The Black Phantom hideout was a single-story building of considerable size.
However, perhaps because it had changed hands countless times over the years, its exterior had grown quite weathered.
And unlike the Blue Spear hideout, there were no guards visible around the building.
...But that was only in the sense that no guards were visible upon ordinary observation. It didn't mean there was truly no one around.
The roof and the walls, huh?
At the very least, Rei could see several people lying flat and hiding on the roof, and he could also tell that there were a few suspicious spots on the walls.
The roof aside, what's going on with the walls? Don't tell me they're hiding behind cloth painted to look like the wall, like ninjas... No way, right?
If they were doing something like that, it should have been immediately obvious even to Rei's eyes.
But even after approaching the building to a certain degree, it didn't seem like they were hiding behind painted cloth.
That narrowed the possibilities considerably in Rei's mind.
A hidden room large enough for a person to fit in... is that expression a bit odd? Anyway, I can't deny the possibility they're hiding in something like that. ...Yeah, it'd be pretty miserable, though.
Thanks to his Dragon Robe, Rei was comfortable, but with summer approaching, the daytime heat was considerable.
Staying perfectly still in what amounted to a hidden room under such conditions was undeniably harsh.
...For some reason, even while understanding that these were enemies he was about to face, Rei felt a faint pang of pity as he approached the building.
"Set, you take the ones on the roof."
"Gruu."
Naturally, Set had also noticed what Rei had noticed.
Set let out a cry as if to say leave it to me, drifted slightly apart from Rei as they had been walking together, took a short running start, and then beat his wings.
Set launching toward the building's roof and Rei breaking into a run toward the building happened almost simultaneously.
...Naturally, the ones hiding on the roof and in the walls were the ones caught off guard by Rei and Set's response.
They had planned to launch a preemptive strike the moment Rei and Set approached—first strike wins—but before they knew it, Rei and his group had acted first, completely catching them off guard.
That said, the Black Garb members of Black Phantom were also people whose strength had earned their organization recognition in Gilm's underworld.
Their surprise at Rei and Set's actions lasted but a moment.
The next instant, they were already moving to respond.
Given that they were the ones who had become enemies of Rei earliest, there was no way they wouldn't respond when Rei approached their hideout.
When launching a surprise attack, one doesn't make a sound.
The Black Garb members lying in wait on the roof leaped soundlessly and assailed Rei.
...Even so, Rei had understood from the start that enemies were hiding on the building's roof.
Given that, even if they leaped without making a sound, drawing Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear from his Misty Ring was easy enough.
"Too easy!"
Along with that sharp shout, Rei swung Death Scythe.
At the same time, a section of the wall opened like a door, and Black Garb members burst out.
Watching those Black Garb members, Rei nodded in understanding—so it was a hidden room after all—while also feeling a touch of pity, not only for the ones who had leaped from the roof, but for the fact that they were still wearing their Black Garbs.
Black, it went without saying, absorbed heat easily.
With summer approaching and temperatures rising day by day, hiding on a roof with nothing to block the direct sunlight, or in a space barely large enough for one person, was nothing short of suicidal in Rei's mind.
Indeed, among those who attacked, some lacked sharpness in their movements, even if their spirit was intact.
...But that, ironically, saved their lives.
Among the many who had their bodies bisected upper and lower by Rei's swing of Death Scythe, those whose movements had been sluggish were spared being cut in half.
Of course, "spared being cut in half" was all it was—they still had their Black Garbs torn, their skin torn, and their flesh torn.
Among those who attacked from the hidden room—or whatever the appropriate term was—several who had exhausted their stamina suffered heavy but non-fatal injuries from strikes of the Twilight Spear, managing to survive.
Within mere seconds, the Black Garb members were wiped out.
Rei glanced at them and called out to Set, who was blasting away a member who had emerged from the hidden room with a single front-leg strike.
"Set, I'll leave the ones outside to you. Same as with Blue Spear—take down anyone who exits the building. Also, handle anyone who was outside for whatever reason and comes back."
"Gruu."
At Rei's words, Set purred as if to say it was handled.
Watching Set's demeanor and concluding that would be fine, Rei headed into the building, still wielding Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear.
"Whoa!"
The Black Garb members—Black Phantom's people—had likely understood that a battle was taking place outside.
The moment Rei entered the building, daggers and Long Needles were unleashed all at once by those lying in wait.
With Blue Spear, they had waited for Rei in a spacious room on the second floor.
But at the Black Phantom hideout, they attacked the moment he entered the building.
Since the building had been used by many underworld organizations over time, it was likely designed to facilitate responses when enemies attacked.
Indeed, the area where Rei had entered suddenly widened.
That was precisely why it was designed with enemy attacks in mind.
Rei responded to that assault by swinging Death Scythe.
With the Dragon Robe, even a direct hit wouldn't cause fatal damage.
Rei knew that, but even so, there was no option of pointlessly taking the enemy's attacks.
The sound of clashing metal echoed violently throughout the area.
Neither the daggers nor the Long Needles—none of the attacks aimed at Rei—could break through Death Scythe's shield.
"Tch! Not yet! Keep attacking! If we take down Rei, supremacy in Gilm is as good as ours!"
The voice of the man who appeared to be commanding the Black Garb members echoed through the area.
From those words, Rei understood the enemy's scheme.
Even though he had come to the Black Phantom hideout immediately after wiping out Blue Spear, if they intended to defeat Rei in full readiness, they could have called for reinforcements from allied organizations.
But they hadn't done so—and that shout revealed why.
If they defeated Rei on their own without requesting reinforcements from other organizations, they could exert strong influence not only over the emerging organizations they were allied with... but over Gilm's underworld organizations and even the surface organizations.
Furthermore, Black Phantom and Rei had a history of bad blood.
Given those reasons, it wasn't strange for them to want to defeat Rei on their own.
Moreover, this building was Black Phantom's hideout.
If they could lure Rei inside, they should be able to bring him down using the traps they had set and the combat forces they had gathered—or so they had judged.
In truth, that judgment wasn't particularly wrong.
Those here weren't Black Phantom's absolute elite, but they were still individuals of considerable skill.
...Yes, the judgment itself wasn't wrong.
However, that was only if the opponent wasn't Rei.
"Im-impossible..."
The commanding man let out a voice of astonishment as he faced Rei, who had blocked every thrown attack with Death Scythe.
Of course, this man hadn't believed they could kill Rei with that attack either.
Even so, he had thought they could at least inflict a wound or two.
And the weapons they had thrown—daggers and Long Needles—were coated with various poisons.
From paralytic poisons to toxins that killed instantly upon entering the body, and more unusual varieties like a poison that made the victim unable to stop laughing.
There were many other diverse poisons as well, but none of them would take effect without inflicting a wound.
Some among them could use gaseous poisons, but in such an enclosed space—and with Rei freely wielding Death Scythe—using such a substance would likely end up being hurled back at them, putting Black Phantom's own members at risk.
That was precisely why they had resorted to this kind of attack... but Rei's strength completely exceeded the commanding man's expectations.
Still, having already drawn Rei into their hideout, they couldn't start over now.
"Go! Rei is wielding a long-shafted scythe! If you get inside his guard, the advantage is ours!"
At the man's shout, the Black Garb members each readied their weapons and closed the distance to Rei.
Naturally, the others continued throwing weapons to cover those closing in.
Rei thought for a moment that it was troublesome, but his actions showed no hesitation.
The commanding man had said that getting inside Rei's guard would give them the advantage, but that was a weakness common to anyone using a long-shafted weapon.
And Rei, who had been using the long-shafted Death Scythe since coming to this world, and had also started using not just Death Scythe but the Twilight Spear as well, had naturally learned through training and combat how to deal with such situations.
"If you think you can get close, then try it!"
The simplest approach was, after all, not letting the enemy get close.
As Rei swung Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear with a shout, those who tried to approach couldn't.
Even if they tried to manage it somehow, the speed at which the two long-shafted weapons were swung was difficult to evade.
Even if they somehow dodged Death Scythe, the Twilight Spear came at them the very next instant, making counterattacks extremely difficult.
Perhaps an elite unit—Assassins dispatched specifically to target Rei—could have managed somehow.
But those who remained here were not that skilled.
...However, in place of being elite, those present had numbers.
If many attacked at once, they might happen to exploit a gap in Rei's defense...
"As if I'd let you!"
Rei used only his wrist to forcibly redirect Death Scythe's swing.
If Rei had also felt Death Scythe's weight, it would have been an impossible move.
The reason he could pull it off was likely because, when Rei held it, Death Scythe had the special property of feeling virtually weightless.
"Guh!"
Death Scythe, which felt nearly weightless to Rei, was still a hundred kilograms to the enemy.
Given that weight, even a glancing blow rather than a solid hit had more than enough force to send someone flying.
Against those who somehow slipped through even that gap, Rei unleashed a kick.
That said, it wasn't a kick meant to knock the opponent unconscious in one blow, but a movement to stop their legs or sweep them off their feet.
Then, against the fallen opponent, he delivered an upward scooping strike with Death Scythe's blade, severing their torso, head, or a body part.
Blood sprayed, and Rei kicked the body—still thrashing or already a corpse—toward enemies charging at him.
Even if a body was missing a limb, it was still a human body.
Naturally, its weight was substantial, and normally even if one tried to kick it, it wouldn't be easy, nor could one kick it toward an enemy some distance away.
But with Rei's strength, it was possible.
And the person sent flying became a weapon whose mass dealt the damage.
Strictly speaking, simply being hit by a body wouldn't cause significant injury, but stopping one's movement against an opponent like Rei was suicide.
With their movements halted by a comrade's body, Rei charged in.
...They had expected to be the ones on the offensive, never imagining Rei would attack them in this situation. The Black Phantom members froze for a moment at his unexpected action.
Learning that such behavior against Rei was, in the most literal sense, suicide came the next instant.
Rei plunged into the midst of the Black Garb members and swung Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear in wide arcs.
The sight of him blasting away everyone he struck was truly deserving of the expression "like a war god."
Flying, flying, flying, flying.
Some had their necks broken against the walls; others lost consciousness from the sheer impact.
One after another, Black Garb members were rendered incapacitated by Rei's strikes.
Amidst all that, Rei's next target was the man who had been issuing orders to the Black Garb members.
Naturally, the man tried to respond to Rei coming straight at him... but his reaction was too slow, and by the time he tried to ready his weapon, Rei was already upon him...
With a single slash.
The man's body was cut diagonally by Death Scythe, swung from shoulder to hip.