Seto had somehow managed to rescue the man, but as expected, the rot fluid that had leaked from the Necro Golem's body—exposed by Rei's earlier attack—was splattered across him. Wherever the fluid had touched, even a single drop, his flesh was already beginning to melt.
"Gruu!"
Seeing green poison smoke rising from the spots where the rot fluid had dissolved flesh, Seto let out a sharp cry.
Since Seto was flying swiftly, the poison smoke had no effect on either him or Rei, even as it formed.
But that was only because his speed sent the generated smoke trailing behind them. If Seto stopped flying—or even slowed down—that poison smoke would engulf them both.
Watching the green smoke stream behind them, Rei understood what Seto was trying to say. After a moment's thought, he spoke up.
"Seto, let's drop this man off near that carriage. The way things are, he won't make it regardless. We might as well put him down by the carriage he was riding in."
Under the current conditions, using a potion on the man was out of the question.
However, Rei figured that the gaudy carriage the man had been riding in likely had other passengers besides him.
The possibility that everyone aboard had already fled couldn't be ruled out, but if that were the case, then so be it.
If the man Seto was carrying was the kind of person his subordinates admired, he'd be saved.
(Well, considering this man is a noble—and one who charged into Egginis without following anyone's orders—he probably isn't that well-respected by his people.)
Even so, as long as the man was being hauled along by Seto's front talons, the rot fluid would likely kill him eventually.
Choosing the option that gave him even a slightly better chance of survival was undoubtedly the right call.
Understanding Rei's intent, Seto flapped his wings and circled around the Necro Golem.
Fortunately, the Necro Golem had shifted its focus back to Seto after having its prey snatched away mid-kill, so the damage to the city wasn't too extensive.
(The remaining question is what happens when we drop this man near the carriage. It'd be fine if the Necro Golem keeps its focus on us, but if it turns toward the man on the ground, things could get ugly. Still, that's better than letting him die like this.)
While Rei mulled this over, Seto began descending toward the ground—toward the building the carriage had crashed into.
The ground rushed up to meet them in the blink of an eye.
Once they were close enough, Seto released the man.
"Gu... gah..."
Whether the man was still conscious, or whether it was an unconscious scream born of pain or terror even as he lay passed out, Rei couldn't tell.
But there was no doubt he'd been safely deposited on the ground.
Seto had released him with as little impact as possible, but given that they'd been moving at speed to avoid the poison smoke, the jolt the man experienced must have been considerable regardless.
"Alright, now let's turn the Necro Golem's attention back this way!"
"Gurururu!"
Hearing Rei's command, Seto charged toward the Necro Golem with a roar.
The move was meant to keep the Necro Golem from turning its attention toward the man now lying on the ground.
The Necro Golem unleashed a tentacle strike at Seto as he flew before its eyes.
Dodging the attack, Seto soared right past the creature's face.
As Seto closed in, the Necro Golem opened its mouth...
"Seto, up!"
"Gruu!"
Obeying Rei's split-second command, Seto instantly shot upward.
As if drawn by Seto's movement, the Necro Golem's mouth pointed straight up—and purple Breath erupted from it.
When Rei and Seto were flying in plain view and the Necro Golem fired its Breath, even if they dodged it, the city suffered significant damage.
In fact, the Breath attacks fired thus far had already inflicted considerable harm on Egginis.
That was why Rei had directed Seto to position directly above the Necro Golem this time, to minimize the damage as much as possible.
Just as Rei intended, the damage the purple Breath inflicted on Egginis was clearly smaller than before.
That said, "smaller" didn't mean nonexistent.
After all, firing Breath straight upward meant it would eventually rain back down on the city, albeit slowly.
Eliminating the Breath's impact entirely was something Rei, at least, couldn't manage.
(Ideally, it would just keep using tentacle attacks. Seto can dodge those easily enough, and the damage to the city wouldn't be that great either.)
That was his wish, but the tentacle strikes came at considerable speed. It was only because it was Seto that not a single one had connected so far.
If an adventurer in Egginis tried to draw the Necro Golem's attention, dodging even one tentacle strike would be impossible.
Having safely evaded the Breath, Seto continued onward, keeping the Necro Golem focused on him—and before long, arrived at the main gate without incident.
They hovered in front of the gate, waiting for the Necro Golem to catch up. Before long, its massive form came into view.
However, since it had been chasing Seto through the sky, it had apparently destroyed a fair number of buildings along the main street on its way there, leaving trails of rot fluid in its wake.
"Seriously troublesome. But... finally. We've finally made it here. All that's left is for it to go outside Egginis. The main gate—well, the gate frame—will probably be destroyed, though."
Rei had a bad feeling about this.
The Necro Golem was growing larger as time passed, and he wondered whether it might become too large to fit through the main gate.
His premonition proved spectacularly correct.
While traveling along the main street, the Necro Golem had stood roughly fifteen meters tall.
But between the main street and the gate, whether from absorbing the buildings it had destroyed, the rot fluid and poison it had spread, or simply the corpses of those it had trampled to death, the creature had now ballooned to roughly twenty meters.
That was clearly taller than the main gate's frame.
"The main gate is going to collapse! Anyone nearby, take cover!"
Rei shouted out, though it felt somewhat perfunctory.
Judging by the surrounding area, there didn't appear to be anyone nearby.
But the possibility that someone was hiding in case of trouble couldn't be ruled out.
...No, more than that—it was almost certain that someone was hiding near the main gate.
Exactly how many people were hiding there, Rei couldn't tell.
If he searched the surrounding presences more carefully, he might be able to figure it out, but given the current situation, he had no room for that.
Even if someone was hiding nearby, they would have understood the situation from his shout.
Making that judgment, Rei lightly tapped the back of Seto's neck.
Taking that as a signal, Seto swayed his body side to side in the air as if to provoke the approaching Necro Golem, then passed through the main gate.
"Alright, come on. Once you step out that gate and leave Egginis, it's all over. I'll unleash all my frustration on you, so be ready... What?"
Having passed through the gate, Seto waited at a short distance for the Necro Golem to emerge from Egginis.
Rei had expected it to simply smash through the gate frame and exit, but for some reason, the Necro Golem stopped just short of the main gate, showing no sign of coming any further.
"Hey, come on. We went through all the trouble of getting here, didn't we? So what's the deal with you not coming out? Hurry up and get out here."
Rei's irritation was evident as he sat atop Seto, glaring at the motionless Necro Golem.
But contrary to Rei's feelings, the creature showed no sign of moving.
(Why? Why did it stop there? Until now, it chased us—Seto—even to the point of smashing through buildings. The only possibility I can think of is... Dailas!?)
Dailas, who served as the Necro Golem's core, had aimed for Egginis's prosperity.
Since the Necro Golem had been indiscriminately destroying the streets of Egginis and had even demolished the Holy Four Assembly building, Rei had assumed that Dailas's consciousness as the core was already gone. That feeling hadn't changed.
But even so, considering the current situation, the reason it wouldn't leave Egginis might be that a faint trace of Dailas's consciousness still lingered, keeping it from departing.
Whether that was actually correct, Rei unfortunately couldn't say.
But without that explanation, he couldn't fathom why the Necro Golem refused to move.
"Seto, you don't have to go inside Egginis, but try getting closer and provoking it. Maybe if you approach, it'll start attacking you again."
"Gurururu"
Hearing Rei's words, Seto immediately closed the distance toward Egginis.
Though prepared to react to anything at a moment's notice, even as he approached near the main gate, the Necro Golem showed no sign of moving.
At this point, they were essentially facing each other across the gate.
Rei had no idea how or why things had come to this, but the creature's refusal to attack was a mystery to him.
"Gurururururururururu!"
Seto roared at the Necro Golem on the other side of the main gate.
It wasn't King's Intimidation—he hadn't used any particular Skill.
But the fact that it was Seto's roar alone seemed to carry enough force... Rei saw the Necro Golem's fingertip twitch.
From the Necro Golem's perspective, Seto was the opponent that had been incessantly pestering it, and there was no doubt it found him extremely unpleasant.
Given that, it wouldn't be strange for it to launch an attack right now, and Rei actually hoped it would.
But even hearing Seto's cry up close, the Necro Golem's response remained minimal.
"So even seeing Seto only gets this much of a reaction. In that case... what am I supposed to do here?"
Rei hesitated.
Then, at the edge of his vision, he spotted several figures at the Necro Golem's feet.
Again?
For a moment, that was Rei's first thought—but looking more closely, the figures beneath the Necro Golem were people he recognized.
(Crow? What's he doing here? For that matter, is it even appropriate for a Fusetsu assassin to be showing himself openly on the surface like this?)
Considering the raid on Dailas's mansion, perhaps it was acceptable for an assassin to appear openly.
That thought crossed his mind briefly, but even so, the danger was no less real.
Crow was undoubtedly a skilled assassin, and his strength likely ranked among the top in Fusetsu.
But that strength and the Necro Golem's rot fluid were entirely different kinds of power.
No matter how strong Crow was, if he touched the rot fluid that leaked from wounding the Necro Golem, he would die.
Even without touching the fluid, inhaling the poison smoke it produced would be just as fatal.
In fact, from what Rei had heard, those who inhaled the green poison smoke died vomiting blood.
Given that, Rei couldn't imagine Crow being able to do anything against the Necro Golem in this situation.
(What's he planning to do?)
As Rei watched, Crow hurled a dagger at the Necro Golem's leg.
Given that wounding the Necro Golem would cause it to leak rot fluid, attacking from a distance was by no means a bad choice.
Of course, whether a thrown dagger could actually deal damage to a nearly twenty-meter Necro Golem was another question entirely—and the answer was no.
But that single strike was effective in one regard: it snapped the frozen Necro Golem back to its senses and set it in motion. The creature's fleshy, lump-like face turned toward Crow.