"Destroy the altar?"
Ilunara looked slightly bewildered at the proposal that came from Rei's mouth.
It was only natural. He had never expected such a thing to be proposed.
Of course, when considering how to deal with the current situation, the altar was undeniably the biggest obstacle.
According to what Rei had heard from his master, the altar was clearly a more troublesome existence than the magic circle.
With that in mind, Rei's proposal was understandable. Understandable, but...
"Can you even destroy this altar in the first place?"
"If you're asking whether I can or not, probably... no, I'm certain I can. However, I can't deny the possibility that doing so might lead to some troublesome consequences."
Rei fully understood that this altar was no ordinary Magic Item.
What exactly would happen when such an altar was destroyed... honestly, being asked to completely predict that would be more difficult.
However, even knowing the danger, Rei believed it would be better to destroy the altar.
That was because, since they had infiltrated this far and identified the altar, he could judge that if they left it here, it would undoubtedly lead to trouble.
If so, it was better to destroy this altar while they still could.
As Rei explained this, Ilunara showed a troubled expression... but eventually, he nodded.
Even from Ilunara's perspective, he had understood that the altar and magic circle here were extremely troublesome.
The presence of such things in the Dolan Workshop was unacceptable, and above all, what he truly could not tolerate was the idea of using souls to strengthen golems.
Given that was the case, it was an undeniable fact that if Rei was willing to destroy this altar for them, it would be better to let him do so.
"Please."
"Leave it to me. Also, even if I destroy this altar, if I leave it here, there's a possibility it could be repaired and used again. With that in mind, I'll be taking the destroyed altar with me. Is that alright? Ah, of course, I have no intention of using the altar to seal people's souls into cores or anything like that, so rest easy. I don't have any knowledge of golems to begin with."
Ilunara briefly wondered whether, if that was the case, it might be better to give the altar to someone who did have knowledge of golems, but he decided there was no need to voice such a thing right now.
Feeling Ilunara's gaze upon him, Rei took out Death Scythe and stood before the altar.
(Come to think of it, there were golem cores in one of the basements... could those cores be ones that used souls? Or the ones before that? Either way, if they went into the Misty Ring, they're probably already effectively dead with no trace of ego left.)
Such a thought crossed his mind, but there was no doubt that he had more important things to consider first right now.
Rei held Death Scythe and poured magical power into it.
For most things, there would be no need to go out of his way to pour magical power in; Death Scythe could cut through them without issue.
However, this time the opponent was what it was.
A powerful... indeed, even from Rei's perspective, an exceedingly rare and powerful Magic Item.
Given that, it was necessary to exercise the utmost caution.
With a single strike, he needed to cleanly sever the altar.
(For something of this caliber, it wouldn't be strange for it to have some kind of counterattack function depending on the circumstances. I need to deal with it as quickly as possible to prevent anything like that from happening.)
Thinking thus, Rei readied Death Scythe.
Ilunara held his breath at Rei's demeanor, preparing himself to respond immediately should anything happen.
That said, Ilunara was ultimately nothing more than an alchemist.
If the altar launched some kind of counterattack against Rei's attack, whether he would be able to deal with it was uncertain.
"Here I go."
As Rei announced that, Ilunara held his breath and watched the outcome unfold...
"Hah!"
Death Scythe, infused with magical power, flashed horizontally and severed the altar from its base growing out of the ground in a single slash.
"Wha..."
What escaped Ilunara's mouth was a voice of astonishment.
He had heard that Rei was going to destroy the altar, but he probably never imagined it would be done in a single flash like this.
Even though Ilunara knew of Rei's strength, he did not truly know the entirety of Rei's capabilities.
That was why it was no surprise that he could not comprehend what had just happened.
That said, looking at the result of Rei's actions, he had no choice but to understand whether he wanted to or not.
"Now then, I'll store the altar away for the time being."
So saying, Rei severed the pedestal extending directly from the floor and stored the altar into his Misty Ring.
If the altar had simply been placed on the floor, Rei would not have needed to cut the pedestal.
(Like this, growing directly from the floor... growing? Well, "growing" is as good an expression as any. If it hadn't been in this kind of state, I wouldn't have needed to do something like this.)
After storing the altar in the Misty Ring, the next thing Rei looked at was the magic circle carved into the floor.
If it had merely been drawn on the ground, he could have erased it by stepping on it, or rendered it unusable by wetting it with water from the Dagger of Flowing Water. But since it was carved into the floor, that was not an option.
"There's no doubt this magic circle is dangerous too. In that case, I'll have to destroy this one as well."
He muttered, and swung Death Scythe repeatedly.
The blade of Death Scythe existed only on the inner edge of the scythe.
However, since the Death Scythe Rei wielded was infused with magical power, its tip easily carved into the magic circle etched into the floor.
Ilunara could only watch Rei's actions in silence.
In this current situation, Rei's actions were thorough.
The magic circle on the floor was being destroyed before their eyes.
In less than a few minutes, the magic circle on the floor became unusable, and it would no longer be possible to perform necromancy here.
Of course, it might be manageable if a new magic circle was prepared, but even if one could be prepared, Rei had taken the altar.
(Unless they have a spare altar or something.)
Even as he thought this, Rei's expectation was that there probably was no such thing.
The altar Rei had severed was, visibly, a powerful Magic Item.
He did not think a substitute for such an existence could be prepared so easily.
"Now then, for the time being, this means they can no longer create golems using souls, but what will you do from here?"
"What do you mean, 'from here'?"
"We've gone this far, so you can't stay at the Dolan Workshop, can you? Not at the current Dolan Workshop with the mainstream faction there."
"That's..."
For Ilunara, what to do with the Dolan Workshop was something he was greatly conflicted about.
In this situation, he couldn't help but feel that whatever he did on his own might not be enough to resolve things.
However, Ilunara was the one leading the non-mainstream faction alchemists.
Because of that, he needed to firmly decide what to do going forward.
"If you're going to rebuild the Dolan Workshop, you'd better think that through carefully. ...Anyway, if we stay here forever, the mainstream faction alchemists and the adventurers serving as guards might come. Besides, if you're deciding what to do from here, there's no doubt it would be better to consult with the other alchemists."
At Rei's words, Ilunara nodded, and having achieved their immediate objective, he headed toward the place where Anne and the others had been held captive.
"Ah... so they came over here."
In front of the room with the door leading to the basement where Anne and the others were, several adventurers could be seen.
(The fact that they found this and are waiting here probably means they definitely sent someone to call for reinforcements. Moving the iron ingots would be easier with more hands, too.)
Why they had tried to secure the area where Anne and the others were, rather than the basement with the altar and magic circle, was a question even for Rei.
However, though Rei couldn't know what reasoning the other side had used to make that judgment, the fact that he now had a chance to launch a surprise attack was not a bad deal.
"Ilunara, sorry, but I need you to hide in this room. I'm going to take out the guys in the room leading to the basement where Lindy, Anne, and the others are."
At Rei's words, Ilunara gave a small nod, careful not to make a sound.
This was Rei, who had single-handedly defeated all of the golems they had created—setting aside the matter of the cores for now.
Even if the opponents were adventurers hired for security, it was easy to predict that leaving it to Rei would pose no problem whatsoever.
The fact that he had severed the altar in a single flash was probably one of the reasons Ilunara trusted him.
In any case, right now, the best course of action was for Ilunara to hide and stay out of the way rather than clumsily trying to help and getting in Rei's way.
After confirming that Ilunara had hidden himself, Rei once again quickly observed the people in the room leading to the basement where Lindy, Anne, and the others were located.
The worst possible development would be letting the enemies escape.
What was needed to prevent that was to cut off their retreat first.
Normally, since Rei and his party were at the very end of the passage, it would be difficult to cut off the retreat of the adventurers on the near side of the passage without them noticing... but in Rei's case, he had the Sleipnir boots that could use the air as a foothold.
Even without the Sleipnir boots, with Rei's physical abilities, it might have been possible to circle around to the other side before the adventurers noticed.
(Anyway, I'll go with the reliable method for now.)
Thinking thus, he used the Sleipnir boots to run up through the air.
Partly because the passage was reasonably wide, and partly because their attention was directed toward the basement where Lindy, Anne, and the others were, no one noticed Rei's presence.
To be precise, before anyone could notice Rei's presence, he was already kicking through the air and moving.
By the time the adventurers realized it, Rei was already standing in a position that cut off their retreat, and he closed the distance against the opponents who were trying to ready their weapons in surprise.
The reason he didn't use Death Scythe or the Twilight Spear was probably because he had the confidence that he could handle it easily with his bare hands.
As if to demonstrate Rei's confidence, the adventurers lost consciousness one after another.
Before he knew it, only two adventurers remained standing in the room.
"Now then, what will you do? Personally, it would make things a lot easier for me if you just surrendered."
"We can't exactly do that. We're employed by the Dolan Workshop, after all."
"Are you employed knowing what the Dolan Workshop's alchemists are doing?"
At Rei's question, one of the two still standing opened his mouth.
"I don't know the details. But there's no doubt they're doing something no good."
"And you're working for them knowing that?"
"The pay is good."
It was a short statement, but that alone was enough to understand why they were employed there.
(Upper C-Rank, or lower B-Rank, I'd say?)
Among the adventurers in Egginis, he was undoubtedly one of the stronger ones.
But... even as a strong individual, he was a big fish in a small pond.
He fully understood Rei's strength and had judged that he had no chance of winning.
However, even so, since he was employed, doing his job properly was the man's principle.
Rather than fighting Rei right now, he would talk and buy even a little time.
Currently, there was someone who had left as a messenger to move the iron ingots in front of the basement door.
His words were filled with the hope that the messenger would bring back more reinforcements.
Rei didn't know the detailed circumstances, but he understood that the other side was trying to stall for time, and so he stopped offering surrender.
Letting them needlessly stall for time would be meaningless.
If so, the priority right now was to defeat the two standing before him, and then take out the ones in front of the basement where Lindy, Anne, and the others were.
"I see, I understand where you're coming from. In that case... just go to sleep."
So saying, he kicked off the floor and swiftly launched an attack against the one of the two still conscious who had been speaking with Rei.
An alias-holding A-Rank adventurer versus someone whose strength was, at best, lower B-Rank.
What would happen when those two faced each other head-on was obvious without needing to think about it.
"Guh... uhh..."
The man took a punch to the solar plexus and passed out.
Then, toward the only man still standing, Rei stepped forward once more and swung his fist... and in the end, the only one left standing on the floor was Rei.