"Whoa!?"
The moment Rei stormed into the Black Phantom hideout, he struck down the man commanding the ambushers lying in wait.
He figured this would at least throw the enemy into some disarray, but the instant the commanding man fell, spears burst from the ceiling.
He swung Death Scythe half on reflex and sliced through the first spear raining down—but that was not the only one.
Multiple spears rained down toward Rei's position.
...Right. The spears weren't falling in just one spot.
From the ceiling of this very room, numerous spears were launching automatically.
As if some system detected Rei's location and fired spears toward it.
That said, while the first strike had caught him off guard and forced him to scramble, now that he knew such a trap existed, countering it was far from difficult.
(Still, how is this thing set up to target only me?)
While dodging, deflecting, and simultaneously fending off the surviving Black Phantom Black Garb members who kept trying to catch him off guard, Rei had enough composure to think calmly.
He vaguely recalled a movie he had watched back in Japan—a ceiling-mounted machine gun that automatically fired only at a specific person by reading their body temperature or appearance. He suspected this might be something similar.
(Then again, considering how this world works, it's probably a Magic Item or something detecting me. ...Or maybe someone's aiming manually? I can see why this place has served as an Underworld Organization hideout so many times.)
Even while dodging a spear launched directly at him, Rei still had the luxury to think such thoughts.
Of course, composure alone wouldn't break the current stalemate.
What Rei needed to do first was deal with the spears raining down—no, being fired at him.
But he couldn't exactly destroy the entire ceiling.
If he did something that drastic, the whole building could collapse.
Rei didn't believe the man he had just struck down was the head of Black Phantom.
He couldn't imagine the leader of an organization would be the very first one waiting to ambush him.
Above all, his impression was that Black Garb members were simply numerous.
Partly because the Man in Black who had come to assassinate Rei had several Black Garb subordinates under his command. But beyond that, large groups had shown up to scout the lake and the Birth Tower—and when those captured during reconnaissance were being escorted away, a sizable force of Black Garb members had attacked to free them. Having witnessed all of this was likely the reason.
(This trap definitely didn't trigger on its own. Someone operated it. Or they're controlling the mechanism. ...Which means...)
While dodging spear strikes and evading the daggers, Long Needles, and occasional arrows the surviving Black Garb members kept hurling at him, he worked out how to break the stalemate.
...That said, it wasn't all that difficult.
If someone was controlling the spears, he only needed to create a situation where they couldn't target him. That was the conclusion he reached.
And more importantly, the Black Garb members here were by no means particularly skilled. For Rei, there were plenty of openings to exploit.
"Sorry if you get caught in this!"
With that shout, Rei charged straight toward the surviving Black Garb members.
Spear after spear rained down from the ceiling as if chasing after him, but none could match his speed.
Part of this was due to Rei's sheer physical ability, but it was also likely because whoever operated the trap wasn't particularly skilled.
Under those circumstances, Rei barreling directly into the Black Garb members naturally sent them into a panic.
"Gyaaah!"
A spear Rei had dodged pierced clean through the thigh of a nearby Black Garb member.
A scream erupted from the pain—and after that cry, the spears stopped falling.
Cutting down the remaining Black Garb members, Rei nodded to himself.
The trap had ceased its next attack to avoid friendly fire. That confirmed it—this wasn't automatic. Someone was deliberately triggering the trap.
(The problem is, I still don't know who's operating it. ...Well, if I take down everyone here, the trap stops anyway.)
He sliced diagonally through one Black Garb member with Death Scythe, already seeking his next prey.
Beneath the bisected body, a bountiful pair of mounds was visible, but Rei didn't seem to pay it any mind.
In this world, the difference between men and women wasn't all that significant.
The abilities of people like Elena, Marina, and Vihera proved that well enough.
As a result, Rei could wield Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear without much concern for whether his enemy was male or female.
(In a way, I guess you could call this gender equality.)
For a fleeting moment, that thought crossed his mind—but then he noticed someone aiming a blowgun at him and hurled the Twilight Spear their way.
The Twilight Spear, thrown with Rei's immense strength, effortlessly pierced through the blowgun-wielding Black Garb member and pinned them against the wall behind.
Seeing the Twilight Spear vanish from Rei's hand, several Black Garb members judged this the perfect opening and lunged at him.
But in the next moment, the Twilight Spear reappeared in his grasp.
What had just happened?
The Black Garb member impaled through the torso died with that question lingering, the Flame of Life fading from their eyes.
The surrounding Black Garb members froze for an instant, unable to comprehend what had occurred—and Death Scythe swept through them.
Four Black Garb members were cleaved clean in half, their bodies scattering in all directions.
Rei barely spared the scene a glance before throwing the Twilight Spear again—piercing through a Black Garb member about to fling a dagger. The momentum didn't stop there. It continued through and struck the flank of another behind them. The next instant, the Twilight Spear was back in Rei's hand.
The surviving Black Garb members finally understood what Rei was doing after watching the full sequence.
The thrown Twilight Spear had returned to his hand without them even noticing.
This was actually one of the more well-known abilities of the Twilight Spear Rei wielded, but the Black Garb members apparently hadn't been aware of it.
Perhaps only those dispatched as Assassins had been briefed on it.
Regardless, the Black Garb members had paid a considerable toll in lives before the Twilight Spear's ability became clear.
But the real problem was that even knowing it would return to Rei's hand, countering it was by no means simple.
Even forewarned, they couldn't dodge the thrown Twilight Spear.
Much less block it.
When a single strike could effortlessly inflict a massive—truly fatal—wound, defending against it was nearly impossible.
At least for the Black Garb members here.
...Still, being able to respond even slightly better than total ignorance was a small mercy.
But the true issue was that the commanding man was already dead, and most of the remaining Black Garb members were either slain or too badly wounded to fight.
As a result, nothing could halt Rei's rampage...
"That is far enough!"
When only a handful of Black Garb members remained on their feet, that voice suddenly rang out across the room.
"...Who are you?"
Rei stopped in his tracks because the voice carried real weight.
If some rank-and-file Black Phantom member had shouted something, Rei would have ignored it and finished off the rest. But the voice directed at him was clearly not the words of some nobody.
Standing where Rei's gaze landed was a woman in her forties or perhaps fifties.
There was no doubt she held a position of authority within Black Phantom—not just because of the power in her voice, but largely because she wore no Black Garb.
"I am Ninash, the one in charge of Black Phantom. ...You are Crimson Rei-san, correct?"
"Yeah. I'll say, having the person in charge show herself is a help to us, too. But you've got some nerve stepping out in front of me. Didn't you think you'd die?"
"I did. But at this rate, the organization itself will be annihilated."
Despite stepping forward before Rei—knowing full well she might be killed—Ninash showed not the slightest hint of fear.
That was the caliber of someone entrusted with running an organization's branch.
"You sent Assassins after me. And it's not just that—I've been attacked by Black Phantom time and again. If there's a chance to crush you, I'm not letting it slip by. Sorry, but you coming out here changes nothing. I'll be wiping you out as planned."
"Won't you try talking a little first? I don't think you need to be in such a rush."
The way she asked, even with a faint smile, would have looked perfectly natural somewhere else—say, in front of a shop on the main street rather than deep in the Slum District. She could have passed for an ordinary housewife. A motherly figure, more than a housewife, really.
But this was an Underworld Organization's hideout. The air reeked of blood from the Black Garb members Rei had slaughtered, and the floor was littered with organs, flesh, bone, and scattered body parts.
This was a woman who could smile in a place like that.
There was no lumping her together with some ordinary housewife.
"Unfortunately, I do need to hurry. I've still got several more organizations to crush after this. So... sorry, but I can't stand here listening to you talk."
With that, Rei readied Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear.
But Ninash spoke as if she hadn't registered his stance at all.
"Black Phantom has decided to withdraw from Gilm."
"...I'll grant that's a wise decision. But you were slow to make it. Do you really think telling me that now, in this situation, will make me let you all walk?"
Of all the groups involved in this affair, Rei and Black Phantom had the deepest grudge between them.
Under those circumstances, being told they'd withdraw from Gilm now that they were losing—there was no way Rei could take that at face value.
If anything, wiping Black Phantom out clean right here would be far less trouble. That was his honest feeling.
Ninash surely understood that Rei was thinking exactly that.
If it had been before he stormed the hideout, there might still have been value in hearing her out.
But Rei was already inside, and he had cut through Black Phantom's Black Garb members to get here.
In the middle of all that, suddenly declaring a withdrawal because the tide had turned carried no persuasive weight whatsoever.
"I suppose you would think that. Which is precisely why we will, of course, pay a fitting price—one worthy of being let go."
"A price, huh? The price for walking free in this situation is going to be astronomical. It's not just your life on the line—it's the value of every last one of these survivors."
He said it while looking at the Black Garb members.
Resentment radiated from them—Rei had killed so many of their comrades and left others grievously wounded, and now he stood there acting as if he held all the cards. They glared at him with an intensity that would have killed on the spot if looks could do such a thing.
But none of them made a move.
They understood that continuing to fight Rei here would be suicide.
Rei could grasp their feelings well enough, but he said nothing.
"Yes, I know. ...The price we will pay is potions."
"...Potions?"
The word that came from Ninash's mouth was the last thing Rei expected.
That said, he figured there was no way they'd offer ordinary potions in a situation like this, so he pressed further.
"And? What kind of potions?"
"In terms of value, potions worth several Platinum Coins each. Naturally, the recovery effect is commensurate with that price."
Ninash's words genuinely surprised him.
He'd known they wouldn't be ordinary potions, but he hadn't expected ones worth several Platinum Coins apiece.
"Is it just one?"
"No. There are ten. ...What do you say? Will you accept these as the price for settling things?"
Rei considered Ninash's offer for a moment... and eventually nodded.