering Nyankoromochi did not seem to let flames through, and it seemed able to punch the enemy regardless of whether it was burning.

…That was convenient and nice… that thing.

As I was thinking that,

“Ios! Match me!”

Misha slammed several Water Blasts into the blazing tiger.

The flames where they hit were extinguished.

!?

After a slight time lag, the flames flared up again with a whoosh.

But Misha’s Water Blast had certainly nullified the flames for a very short while.

In that case, we could fight!

“Got it, Misha! More, please!”

“Yeah!”

I slashed at the places where Misha had slammed Water Blast into it. My slashes and Nyankoromochi’s attacks drove the Brennen Tiger into a corner.

We could do this—we could do this!

I saw the route to victory.

There was a definite sense of achievement in the accumulation of each and every blow!

If we kept pushing like this, we could definitely win!

We had become certain of victory, but the development of the situation went far beyond our imagination.

“Haaah? What do you think you’re doing in my hunting ground?”

A voice flew toward us from an entrance different from the direction we had come from.

When we turned our eyes toward the voice—

There was already no one there.

Something raced past.

Perceiving that was the most I could manage. It was as if a gust of wind had blown through.

When I realized it with a start, the owner of the voice had moved to the opposite side with the Brennen Tiger between us. A woman wearing a black cloak was standing there. In her left hand was a jet-black dagger, and in her right was a staff—no, that was wrong, she held a sword cane with a blade hidden in its tip in a reverse grip.

And the Brennen Tiger in the center was—

In tatters.

Minced. That expression fits so perfectly.

I shuddered.

Had that woman done it? In that instant? With the two weapons held in both hands?

What slashing speed.

Just how high was her level…?

The Brennen Tiger spat out blood with a cough, and its massive body sank heavily to the ground.

The woman turned around. She was a beautiful woman with vivid blond hair. She was unquestionably beautiful, but her arrogant expression and the cruelty floating around her mouth stirred fear more than sweetness.

“…Were you maybe steadily fighting the Brennen Tiger little by little? Like, we worked so hard, boys and girls? Low firepower sure is tough, isn’t it?”

Ahahahahaha! The woman’s loud laughter echoed through the dungeon.

“Now then, I wonder which side has priority? Go ahead first. I pray that your steady efforts bear fruit.”

What the woman meant was—the retriever.

After defeating a monster, it was not as if just anyone could make it into spoils with a retriever.

The member of the party that dealt the maximum damage had that right.

Normally, monsters were defeated by a party unit, so it was not a condition one worried about, but when there was an interruption like this time, that was a different story.

…Stealing another person’s prey was a breach of manners. At that point, I was already fairly angry, but the woman’s attitude of looking down on us was also unpleasant.

I want to take these spoils—

I brought the retriever close to the Brennen Tiger’s corpse.