Rei drew the Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear.
Seeing them, Dailas for some reason wore a look of disbelief.
"Preparing such Magic Items just to attack me... isn't that a bit excessive?"
"Is it? Well, if you were an ordinary person, maybe so. But you've got something that lets you block a longsword strike with your bare hands, don't you?"
Earlier, an adventurer had succumbed to fear and launched a strike.
That blow had been stopped effortlessly by Dailas's arm.
Not by grabbing the opponent's arm to halt it, nor by using a shield to block—it was stopped by receiving the longsword strike directly with his own arm.
Not even Rei could pull off something like that.
If his arm were covered by the Dragon Robe, that would be a different story.
What exactly would one have to do to deflect a longsword with an arm? From what I heard from Orban, he was uttering some kind of incantation... or rather, words that sounded like a declaration. Could it be golem technology?
Dailas had joined hands with the Dolan Workshop—no, to be precise, Dailas was the shadow ruler behind the Dolan Workshop. Given that, it wouldn't be strange if Dolan Workshop technology was being used in this situation as well.
However, as far as Rei could observe, there were no golems anywhere.
"No point thinking about it here. I understand your desire to develop Egginis, Dailas. But that doesn't mean I'm going to let you go. ...With that said, die."
With those words, Rei kicked off the floor and closed the distance to Dailas in one burst, swinging the Death Scythe.
Given its scythe-like shape, it was naturally a wide-swinging attack.
Even so, normally there would be no way to dodge that strike, and Dailas's torso should have been split open—
"What?"
At the sensation of cutting through his torso, a questioning voice slipped from Rei's mouth.
As someone who wielded the Death Scythe, Rei had severed countless opponents' torsos before. From flesh-and-blood enemies to those clad in metal armor, a considerable number of them.
That was precisely why Rei understood the sensation of severing a torso more than well enough, and he immediately noticed that the response from this strike was clearly abnormal.
"Guh... ugh... what a sharp strike. As expected of an alias holder."
As if proving that Rei's suspicion about the lack of resistance was correct, Dailas groaned the words through his pain.
In the first place, being able to speak after having one's torso severed—no, the fact that he was still alive at all was strange to begin with.
Yet there was Dailas, speaking those words with his torso not severed at all. It remained intact.
"He's alive? After taking a hit from Rei?"
Orban stood in front to protect Dwanda—whose left arm was severed below the elbow—and Robel, whom he was duty-bound to protect. He voiced his question upon seeing the scene.
Among those present here, Orban, who led Fusetsu, understood best just how much strength Rei possessed.
He had expected that Rei could easily defeat even an opponent that Orban himself could not comprehend.
No, it was no longer even an expectation—he had thought of it as an already decided future. And yet, even after receiving Rei's strike, Dailas was still alive.
If Dailas had survived by dodging Rei's attack, Orban could have accepted it.
But he had taken the attack head-on, and despite the sensation of the cut connecting, however slightly, he was still alive. That was more than enough to surprise Rei.
"What did you do? What kind of Magic Item are you using?"
"Now then, whatever do you mean? Unfortunately, I don't understand what those words signify."
Rei was unsure how to respond to Dailas's words.
Whether it truly wasn't a Magic Item, or whether he was simply hiding it.
He couldn't tell, but if that was the case, he just needed to gather more information. This time, he unleashed a strike with the Twilight Spear.
Perhaps not expecting a follow-up attack, Dailas's movements lagged—and as a result, the tip of the Twilight Spear pierced through his torso.
Even so, what Rei felt in his hand was a sensation completely different from piercing a normal body.
Kicking Dailas's torso, he swiftly withdrew the spear.
As a matter of course, Dailas was sent flying by Rei's kick and crashed into a wall.
There were several adventurers and soldiers around the wall, but none of them made any move to attack. Instead, they kept their distance from Dailas, who had struck the wall.
Having watched the battle with Rei, there was no doubt that his abilities were clearly abnormal.
Moreover, Rei, bearer of the Crimson alias, was present here.
It was only natural to think that dealing with a dangerous—no, incomprehensible—existence should be left to Rei. Rei also understood the thoughts of those around him, but decided it was best to observe the situation for now, and did not immediately launch another attack.
As he watched Dailas closely, Dailas eventually stood up.
Not in a manner suggesting he was enduring pain, but simply, right there on the spot.
"That hurts. I hold a certain standing, you know. I think you could treat me a bit more courteously."
Dailas said this to Rei with dissatisfaction.
Rei observed Dailas.
His gaze was directed particularly at his torso—especially at the part where his clothes were cut.
The strike from the Death Scythe and the strike from the Twilight Spear. After receiving those two attacks, Dailas showed no signs of damage.
Though he verbally complained of pain, there was nothing particularly wrong with his body's movements.
Looking beneath Dailas's clothes, Rei noticed there were no wounds at all.
"Just what kind of methods are you really using?"
The words Rei asked carried a strong tone of disbelief.
At the root of it was likely the conviction that, for now, he would not lose to Dailas even if they fought.
In fact, a single strike from Dailas had enough power to easily pierce a human body.
Seeing that Dwanda was missing everything below his left elbow, it might not just pierce but could also be used as a literal hand-blade.
There was no doubt that such an attack method was threatening, and his offensive power was extremely high.
But... the one carrying out those attacks was, in the end, Dailas.
Dailas, who was only a merchant, naturally had not received combat training.
If he stayed calm, Rei—no, most of the people here would not find it difficult to dodge those attacks.
However, the problem in this case was that while dodging Dailas's attacks was not difficult, attacking Dailas had almost no effect.
Is this what they call a stalemate? ...Well, even so, since landing a hit on a flesh-and-blood part would put him at a considerable disadvantage, the expression "stalemate" might not be appropriate.
Even so, Rei was confident that he could dodge Dailas's attacks indefinitely.
"If it comes down to it, should I just burn him to ashes so he can't regenerate with magic?"
Rei muttered quietly, but several people reacted to his words.
They probably thought he was going to use the Flame Tornado, one of Rei's trademarks, right here.
Naturally, Rei had no intention of doing such a thing.
No, to be precise, it was more that he couldn't.
The Flame Tornado—the Fire Whirlwind that Rei created could not be produced by Rei alone; it required Seto's cooperation.
Given that, it would be impossible for Rei to create a Fire Whirlwind here even if he tried.
...Though, even without creating a Fire Whirlwind, he could simply deal with it using Flame Magic.
However, if he used Flame Magic inside a building, this building wouldn't escape unscathed.
No, not just this building, but the surrounding buildings would likely be caught in the flames as well, and in the worst case, the fire could spread and become a major conflagration.
That was why Rei had no intention of doing such a thing.
"Relax. I'll manage this without using magic. ...Well, for Dailas, who wishes for Egginis's development, having the city burned down would be the most effective—whoa!"
What Rei said was a half-joking remark.
Despite that, upon hearing those words, Dailas suddenly charged straight at Rei.
To Dailas, those words from Rei must have been that unforgivable.
However... such an attack from Dailas naturally did not hit Rei.
Rei dodged the hand-blade strike, slashed at the incoming fist with the Death Scythe's blade, deflected the kick with the Twilight Spear, and in that same motion swept the opponent off his feet.
"I expected as much. Not just his torso, but his arms too."
Rei had intended to sever the punching fist at the wrist.
However, the sensation transmitted through the Death Scythe's blade was the same as when he had cut through the torso.
A slime? No, it doesn't feel like that. It's something else entirely.
Near Gilm lay the Treant Forest.
There, the Birth Tower and a lake had been transferred from another world, and the giant slime that could be called the lake's master could not be burned away even by Rei's magic, repeatedly burning and regenerating.
Dailas's condition seemed similar to that giant slime, but even so, given the current situation, the impression that he was somehow different from a slime was also a fact.
"But if it's like this...!"
Dailas didn't have a liquid body like a slime; he had normal limbs.
In other words, he had bones, flesh, skin... and joints.
Closing the distance with Dailas, Rei swept his feet out from under him with the butt end of the Death Scythe.
It was without any feint, a completely obvious attack.
Someone with a certain level of skill could have evaded it.
But... even if Dailas's physical abilities and bodily characteristics had changed, his experience had not.
His awareness was still that of a merchant, or rather, of Dailas in his position of running Egginis. Purely in terms of combat experience, he was nothing but an amateur.
The reason he had still been able to kill many adventurers and soldiers was largely because his physical abilities had become extraordinary.
Dailas's existence was significant for Egginis.
And the fact that attacking him had absolutely no effect.
The adventurers and soldiers must have been confused by such an eerie situation.
Or if those present had been Gilm adventurers rather than Egginis adventurers—and not the kind who had arrived after the Expansion Construction began, but those who had been in Gilm from before—the story might have been different.
The skilled adventurers in Gilm had fought many of the monsters that existed in the frontier.
And monsters in the frontier taking unexpected actions was not a rare story for adventurers.
Given that, even with an incident like this... Rei couldn't nod and say that everyone could handle it perfectly, but there would certainly be some who could deal with it to a certain extent.
"Uwah!"
Dailas, his legs swept out from under him effortlessly, tumbled onto the floor.
Since Rei had controlled the butt end of the Death Scythe in accordance with Dailas's movements when sweeping his feet, Dailas ended up lying face down, just as Rei intended.
Stepping on Dailas's back, Rei shouted at the people around them.
"Help me! Dailas's physical abilities have increased, but he's still just an amateur! It's not difficult to stop his movements if you try!"
Naturally, Rei's shout had no effect at first.
After all, no matter how much Rei shouted, they had seen Dailas rampaging and killing many people.
Given that, there was no way they could simply follow Rei's words the moment he shouted.
"Move! Do you think this situation is fine as it is?! Many of your comrades were killed too, weren't they!"
Dailas tried to break free from under Rei's foot, but Rei, stepping on his back, skillfully shifted his weight to prevent that.
Seeing Dailas's condition, those around finally understood that while Dailas was an eerie existence, if they stayed calm, they could more than handle him themselves.
"L-let's go!"
As one of the adventurers or soldiers nearby shouted that, they approached Dailas, whom Rei was pinning down.
Once the first person moved, it was only natural that the others would follow suit—and overcoming their fear of the entity known as Dailas, thinking they simply had to do something about him themselves, many began to move.