"Set, I doubt there is, but there's a possibility some kind of barrier has been erected. Keep a close eye out for that."
"Gruu!"
Two hundred meters above their destination, Mejougo.
Set usually flew at an altitude of about one hundred meters, but since this was an aerial ambush, they were taking every possible precaution and flying at nearly double the usual height.
Granted, even at a hundred meters, the Set Basket could blend into the surrounding scenery, making it highly unlikely to be spotted.
Even so, there was always the chance—a one-in-a-million possibility—and they were on guard against it.
"Hey, I just thought of something... If there's a barrier or something put up, wouldn't we come into contact with it before Set does?"
At Marina's voice from inside the Set Basket, Rei muttered, "Now that you mention it..." as he recalled their current situation.
The Set Basket was, as its name suggested—technically the Mirage Basket, but still—a basket gripped in Set's four legs.
In other words, if they descended as they were, it would unquestionably enter Mejougo before Set did... and in that sense, if there were any kind of barrier, it would be extremely dangerous.
"...Damn. I didn't consider that."
The Set Basket was originally a Magic Item created for the sole purpose of being transported by Set.
Its intended uses did not include infiltrating an enemy stronghold.
"For now, let's descend slowly. Once we cross the boundary, if there's no problem, we keep moving. If it looks like some kind of barrier has been set up, we'll have to force our way through."
With no other option available, that was all they could do.
Of course, the reason he didn't choose to retreat temporarily was because he truly believed the likelihood of a barrier being in place was very low.
This slow descent was merely a precaution.
The others, including Marina who had called out to him, showed no sign of objecting to his plan.
Set beat his wings and slowly descended... and before long, they successfully entered Mejougo without any issues.
Rei had been confident it would be fine, but actually experiencing it and finding no problems still brought him relief, and he urged Set on once more.
"There. You can see it, right? Land near that building."
From atop Set's back, Rei pointed toward a building.
It was the one he had earmarked when he scouted Mejougo.
Based on all the information he had gathered, he was confident—no, certain—that this building connected to the Underground Facility.
"Gruu."
Perhaps out of consideration for the prostitutes who were likely asleep at this hour, Set let out a low cry instead of his usual loud call.
Then, beating his wings, he headed toward the building Rei indicated.
Fortunately, the area around it served as a plaza of moderate size.
It wasn't a space designed to help those working in the Underground Facility relax—rather, it existed simply for operational reasons.
As Set descended toward the plaza, Rei surveyed Mejougo once more from his back.
The scene was nothing like what he had seen when he arrived last night; the entire town was quiet now.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Mejougo itself was slumbering.
It wasn't as though no one was outside, but the number of people was astonishingly small compared to what Rei had seen when he first visited.
Those moving are... the Resistance? Or Jaya's guards? Or maybe they have some errand completely unrelated to either... that's a possibility too. Well, things have already started. Thinking about that stuff now won't change anything.
If possible, he hoped the Resistance had finished their preparations.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, a smile formed on his lips.
Because, in his line of sight, he spotted a familiar figure moving through the streets.
The Wolf Beastman woman... in other words, Sharia.
Since it wasn't night, she wasn't dressed as a prostitute.
Even so, Rei could clearly identify her as Sharia.
And her cooperation with the Resistance had been proposed right in front of him, so naturally he remembered it.
He had considered the possibility that she might have caused trouble within the Resistance and been expelled, but there was no end to worrying if he went that far.
All right. At any rate, the Resistance is moving to protect civilians in coordination with us. If so, we can proceed as planned.
Of course, even if the Resistance didn't act exactly as Rei wanted, he wouldn't have called off the assault.
But... in that case, he would inevitably worry about someone in Mejougo who had nothing to do with this incident—people who were nothing but victims of Jaya—and that might have made him hesitate to go all out.
Granted, even if it was fine to rampage as much as he wanted, if Rei went all out, there was a risk that Mejougo itself would be reduced to ashes, so he couldn't truly go on an unrestrained rampage.
"I've confirmed the presence of those who appear to be the Resistance."
At Rei's murmured words, loud enough for those in the Set Basket to hear, Elena and the others breathed sighs of relief.
Even if the commotion grew, the Resistance would handle it.
...Though, since the actual combat would take place inside the Underground Facility, damage spreading to the surface was fundamentally unthinkable... but those for whom such fundamental logic didn't apply were exactly Rei and his party.
Set's altitude dropped below the rooftops of the surrounding buildings.
At this point, surveying Mejougo from the sky as before was no longer possible.
Though not exactly as a substitute, at this altitude, the Set Basket's camouflage also ceased to function.
No, to be precise, there was nothing wrong with the camouflage function itself, but the Set Basket's camouflage worked by reflecting the surrounding scenery from approximately one minute prior.
In a place like the open sky, this wouldn't matter, but in a town like Mejougo, that one-minute difference was critically large.
So much so that anyone would feel an overwhelming sense of wrongness at a glance.
Above all, having descended to the same altitude as or lower than the buildings, it was impossible for a creature like Set to go unnoticed.
And this area was Mejougo's most highly classified section, where a fair number of guards were naturally stationed.
Though not as many as during the night when Mejougo was most active, there were still enough on duty.
"E-enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
That shout echoed through the surroundings from one of the guard stations located within the plaza-like area.
There were others who had noticed Rei and his party descending.
But even so, the sight was so utterly unexpected that they were completely caught off guard.
Since they were entrusted with guarding this place, the guards were undoubtedly elites within Jaya. Yet even for such individuals, the idea of an enemy descending directly from the sky was something they had never anticipated.
No matter how powerful an organization's influence over a nation, the fact that the nation in question was Reblurina—a small country without a single Dragon Knight—proved fatal.
They knew of the existence of Dragon Knights, but having never seen one in person, they had no practical understanding of what kind of power they wielded, regardless of their textbook knowledge.
And while Jaya likely knew that Rei was in Reblurina, the idea of Rei descending from the sky on Set was something those guarding this location could never have predicted.
The moment the Set Basket was placed on the ground, several men emerged from small sheds nearby.
They gripped various weapons—longswords, clubs, spears—and it was clear their objective was not to capture but to kill.
"Uoooooooooh!"
"Kill them, kill them, kill them!"
"Get bows! Get bows! The enemy flies!"
"Call for reinforcements!"
"Damn it! Who the hell charges in here directly?! Don't they know what common sense is?!"
The instant one of the men shouted, several figures leapt from the Set Basket.
Elena's whip-sword Mirage shifted into its whip form, slashing through those nearby one after another. Wind Blades created by Marina's Spirit Magic sliced through enemies. Vihera punched and kicked them away.
Long Needles thrown sharply by Byune pierced bodies, and some men screamed in agony.
Amidst all this, Rei leapt from Set's back, stowed the Set Basket into his Misty Ring to widen his range of movement, and drew the Death Scythe.
That enormous scythe alone possessed enough presence to instill dread in anyone who saw it.
The guards stationed here were, naturally, skilled operatives within Jaya, and they prided themselves on that fact.
Even so... or perhaps precisely because of it, the sight of Rei's Death Scythe froze them in place with awe.
And making such a mistake in front of Rei was nothing short of suicide.
"Die."
With a single word, the Death Scythe swung, bisecting the torsos of five men, spilling their innards and spreading a powerful stench of blood across the area.
Five full-grown adults had their torsos severed in a single strike.
Such an attack naturally meant death, and those who witnessed the sight—who had seen it—realized that Rei was a being beyond their comprehension and took several steps back.
"Gururururu!"
But of course, Rei had no intention of letting them escape. Having dropped off Rei and the Set Basket, Set, who had been circling overhead, dove straight into them.
A massive body exceeding three meters in length came charging in.
Naturally, being struck by such a creature was not something anyone could walk away from. Bones shattered throughout their bodies as they were sent flying.
"What the hell... what the hell are you people?!"
Unreasonable.
At a scene that could only be called absurdly unreasonable, one of the guards screamed.
On his cheek clung undigested contents from a comrade's stomach—a man who, just minutes ago, had been joking and laughing with him—and his face and body were covered in blood, fragments of internal organs, and bodily fluids.
Toward such a man, Death Scythe in hand, Rei opened his mouth.
"Who am I? Given that you people are who you are, I'd imagine you already know who I am. Or has the information been stopped at the top?"
Even as Rei spoke, a battle that could barely even be called a rout was unfolding around them.
Naturally, the ones doing the routing were Elena and the others, while those being routed were Jaya's men.
The man likely understood this as well, but the sudden transition from peace to a battlefield—and the sight of themselves, who should have been the strong ones, being unilaterally slaughtered—made it impossible for him to make any move to attack Rei.
"Wh-what are you talking about?"
"Well, if you don't know, then it doesn't matter. Regardless of who we are, the fate that awaits you is the same."
"Wait, please!"
The moment Rei tightened his grip on the Death Scythe, the man—judging that he wouldn't survive if this continued—frantically dropped the longsword he was holding to the ground.
"I surrender! I surrender, so please! Just spare my life!"
"...If you were truly just bandits, I might have honored that request. I might have let you off with selling you into slavery rather than taking your lives. But... considering what you people have done, do you think I can just nod and say 'I see' when you ask me to spare you?"
The words that left Rei's mouth were astonishingly cold.
So cold that they seemed to mock the man's own foolishness in believing that surrendering his weapon would save him.
Still, the man who didn't want to die watched Rei approaching with the Death Scythe and desperately racked his brain.
So desperately that it was perhaps the first time in his life he had worked his mind this hard... and eventually, he found a single way out, and as if driven by it, he shouted.
"Information! Don't you want information?! ...Huh?"
The moment he said that, a sharp wind brushed the man's neck and vanished.
The man hadn't understood what had happened, but before he knew it, an enormous blade rested right beside his neck.
...Yes. It was Rei's Death Scythe.
Seeing this, the man couldn't believe it.
Just a moment ago, the giant scythe had undoubtedly been in Rei's hands—and in an instant, it had been pressed against his neck.
If he had opened his mouth a few seconds... no, a few moments later, his head would have unquestionably been sent flying, and he would be dead.
As that realization hit him, he felt overwhelming relief at having survived—even as he felt his consciousness being swallowed by darkness.