In the initial areas of the E-Rantel cemetery, there were 3 individuals and a magical beast, all facing the approaching undead. There were some of the undead that passed by them, but it seemed that they didn't care that much, as they had one goal in mind above all else. It would be an unnecessary waste of stamina if they tried to fix everything at once.
Besides, the adventurers in the city had already been warned about what was happening. The heroes should swallow their pride and believe that the adventurers could hold off a little from the residual enemies.
The human with the appearance of an angel observed the enemies ahead, being two mutant zombies. He, without any problem, waved his hands while reciting a spell, making his arms glow.
"[Melio Luminatio]!!!" From the palms of his hands, small, luminous spheres emerged, growing at an absurd speed, until each one was the average size of a head.
Without delay, those spheres were launched, the Zombies tried to attack the projectiles with black slime that came out of their mouths, but the spheres of light destroyed the slime in the middle of the path and stuck to the enemy's bodies. Letyan snapped his fingers 4 times with each hand, and in response, 4 luminous trails emerged from the spheres, connecting the enemies to each other. The trails were like ropes that wrapped around the bodies of the undead, burning them deeply until they evaporated right there, but the only thing left was that strange slime.
"So, first of all… why the hell are undead starting to appear here and head towards the city?" Letyan questioned, really wanting to know the situation.
"Ah… someone kidnapped Nfirea, and is using him as a battery for an item that revives the undead." Suzuki answered that while swinging one of the greatswords at some skeletons that were approaching him. "Now explain your situation to me. Why are you using Dracul? And how did you end up dirty and without an arm?"
Letyan laughed as he continued to move forward, using his sword to attack the closest enemies, while hitting the more distant enemies with the use of fireballs created from the [Ignis] glyph. His friend had easily been able to read why he had wings and a halo, it was actually the skill [The Guardian Angel Sacrifice] from Belindo Dracul, one of the Nazarick's NPCs.
"Well… let's just say there's something bad about using my player skills…" Letyan said as he cut two zombies in front of him in half without any problems. "Actually, this has been going on for a while… Using these skills can create a random chance of me getting hurt."
"Your body can't handle your power, is that what you mean?" His friend said, also fighting some undead that were running towards him, the strong swing of his sword was enough for weak beings.
"Yeah… I ended up using a tracking skill after sensing something bizarre in this place, just to know exactly where I should go, which resulted in my eyes basically overflowing with this black stuff."
It was at least strange, the boy said it very casually. If it were anyone else, the situation would be one of despair and agony. But why was he continuing that conversation as if he were just talking about the day?
"Wait… did you sense something here?… weren't you in Carne Village?"
"Let's say… I'm hypersensitive to an attribute…"
"What attribute?" Momon asked in confusion, until he saw more of those mutant undead approaching and launching that corrosive black slime.
Letyan jumped in front of that attack, extending his hand as if to cast a spell, but he didn't seem to be chanting any skill at the moment. Surprisingly, those slime attacks now seemed to change targets in mid-air, hitting the boy's hand, which seemed to calmly absorb such corrosive element.
Turning his face to the overlord, he had a smirk on his face. "I'll explain better when it really matters… I think the conversation is enough for now."
"Hm… things seem really difficult… Normally these undead wouldn't be attacking me, because I'm one of them, in practice. Even so…"
"They're not normal undead, at least not in your category!!" the human said, quickly cutting through some zombies and skeletons that were advancing towards him, all with that slime pulsing around their bodies. "I'll need to clean up the whole situation…"
"Hm… If you want, I can call some summons that I have access to…" Momon said, slicing through some of the skeletons again. It seemed that most of the undead were deciding to gather around them.
"We don't need them… never use your cards unless you're cornered…" He responds by attacking with more flurries of katana slashes, in addition to the use of [Ignis].
"And speaking of summons and the undead…" The boy continued to speak, now looking at Hamsuke. "Narberal! The fact that we have a non-undead with us is making them not focus on me to attack. Could you levitate him high up?"
"Of course, Hikari-Sama." The doppelganger understood the order, firmly grabbing the belly of the great hamster and carrying him a few meters off the ground.
"Ah!! AAAAH!!!! N-No! It's too high!!" Hamsuke screamed in fear due to the height and humiliating situation he found himself in, but neither Momon nor Letyan seemed bothered.
"Great, I didn't want the poor beast to be affected…" With a wide smile, Letyan put his hands up and exclaimed. "[Vol Fulgur]!!"
A large amount of lightning came out of his palms, reaching the undead around him and electrocuting them right there, to the point that some skeletons had their bones turned to ash. It seemed to also affect Momon, but his armor protected him against this AoE attack.
And so the two continued to go deeper into the cemetery, attacking any undead that tried to stop them, while Nabe and Hamsuke floated above them, observing the whole scene better. But after getting close to the center of the place, they noticed a large mausoleum, where there was a group of mages talking in front of them, clearly human.
"Leave Hamsuke somewhere safe and follow us, Nabe, the situation is going to be interesting." With Momon's orders, the giant hamster was left on top of a tall tree nearby. He complained, but he couldn't do anything, because it was something ordered by his master.
"Khajit-sama… it seems someone has arrived." One of the mages spoke, seemingly talking to one of them who had a more flashy uniform.
'Hm… saying the names of their companions in a situation like this… what stupid people…' Momon thought, before striking a pose, stopping walking and drawing attention. "Hello. What a beautiful night, Mr. Khajit… Isn't it boring spending the night doing boring rituals like this?"
"Hm… I'm the one who decides which night is perfect for a ritual… adventurers…?" The apparent chief mage said, standing in front of the others as he observed who was coming. A woman in simple clothes, a man in fancy black armor, and a… boy with wings and a halo? An angel? That didn't shake him so much, as he was confident in his power and wisdom. "Besides… who are you?"
"Us? Just heroes on a quest, looking for a boy… We don't need to say his name, do we?" Momon's words made the mages slightly startled, after all, the situation had barely begun and they had already been easily discovered.
"And besides… Is one of your allies possibly a woman with a piercing weapon?" Momon continued, now pointing one of his swords at the mages. "Did you plan to go unnoticed? Or are you just cowards who love to hide?"
A laugh arose from a little behind the mages. From inside the mausoleum, a woman emerged, her hair was medium-length and blonde, her skin extremely pale, her voice was high-pitched to the point of being both attractive and irritating at the same time, and her clothing was a black cape covering her body, with a shiny bronze bikini armor underneath.
"Hahahaha! It seems you analyzed the bodies very well, big guy… And it seems you figured out the whole plan, so why should I hide?~" She walked with a wide smile, her purple pupils shining in the moonlight in a way that could be possible to see a little of the red from her own blood. "But what surprises me is that you discovered that I was a woman. How?"
"There was a survivor among the people you attacked… you should have made a double take…" Momon replied dryly.
"My record for flawless attacks was broken? Oh… what a shame~" She was still smiling, but her smile soon seemed to grow wider as her eyes left the black-armored adventurer.
"Oh… what is the Holy Kingdom's research doggy doing here?" Her voice had a more seductive tone than usual.
Momon was confused by that speech, looking at Letyan without having to move his head much, making out the clear expression of anger on the boy's face. It wasn't extreme anger, but something like some kind of irritation...
'Does Keiko already know her...?' he thought, as he spoke again. "Anyway. We came here to get the boy, I recommend you surrender before your faces are buried in the mud!"
"Hahaha! Do you think we would do something like that? Very well~ We have countless tricks to finish off weaklings like you." The woman said, still laughing. "Fortunately, the surprise of seeing you here, Holy Doggy, is equivalent to the surprise of an undead created by pure accident~ And I think it will be perfect for you. Boys! Release the seal!"
"B-but miss, we don't even know the extent of this monster's pow-" One of the mages tried to justify himself, but the woman looked at him as if she would devour him at any moment, making him sigh and do as she had ordered.
"Clementine, you half-baked whore, what have you done…?" Letyan revealed the woman's name, while a strong tremor could be felt coming from the ground beneath them.
A large amount of black slime appeared behind the mausoleum, this slime was stuck to countless parts of corpses and skeletons that were coming together, forming a kind of large undead golem. The creature's skin was incredibly dark, being around 6 meters tall and with a classic physique of a brute.
"Oh~ Nothing much, this just appeared while we were starting the procedure~ The boy seems to be really special." Clementine said with that smile that never left her face, provoking immensely.
"Shit…. Momon… that damn thing seems to be made of that same attribute… it's going to be dangerous for you guys to face that… I'll take the fight away from here and you guys face the rest…" Letyan said, putting the katana back in its sheath and letting out a long sigh.
"Can you explain to me how you know that woman at least?" Momon asked, still in shock about that information.
"Let's just say I had to sweep up the ashes of some orphanages she set on fire…" He answered that as he advanced, taking a big leap towards that slimy golem.
"[Grando]! [Lapiste]!" With those two glyphs, a large fist of ice was created that emerged from the ground, throwing the golem away, and without delay, the boy followed the creature to the new battle area.
"Well… if we're really going to see a fight here… Clementine! You seem like someone who loves a solo battle… If there's going to be any deaths… let's move away so no one gets in the way…" Momon said this, trying to reason out the way that woman was acting, and luckily, he was right.
"And Nabe, fight with the remains…" He spoke quickly and the doppelganger accepted.
"Hm…? Okaaay~ Let's finish this quickly? Or are you going to be a good toy?" Clementine said with that mischievous smile.
Without answering her about that, the black warrior walked in a direction and the blonde-haired woman followed him. In this way, she left Nabe alone with the mages that were there. After a few seconds, Khajit just chuckled, looking at the plainly dressed adventurer. "So… It's just a battle against this woman? Hehe…"
Without much expression, Nabe began to activate her magic, with large charges appearing from her palms. "[Twin Maximize Magic!..."
"Eh?!?" All the mages were surprised by that, maybe they had never seen an amplified spell?
"...Electrosphere!]" The charges turned into spheres of electricity that were thrown at the enemies.
The charge was so bright that it completely blinded everyone and everything in that area with an immense flash. But unfortunately for Nabe, she realized that only Khajit was standing, while his companions were thrown on the ground, with large burns exposed on their bodies.
"Hmm… that seems like nothing…" The chief mage smiled with some rotten teeth showing.
"Wow… You should be crushed easily like a caterpillar…" Nabe commented, disappointed that the inferior being in front of her could withstand a simple magic for her.
"Well, you are a fool who can use tier 3 magic…" He gave a light laugh.
"Fool? A mere insect like you calling me a fool?"
"Is it wrong to call an imbecile who tries to thwart my plans a fool?" He said, revealing a crystalline sphere that was under his cloak. "And you are entering the land of the dead without knowing the power of the strongest! Fill your eyes with this Supreme Jewel!"
The jewel began to shine brightly in a purple color. Nabe was confused and thought that it was just a toy, but soon a mental warning was given. It was Momon, mentally warning her that there was something in the sky. And so she noticed the existence of a large dragon made of bones, which almost hit her, but she managed to dodge it without the slightest problem.
That dragon seemed to be much larger than the undead golem that had appeared before. Its appearance made the mage laugh victoriously. "Hehehe!!! I don't know what special ability that extra monster we created by accident has! But this here is a Skeleton Dragon!! It is immune to magic!!! Mages cannot fight against such a terrifying enemy!!"
"Hm…. Since that's how it is…" Nabe firmly tied the scabbard to the sword he had, looking like he was going to use it as a club. "I'll beat this until it dies…"
The mage was extremely confused by that statement and could see the woman not being afraid! Nabe ran towards the dragon, taking a grand leap and swinging her sword, ending up hitting the enemy in its head and knocking the dragon to the side as if it was nothing.
"B-But what?!? W-What are you?!" He exclaimed, noticing the creature trying to get up. "You're a Mythril-class adventurer. No, you're an Orichalcum-class adventurer?"
"The term 'lower life form' suits you well because of your nature… You dung beetle." Nabe commented.
"Damn you… I won't let you! I won't let you do this!!!" He exclaimed, seeing the dragon standing up again, he raised the crystal sphere and cast.
"[Ray of Negative Energy]!" Slowly the parts of the bones that were broken began to rebuild themselves, a regeneration of the Skeleton Dragon, which roared with desire.
"[Shield Wall]! [Undead Flame]![Reinforce Armor]! [Lesser Strength]!" Khajit exclaimed, giving the Skeleton Dragon buffs.
In response to this, Nabe also began to buff her body."[Protection of Energy Negative],[Shield Wall], [Reinforce Armor]. "
With the wizard's signal, the dragon tried to attack Nabe again, this time using its tail. She, on the other hand, jumped, not only to dodge, but also to reach its head, in an attempt to repeat the previous attack, but she was stopped, with one of the undead being's claws hitting her body and throwing her away. If it weren't for the protection magic, she might have been affected by the effects of [Undead Flame] , a spell that sets anyone who touches the being with this buff on fire.
"[ACID JAVELIN]!" The wizard enters the situation again, casting magic against Nabe, but it doesn't reach her, due to the union of the shield wall and her YGGDRASIL Level.
"[Lightning]." As a counterattack, she unleashed a burst of lightning towards the wizard, who was protected by the dragon, nullifying the damage. "Hmf… I'm the one who's fed up with this, Insect. Why don't you stop hiding behind that toy and fight once and for all?"
"Toy…?" He says irritably, sighing. "There's no way around it… You'll see the absolute power of the Supreme Jewel then!!" He exclaims, with the crystal shining again.
The ground seemed to have a great tremor, along with the creation of cracks, from which a new being emerges, it was another Skeleton Dragon! However, the jewel stops shining, losing its crystalline appearance and becoming just a purple sphere.
"It seems that I used all the negative energy stored, but after killing you and your friends, and leading that entire city to death, it will certainly be full of power again."
Without thinking much, Nabe ran towards that Skeleton Dragon that hadn't received any buffs, with the same plan of taking a big leap to hit it in the head. However, that one seemed to be quicker to understand the situation, attacking her with one of its claws and pressing her to the ground. Khajit even smiled with satisfaction, but his expression changed to fear and confusion when he noticed that this adventurer, who should be a mage, was managing not only to hold the attack, but to push those claws away.
"Who are you?! How can you have so much physical strength without using Martial Arts?!" She exclaimed with fear on her face.
"I was created by the Supreme Beings who are more powerful than God." Nabe simply spoke the true facts.
"Are you mocking me?!" True or not, that sentence made the mage more angry than scared.
"You can't even understand the truth that is in front of you… You planarian." Nabe replied, still expressionless, but with her eyes showing that she was already irritated by that.
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{Meanwhile, with Letyan… on the beginning of the battle…}
The putrid slime creature was being thrown away, but before falling to the ground, the young ex-player exclaimed, while moving one of his hands, as if he was making a right uppercut. "[LAPISTE]! [PNEUMA]!" Once again a large hand emerged from the ground, this time made from the rocks below the cemetery, with the addition of a large gust of wind, throwing the enemy straight up.
Soon after landing on the ground, right below the creature, he concentrated more [Pneuma] on the soles of his feet, while activating another of the runes. "[VOLATICUS]!" The angelic wings he had thanks to Dracul's skill became longer and blacker, like those of a crow darker than the night.
With the use of that combination, he managed to be launched at high speed into the air, being close to reaching the enemy, he pressed his palms together while spinning on his own axis, ready to use another spell, or in this case, a double set of the same glyphs."DUO [MELIO FALCIS]!"
Melio being the tier 3 amplification rune, Falcis being the scythe summoning rune, those two runes, being used in both hands, would normally make him have two large scythes. However, the union of the palms at the moment of materialization, created a 5 meter rod, with the curved blade being created, on the verge of 7 meters. The attack hit the monster full on, the constant rotation made it work like a circular saw at high speed, dealing constant damage in that area, with the objective of reaching the possible core of the creature. Unfortunately, even after managing to pierce the enemy and seeing it being divided in two, there was no sensation of having broken anything, other than the rotting bones and muscles. That type of being would normally be generated with a physical core, the part of the body that functions as a heart and brain, but apparently, that corpse slime... didn't have that?
To confirm, when he reached the height limit of that thrust he had made, he got rid of the large scythe, using [Melio Macir] in one hand, to create a large hammer, and [Vol Luminatio] in the other, to inject the sacred holy attribute into the item. Taking advantage of the force of gravity, he quickly went to the ground, striking with all that energy against the enemy.
The result of this was that a large part of the slime and remains of corpses were crushed and torn apart. But it was no use, parts of the slime, even the smallest ones, seemed to still move towards a single point to reform into the monster.
"What the hell… this shit doesn't have a core… each part of it works as a core in itself…" He said, panting a little and noticing the halo above him, which began to blink, while the wings lost their dark color. "And there goes Dracul and Volaticus… it seems they will be on cooldown…"
After the monster formed, it tried to attack the boy with a projectile of corrosive and very solid slime, however, he managed to defend himself by taking his katana and cutting the projectile. With it in hand, he was slashing as fast as he could with the blade, without using the skill [Blood Rush], but it seemed that the creature continued to reform itself without stopping.
While the monster was forming, Letyan tested several ways to see if he could destroy it. Slash and strike weapons had stopped working, not even with an increase in the sacred attribute. He used fire, wind, ice, stone, thunder, darkness and even curse attributes, realizing that only thunder and curse seemed to have an acceptable effect on it. However, the only curse attribute magic was not compatible with being fused or improved, and thunder magic would not be able to achieve the expected result of destroying the monster completely in one go, so as not to give it a chance to regenerate. But that was only if he counted on the glyphs tattooed on his body.
'Dracul is already fading away, I'm going to take A LOT of damage if I use a player skill and end up getting screwed in this shitty 'coin flip'…' He gritted his teeth and took a long jump back when he realized a large fist of slime was trying to hit him. 'Okay… I guess I'll just go with my luck as always…'
Before he could make any counterattack, the halo disappeared, and a sudden pain appeared in his body while a kind of small floating sphere came out from his back, it was the NPC Dragon Maid, in recharge mode.
"Me and my big mouth…" He complains as he dodges more attacks, these being tentacles with fists on the ends and acid projectiles, at least managing to catch the floating sphere and put it inside his own inventory, giving safety to the NPC.
In an attempt to at least push the enemy away, he used the only curse attribute rune. "[Morbus]!" From the palm of his hands, a pulsating, blood-red sphere emerged, floating in a spiral trajectory until it reached the enemy.
The rotten slime seemed to realize what it was, withdrawing to become extremely dense. As a result, he was pushed back, and seemed to have suffered little damage, regenerating after a few seconds.
Seeing this gave the boy an idea. 'So… he learned that that attack really affects him and withdraws to survive…?' A smile appeared and he soon began to launch more of that same attack. As expected, the creature behaved the same way, each time becoming denser to tank the damage, although it did not decrease much in size, as it remained over 3 meters.
During one of these moments, instead of using a rune spell, he bet on a player skill. "[Triple Expansive Magic! School of Wild-Thunder!..." Letyan's mouth began to have an internal, reddish glow. "…ZAKERUGA]!!" A great red lighting beam began to be released from his mouth.
The creature was being hit, but instead of being truly affected, it became denser, now reaching only 1 meter in height, and walked towards the boy. The continuous attack was almost interrupted by a powerful tremor that occurred in the cemetery, but he managed to keep going, seeing the little golem not stopping walking.
The creature's body was falling apart as it tried to become denser to withstand the attack, however, a few centimeters before finally touching Letyan's body, the creature had been completely vaporized. The result of that fight left a great trail of destruction in that area of the cemetery, in addition to a completely broken jaw, deep cuts in the cheek regions, and almost exposed veins, pulsing fiercely under the boy's skin, who was in extreme pain.
If he lost his willpower, even for a second, he was sure he would faint. His legs were shaking, too weak to get out of the position, but at least he managed to stay standing…
And his thoughts? There was nothing, because he was really focused on staying awake
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{Returning with Momon, in the beginning of the battle…}
"Hehe… come to think of it, those I managed to kill in the store were your friends?" Clementine said in a voice almost humming. "I wonder if you're mad that I killed them?" And it got even more annoying, followed by her laugh.
"Oooh the cries for help after I weakened them before their death… it was so hilarious, you know? They thought you would arrive in time to stop me right there~ Sorry for ending them~" she continued to laugh mockingly, following the black warrior.
"No need to apologize." Momon replied without much emotion.
"Really? What a shame…" She seemed to be a little bored by the lack of emotion of the warrior in front of her. "It's funnier when I beat up someone who says things like: 'You killed my friends!'..."
"Why aren't you angry? That's sooo annoying. Ah… maybe they weren't even your allies?" She questioned until she noticed the warrior stop walking.
"Depending on the situation, I would probably have done something like that… So… reproving you for that would be hypocritical. However, those people were tools to spread, not only my name, but my future glory…" Momon's words made the assassin feel confused as she continued to listen to him.
"Your existence is offensive, for having interrupted my plans!" Momon turned around, now firmly gripping both greatswords, ready for a fight.
"Oh… really?" Clementine smiled again, looking for another way to provoke her enemy. "That beauty you came with isn't a magic caster? She won't be able to defeat that mage if that's the case. Just like she wouldn't be able to defeat me either. And not only that… that doggy you brought along… I almost killed him back then, if it weren't for the paladins who were with him at the time~... I bet he won't be able to handle anything from that monster. I know that… he must have used up a lot of energy just to fight in a safe area~"
"Even Nabe would be able to defeat someone of your level. And that kid, I don't know what really happened between the two of you… but, nowadays, he would definitely behead you before you even noticed his sword was out of its sheath." Momon spoke facts, facts that the assassin didn't believe.
"You're an idiot~ I would easily cut and stab a magic caster! Just like I almost destroyed that doggy's legs and arms! It always ends like this~" she had a huge smug face, laughing a lot.
"There are few who can fight on equal terms with me in this country~ One from the Blue Roses and another from the Red Drop~ The only others would probably be Gazef Stronoff and Brain Unglaus?" Clementine commented, seeing herself as superior.
"Oh… That's good to hear…" Momon said, now knowing for sure what Clementine's level was likely to be compared to YGGDRASIL's. "Then, I will give you the upper hand. THIS will be my revenge against you."
"EH….?!" Clementine exclaimed, disgusted by the arrogance she felt from the warrior, a wide smile appearing once again. "I don't know what kind of ugly face is behind that helmet, but this inhumane Miss Clementine, who has already stepped into the domain of heroes, would never lose!!"
"And that is why I will be giving you the upper hand…. No matter what, I will not fight seriously…"
Clementine quickly ran, kicking up dust from the ground to try to block Momon's view, trying to advance on him with several hidden attacks. As said before, the warrior just took the attacks and defended himself, using his greatswords as a shield. This went on for so long that Clementine finally took a great leap, moving away from him and with her usual mocking voice.
"It's true that you are very strong. And of course you want to brag about it! But know this…. Are you an idiot? You're just a strong sucker waving those swords around." Her voice showed how bored the situation was to her. "Are you mocking the real warriors?"
"Then come on and keep trying to attack me… I told you, I'm giving you an advantage… Where is all that confidence you seemed to have before…?" Momon commented, without much emotion in his voice.
The ground began to shake a lot, causing Clementine to look in one direction, and Momon did the same. From there, she could see the two beasts fighting Nabe, but not only that, there was also a large pillar of reddish light that appeared a little further away.
"Hihihihi! It looks like your little friend is already fighting two Skeleton Dragons… and I bet that beam of light is that incredible golem destroying that doggy~" Clementine said with a giggle. "Do you understand why I said that your little friend would be defeated because she's a mage?~ Magic doesn't work on those dragons, they're the absolute enemies of mages~"
"Yes, I know what they are. And that's why Nabe won't be able to win?" Momon said, not seeming to be worried, especially since he could sense that the presence of that undead golem had been erased.
"Of course~ It's impossible for her to win~" She smiled confidently.
"Anyway… let's get back to our game… can you at least actually hit me or leave me with no room to breathe…?" Momon asked, challenging her.
In response, the assassin removed her cloak, revealing the entire set of bikini armor she had, making one specific detail much clearer. Her armor wasn't made of Bronze for nothing. Momon could clearly see that in fact every piece of that armor was made of countless bronze badges of adventurers. Basically, her outfit was a showcase to demonstrate how many newbie adventurers she had already killed.
She crouched down, almost in a way that resembled a feline, holding tightly onto one of the small swords she had at her waist. With only the strength of her legs, she managed to advance, dodging an attack from Momon and staying right in front of him.
"[Invulnerable Fortress]" Using Martial Arts, she managed to defend herself from the attack that Momon would make with the other sword, making him retreat for a moment.
She tried to strike his neck, but he managed to defend himself by putting the shoulder of his armor in front and then attacking her with a horizontal slash. Just like before, she made a great leap, moving away from Momon again, realizing the real durability of that equipment.
"Wow, it really is a tough armor… But it's okay~" She sighed, still with that arrogant smile. "That just means that next time, I have to attack thinking about a weaker place. I wish I could cut you little by little until you couldn't move anymore, that would be more fun."
"So you weren't really aiming for my neck… You knew I would use my shoulder to defend myself." Momon said, readjusting his thoughts. "I'm learning a lot here…"
"Yeah! I'm going to attack!"
She positioned herself as before, making Momon immediately go on the defensive. And as expected, she made the same movement of advancing with everything to attack. Momon tried to hit her with a first blow, but she used that same martial art again to defend herself. Having already predicted this, the other greatsword was coming from behind, as if trying to trap her.
"[Flow Acceleration]" Using that skill at the last minute, she managed to dodge the attack, taking a small jump and passing completely between the two greatswords.
When she landed on the ground, it didn't take long for her to jump and go all out in an attack on the armor's helmet, but her expression became irritated, after noticing that there didn't seem to be any damage when the blade entered lightly into one of the joint holes. She was forced to take another jump away.
Even so, she continued to have that smile, feeling superior again. "Stop giving me an advantage. If you don't fight seriously, you'll end up dying!"
"Yare yare... I'm really learning a lot from this fight... The existence of Martial Arts and the importance of balancing your attacks."
"Huh...?? Why are you only saying that now? You're a terrible warrior. But why weren't you hurt by that last attack?" She questioned herself, licking her blade. "Was it a Defensive Martial Art skill?"
"Well, I just saw how much I still have to learn… I'm grateful to you, but we're out of time." Momon's words left her quite confused. "The game is over."
"Narberal Gamma! Show the power of Nazarick!!" Momon exclaimed, leaving Clementine even more confused by that man. He immediately stuck both greatswords into the ground and continued speaking. "Attack me, fully prepared to die…"
Clementine had reason to not understand such words… Because they only made sense on the other side of the cemetery…
Nabe was already a little out of breath, having resisted several blows against the Skeleton Dragons, but never managing to deal any real damage to them due to the magic limitation ordered by her master. Khajit was laughing at how much that woman was suffering for never advancing in her efforts.
"If you surrender, I might spare you." He said with a victorious smile on his face.
"Inferior being…" Her voice showing disgust ended up scaring the mage. "Don't get all cocky, trash."
"If you still have the strength to say that. Skeleton Dragon! Crush her!"
One of the two dragons began to move towards her to do as ordered, until Momon's voice finally reached her ears, making her smile proudly. "As you wish…."
Heaving a long sigh, she looked at the mage. "Now I must no longer fight as Nabe, but as Narberal Gamma…."
Those words didn't stop the dragons from trying to crush her, but she simply disappeared from there using [Teleportation]. The mage didn't even notice the magic used, thinking that she had finally been defeated, but when he looked up a little, he noticed that she was flying right above them.
"Does she know flight magic?... But how did she dodge that attack…? Wait… despite being able to use flight magic, she's not running away from the Skeleton Dragons. Does she have a chance of winning against their immunity to magic…?" Khajit said that to himself, trying to understand what was happening now.
"Hm… There are countless ways to win… but first…" She took off her cloak, and with a quick swap, appeared already wearing her Nazarick uniform.
"Rejoice, lowly being. Loyal to the absolute rulers of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the Supreme Beings known as the Ainz Ooal Gown guild, I, Narberal Gamma, of the Battle Maids Pleiades, will be your opponent…"
"Maid…?" That distracted him a bit, but he quickly tried to order. "Skeleton Drago-!"
His words were interrupted when he felt a stab in his shoulder area. When he looked back, Narberal had appeared there in the blink of an eye, removing the blade from his shoulder. He tried to attack her with his staff, but she disappeared and reappeared up high. He now understood how she had evaded that attack earlier.
"Teleportation?! So your trump card was to teleport to me and kill me!" He was now sweating coldly.
"No, I just demonstrated that I can end this fight at any time I wanted."
"Are you crazy?!"
"Despite you being a flea, what kind of response is that?" Narberal questioned. "You really don't know how to use your head to know what's best for you. Anyway, it would be rude of me, as a servant, if I left Momonga-Sama waiting."
He watched her create electricity with her hands, being a huge beam that was concentrating. "Wait! They are completely immune to magic! What do you think you're going to do with that?!"
"Completely immune is a very stupid and false statement, this type of dragon is immune to magic that is below tier 7." The amount of electricity was accumulating more and more, it was even becoming difficult to see Narberal. "In other words, as long as I use higher-level magic, they won't be able to nullify the damage."
"You crazy fool! It's humanly impossible for someone to use a tier 7 magic!! Attack her!!" He exclaimed to the dragons who began to flap their wings, but it was there that he realized something…
'What if she's not a human…?' That thought left him speechless, making him scream in panic. "No!! All my efforts in the last 5 years! Will they be destroyed in such a short time?!?"
Nerberal smiled, pleased with the terror in those eyes "[Maximize Dual Magic! Chain Dragon Lightning]!!"
Two intense blasts came out of her palms and headed towards the enemies. The tips of that attack took the shape of dragon heads, which opened their mouths and completely swallowed the two undead beings who disintegrated instantly. The same could be said of the mage, who when hit, his screams of despair seemed to echo loudly, until nothing was left but ashes.
A strong smell of burning appeared in the air, with the battle maid taking a deep breath. "Oh… even insects smell good when roasted… Hm… roasted insects… maybe that would be a great snack idea for Entoma…"
-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-
"Hm… since I've already given Narberal my orders, I think I should end things here…" Momon said, watching Clementine laugh and get irritated with him.
"Oh really?? Are you serious, damn you? You looked like you actually have some Martial Arts and yet you think you can defeat me?!" Her pupils were already very small and her eyes wide open, with a clear tremor in her voice, as if she was already crazy to destroy someone. "There is a limit! An INCREDIBLE LIMIT for my patience in a situation like this!!"
"It's impressive when the weakest one raves like this." Momon's words made Clementine start to have a twitch in her right eye.
"Well, we agree on that… you sick raving fool!! Do you really think you're something?! I'LL FINISH YOU!" She exclaimed, already getting into position and starting to fill herself with buffs. "[Pace of the Wind], [Greater Evasion], [Ability Boost], [Greater Ability Boost]!"
After she finished activating those skills, she charged at Momon with all her might, but he didn't seem to move. This caused a tiny doubt in her mind, but she ignored it, shouting with all the force of her lungs. "DIE!!"
Managing to hit her blade through the helmet's visor, the equipment began to produce an immense amount of shock. That would already be fatal for an ordinary human, but she laughed madly and stuck her second blade into his visor as well, this one producing an intense attack of flames, which made Momon's helmet look quite like the oven of a steam train.
Her laughter was interrupted when she suddenly felt one of his arms firmly hold her. Causing even greater confusion after realizing that, even with two blades stuck directly in his eyes, he still spoke in a monotonous manner.
"I see… There wasn't a weapon like that in Yggdrasil… a pair of small blades that explode electricity and flames… how charming…"
"Eh??? Eh?!?!? No way! Impossible!!!! Why don't you just die?!" The voice and eyes were no longer those of someone confident, they were those of someone lost and starting to despair.
"Heh... My turn to reveal things..." With the use of quick swap, all of Momon's equipment changed, now using his base clothing as the leader of Nazarick, Momonga.
"An undead?! An ancient lich?!?"
"You're practically right, congratulations. But tell me, what was it like fighting all this time against a magic caster who only used a sword?" That sentence seemed to completely break Clementine, who screamed like crazy and tried to escape from there, swinging a lot and hitting Momonga's skull.
"Don't underestimate me!!! How is this possible?!?!" She couldn't escape in any way, even holding only one arm, a being that shouldn't be focused on physical strength, managed to completely trap her.
"That's why I gave you the advantage. There's no reason to fight seriously against someone of your level…" Momonga tried to explain, even as she swayed like crazy to get away. "You said that Captain Gazef was on par with you… And I studied him a bit… if we're talking about power levels… He would be 30, while I'm 100… But in short, it's not even worth using magic against you."
She continued to scream, curse, trying to get away, but Momonga remained standing and just watching everything. Feeling a slight discomfort, he removed the blades that were stuck in his eye sockets and threw them to the ground.
"Well, how about we start?" As soon as he said that, he began to hug her tighter, making her panic completely as if her torso was being crushed. "Death by sword, by broken bones, by crushing… It doesn't make any difference, because at the end of this beautiful dance, what you will have is death..."
"Yes... what wonderful despair... was that how your victims felt at the end of their lives? You thought it was a lot of fun, didn't you? Do you think it's fun now?" Momonga continued his monologue, as Clementine gave up on answering and tried at all costs to get out of there, even going so far as to hit her own head against the Overlord's skull, only to end up having her teeth and nose broken. "Then, I would like to have fun too... being very slow... calm... and loving. Like a true reaper should be..."
Without much warning, he quickly used his other arm to squeeze her, with a truly tight hug, to the point where he could hear her bones breaking, destroying part of her vertebrae, along with some organs, such as her heart and lungs, which were pierced by some ribs. She vomited a lot of blood and was soon released on the ground, her body limp like a doll, lifeless and with her eyes rolled back, the expression of despair and pain etched on her face.
"Oh… I'm sorry… I said it as if I was going to dance with you for even longer… I'm quite the hypocrite…" He said this as he floated towards the large central mausoleum of the cemetery.
When he got there, he noticed Narberal's presence right at the entrance, she bowed before starting to speak. "Momonga-Sama. I came down to see how the situation is, the boy is there, alive, but I noticed that there is a lot of that corrosive slime, which Hikari-Sama warned us to be very careful about, around him…"
"So… Will we need Hikari to fix this?"
"Most likely, Momonga-Sama."
"Okay… stay here and keep watch so there's no chance of someone breaking in… I'll look for him… I can feel him, but his vital essence seems weak." Narberal agreed with Momonga's order, and soon went to where he thought the boy was.
It wasn't very far, but he ended up getting scared when he found him. It was such a genuine scare that he ended up activating the passive skill of nullifying emotions. Letyan was still standing, still like a statue, with many veins standing out under his skin, dark cracks over a large part of his head and neck. The most grotesque feature of the scene was his jaw, which had not only been dislocated, but was almost completely ripped off, still connected to the rest of his head due to a few muscles, a lot of black goo and blood mixed in.
"It seems you lost in some 'coin toss' again..." The overlord said, carefully using one of his hands to lift his friend's jaw, at least leaving it a little in place.
With the other hand, he took an HP elixir from inside his cloak and slowly tilted it towards Letyan's mouth so he could drink it. Even with a little bit of it running down the holes in his jaw, it seemed to be working, with a soft greenish aura covering his body. He now seemed to be able to move his body a little better, but to completely connect his jaw, the boy ended up kneeling down and touching a bit of the bizarre goo that was there. The goo went up his arm, continuing to his neck, where it fixed what it needed to, leaving a mark like a seam line.
"And worse… it was just a 'coin toss', it wasn't even several… I was trying to contain myself…" He answers, his voice still a little hoarse.
"Why didn't you use your katana? Wouldn't it have been easier?"
"Do you think I didn't try? That thing was immune to slash damage, and don't forget that its main offensive ability is actually a Skill too… Until we solve this problem, my only absolute certainty that it works are its passive abilities…"
"And where would Belindo Dracul be? You don't have the buffs from having her aura inside your body…" Momonga questioned, but was soon surprised to see Hikari opening a kind of holographic screen titled "Inventory" at the top. "Do you have access to an inventory of that kind?"
"What do you mean by that…?" the human asked, walking towards the mausoleum.
"Well… we can't access an inventory of that kind… But we have another type of inventory… it's more mental than visual like a screen…"
"Got it… But what about Nfirea? And Clementine?"
"Clementine died, Nfirea is still inside the mausoleum, according to Narberal, there's a lot of that goo around him."
"First of all, I'm glad she thought of that detail and listened to me, even though I'm no longer a 'Supreme Being' completely… And secondly… That bitch being dead is just a paperweight, she being alive on the other hand would be much better."
"Well, just revive her with one of my spells and-"
"No…" Letyan interrupted Momonga, with a smile on his face. "I have a better idea… but let's go save the boy right away, we don't know if more undead will appear just because he's locked up there."
It didn't take long for the two to meet up with Narberal and go down the stairs of that place, arriving in a large space where Nfirea would be. The alchemist was naked, covered by a thin layer of fabric on his body, with several blood stains on his face, but the thing that truly caught everyone's attention was the tiara on his head. The tiara had greenish and red jewels, with several points having black slime that pulsed as if they had a life of their own.
"Eh…. this item is full of !@8V7…" Letyan commented as he gently touched the tiara, but that strange word sounded as if his entire voice had bugged.
"Excuse me. What did you say???" Momonga questioned.
"Oh… sorry, I ended up using the primordial term of this attribute… I meant…. hm… I think the closest word to it would be 'Corruption'." Letyan commented as he slowly seemed to remove the tiara from Nfirea's head, without any apparent problem. "And this thing here seems to be some kind of World Class Item… It's a bit rotten due to the injection of the attribute… But it should still be possible to use…"
Momonga just watched that scene, while Narberal held the body of the alchemist who seemed to have lost his balance, being completely unconscious. There were a few questions in the overlord's thoughts, most of them related to this special attribute that Keiko had talked about, but one question that really confused him was 'How the hell was the original word for this thing not translated for me? Was it some kind of flaw in the passive skill?'. But thinking better of it, he decided to wait a moment outside to ask such questions.
Carrying Nfirea out, what was left now was Clementine. Approaching where he had left her body, Momonga also watched what his colleague was going to do with her.
"Great... except for the face, it doesn't seem to have suffered any external damage..." Letyan commented, but he soon did something that was unexpected, putting that same tiara on his own head.
"Is this safe by any chance? This thing was being used to summon an army of undead and left Nfirea unconscious on top of it all..."
"It's just a test drive, relax..." he smirked and began to remove the upper part of Clementine's bikini armor. "Okay, as direct access as possible to the heart and brain… let's see if I still remember how to do this.."
"W-Wait! You already had done something like that before??" Momonga's questions were ignored for the moment.
Touching her forehead with one hand and her left chest with the other, the human began to breathe deeply, with the jewels of the tiara lighting up and his eyes changing color repeatedly. That goo with an attribute associated with corruption emerged from the ground and began to cover that corpse, and after completing that part, it began to divide, entering deeply through the ears, mouth and nostrils.
Having completed the process, it was possible to notice her chest rising and falling slowly, showing that she was breathing.
"And that's how you revive someone without necromancy skills or class. I told you everything would be fine, didn't I?" Letyan turned to Momonga, with two thumbs-up, but in an unfortunate and comical way, the tiara that was on his head fell apart, turning to ashes. ". . . . . . . Damn… I thought we'd have more than just one use…"
"You told me there was something good about having her alive… Can you tell me what it is?" Momonga questioned the reason for all this.
"Well, she's a criminal who deserves to be punished, and as we say in Nazarick, Death is Mercy!" He said those things in a strangely cheerful manner. "But also, I'd like to take advantage of the fact that there are some in the Great Tomb who want to experiment on beings from this world. They could do that, while at the same time torturing her to get some information… After all, this bitch here was a former member of one of the main groups of the Slane Theocracy."
"Hm…? Is she that important??" Momonga leaned in, observing that face with its teeth and nose still broken.
"I don't fully understand her level of importance, what I'm talking about now is one of the very few things that the Holy Kingdom's analysis group managed to obtain." He spoke as he put that piece of armor back on her. "So for that exact reason it would be good to take advantage of it to get something from her… By the way… do you have any rope?"
Narberal took the cloak she wears when disguised as Nabe and handed it to the human, who tore it into pieces and used it to tie the assassin's wrists, ankles and other parts. "Great… I hope you don't need it back…"
"Her losing such equipment is completely acceptable, since we were on a mission here, and she is limited to tier 3 spells when disguised." Momonga answered for Narberal.
"Okay, I think we're ready… I'll take her to Nazarick and… hm… I'm still having trouble communicating with them, could you do that for me?"
"Sure…" Momonga put two fingers close to where his right ear would be. 'We will now have a test dummy for some experiments and information extraction. Hikari is asking for a teleportation to take this dummy. I would like Aureole Omega to clear the way for him to use his [Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown] freely now.'
'Of course, Momonga-Sama, your order is my pleasure.' Albedo was the person on the other end of the message.
After a few seconds, the ring Letyan had began to glow and a portal was created in front of him, which he entered as he spoke. "See you later, Warrior Momon." Momonga nodded back, remembering to return to use Momon's equipment, in the same way that Narberal returned to dressing as Nabe, but now without a cloak.
"Let's take him home now and see how the situation is in E-Rental…" The dark adventurer spoke as he walked and observed the large Hamster that had been left high up in a tree, it seemed to be terrified with fear.
"Hamsuke, is everything okay there?" He asked, curious.
"M-Master! W-What was all that?! Extreme brightness! Huge auras… and I think I saw skeleton dragons in the distance!!" Said the hamster, trembling with fear and being put down on the ground with Nabe's help.
"It was… just an interesting fight…" Momon commented, putting Nfirea on Hamsuke's back, to make it easier to carry the alchemist.
"I-I see… and that angel? You seemed to talk to him as if he was an old acquaintance!"
"Oh… You mean about that boy? He's just an old friend… nothing major…"
And so they walked back to E-Rantel, where they could already hear and even visualize the situation in the place. It didn't seem like they were up against powerful undead, but it was clear that it hadn't been an easy battle, especially since the ground and houses along the way were quite worn, possibly due to acid attacks.
Arriving near the main base of the E-Rantel adventurers' guild, there were some chairs and tables outside, where some adventurers were sitting or even lying down, receiving medical attention from Healers and possibly people who knew a thing or two about first aid.
"Oh! Hey! You're those adventurers who were going to the cemetery!" Momon heard someone's voice calling for attention, it was Pluton, the guildmaster. "The undead seem to have stopped coming! Have you managed to solve the problem?"
Approaching the man, Momon made a movement with his arm, making the guildmaster's gaze go towards the person who was on the back of the large rodent. "Yes, it was indeed a group of mages playing necromancy… we finished them off and recovered the kidnapped boy… He seems to be fine, but I recommend that a healer come and see him, if possible."
"The undead were indeed decreasing, but some pessimistic adventurers kept saying that there was a chance of more appearing at once… It's good to be sure that the problem has been fixed." Pluton commented as he whistled to one of the guild employees, who quickly picked up Nfirea and took him inside.
"But tell me, did you at least get any items from the enemies?" The guildmaster continued speaking.
In response to that, Momon picked up a set of bronze badges that had fallen from Clementine's armor during their 'warm' embrace. "I couldn't get the items from the mages, there were several undead with the acidic slime and it ended up destroying most of their traces. But I managed to get this. Apparently, the person who kidnapped the alchemist was a bronze adventurer killer, she had several of those stuck to her armor."
Pluton looked closely at those medals and sighed. "Yes, that could be enough as proof. Sorry if it seems crazy to ask for proof after we had an attack like that… Nobles usually only care about things like that when there is something concrete… I'll ask some adventurers to go there and look for possible traces that you didn't notice."
"Alright." Momon agreed, nodding. "For your information, they were in a very large mausoleum."
"There is only one considerably large mausoleum in that cemetery, it will be easy to search for more remains, thank you very much again, Black Knight Momon…" He bowed slightly, but soon spoke more quietly. "Right now it won't be possible due to the paperwork I will have to sign, but thanks to these efforts and the feats that Miss Nina told me you accomplished, you will have a rank-up. At the very least in a week, you can come and get your new badge."
Momon nodded silently this time, but mentally he was jumping for joy. The plan to infiltrate and advance in ranks as an adventurer was actually working faster than expected. Even though bad events, such as the invasion of the undead and the survival of only one of the Sword of Darkness members, had made everything better.
"Boss!!" A person outside seemed to catch Pluton's attention. "The bizarre goo that affected one of the adventurers, began to completely necrotize his arm even with healing magic!"
Hearing this, Momon began to give the information he had. "During the battle, I noticed that my companion's electric attacks worked very well against this slime… I recommend using magic of this element to destroy any trace of this thing, it could be very harmful if something unknown like this affected everyone like some kind of epidemic."
Pluton looked at Momon after he had said something of that level and then looked at the staff member. "Separate the affected adventurers from the ones who were just injured! I want you to ask Theo to give them shock treatment! In this specific case, if the arm is already at the point of no return, cut it off!"
"Okay, Boss!!" said the man, running into the guild.
"I hope this information is of some help."
"It will be, it will be very helpful… Some mages tried to use fire magic during the invasion and it didn't seem to do anything… If we know of anything that even works, we'll use it."
"Okay. As for Nfirea…"
"His grandmother already told us that you wanted compensation…" Pluton quickly looked at one of Momon's damaged greatswords. "And you really deserve it… but look, it's already morning, so at noon you can come here and you'll receive a share of the reward. I recommend resting in the place you were yesterday, and if you weren't planning on using the place right now, we'll pay you for the day."
Momon was very happy with that, accepting the whole situation and a sort of paper signed by Pluton. In this way, they walked to the place they were staying previously, still able to see signs of slight destruction on the streets and walls of the houses, with guards and adventurers patrolling. Arriving at the Inn, Nabe was ordered to stay with Hamsuke in the stable area, so that the fearful hamster could sleep, while Momon went to the designated bedroom, sitting on the bed and stuck in his thoughts, not really needing to rest, his skeletal body was great in this sense.
'Suzuki, are you still around?' A voice appeared in his head, it was Masato, or rather, Touch_Me. He was using the message skill to communicate.
'Oh… Toucha! Yes, I am. What should I be thankful for hearing your voice?' Momon replied, putting two fingers close to his right ear to speak in his thoughts.
'Nothing much… just to let you know that the plan will go as expected. Their queen has given permission for a visit so that we can get to know each other. She is especially curious to understand the situation with Kuwoi-Muramasa, and how we are related to the katana…'
'And as we agreed, you would be the person to go with Keiko, due to your level of karma and the fact that you are a paladin.'
'Yes, yes, we will do that… but just to let you know before you hear from the others. That mission we gave Sebas and Solution seems to be going as expected as well…'
'The one about infiltrating the capital as a pair of noblewoman and butler?' Momon questioned.
'That's right! Sebas contacted me a few hours ago to tell me the status of the situation. I still find it impressive how they managed to get there so quickly.'
'Don't be impressed, friend. Given your attributes, I bet you could get there faster than that.' Momon could hear TM's laughter on the other end, but he returned to the important matter at hand. 'Did Keiko manage to explain the situation to you guys better?'
'The one about him bringing an almost dead assassin here? Or the fact that he has stitches under his jaw?'
'Both…'
'Yes, he already gave you some details here… He told me he's going to leave this assassin with Ulbert and Demiurge to find out what they need. As for the side effect of his attributes as a Player. I think we managed to resolve a bit more than was necessary, but we'll talk about that another time… Anyway, tell me, how's the situation there in E-Rantel? Do you need any reinforcements?'
'Apparently none. It seems that the adventurers here are strong or strategic enough to survive the amount of undead that passed through the waves of attacks that Keiko, Narberal and I fought. At least we'll get a great compensation, besides having increased my rank and now having that alchemist completely in our hands.'
Masato could be heard giving a pleasant laugh. 'All's well when it ends well… You won't meet personally with me again until I resolve my situation. I've already ordered Sebas and Solution to inform you and Tabula if anything happens.'
'Alright, my friend. I wish you a great business trip.'
'I say the same to you, I wish you a great promotion in the company.'
They both laughed internally at the references to their lives on Earth, until the skill was turned off, leaving Momonga alone again with only his thoughts.
Giving a imaginary smile, he lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. 'I hope everyone is having fun.'