How to use the golems they had requested for support—the question Rei had posed left many of them stumped.
If their opponent were anything other than the Necro Golem, they might have been able to count those golems as combat assets.
But even the slightest wound caused rot fluid to leak out, and upon contact, that rot fluid scattered a green smoke that acted as a deadly poison.
Since golems would be the ones actually standing on the front lines, the corrosive rot fluid that melted anything on contact was one thing, but the green smoke wasn't something they particularly needed to worry about.
...However, naturally enough, the only ones who didn't need to worry about it were the golems. If there were still people remaining in the vicinity, there was no telling whether exposure would prove fatal.
And Egginis was quite large for a city. While not as large as Gilm, it was of a scale that could be called a quasi-city.
Precisely because of that size, Rei found it doubtful that everyone along the Necro Golem's movement route could evacuate safely.
If that was the case, using the golems to attack was ultimately off the table.
"The Necro Golem's body looks like muscle without skin, but even a slightly strong impact causes rot fluid to seep out. If that happens, even when luring it outside the city, there's a high chance that merely brushing against a building along the way would split its flesh and cause rot fluid to leak. To prevent that, we need to destroy the buildings along the Necro Golem's path. How about having the golems do that?"
"Destroy the buildings? That's... no, but if we don't, poison smoke will be scattered all around."
Orban spoke with a stern expression.
Even those who had looked displeased at the words "destroy buildings" had no choice but to accept once they heard Orban's explanation.
"Th-Then... how about routing it through a corridor where it won't need to destroy any buildings?"
At Robel's proposal, several of those listening showed relieved expressions.
Such a corridor would naturally connect to the city gates.
Not just the main gate, but several others as well.
In that sense, Robel's words were correct, but...
"Given the Necro Golem's size, moving it without causing damage to the surroundings would require going through the main street. And the main street would naturally have a lot of customers. ...Using golems to forcibly relocate them might work, but even that would take time."
"That's..."
"And if we're talking about forcibly relocating people, we'd need to be quite careful about that, too."
"That's..."
At Rei's words, Robel repeated the same phrase twice.
It was only natural that the main street would be crowded.
Given that, if they lured the Necro Golem in that direction, the possibility of it absorbing corpses... no, depending on the situation, they couldn't rule out the possibility of it absorbing the people on the main street while they were still alive.
"Once you've decided on something, don't hesitate. Standing here deliberating, do you think you'll come up with a better method than what we have now? Well, perhaps you might, but the odds are higher that you won't. Given that, we need to act first."
Dwanda's words seemed to scold Robel while also encouraging him.
Hearing them, Robel nodded despite showing visible signs of agitation.
Robel had a timid streak, but even so, he had served reliably as one of the four people who governed Egginis up to now.
Given that, once he understood what he had to do, there was no option of standing idle here.
"I-I understand. Th-Then I'll lay out the plan. W-We will guide the Necro Golem along the main street to the main gate, and from there send it outside the city. A-And after getting it outside, Rei-san will defeat it with his attacks. I-Is there any problem with that?"
What Robel had decided would undoubtedly inflict tremendous damage on Egginis.
But if they failed to make a decision here, the damage would be even greater than what luring it out through the main street would cause.
There might be a method that would result in less damage, but in this situation, they couldn't come up with one on the spot.
If so, following Robel's instructions was unquestionably the best course of action.
"Then what about the golems borrowed from other workshops and owners?"
Orban, already keeping in mind the plan to move the Necro Golem along the main street, asked how the borrowed golems would be used.
His ready acceptance of Robel's words stemmed largely from the fact that they were allies.
"W-We'll send them to the main street. Th-There are quite a lot of stalls set up, so we'll need to relocate them. O-Of course, we'll compensate for whatever damage is caused later."
Considering that the stalls on the main street would need to be half-destroyed, a fair number of people were bound to harbor significant resentment.
Even so, if Robel couldn't make a decision here, there was no telling how great the damage to Egginis would be.
Rei understood that, which was why he didn't oppose the proposal to route through the main street toward the main gate and lure the Necro Golem outside the city.
He didn't oppose it, but...
"Given the Necro Golem's size, isn't getting it through the main gate a problem? At that size..."
Egginis's main gate was larger than a typical city's.
That was because Egginis was a city that prospered through the golem industry, and golems purchased there needed to be transported out.
However, even compared to the golems normally sold, the Necro Golem was far too massive.
It had originally been about ten meters tall, but when Rei made contact with it again earlier, it had already exceeded eleven meters.
Even at its current size it was larger than the main gate. If it absorbed something—including people—during the move and grew even larger, how would they handle that?
To Rei's concern, Dwanda managed a strained smile and said there was no problem.
"The upper portion of Egginis's gates is designed to unfold and open, and the left and right sides can also open wider. As a city that prospers through the golem industry, if it came to pass that golems couldn't leave the city, that would be no laughing matter."
This level of foresight was likely worthy of someone chosen as one of the four who governed Egginis.
"I see. Then there's no problem. ...By the way, I know this is really late to be asking, but I'm the one who'll be luring the Necro Golem outside the city, right?"
"That's right. Honestly, I feel like we're relying on you too much, but when it comes to luring a creature like that Necro Golem without getting killed, you're the only one who can do it."
"Probably."
Rei agreed with Orban's assessment.
The tentacles launched from all over the Necro Golem's body were normally difficult to evade.
If they only came from its hands that would be one thing, but the fact that it could fire tentacles from anywhere on its body was undeniably extremely troublesome.
That was an attack that could only be dodged because it was Seto. If they tried leaving it to some ordinary adventurer, the person would be killed in short order and their corpse simply absorbed.
...For that matter, even before that, there was the question of whether a Necro Golem exceeding ten meters in size would even notice an adventurer moving around at its feet.
In that sense, it was unquestionably best to have Seto, who could fly and rise to the same eye level as the Necro Golem, paired with Rei, who could respond immediately if anything happened to Seto—the two of them together.
"Sorry about this."
"Don't worry about it. The jewels from yesterday are more than enough compensation. ...However, if you have any high-quality potions, it would help if you could hand over a reasonable amount as part of the reward."
"Th-Then we will prepare those on our end."
Robel, who had been listening to the exchange between Rei and Orban, offered to supply the potions himself.
The trading company Robel headed was one of the foremost in Egginis.
Given that, procuring high-quality potions would not be difficult.
"Then, while we're at it, we'll prepare some on our end as well."
Dwanda chimed in, suggesting it wouldn't be right to leave the reward solely to Robel.
That said, Dwanda's words were not entirely born of goodwill.
Providing Rei a reward here meant it would take the form of a formal commission to subjugate the Necro Golem.
It was a stretch, but given that the formalities were in order, Dwanda would undoubtedly have no trouble framing it as such.
Dwanda had suffered severe injuries in Dailas's attack, and once this battle was over, he would retire from his current position.
It served as a final crowning achievement, and he also wanted to pass his position to his son and successor under circumstances as favorable as possible.
In that sense, adding this credential here carried great significance.
...Of course, that didn't mean he was considering getting in Rei's way to claim the credit for himself—not in the slightest.
"Understood. Then that's how it'll be. ...So, does that mean I should stand by until the preparations on the main street are finished? Though, looking at how things are going, there's almost no time left for me to be standing by."
In the direction Rei's gaze was turned, the Necro Golem was tearing down the building where the Holy Four Assembly was held. Being a massive body over ten meters tall, naturally it didn't take long to completely destroy a building.
And what action the Necro Golem would take after it finished demolishing the building, Rei couldn't say.
The best outcome would be for it to decide it had nothing left to do and stop moving.
But from what Rei could see of the Necro Golem's behavior, he couldn't imagine it would come to that best-case result.
It might very well move on to destroying the surrounding buildings, or... depending on the situation, it could even start killing people to make its body even larger.
Since they couldn't predict what the Necro Golem would do next, once it finished destroying the building it was currently demolishing, Rei and Seto would have to intervene immediately.
However, when intervening in that manner, they couldn't land attacks that would cause rot fluid to leak.
(Then again, I'd think there'd be quite a bit of impact involved in destroying buildings, so why isn't it leaking rot fluid? The only explanation I can think of is that the Necro Golem can decide for itself whether to release rot fluid? No, but I can't imagine it still retains the intelligence to make that kind of judgment...)
That part was puzzling, but ultimately he decided that whatever he thought about here and now would be meaningless, and shook his head to dismiss it.
"Rei? What is it?"
"No, it's nothing. Anyway, once the Necro Golem finishes destroying the building, I'll start moving to lure it. ...I'll try to avoid attacking and causing rot fluid to leak as much as possible, but I can't guarantee that absolutely."
At Rei's words, the others—starting with Orban, who had called out to him—nodded with bitter expressions.
Since luring the Necro Golem was necessary, there was no question that such actions would be required.
They understood that, but hearing it stated aloud from Rei's mouth only made it harder to swallow.
"I understand that. Since we need to lure the Necro Golem, I also understand that such measures are necessary. But... even so, if possible, I want you to keep attacks to an absolute minimum."
"I know. I don't want to scatter rot fluid and poison all around any more than I have to, either. Just understand that some degree of damage is inevitable."
"...Right."
At Rei's words, Orban and the others nodded.
If they were to tell him not to do such a thing, luring the Necro Golem would become extremely difficult for Rei.
Because Orban and the others understood that as well, they nodded at his words.
"If you understand, then fine. I'll get ready on my end. You all move as quickly as you can over there too. Regardless of whether the preparations on the main street are finished, once the Necro Golem finishes destroying the building, I don't know when I'll have to act."
The fact that the Necro Golem's intentions were unreadable was extremely troublesome for Rei.
Dailas should have been its core, yet it seemed to be taking actions completely at odds with Dailas's thinking.
What exactly had happened to bring about such a state... Rei didn't know, and precisely because he didn't know, there was an inherent unpredictability to the Necro Golem's next move.
Those who had been listening to Rei's words nodded, and each of them sprang into action.