Dropping rocks at the back of the punitive force caused injuries as well as significant confusion.

That was Rei’s goal. As soon as he finished dropping all the rocks he had, he planned to attack with his fire magic or maybe Overlord’s Armour.

If he he managed to do that, it would have caused a considerable disturbance among the punitive force, giving Mercurio’s army a bigger advantage.

And, in that sense, it would also decided the outcome of the battle. ……Rei wasn’t wrong in thinking that.

The fact was that if the punitive force had been organised the same way as before, they would have been powerless against Rei’s offensive and would have taken a one sided beating.

There was only one miscalculation in Rei’s thinking.

That there would be someone even stronger than Rei present in the punitive force, Noiz.

As Rei was taking rocks out of the Misty Ring, he felt a sudden chill down his spine.

At the same time, he saw something flying straight towards him……or more accurately, straight towards Set.

「Set-!」

Rei shouted out immediately, but it was already too late.

Set instinctively tried to flap his wings after hearing Rei’s voice as the object tore through the air towards his body.

The next moment, the tip of the spear pierced into Set’s body. ……No, just as it was about to pierce into Set, it seemed to collide with a wall of air, deflecting it.

「-! I see! Set, go down!」

Rei realised that the attack had been deflected due to the effect of Set’s Bracelet of Wind Manipulation, a magic item that could deflect a single projectile or magic attack before needing to recharge, and immediately told Set to fly down.

「Gururu~!」

Set seemed to realise how powerful the attack had been as well.

He flapped his wings as he descended to the ground.

He had manged to avoid the attack thanks to the Bracelet of Wind Manipulation.

However, while the bracelet could deflect projectiles or magic, it could only do so once.

After being used, it couldn’t be used again for 10 hours.

In other words, Rei and Set’s position in the sky currently made them targets of such attacks from the ground.

Ordinary bows and catapults might not even reach Set at his current height.

And, even if they did, a strike from the Death Scythe or Set’s claws would have been enough to block them.

However……that previous attack was different.

It was powerful enough that Rei and Set would only have been able to deal with it if they placed all their attention on the attack.

If it had been thrown at them in a head on fight, they might have been able to manage……but it had been thrown from the ground among countless soldiers, so they couldn’t identify where the attack had come from.

「Tch, I can’t believe there’s someone with that much strength in the punitive force.」

As they rapidly approached the ground, Rei suddenly realised something.

「I see. Are they the one? The one that the punitive force prepared to deal with me? Wasn’t it meant to be Rhodes?」

Reaching a strange understanding, he soon found himself close to the ground.

「Set-!」

Even without a clear command, Set understood what Rei meant from just that.

Just before hitting the ground, Set swung his front claws, using the soldiers below to cushion their fall.

The soldiers where naturally crushed beneath him, but Rei didn’t care as he jumped off Set’s back.

Pulling the Death Scythe out from the Misty Ring, he slashed out.

The heads of several nearby soldiers flew into the air as blood spurted from their necks.

The soldiers in the surrounding area had no idea what was happening.

Rocks had started to fall from the sky and as they tried to avoid them, a Griffon suddenly showed up. It was impossible to expect them to be able to respond quickly.

「……Hii-Hiiii!」

A nearby soldier was in shock, not understanding what had just happened, but as soon as they saw the 2m long scythe, they realised who was standing before them.

「It’s Crimson-! Crimson is here-!」

The effect of their words was immediate.

Everyone in the surroundings quickly distanced themselves from Set and Rei.

「Wow, they moved quite quickly……」

Rei let out a smile and muttered to himself as he readied the Death Scythe.

「But, if you think that just putting some distance between you and me will do anything……you’re naive! Flying Slash!」

With those words, a flying slash flew out from the Death Scythe, slicing towards the soldiers.

The power of the slash wasn’t fatal as long as they were wearing some kind of armour, but it would also hit multiple people..

Under normal circumstances, it would only have been enough to take them out of combat.

However……as Rei was the one attacking, it also threw all the soldiers into a state of panic.

「AA-AAAAAAAAH-!」

「It’s Crimson, Crimson is here!」

「The Griffon is here! Run, run now!」

They shouted as they ran away, opening a 10m ring of space around him.

Rei glanced at the desperately fleeing soldiers before smiling slightly as he spoke.

「Your choice is not wrong. But, I’ll just let you wear yourselves out. Set, take your time.」

「Gururu~!」

Hearing Rei’s words, Set gave a short cry before immediately lunging at a soldier.

The soldier, who had managed to keep their spear at a ready position while distancing themselves from Rei and Set, thrust his weapon towards Set on reflex as he charged towards him.

However, the spear was thrust out as he was moving backwards……and it was also an iron spear, without any magic metal, so it was impossible for it to stop Set. A single strike from from Set’s claws easily broke the spear, sending it flying from their hands with the tip piercing into a nearby unfortunate soldier.

「Eh?」

For a moment, the soldier let out a stupefied voice, unable to understand what had just happened. But, the next moment, a slash from Set’s claws shattered his head, killing him.

「Hii-, Hiiiii-!」

The soldiers, already terrified by Set’s presence, had flesh, bone, blood, brains, and eyes splattered to their faces after Set’s attack. It was impossible for them to keep fighting as they just screamed.

Set lunged at the screaming soldiers……or rather, the soldiers who had yet to give up their fighting spirit.

The frightened soldiers on served to spread more fear and confusion to others around them.

Set knew that, which was why he targeted the soldiers who were still somewhat able to fight.

A short distance away from where Set was rampaging around, Rei was wrecking havoc of his own.

However, the damage Rei was inflicting on his surroundings was incomparable to Set’s.

That was because Rei’s body was covered in compressed magic power to the point that it was visible.

He had activated Overlord’s Armour.

Furthermore, learning from his mistake in his previous fight at the then rebel army camp, he was also actively using the Bracelet of Magic Absorption.

He reaped the lives of soldiers as he swung the Death Scythe around in that state.

(As expected, absorbing magic power from mere soldiers can’t keep up with my consumption.)

Rei’s Death Scythe cut down a hesitant soldier who thrust out their spear and muttered to himself as he felt the magic power flow into him from the Death Scythe.

Pushing against the ground, Rei leaped into the air.

The next moment, several arrows pierced his previous location as he activated the Boots of Sleipnir. Dashing through the air, he landed in front of the archers who had been shooting arrows at him.

「Fuu~!」

With a sharp exhale, the Death Scythe slashed out horizontally.

As the bodies of several archers were sliced apart, Rei once again felt magic power flow into his body.

However, it wasn’t enough to maintain Overlord’s Armour. Deciding that he needed to defeat more enemies, Rei was about to make his next attack when……

A chill.

He felt something cold, as if a block of ice had been dropped down his back, and he stopped moving.

Normally, he would have deactivated Overlord’s Armour if he wasn’t moving so as to not create more strain on his body, but the chills down his spine were so intense that he didn’t even think of that.

A soldier was decapitated by the Death Scythe as they tried to run away and at almost the same time, a man leaped over the surrounding soldiers before landing in front of Rei.

「Heh. You’ve gotten so much better at using Overlord’s Armour compared to before. In such a short time too……I have to say, you’re impressive.」

The man muttered, genuinely impressed. Like Rei, he was also clad in Overlord’s Armour, magic power compressed to the point that it was visible.

……Yes, according to Rei’s knowledge, this was someone that shouldn’t have been here.

His appearance caused Rei to freeze for a moment.

If his opponent……Noiz, had wanted to, Rei could have died that instant……or at least suffered significant injuries.

However, Noiz’s goal wasn’t to take down Rei by surprise. He wanted to see how strong Rei had grown in this short period of time……and above all, to be able to fight Rei, Crimson, in a no holds barred fight, unlike at the tournament.

That was why Noiz held a ferocious smile while using Overlord’s Armour himself.

Indeed, from his perspective, Rei was still quite immature.

Overlord’s Armour was still being activated by brute force, consuming an obscene amount of magic power.

Still, compared to when they had fought in the tournament, Rei’s control of Overlord’s Armour had clearly improved.

(The amount of magic power consumed shouldn’t be insignificant……but he really has an absurd amount of magic power.)

Noiz muttered to himself, half in admiration and half in astonishment as he drew his beloved sword from the sheathe at his waist.

「Now……I didn’t get to experience your full strength in the last fight. Let me see it here. ……You guys, stand back. If you get caught up in a fight between Rei and I……you’ll die.」

Noiz’s words caused the soldiers to panic as they ran even further away than before.

In stark contrast to the soldiers, Set, who had been rampaging around earlier, stepped forward next to Rei.

「Gururururururururururu~!」

A cry filled with hostility.

Set’s cry displayed no sign of carelessness.

He stepped beside Rei prepared to fight with all his might.

「Oh, so that’s the Griffon? ……Compared to Griffon’s I’ve fought before, it seems much smarter. And I even sense a strange power from it. ……Is it really just an ordinary Griffon?」

Rei seemed surprised at Noiz’s words.

He was surprised by the fact that he had recognised in a single glance that Set wasn’t an ordinary Griffon and even more so that Noiz had fought Griffons before.

Needless to say, as A rank monsters, Griffons were rare.

Having combat experience against such monsters meant that his S rank status wasn’t just for show.

「If you think of him as my familiar, I think you’ll understand that he’s no ordinary Griffon.」

Saying that, Rei slowly moved the Death Scythe in his hands.

Readying to swing the blade down, intending to slice Noiz in half in a single blow.

「Well, I suppose that’s true. Even if you ask me before fighting, there’s no way I’d tell you my strengths. Besides, it really is rue to try and find out your opponent’s abilities before a fight, isn’t it?」

Noiz postured the magic sword in his hand lightly as he spoke.

Noiz’s response, as if showing that he had already predicted Rei’s attack, was a testament to the countless battles he had survived.

It was true that Rei had been in Elgin for nearly two years now.

The battles he had experience in that time were so intense that his combat experience couldn’t be called shallow.

But……even so, it had only been two years. To be exact, it would be two years by next spring.

In comparison, Noiz had been an adventurer for many years.

The battle experience he had collected before reaching S rank and the battle experience he had obtained after reaching S rank.

Both of those gave Noiz and incomparable edge compared to Rei in terms of combat experience.

(If I think about it purely from an experience perspective, there’s no way I can beat Noiz. But, if I could, it would be because……)

The battles Rei had fought up to this point had been supported by instantaneous flashes of inspiration, a sort of sense for combat.

This was in addition to his magic power, and above all……

「Set.」

「Gururu~!」

Set, his partner.

If they combined their powers, it would definitely not be impossible to defeat Noiz.

Reaching that conclusion, Rei fully unleashed his Overlord’s Armour as he charged forward.

Swinging the Death Scythe down from up high.

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