Those listening to Rei's explanation grimaced.
It was only natural. Rei had told them that he could defeat the Necro Golem, but doing so would inflict massive damage on Egginis—and in the worst case, the city itself might be completely destroyed.
"I-Is that so...? C-Can't anything be done?"
Unsurprisingly, Robel was the first to ask.
Since he was the one who had pressed Rei for an explanation in the first place, he likely felt it was his responsibility to ask.
In response to Robel's words, Rei glanced at the Necro Golem, still demolishing the Holy Four Assembly building, and shook his head.
"That's difficult. My methods of attack are limited to physical strikes and Flame Magic. If it were a normal golem, I could also try storing it in an Item Box—my Misty Ring—but if Dailas is inside the Necro Golem as its core, that won't work."
Against a normal golem, Rei could store it in his Misty Ring, as he had just said.
If he could do that, he would have the option of storing it, carrying it somewhere remote where collateral damage wouldn't matter, releasing it there, and defeating it. Or better yet, simply keeping it stored in the Misty Ring indefinitely.
However, that was all premised on the golem being storable in the first place. If Dailas was still alive as the Necro Golem's core, even that was impossible.
"D-Difficult doesn't necessarily mean it's impossible, right?" Robel asked with a desperate expression.
But Rei couldn't simply nod in agreement.
"My Misty Ring can't store living creatures. As long as Dailas is alive, storing the Necro Golem should be impossible."
"Hold on a moment." Orban cut in.
He spoke as if organizing his thoughts before voicing them.
"That Necro Golem took that form because Dailas absorbed human corpses. If he absorbed that many corpses, wouldn't it be reasonable to think Dailas has become a corpse himself?"
"How would that work? Dailas is still alive as the Necro Golem's core, isn't he? As long as that's the case, I don't think he can be considered a corpse."
"Even so, he's doing what he's doing, isn't he? Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume Dailas is already dead?"
"That's..."
Orban's argument was half-forced.
Still, since Orban was asserting it with such confidence, even Rei couldn't help but think the possibility couldn't be entirely dismissed.
"You're thinking the same thing, aren't you, Rei? Then could you at least try it once?"
"You make it sound easy, but that Necro Golem is a formidable opponent, you know."
That was only obvious to Rei. A single tentacle strike from the Necro Golem had moved fast enough that only Seto could have dodged it. Testing whether he could touch such a creature and store it in his Misty Ring would be extremely risky.
Besides, speaking honestly, Rei had no desire to touch an opponent that leaked rot fluid from its wounds.
Part of that was a visceral aversion, but more than that, he worried that if rot fluid seeped from the point of contact, his hands could suffer real damage.
"Even so, I want you to try. Right now the Necro Golem is still focused on destroying the building, but once it grows tired of that or finishes the job and starts moving elsewhere, the damage to Egginis will only grow. Innocent civilians dying would leave a bad aftertaste."
"A bad aftertaste, huh."
Orban's words resonated with Rei. The thought of townspeople who knew nothing about the situation suffering catastrophic harm from the Necro Golem was not a pleasant one.
Since the Necro Golem had appeared, it was reasonable to assume the nearby residents had already evacuated. But if it moved toward another location, whether the people there could evacuate in time was far from certain.
In truth, Rei didn't need to worry that much about Egginis's residents. Yet as Orban said, if people who knew nothing ended up dying, it would certainly leave a bad aftertaste.
(No—it wouldn't just be a bad aftertaste. Given that the Necro Golem had been absorbing human corpses, if it killed someone new, it wouldn't be strange for it to absorb even more.)
Rei might have been overthinking it, but since Dailas had ended up like that by absorbing corpses, there was no telling whether it might do the same thing again. To prevent that, they needed to act quickly—that much was certain.
"Understood. I'll try it. ...But don't forget there's a real chance of failure."
"P-Please." Robel bowed his head to Rei.
Robel was one of the people who governed Egginis. For someone of his standing to bow to Rei would normally be unthinkable. But for Robel, if there was even a chance of saving Egginis, he was willing to use any means available—his own dignity mattered less.
He wasn't like Dailas, who believed anything was acceptable as long as it served Egginis's development. Even so, his determination to do whatever he could to resolve the crisis was genuine.
"Alright. I'll give it a shot, though it's a long shot at best. ...But think about what happens if it fails. The only fallback I can think of right now is luring the Necro Golem outside the city."
"That's..."
Hearing Rei's words as he leapt onto Seto's back, Robel... no, Orban, Dwanda, and the guards as well all wore grim expressions.
The Holy Four Assembly building—the meeting place for those who governed Egginis—naturally stood near the city's center. Given that location, luring the Necro Golem outside would inevitably cause tremendous damage along the way.
If the building had been near the Main Gate, the damage would still be significant but not catastrophic. In that sense, the Necro Golem's current position was the worst possible spot.
That was why the method Rei could think of, while reliable, would also cause enormous collateral damage.
(There's the option of asking Grimm... but I wonder. Last time, I had him teleport a giant monster in a similar situation, but that worked because I'd arranged it with him in advance. Contacting Grimm now and expecting him to act immediately... it might be worth a try, though.)
Relying on Grimm whenever trouble arose was something Rei himself found questionable, but this was a different matter entirely. If he didn't ask Grimm and instead lured the Necro Golem out of Egginis as he'd just proposed, countless people would die.
If only soldiers or adventurers were among the casualties, Rei wouldn't be so troubled. Those people took on such work knowing the risks. But in this case, the dead would be ordinary civilians who knew nothing. That left a bad aftertaste.
That said, since he hadn't contacted Grimm yet, he couldn't spin a cover story here about teleporting the creature with a Magic Item.
(If I can't store it in the Misty Ring, I'll hide somewhere and contact Grimm with the Paired Orb. ...If the Misty Ring works, that'd be the best solution.)
Watching the Necro Golem continue demolishing the already half-collapsed building, Rei thought it through, then spoke.
"In any case, I'll go test whether I can store it in the Misty Ring. I don't think you'll be affected, but there's no guarantee the rot fluid won't reach this far, and the same goes for the poisonous smoke. Stay alert."
With that, Rei asked Seto to head toward the Necro Golem.
Seto let out a brave purr in response, kicked off the ground, and soared into the sky.
It was a season that could be called late summer or early autumn, and the sight of Seto flying through that sky was quite picturesque. Though Rei and Seto, actually up in the air, couldn't have cared less about such things.
"Seto, most likely that Necro Golem will launch tentacle attacks the moment we get close. We'll evade them and dive straight into its blind spot. ...Normally, just touching a tentacle would be the quickest way to make contact, but..."
For the Necro Golem, tentacles were weapons. And since they belonged to the Necro Golem, touching one could easily leave his hand blistered from poison.
That was why Rei had no desire to touch the tentacles. Of course, the Necro Golem's body was also a grotesque sight—skinless, with raw muscle exposed—and wounding it would cause rot fluid to leak from the injuries. Touching that was equally unappealing.
Even so, considering Egginis's current situation, it was obviously better to resolve things as quickly as possible before the Necro Golem went on a wider rampage.
(If I get hurt, I suppose I can at least get some potions as compensation.)
In terms of payment, he had already received the large cache of jewels from the safe golem in Dailas's mansion. Even so, picking up some potions on top of that if he happened to get injured didn't seem like a bad deal.
"Grru!"
Seto cried out, beat its wings, and shifted abruptly. The next instant, a tentacle fired from the Necro Golem pierced the spot where Seto had just been.
"Wait, hasn't it gotten bigger again?"
Looking at the Necro Golem, which had paused its demolition of the building and was firing tentacles from its right hand at Seto, Rei felt it had grown larger than before.
He couldn't be certain, but the impression was undeniable.
(But there shouldn't be any more corpses, right? Well, maybe a few that couldn't be fully absorbed, but even so, there shouldn't have been enough to cause that kind of rapid growth... or so I'd like to think.)
Ultimately, Rei hadn't witnessed the moment Dailas became the Necro Golem. Without having seen it, he had no way of knowing exactly how many corpses had produced its current size.
(Or... could it be absorbing rubble too? It's a corpse golem, so I wouldn't think so, but...)
If it could grow by absorbing rubble as well, that would be extremely troublesome.
"Seto, if we let it do as it pleases, it could keep growing without limit! For now, let's test whether the Misty Ring works!"
"Gruu!"
Nodding at Rei's words, Seto evaded another tentacle strike and closed the distance to the Necro Golem in a single dash.
The Necro Golem naturally thrust out its tentacles, but after several attacks, Seto had grown somewhat accustomed to their speed. Evading the Necro Golem's strikes had become noticeably less difficult.
Of course, that didn't mean the evasions were effortless. Still, compared to before, there was definitely a degree of composure.
"Alright, good, Seto. Keep closing the distance!"
"Grrruru!"
At Rei's words, Seto beat its wings with a purr that seemed to say, Leave it to me!
As the distance closed, the attack speed naturally increased. But as if to say it was already used to it, Seto flew without issue, steadily closing the gap.
Just as they reached the point where Rei could almost touch it, Rei, who had been watching the Necro Golem's movements, suddenly shouted.
"Seto, below!"
"Gruu!"
Seto followed the instruction without a split second's hesitation. The next instant proved the call had been right.
Until then, the tentacles had only come from both arms—but whether because the distance had closed or not, a massive barrage erupted from its torso.
Diving below at Rei's command, Seto evaded the onslaught and continued closing in...
"Now!"
Rei shouted sharply, reached out, touched the Necro Golem, and attempted to store it in the Misty Ring—
"It's no good!"
It wouldn't store. At Rei's cry, Seto beat its wings and swiftly put distance between them and the Necro Golem.