The sound of footsteps rang as Hilma led three of her associates from the Eight Fingers along the corridor of a mansion. They were making their way towards the giant room one of the Sorcerer King's subordinates had chosen.
The rest of them were there already, awaiting the arrival of the Sorcerer King's envoy.
They did so because although the subordinate of the Sorcerer King had specified the day they had to gather at this mansion, they had not specified the specific time they had to do so. For that reason, Hilma and the rest of the Eight Fingers were on rotation in the hall to prevent a scenario in which the envoy would arrive to find it empty.
If they made the envoy wait, that would be incredibly disrespectful. There was a possibility that they would get another whiff of hell for it too. No matter how minuscule that probability was, they had to avoid it at all costs.
The four had been walking in silence for a minute now.
Although that was partially due to the sheer size of the mansion, it was also because they had furnished a room far away from the main hall to be their lounge. While it might have been better to have furnished a room closer to the hall to be a lounge, after they had deliberated on this matter, they ultimately decided to use the rooms close to the hall as luggage storage.
The silence wasn't exactly unbearable, but one of them — Perianne Porson — began speaking.
"Isn't it a little, noisy?"
Hilma concentrated.
She could indeed hear the sound of children frolicking. That said, it sounded like something that was far too distant from the mansion. It was quiet enough that you couldn't really hear it unless you tried. This was because the hall was far removed from the hustle-and-bustle of life, that was also the reason why they had chosen to use the rooms close to the hall for storage.
Still, even if Hilma and company had not found it to be annoying, if the Sorcerer King's envoy were to be annoyed by this, they could not even imagine the consequences that would arise.
"...Maybe a little. Should we tell them to keep quiet?"
Everybody agreed with Olin. If they were to warn the people next on the rotation, the others should have warned the children by the time it was their turn to rest.
Was a weight lifted off of Olin's shoulders because he had spoken up? He proceeded to say what everybody had in mind but would have never given voice to.
"...But...Will he truly come to rescue us?"
He probably did not mean to blurt that out, but the stress from having to wait for the envoy from the Sorcerous Kingdom had probably gotten to him.
It had been seven days since the 400,000 men strong army of the Kingdom had begun their march. Not long after that had happened, they heard rumours that the Sorcerous Kingdom's army had begun encamping close to the capital. Though that was only a day ago, the mental stress they were experiencing far outweighed the physical fatigue they were experiencing too.
They had received their orders from one of the Sorcerer King's subordinates about a month ago, back when the war had just begun.
They were told, back when the Sorcerous Kingdom had begun their march towards the capital, to choose about a thousand people from the Kingdom who were loyal to them to spare so that they could serve them in the future. The chosen would then be taken to a safe location.
For that reason, a thousand people related to the Eight Fingers were gathered at this place.
No doubt was the Eight Fingers a giant organization if you counted the grunts too. From their ranks, Hilma and the rest picked out the outstanding and loyal bunch, as well as their family members too. That was why there were children present.
What they were uncertain of, was if they would really come to save them or not.
The capos of the syndicate of the Eight Fingers were all people who had promised others that they would be spared yet would toss them away once they were no longer of use. Was it their turn this time? These thoughts lingered in their minds, doubts unshaken.
Hilma did not look towards her associates, but said,
"I believe in His Majesty the Sorcerer King's words."
Olin panicked and began saying— No, he was mortified. To Hilma, what Olin had been spouting was his distrust of the Sorcerer King's sincerity.
"I-I think so too! What I just said was not meant to discredit His Majesty the Sorcerer King."
The sound of Olin's voice covered up any sounds the children could have made as it echoed through the corridor. Olin realized what he had just done and immediately shut his mouth and lowered his head.
No one else spoke the entire way to the hall.
As the door opened, what greeted them was what they had expected: the tired smiles of their other associates.
The envoy of the Sorcerous Kingdom had not come yet.
The mixed emotion of relief and impatience arose within Hilma's heart. Surely her companions were feeling the same thing.
"You're here. Now then, we'll go rest up. If the envoy comes—"
A magic item in the form of a handbell rested where Noah Zweden was gazing at.
If one of the two was rung, the other would also ring.
However, if the distance between them were too great, it would not have an effect at all. In addition, that was the only way that both could affect each other so it wasn't exactly the best tool for communication. This task was easy enough that they could use it for this purpose.
"Ahhh, leave it to me."
As their representative, Perianne answered him.
"—say. Do I still have to wait around here? We've wasted enough time, the Sorcerer King...His Majesty. I get it I get it. No need to look at me like that with those scary eyes."
A short and tall man said.
That was the head of the slave trade division, Cocco Doll.
The frontline of the Kingdom's army had been bolstered by the prisoners who had been kept captive in the capital. When they were being released, during the chaos and confusion of those few days, Cocco Doll had been rescued and brought to this mansion.
At first, they had two ways they could have dealt with Cocco Doll.
If he was sent to fight the Sorcerous Kingdom, they had no doubt in their mind that he would have died, so of course his rescue was non-controversial. What was controversial was how they should introduce him to the Sorcerer King.
Some thought that because he was a regular head, it would not matter if they did not introduce him at all. Others thought that if the Sorcerer King knew of him already and they were to not introduce him to him, it would end in tragedy.
They wanted to avoid endangering themselves no matter how unlikely it was, and so they went with the latter.
Their opportunity to introduce him — to place him on the chopping block — was about to come.
They were all in agreement that he was the first one they had to introduce, to remove any doubts that they were attempting to hide him.
"You have to wait here so that His Majesty the Sorcerer King's envoy can get a good look at you."
For that reason, he had to wait in this room. They did not know when the envoy was going to come after all. He ate and slept in this room, and was absolutely disgusted by it.
"I mean, I have been thanking you all constantly, thanking you for bribing the guards so they wouldn't treat me so harshly in prison, and thanking you for saving me from the draft — to have saved poor, old me."
"What are you trying to say, Cocco Doll?"
To Noah's question, Cocco Doll responded with a piercing gaze.
"To go out of your way to save someone who has lost all of his power, connections, and lackeys, isn't that a bit too suspicious? What is your goal? Why have you gathered everybody related to the Eight Fingers here? Are you planning to kill me?"
"—hah?"
Hilma was frozen solid. No, it wasn't just Hilma, everybody else in the room other than Cocco Doll was the same.
If they were equally guilty, none of them could wash their hands clean of his blood, was probably what he meant—
"W-What? Your expressions. That was bullseye...wasn't it?"
Hilma surveyed her surroundings. Everybody had the same expression, one that said, 'this guy is going to be trouble soon'. She spoke up as their representative.
"What are you talking about, Cocco Doll? No, Apéritif. Aren't we partners?"
"—Hah?"
This time it was Cocco Doll's turn to be shocked. His expression was whack, almost hilarious.
"You, what is your goal!? Ah, I get it, you are all monsters wearing their skins! That's why every other word out of your mouths is praise for the Sorcerer King!"
Cocco Doll yelled with an expression that was a cross between panic and fear. The monster he spoke of was a folk's tale that mothers usually used to scare their children when they were being restless at night. Most adventurers agree that no such monster actually existed.
"I thought that something was off from the start! The fact that you guys went on a diet at the same time was suspicious enough. Even if I concede that point, Hilma's figure is so inelegant! She's too skinny to be healthy. This could all be explained if you guys were just monsters wearing their skins!"
Hilma looked towards Cocco Doll with warmth in her eyes. Such bliss, to have not experienced that hell.
"Wh-what? Your expression..."
"No, don't mind me, Apéritif. Indeed. I am flattered by your observation."
"—Huh?"
"What?"
"No, no, nothing...nothing at all... I'm being serious, I am unsarcastically asking you. Are you really Hilma? Hilma Cygnaeus? Not a twin sister or something like that? Were you brainwashed?"
"Have I really changed that much?"
He wasn't talking about how skinny she had gotten. He was probably talking about her personality, she had mellowed out a lot from before. Normally, that would be a positive change, so his suspicion of her was surprising to say the least.
"...Of course, it's like you're a completely different person. No, that applies to you all. Did monsters truly steal your skins?"
"I could only say that we experienced certain things that made us this way."
Everybody agreed with what Noah had said. Cocco Doll was terrified.
"What, happened... Though I don't want to hear it, I still want to know. You—"
A thin, endless, and circular darkness suddenly appeared in the room. A semi-oval object began emerging from the ground.
Hilma recognised this as the [Gate] spell that had whisked her away so many times. It was a high tier spell, high enough that there were no magic casters within the Kingdom who were capable of it. Only a subordinate of the Sorcerer King would be capable. The fact that this spell was cast meant that—
Hilma hurriedly took a knee. After a while, she felt Cocco Doll do the same.
Hilma buried her head and clenched her fist.
There were two possible outcomes.
They were either getting disposed of, or saved.
A person's footsteps could be heard.
"You can raise your heads now."
In front of the [Gate] was a maiden whose bust size was mismatched with her apparent age. Though she had not heard her speak of her name directly, Hilma knew her name was Shalltear. Noone here was brave enough to refer to her by name, even someone as clueless as Cocco Doll could tell from the atmosphere of the room alone.
"I am here to retrieve you all. Although I heard there would be a thousand or so of you-arinsu, could you bring them over immediately-arinsu?"
"Understood! Please wait a moment!"
Olin ran out of the room in a full sprint. He had the best stamina of them all after all.
"—Shadow Demon."
Shalltear called and a demon soon materialized from the shadows. When had it entered the room? Perhaps it had been monitoring them for a long time. This was not surprising to them at all. Instead, they all thought, {thought so}.
That Shadow Demon began whispering into Shalltear's ear. They then heard her respond with murmurs. After their conversation ended, Noah began speaking with a trembling voice,
"...U-Umm...Olin will need some time to bring everyone over. Before that happens, there is someone we wish to introduce to you. Do you find that to be agreeable?"
"Unnecessary-arinsu. Rather than doing that, I heard you had luggage to bring along-arinsu, move those first. I heard there were quite a lot of it, perhaps it would be faster if my servants did it for you. How about that-arinsu?"
"C-Could we trouble you then?"
Shalltear responded with a curt, "of course" before casting her spell. That was probably summoning magic. A few strong undead began appearing around them. Following their orders, they exited the room and returned with a sizable quantity of luggage, which they moved through the [Gate].
The luggage was moved at an unbelievable speed. Just as they were done moving, they could hear the sound of many footsteps.
While this might be the largest room in the mansion, it could not contain a thousand people.
"Now then, enter that door in your predetermined orders. Inside is a village within a forest-arinsu. You will exit what looks like a town square. Wait there."
They followed her orders and entered the door in order.
Though it was unlikely that none of them were hesitant to enter the portal, everyone there had already been warned to follow their exact orders; as a result, there was less confusion than they had expected.
In comparison, the boys around {that} age stalling and blushing were a bigger problem. The girls becoming frustrated at the boys' reactions were an issue too.
Shalltear was a world-class beauty.
So, them falling in love at first sight wasn't such an unusual phenomenon, so was the women's jealousy.
However — Hilma had engraved a fact in her heart.
If those kids were to do something stupid, she would be the one responsible. To prevent that from happening, she had to keep a close watch on them. Her attention was especially focused on the girl whose hands were on her flat chest, attempting to compare sizes with Shalltear.
Those children's hands were taken by their guardians and led through the [Gate]. Fortunately, nothing had gone awry.
Hilma and her associates were the last to enter the [Gate]. Just as she had described, in front of them were wooden houses and their surroundings felt like a forest.
In the plaza where the undead had piled up their luggage, there was some commotion. Or was it excitement instead? Given the amount of youths there, the latter was more likely.
Was this their reaction to their first time passing through a [Gate]?
"Attention!"
Noah yelled. Gradually — faster than she had expected — the noise died down.
Was it to let them all see Shalltear? She slowly ascended into the sky and said,
"Currently the village is still under development. You will be brought over there in around a week. Before that happens, you will be living here. Just so you could effectively manage the village, we will be lending you four Golems. If you need anything heavy moved elsewhere, let them do it. Undead currently surround the village, if you are to exit the perimeter and attempt to re-enter, they will attack you. For that reason, please do not cross the perimeter formed by the undead."
Shalltear looked around to check if they all understood her, and continued,
"Other than that, you will decide among yourselves how you will be spending this week. We have prepared two weeks worth of food-arinsu, so you should be set on that front. I will return in three days, if you have any issues, I will listen to them then."
Shalltear descended to the ground and looked around, her gaze fell upon Cocco Doll.
"You are one of the capo, correct-arinsu?"
"Eh? Eeeh? W-, no, yes, what can I do for you?"
Cocco Doll had experienced the difference in status between him and her, so he tried his best to be cordial.
"You should take a trip to Kyuokukou's room too-arinsu."
"Eh?"
Shalltear closed the old [Gate] and opened a new one.
Was it his instinct? Something told Cocco Doll that something bad was about to happen to him, causing him to look around with a helpless expression.
After her gaze met his, Hilma shifted her own away. She could not go against Shalltear's decision. The other heads were the same, no one dared to make a sound.
"Wa-Wait, Wait! No! Why are you guys reacting like this!? Save me!"
"Yeah, yeah. Let's go-arinsu!"
Shalltear dragged a screaming Cocco Doll away. Faced with that kind of strength, he had lost all urges to resist.
"Ahh! No! Save me!"
"Sorry, Cocco Doll."
Hilma whispered to Cocco Doll, who disappeared through the [Gate]. After that, the [Gate] disappeared.
Yet, the tense atmosphere never dispersed. They were all grasped by that suffocating silence.
A thousand people, blissfully unaware of that hell, occupied this plaza. Still, they could instinctually tell what fate awaited the Cocco Doll who had just been taken away from them. That was why none dared to move.
They understood that they had been brought to this place not out of someone's generosity, and were beginning to understand exactly how terrifying this place was.
"...We couldn't save Cocco Doll."
Hilma said to Noah, who was walking over to her.
She did not want anyone else to experience that hell. That was what she had in mind, but that was impossible. An intense guilt washed over her.
"There's nothing we can do about it. Still, it does not mean death...it would be more appropriate to call it a baptism. Afterwards, he could...come to understand why we would cherish each other so much."
"Baptism...true...if I thought of it like that, it would alleviate a lot of the guilt I'm feeling."
"You two, while I can understand how worried you are for Cocco Doll, we have to discuss our future right now."
They had to relieve the people there of their worries.
Hilma took the lead.
If their goal was to kill them all, they would have done so already and not bring them all the way over here...or take Cocco Doll away.
That meant that the Sorcerer King was holding up his side of the deal, given Shalltear's actions.
"Thank you so much, Your Majesty the Sorcerer King."
Hilma lowered her head. Of course, she had no idea where she was or where the Sorcerer King was, but this was the only thing she could think of that could properly express her gratitude given her situation.
Something along the lines of a prayer.
----
Three Floor Guardians set off from the front they had established in front of the capital.
The one in charge of the capital's siege, Cocytus. The one in charge of crucial facilities, Aura. And finally, the one in charge of casting offensive AOE spells to render the entire capital into a mountain of ash, Mare.
The three each had their subordinates.
Mare had Hanzos under him, Cocytus had Frost Virgins, and Aura had her magic beasts.
The place they were looking towards, the capital, was awfully silent. Were they mourning? Or perhaps were they cowering in fear from the sight of the Sorcerous Kingdom's forces?
Only a few days had passed since their previous battle, yet the capital's forces were already cracking at the seams. From the vantage point of the encampment Ainz had set up near the capital, not many soldiers could be seen manning the outer walls of the city, nor did they appear to intend to put up a fight.
While it was true that they were few in numbers, Ainz's camp was equally unmanned. High-tier mercenaries were nowhere to be found, not even Nazarick's Master Guarders could be seen. The camp was occupied by Ainz, Albedo, and around ten of Ainz's Death Knights.
Albedo wore her full-body armour and held a halberd in her hands. Her World Class Item should also be on her person just as a precaution.
"...Is it about time?"
Ainz asked Albedo after the guardians had left the camp. They were spread out to surround the capital.
"It should be. The guardians have moved quite a bit of distance away. If they really wanted to take action, this would be their last chance to. Given the lack of movement from their side, while it is unfortunate, it appears that there were none here this time too."
"Is that so," Ainz replied and shifted his gaze towards the capital.
He saw a silhouette flying towards them from the capital. After he took a look around, it appeared that this was the only entity coming towards them. Someone who had the courage to challenge the Sorcerer King, the one who dismantled an army of 200,000 with a single spell. From the intel they had collected, only one person matched that description.
The Powered Suit — probably Red Drop.
Ainz squinted his eyes to focus on the rapidly approaching entity and muttered, "now then."
If that was the case, they could move on to the second stage of the plan. However, Ainz was a bit uneasy.
This was an important plan after all. It had to be handled carefully, like a thin sheet of ice. Was he truly capable of pulling off such a plan? Sigh, he could not have handed something this important to someone else either.
The silhouette got ever so closer. Honestly, has he not considered the possibility that they had an airforce too? Or did he think that the Floor Guardians would not notice him if he was high enough? Or was it some equally stupid line of thought? Ainz was stunned by his opponent's faulty strategy. No, perhaps he knew that was the case but had no other choice.
So did he know that this was a trap, but had the balls and resolve to break through it? Or maybe—
"—Is he clueless or prideful? Or perhaps... Whatever, that does not matter. We will find out once he reaches here."
"Indeed," Albedo replied.
"...I will leave it all to you then?"
"Yes, please leave it all to me."
Her replies were short and straight to the point. Ainz could not tell what her current mental state was. However, He knew enough to tell that she was not too happy about this.
Ainz looked back towards the silhouette. It would take him quite a while to reach where they were, they could afford to let him get closer before setting off the ambush. The moment that thought crossed Ainz's mind, he realised that he had made a mistake.
It was highly likely that he was a disposable pawn.
"Does he know what he is? Or does he have no clue at all?"
"Who knows? It does not matter if he does, the plan has entered its third stage. Are we good to go?"
"...We are all set. I will accomplish my duties to the best of my abilities, you should do the same."
"Yes — ah, no. Please leave it all to me, Ainz-sama." Albedo replied just as that silhouette reached the Sorcerous Kingdom's front, hovering a hundred meters up in the air and about a hundred meters away from them.
He could clearly make out his opponent's appearance now. That said, it was unnecessary at this point to confirm his appearance.
The bright-red Powered Suit came to a sudden halt mid-air and remained there. Though he could not see his face, Ainz could tell that he was being observed.
Albedo raised her arm and the Death Knights around her began moving to form a shield wall in front of her.
The hovering Powered Suit's right shoulder began to draw light into a box-shaped object. The light was converted into lightning and subsequently released.
"—[Chain Dragon Lightning]."
Just as Ainz mumbled the name of the spell, the lightning had already formed into the shape of a dragon and struck one of the Death Knights. The lightning dealt significant elemental damage to the Death Knight before leaping onto the Death Knights next to it.
After the blinding light of the lightning subsided, the undead were nowhere to be seen. They were all taken out in a single attack, which did not reach Ainz and Albedo. That was probably a coincidence rather than a calculated move from their opponent.
"Insolent fool! Identify yourself!"
Albedo roared with an infuriated tone. The volume of her voice was high enough that Ainz wanted to cover up his ears. Given how far away their opponent was, he should still be able to hear it, but he did not respond at all. Well no, he did respond, that just depended on one's definition of a response.
The next thing they knew, the weapon rack on his left shoulder activated. Light was drawn in again as another spell was cast.
A whirlwind of fire encompassed Ainz and Albedo, the turbulent wind sounded like a wolf's howl.
This was the divine AOE attack spell, [Firestorm].
Fire was a weakness of Ainz's, but because the spell had not been enhanced through any special abilities, nor was the caster on the same level as Ainz, it did not do too much damage. Still, he could not just tank hits like that all day long.
Ainz gave out his order.
"Go! Albedo. Do not let him escape!"
"Yes!"
----
Albedo took flight as she gripped tightly onto her halberd.
Her wings of pure black flapped once and it was more than enough for her to close the gap between them.
She was not sure if it was because the gap between them had been closed so fast, but the Powered Suit turned around in a stiff motion.
Albedo almost sunk her halberd into his unprotected back before the Powered Suit flew away. He did not fly towards the capital, but moved northwards instead.
Albedo recalled the geography of their surroundings.
She could not remember anything special about the direction he was heading towards, there weren't any features that could facilitate an ambush.
Under her helmet, Albedo was fuming.
{Seriously, do you think that we're blind? You really thought that we couldn't see through what you're trying to do? Or perhaps...If he's this confident knowing that his plans have been revealed...I have to be on alert for this...}
Albedo turned her head around, shifting her gaze over her shoulder towards the Sorcerous Kingdom's encampment, where she had just been at. She could see a lone silhouette, it was Ainz by himself. Even if she was following her orders, she should have been the one to guard him, especially given that he was her last remaining master. Yet she had left her protectee behind, that deeply unsettled her.
What was more displeasing was the fact that she was not allowed to make their enemy pay for his insolence with his life.
"Tch," Albedo clicked her tongue and stared at the retreating Powered Suit.
There was an object that resembled a backpack on the back of the Powered Suit. It had six nozzles, each ejecting white light that formed into a trail, like a shooting star.
Those who are not familiar with Powered Suits would probably assume that if those nozzles were destroyed, their opponent would lose their ability to fly and thus fall to the ground.
However, Albedo's master had already told her, "That's just a cosmetic effect."
That was because a Powered Suit's flight capabilities worked in a similar fashion to the spell [Fly]. According to her master, though it was correct to say that it would not lose its ability to fly once its nozzles have been destroyed, that was not a given. Her master had added, "at least that was the case back then," implying that he had not tested out this theory himself.
{Still, how long will he be flying for? We're already so far away from — the encampment? Was I his true target then?}
Gradually, the gap between them was being drawn out.
If this continued on, her opponent would escape successfully.
Albedo did not have any abilities that could boost her own flight speed. Normally, when she was engaged in a chase, she would be riding her War Bicorn but that was no longer an option. That was why she was flying with her own wings, which were only capable of these speeds.
Still, Albedo had prepared for this. She had borrowed items from her master that could boost her flight speed. As long as she equipped those, she could easily close the gap between them. So why hasn't she done so already? The answer was because she was waiting to see what her opponent's next move would be.
If he was just trying to escape, Albedo could deal with that easily.
Just as she was calmly analyzing his silhouette, her opponent turned around.
He began to set up a weapon that was similar to Shizu's Arcane Rifle.
"Hmph."
Albedo prepared herself for an attack while mocking her opponent.
Compared to Shizu's assault rifle type Arcane Rifle, this enemy's Arcane Rifle was more of a heavy machine gun type according to Cocytus. Its destructive capabilities were a tier above Shizu's weapon.
A row rumbling sound accompanied the large amount of bullets being fired from the weapon.
Those bullets were larger than an acorn and were shot out at blazing speeds, it was difficult for her to dodge them all.
However, Albedo could at the very least, redirect a few of the bullets back at him. Not only would this damage the opponent's weapon, the damage of Albedo's halberd was added on to it as well. Combined with the damage she could deal with her skills, this should deal a considerable amount of damage to the enemy.
Yet — Albedo did not activate any special abilities. She tightened her grip on her halberd and closed the distance between her and the enemy, nothing more.
She intended to take the full brunt of the attack with her own body.
The bullets fired by the enemy was about to connect with Albedo's armour—
{oops...that was a big miscalculation...}
—She had thought that her armour would mitigate most of the damage, but there wasn't even a need for that.
None of the bullets landed on her, they all curved away.
It seemed likely that none of the bullets were enchanted.
At the Floor Guardians' level, one would have complete immunity to unenchanted projectiles. If his weapon had not been enchanted, he should not have equipped it at all.
{I wanted to test the destructive capabilities of his weapon...but ended up exposing one of my abilities. Given that, he would surely use an enchanted attack next...}
From his body language, Albedo's keen sight could tell that he was quite shaken. Still, things progressed the way she had expected it to. Her opponent let go of his Arcane Rifle and extended something forwards.
His next attack appeared to be magic-based.
"Good, now what?" As she pondered. Albedo did not use any special ability of hers as she shortened the distance between them. If she had, even give the current distance between them, he would still be in her strike range. However, Albedo did not wish to expose her hand yet.
From the enemy's right hand, a brilliant green light shot out, flew towards Albedo, and struck her.
Suddenly, Albedo's body — and armour — began glowing with the same light. However, the light did not have any effects and soon disappeared.
She was not hurt. In fact, she did not feel anything at all.
This was not because she was actively defending against that spell, but because that spell could not even get through Albedo's passive magic resistance.
It was likely that this was one of her master's specialties, necromancy, specifically an instant-death spell.
Those types of spells were not only affected by ability scores, passive skills, special skills, and equipment abilities, but were also affected by resistances gained through levels, penalties, and so on. If they were cast on an opponent of similar level, it would be hard for those spells to have any effects at all if they were not enhanced through any means.
Not only was Albedo created as a level 100 NPC, she had equipped multiple items that strengthened herself. Spells of that Powered Suit's level could not affect her at all.
Perhaps he was trying to gauge the difference in strength between them, and that was why he took the gambit of an instant-death spell. But, the fact that her opponent had even thought that this lowly spell could serve as an equalizer between them pissed Albedo off.
She had to show him what she was made of.
As she rapidly approached her enemy, Albedo raised her fist for a punch.
She intended to make a mockery of her opponent by not using the halberd in her hand. Another reason for the punch was that she could not accurately gauge the amount of damage he took if she was to use the halberd.
Her opponent attempted to block it with the Arcane Rifle, but Albedo's strike was much faster.
Even though she held back a little, a hit from the level 100 Albedo was still devastating.
Gooong. A metallic noise rang out as her opponent was sent flying.
The suit, taller than 3 meters, was sent flying by Albedo's punch despite her being an entire meter shorter than it. Not only was it sent flying, it also began shaking uncontrollably. It was a hilarious sight to behold.
{...looks like I dealt more damage to it than expected. He's more delicate than tofu...}
He was certainly, unexpectedly—
{Weak...}
—Albedo felt frustrated as she laughed.
"—Ahahaha, now you will understand how foolish you were to attack Ainz-sama. I will dismember all four of your limbs, break every tooth in your mouth so you cannot even end yourself by biting off your tongue...but perhaps I will allow you to get another hit in. In any case, I will bring you to Ainz-sama to apologize for your crimes."
"—tock."
Albedo heard a click from that man's mouth.
"Did you just click your tongue at me...? How rude. Nevermind, you were such an indignant bastard that you chose to attack us without declaring your own name, I expected this much insolence from you."
"What are you talking about? Slayer? There is no indignity in vanquishing evil pieces of shit like you."
"Tsk. I thought you were an illiterate barbarian to have attacked us without saying anything at all. I did not expect...no wait, the citizens of the Kingdom are no different from barbarians anyway, right?"
"That's rich coming from you, Prime Minister of the Sorcerous Kingdom, Albedo."
Albedo calculated the pros and cons of dragging this conversation on and concluded that this was an exploitable situation.
{If it were Ainz-sama or Demiurge here, they could probably engage him in a better conversation...}
Albedo was confident in dealing with matters of interior affairs, but she was not too confident in her skills to plot or deal with matters of foreign affairs. Still, she was alone with no help at all so she had to rely on her own head.
"Nonsense, whatever of Red Drop? Sorry, I do not commit mere adventurers' names to memory."
"Hmph, how is someone like you fit to be the Prime Minister of a state."
Was he truly one of Red Drop? Or was he trying to confuse Albedo?
In any case, Albedo had to continue the conversation. From her strike back there, she had already grasped the full extent of her opponent's capabilities. Even if their fight was to resume, she would not have issues dealing with him at all.
Albedo mentally prepared herself to trap him in this conversation.
{What a tiresome way to buy more time...}
After all, to not rouse her opponent's suspicion, Albedo had to perfectly emulate the character of an arrogant strongman.
-x-X-x-
Albedo's silhouette shrunk gradually as she chased after the red Powered Suit.
And now, Ainz was the only one remaining at the encampment. If all went according to plan, the main event should be starting soon.
Ainz cast the spell, [Body of Effulgent Beryl].
Those who wish to destroy Ainz, even if they knew little of the weaknesses of skeletal type monsters, would know to use blunt weapons. If Ainz was to lose a significant chunk of HP due to his weaknesses before he achieved his goal, that would be somewhat troubling.
And then, the [Delay Teleportation] Ainz had cast before, took effect.
In other words, things were indeed proceeding as he had predicted.
It seemed like Albedo was not their target after all. Ainz was relieved. If she was their target instead, things would have gotten quite difficult.
But — was that really the case? Could this be a double-layered trap?
The enemy was teleporting behind Ainz.
A single enemy.
Someone who preferred close-quarters combat.
While his opponent was being delayed, Ainz cast an [Explode Mine] spell on the teleportation destination. Afterwards, he stood still, waiting for his opponent to arrive. At first, he had planned to use [Life Essence] to confirm if they had lost health, but ultimately decided against that.
He heard the sound of the explosion the moment his opponent arrived.
Ainz immediately began moving forwards, away from his enemy, and turned around.
"Silver...no wait, the luster is different. Is that platinum? Or a metal I do not know of?"
The explosion kicked up quite a bit of dust and at its center, stood a set of platinum-coloured full-body armour.
Four weapons hovered around them, following their every move.
A spear, a katana, a hammer, and a greatsword.
All of them were oversized for humans, their appearance screamed form-over-function. Nazarick's treasury held many more weapons similar to these.
The weapons had a similar luster as the armour, it was then highly likely that they were not silver, but platinum instead.
Given that was the case however, it created more questions than it answered. Ignoring the monetary value of the precious metal, platinum had no special magical properties at all. He could not fathom what advantages could be granted by creating weapons and armour out of it.
The most likely explanation was that it was only platinum-coated, to hide the true metal the equipment were made out of. An example he could think of was the Golem he had just learned was in Kyouhukou's room. There were other examples of the same technique being used in Nazarick as well.
The next most likely explanation was that it was a metal that was identical to platinum in appearance — but Ainz was not well-versed in the types of metal in this world.
Ainz's undivided attention was on his opponent's every move. After all, even trivial intel could tip the balance of a fight.
What was unsettling to him was the fact that his opponent, since their debut, had not shown any emotional response at all. Since their appearance, they had stood still in one spot with a daunting pose. Was it because they had not taken any damage — they had not bled at all — that they had resorted to such showmanship?
It was impossible for them to have not taken any damage at all.
It was hard for Ainz to believe that it had taken the full brunt of his [Explode Mine] but all it did was sully that eye-catching armour with dust. Even with Ainz's necromancy job classes, it was still impossible for him to gain complete immunity to the damage of a high-tier spell. It was impossible without underhanded tricks, especially because [Explode Mine]'s damage type was non-elemental, it could not have been nullified so simply.
In that case, did their carefree attitude stem from them toughing it out, or was it from their do-or-die resolve? Or perhaps — they really had an ability to nullify the damage.
"Did you think that I would just stand here without taking any precautions? There are more around you—"
He tried to gauge his opponent's reaction through conversation, or at least that was what he had intended anyways. His opponent however, did not give him much chance to speak, as the armoured fellow unabashedly took an offensive stance. The hammer in their arsenal floated to where they could easily grab it.
That revealed a piece of intel to Ainz, causing him to gently laugh deep down in his heart.
This meant that their target was not Albedo, but Ainz himself.
Since they had not bothered to converse with Ainz at all, they were not trying to buy time. They were probably planning to end this fight before any backup could arrive.
If they had appeared from the sky and began talking to him, that would have meant that their target was Albedo or that they were both their targets.
Everything up till this point had occurred well within the margins of Ainz's plan.
However, not even Ainz could predict his opponent's next move.
Since their weapons moved with them, he had thought that they were the fighter type and would want to close the distance between them. Instead, his opponent moved his hand in a somatic gesture, causing the giant hammer to suddenly shoot forward.
So fast.
It was like a high-level warrior had lobbed it at him, Ainz could not dodge it at all. If this weapon was not enchanted, it would be nullified by his immunity to non-enchanted projectiles, but no matter which way Ainz sliced it, it had to be enchanted. If that was the case, Ainz stood still, mimicking the stance his opponent had adopted as he took the hit. Of course, the spell activated the moment the hammer connected with Ainz's body.
The bludgeoning damage was completely nullified by the [Body of Effulgent Beryl] spell. His gaze had remained on his opponent this entire time, observing his every move. In that moment, his opponent stopped moving, probably out of shock that he had taken zero damage.
The hammer returned to its original position as fast as it had been launched, floating around the enemy.
"Muwahahahaha—"
Ainz laughed loudly with his arms extended outwards to show that he was unscathed.
"—Do you understand now? As I am sure you are aware, skeletons are weak to bludgeoning attacks. That is true for me too. So did you really believe that I would not take precautions against it? That I would be so stupid? ...That's right"
Ainz patted his own body, "I am immune to bludgeoning damage."
While he was sneering, his opponent did not seize the opportunity to attack. {What does that mean?} Ainz contemplated. If he made a mistake here, he might not be able to salvage the situation.
The enemy landed, raised a hand, and spoke. Their voice was that of a male's.
"[Wall of the World]"
(TL's note: the spell is 世界絶対障壁, the literal TL is "World Absolute Barrier" and I would have localized it as "World-Isolating Barrier" but I have been informed that all Wild Magic spells are references to some obscure novel.)
With his foe as the origin, a — space-warping — shockwave passed by Ainz.
If it continued to expand in its initial form, this place would be encompassed in a dome. Its size was immense, at least a kilometer wide. Albedo and the other guardians should all be outside of its range.
Ainz's mind spooled up as he deliberated.
This was one of the oldest tricks in the book, to cut off an enemy's connection to the outside world. Then, how hard would it be to break in? Would it be able to prevent someone from running in? Would teleportation still work?
Its effect and area-of-effect also had to be considered. Since it was a dome, could someone enter it through the ground?
And most important of all, could he destroy it through any means?
He was severely lacking in intel and thus could not be certain of anything, but he could at the very least make some rudimentary inferences..
First of all, his opponent knew that Ainz was a magic caster for sure, so this should at the very least be able block teleportation spells.
Unless he had a reason to not use the World Class Item that could dominate minds, this person wasn't the one who brainwashed Shalltear. What if there was a specific reason why he did not use it? Questions continued to pile on, but one thing he was certain of was that he should not underestimate this enemy.
That was because Ainz had mastery over a wide range of spells and special abilities. From the experience he had gathered through experimentation, he knew their full capabilities. This placed Ainz at the top of Nazarick in terms of battle tactics.
However, the ability this enemy had just used, Ainz could not recall. An ability that would cover this much ground had to be from a Super-Tier spell or a World-Class Item. This meant that his opponent had easy access to — and immediate use of — skills that could rival the heights of those abilities.
He was undoubtedly a strong enemy.
Someone who could remove Ainz, and the other level 100 Floor Guardians, from the picture.
However, faced with this enemy, Ainz did not emote at all.
Of course, Ainz's face could not emote anyways, but his uncertainty could still be observed through his attitude and tone. Ainz Ooal Gown would never do something so unsightly.
At the same time, he could not allow the enemy to perceive Ainz's joy and relief.
The thought of, {it was wise for me to have been the one to face him} came to mind.
Ainz squinted his eyes and continued to observe him.
Though this was an unknown ability, he could still pick up on certain aspects of it. First, this was an ability that expended HP and quite a lot of it. Given that, this barrier could not be cosmetic only. If he could not figure out its exact effects, he would be in deep trouble.
Ainz had seen his opponent's immediate loss of HP when he had activated that ability through his [Life Essence] spell. [Mana Essence] picked up nothing in contrast, meaning that his foe was of a pure warrior build with no mana at all.
If the mysterious enclosure was an inescapable prison, it would not be odd for his opponent, who had effectively imprisoned Ainz in this dome, to relax a little.
Ainz began to calmly ask a question with that in mind.
He used an uncharacteristically gentle tone given he had just been smacked with a hammer.
"I will pardon your prior ambush. I do believe that you already know of my name, but do allow me to re-introduce myself. I am the Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown. Now then, it is your turn. Could you tell me your name?"
After a few seconds of silence, he received a reply.
"...Riku Agneía"
Ainz immediately began to analyze the information he had just gained.
The likelihood that this barrier not only prevented his escape, but also prevented reinforcements from making their way in just increased drastically. The fact that he would risk exposing intel meant that he was trying to tell him, "you can't escape," and also, "your reinforcements won't make it in."
In the documents compiled by Sebas and Demiurge, there were no mentions of the name 'Riku'. Someone this strong would not have slipped through their information gathering network. Even if he was hermit, there were still things that could not be explained. In any case, someone this strong would have surely ended up in the Kingdom's history books. For there to be no records of him at all was absurd.
The most likely explanation was that he had been given an alias.
But why would he give him an alias?
If he was from the Kingdom, he should have proudly declared his name and his intention to destroy the root of all evil that had started this war. Was it because he was someone who wished to remain anonymous of his own volition? Another possibility was that he was trying to draw Ainz's aggression towards the real Riku Agneía, or perhaps the knowledge of his true name gave Ainz power over him or something.
Although it was essentially pure wilderness when those lands came under his rule, they had still gathered quite a bit of intel from the demi-human residents of that land. Of the intel they gained, one was about the connection some had between their true name and soul, and how one could become more susceptible to curses should their true name become known. However, after much investigation by Nazarick, they could not find conclusive proof of such a phenomenon. They had relegated this intel as plain folk legend.
So was it possible that Riku was of a tribe that held similar beliefs?
He had little to no intel. This was not the most ideal situation for him to make deductions here and there. As far as he could remember, there were only two powerful beings with connections to platinum. One of which was not a humanoid, the other was—
"I have heard through the bards' songs, the heroic tale of the Thirteen Heroes. Quite a few of their names have been lost, though I do recall one of them wearing an armour forged in platinum... If I remember correctly, his name was Riku Agneía. Will those bards not be elated to find out that their tales were true?"
"Would they? I did not know that I was renowned enough for bards to sing of my name."
His foe did not shrug, nor did he make any movements as he answered calmly.
Was he truly one of the Thirteen Heroes, or was he an imposter? There might be details that he was missing.
{Good grief}, AInz thought.
What was true and what was false, it was hard for him to tell. But, given how his opponent was confident enough in himself to face off against the Ainz Ooal Gown who could handily defeat an army of 200,000 with a single spell, the full extent of his capabilities must be explored in this battle.
"Riku, do you mind me addressing you by this name?"
"Denied."
An immediate answer, one filled with palatable disgust in tone.
"That was rude of me. Perhaps that was too familiar of an address. Shall I refer to you as Agneía then? Would you still mind?"
"That is fine."
"Oh. Well then, I have a proposal for you. Become my subordinate, how about it?"
The air around Riku froze a bit. He did not take a stance, nor did he move at all. Riku just stood there completely unfazed.
Ainz could not figure him out.
If Riku viewed him as an inferior, it would make sense why he did not take a stance at all. After all, Cocytus was the same during his battle with the lizardmen. So, was Riku looking down on him or not?
He felt different compared to Cocytus back then.
So, perhaps that already {was} the stance he intended to take for this battle.
He might have planned to stand in one place and have his floating weapons do all of the work for him, which was why he had adopted such a battle stance.
"...Looks like I've been rejected. How regretful. Could I implore you once more? I am currently trying to recruit powerful individuals into my services. Even that Momon of Darkness has been happily under my employ. If you are willing to become my subordinate — I would even end my conquest of the Kingdom right here. You alone are worth more than this country."
"Denied."
If words could kill. There wasn't a single shred of hesitation in his voice.
Ainz, without showing any emotions, began to ponder the hidden meanings behind their little back-and-forth just now.
Even if he had the confidence that he could defeat Ainz and save the Kingdom, did he truly have no doubts or hesitations? Even if Ainz was killed, was he truly certain in his belief that the Sorcerous Kingdom's army would just give up?
{...Perhaps he does not care about the Kingdom after all...? Is he from another nation?}
"[Cloak of Light]"
Riku's armour began glowing. For a brief moment, Ainz thought that it was the Sun reflecting off of his armour until he noticed that Riku's HP had just decreased. That was undoubtedly the activation of some sort of ability.
Now he had concrete proof.
Riku's abilities were powered by his own health pool.
However, because lost HP could just be recovered through restoration spells or potions, abilities that were powered by HP were usually weaker by comparison. All in all, the higher the ability's HP cost, the stronger it would be. The same logic should apply even in this world.
Riku had activated his special ability, that meant their parley had broken down. Ainz immediately cast his spell.
"[Greater Teleportation]"
Ainz teleported all the way to — the edge of the translucent dome. After his sight had adjusted, he found the translucent barrier blocking his way.
"Teleportation failed..."
He took a look around. It appeared as though Riku did not have the ability to follow him through his teleport, he was nowhere to be found.
In front of Ainz, not too far away, was his intended destination, the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.
He could at least confirm one thing of this barrier: it cut off teleportation completely. That said, since he was now in front of the barrier, that meant that teleportation to destinations within it was still possible. Only teleportation in and out of the dome was disabled. It seemed like if one were to try and teleport outside, they would instead be teleported to the edge of the dome closest to their intended destination.
This was crucial intel.
He had originally intended to not use teleportation throughout this battle, but it was still worth it to have gained this intel at the cost of one of his trump cards.
Ainz then extended his hand to touch the barrier.
If it had defensive capabilities, he would probably receive the damage immediately, but that was unlikely. He thought so because the interrupted teleportation did not do damage to him either.
The bones in his finger made contact with the barrier.
Contrary to its soft appearance, it was extremely hard. When he tried to exert force on it, nevermind breaking, it did not faze at all. It was like a wall that separated worlds apart.
Ainz pulled out a common gold coin and tossed it.
The coin hit the barrier and bounced off.
Next, he cast a [Lightning] spell at a pre-calculated angle.
"...It cannot get through, hmmm."
Just as he became satisfied with the results of his experiments, the [Delay Teleportation] spell activated once again. No doubt it was Riku.
Ainz cast [Body of Effulgent Beryl] and stood there, with his back towards Riku.
After Riku showed up, he used some unknown object to slam into Ainz's body at high speeds. Because it was bludgeoning damage, it was completely nullified by [Body of Effulgent Beryl].
But for whatever reason, his body was sent flying and pressed against the barrier. That was highly unusual. Normally when an attack's damage had been nullified, its secondary effects would not apply. However, Riku's attack did not follow this rule. So what did that mean? He had no idea as of yet.
Ainz slowly, and regally, turned around.
The hammer returned to Riku's side. The four weapons that surrounded Riku were different from before: they were all glowing white. Combined with the armour, they looked undeniably badass.
On the other hand, Riku's health had decreased even further.
He had lost more health than when he activated that ability on his armour just then. Was it because he had to apply that ability to each weapon separately or because teleportation had cost him a bit of HP too? Ainz desired more intel.
"I am immune to bludgeoning damage, I believe I have said that already...so how did you do that?"
"...Even if you can teleport, you cannot use it to escape this barrier. Your fate is to perish here."
{Answer the question, dumbass}, Ainz thought but did not say it out loud. After all, if he wanted his opponent to talk, he had to avoid pissing him off too much.
"I see. I am impressed that you could create such an inescapable barrier. I assume then that you have made your resolve already?"
No response. One of the four weapons, the greatsword, stopped moving.
—He's coming.
Riku did not appear to wish to converse with him. Ainz made the first move with that in mind.
"[Twin Magic: Obsidian Sword]"
Ainz summoned two obsidian swords and rushed at Riku.
If his opponent was using floating weaponry, he would do the same.
One of the swords was deflected by Riku's greatsword and the other's strike was dodged in an unnatural manner.
"What!?"
Ainz couldn't help but vocalize his thoughts.
What was shocking wasn't the fact that Riku could dodge the attack, but rather how he had dodged it. Not even Cocytus would be able to pull off what Riku just did.
Riku had performed a sideways somersault at head's height to dodge the attack. Although there were other oddities apart from what he had just done, Ainz should not be focusing on those details right now. The questions laid in the fact that those movements were inhuman.
Normally when a humanoid jumped, they would bend their knees and apply force on them. There should be reflexive movements before the actual jump. However, Riku skipped all of that, applied no force at all, yet still performed a sideways somersault in the same stance he had this entire time.
While it was not impossible, especially with spells like [Fly], not even Ainz could pull it off. One's body would always reflexively move in a certain manner when performing such actions.
Perhaps those who were adept at using [Fly] would be able to do those moves, but Ainz still felt weirded out by those movements. The explanation for it was just on the tip of his tongue, but his brain could not express it properly.
While Ainz was getting increasingly annoyed, Riku counterattacked with his greatsword. Ainz's two swords were deflected by the other weapons floating around Riku.
The greatsword, as if it had a mind of its own, flew towards Ainz, prompting him to think of his Guild Weapon. Ainz cast defensive magic in response.
"[Wall of Skeleton]"
The greatsword clashed with the newly created wall. The [Wall of Skeleton] was destroyed in a single hit.
"Impressive."
In place of where the [Wall of Skeleton] stood, the honed edge of the greatsword pointed towards Ainz as it hovered. He had thought that it would return to Riku's side after that, but instead it flew towards Ainz as if someone was wielding it. On the contrary, Riku was standing still in his original position, in his original pose.
From his observation of that pose, what had been at the tip of Ainz's tongue finally came out.
Indeed, he was just like a puppet.
Riku was moving around like a puppet whose strings were still intact.
It was as though giant hands were behind him, one controlling the body and the other controlling the weapons.
{This isn't something like [Psychokinesis] controlling the weapons, but the armour too? Unless, the insides are empty? Or was a living person within it too?}
Faced with the greatsword's cleave from top to bottom, Ainz pulled out a [Blasting Staff] to intercept it.
The amount of pressure exerted on him made him feel as though he was sinking into the ground.
If he had weapon destruction skills, it would be worth his time to target this greatsword specifically, but Ainz had not bothered to learn such skills. Even anti-material acid spells would take quite a bit of time to chew through this sword, so he was better off attacking Riku instead.
"[Grasp Heart]"
That was Ainz's favorite necromancy spell, yet it had no effect on Riku at all.
Did he have immunity against necromancy? Or was it resistance against negative status effects? While Ainz was still considering those things, the greatsword was swung at him at even greater speeds.
"Guhhh!"
He could neither tank nor dodge it in time, so his body took the full brunt of that attack. After receiving the blow, Ainz backed off a little only to bump against the barrier behind him. This position was disadvantageous for him.
"[Greater Teleportation]"
Ainz teleported upwards. Because they were summoned through non-conventional summoning magic, the two swords soon returned to Ainz's sides.
As he was right above his opponent, he would have been easy to spot. Ainz did not teleport a long distance away, nor did he intend to buy time until Albedo arrived. This battle was what he had been craving.
Just as a precaution, he cast [Body of Effulgent Beryl] again while observing Riku, who appeared to be a dot from his perspective. He began to ascend as soon as he spotted Ainz.
He did not try to attack Ainz with his weapons, that was probably due to a range restriction.
Ainz responded by descending.
The moment they passed by each other, he threw out the twin obsidian swords.
The [Obsidian Sword] constructs could only be used as an offensive tool and could not be used to defend oneself. That was because the obsidian swords suffered from a mass loss of durability if used to receive an opponent's attack. If used defensively, the swords' durability would rapidly diminish until they shatter.
Riku used the weapons around him to deflect the two swords that were soaring through the skies.
Did he put his all into defence? Riku did not choose to counterattack.
After brushing past Riku, Ainz landed on the ground only to find the spear falling towards him at ludicrous speed.
Ainz leapt forward, barely dodging the attack. Because he had [Fly] activated already, he did not have any issues getting back on his feet.
Ainz stood up to distance himself away from that spot as Riku casually descended to the ground. His three weapons floated around him and the spear that had been implanted into the ground soon joined their ranks again.
Ainz also had his two obsidian swords float by his side.
His movements made it all the less believable to Ainz that a living being was in that armour. His knees did not bend at all when he landed.
It was at this time when Riku, who had been standing with the same pose this entire time, suddenly took the greatsword into his own hands.
This distance between them was closed in an instant. This was the fastest speed he had moved at yet.
He was like a shooting star.
Ainz sent out the two obsidian swords to intercept Riku's attack, but they were deflected by Riku's katana, subsequently falling onto the ground.
"[Call Greater Thunder]"
Multiple streaks of lightning converged on Riku, yet he did not slow down at all. It was not as though he hadn't taken damage, Ainz could see his HP pool falling. It was more likely that he had suppressed all forms of pain.
The greatsword was raised high above Ainz's head as it was cleaved downwards.
"Oooof!"
The moment Ainz took damage, he saw from the corner of his eye, Riku's katana swinging in from the side.
Ainz began waving his Blasting Staff.
Riku tanked that attack with his own body. A magic caster's physical strikes weren't so impressive, so if he chose to tank that hit, he must be planning to strike Ainz too.
His deduction was correct.
If Ainz were in his shoes, he would have done the same.
However, that was a terrible, terrible mistake under these circumstances.
Ainz smiled deep down as the shockwave began propagating outwards. Riku was knocked far away.
Blasting Staff had a similar enhanced knockback enchantment as Yamaiko's Female Sensei's Iron Fist of Wrath. The cost of that enchantment was the staff's complete lack of offensive capabilities, but it granted distance between a magic caster and their foe, one of the most important things to a caster.
Was it because he had been knocked back? The katana's strike only grazed Ainz by a little, barely touching his sternum.
Riku remained unyielding in pose even after he was knocked back. Ainz cast another spell.
"[Summon Tenth-Tier Undead]"
The one to replace the twin obsidian swords was the level 70, melee warrior Doom Lord. A rusted crown sat on his dome and a blood stained cape hung off his back. Adorning his full-plate armour were multiple scythe-like curved blades.
Minute amounts of negative energy ebbed from the gaps in its armour in the form of a black mist. His health was constantly decreasing, a penalty placed upon the Doom Lord for its agility which was unthinkably high for a level 70. Optimal use of such a summon required mastery over unit placement.
However, Ainz just wanted him to be his shield, so none of that mattered to him.
Summons' were either used as shields or swords.
Magic casters who could use them were all pretty strong in general. That said, a powerful pure warrior build could easily ignore these summons.
For example, what would Cocytus do?
He would probably kite the summons towards the summoner to bring the both of them into his range.
What would Albedo do?
She would probably use her defensive capabilities to her advantage to charge straight for the caster, completely ignoring the summons. She could also redirect aggro so that they would kill each other.
So, what would Riku do? Riku's tactic up till this point had been to rely on his auto-attacking weapons. Though he had wielded his greatsword, he had not used any special abilities or martial arts to go along with it. For that reason, Ainz did not have a firm grasp on his abilities as a warrior at all.
That was why—
Riku closed the distance between them and beelined for Ainz without hesitation at all. An adamant action.
He was probably the type to have specialized in super close-quarters combat rather than purely relying on his floating weapons. For that reason, if he was able to swiftly destroy his summon, Ainz would have lost an option to widen the distance between them.
Faced with the rapidly-approaching Riku, the Doom Lord tightened his grip on his weapon, a long curved blade set upon a pole, a War Scythe. The scythe was shrouded in negative energy, shrouded in the same black mist as before.
Ainz used the magical link he had with the Doom Lord to give it his orders.
"It is highly probable that our opponent is not a living creature, but try to confirm it anyways," his order was vague. Needless to say, a summon possessed a portion of its summoner's knowledge, so it should have understood his intentions even without his order, but it was better to veer on the safer side of things.
The Doom Lord activated its special ability.
[Ruinous Night]
-x-X-x-
The rate at which the black smog spewed out of it increased, spreading to its surroundings.
Its HP was falling faster than ever, the cost for a short term boost to every one of its combat related stats.
Not only that, an opponent's passive ability to reduce the amount of damage the Doom Lord dealt to it due to level difference would be completely nullified. Undead that stood in the black smog — including the Doom Lord itself — would take less damage from Light and Holy Elemental attacks. The same applied for bonus damage due to the difference in karma. Another strength of this ability was the fact that it could be triggered simultaneously on top of other buffs.
Ainz wanted to receive that buff too, but the black smog only reached so far.
To make sure that he would not be targeted by Riku, Ainz pulled away from the two combatants.
He had made preparations to be a spectator.
It was time for him to understand the true extent of Riku's power.
The Doom Lord's scythe clashed with the floating greatsword, an ear-piercing noise echoed around
Neither backed off a single step, nor were they knocked back.
They must have had similar levels of strength for that to happen.
After that, the scythe continued to clash against the katana at high speeds, their metallic rings droned on.
The greatsword's hack was rendered inert by the scythe and the scythe's pierce was blocked by the shield-like hammer. The darting spear was deflected by the scythe's handle as the Doom Lord gracefully dodged the greatsword's cleave.
Soon enough — to take advantage of the distance created by the dodge — Riku leapt forward.
Both were on equal footing in terms of offensive and defensive capabilities, but Riku had more tricks up his sleeve.
[Negative Burst]
Black 'rays of light' began pulsing from Ainz as it swallowed up its surroundings.
The Doom Lord healed upon receiving the negative energy, but it wasn't the most mana-efficient way to heal. On the other hand, Riku did not take damage from the spell at all.
For him to have taken zero damage, was it because he had immunity to negative energy? Was it a racial trait? Or was it a job trait? Or perhaps, the most likely explanation, was that it had something to do with his equipment.
To have planned to fight against the undead Ainz meant that by common sense, he must have prepared against negative energy attacks, a staple of the undead. Even Ainz would equip items that bestowed fire resistance if he were to fight against a fire-breathing dragon.
While the sounds of their weapons colliding with each other rang out non-stop, Ainz cast his next spell.
[Perfect Unknowable]
Ainz, now an unknown, came out of the shadow of his tank, the Doom Lord, to circle around them. Suddenly, the katana flew towards him at a speed he could not dodge. It pierced through his robe at the abdomen region.
He did not take any damage due to his immunity to piercing damage, but Ainz still scuttled behind the Doom Lord's figure. The katana, suspended midair, then began to slash towards the Doom Lord instead.
"...He could see through unknowability huh?"
This was not surprising, one would not need to reach Ainz's level to gain a couple of countermeasures against that strategy. The problem laid in what method he had used to detect him. Ainz had no answers. There were just too many countermeasures, too many for him to narrow it down with the intel he had.
So, what should his next move be? Riku seemed to want to target Ainz directly given how the levitating weapons were all pointed at him, but with the Doom Lord's presence, they could not reach him at all.
After rough calculations of his available options given the current status of the battle, he arrived at the conclusion that he should be spamming offensive spells. If the Doom Lord fell, he could just summon another. The likelihood of this strategy to win was quite high.
However, this was not the way Ainz wanted to end this.
Riku was a powerful foe, something of a rarity in this world, and with myriad abilities foreign to Ainz. Given that was the case, it was better for him to witness the full extent of Riku's power over the course of this battle so that he would be better prepared should a similar foe show up in the future.
Ainz cancelled the cast of an attack spell.
While he knew that his priority right now should be on his own defence, he had a specific reason to not do so. It was dangerous, sure, but he had to resist the urge.
Ainz observed the two's attacks and defences. The Doom Lord was being suppressed ever so slightly, but neither were taking significant damage.
One could call the blows that they were exchanging a back-and-forth, but the simplicity in Riku's fighting style was quite worrying. Ainz knew exactly why the Doom Lord could not gain the upperhand. None of its skills, negative energy attacks, or spiritual attacks had any effects against Riku.
At this point, it was all but confirmed that Riku was of a race that had similar properties as Golems or other Constructs. Perhaps it was some item ability or skill that gave him said properties, or perhaps he was just a plain Construct.
In terms of which option was most likely, it had to be the first one given that Riku was able to talk. Half-Golems or similar races had the same resistances as other Constructs, so he might be of one of those races.
Although, why would someone of those races be helping out the Kingdom? What mattered the most in the moment were Riku's abilities and not his motivations. Why was he using such simple attacks? He appeared to have neither used skills nor martial arts the entire time.
One of the Supreme Beings was a Golem user. Riku's movements were nearly identical to the Golems controlled by that person.
Riku would be easy to deal with if he was a Half-Golem, but if he was a pure golem with speakers attached or made through secret techniques, things would be much more difficult.
As far as Ainz knew, a Golem's strength scaled with the value of metal used to construct them, the creator's abilities, and the data crystals added.
High-tier Golems were relatively costly to manufacture.
If Riku was a Golem, one constructed out of a metal as cheap as platinum yet was this strong, there might be more than a few or even dozens of him laying around.
He had to collect more intel.
Ainz gave the Doom Lord an order.
The Doom Lord began releasing more black smog upon receiving his command.
Its speed and offensive capabilities were raised even further, to the point where Riku's armour began to take damage. However, the rapid loss of HP on the Doom Lord's part caused it to disappear not long after.
Ainz had timed for this, as he cast another [10th Tier Summon Undead].
It was a level 68 undead, an Elemental Skull.
Its appearance was of a floating skull, surrounding it was a magical haze of light that constantly switched between four colours: red, blue, green, and yellow.
Ainz made it fall back and took its place at the front.
The Elemental Skull was a caster type undead capable of using magic of the four major elements.
Its HP was about equal to a magic caster of its level, way below that of the Doom Lord. Its offensive capabilities were pretty impressive, that was because every single spell it cast had the [Maximize Magic] metamagic tagged onto it.
In terms of defence, it had immunity to most spell attacks, including Fire, Lightning, Acid, Ice, and other types of elemental attacks. In contrast, it was extremely vulnerable against physical attacks, especially bludgeoning damage.
That was why Ainz had to stand in front of it.
Riku did not raise his guard any further even though a magic caster was now at the frontline. He just kept silent, closed the distance between him and Ainz, and began attacking.
{Why are you not the least bit worried about this?} Ainz grumbled in his heart as he used the experience he had gained through his training with Albedo to block Riku's slashes.
That said, he could only block one slash out of five, it was basically a one-sided pummel. As Ainz's staff was ignored, the greatsword, spear, and katana began their attacks. Though the hammer was used once too, it was nullified by [Body of Effulgent Beryl]. After three nullifications, Riku appeared to have finally taken the hint. He never used the hammer afterwards.
While Ainz had already known about this, Riku was indeed insanely fast.
Although he wasn't as fast as the Floor Guardians, he was still relatively fast. Ainz was quite fortunate that Riku had stopped using the hammer. If it was still in use, Ainz would not be able to win at all.
Having bore witness to the Doom Lord's battle, Ainz knew he could not serve as an adequate vanguard.
Of course, Ainz had the option of using [Perfect Warrior], but the lack of equipment on his person would guarantee him a loss if he did so.
Still, Ainz's struggles at being a vanguard began to see some returns as spells began soaring through the air from his back.
At the same time, Ainz cast the ninth tier spell, [Vermillion Nova].
The strongest single-target, fire-based spell attack began to scorch Riku, yet his opponent showed no signs of slowing down as the greatsword cleaved towards Ainz again.
Ads by Pubfuture
Even though his body was bathed in fire, his swordsmanship remained calm and steady. If he had made his resolve as a warrior, this would not be too surprising, but the complete lack of response from him was suspicious to say the least.
The Elemental Skull cast a ninth tier spell, [Polar Claw].
A claw that emitted air as chilled as the poles clawed at Riku. This was a spell that Ainz had not learnt. It had no secondary effects but dealt a lot of damage, the highest DPS of any ice-based spell in fact.
Ainz memorised the amount of damage Riku took from the two spells.
This was while he was receiving a simultaneous strike from the spear and the katana.
He cast another ninth tier spell, [Call Greater Thunder].
The Elemental Skull on the other hand, cast a tenth tier spell, [Mist of Super Acid]. This was also a spell that Ainz had not learnt, that was the reason why he had summoned the Elemental Skull.
Riku was instantly surrounded by a mist of strong acid and so were his weapons.
[Mist of Super Acid] not only damaged an opponent, but also their equipment and weapons, albeit only a small amount of damage to those. Surely the floating armaments around Riku counted as his equipment, right?
Even the weapons around Riku were damaged yet Ainz, who was well within the AOE, was unscathed. This was because of a special condition applied to the spell.
Riku's HP loss from the acid was notable. Of the four elements, he took the most amount of damage from acid.
That said, the actual percentage of HP loss was still low.
Through the analysis of every bit of intel he had, Riku must have had defence-focused job classes. He was probably around level 90.
{In any case, the best strategy is to use acid attac— Ahhh! It hurts so much!}
"Nuisance!"
His anger flared up as his thoughts were interrupted, but then a miracle occured.
He managed to perfectly bat the katana flying towards him away with his staff, causing Ainz's nonexistent eyes to widen.
The spear was blown away as if the knockback effect had activated.
{Why!?}
This staff's knockback effect had all kinds of activation conditions placed upon it.
First of all, blocking a warrior's strike with the staff would not trigger the effect. The effect would not trigger at all if the staff was not used offensively.
If an opponent blocked the attacker's blow with a sword or shield, its effect would not trigger. It would only trigger if one were to land a blow on their opponents' body with it. A sword or shield would obviously not count as an opponent's body. That was why the effect would still trigger if one were to strike an opponent's gauntlet.
So what happened to Riku's katana?
Given the conditions mentioned, that meant that the floating weapons counted as a part of the wielder's body.
But that wouldn't make sense.
Sebas had brought back weapons from the capital in the past.
Floating weapons used by a dancer.
The weapons were analyzed in detail when they were sent to the Treasury and judged to be simple floating weaponry that obeyed commands to attack in a semi-autonomous way. It should only count as equipment, which meant that if this staff were to strike the dancer's weapon, the knockback effect should not trigger.
If the knockback were to be applied on equipment, only weapons like Female Sensei's Iron Fist of Wrath would be able to pull it off. That was a weapon that had the sole purpose of creating shockwaves when the wielder punched the air. As a weapon that applied knockback to everything, it could also apply knockback on equipment.
But this staff was nowhere near as powerful as that weapon, so why was it able to do such a thing?
From these series of tautologies, he deduced the answer: Riku's weapons counted as a part of his body.
{I see...}
Ainz had two hypotheses around the mechanics behind this.
First was that Riku's weapons were creatures like Entoma's Blade-Bugs. If he was like that Sword Saint Golem, it would make sense why the knockback effect was triggered.
The other hypothesis, the more likely one, was that the weapons were not equipment at all, but were actual parts of Riku's body. This would be a similar situation to how the knockback effect would still apply if the staff's strike was to be met with a dragon's claw attack.
He had felt that the weapons had HP too, but thought that it was because they counted as Riku's equipment. It was a mistaken assumption based on the fact that they took damage when Riku took damage. It appeared as though those were separate health bars, so—
That moment felt like forever to Ainz in his infinite confusion.
What if he used those methods—
But— would that be the correct decision?
No— wrong, that would be a mistake.
Ainz felt the Elemental Skull cast the tenth tier divine spell, [Seven Trumpeter] and immediately canceled the cast.
He had to reaffirm his role in all of this.
Ainz silently cast a [Message] as Riku retreated as if he was chasing after the knocked back katana. The katana then returned to its original position.
So if the weapons were to be separated from Riku by a certain distance, they could no longer move? Or was his opponent trying to make him think that? Or was he just shocked that it was knocked back?
"...We more or less understand each other's powers. That's good enou—"
Riku slashed towards Ainz as he glided along the ground. He did not intend to speak.
Ainz grumbled deep down at that fact.
It made sense for his opponent to wish to make the most of his time, to answer one's opponent in battle would be a foolish action. So while he respected Riku's commitment to his strategy, he was still annoyed that his opponent was ignoring him.
"Wait! Wait! I haven't finishe—"
Ainz, in the midst of Riku's attacks, threw his staff behind himself. He could see that Riku was slightly confused.
Ainz kneeled down immediately.
"Wait! Please wait! Listen to me!"
The greatsword in Riku's hand stopped on its way to Ainz's head.
Because he was immune to critical strikes, he wasn't too scared to lower his defenceless head. He gave an order to the Elemental Skull at the same time.
"I did not mean to clash with Your Excellency. This whole thing started because the Kingdom stole the grain that was meant as food aid to the Holy Kingdom. Between them and us, the greater evil should be obvious. What does Your Excellency think? That we were the greater evil!?"
"...You went too far. There had to be better ways to deal with that."
Ainz raised his head.
Riku's greatsword remained suspended, it seemed like he had no intention to strike him at the moment.
"That is because Your Excellency was not the victim! How would Your Excellency have dealt with this!? When the grain that your countrymen toiled to produce was stolen away!?"
"If you did not have the power that you have, things would not have turned out this way. People with power have to be careful about how they use their power and take responsibility for their actions — I, for example, protect the world. Indeed. This world is under my protection."