Once it was decided that Roaby would act alongside Rei and Crow, their movements from that point were swift.
"So, you said there's a considerable number of assassins over there. Roughly how many were gathered?"
"At least thirty, from a quick count. But that's only what I could confirm. It wouldn't be strange if there were more in places I couldn't see during my reconnaissance. There were a lot of them, so I did my best to suppress my presence and avoid being spotted. More than anything, I got out of there immediately."
"That was a wise choice."
With at least thirty assassins, there were bound to be several skilled ones mixed in. In that sense, Roaby's decision not to rush ahead had been the right call.
If he had gotten greedy, the worst case was that Roaby and his companions could have been discovered and killed on the spot.
Had that happened, Rei and the others would never have received that information beforehand.
"I'm honored to be praised by Crimson."
There was a distinctly sarcastic edge to Roaby's words.
Roaby had promised to follow Rei's orders, but that didn't mean he held any favorable impression of the man.
Given that, this kind of attitude was perhaps only natural.
Roaby's companions cast slightly uneasy glances at Rei, worried that such language might offend him, but Rei showed no sign of concern and simply continued speaking.
"Is that so? Then I'll just have to give you even more reasons to feel honored from here on out. ...Still, thirty people, huh. At that point, it'd actually be easier to take them out with magic..."
"Don't. The passages are reinforced, but that doesn't guarantee they'd hold up against magic from Rei, Bearer of the Crimson Moniker. If one section collapses, it could affect other areas as well."
"Figured."
At Crow's words, Rei gave up on using magic.
If Rei controlled his magic skillfully, he could avoid damaging the underground passage. However, the members of Fusetsu didn't trust him that much yet. Even if he controlled his magic, there was every possibility that some unforeseen factor—such as an assassin struck by a spell going on a rampage—could cause damage to the passage.
"In that case... if there were around thirty of them, is the area they're in spacious?"
"Yeah. It's like a small plaza."
"Then there's room for me to go wild."
In this case, "go wild" meant not relying solely on thrusts with the spear, but using sweeping strikes and—above all—fighting with Death Scythe, Rei's signature weapon.
While difficult in this corridor, in a plaza-like area Rei could fight to his full capacity.
"In that case, let's get right to—tch!"
Mid-sentence, Rei sensed a presence and, half-reflexively, channeled magic power into the Eye of Nebula to generate arrowheads, throwing them with just a flick of his wrist.
"Gyah!"
One of the assassins emerging from the passage ahead let out a scream as an arrowhead pierced his eyeball.
He continued generating and throwing arrowheads, successfully making several more cry out in pain... but in the end, arrowheads were just arrowheads.
If they pierced an eyeball, that was one thing, but even when they struck the body—tearing skin, splitting flesh, and crushing bone—a true assassin wouldn't be stopped by such damage.
...Though some among them lacked the skill, and a few were left rolling on the floor, groaning in pain from Rei's strike.
Without so much as a glance at those fallen foes, Rei broke into a run.
"Some of them got away! They'll leak our position to the others! At this point, we strike first!"
"Hey—wait! If they know we're here, shouldn't we fall back!?"
Roaby shouted after Rei, but the words didn't reach his ears.
Or perhaps they did, and he was simply ignoring them.
The enemy had become aware of their presence.
When that happened, the choice was either to go on the offensive or to fall back and fortify their defenses.
Which option Rei would choose was obvious without needing to think.
As if to prove it, Rei ignored those felled by the arrowheads generated through the Eye of Nebula and chased after the ones who had fled.
If he let them escape, the intruders would learn of their presence regardless.
Hesitating now would only risk letting the enemy seize the initiative. He needed to act first.
Crow immediately chased after Rei, and Roaby's group started running a beat behind him.
This party was originally built around Rei as its overwhelming combat power.
That was precisely why, once Rei moved, Crow and Roaby's group had no choice but to follow.
"Got them!"
Less than ten seconds after breaking into a run, Rei caught sight of the fleeing assassins.
If this were in the city, the assassins might have been able to hide somewhere and throw off their pursuers.
Unfortunately, this was the underground passage serving as Fusetsu's hideout.
There was nowhere for assassins to hide in such a place.
(...Well, precisely because it's Fusetsu's hideout, maybe there are emergency hiding spots?)
Since it was an assassin's hideout, Rei wouldn't be surprised if they had preparations for emergencies.
Given the hidden passages Rei had discussed with Crow, that possibility was entirely plausible.
Thinking such thoughts, Rei hurled the Twilight Spear at the backs of the fleeing assassins.
"Hah!"
The strike, released with a short battle cry, flew at a speed that seemed to tear through the air itself... and pierced through the back of the man at the rear of the fleeing group.
"Gah..."
Naturally, the Twilight Spear didn't stop after piercing just one man. It punched through the back of the one running in front of him, then pierced the flank of the man ahead of that one, before finally embedding halfway into the wall and coming to a stop.
The number of fleeing assassins hadn't been large to begin with, and that single strike had inflicted considerable damage.
However, even that hadn't been enough to take them all down. Several were still running.
Despite their comrades having suffered heavy casualties from the Twilight Spear, the fleeing assassins showed no sign of stopping.
From Rei's perspective, he couldn't help but wonder slightly—did they not care about their comrades at all?
That said, considering these were assassins, it made sense.
He had heard that among the assassins who had infiltrated Fusetsu's hideout, some belonged to fairly large assassin guilds.
Given that, it was unthinkable they would do something as amateurish as stopping for a fallen comrade.
If anything, if a comrade fell and that caused the enemy's—in this case Rei's—feet to stop even slightly, they might well consider that a desirable outcome.
Feeling a twinge of irritation at opponents who so readily abandoned their own, Rei's feet still didn't stop.
No matter how skilled the assassins... even if they were elite, on the single point of pure physical ability, they could not surpass Rei.
The distance between the fleeing assassins and Rei gradually closed...
"You think I'll let you escape! Come on!"
The Twilight Spear, embedded halfway into the wall, instantly returned to Rei's hand via its Magic Item ability.
The moment he gripped it and was about to throw it... as if they had been waiting for exactly that timing, the one at the rear of the fleeing group spun around on the spot and charged at Rei.
It was the action of becoming a sacrificial pawn to let his allies escape safely.
It was easy to say in words, but whether one could actually make that split-second decision was another matter entirely.
The fact that they did it without hesitation demonstrated the assassins' level of training.
"But even so... I can't let things go the way you want!"
With a sharp shout, Rei closed the distance with the Twilight Spear in hand, bearing down on the one who had stayed behind as a rearguard.
The one trying to stall Rei didn't believe he could defeat him, either.
His only thought was that if he could buy enough time before being killed to relay the information that Rei had arrived, to his allies—though whether "allies" was even the right term when multiple factions were gathered together—then that was enough.
Understanding the man's resolve, Rei naturally held nothing back.
The assassin charged straight at him.
If he merely wanted to stall for time, he should have focused entirely on defense.
But against Rei, committing to defense would mean failing to deflect the attacks and taking fatal damage.
The assassin understood this, which was why he had drawn his dagger and gone on the offensive.
The only saving grace for the assassin was that, since Rei wielded the Twilight Spear, he could only attack with thrusts.
At the same time, that meant he was outmatched even in weapon range against the already superior Rei. But for an assassin who had resolved to sacrifice his life to stall Rei, there was no need to fear that.
The assassin attempted to evade the Twilight Spear's strike, which came thrusting straight toward him, with the extreme concentration that came from having already resigned himself to death. Even so, he couldn't dodge completely—his left arm was pierced halfway through and torn off.
(I can do it!)
Sacrificing his left arm to close the distance, the assassin tried to bring his dagger down on Rei before he even felt the pain... and in that instant, his consciousness was severed.
"Huh..."
The one who let out that sound was Roaby, running behind Rei.
Precisely because he was watching from a distance, Roaby was able to comprehend what Rei had done.
What he did wasn't all that complex.
He recalled the spear that had pierced the assassin's left arm to his hand, and delivered another thrust.
It was a technique known as a two-stage thrust, one of the fundamentals for anyone who wielded a spear.
But even a basic technique like that, when performed by Rei with his extraordinary physical ability and skill, meant unleashing two thrusts in what was truly a single instant.
Roaby could only understand the two-stage thrust because he was watching from afar. But for the assassin who received it point-blank, he was deprived of consciousness without ever understanding what had been done to him... his head had been pierced.
(In a way, he died without any pain or suffering, so maybe he was fortunate. But still... as expected of one who bears the Crimson moniker.)
Honestly, Roaby did not hold any fondness for Rei.
If asked whether he liked or disliked the man, he would choose "dislike" without a moment's hesitation.
However, contrary to his personal feelings, he fully comprehended Rei's ability.
"Hey, Roaby. What are you spacing out for? Rei's already gone."
At Crow's words, Roaby immediately looked to where Rei had been, noticed there was no one there, and spoke.
"Got it, let's go. We need to eliminate the intruders as quickly as possible."
So saying, Roaby set his halted feet in motion once more.
Putting aside the shock of Rei's two-stage thrust, for now.
"Right. Besides, if we fall behind, Rei will take out every last assassin himself. I'd rather avoid that."
This group was unquestionably built around Rei as its core combat power.
Both Crow and Roaby understood that full well, but they couldn't rely entirely on Rei for all of their combat strength.
It was a fact that Rei was reliable, but Crow and Roaby also had their pride as Fusetsu assassins.
Given that, rather than letting Rei fight alone, they needed to properly function as combat assets themselves.
With that, the two broke into a run, and Roaby's companions followed a beat behind.
The presence of the assassin who had lost his head to Rei's two-stage thrust was somewhat unsettling, but whether for better or worse, corpses were a familiar sight to those present.
Some felt a twinge of pity, others thought it was only natural given the man had broken into their home without permission—reactions varied—but by and large, they passed by the body without paying it much mind.
What mattered to them right now was not standing around a corpse pondering various things, but eliminating the enemies who had infiltrated their hideout as swiftly as possible.
With that in mind, they needed to make contact with the enemy as quickly as possible, and while they might not match Rei, they had to demonstrate their own abilities and defeat the enemy somehow.
"Listen up! There are thirty... no, at least thirty assassins ahead. And there may also be an invasion point leading outside, created by golems. Stay on high alert!"
At Crow's shouted words, Roaby and the rest nodded with deadly serious expressions.