The moment they saw that figure, most of the men gasped.
They felt a distinct threat from the other adventurers who had appeared to block their escape, but right now, a presence that inspired far more dread stood before their eyes.
At first glance, Rei had seemed like nothing more than a child who had only just become an adventurer, but that impression had now completely vanished.
He had caught a blow from a club swung by a large man with a single hand and sent the attacker rolling several meters across the ground with what looked like nothing more than a casual kick.
He displayed such extraordinary physical ability, and above all, there was the great scythe that had appeared out of nowhere.
The moment they saw that weapon, most of them realized the true identity of the person before them.
And more than anything...
"Guruuuu."
Emerging from behind Rei was a Gryphon.
It growled low in its throat, its gaze fixed on the men with obvious displeasure.
Normally, its eyes were best described as round and adorable, but the look it directed at the men now was sharp—truly the eyes of a predator watching its prey.
As far as these men knew, there was only one person in Gilm who wielded such a great scythe.
That person was the only one in Gilm... no, likely the only one in this world, who had a Gryphon as a tamed monster.
There was no way the men who lived in Gilm's underground world would be unaware of such an opponent's identity.
He was a man who showed no mercy to those who opposed him, exerting his power with absolute thoroughness.
One of the men muttered the name of the figure who shouldered the Death Scythe with Seto at his side.
"Rei... of Crimson."
A stir ran through the crowd. The moment those words were voiced, the men began to buzz with agitation.
They had already suspected from the current situation that the person before them was Rei. Even so, having it put into words made them truly understand that the one standing in their way was an opponent they simply could not overcome.
Realizing this, several of them quickly scanned their surroundings.
Now that the existence known as Rei had appeared, this raid was as good as failed. Under the circumstances, they judged that they should withdraw from this place as quickly as possible—before they were even injured.
However, Rei's companions, who surrounded Keep and the other men, pointedly brandished their weapons as a deterrent.
"Now then... Well, you certainly moved exactly as expected. I understand that doing this was the quickest way to try and nullify the results of the duel... but even so, it was far too short-sighted. Since you've come to launch a raid like this, you're finished."
Rei pointedly swung his Death Scythe.
The sound of the blade slicing through the winter night air made those who heard it envision their own deaths.
"What will you do? If you'll just surrender quietly, it would save us the trouble and make things easy on our end," Rei declared, even though he suspected they absolutely would not comply.
His words were directed at the men, and at the same time, at Keep.
Rei and Seto were here, Phron and Brasso were here, and even members of the former Mobile Unit like Sergio, Johanna, and Dietz were present.
No matter how one looked at it, there was no way they could escape safely from this place.
Since there was no way out, fighting was an option, but considering the combat strength gathered here, that would be nothing short of a suicidal act.
That being the case, surrendering quietly to avoid getting hurt was, logically speaking, the best choice.
However, for these men, surrendering quietly without even putting up a fight would be a blow to their pride... even if it was pride in a mistaken sense.
As for Keep, it was even simpler; he would never lower himself to surrender to a mere adventurer.
It was a matter of pride, but more than that, it was a matter of self-preservation.
Due to the duel held today, Keep's status as a noble had fallen to the earth, smeared in mud—no, it had even been smeared in dung and urine.
Even as things stood, some form of punishment from his family was certain, so if he were captured for attempting to attack Baron Cisne's house, it wouldn't end at mere disinheritance.
Rather, Keep predicted that disinheritance would be the lightest possible punishment.
Since the knights were also Keep's subordinates, their punishment would be the same as his... no, in the sense that they had failed to prevent this situation, there was a possibility of even harsher punishment.
In other words, the people in this place could never bring themselves to follow Rei's words.
"...Don't... screw... with me."
Amidst the silence that followed Rei's words, that voice suddenly echoed.
The one who spoke was Keep.
Rei faced Keep and spoke while keeping himself ready to swing his Death Scythe at any moment.
"What was that? Could you put it a bit more clearly into words?"
"I said, don't screw with me! To begin with, you're the cause of everything! If you hadn't interfered back then, I wouldn't have ended up like this! If only you... if only you weren't here!"
Keep seemed to grow more agitated as he spoke, swinging the spear in his hand repeatedly.
"Why does someone like you even exist, damn it! Listen, all of you! If we don't do something about these people here, not just me, but you as well will meet the worst possible end! Steel yourselves! Kill them all right here!"
At Keep's shout, which was laden with pure malice, the knights each drew their longswords.
The other men, spurred on by Keep's words, also readied their respective weapons.
Scanning the group, Rei let out a sigh.
"Hey, Rei! These guys chose to fight us, so that's enough! Let us at them already!"
Shouting at Rei with obvious irritation was Phron, her face clearly showing that she wanted to crush their opponents immediately.
Originally, Phron spoke like a man, but she was quite caring.
Indeed, that was clear from how she had looked after Rei in various ways when they first met, back when he wasn't very good at socializing.
But the current Phron was displaying her irritation openly, as if she had forgotten all about that kindness.
It was only natural. He had used his status and power to try and obtain a single woman, and when that failed, he forced a duel. Furthermore, perhaps because he had learned Rei's true identity, he had attacked Baron Cisne's house multiple times. When even that failed and he lost the duel, he had led a large group to attack on that very same day.
It was only natural for Phron to loathe him.
"Hmph... Rei, Phron's words are rough, but at this point, I do not believe such people will surrender quietly. If we waste time here, there is no telling what else they might try. It would be better to capture them all at once, would it not?"
As Brasso spoke with his Earth-shaking Hammer in hand, Rei gave a small sigh and nodded.
To be honest, since there were no strong opponents among Keep's group, it would have been best if they had just surrendered quietly to save him the trouble... or so he thought.
"Can't be helped. Everyone, begin the operation. Capture them. However, do not kill Keep or the knights. As for the others, you may kill them if absolutely necessary. Still, they're people who tried to raid a noble's mansion. If we capture them, they'll undoubtedly be sold into slavery, so the rewards will increase at least a little."
With those words from Rei as the signal, the battle began.
The first to move was, naturally, Phron.
With her longsword in hand, she slashed at the man nearest to her.
The man had been holding a spear, but the spear he thrust out to block Phron's strike had its shaft easily severed, and the man's body was slashed open in the same motion.
It was a wound that was obviously fatal at a glance, but Phron ignored the man and moved on to her next opponent.
For Phron, the feeling of distaste for the men before her was stronger than the desire to get money from selling them as slaves.
Elsewhere, combat had begun as well.
Phron was the only one who didn't mind killing her opponents, but the women among the former Mobile Unit likely had various thoughts about this matter as well. While they didn't go as far as killing, they beat them down without mercy.
Despite having the skill to knock them out with a single blow, they deliberately inflicted pain without letting them lose consciousness.
For the men, being repeatedly subjected to physical agony while being unable to pass out must have felt as though they were in hell.
The men were overwhelmingly superior in numbers, with nearly a three-to-one advantage. Despite that, it was the men who were suffering one-sided casualties.
Glancing at the situation, Rei held his Death Scythe and spoke to Keep, who was right in front of him.
"...Well now, since they've started over there, I suppose it's time we start here as well."
As Rei took a step forward, Keep's previous bravado vanished as if it had been a lie, and he retreated several steps.
Following Keep's lead, the knights also stepped back.
Rei took another step forward, and Keep's group retreated again... after repeating this a few times, Rei spoke with an exasperated expression.
"Hey, how long do you plan to keep running away? You're a noble, aren't you? At least show some proper noble pride at the very end. Besides, you can't run any further."
Hearing Rei's words, Keep reflexively looked behind him.
The knights were also drawn by Keep's movement and looked back.
Faced with an existence like Rei, that was a fatal opening.
Even so, Rei made no move to attack; he simply let Keep and the others see for themselves that his allies—Phron, Brasso, and the members of the former Mobile Unit—were fighting the men Keep had brought, and made them realize they could not retreat any further.
"You understand now that you can't escape, right? Then, shall we get on with it? I'm not particularly fond of wasting time either... Seto, I'll leave those three knights to you."
"Guru!"
Seto, who had been moving forward in sync with Rei's steps, rumbled its throat at Rei's words and turned its gaze toward the knights.
It was naturally the knights' first time fighting an A-Rank Monster, and their legs gave way under the intimidation emanating from Seto... nevertheless, to protect Keep, they readied their longswords and faced Seto.
(Heh.)
Rei, who had fully expected the knights to abandon Keep and flee, showed a look of surprise at this unexpected turn of events.
"Well, do your best. I'll be doing my part over here."
Rei approached with his Death Scythe in hand.
In an attempt to deter him, Keep swung his spear.
...However, his movements were not those of someone who had practiced with a spear; he was merely swinging it around randomly without any logic.
If his opponent had been someone who didn't know how to fight, it might have been difficult to approach him. But against Rei, such an act was completely meaningless... or rather, it only created a massive opening.
Rei swung his weapon and struck the spear.
At that moment, with a high-pitched metallic sound, the spear was knocked from Keep's hands and went flying straight up.
"Gyaaaaaah, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"
Keep crouched on the spot, wailing in pain from the impact of the spear hitting the Death Scythe.
Watching him, Rei reached out the hand not holding his weapon... and in the next moment, the spear that had been knocked upwards was gripped in his hand.
"Gurururururuuu!"
When Rei turned his gaze toward the sound of Seto's cry, there he saw the three knights who had lost consciousness from attacks by Water Ball and Wind Arrow.
Whether it had understood Rei's words before the battle about it being better not to kill them, the knights seemed to have sustained injuries, but they were not fatal.
As for the men led by Keep, the gap in their abilities had become painfully clear, and most of them were losing consciousness one after another or falling to the ground dead.
"Look, you're finished. Surrender quietly. Almost everyone you brought is wiped out."
At Rei's words, Keep, who had been wailing and clutching his arm, turned his gaze behind him in a panic.
Spread out there was a scene exactly as Rei had described.
His guard knights had all already lost consciousness, and as for the men, despite how many there had been, almost all of them were lying on the ground.
"See, your scheme has failed. Just surrender to me quietly."
"...Shut up! You, what kind of grudge do you have to do such a thing! Opposing me, a noble! Curse you!"
Drowning his fear of Rei in the hatred within himself, Keep ran forward with a dagger he had pulled from his breast.
The dagger's sheath was cast aside, and he thrust the blade toward Rei's face... the place not covered by the Dragon Robe.
Keep himself was entirely unaware of it, but this was actually the best option he could have taken.
The Dragon Robe, made using dragon leather and scales, boasted extremely high defensive power. It was strong enough that ordinary weapons couldn't even leave a scratch.
However, that was strictly only where the Dragon Robe was; it didn't mean that a magic barrier, a shield, or something like the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor was covering Rei's body itself.
In other words, attacks from weapons would be effective as normal in places where the Dragon Robe was not... such as the face or the belly.
The face, in particular, would be a fatal wound if hit.
However...
"That's only if you can hit me."
With those words, he waited for Keep and swung the Death Scythe.
Two silver streaks sliced through the night air.
In the next moment, Keep's arms were severed from the shoulders and soared into the night sky, falling to the ground while illuminated by the moonlight.