Rei could not comprehend the scene unfolding before his eyes.
He had come to crush Wind Fang, an organization that operated primarily through assassination. Yet the group loitering around the hideout—disguised as listless Slum District residents—had simultaneously attacked the very people who appeared to be Wind Fang members standing guard.
Rei had assumed the man who approached him was merely a decoy, and that the real threat lay with the surrounding crowd. That was the premise he had been operating under.
His plan had been simple: engage the man who approached him, then swiftly counterattack the moment the ambushers revealed themselves.
And yet, for some reason... yes, for some reason, the ones disguised as Slum District residents had attacked not Rei, but the Wind Fang members.
Those Wind Fang members—caught so completely off guard—were killed before they could even attempt to retaliate.
"Umm..."
Faced with this unexpected sight, Rei idly twirled the short sword in his hand—the same one the man had thrown at him—and spoke.
He had originally intended to use this short sword to counterattack his ambushers.
Instead, for reasons he genuinely could not fathom, the group he had believed to be the real threat had killed the men who approached him.
His bewilderment was only natural.
Had the group that just slaughtered the Wind Fang members turned on Rei next, it would not have been a particularly difficult situation to handle. In fact, being able to simply counterattack would have made things easier.
But the group that killed the Wind Fang members turned to face Rei in unison... and then bowed deeply.
Rei considered that they might be trying to deceive him, but judging from the depth of their bows, that hardly seemed to be the case.
If Rei had wanted to kill the people before him, he could have done so effortlessly—that much was certain.
Which meant that, at the very least, the people standing before him were not his enemies.
"Gruu...?"
Hearing that sound, Rei turned to find Set standing nearby, looking just as bewildered.
The original plan had been for Set to ambush the group from behind while they were busy attacking Rei.
But when the actual fighting broke out and events unfolded nothing like they had anticipated, Set's confusion was only natural.
"Ah... well, for now it seems these people aren't enemies. ...Right?"
"Correct," one of the men who had been bowing replied.
Given that he was the one who answered, the man was likely the leader of the group.
"And? What exactly are you people? You don't seem to be my enemies... but you don't seem to be allies, either."
"Morning Star. That is the name of our organization. ...Though we haven't had much activity in Gilm, so we're not particularly well-known."
Rei nodded at that. In truth, he had never heard of an organization called Morning Star at all.
...Though the fact that he wasn't particularly knowledgeable about Gilm's underground organizations probably played a part in that.
"So why is this Morning Star attacking the Wind Fang hideout? I was completely convinced that you were the real Wind Fang members and those others were just decoys, so I was going to have Set ambush from behind while I fought."
"Th-That's..."
The man's face twitched at Rei's words.
Having their disguise seen through was shocking enough, but the realization that Set—a gryphon—might have been poised to attack them from behind was something else entirely.
It would have been unreasonable to expect them not to be shaken.
Naturally, it wasn't just the man Rei was speaking with; the others wore the same expression of alarm.
If things had gone even slightly differently, they would have been attacked by Set. That thought was only natural.
"Umm... should I be thanking you for saving us, then?"
"Who knows. As far as I'm concerned, what you think is beside the point. More importantly, why did you attack Wind Fang? I don't believe you've explained that yet."
"Ah, yes. The truth is, my organization was previously attacked by Wind Fang and suffered heavy casualties. When we heard that the perpetrators had been dispatched to Gilm, we came here."
"I see. But you were ambushed? From the looks of it, everyone here seems fairly skilled."
"Yes. If we had fought head-on, we wouldn't have suffered such heavy losses. But they attacked us when our most capable members were all away on jobs..."
At those words, the others wore expressions of bitter frustration.
Hearing that much, Rei found the man's explanation entirely convincing. If the enemy's combat power was formidable, you would strike when that strength was absent. That was an obvious strategy.
...Though for the side on the receiving end, it was surely something they could never forgive.
"So you came all the way to Gilm for revenge."
"Correct. And while we were watching for the right opportunity..."
Rei could understand the rest without the man saying it. While the men had been waiting for an opening, Rei had walked right up to the Wind Fang hideout.
"In that case, should I have apologized?"
"No, thanks to you, Rei-san, we were finally able to commit. We had been watching for an opening, but we were still hesitating over when to strike."
"I see. So, what's your plan now? I intend to crush Wind Fang, but... take this!"
With a sharp shout, Rei swung the short sword in his hand.
The arrow loosed from inside the building was struck down in a single stroke.
With a flick of his wrist, he hurled the short sword, and a scream of agony echoed from within.
It went without saying, but they were standing right in front of the Wind Fang hideout. If Rei and the Morning Star members—all enemies of Wind Fang—were standing there in conversation, those inside would naturally notice and counterattack.
If anything, it was stranger that they hadn't been attacked sooner.
That said, Rei understood why. While Rei and Morning Star had been talking, the Wind Fang members inside had been making their combat preparations. Once those preparations were complete, they attacked.
Though they clearly hadn't expected their volley to be so effortlessly deflected. And an immediate counterattack was certainly beyond their expectations as well.
In any case, with the enemy having made the first move, Rei couldn't just stand around chatting.
He pulled a blue spear from his Misty Ring and hurled it.
Naturally, this was one of the spears he had looted after destroying Blue Spear. Normally he would have used Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear, but the building's entrance was intentionally narrow—likely designed to minimize the number of enemies who could breach it at once.
Rei threw the blue spear straight at that narrow opening.
Another scream of pain rang out from the direction of the throw.
"Now then. Since we were attacked, I'm going ahead with crushing Wind Fang. What about you?"
"Of course, we're going in together. ...Ideally, we would have liked to handle this ourselves, though."
The man muttered with a hint of frustration. For him, this battle was retaliation, so that was only natural.
...Of course, Rei's actions were also retaliation against the enemies who had targeted him.
"Fine. Then once we're inside, it's first come, first served. Clear?"
"Understood."
The man nodded.
...That said, Rei wasn't genuinely intent on destroying this organization himself.
He certainly had grievances against Wind Fang, but there were still several other organizations he needed to crush. He didn't feel the need to destroy this one personally out of stubbornness.
Even so, he chose to storm the hideout himself rather than leave it entirely to Morning Star—because if there were any magic items, treasure, or anything else worth claiming inside, he wanted to take them.
An organization focused on assassination would presumably have substantial funds, and it wouldn't be surprising for them to have a considerable amount of loot.
For Rei, retaliation was the primary goal of this endeavor, but the possibility of obtaining a magic item he had never acquired before was also a significant draw.
That was why he decided to infiltrate alongside them.
...That said, even after destroying Blue Spear and Black Phantom, the haul hadn't been particularly impressive.
The Blue Spear hideout had a fair amount of furniture like chairs and tables, which he had stored in his Misty Ring, but no magic items. There were gold coins, platinum coins, gems, and gold nuggets, at least.
From the Black Phantom hideout, he had obtained ten potions from Ninash—highly effective ones worth several platinum coins each.
Potions were undoubtedly valuable, but what Rei really wanted was something different. A magic item he could use in actual combat.
(Well, potions are certainly usable in combat too, I suppose.)
Rei murmured that to himself, though the truth was he hadn't used potions in combat all that many times.
His own physical abilities were exceptionally high, and he would either evade enemy attacks or deflect and cut them down with Death Scythe or the Twilight Spear. Add to that the Dragon Robe, which possessed extraordinary defensive capabilities, and the number of times he had been injured badly enough to require a potion in combat could be counted on one hand.
...That was exactly why he wanted other magic items instead.
"Let's go."
After hurling the blue spear once more, he approached the hideout wielding only Death Scythe—rather than his usual Twin Spear Style with the Twilight Spear alongside it, due to the narrow doorway—and swung.
"Multi Slash!"
With a single swing, three additional slashes manifested alongside the actual strike from Death Scythe.
Those slashes tore through the hideout entrance... or more precisely, the wall surrounding it.
Rei's strike with Death Scythe was already devastating on its own. Three more strikes of equal force followed.
With that many attacks landing, the walls around the entrance crumbled effortlessly.
"Magic Shield!"
Without a moment's delay, he activated the skill.
He had the Dragon Robe, but even so, he cast it with worst-case scenarios in mind.
If he had known what weapons the enemy carried, there would have been no need for Magic Shield. But in a situation where he didn't know the enemy's position or how they were lying in wait—and in a space where he might not be able to swing his weapon freely—there was always the possibility of the unexpected.
That was why he deployed Magic Shield.
Naturally, part of it was that he didn't completely trust Morning Star, and there was also the thought that some mistake might send an errant attack his way.
It was a precautionary measure...
"Fire!"
At that signal, those inside the building loosed a volley of arrows in unison.
A simultaneous barrage from positions arranged in an arc around the entrance.
Naturally, the arrows concentrated first and foremost on Rei, who had charged in...
"Too slow!"
With a sharp shout, Rei swung Death Scythe wide.
In that instant, the arrows streaking toward him were cut down one after another.
Whether it was fear of Rei—an alias holder—or simply the low skill of those stationed here, Rei couldn't say. But the fact that they had all loosed their arrows at nearly the same moment was clearly a mistake.
A few had varied their timing, but dodging a handful of arrows was trivial.
Having evaded the volley, Rei immediately drew the Twilight Spear.
The entrance may have been narrow, but the interior was spacious enough for multiple bowmen to maneuver freely.
Which meant his usual fighting style—the Twin Spear Style with Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear—was entirely viable.
(The Morning Star crew came in too.)
At the edge of his vision, Rei confirmed that the Morning Star members were pouring through the widened entrance and descending on the bowmen.
Registering all that in an instant, Rei hurled the Twilight Spear from his left hand.
The spear tore through the very air as it flew, effortlessly punching through the skull of the man commanding the bowmen.
Brains, bone fragments, blood, and bodily fluids scattered in all directions as the head ruptured.
Watching that, Rei closed the distance with the archers, swung Death Scythe, and recalled the Twilight Spear to his hand.
And so... the slaughter began.