A figure flew through the autumn sky while flapping their wings.

If anyone knew what it was, they would definitely start to run away.

At the same time, if they knew who it was, they would probably want to touch him rather than run away.

「Set, I heard that the camp is covered by an illusion, so be careful. I don’t think it will be a problem for us to enter the illusion, but it’s a royal treasure, so we don’t know exactly what else it can do.」

「Gurururu~」

That’s okay, leave it to me, Set seemed to say as Rei stroked him.

In all honesty, Rei wasn’t that worried at all.

While it was true that the camp would be harder to find if it was covered by an illusion, there was a good chance they’d still get to the camp by charging straight towards it.

That said, the camp was also under attack by the punitive force.

It would be impossible to mistake the noise of people fighting within the illusion, even if they couldn’t be seen.

Also, as a Griffon, Set’s sense of direction was much sharper than that of humans.

He would never mistake the way back to a place he had lived at before, even if only for short period of time.

But……

「Guru~!」

Set spread his wings wide as he forcefully changed direction in mid air.

A few seconds later, a rock the size of a human head flew right past Set.

「Tch-, it seems they expected Set and I to return first.」

Several soldiers deployed on the ground came into Set and Rei’s view.

There were three units on either side of the road for a total of six units. Each unit consisted of ten soldiers and each unit had a catapult.

Another unit attacked with their catapult, different from the first one, and Set flapped his wings again to avoid the rock

Fortunately, aside from the catapults, there were very few people with bows.

If asked whether they could hit Set with arrows from the ground, the answer would also be no.

Of course, it might have been a different matter if there was a top class archer or someone even better, but such skilled people were focused on attacking the camp and were not present here.

Several rocks were launched in quick succession or even simultaneously, targeted at Set.

If they couldn’t reach with arrows, they would use the catapults.

Furthermore, while catapults typically launched fairly large rocks, the rocks they had prepared this time were the size of human heads.

If used for attacking a castle or city, the rocks would be considered small, but they were more than big enough against Rei and set.

If a rock that size launched by a catapult were to hit Rei or Set……it wouldn’t kill them, but it would definitely hurt a lot.

And, because the rocks were small, it didn’t take much effort to load them onto the catapult, making the firing intervals much shorter and allowing more rocks to be thrown at Rei and Set.

「The fact that they’re spread out is also troublesome. No, it’s definitely a countermeasure against my magic.」

Most of Rei’s magic could cover a large area, so if the catapults were grouped up, he would have been able to destroy them all at once.

If it were a countermeasure against that……

If I hear that the rebel army is under attack, it’s not hard to imagine that I’d go to the rescue.

「Guru~?」

What do you want to do? Set asked Rei with a cry.

In the meantime, Set continued to spread his wings wide as he dodged the rocks flying towards him.

There were some rocks that ended up flying towards the Set’s direction of flight, but a single strike from his claws was more than enough to shatter the rocks.

「Well, I could just go straight through, but……no, catapults can be pretty destructive after all. If I leave them behind, there’s a good chance they’ll be used against the rebels, or even Frizione’s army. Considering that, it would be best to destroy them here.」

Thinking for a moment, Rei looked down at the ground as he counted the number of catapults again.

Six in total.

As each one was placed some distance away from the others, the only way was to destroy them individually.

「Set, can you take care of half of them?」

「Guru~!」

Leave it to me! Set gave a cry as Rei spoke again, just to be sure.

「Just to be safe, no skills allowed.」

「Gururu~」

Set’s response seemed to indicate he understood, so Rei decided it was okay as he jumped off Set’s back.

As he jumped down from over 100m in the air, the soldiers manning the catapults must have thought for second that they had done it.

If it had been an ordinary human, they would have been right.

But……Rei was far from ordinary.

As he fell towards the ground, Rei activated the Shoes of Sleipnir.

He took one, two, and then three steps in the air, slowing his fall as he descended directly on top of a catapult.

If it was just Rei’s own weight, ti wouldn’t have been that bad.

But, with the Death Scythe in his hands……his combined weight was over 100kg, at least to anyone carrying the Death Scythe outside of Rei and Set.

Considering that, it was impossible for the catapult to escape unscathed and it was easily destroyed as shards of wood and metal flew out injuring the soldiers around it.

The luckier ones were either unharmed or only suffered minor scratches while the unlucky ones suffered fatal injures, having their head crushed by shrapnel or their throats torn apart.

And, of course, it didn’t end there……

「HAAaah-!」

Dashing forward with a determined shout, Rei swung the Death Scythe.

Most of the soldiers were slashed by the blade before they even understood what was happening, with limbs, bodies and heads cut apart.

Within just a few seconds, all the soldiers surrounding the catapult were lying on the ground in pools of blood.

「Phew!」

Shaking the blood off the Death Scythe, Rei dodged the incoming arrows at the same time.

It was only natural. It was clear that Rei was targeting the catapults and, since that was the case, it was only natural for the other units with catapults to think they were next.

Set was also rampaging about, but the archers judged that it would be better to eliminate Rei first, as he was closest to them.

Rei dodged the first arrow and then the ones that followed, cutting down the ones he couldn’t avoid, as he went for the next catapult.

The soldiers guarding the catapult were also desperate. Perhaps because they knew that the catapult would be destroyed if things continued like this, they somehow managed to turn it and launch a rock towards Rei.

The human head sized rock was more than enough to kill an ordinary human.

But……

「I’ve seen that attack before!」

With those words, Rei poured magic power into the Death Scythe.

The rock was split in two as both halves flew past Rei.

Rei didn’t even glance at the rock as it flew past as he charged straight towards the catapult and the soldiers guarding it.

Naturally, the soldiers wouldn’t just watch Rei charge towards them. They picked up their swords and spears from the ground as they prepared for close quarters combat.

The few archers also abandoned their bows as they reached for their melee weapons.

「Flying Slash-!」

With a shout, a slash flew out from the Death Scythe, cutting several people before disappearing.

That said, the slash wasn’t powerful enough to cut through a human body. It was able to cut through skin and flesh, but not enough to cut through bone.

Even so, Rei’s attack succeeded in wounding many of the soldiers.

And, when injured, their movements naturally slowed down slightly……which was when Rei rushed in.

Rei, the enemy, had charged into their ranks. If they swung their weapons carelessly, they would easily harm their own allies.

If any of them were wielding daggers, it might have been a different story. But, while some had daggers as backup weapons, none of them had expected Rei to rush straight into them.

If they had a few more seconds to react, things might have been different, but in the dense group, Rei swung the magic empowered Death Scythe, reaping the lives of everyone around Rei.

The soldiers were literally cut in half.

Comrades who had been alive just moments ago were now dead on the ground.

The area around Rei was dyed red with the blood of the soldiers, their flesh and bones scattered into the surroundings as a strong rusty smell drifted into the air.

The way Rei swung the Death Scythe was a perfect example of how he had earned the title of Crimson.

Even with the strong bloody smell, Rei didn’t stop moving.

He spun around again and again with almost dance like steps. As he swung the Death Scythe, he took the lives of the soldiers.

The fight only lasted a few seconds, but by the end, there were no survivors.

Looking around, Rei watched as the soldiers from another nearby unit fled and gently touched the catapult, which hadn’t been destroyed, as he stored it intot he Misty Ring.

At the same time, he collected all the rocks that had been prepared around the catapult before walking towards the catapult the other unit had fled from.

However, the soldiers hadn’t just run away, they had also destroyed the catapult so that Rei couldn’t use it.

They had probably done that because they knew Rei had an item box.

(Well, I guess the soldiers were here to target me after all.)

While the catapult could be destroyed, the rocks still remained.

As Rei collected the rocks that remained, he heard the sound of wings flapping in the sky.

「Gururururu~!」

Set appeared with a happy cry and ran towards Rei after landing on the ground.

Rei caught Set and patted him on the head.

「Is it over already?」

「Guru~!」

Smiling at Set, who gave a cry to say ‘Of course’, Rei turned to look over at the three units left in Set’s care.

All three catapults had been destroyed with dead soldiers scattered around them.

However, there were surprisingly few bodies.

That was because the soldiers realised that they stood no chance against a Griffon, compared to Rei, and chose to retreat.

The bodies that remained belonged to the soldiers who didn’t want to run without a fight.

Taking out the Dagger of Flowing Water, Rei washed the bloodstains off Set’s beak, claws, and other places as he stored away the rocks just in case.

「Well then, Set. We’ve cleaned this place up for now……let’s head for the rebel camp. The soldiers who escaped from here will probably let them know we’re coming, so if possible, I’d like to hit them and inflict some damage before that happens.」

「Gururu? Guru!」

Set gave a cry, agreeing with Rei’s thoughts, before turning his back to Rei.

Let’s go quickly! Rei nodded at Set before getting on his back.

There were many people in the rebel army who were fond of Set.

Not just the fighters, like the soldiers, adventurers, and mercenaries, but also those who couldn’t fight, such as the prostitutes and merchants who gave him food.

Normally, such people would leave the camp before a battle, but since the punitive force had blockaded the roads, they hadn’t been able to leave, not to mention the punitive force’s current surprise attack against the rebel camp.

(They must have already sent out troops before we left the Imperial Capital, before we fought Bratta and Rhodes. Normally, moving that many soldiers would attract a lot of attention, but……from what I’ve heard, Shurus has a strong influence over the military, so maybe he’s more adept at quietly moving soldiers around.)

Of course, it would be impossible to let non-combatants leave the camp in such a situation. Rei and Set had heard from the heard from the messenger that those people were still stuck inside the camp.

「Gururururu~!」

With Rei on his back, Set flapped his wings and soared into the sky.

As Rei and Set flew towards the rebel camp, they soon caught sight of a group of people below them.

Realising that they were the ones who had fled from the catapults earlier, a grin formed on Rei’s lips.

「Set, fly a little slower over them. We have to thank them for the catapults.」

「Guru~!」

Set gave a cry to indicate that he understood and slowed down his speed as they closed in on the enemy group.

Seeing that, Rei took out the head sized rocks from the Misty Ring as he dropped it on the soldiers below.

While the rock wasn’t the largest, it still weighed over 10kg.

And, it was falling from a height of over 100m.

It wasn’t just one or two rocks either. It was ten, then twenty, then thirty.

The rocks naturally landed with the same force as a continuous barrage from a group of catapults, which was impossible for the soldiers below to bear.

The losses they suffered weren’t particularly high, but the psychological fear it inflicted on them was more than enough to annihilate them mentally.

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