The Lizardmen tribes were celebrating their victory over the undead army. What was once five tribes that at one point or another squabbled with each other, was now a united tribe of survivors. Even if the invader was likely to return, they deserved their celebration tonight. Shasuryu seemed to be the only initially determined not to enjoy himself but eventually loosened up at Sukyu pointing out that enjoying themselves is exactly what they should do if a stronger foe were to come eventually. Shasuryu also got a good laugh when Zenberu came back with Zaryusu and Crusch and said he had found the two of them having fun, though with flushed faces each of them called out that they were just resting.
In Nazarick there was a lot for Ainz to deal with when it came to the guardians so he called a meeting before the next Lizardmen battle would happen. He had Victim come as well, letting them know that they would use their special ability should someone attack them with a world item. Though the special ability kills Victim when used the guardian of the eighth floor gladly agreed. Next, he talked to Demiurge about the Abelion sheep due to how great the parchment made from them was, especially for spell scrolls. When Demiurge described how he would harvest their skin and then heal them afterward, he would describe them as two-legged sheep beasts, Ainz's emotion inhibitor kicked in because he suddenly felt a large feeling of dread. "Some of them have refused to eat, as if dying was a better fate for them" Demiurge seemed to have no problem with that as he could just get more "Abelion Sheep." Ainz shook his head "No. you must ensure they eat, we need as much of that parchment as we can. Losing even one of them could make it harder to produce." Ainz just hoped it was actually some chimera sheep beast, but considering the real possibility of what they were, he was surprised how he only felt dread once and then nothing. His talk with Shalltear involved what Albedo had told him before and so to ease Shalltear's depression over her previous betrayal Ainz has decided to punish her later once he has decided a punishment that fits.
Lastly, Cocytus, when asked about how he gained the first loss from Ainz Ooal Gown did not seem worried as he had expected to be berated. Though Albedo was far more scathing than Ainz was when she berated him for it afterward. The reasons Cocytus admitted to his loss were that he had underestimated the Lizardmen as well as his lack of information on them and to topography of the land. He also admitted that only having one commander of the undead army was a factor in his defeat. "Very nice," Ainz said as he was impressed that Cocytus had figured it out "As punishment Cocytus, you will single-handedly wipe out the Lizardmen." Cocytus however said something surprising "If I may request something, it is that we spare the Lizardmen from death."
Albedo walked forward "You dare request something of lord Ainz after your loss Cocytus?!" Ainz lifted one of his hands and eased Albedo before replying, "It depends on your reasons for sparing them." Cocytus would say as warriors the Lizardmen are more useful to Nazarick alive than dead. When Ainz said that undead Lizardmen may produce dead knights stronger than the ones he has made from humans, this made it seem like Ainz rejected Cocytus's request. But then Demiurge raised his hand to make a suggestion. "What if we used the Lizardmen as a government test, to see if we can govern without fear." Ainz accepts this proposal and afterward, Cocytus thanks Demiurge but the demon implies that Ainz likely already thought of this as the outcome. Unaware that in Ainz's room, the overlord was excited but how the meeting went and was happy that it turned out his NPCs were capable of making decisions outside of his commands, Coytus and Demiurge impressed him as he had never thought of the Govern idea till now.
In the Lizardmen Village, the villagers watched on in horror as the large form of Gargantua was seen in the distance behind the large undead army and Ainz along with all the Guardians except for Cocytus. Zaryusa and Shasuryu were sent as envoys. Demiurge used his ability to command them to prostrate themselves and they both unwillingly bowed into the frozen water until Demiurge freed them. They were told by Ainz that in four hours a warrior would show up to battle them. They may send anyone they wish to battle him, if they lose though all Lizardmen are to surrender or face annihilation. If however, they manage to defeat his Warrior, he will never bother them again. After refusing their surrender Ainz and the guardians left.
In the false Nazarick Ainz stared at a throne made from bones. While Demiurge seemed proud of it Ainz just could not find it in himself to sit on it, especially since it made him even more sure of what Demiurge was using to make the parchments. "Shalltear…about that punishment." a few seconds later Shalltear was huffing and her face was red as Ainz sat on her. Albedo's teeth clench in jealousy and after leaving for a few seconds she reports to Aura that a hole suddenly appeared in the outer wall, worrying the Dark Elf as to what Albedo had done to her little false Nazarick. Ainz was regretting this now 'damn it, Shalltear seems way too into this. It feels like I am being punished now! Why Pero-san!' his regrets are only built when he uses a mirror of remote viewing, shortly after watching the Lizardmen prepare to fight he catches two of them mating, Zaryusa and Crusch. The Guardians at first seemed disgusted, but Ainz said he had seen this before and explained it was likely due to the emanated danger and want to preserve their species.
Ainz felt sick. But worse he focused in on Aura and Mare 'Neither of them are old enough to see this! What am I going to do?! How am I supposed to explain it to them if they have questions?!' the only elf he knew was Argent Silver, but since she was a player he doubted she would be much help. Plus she might kill him for asking. He looked around 'Albedo, no, that is a bad idea. Demiurge can explain it from a clinical perspective so he might be the best candidate' he looked at Shalltear who was still enjoying him sitting on her '...might not be the worst idea.'
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Tanya watched from above as the "ground forces" advanced on three sides of the rebel base. Rerugen took the front. The worker group Dragon Hunt took the west side. And the workers Foresight took the east side. Tanya was officially supposed to take the north but she flew above. Dragon Hunt was holding up rather well, though they struggled to shave down the numbers of the rebel army. She was sure the leader of the rebel would use his escape once the tide turned against him, so they needed to thin the numbers as quickly as possible.
Rerugen seemed to be on top of that, and from what Tanya knew of his reincarnation in this world, she was not surprised he looked sadistic but also sympathetic due to how he is in previous lifetimes. "How sad, you all can only bore me," Rerugen said as he dusted himself off before walking around the corpses he had made with just a couple of spells. The Rebel forces that engaged Rerugen started to back up and yell for reinforcements. Rerugen held one hand up which sparked and then one finger to his mouth "Hush. Feel grateful you got me instead of Argent Silver. At least I am merciful."
With Foresight the four members' usage of teamwork kept them from being overwhelmed. Hekkeran protected Imina as the half-elf sniped out the rebel archers. Roberdykc used his skills to fend of others while also tending to Hekkeran's wounds. "Stay down!" Arche yelled as she used another spell to take out four of them. "Damn it, where is their leader, we need to find him!" Arche needed that bonus Silver had promised to the ones who killed the rebel leader. "Don't worry about it Arche, he might be taken care of by the others" Hekkeran said while cutting down three soldiers in one move. "But we have to be the ones to kill him!" Arche sounded desperate and her teammates knew she was. "Easy there, fine, let's wipe these folks out quickly. If we get in the base first we can find the leader as well" Hekkeran said that like it was easy, they had barely taken down half of the enemy by now.
Tanya from above saw the northern rebels move in to reinforce the west and east. "You fools" A sinister yet playful grin appeared on her face, her lovely devil-like smile. "A shame, but at least you'll die without ever knowing how. A quick but painful death." She fired her magic rifle. A large explosion was heard as both Worker groups and the rebels that were fighting them watched in both horror and amazement as in one move the entire northern force was eviscerated, most died instantly, and the rest died from burns caused by the fire spell Tanya imbued into the bullet. The members of Foresight looked up and saw even from where they stood how the leader of this operation seemed happy with this, delighted even. "Just…what is she," Hekkeran asked.
After a few laughs, Tanya looked down at the base, with a sigh she activated a spell known as "god's eye" and a third eye appeared on her forehead. With it she was able to see inside and could see the one person in it, likely the leader, was on the move. She smirked as he seemed to originally be heading for the Northern entrance but likely after hearing a huge explosion, he was heading for another. After watching for a little while, she could see the leader going for one side…
Arche blasted away another soldier she was not having an easy time, she was getting tired because her Mana was running out. However, she noticed someone was leaving the base from their side. "Everyone! Someone is coming!" the other Foresight members looked and saw Zunkin exit. He had a long Claymor and a large golden shield along with his arena champion armor. "ZUNKIN!" the remaining rebels shouted at their leader. "It's him…damn it" Hekkeran sneered, Zunkin was a tough one, if only they could have fought without already wasting a lot of energy on the soldiers.
Zunkin looked around, barely any left on this side. He thought to himself now 'This is bad. What was that up north? Were they wiped out? And how are the others doing?!' he needed to escape, right? He knew that. He's seen Foresight in the Arena and had they fought there he would have been excited, but here, he knew he had to kill them now. "All of you! I will take care of these four, and go to the front. If the front gate falls our supplies are exposed! I will join you there afterward." he lied and watched as his soldiers excitedly moved to the front. He figured whatever mercenary company had hired likely focused their forces on the north and south, using workers to pick off the sidelines. It worked out for him though.
"If you four don't want to die, move, and I will spare your lives." Zunkin readied himself for combat but so did Foresight. "We have to kill him" Arche clenched her staff and fired a Magic arrow that was joined by two regular arrows fired by Imina. Zunkin blocked all of them easily with his shield but he had not realized Hekkeran had used this opportunity to rush him. Hekkeran got only one cut on Zunkin's arms before the claymore was slashed at him. The two swordsman clashed but Zunkin's superior strength sent Hekkeran flying back. Zunkin went to finish Hekkeran off but Imina fired an arrow that he had to block.
Roberdyck and Arche buffed Hekkeran and he was able to stand a better chance against Zunkin. But Zunkin had more skill and better martial arts skills that he used multiple times, he was able to use ones like focus battle aura which broke Hekkeran's two swords and got a nasty cut on his torso. Roberdyck engaged Zunkin in a battle but was ill-prepared and was defeated after just one martial art skill, both men were tossed at Imina before she could fire an arrow and they landed on top of her. "Get off me you two! Wait, Hekkeran you're bleeding too much! Heal him!" Imina shouted as she worried for her lover's life. "On it" Roberdyck had his own wounds but neither were as serious as Hekkerans so he focused on healing their leader.
"Arche don't!" Hekkeran shouted as he saw Arche stand between them and Zunkin. "Get out my way little girl, you four put in a valiant effort, but I am stronger than you" Zunkin spoke bluntly and had a serious expression adorned on his face. He was surprised they managed to wound him a couple of times, but this battle was already decided. "No…" Arche raised her staff "If I don't get that money we were promised for killing you, I'll have no hope of clearing my family's debts." she shakingly started to activate a spell as her mana waned "I'll never have any hope of saving my sisters!"
She ran up to Zunkin and shouted as she did. She barely dodged an attempted claymore strike and tried to fire the spell but was hit to the side by his shield. Arche managed to stand up and fire it just as Zunkin ran for her, but he blocked it last second with his shield and kicked her hard in the stomach. Arche slid on the sandy ground for a second and coughed hard. "I warned you four, leave or die" Zunkin raised his weapon and Arche closed her eyes. "H-huh?" she felt an arm around her and opened her eyes to see Argent Silver holding her close and protecting her by easily holding off the claymore with the butt of her rifle. "You four did well against a former champion," Tanya grinned "Mind if I take it from here?"
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Zaryusa, Shasuryu, Zenberu, Sukyu, and Kyuku approached Cocytus who greeted them and then made two ice pillars, telling them should they pass they die in combat. A bunch of old Lizardmen warriors are the first to engage but Cocytus uses frost aura and they are all frozen and killed instantly, leaving only Zaryusa and the chieftains.
Sukyu uses his slingshot but suck ranged weapons to do no damage to Cocytus. So when Kyuku attempts to attack at the same time he is instantly cut in half. The first chieftain down. Zenberu and Zaryusa confront Cocytus but Zenberu's arm is cut off and he yells in pain, luckily Shasuryu's healing abilities get it back not long after. Zaryusa is knocked away by Cocytus. Annoyed by Sukyu's pointless yet constant ranged attacks Cocytus kills the second chieftain with icicles. Zenberu engages but does not last long and is decapitated.
"It is time brother," Shasuyru said as Zaryusa nodded and took out the gift Turavin gave Zenberu. "Thank you Zenberu, for trusting it to me," Zaryusa said as he crushed the crystal, aura covered Zaryusa, though unaware of the effects Zaryusa felt stronger now. "Hmm, must be a Lizardmen treasure," Cocytus thought and envied their warrior pride in using their own treasures to fight him. "I figured it would come down to you two, what are your names?" Cocytus asked the brothers. "Zaryusa and Shasuryu Shasha." Cocytus readied his blades "I shall remember the names of such warriors.
Zaryusa uses Frost Pain to create a mist and the brother's approach. Shasuryu attacks from above only to be cut down instantly, but that was the brother's plan as Zaryusa attacks from below, Cocytus gasps as despite his passive ability the blade is able to hurt him though only a few points of damage 'is that the crystal?' the guardian thought as he goes to finish off Zaryusa while he still had hold of the weapon. Zaryusa is slain then.
Zaryusa finds himself waking up in Crusch's arms "C-Crusssh? Areth we botheh deadth?" after being brought back to life Zaryusa's speaking ability was a little broken. He had no way of knowing Ainz had agreed to revive him not because he was a warrior but because Crusch had agreed to spy on her own people for it. He bowed to Ainz and asked if the same could be done for his brother and his three friends. Ainz said he would consider it.
Elsewhere Cocytus was still in the great lake lands as he was left to govern the Lizardmen, but he had a little feeling. He looked over at an area and suddenly got a flashback. He briefly remembered when his creator clashed with a horned human, the memory just as quickly left. "I feel…my warrior spirit flaring." far away Turavin started to move having stayed to watch the battle from afar, "hehe, I feel my soldier spirit blaring with anticipation." he left to return to base, but he knew deep down, he had seen someone he had to fight.
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Zunkin backed away after feeling this short elf was strong. Meanwhile, Arche was still held in one of Tanya's arms and she was flustered "U-um thank you, m-miss Silver. Sorry, you had to save me…" This likely meant they lost the bonus, but at least she was alive. "It is alright. You all did your work well. Stay back and watch." Tanya let Arche down, the mage was still flustered even afterward and did a side-eye glare when she noticed her teammates grinning at her.
"Tch, a little elf? Great, more ones that should not be on the battlefield. Where is this pathetic mercenary leader?" Zunkin said in frustration a little pissed off. Tanya grinned "You're looking at her. General Argent Silver at your service. Pleased to meet the leader of the rebellion. If you only weren't such a coward, I might not have enjoyed doing this."
Zunkin gripped his fists, "You dare?! I don't care if you are short or a child I will kill-" Without seeing her move Zunkin felt his claymore get lighter, and saw Tanya flicking half of it to the side, she moved fast enough that he never even saw it. Zunkin's eyes widened as his confidence shrunk. Tanya sighed 'he's level 28, only so far beaten out by that clementine girl in terms of levels. And yet…despite being a so-called champion all he knows how to do is fight the weaker ones and flaunt his power. No wonder El-Nix kicked him out.' she found a new respect for Touch me-san, at least he was what an actual champion should be when they have the title.
Zunkin held up his shield "W-wait! I can pay whatever you want! Even more than the emperor" a lie, he could not meet that monetary promise. Tanya aimed her rifle at him "Be happy, that your soldiers will be spared your fate…well those that remain." one fire and a hole in Zunkin's chest later, and the battle was over, the rebels surrendered and the workers were paid. However, they were paid more if they agreed to help with one thing, help move the rebels, to which they agreed.
At a village being built by both humans and different demi-humans, the latter under command of Silver's army, the Rebels were welcome. per-Zewaurts request all rebels that were alive were brought under the imperial units' care. They were told they would live in this village and help build it up to make up for their crime, that was all. All of them praised Argent Silver, mostly because Zewaurt told them to since it was "by her mercy." Tanya was not thrilled with it.
"Y'all doing okay?" the young chief of the village, Glanz said to the four members of Foresight who were still unsure of how to take all of this. Meanwhile, Dragon Hunt was helping bring in the Rebel's luggage. "Yeah we are fine, I am just shocked Argent Silver would do this for rebels," Hekkeran said after the massacre they saw, he thought they would be brutally executed. Roberdyck rubbed his chin "This village, why do you let a mercenary use it?"
Glanz rubbed the back of his head "She saved us. We have no reason not to give our hospitality. Besides, growing our village after some of us were killed in a raid made us happy. It may be larger now, but I am happy to lead it. Even if I have to give reports to Silver's people." The Foresight member smiled, Arche especially. She saw kids playing and people helping one another, parents being kind, and the large walls and mercenaries around meant it was protected. "I…I want to bring my sisters here." Arche said out loud without realizing it.
Hekkeran smirked "Yes I am sure you only want to be here for that reason. Oh hey look there is your hero, hey Miss Silver!" he shouted over to Tanya who was talking with one of her footsoldier NPCs. Arche's mouth opened agape her cheeks flushed red "H-Hekkeran don't you dare tease me about Silver saving me!"
"What about me?" Tanya's appearance made Arche jump a bit as she got here quickly. "N-nothing, Hekkeran, tell her!" Arche was to flustered to ask herself. Hekkeran and the other two teammates grinned and he looked at Tanya. "Miss Silver, the four of us were wondering if we could join your mercenary company. I know that we did not exactly…defeat the leader but we did take down a lot of their soldiers beforehand. We have other feats as well." Hekkeran had winged that question as he figured it would be good money and also bring Arche closer to Silver.
Tanya looked at the four of them and shook her head "I am…not currently looking for new soldiers." she said this because she only needed an army and strong soldiers, by her standards at least, they would not fill a roll in either. Arche sulked and Imina rubbed her back. Hekkeran rubbed the back of his head "I-I see. Well, that is shame…" Before they walked away Tanya told them to wait and motioned at Glanz "We could however use skillful people like you to guard this village as it is of strategic importance to us. I, of course, would make sure your families are brought here as well if you wanted it. And I am sure Glanz is fine with it." Glanz nodded "Sure am, you four seem like good people."
Arche's heartbeat, it was a perfect opportunity, a steady job and a way to move her sister here for free all while working near them. However, she only wanted to do it if all of Foresight was in, and they did not seem too excited about it. "We would have to give up being workers, wouldn't we?" Hekkeran asked to which Tanya nodded "Yes, you all having different jobs means you will not be able to work efficiently here." she remembers firing people not because they had multiple jobs but because sometimes they had them at the same time as their job at the company she worked for, so in her first life she often fired them as she was told to.
Hekkeran looked at the others, Roberdykc and Imina seemed conflicted by nodded to indicate they would be fine with whatever he decided. He could already see how Arche liked the offer but was avoiding eye contact with him to not give it away. He sighed "Can you give us some time to think about it? We already had a couple of jobs lined up after yours anyways" he lied a little but he would like to work at least a few more big jobs before they retired from the game, if they did at all.
Tanya crossed her arms and after a few seconds of thinking she told him "Fine. But don't keep me waiting for an answer regardless of if it is a yes or a no. I don't have patience for those who ignore my offers." Foresight left soon after. A lot to think about and decide. And Tanya prepared for one thing, to head to the kingdom in her adventurer outfit, it was time to meet again with "Momon."
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