The first to notice Rei and his party's presence was one of the researchers who had managed to put some distance between himself and the Giants and was observing the situation outside from within a building.
This area, roughly the same size as the space where the Giants had been kept asleep, even contained several buildings.
It was, without a doubt, on the scale of a small village.
One man in his twenties had hidden himself inside one of those buildings, searching for a way to survive, when he spotted a door cracked slightly open.
Finding that alone, however, wouldn't help him.
A single Giant stood blocking the way in front of the door.
Giants possessed no clear intelligence.
Despite their appearance—giant humans, one might say—they had only about as much intelligence as a Goblin... no, perhaps even less than a Goblin.
Intelligence on par with a wild animal, nothing more.
Why, then, was a Giant standing in front of the door?
If it were a wild animal, it shouldn't have done such a thing...
Regardless, the Giant was effectively acting as a gatekeeper, making escape impossible. As a result, most of the people here had been forced into a desperate battle.
Even in such a dire situation, the man had been checking his surroundings, wondering if there was any chance to break free, when...
(Who is that? They're definitely not one of the soldiers who were at the gate. Which means... the group that headed for the Giants' nest came back? This fast? Come to think of it, was there someone that small?)
The man concealed himself to stay out of sight from outside the house and stared intently at the figure.
He didn't even understand why he was watching the person so closely. He didn't understand, but... something about them had vaguely caught his attention.
...Outside the house, a Giant was walking while gnawing on an arm it had probably torn from a soldier by force. But whether by fortune or misfortune, the man never noticed.
It was a display of the concentration typical of a researcher—once focused on one thing, everything else became invisible.
In any case, at the end of the man's gaze, the robed figure... Rei, produced a massive scythe from out of nowhere.
Then, swinging the drawn Death Scythe, he severed both knees of the Giant standing before the door in the very next instant.
"Huh?"
For a moment, the man couldn't comprehend what had happened.
It was only natural. He possessed deep knowledge about Giants.
Their flesh was extremely tough, and their bones were even harder.
There was no way a casual-looking strike like that could so easily sever both knees.
(No, more importantly... where did he pull that scythe from? ...A scythe? Hey, wait a minute. Could it be—)
It wasn't until then that the man finally understood who was at the end of his gaze.
That Crimson might be coming here... along with the B-Rank party Crimson Lotus Wings, to the Reblurina capital of Rossi—as figures who could pose a danger to Jaya.
And the fact that Crimson possessed an Item Box was a rather well-known matter.
If it were merely an Item Box, simplified versions existed, though they were exceedingly expensive.
But the fact that he had a scythe made it certain that the robed figure was Rei.
A scythe was a weapon that looked incredibly menacing, but in actual combat, it was extremely difficult to use.
Therefore, not many people wielded such a weapon.
Some might be drawn to try using one based on its appearance, but in actual battle, wielding it required a considerable degree of skill.
Using a normal weapon like a longsword or a spear would ultimately make one stronger than trying to use a scythe.
Because of that, the moment one saw someone wielding a scythe, it was easy to guess who it was.
And the ability Rei displayed was worthy of that reputation.
No, Rei was not the only one who demonstrated his strength.
The four who entered right behind him also displayed more than sufficient power, excluding the smallest figure.
Seeing the ability of Rei and his party, the man judged that they might be his ticket to survival.
Given that adventurers from Gilm had come to a place like this, it was obvious they hadn't simply wandered in by chance.
But still... it was a fact that being saved was better than being eaten alive by Giants.
(Come on, do your best. I need your strength to make it out of here alive. If I survive, I'll do anything I can. So please!)
The man, for the sake of his own survival, prayed that Rei and his party would somehow win.
"Next!"
After severing the knees of the Giant that had first been blocking the door and cutting off its head to ensure it was dead, Rei launched an attack at the nearest Giant.
Fortunately, the space beyond the door was quite vast, with several buildings inside.
With that much room, swinging the Death Scythe or wielding the Twilight Spear was no problem at all.
As such, Rei was currently fighting the Giants in his usual Twin Spear Style, with the Death Scythe in his right hand and the Twilight Spear in his left.
Naturally, Rei wasn't the only one fighting; Elena, Marina, Vihera, and Byune were all in combat as well.
"They're ferocious, but that just makes them easier to fight!"
Dodging the Giant's hand that had reached out to grab her soft flesh, Vihera used the claws extending from her Hand Gauntlets to slash through the Giant's neck.
In the place where the Black Crystal was, even a Giant with severe injuries could recover easily. But unfortunately, there was no Black Crystal here.
Then again, they hadn't regenerated during the battle on the Underground Fourth Floor either, so recovery at a distance like this was likely impossible.
"And there aren't that many of them, either!"
Wielding Mirage, Elena attacked the Giant more by slamming it into them rather than slashing.
Mirage in its whip form was functioning quite literally as a metal whip.
...The Giant struck by it screamed in pain.
"What do you think you're doing? You shouldn't eat things like that."
An arrow shot from Marina's bow pierced the body of a Giant that had been about to sink its teeth into a soldier.
Whether from pain or simply the impact... either way, the Giant stopped moving.
Follow-up arrows pinned both of the hands that had been restraining the soldier, and the soldier, having escaped the Giant, glanced at Marina for a moment before immediately fleeing the area.
Naturally, moving around so conspicuously drew the attention of the soldiers who had been fighting or fleeing from the Giants... no, not just the soldiers, but the researchers as well.
"Who are you people! Are you reinforcements!?"
One soldier asked, harboring no small amount of hope.
Since they were faces he had never seen here before, it was certain they were no ordinary reinforcements.
Even so, seeing them systematically cutting down the very Giants that had been overwhelming his side, there was no doubt they possessed power that was, from his perspective, simply unbelievable.
Rather than foolishly making an enemy of them here, it was only natural to judge that cooperating—more accurately, being saved one-sidedly—and surviving this situation should take top priority.
"Stay out of the way, you deadweight!"
However, being met with that level of hostility... no, half-murderous intent was completely unexpected.
Of course, they understood that they themselves were villains.
But they thought that in this situation, they might be able to cooperate.
Then again, the soldiers had suffered miserably against the horde of Giants.
Enough that even if told to step back, it would be difficult to bluff and refuse.
As a result, the soldier who had called out to Vihera quietly retreated backward... toward the side where there were no Giants.
If asked whether it was frustrating, he would immediately answer that it was.
But if asked which was more important—his life or getting back at Vihera—his life still won out.
It wasn't just that soldier who heard Vihera's voice.
The other soldiers who had barely survived naturally heard it as well.
Directing a gaze mixed with contempt, scorn, and above all disgust at those soldiers, Vihera launched an attack at the remaining Giants.
Naturally, with the nuisance of the soldiers gone, the attacks from Vihera and everyone else only grew more fierce.
Thus, in less than ten minutes, every Giant in this area lost its life.
"Well, with this many Giants, this is about what you'd expect."
Seeing the last one have its head crushed by the Twilight Spear and crumble to the ground, Rei muttered.
After confirming that all the Giants were dead, he once again surveyed his surroundings.
(I've thought this a few times, but it really is wide. To begin with, having such a vast space in the back of a cave... and the Giants are gathered on a different path from here, right? What's going... hm? Giants?)
Rei's gaze suddenly turned to the corpse of a Giant lying on the ground.
Before him... no, what lay there was a Giant's corpse.
And what lay at the end of a different path from here was a massive number of... perhaps over a thousand Giants.
What if this Giant's rampage was no coincidence?
"What's wrong, Rei? Weren't you supposed to make contact with the other side?"
Rei turned his gaze toward Elena, who wore a puzzled expression.
What he found there was a look of dead seriousness.
Why to that extent? Elena wondered, but before she could open her mouth again, Rei spoke.
"What if this Giant rampage isn't a coincidence or anything of the sort... but is happening to all of the Giants?"
"Wh—!?"
Those who gasped in surprise at Rei's words were not only Elena, who had spoken to him, and Marina and the others who had gathered around Rei, but similar exclamations leaked from the soldiers' mouths as well.
It was only natural. With only about twenty Giants, seventy percent... no, roughly eighty percent of the soldiers here had been killed.
In that situation, being told that nearly a thousand more Giants might be rampaging, it would be impossible not to be shocked.
(Besides, why did the Giants suddenly start rampaging in the first place?)
That was right—when Rei had opened the door, the Giants were already on a rampage.
Given that was the case, he had absolutely no idea what had caused them to go berserk.
Could there possibly be some other reason?
Harboring a sliver of hope, he called out to a soldier standing a short distance away.
"Hey, what caused these Giants to go on a rampage? Did someone do something strange? Tell me honestly."
The soldier looked somewhat displeased at being spoken to in a commanding tone.
But he had seen and understood firsthand just how much power Rei and his party possessed.
They had effortlessly... truly effortlessly struck down the very Giants that his side had been completely helpless against.
That meant it was best to avoid getting on bad terms with Rei and his party if at all possible.
Calm down, he told himself, and opened his mouth.
"No, we didn't do anything in particular. We really didn't do anything, and they just suddenly went berserk. If there is a reason, I'd want to know it too."
"...I see."
There was no deception in the man's eyes, and Rei was half-convinced he was telling the truth.
If so, there was no need to waste any more time here.
However, if they all headed toward where the Giants were now, there was a high probability that the people here would flee.
Thinking that, they couldn't all go together.
(Now then, what to do. ...Vihera would want to fight the Giants, and Byune is out due to combat power concerns. That leaves Elena and Marina, or I need to stay behind myself.)
After a moment's thought, Rei opened his mouth.
"The fact that Giants rampaged here means there's a possibility they're also rampaging in the place where they're gathered. And from the looks of it, all of them."
"Impossible!"
The one who sharply cried out at Rei's words was a man who appeared to be a researcher.
Naturally, Rei had no idea who the man was, but he was the same man who had been hiding inside a building, watching the Giants' behavior.
After confirming that all the Giants had been defeated, he had come out intending to ask Rei and his party about the situation.
At that moment, he had been told something impossible... no, a story he absolutely refused to believe, and he had cried out reflexively.
"And you are?"
"I'm a researcher specializing in Giants. ...Now, about the Giants—"
The man tried to continue, but Rei thrust the tip of the Twilight Spear he held at him, forcibly silencing him.
"Sorry, but I don't think I can be friendly toward you, so I'll put it bluntly. The destruction of the Black Crystal is probably the cause of the Giants' rampage."
"Wh—!?"
At Rei's abrupt words, all the man could do was open his eyes and mouth wide, unable to comprehend what he was saying.