Chapter 66

Pembantaian

(Re) Diterjemahkan oleh Nigel

Diedit / Proofread oleh Deus Ex Machina

Bagian 1

Kedua pasukan membentuk garis pertempuran mereka di sepanjang lereng yang lembut dari dataran merah tua, saling menatap ke bawah.

Pasukan Kerajaan yang menakjubkan itu adalah 245.000 orang kuat, terbagi menjadi sayap kiri 70.000 pria, sayap kanan terdiri dari 70.000 pria, dan satu kolom pusat 105.000 pria, dengan terampil berkemah di sepanjang tiga bukit. Namun, perkemahan ini tidak dikelilingi oleh pagar kayu, tetapi terbentuk dari sekelompok besar pasukan.

Lima jajaran infanteri terdepan membawa tombak dua tangan, masing-masing dengan mudah sepanjang enam meter, dan mereka dibentuk menjadi garis tombak menjadi garis tombak.

Tugas mereka adalah menggantikan pagar anti-kavaleri untuk melawan kavaleri berat yang merupakan inti dari kekuatan tempur Kekaisaran. Mereka tidak menggunakan pagar anti-kavaleri sebenarnya karena alasan sederhana; melindungi banyak orang akan membutuhkan jumlah kayu yang konyol. Untuk pasukan besar, lebih baik memanfaatkan garis tombak.

Meskipun formasi ini cukup solid dan menghadirkan banyak masalah bagi penyerang, ia memiliki kelemahan juga.

Karena formasi itu padat dan senjata yang dibawa sangat berat, hanya itu yang bisa mereka lakukan hanya untuk tetap di tempat dan mencegah serangan musuh. Karena itu, mereka tidak memiliki kemampuan untuk bereaksi cepat terhadap manuver musuh, dan jika Kekaisaran menggunakan bowmen atau sihir, kerugian mereka akan berat.

Dan lagi, tidak banyak lagi yang diharapkan dari petani belaka. Yang diperlukan hanyalah mereka menangkis serangan pertama musuh.

Di sisi lain, Kekaisaran memiliki 60.000 orang.

Jumlah mereka jauh lebih rendah daripada jumlah Kerajaan.

Namun, para ksatria Kekaisaran santai, tanpa sedikit pun rasa takut. Mereka tidak merasa kehilangan sama sekali.

Keyakinan ini datang dari mengetahui kekuatan pribadi mereka sendiri.

Meski begitu, itu adalah fakta sederhana bahwa ada perbedaan besar dalam kekuatan militer kedua belah pihak. Meskipun itu tidak akan menjadi masalah jika mereka bisa bertarung selamanya tanpa kelelahan, mereka hanya manusia. Begitu mereka lelah, bahkan perbedaan kemampuan individu mereka pada akhirnya akan terbawa.

Kerajaan juga memiliki satu keuntungan lagi, yang besar.

Itulah nilai setiap individu.

Sebagian besar pasukan Kerajaan terdiri dari pungutan petani. Sebaliknya, Kekaisaran menerjunkan tentara profesional yang disebut ksatria. Seorang petani hanya diharapkan untuk memegang senjata, sementara masing-masing ksatria Kekaisaran dilatih dengan cermat. Setiap kerugian oleh Kekaisaran lebih terasa daripada kerugian yang sama oleh Kerajaan. Kekaisaran sama sekali tidak mampu menyia-nyiakan ksatria mereka dalam serangan bodoh atau perang gesekan.

Karena itu, pertempuran sengit di medan terbuka seperti ini menguntungkan Kerajaan.

Karena itu, pertempuran yang terjadi antara Kekaisaran dan Kerajaan biasanya merupakan pertempuran kecil.

Sasaran Kekaisaran akan tercapai hanya dengan menarik budak Kerajaan ke medan perang. Tidak perlu menyia-nyiakan sumber daya manusia yang berharga, dan Kerajaan juga tahu ini.

Arak-arakan skrip ini adalah apa yang berlaku untuk "perang" antara Kekaisaran dan Kerajaan.

Bahkan jika magic caster bernama Ainz Ooal Gown ambil bagian, itu masih akan berakhir dalam pertempuran kecil. Itulah yang dipikirkan sebagian besar bangsawan Kerajaan. Lagipula, para ksatria Kekaisaran bukan hanya pasukan militer, tetapi juga pasukan polisi. Mereka adalah orang-orang yang melindungi keselamatan Kekaisaran. Kerugian yang tak perlu bagi mereka akan mengancam stabilitas Kekaisaran.

Jadi, para bangsawan menunggu langkah Kekaisaran selanjutnya.

Secara tradisi, pasukan Kekaisaran akan berpawai di hadapan pasukan Kerajaan, dan kemudian jatuh kembali. Kerajaan kemudian akan terdengar seruan kemenangan.

Begitulah biasanya.

Namun—

Tentara Kekaisaran tidak bergerak.

Masih ada yang tersisa sejak mereka dikerahkan dari istana seperti benteng dan mengatur diri mereka di hadapan pasukan Kerajaan. Seolah-olah mereka sedang menunggu Kerajaan untuk melakukan langkah pertama, atau untuk sesuatu yang lain.

"Mereka tidak bergerak. Apa yang sedang terjadi?"

Ini di markas tempat Raja berada. Itu terletak di belakang sejumlah 105.000 pria.

Marquis Raeven berdiri di samping Gazef, berbicara pelan ketika dia mengamati para ksatria Kekaisaran yang tidak bergerak dari tempat teraman yang bisa dia temukan, sebuah titik pengamatan di atas sebuah bukit yang sedikit lebih tinggi dari yang lain.

Jika Kekaisaran tidak bergerak, maka Kerajaan juga tidak bisa.

Serangan oleh Kerajaan sekarang akan sangat bodoh, mengingat bahwa mereka telah membentuk garis tombak mereka. Suatu ketika para bangsawan telah mencoba serangan pre-emptive pada Kekaisaran. Namun, para penyerang telah dibantai dalam waktu singkat, dan Kerajaan menderita kerugian yang signifikan sebagai hasilnya.

Sejak saat itu, taktik Kerajaan yang disukai melawan Kekaisaran adalah membentuk garis tombak dan bersiap untuk menerima tuduhan. Karena musuh mau mundur, tidak perlu ada perampokan yang berisiko.

"Baiklah kalau begitu. Sepertinya mereka sedang menunggu kita … "

"Deklarasi terakhir telah dibuat, jadi mereka harus segera bergabung dengan pertempuran … Prajurit-Kapten― Gazef-dono, apakah kamu memiliki ide tentang apa yang mungkin ditunggu oleh Kekaisaran?"

Tiga puluh menit yang lalu, perwakilan dari kedua pasukan telah memulai negosiasi di daerah tengah di antara mereka. Memang, itu hanya pernyataan kondisi yang tidak dapat diterima dari kedua belah pihak yang lebih merupakan permainan panggung daripada arbitrase yang sebenarnya. Tujuan sebenarnya adalah untuk menunjukkan bahwa masing-masing pihak berbelas kasih dan bersedia untuk menghindari perang sampai saat-saat terakhir.

Tentu saja, negosiasi akan gagal, dan itu akan menjadi sinyal untuk memulai pertempuran

Jika mereka mengikuti contoh tahun-tahun sebelumnya, Angkatan Darat Kekaisaran seharusnya mulai segera pindah. Namun, ini bukan masalahnya. Mereka tetap diam.

"Saya tidak punya ide. Apakah Anda tahu sesuatu tentang ini? "

"Seolah-olah. Saya tidak terlalu terbiasa dengan masalah militer. Saya biasanya membiarkan bawahan saya yang menangani itu. ”

"Entah bagaimana, gagasan bahwa Marquis yang bijak tidak akan tahu apa-apa tentang musuhnya terdengar seperti kebohongan."

"Kebohongan … Aku tidak menyangka kamu akan langsung, Gazef-dono."

"Apakah aku memberimu pelanggaran? Saya minta maaf jika saya lakukan. "

“Hahaha, tidak, tidak ada yang diambil. Anda jauh lebih ramah sekarang daripada saat itu. "

Alis Gazef berkerut, saat dia merasakan duri dalam kata-kata itu.

"Ha ha ha. Ambillah apa adanya. Itu fakta bahwa saya bukan jenderal dan itu bukan dusta. Kebetulan salah satu bawahan saya adalah pemimpin yang baik, jadi saya menyerahkan urusan militer kepadanya. "

"Mungkinkah … salah satu mantan petualang yang bekerja untukmu, orang-orang yang menjadi terkenal selama gangguan iblis di ibukota?"

"Ah tidak. Mereka ada di sana."

Raven menunjuk sekelompok lima pria yang berdiri bersama.

Meskipun mereka semua memasuki usia pertengahan, dan kekuatan mereka tidak seperti dulu, mereka adalah petualang orichalcum di masa jayanya, dan ada sesuatu tentang cara mereka membawa diri mereka sendiri yang membuat Gazef merasa bahwa dia tidak bisa anggap enteng.

"Mereka akan menjadi pengawalku selama pertempuran."

"Dengan orang-orang seperti ini yang melindungimu, Marquis Raeven, aku yakin kamu tidak akan memiliki masalah untuk kembali dengan selamat ke Ibukota Kerajaan … yah, selama mereka tidak menghadapi kastor sihir yang hebat itu. Ups, saya hampir lupa; bagaimana dengan ahli strategi Anda? "

"Saya kira Anda tidak akan mengenalnya karena dia orang biasa dari domain saya, Gazef-dono. Ketika gerombolan Goblin menyerang desanya, ia mengalahkan mereka dengan sekelompok penduduk desa setengah dari ukuran mereka, dan dengan demikian ia menarik perhatian saya. Sejak itu, saya telah mempercayakan kepadanya dengan perintah pasukan rumah saya dan berbagai tugas lainnya. Kejutan besar adalah bahwa dia tidak pernah kalah dalam pertempuran. Saya juga memberinya posisi tinggi sebagai ajudan saya. ”

"Saya ingin melihat komandan ini yang sangat Anda puji, Marquis Raeven. Jika ia benar-benar semua yang Anda katakan, kami mungkin akan memberinya perintah dari pasukan bersenjata Kerajaan. "

"Jika kamu memberikannya kepadanya … memberinya perintah lengkap dari militer, dan Tentara Kerajaan bergerak bersama di bawah komandonya, kita mungkin bisa berperang yang membuat tetangga kita duduk dan berkata, 'Pasukan Re- Estize Kingdom tidak bisa diremehkan '… ”

Gazef bertukar pandang dengan Raeven, menghela nafas, dan kemudian tersenyum lelah.

"Para bangsawan tidak akan pernah membiarkan orang biasa naik ke stasiun seperti itu. Itu tidak lebih dari fantasi kosong saat ini. "

"Tentu saja tidak sementara para bangsawan dibagi menjadi faksi-faksi mereka."

Kekaisaran mengatur pasukannya dengan menunjuk seorang jenderal di atas masing-masing, di bawahnya melayani komandan divisi, komandan brigade, dan perwira lainnya, semua dalam resimenasi yang ketat.

Sebaliknya, pasukan Kerajaan terdiri dari pasukan rumah dan pungutan yang dapat dikerahkan masing-masing bangsawan Kerajaan. Raja adalah komandan keseluruhan, tetapi setiap tuan rumah akan bertindak sesuai keinginan mereka atau faksi mereka.

Sederhananya, itu rag-tag sekelompok misfits.

Meskipun Gazef memiliki gelar Warrior-Captain, pada akhirnya, dia hanya komandan band prajurit yang secara langsung loyal kepada Raja, dan dia tidak memiliki wewenang untuk memberikan perintah kepada para bangsawan. Sementara itu mungkin bagi Raja untuk memerintahkan para bangsawan untuk mendengarkan Gazef, para bangsawan selalu meremehkan Gazef orang biasa, dan hal itu akan menabur benih dendam di masa depan. Raja sadar akan hal ini, maka ia memerintahkan agar Gazef tidak akan melakukan hal seperti itu.

Keduanya mempertimbangkan tempat mereka di Kerajaan, dan menghela nafas berat. Kemudian, mereka bertukar pandang, dan tertawa.

Percakapan ini seharusnya dilakukan di tempat lain, bukan pada saat bentrokan pedang dan pertumpahan darah.

"Bahkan jika kita kembali ke rumah hidup-hidup, masih akan ada medan perang yang menunggu di sana …"

"Bukankah itu tentang menjadi bangsawan?"

"Setelah ini selesai, aku akan mengajukan petisi kepada Raja untuk mengangkatmu menjadi bangsawan. Membuat saya marah bahwa seseorang yang menyebut dirinya pedang Raja tidak terlibat dengan masyarakat yang mulia seperti yang seharusnya. "

Meskipun Raeven tampak seperti bercanda, Gazef dapat mengetahui dari cahaya di matanya bahwa amarahnya tulus.

Ketika seseorang yang terampil menyembunyikan perasaan mereka mengungkapkannya kepada diri sendiri, itu akan menjadi alasan untuk perayaan. Namun, itu masalah yang berbeda jika itu bukan emosi positif. Gazef dengan cepat mengubah topik pembicaraan.

"… Mari kita kesampingkan itu untuk saat ini. Mengapa kita tidak membawa strategi-dono milikmu itu, dan mendengar pendapatnya … ah, memanggilnya akan sulit. "

“Lagipula, aku mempercayakan padanya dengan base campku. Saya tidak berani memindahkannya secara tidak perlu saat kami tidak tahu apa yang sedang dilakukan Kekaisaran. "

Meskipun para bangsawan semuanya berjanji untuk bekerja sama untuk Kerajaan, pada akhirnya, kepemilikan Raeven masih menjadi prioritas utamanya. Wajar jika dia menolak.

"Haaaah … sama seperti biasanya, tapi aku tidak suka ketegangan di udara. Meskipun saya sebenarnya tidak ingin Kekaisaran menyerang kita, mereka harus bergegas dan melakukannya jika mereka akan pergi dan menghindarkan kita dari kecemasan menunggu. "

Gazef bisa merasakan kegelisahan dari pasukan Kerajaan. Ketika dia mencoba melihat dari mana asalnya, dia mengerutkan alisnya.

"…Saya melihat. Ketika Anda memikirkannya, ini mungkin strategi Imperial untuk membuat kita cemas sebelum mereka bergerak. Sulit untuk mengoordinasikan dan mengendalikan begitu banyak tentara, sehingga gentar sedikit pun dalam unit apa pun dapat diperbesar menjadi gangguan besar pada akhirnya. Sekelompok besar sulit diserang, tetapi begitu orang-orang itu keluar dari kawanan dan lari, mereka akan dengan mudah diburu dan dibunuh. Itu adalah prinsip yang sama yang digunakan hewan untuk berburu. "

Raeven yang terkejut mengikuti garis pandang Gazef ke pasukan yang tampak khawatir di sayap kiri, dan kemudian kesadaran muncul di wajahnya.

"Itu … sepertinya mereka memutar pasukan di dalam ke garis depan."

"Kita tidak perlu khawatir jika mereka hanya mengatur ulang formasi mereka …"

"Itu bendera Marquis Bowlorobe. Sepertinya komandan sayap kiri bergerak sendiri ke depan. "

Kerajaan menempatkan Fraksi Mulia di kedua sayap, sedangkan yang dari Fraksi Kerajaan terkonsentrasi di tengah.

Raja Ranpossa III adalah komandan keseluruhan kolom tengah, sedangkan Marquis Bowlorobe memimpin sayap kiri.

“Memindahkan perintah seseorang ke kepala formasi sangat aneh. Apakah kamu melihat, Gazef-dono? Marquis menggerakkan pasukan elit yang langsung setia pada dirinya sendiri. Rencananya adalah untuk membedakan dirinya dalam pertempuran melawan para ksatria Kekaisaran yang kuat secara individual, di bawah mata dan telinga para bangsawan yang berkumpul. Dengan begitu dia akan membuat reputasi untuk dirinya sendiri sebagai penguasa unit terkuat di Kerajaan. "

Raeven memberikan pandangan yang menantang ke Gazef. Apakah Anda akan membiarkan orang lain mendapatkan kemuliaan yang lebih besar daripada band prajurit kesayangan Anda, katanya?

Gazef tidak menerima umpan.

“Tugas band prajurit adalah untuk melindungi Raja. Kami tidak akan bergerak tanpa perintah langsung Raja, bahkan jika Kekaisaran menuntutnya. Tidak ada tugas yang lebih besar bagi kita selain memastikan kembalinya Raja yang aman ke ibukota. "

Gazef mengetuk pedang di pinggangnya.

"Tetap saja, mungkin saja aku bisa mengerahkan diriku untuk menumpulkan serangan musuh."

"Itu salah satu dari empat harta Kerajaan, Razor Edge … ah, begitu."

Marquis Raeven melangkah mundur, dan mempelajari Gazef dari atas ke bawah.

Sarung tangan Vitalitas, yang meniadakan kelelahan. Amulet Keabadian, yang memungkinkannya memulihkan luka-lukanya. The Guardian Armor, dibuat dari logam paling keras yang dikenal manusia (adamantite), dan terpesona dengan sihir yang menangkis pukulan mematikan. Dan akhirnya, Razor Edge, sebuah pedang sihir yang dibuat untuk mencapai ketajaman absolut, yang bisa mengukir baju zirah yang terpesona seperti pisaunya pisau panas melalui mentega.

“Sekarang setelah kamu sepenuhnya dilengkapi dengan semua harta ini, kamu adalah harta terbesar Kerajaan. Saya pernah mendengar bahwa Kerajaan itu sebenarnya memiliki lima harta, tetapi tampaknya semuanya sudah dikumpulkan sejak awal. ”

Gazef memerah karena dia dibandingkan dengan harta itu, meskipun dia tahu itu hanya sanjungan.

"Ah, beri aku istirahat, Marquis Raeven. Raja jauh lebih besar dari saya. Yang Mulia tahu apa artinya mempercayakan hal-hal ini kepada orang biasa seperti saya, tetapi dia tetap melakukannya. "

"Itu pendapat yang masuk akal. Jujur berbicara, saya pernah berpikir bahwa itu bodoh untuk mengumumkan bahwa dia akan menyerahkannya kepada orang biasa (Anda). Semua yang akan dicapai adalah membuat lebih banyak orang meninggalkan Fraksi Kerajaan. Namun, sekarang saya berdiri di samping Anda di medan perang, saya tidak dapat membantu tetapi berpikir bahwa itu adalah langkah yang ahli. Kamu terlalu egois. ”

"Kalau saja aku bisa memenuhi harapanmu …"

Gazef memandangi barisan kesatria Ksatria yang terlatih.

Dia tidak berpikir ada lawan yang kuat di Kekaisaran selain "Tri-Arts" Fluder Paradyne. Sekarang setelah dia diperlengkapi seperti ini, dia bahkan berani memendam harapan samar bahwa dia mungkin bisa mengalahkan Fluder.

Di sisi lain, dia tidak merasa punya kesempatan untuk mengalahkan Ainz Ooal Gown.

Dia bahkan tidak bisa membayangkan kemungkinan.

Tidak peduli seberapa keras dia mencoba untuk berpikir positif dan mempertimbangkan bagaimana hal-hal yang menguntungkannya, satu-satunya pikiran yang muncul di benaknya adalah dirinya sendiri yang langsung dibunuh oleh magic caster misterius.

"Apa yang salah?"

"Tidak apa-apa …"

Dia tahu dia adalah pejuang terhebat di Kerajaan. Membiarkan dirinya terlihat lemah hanya akan menurunkan moral tentara.

"Ah, tidak … aku hanya merasa kasihan pada Pangeran Barbro …"

"Merasa menyesal? … Mungkinkah … aku mengerti. Apakah begitu? Gazef-dono, kau juga merasa … aku mengerti. ”

"Apa yang kamu coba katakan?"

"Maksudku, jangan bilang kau merasa bahwa Raja mengirim pangeran ke Desa Carne sehingga dia tidak bisa membedakan dirinya sendiri …?"

"Apakah bukan ini masalahnya?"

Raeven tersenyum tipis.

“Mhm, jauh dari itu. Saya merasa bahwa Yang Mulia benar-benar menaruh kepercayaan pada Anda, Gazef-dono. "

Marquis Raeven memutuskan untuk menjelaskan ketika dia melihat bahwa Gazef tidak mengerti sama sekali

“Mengingat bahwa Kapten Prajurit-Raja yang paling tepercaya sangat waspada terhadap lawan yang bernama Ainz Ooal Gown, itu hanya diharapkan bahwa Raja akan berjaga-jaga terhadapnya juga. Raja tidak ingin mengambil risiko putranya yang tercinta dalam pertempuran dengan jumlah yang tidak diketahui seperti itu, jadi dia ingin mengirimnya ke tempat yang aman, bahkan jika dia hanya dapat membuat beberapa prestasi kecil di sana … Meskipun, jujur ​​saja, aku yang dulu akan kesal dengan cara Raja hanya peduli dengan putranya ketika begitu banyak orang mengirim anak-anak mereka ke medan perang. ”

Raeven tersenyum dengan sikap kebapakan.

“Tentu saja, aku mengerti mengapa dia melakukan hal seperti itu sekarang. Saya telah melakukan hal yang sama untuk memastikan kesejahteraan anak saya. "

"Ah, Marquis. Itu hal yang sangat unutk dikatakan. "

Raeven tersenyum. Gazef merasa itu tidak seperti dirinya, yang merupakan pemikiran yang cukup kasar, namun senyumnya adalah bagian yang sama, bahagia dan bangga.

“Yah, bagaimanapun, aku seorang ayah. Saya berjanji kepada putra saya bahwa, setelah pertempuran ini selesai, saya akan bermain dengannya sebanyak yang dia inginkan, seperti ayah normal. Ah – kita sudah keluar dari topik. Mari kita tinggalkan semuanya. Meskipun … tampaknya Pangeran Barbro tidak cukup memahami sudut pandang Raja. Rasanya sedikit sedih bagaimana ayahnya tidak bisa menyampaikan perasaannya kepada putranya. "

Gazef menderita tentang bagaimana menjawabnya. Sulit baginya, yang tidak memiliki anak sendiri, untuk menempatkan dirinya ke dalam pola pikir itu.

"Benar, benar. Ngomong-ngomong, mungkinkah mereka meluncurkan serangan menyelinap ke E-Rantel dengan pasukan terpisah? Meskipun itu akan disukai, mereka mungkin melakukan apa saja untuk menang. "

Gazef berpikir bahwa perubahan topik itu sangat dipaksakan, tetapi yang mengejutkannya, Raeven berlari dengannya.

“Bukan hal yang mudah untuk menyerang E-Rantel, dipertahankan seperti halnya dengan tiga lapis dinding gordennya. Bahkan jika dua legiun Kekaisaran yang tersisa dimobilisasi secara penuh, itu akan menjadi tugas yang sulit bagi mereka. Ahli strategi saya juga mengatakan musuh tidak akan melakukan hal seperti itu. "

"Apakah itu? Bagaimana jika mereka memiliki binatang terbang, atau semacam legiun rahasia? ”

"Itu masih tidak mungkin. Pada akhirnya, sangat sulit untuk mengendalikan kota dengan sejumlah kecil pria … Omong-omong, Gazef-dono. Apakah Anda tahu kondisi yang diperlukan untuk sepenuhnya mendominasi E-Rantel? "

Gazef menggelengkan kepalanya.

“Seseorang harus menghadapi Kerajaan dalam pertempuran terbuka dan mendapatkan kemenangan yang luar biasa. Jika agresor nyaris tidak berhasil menang, mengatur populasi yang ditaklukkan akan sangat sulit. Warga tidak akan merespons dengan baik terhadap penjajah dan pasti akan ada gerakan perlawanan. Jadi, bahkan jika Kekaisaran menggunakan kekuatan terpisah untuk menyerang E-Rantel, selama tentara kita tidak tersentuh, mereka akan segera mengambil kembali kota. Karena itu, Kekaisaran membutuhkan kemenangan total. Dengan itu, warga akan ketakutan sampai-sampai mereka bahkan tidak bisa berpikir untuk melawan, dan mereka tidak akan bisa mengerahkan pasukan. "

Yang penting adalah bahwa Kekaisaran harus menang di sini. Selain itu, mereka harus mencapai kemenangan yang begitu lengkap dan absolut sehingga tidak ada negara di sekitarnya ─ khususnya Kerajaan, yang dapat langsung mengerahkan pasukannya untuk merebut kembali kota ─ akan berani berpikir untuk bergerak.

Tiba-tiba, Gazef merasa bahwa dia telah menyatukan semua potongan puzzle. Namun, gambar yang mereka bentuk di luar pemahamannya.

Perasaan samar-samar tidak disukai menyiksa Gazef.

"Apa yang salah, Gazef-dono?

"Tidak…"

Gazef ingin memberi tahu Raeven tentang serpihan-serpihan teka-teki yang berhasil dia sapu bersama di kepalanya. Dia percaya bahwa Raeven, dengan kecerdasannya yang superior, dapat menggali wawasan dari mereka bahwa dia tidak bisa. Namun, pada saat itu, mata Marquis kembali ke formasi Imperial.

"Gazef-dono. Sepertinya mereka membuat langkah mereka. "

Tentara Kekaisaran berpisah menjadi dua, untuk membuat jalan. Ketika Gazef bertanya-tanya apakah mereka berencana untuk menyerang sayap kiri dan kanan pasukan Kerajaan, dia melihat bendera asing naik ke udara.

Itu adalah bendera yang belum pernah dilihat Gazef sebelumnya, dihiasi dengan lambang aneh yang bukan milik Kerajaan maupun Kekaisaran. Grup yang mendekati bendera maju.

Semua mata tertuju pada perusahaan itu.

Dan kemudian … Jantung Gazef menjadi dingin karena ketakutan. Raeven, yang berdiri di sampingnya dan melihat hal yang sama ia lakukan, menelan ludah. Mengetahui bahwa dia tidak sendirian dalam perasaannya, kepahitan mulai naik di bagian belakang mulutnya, dan jantungnya berdebar kencang.

Itu adalah pasukan yang aneh.

Yang muncul adalah sekelompok sekitar 500 pembalap. Tampaknya sama sekali tidak signifikan dibandingkan dengan dua tentara yang saling berhadapan.

Namun, pasukan itu sangat tidak normal. Mereka sepertinya memancarkan udara yang menindas yang bisa dirasakannya dari jauh.

Itu membangkitkan kenangan Gazef dari masa hidupnya di Carne Village. Ada monster berbentuk ksatria saat itu, yang dikatakan Ainz telah dia ciptakan. Ada sekitar 200 dari mereka sekarang, para prajurit yang membawa perisai besar dan mengenakan baju besi berduri.

Sisanya sama-sama prajurit yang tidak berperikemanusiaan, tetapi mereka mengenakan baju kulit, dan mereka dipersenjatai dengan kapak, tombak, busur panah atau senjata serupa.

Jika mantan ksatria, maka yang terakhir bisa disebut prajurit.

Tapi apa pun itu, mereka bukan manusia. Mereka adalah monster, sampai ke sumsum tulang mereka.

Dan kemudian, monster-monster itu mengendarai monster mereka sendiri. Makhluk-makhluk itu adalah binatang dari tulang, dengan kabut yang berkedip-kedip menggantikan darah dan daging mereka. Kabut berkilau di mana-mana, nanah berwarna kuning dan hijau zamrud.

Merinding tumbuh di seluruh tubuhnya.

Ini buruk.

Ini sangat buruk.

Itu pernyataan yang kabur, tapi Gazef tidak punya kata-kata untuk menggambarkan situasi lebih jelas dari ini.

"… Jadi Kekaisaran telah memasukkan monster ke dalam barisan mereka, tampaknya. Ini cukup mengejutkan. Itu membuat saya merinding. "

"…Tidak. Tidak, Marquis Raeven. Bukan itu masalahnya. Apa yang dirasakan Marquis sekarang … apa yang mengisi tubuhmu dengan merinding … jelas bukan kejutan. ”

"Lalu apa itu?"

Melihat Raeven benar-benar bingung, Gazef menjawab singkat.

"Itu adalah ketakutan akan kematian. Itu memicu naluri bertahan hidup dasar Anda. "

Memalingkan matanya dari Raeven yang terlihat terguncang, Gazef memandangi Tentara Kekaisaran.

“Kuda-kuda itu malu-malu. Bahkan para prajurit perang yang terlatih dan keras ini sangat ketakutan sehingga mereka tidak bisa bergerak. "

"…Apakah mereka? Pembagian rahasia Kekaisaran? "

"…Mustahil. Monster itu bukanlah benda yang bisa dikendalikan atau digunakan manusia! ”

Gazef tidak tahu apa-apa tentang identitas sebenarnya dari monster-monster ini, tetapi naluri prajuritnya memberikan cukup informasi baginya untuk berbicara secara meyakinkan.

"Tidak ada keraguan tentang itu … mereka harus menjadi ksatria Ainz Ooal Gown!"

"Apakah itu! … Apakah itu pasukan magic caster yang kamu takuti ?!"

“Marquis Raeven! Tolong kumpulkan mantan petualang dengan segera! Tanyakan kepada mereka apa langkah terbaik kami! Mereka pernah bertarung dengan banyak monster di masa lalu dan selamat; tolong minta mereka untuk berbagi kebijaksanaan mereka dengan kami! "

"Tidak-"

Dia mungkin ingin menjawab bahwa dia mengerti, tetapi pengawalnya lebih cepat dari itu, dan sudah bergerak untuk melindunginya. Namun, itu hanya diharapkan. Mereka telah merasakan kekuatan ancaman ini sebelum Gazef melakukannya.

"Marquis Raeven!"

Petualang yang sebelumnya peringkat orichalcum naik dengan menunggang kuda.

"Apakah kamu melihatnya? Apakah kamu merasakannya?"

Pimpinan petualang adalah pemimpin mereka, paladin Dewa Api, Boris Axelson.

Dalam suaranya ada getaran ketakutan yang tidak bisa dia sembunyikan.

Raeven tidak bisa bicara. Gazef mengerti mengapa.

Ada nada ketakutan dalam suara petualang yang sebelumnya peringkat orichalcum, di tempat yang dipertahankan oleh pasukan yang begitu luas.

Gazef merasa bahwa ini bukan lagi waktu untuk etiket, dan bertanya:

"-Katakan padaku! Apa itu? Tidak perlu menyapa saya! Tolong beritahu saya semua yang Anda tahu, kalian semua !! ”

Boris mencengkeram simbol suci yang menjuntai di lehernya. Itu adalah sikap menangkal.

"… Kami tidak bisa memastikan, tapi kami percaya makhluk yang mereka naiki adalah monster legendaris yang dikenal sebagai Pemakan Jiwa. Mereka dikatakan sebagai makhluk mayat hidup yang haus akan jiwa orang yang hidup. Menurut legenda, mereka pernah muncul di tengah benua, di kota Kerajaan Beastmen. ”

"Lalu … berapa banyak korban di sana?"

Kata-kata yang diucapkan Boris terdengar diam secara tidak wajar.

"—100.000."

Napas tersangkut di tenggorokan Gazef.

"… Mereka mengatakan tiga Pemakan Jiwa muncul, dan mereka menghancurkan kota. 95% dari populasi, lebih dari 100.000 orang, meninggal sebagai akibatnya. Kota itu ditinggalkan, dan itu disebut Kota Senyap. ”

Keheningan menyelimuti kelompok itu.

"… Dan ada 500 dari mereka di luar sana?"

Tidak ada yang bisa mengumpulkan kekuatan untuk menjawab Raeven.

Gazef memaksakan kata-katanya untuk memecah keheningan.

"Seperti yang aku katakan sebelumnya, aku merasa sulit untuk percaya bahwa Kekaisaran bisa menaklukkan monster tingkat itu dengan kekuatan mereka sendiri. Bahkan magic caster yang hebat itu, Fluder Paradyne, seharusnya tidak bisa melakukannya. Itu berarti-"

Dia tidak perlu menyelesaikan kalimatnya. Marquis Raeven mengerti.

"Apakah … apakah itu kekuatan Ainz Ooal Gown? Lalu, lalu … makhluk macam apa yang menunggang monster itu? "

"Bahwa…"

Para petualang saling memandang dengan gugup.

"─Kami tidak tahu. Satu-satunya hal yang kami yakini adalah mereka pasti sangat berbahaya. Tidak, saya minta maaf, saya seharusnya tidak menggunakan istilah yang tidak jelas seperti berbahaya. Namun, saya tidak dapat memikirkan kata-kata lain untuk menggambarkan apa yang kita hadapi sekarang. "

“Lalu, lalu apa yang harus kita lakukan? Gazef-dono? "

Menanggapi pertanyaan panik Raeven, Gazef menjawab dengan singkat dan jelas.

"Mundur."

Mereka sudah tahu bahwa musuh telah menyiapkan kekuatan yang menakjubkan. Dengan mengingat hal itu, apa lagi yang bisa mereka lakukan selain berlari?

"Sarankan Raja untuk memerintahkan retre—"

Gazef tidak bisa menyelesaikan kalimatnya.

Itu karena seorang magic caster bertopeng berdiri di kepala musuh. Di sebelah kanannya ada orang pendek dengan jubah berkerudung. Di sebelah kirinya berdiri salah satu dari Empat Ksatria Kekaisaran.

Bahkan pada jarak sejauh ini, Gazef tidak mungkin salah mengira orang itu untuk orang lain

"… Gaun-dono."

"Apakah itu magic caster yang hebat, Ainz Ooal Gown ?!"

"Apakah dia yang memanggil para Pelahap Jiwa? Dia? Marquis Raeven, kita— "

Prajurit yang tak kenal takut dari pertempuran yang tak terhitung jumlahnya menelan banyak, dan melanjutkan dengan suara rendah.

"—Apa yang kita bertarung di sini ?!"

Ainz melambaikan tangannya. Sebagai tanggapan, sebuah lingkaran sihir muncul, sekitar sepuluh meter dalam radius dan berbentuk seperti kubah. Itu terpusat padanya. Orang-orang di sebelah kiri dan kanannya diliputi olehnya, tetapi mereka tampak baik-baik saja. Tampaknya lingkaran sihir tidak membahayakan sekutu.

Pemandangan yang fantastis ini menarik perhatian semua orang, bahkan jika mereka tahu ini adalah situasi darurat.

Lingkaran sihir bersinar putih kebiruan, dan simbol-simbol tembus cahaya muncul di seluruh panjang dan lebarnya. Sigil berubah dengan kecepatan kaleidoskopik, bergeser antara tanda dan huruf yang belum pernah dilihat siapa pun sebelumnya.

Pasukan Kerajaan tersentak kaget. Tidak ada ketakutan atau ketegangan dalam suara mereka, seperti mereka menonton pertunjukan yang indah. Namun, orang-orang dengan naluri yang lebih tajam mulai melihat sekeliling diri mereka sendiri dalam ketidaknyamanan yang jelas.

“Saya kembali ke unit saya. Tidak ada lagi waktu untuk dihabiskan. Kekuatan Ainz Ooal Gown tidak bisa diukur. Melakukan pertempuran dengannya adalah kesalahan sejak awal. Yang perlu kita lakukan sekarang adalah meminimalkan jumlah korban, dan pada saat yang sama kita harus kembali ke E-Rantel secepat mungkin. Gazef-dono, tolong lindungi Yang Mulia. Setelah itu, mundurlah tanpa penundaan! ”

Ketenangan yang Raeven berhasil pegang teguh hingga baru-baru ini semua hilang sekarang.

"Iya! Meskipun saya tidak terlalu mempercayai kemampuan saya, tapi saya pasti akan melindungi orang Yang Mulia. Juga, jangan memikirkan retret yang tertib— "

"Tentu saja. Kami akan mundur secepat mungkin … tidak, kami akan melarikan diri seperti kelinci. "

"Kalau begitu, aku berharap kamu baik-baik, Marquis Raeven!"

"Yang sama, Gazef-dono!"

Dua pria yang berdiri di puncak kekuatan militer Kerajaan dan pemikiran strategis bergegas bertindak. Namun-

—Itu sudah terlambat.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tidak ada orang di sana.

Setelah Ainz mengerahkan lingkaran sihirnya, itulah yang dia pikirkan.

Tidak ada pemain di Kerajaan.

Sihir tingkat tinggi YGGDRASIL sangat kuat.

Karena itu, selama pertempuran skala besar, menjatuhkan seseorang yang bisa melemparkan mantra tingkat super terlebih dahulu adalah taktik dasar.

Seseorang dapat menghambat lawan dalam banyak cara. Serangan teleportasi, misalnya. Pengeboman dari atas karpet ajaib. Memotret dengan tepat dari jarak ekstrim. Ada banyak metode untuk mencapai tujuan itu.

Namun, tidak ada serangan seperti ini yang datang ke Ainz. Pada gilirannya, itu membuktikan bahwa tidak ada pemain YGGDRASIL yang hadir.

Di bawah topengnya, Ainz tersenyum, fakta yang tidak terlihat oleh siapa pun. Tentu saja, wajahnya yang kurus tidak bisa tersenyum.

Senyum pahit, dibubuhi jejak samar sukacita, menyoroti perasaan di hati Ainz.

"Jadi, aku tidak perlu dijadikan umpan, kalau begitu?"

Kegembiraannya datang dari kenyataan bahwa ia belum pernah bertemu pemain dari YGGDRASIL.

Ainz tidak bisa dianggap sebagai yang terbesar di antara para pemain YGGDRASIL. Ada orang lain yang lebih baik dari dia, dan peluangnya untuk bertahan hidup melawan pemain yang lebih kuat tidak baik. Saat bermain, kekuatan Ainz berasal dari ilmunya. Meskipun ia sering menang dalam pertarungan PVT, itu adalah kemenangan beruntun setelah kehilangan putaran pertama pertandingan.

Ainz ternyata sangat ahli dalam menggunakan informasi yang telah ia kumpulkan. Sebaliknya, peluang kekalahannya juga sangat tinggi jika dia melawan lawan yang belum pernah dia temui sebelumnya.

Ainz sepenuhnya menyadari kemampuannya, dan sangat bersyukur bahwa dia belum menemukan musuh yang kuat yang tidak dia ketahui.

Tetapi pada saat yang sama, ia juga merasakan sedikit penyesalan.

Dia menyesali kenyataan bahwa dia tidak dapat menemukan orang yang telah mencuci otak Shalltear di antara musuh-musuhnya, orang-orang yang terkait dengan pemilik item Kelas Dunia.

Kebencian, tebal dan menjengkelkan, menyatu di dasar hati Ainz. Meskipun emosinya yang kuat ditekan, yang lemah tetap ada di dalam dirinya.

Ainz membuka tangannya, dan di dalamnya ada jam pasir mini.

Jika dia menggunakan barang tunai, dia bisa segera melemparkan mantra super-tier. Alasan mengapa dia tidak melakukan ini adalah karena dia berperan sebagai umpan untuk memverifikasi keberadaan pemain yang mungkin dari YGGDRASIL. Namun, jika tidak ada, maka tidak perlu menunggu waktu casting yang lama untuk mantra itu. Harus berdiri tak bergerak di tengah lingkaran sihir itu tidak keren.

Selama pertempuran dengan Shalltear, dia tidak memiliki kemewahan itu.

Terhadap lizardmen, dia tidak menggunakan mantra serangan.

Kemudian-

"Ini akan menyenangkan. Ah, itu akan menyenangkan. "

—Apa sebenarnya mantra serangan tingkat super terhadap pasukan Kerajaan?

Meskipun itu bukan mantra yang sangat kuat di YGGDRASIL, efek apa yang akan terjadi di dunia ini?

Tiba-tiba, Ainz mengerutkan alisnya yang tidak ada.

Banyak orang akan mati, tetapi dia tidak merasa kasihan pada mereka, dan itu membuatnya takut. Dia bahkan tidak merasa kejam, seperti seseorang yang menginjak-injak semut hingga mati. Dalam kebenaran ─ dalam kebenaran, dia tidak merasakan apa-apa sama sekali.

There was only the desire to see the results of his actions. And of course, the benefits he would reap for himself — for the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.

Ainz clenched his fist.

The particles of sand leaking from the shattered hourglass moved against the wind and flowed into the magic circle surrounding Ainz.

And then — the super-tier spell activated instantly.

“(Tribute to the Black Bounty (Ia Shub-Niggurath))!”

A black wind blew, racing past the Kingdom’s army, which had just finished changing its formation.

No, there was no physical wind blowing. Neither the scattered weeds growing on the plains or the hairs on the heads of the Kingdom’s soldiers had been touched.

There were 70,000 men in the left wing of the Kingdom’s army.

Every single one of them was slain in an instant.

Bagian 2

Apa yang sebenarnya terjadi?

Nobody could answer immediately.

Every living creature that comprised the left wing of the Kingdom’s army —not just humans, but their horses too— had suddenly collapsed to the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut.

The ones who realized the answer first were the Imperial troops, ranged against them.

It took a while for the human mind to properly parse the events that had just transpired before their eyes. So after a short delay, shouts of panic rose into the air, becoming a great wave that engulfed the entire Imperial Army.

Certainly, they knew Ainz Ooal Gown was going to cast a spell after he had deployed his magic circle.

However ─ who could have possibly anticipated this?

Who could have guessed that he would cast such a horrific spell?

Who could have imagined that he had cast a spell which could slaughter 70,000 people — a number greater than the entire Imperial army— in an instant?

The Imperial knights doubted their eyes, even as they prayed to whatever gods they believed in.

They prayed that the people of the Kingdom were not dead.

They prayed that such terrible magic did not exist in this world.

Of course, as they took in the truth before their eyes —that not a single person had stood back up from where they fell— they were fully aware that it was nothing but wishful thinking.

Even so, there was no way they could accept it. There was no way they could accept this as reality.

The man hailed as one of the strongest in the Empire, one of the Four Knights, Nimble, could only grind his teeth in naked terror and stare dumbly at the suddenly depopulated left wing of the Kingdom’s army.

Nobody stood back up. That was a reality which was far, far too horrible to accept.

No, the awful truth could not be described with just these simple words.

Ainz Ooal Gown —this magic caster, all by himself— was a monster who could take the nations forged by men and obliterate them in the way that a child would kick down a sandcastle.

That was a reality which was beyond the ability of any words to describe.

The panic enveloping the Imperial Army gradually vanished like draining water. In the end, everyone simply fell silent, unable to speak.

Yet, a strange noise rose up among the silence of the Imperial army’s formation. The noise was born of many sounds blending together into a great clamor. It was the sound of every single knight gnashing their teeth.

This was the terror born of realizing that the Empire, where they and their families lived, now stood on the edge of extinction, just like the Kingdom.

This was an understanding that if they dared to raise their hands against Ainz Ooal Gown, that same awful magic might end up being turned on themselves─

Under these circumstances, Nimble suddenly thought of something. What kind of expression did a magic caster like this —who could work a sorcery that could slaughter the living in quantities that beggared mortal comprehension— what kind of expression did he have?

Without moving his face, he spied on the monster standing beside him, Ainz Ooal Gown, but all he saw was indifference.

Bagaimana ini bisa terjadi? Bagaimana ini bisa terjadi? How can someone like him… like this… be so calm? Even after taking 70’000 lives?! Granted, the battlefield is a place of death. The weak losing their lives is only to be expected. But even so, shouldn’t he feel something in his heart after killing so many people?!!

Regret or guilt would be the natural response. If he felt joy or excitement, that might even be understandable, abnormal as such a reaction might be.

However —

Is this indifference some sort of defensive reaction to protect his heart? No, this, this must be familiar scenery for a monster like him!There’s no sadistic joy or pity in his heart like when a human being crushes ants!! What… what is this?!!! Mengapa ini terjadi? Why does someone like this exist in the world?!!!!

“—Is something the matter?”

“Aieee!”

The words sounded like a spike of cold steel driven into him. Nimble’s response to the question was a stupid-sounding cry.

“No-nothing’s wrong. That, that spell just now, it was magnificent.”

Nimble gave silent thanks that he was still able to speak. More than that — the fact that he could praise Ainz under such circumstances was nothing short of laudable.

“Ha ha ha—”

Nimble’s desperate compliment was answered by faint laughter.

“Have, have I given offense?”

“No, none at all. You said that spell just now was magnificent, right?”

“Y-yes.”

Was that worth laughing at? Sweat flowed down Nimble’s forehead like a river. After seeing the dreadful consequences of angering this person, he had no intention of incurring his ire.

“Please, be at ease. Although… I must say, my spell is not complete yet. Now is when the real show begins. After all, when one makes an offering to the Black Goddess of the Bountiful Harvest, she will reciprocate with a gift of her offspring. Those cute, adorable children…”

That was right.

And just as ripened fruit would fall to the earth in the fullness of time —

♦ ♦ ♦

The Imperial knights were the first to see it.

It was expected that the knights, watching from afar, from a safe distance, would see it first. Because they felt safe, they dared to peer outside from the narrow slits in their helmets.

After the storm of death had claimed the lives of the Kingdom’s soldiers, something appeared in the sky; a repulsive black sphere which seemed to pollute the world with its very presence.

Then, who on the Kingdom’s side saw it? It was most likely the troops of the right wing, who had no direct line of sight to what had happened on the other side. They sensed that something abnormal was going on, but they did not know what exactly had happened, and as they looked around to find out what was going on, they saw it.

As though their eyes were being guided there, the soldiers beside them noticed it. In this way, everyone on the Kattse Plains, who had gathered to wage war, ended up staring silently at the sphere floating in the sky.

The sphere —which resembled nothing so much as a hole in the heavens— was like an opened spiderweb; once one caught sight of it, one could not pull away.

The black sphere slowly grew larger.

Be it fighting or fleeing, no human could engage in any meaningful thought or activity. All they could do was stare dumbly.

And eventually — the ripened fruit fell.

***

In a thoroughly natural fashion, the falling sphere broke apart when it touched the earth.

It burst like a water balloon striking the ground, or perhaps like an overripe fruit doing the same.

It was full of something that spread out from the point of impact. It was something like coal tar. It absorbed the light, like a wave of infinitely-expanding black stickiness, and it swallowed the corpses of the dead Kingdom soldiers.

Informed by a strange instinct, nobody thought it would end there.

They had a premonition ─ this was only the beginning.

Indeed ─ this was the beginning of their despair.

***

Suddenly, a vast tree grew from the black tar that covered the earth.

No, that was nothing as pleasant as a tree.

At first, there was only one of them, but then it multiplied. Two, three, five, ten… these objects waved in the absence of the wind. What was grew there… were tentacles.

“MEEEEEEHHHH!!”

Suddenly, they heard the adorable bleating of a goat. It was not just one goat. It was as though a herd of goats had appeared out of nowhere.

As though drawn by the sound, the coal tar writhed up, and it seemed to vomit forth something.

It was something that was far too strange, too unnatural.

It was 10 meters in height. If one added the length of the tentacles, that figure became unclear.

At a glance, it resembled some sort of turnip. In place of leaves, it had numberless black tentacles, and its thick root portion was a slab of meat covered in frightening lumps. Below that were five legs, like those of a goat’s, tipped with black hooves.

Fissures appeared on the root-like portion of its anatomy —a thick slab of meat covered in lumps— as it peeled and split open in multiple places at once. And then─

“MEEEEEEHHHH!!”

The adorable bleating of goats rang forth from those fissures. They were gaping maws that oozed sticky drool.

There were five of them.

They displayed their hideous bodies to everyone on the Katze Plains.

***

The Dark Young of the Black Goat.

These monsters appeared in proportion to the number of deaths caused by the super-tier spell (Sacrifice to the Black Bounty (Ia Shub Niggurath)) Although they did not possess any powerful special abilities, they were outstandingly resilient.

Moreover, they were all over level 90.

In other words, this would become a storm of carnage.

***

Besides the adorable bleating of goats, so sickeningly sweet and cute that it made people want to vomit, there were no other sounds. That was because nobody could speak, unwilling to believe or accept that the events unfolding in front of their eyes were truly happening. Over 300,000 —or if you counted only the living, 235,000— people were gathered here, and none of them could say anything.

Amidst all this, Ainz laughed heartily.

“Marvelous. This is a new record. In all of history, I might be the only one who ever managed to call forth five at once. Remarkable. I must give my thanks to everyone who died here today.”

Under normal circumstances, being able to call forth one of the Dark Young was not bad. Being able to bring out two was a rarity.

And now, there were five.

Just like a player who was celebrating over beating his own high score, Ainz was overjoyed by the fact that he had set this new record. So what if tens of thousands of people had died for it?

“Although… it would be better if there were more… is five the upper limit? Wouldn’t it be quite amazing if I managed to max it out?”

“Congratulations! As expected of Ainz-sama!”

Ainz smiled under his mask as Mare praised him.

“Thank you, Mare.”

After that, Ainz turned to look at Nimble, which startled the poor man. His face was somewhere between tears and laughter as he praised Ainz as well.

“Con-congratulations.”

"Sama-sama."

Ainz was in a good mood as he made his reply.

The sincere emotion on Nimble’s face moved Ainz’s heart.

Then, he remembered his days as a player in YGGDRASIL, of how he had been similarly moved when he had first seen the casting of (Ia Shub Niggurath)”

Flashy or powerful spells can shake the hearts of the masses. Well, that was only to be expected of one of YGGDRASIL’s most popular spells. When I said I was going to cast it, Albedo and Demiurge couldn’t stop lavishing praise on me.

***

A gachigachi sound rose from the ranks of the Imperial army.

It was the sound of armor clattering against itself.

The soldiers were trembling, but who could laugh at them?

The Sorcerer King had laughed cheerfully after casting such a horrific summoning spell, and nobody could hear it and not break out in goosebumps.

Every Imperial knight present was thinking the same thing.

They wished that the wrath of Ainz Ooal Gown would not fall upon them.

It looked more like a prayer to the gods.

***

As the soldiers pleaded sincerely behind his back, Ainz began the next phase. He felt that he had already done enough, but he was in high spirits, and felt that it might be better to kill a little more to be sure.

This time round, his goal was to proclaim the might of Ainz Ooal Gown, a practitioner of super-tier magic, to the gathered nations.

That objective had been achieved. However, letting these minions fade away would be a shame.

Indeed, it would be too much of a waste.

Ainz snorted.

If he had a tongue, he would be licking his lips in anticipation.

This was a joy he could not feel in YGGDRASIL, the joy of being able to simultaneously direct five Dark Young.

“—Ah, let’s give it a try. Overrun them, my darling lambs.”

As they received the command of their summoner Ainz, the Dark Young began to move slowly.

Their five goat legs moved in a bizarre gait as they segued into swift motion. It was not so much graceful as energetic, and perhaps one might smile to see it.

As long as they did not come for you.

Their vast bodies moved lightly, and the five Dark Young broke into a run as they hurtled towards the Kingdom’s army.

“Ah, right, there’s three — no, four people you can’t kill. I absolutely forbid you to harm them. “

As he recalled the three people that Demiurge wished to be spared, Ainz sent out a mental command to the Dark Young.

♦ ♦ ♦

“Is this a dream?”

A soldier from the Royal Army muttered to himself, far from the inhuman monsters. Of course, he received no answer. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the scene unfolding before them, and they had lost the power of speech. It was as if their souls had been snatched away.

“Hey, this is a dream, right? I must be dreaming, right?”

"Ahh. This is a fucking nightmare.”

The second time the question was asked, someone managed to answer. But their voices sounded like they wanted to run away from reality.

Mustahil.

I don’t want to believe this.

Thoughts like these spread through the infantry. Even as the lumbering shapes grew steadily larger ─ even as the inhuman beings approached them, they still did not want to accept that this was reality.

If they were simple monsters, perhaps they might have been able to gather up the courage to raise their weapons. However, the monsters which had appeared after an entire wing of the army ─ a full 70,000 people ─ had been slaughtered in an instant could not possibly be simple monsters. It was like watching an advancing hurricane, and nobody could muster up the courage to brave the storm.

The gigantic, bizarre beings galloped nimbly on their thick stubby legs, charging at incredible speeds.

“Get your spears up!”

A voice rang out.

That shrill, high-pitched scream came from the mouth of a noble. His eyes were bloodshot and foam flecked the corners of his mouth.

“Spears up! Get your spears up!! Get your spears up if you want to live!!!”

Although he had already gone mad from fear and it was hard to understand what he was saying, the soldiers still managed to make out the order “Spears up”, and they knew it was probably the best command he could have given.

Acting on reflex, the soldiers raised and set their spears, forming a braced spear line.

They planted the butts firmly on the ground, so their opponents’ speed would only harm themselves when they charged into the hedge of points.

Although this formation was nigh-unbreakable by Imperial knights, the Kingdom soldiers wondered —in some small, detached corner of their minds which still held onto calmness— what good they could possibly do with the tiny spears they were grasping. Even so, they knew it was their only chance of salvation.

Given the speed at which those bizarre creatures approached, escape would probably be impossible. Even if they ran with all their strength, they would still be squashed flat from behind.

They prayed that the monsters would not come for them, even as they braced for their charge.

The monsters —which should have been very small in the distance— closed the gap with frightening speed.

As they grew larger, and the earth began shaking under their thunderous hoofbeats, the soldiers’ hearts began pounding madly. Then, as their hearts felt like they would burst in their chests, the enormous silhouettes were upon them.

It was like a dumptruck smashing into a swarm of rats.

The soldiers of the Royal Army raised countless spears in trembling hands. But what use were they against the massive, solid bodies of the Dark Young? The spears snapped like toothpicks without so much as scratching the Dark Young.

The massive bodies of the Dark Young trampled the Royal Army underfoot.

Splinters from countless shattered spears flew through the air.

Although they crushed the meaningless resistance that did not even count as resistance, the Dark Young of the Black Goat were merciful in their own way.

There was no pain.

There was no time for their victims to feel pain before they were squashed flat under the titanic weight of the Dark Young’s charge.

The spear-wielding soldiers did not even have time to realize that the pikes they were holding had been pulverized by those massive bodies. All they saw were black shadows falling over them.

They screamed and they screamed and they screamed.

Gobbets of meat flew through the air. They had not come from just one or two people, but tens, hundreds of victims. They were stamped flat by the enormous hooves, and thrown— no, flung away by the waving tentacles.

Be they patricians or plebeians, now they were all the same chunks of bloody flesh.

Some of them had families in their villages. Some had friends left behind. Some had people waiting for them. Once they were ground into the mud, none of that mattered any more.

The Dark Young treated everyone the same way, bestowing death upon them all.

Surely they must have been satisfied after crushing countless humans underfoot, but they showed no signs of stopping.

The Dark Young began to run.

They ran on. They did not stop while in the midst of the Kingdom’s forces, simply running on.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Abbaaaaaaahhhhhh!!”

“Stoooooooooooooop!”

“Save meeeeeeeeeee!’

“Noooooooooooooooo!”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!”

The screams rose up every time those gigantic hooves came down. It blended with the sound of humans pulping under the Dark Young’s mighty legs, and the sound as they playfully batted humans away with their tentacles.

A sound which men had never heard before went on and on without end.

Trampled.

What better word was there to describe this scene?

Several people desperately thrust their pikes forward. The Dark Young, whose bodies were massive and who had no intention to evade the attacks, were hit solidly by the points. However, the pikes could not pierce deeply enough to cause harm to their slab-like bodies. They were masses of iron-hard muscle sheathed by thick, rubbery skin.

The Dark Young did not mock their futile resistance, but simply charged forward.

Before the soldiers realized that their fatal resolve was meaningless, the Dark Young had already reached the centermost portion of the Kingdom’s army.

“Run away! Run away!”

They heard the shouts from the distance. In response, all the soldiers began to flee. It was exactly like a swarm of spiders scattering in all directions.

But of course, the Dark Young were much faster than human beings.

Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat.Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat.Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat.Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat.Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat.Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat.Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat.Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat.Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat.Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat.

The sounds of humans being crushed to death and turned into chunks of meat went on and on.

♦ ♦ ♦

As though they had arrived in a barren wasteland, three of the monsters crossed the center column of the army drawing near the right wing amidst sprays of blood and gore. In moments, they would be upon Raeven’s troops.

"Mundur! Retreat!”

The way Raeven shouted these orders was closer to a wail.

They could not fight those monsters.

They should not throw their lives away for no reason.

As they heard Raeven’s words, the surrounding soldiers threw down their arms and fled in a panic.

Of course, since there were just too many people, it was impossible for them to move freely.

At first he had signalled an orderly retreat. His was because he was wary of an attack from behind, but now he realised that the time he had wasted in doing that was a big mistake.

“Ainz Ooal Gown, what kind of creature, what kind of magic caster are you?!”

He had underestimated him. No, he had not done so on purpose.

After taking Gazef Stronoff’s words into consideration, he had viewed him as an enemy of the highest caliber imaginable. However, all he could say now was that he had still underestimated the man’s abilities.

His imagination simply had not been enough.

Who on earth could have predicted that Ainz Ooal Gown was so powerful? Who could have known that such power existed in this world?

Seeing the ever-approaching, ever-expanding silhouettes of the monsters, Marquis Raeven shouted orders at the troops surrounding him.

“This isn’t a battlefield any more, it’s a killing floor! Just run!”

“My lord!” a knight said as he removed his helmet. “The King! What about the King?”

“You idiot! There’s no time for that! My lord! It’s coming right for us!”

As they looked in the direction of the shouts, the monsters had already begun trampling the fleeing men, and the crushing of the right wing had begun. Although it seemed as though they were charging toward them in a straight line, they were not aiming for Raeven so much as trampling wherever they wanted. In truth, the other Dark Young were far away from where Raeven was.

“Where’s the King?!”

“He’s there!”

He saw the royal flag in the direction where the soldier was pointing, but a Dark Young was already bearing down on it.

Raeven hesitated. What could he do if he went to help? However, if King Ranpossa III was lost here, the entire country might come apart.

Namun-

“Leave it to Gazef-dono!”

Raeven had faith in Gazef.

He was a warrior worthy of praise from the King. Although even he would still be unable to defeat those black goat monsters, at the very least, he could bring the king safely out of this hellscape.

“Marquis Raeven! The situation is bad! Please retreat with all haste!”

The voice of the formerly orichalcum-ranked adventurers, the subordinates he most trusted, wiped away Raeven’s hesitation.

“—My lord!”

It was less of a shout than a scream. Raeven bellowed a reply.

“I know, let’s run!”

Things being what they were, with the monsters at such close range, there was no point disguising it with fancy words like “retreat”.

“Please leave the task of rallying the men to me! My lord, you need to get out of here now, and head for E-Rantel!”

The shout came from a sleepy-eyed man. Although he looked unremarkable, Raeven could not have entrusted his command to a better person.

“I’ll leave it to you! Use my name as you see fit! I’ll bear the consequences!”

The sound of hooves was very near. Marquis Raeven was so afraid that he did not dare turn around to see how close they were, and his fear led him to stick his spurs into his horse’s flanks with all his might. However, the horse did not move. Even when he kicked it with more force, it still did not move. It flattened its ears against its head and stayed still.

At that moment, amidst the chaos, a group of horses kicked their way through a horde of fleeing people. The men on their backs clung tightly to their horses’ bodies, seemingly ignoring the reins that dangled loosely.

Ironically enough, the trained warhorses were frozen in panic, while the untrained horses were running wild in terror.

“To think training would have the reverse effect!”

In the first place, horses were timid animals. It was only after training that they could be considered fearless warhorses. However, it was precisely because of this training that they could not move. Their minds were already overloaded, but they had not forgotten their training.

“Forgive me! (Lion’s Heart)!”

The priest of the Wind God, Yorlan Dixgort, cast a spell of fear resistance on the horse. The calmed horse whinnied loudly.

“Marquis Raeven! We’ll lead the way!”

“Please do!”

With the voices of his subordinates wishing him well echoing at his back, Raeven spurred his horse into wild motion, escorted by the former adventurers.

Riding a horse through a violent mob that had lost their discipline in the chaos was very difficult. However, it was possible because they had once been orichalcum-ranked adventurers, who stood close to the pinnacle of humanity.

The group skilfully threaded between the flow of humanity.

“That magic caster’s a monster! How can someone like him be allowed to exist in the world?!”

Raeven cursed Ainz as his horse jerked up and down in its top-speed gallop.

“Dammit! We have to do something! I need to think of some way to protect our world — our future!”

Fear was probably the reason why he was subconsciously mumbling to himself. If he did not say anything, if he did not distract his mind, that intelligent brain of his would probably sketch horrific nightmares of the danger approaching him.

When he returned, he would need to sit down with the Prince (Zanack) and the Princess (Renner) and draw up some form of countermeasure against that incomparable magic caster.

If this went on, all of humanity would be conquered ─ no, that was still alright. In the worst case, all of humanity might become toys for Ainz Ooal Gown, to be tormented until the ends of their lives.

The sound of a tongue clicking carried over the sounds of the horse’s hooves.

"Tidak baik! My lord, please guide your horse to the right! It’s caught up with us!”

“How did it find us without eyes?!” Lockmeyer the thief shouted. “Lund! Do you have any magic for this?”

“Of course not! Do you think any spells would work against that monster, Lock?”

“Even so, how will we know if we don’t try—”

“Stop! Don’t do anything until you have to! It might just be advancing in the same direction as us! Marquis Raeven! Move in front of us! We’ll form up single file!”

Their voices were trembling.

In accordance with the instructions, Raeven moved his horse to the pole position. Then, he turned his horse toward the direction where less people were fleeing.

The cry of a Dark Young came from nearby, and it felt like it was going to squash his pounding heart in his chest.

“MEEEEEEEEEHHHH!”

—It was close.

The sweat poured off Marquis Raeven’s head like a waterfall. He was so afraid that he did not dare turn around, but he could sense the air behind him getting warmer and warmer.

And then, he heard it again—

“MEEEEEEHHHH!!”

“Son of a bitch! Tidak baik! It was coming this way all along! …Everyone! Prepare yourselves!”

THe magic casters responded to the shouts of the leader Boris with their spells

“(Reinforce Armor)!”

“(Lesser Strength)!”

"Baik! Then, my lord! Let us receive the enemy’s attack! Do not look back under any circumstances and continue riding!”

There was only one thing he could say to the adventurers, who had conquered their fear.

“…I’m counting on you!”

“Dipahami! Ayo pergi!"

“Ohhhhh!”

He could hear the horses of the former adventurers drawing away from him.

Raeven lowered his head, doing his best to minimize wind resistance. Although he did not know how much time they could buy, he knew he had to run as hard as he could without looking back — returning alive would be the only way to repay their loyalty.

“I’ll blow you away! (Fireball)!!”

“(Invulnerable Fortress)!”

As he rode away on the back of the wildly-galloping horse, Raeven thought he could hear the sound of the former adventurers joining battle, even through the wind whipping past his face.

And then — within two seconds he could not hear the former adventurers any more.

What he did hear was the sound of an enormous hoof falling.

His heart lurched in his chest.

As he saw the shadow from his lowered field of vision, Raeven did his best to hold back a scream.

He realized there was a massive shadow beneath his feet ─ his body carried by the speeding horse ─ and that a long and thick tentacle was reaching out for him.

"Tidak…"

The horse ran like it had gone mad. It was faster than Raeven had ever ridden it. It might have been the fastest it had ever gone. Even so, the mighty shadow still stretched out across the earth.

“I don’t want this!”

He screamed. He had not expected himself to scream, and so loudly.

Warmth spread through his crotch.

Raeven forced his eyes open, and without looking back, he forced the horse forward.

He could not die yet. It did not matter what happened to the country. If it was to fall, then let it fall.

If taking up arms against Ainz Ooal Gown meant death, then he was willing to abandon this country and flee.

He had been an idiot.

Truly, he had been an idiot.

Coming to this battlefield was truly foolish.

Since he knew how powerful Ainz Ooal Gown was, he should have stayed in the Royal Capital no matter the cost.

He would not think of the Kingdom’s future any more.

“I don’t want this!”

He could not die yet.

He could not die while his son was still so young. And… he could not leave his beloved wife alone by dying.

“I don—”

Raeven imagined the form of his son before him.

My lovely boy.

A tiny little life had been born. It slowly grew up. It got sick. Back then, he had made a huge fuss because of that. The image of himself running around half-mad, bellowing orders, while his wife sat there in silence was deeply embarrassing.

His hands were soft and his cheeks were rosy. When he grew into a youth, he would be the talk of the Kingdom. He believed his son’s abilities would surpass his own. He could already see traces of that from time to time.

His wife kept saying that any parent would think the best of their child, but he did not think that was the case.

Raeven was deeply grateful to his wife, who had bore his beloved son. However, he rarely said so because it embarrassed him.

It was time for a second child.

If he had not come to this battlefield, he might have been able to hold their hands─

“…Eh?”

The sound of the hooves had stopped.

Driven more by curiosity than courage, Raeven turned around. All he saw was the Dark Young standing motionless, as though frozen in place.

Part 3

He had no idea where he was. It was like he had been hurled into a nightmare.

The title of the Four Knights —the title belonging to the mightiest warriors of the Baharuth Empire— now seemed so shockingly superficial.

How pathetic a creature was he, to be so proud of such an insignificant little thing? That was how great of a shock he had received.

Nimble could hear the sound of subdued weeping. It was the sobbing of people who had been pushed past their limits by fear and unease. It was a childish — no, it was the agonized wailing of men who had been reduced to children. The ones who wept were the Imperial knights.

He heard people beg “just run away.”

That was the prayer of the knights who had — with eyes full of pity — watched that hideous carnage swallow up their fellow human beings.

So wretched was this tragedy that even the enemies of the Royal Army, the Imperial knights, offered up prayers for them.

They prayed that at least some would survive. Lebih banyak lebih baik.

They had come here to kill the enemy. However, no human being could remain unmoved and not feel pity when they witnessed the massacre taking place in front of them. Anyone who could remain unmoved would be a fiend with a man’s face, an inhuman being.

In addition, Nimble and the knights realised that this could not be dismissed as a matter of “us vs them.”

Certainly, from the point of view of the Kingdom against the Empire, this disaster was happening to “them.” But when you looked at it from the perspective of men against monsters, this brutal slaughter was happening to “us.”

“Well then, I think it’s time.”

All eyes went to Ainz as he spoke quietly.

There were 60,000 people present, and his voice was not loud enough to reach all of them. However, they could tell when the people beside them turned their heads. And once they knew that the faces of their neighbors were turned to Ainz Ooal Gown, they too followed suit.

After all, every move and gesture made by the man who had orchestrated this nightmare —Ainz Ooal Gown— filled all present with uncontrollable terror.

Ainz slowly removed his mask.

He exposed his skinless, fleshless, polished white skull to the world.

If the circumstances had been different, perhaps they might have thought he was wearing a mask under his mask. However, as they saw this, the hearts of Nimble and all the knights of the Empire sank.

They understood that this was his true face; that Ainz Ooal Gown was a monster.

That was because they had a premonition; anyone who could wield such power could not be human.

Ainz slowly spread his arms. He looked like he was embracing a friend — or was it a demon spreading its wings? In the eyes of all who were watching, he seemed to double in size.

In the silence — interrupted only by the anguished screams of the Kingdom’s soldiers in the distance — Ainz’s still, small voice rang out with exceptional clarity.

“— Applause, then.”

What is he saying, Nimble thought as he stared at Ainz with his mouth open.

Everyone who could hear him thought the same thing, and as Ainz’s words were whispered throughout the army, more and more people turned their eyes to him.

Then, when everyone’s attention was on him, he spoke again.

“A round of applause, in celebration of my supreme power.”

The first to applaud was Mare, who stood by Ainz’s side, opposite Nimble. As though sparked by it, the scattered sounds of clapping began rising up from the soldiers, until it become a thunderous ovation.

Of course, they were not truly cheering for him.

Nobody wanted to applaud a person who brought this kind of cruel butchery with him. This was not war. It was slaughter. A massacre.

Only, nobody present could speak these words. Nobody dared.

Their earth-shaking applause was the sum of all the knights’ fears.

And then the intensity of the riotous applause, which all present thought could not get any greater, rose several more notches.

That was because one of the Dark Young had slowly changed its course. It would soon reach the Imperial army.

Shouts of praise rang out, to match the applause.

The Imperial knights cried out in praise of Ainz Ooal Gown. They screamed until their throats bled.

Yet, the Dark Young did not slow its pace.

And so, the knights cried out even louder. They thought the beast was approaching because he was not pleased with their volume.

─But still, it did not stop.

─And thus, their tightly wound nerves snapped.

Nobody knew who started it. It might have just been the wavering of a single knight. However, that was enough for the terror which filled them beyond their limits to burst forth..

“Aieeeeeeeeeeee!”

The soul-wrenching scream echoed throughout the ranks and shook the Imperial army.

One of the monsters which had trampled the Royal Army underfoot was bearing down on them. This abnormal situation so terrified some of the Imperial knights that they abandoned their unmoving horses and fled for their lives. After seeing the hellish sight from just now, even those who lacked vivid imaginations knew exactly what would happen when it was their turn under that beast’s hooves.

And of course — fear was contagious.

While less than a hundred people fled at first, that number swelled within moments, until it was a flight of sixty thousand.

─Yes.

The Imperial army had fallen into panic, their regimentation in tatters.

It was a disgraceful rout.

The knights had obviously been taught how to fall back in good order. However, they no longer had the luxury of adhering to such discipline. If it would let them leave this place one second faster, if they could move one step more in flight toward a safe place, they would push down their comrades in front of them with all their might and flee.

When shoved from behind, it was unavoidable that people would lose their balance and fall. And once they fell down, the panic-driven throng behind them would not give them the chance to rise.

The ones who fell would be trampled by the ones behind them.

Even if they wore metal armor, everyone else wore metal armor as well. They would be stamped into a single fused mass of metal and meat.

Scenes like this were happening everywhere.

The Imperial army’s casualties were not caused by the enemy, but by themselves.

Nimble did not know what to do next, and he hesitated.

He wanted to run as well. However, he could not do so, and not all the knights had escaped, in any event.

As he looked back across the formation, he saw a scant few people remaining, stock still atop their horses.

They had not remained because of their fear. Rather, it was because they were mesmerized by the sight of overwhelming power, and had forgotten themselves in their excitement.

For instance, normal people would flee when they saw a huge tornado sweeping in toward them. However, there were certain beings who admired the beauty of the tornado and stood still ─ even though they realized it would claim their lives. Those that remained could be considered deviants.

The Dark Young arrived before Ainz, bent its knees, and lowered its tentacles. It was probably displaying its submission.

Nimble smiled, his face twitching, as the monster acted in a decidedly non-monstrous way.

The Dark Young’s body should have been splattered in fresh blood, but it was nowhere to be seen because it had already been absorbed by its skin.

It wrapped its tentacles around Ainz’s waist, then extended several more to firmly grip his body before raising him up. Then, it placed him on its head.

“I believe the original plan was that I would cast a spell upon the enemy, and then the Imperial army would follow up with a charge, but it would seem you have no intention to act.”.

Nimble had nothing to say.

Ainz was right. The Empire had broken the terms of the agreement which they themselves had made with the King of their allied country.

However, one could not blame the knights for losing their nerve. Nimble would defend them even in front of Jircniv, because he knew the overwhelming terror which had gripped them.

“Ah, I have no intention of rebuking you. I understand you’re concerned that if you launch an assault, there is a chance you may be trampled along with the enemy. Truthfully speaking, if that happened, I would be hard-pressed to explain those deaths to your Emperor. Well, in that case, I guess I’ll handle your part of the job as well.”

Nimble looked to the company of the undead, which had remained still all this time.

“Will… will… will those undead troops make an assault, then?”

“Oh, no, I’ll let these lambs handle it since it’s such a rare chance for them to do so. I simply perform some light cleaning up. Mare, do not lower your guard.”

“Yes, yes! Please leave it to me, Ainz-sama!”

Nimble was speechless.

He said he would press the attack; him, in person, the one who had cast a spell like that.

His tone suggested that he did not intend to let anyone return alive from this battlefield. It was clear that his hunger for carnage was insatiable.

“To think… it’s not enough. Is he a devil?”

Although he was muttering to himself, Nimble’s words were louder than he thought, and Ainz turned his terrible visage on him from where he was seated atop the Dark Young.

He shook his head at the quivering Nimble.

“Do not be mistaken. I am undead.”

What Ainz must have been trying to say was that he was not a demon that exalted the idea of evil, but an undead being that hated the living. As such, he would not permit a single soldier of the Kingdom to escape. He would take even more lives.

That was the most likely answer, and also the most disastrous one.

If Ainz wanted to slay everything that lived because he was undead, then it was possible that his sights might someday be set on the Empire, which was filled with the living.

No, that was sure to happen in the future.

Apa yang harus saya lakukan? Assaulted by confusion and fear, Nimble lacked the ability to focus, and he did not hear Ainz’s last whispered words.

“…And it seems I have found my target.”

♦ ♦ ♦

The headquarters of King Ranpossa III was located in the center of the Royal army. It was surrounded by countless banners belonging to numerous nobles of the Kingdom of Re-Estize.

Although there had been many nobles gathered here before, only a few remained here. Most of them had already fled, and only a scant few remained in this camp. Of course, the king had no intention of blaming the court nobles for running away.

“You lot, leave me behind and run!”

“This is no time for jokes! Your Majesty, please flee with all haste. Once it has its eye on us, we’ll have no chance to survive!”

The speaker was Gazef’s subordinate, the vice-captain of the warrior band.

“How can I run away, as the King?”

“Even if your Majesty stays, there is nothing you can do. Should you not return to E-Rantel and plan the counter-attack?”

Ranpossa III smiled bitterly. It hurt to listen to those words.

"Tepat sekali. Even if I stay here, there is nothing left for me to do.”

It was impossible to rally his broken, routed army under these circumstances. It was not just Ranpossa III who could not do it; even the famed generals of old would have found this unreasonable task to be impossible.

“Your Majesty! There’s no time! Listen up, you lot, you must bring his Majesty home even if you have to tie him up!”

Gazef’s subordinates leapt into action.

Wasting more time would endanger not only himself but the people around him. With that in mind, Ranpossa III made his decision and rose to his feet.

"Baik. Ayo pergi. But what will change if we flee now?”

The footfalls shook the ground like an earthquake as they drew closer. But even under these extreme circumstances, Ranpossa III remained calm. It was a far cry from the chaotic noises the nobles had made.

“First of all, it’s impossible. If we try to flee on horseback, it’ll come after us. It seems to target large groups of fleeing soldiers first. Therefore, there’s only one way for us to be saved.”

It was only now that Ranpossa III realised why they had urged the nobles to mount up and flee in groups just now.

“So all we can do is run on foot.”

Some of the warriors began removing and discarding their armor.

“These men will carry your Majesty and flee.”

“And what about you?”

Not everyone had removed their armor. For instance, the vice-captain was still wearing his.

“I’ll act as a mounted distraction and flee in the opposite direction.”

Ranpossa III saw the bright smiles on the warriors’ faces, and realized that they had made their peace with death.

"Mustahil. You are the treasures of our Kingdom! No matter what, you must survive! I still need you to serve my descendants!”

"Tentu saja. Although we intend to be bait, we do not intend to die!”

That was a lie. They were planning to die. Or rather, they had accepted that death was their destiny.

Ranpossa III tried to think of something to convince them, but he could not speak. In the face of the warriors’ smiles, everything he came up with sounded insincere and shallow..

The warriors around him helped remove Ranpossa III’s armor.

A warrior in pure white armor stepped forward. He was Climb, his daughter Renner’s sole subordinate, who had given everything he had in her service.

“Allow me to assist in the diversion. Although we don’t know if these monsters have eyes, but if we wave our flags non-stop, we should be able to draw their attention. And this armor should be quite eye-catching.”

Climb held the Kingdom’s flag in his hand. it had been dirtied by the footprints of fleeing soldiers, and it seemed to summarize their current current situation.

"Iya. Then I’ll go too.”

Beside Climb was Brain Unglaus. Apparently he was a first-rate warrior who was the equal of his trusted vassal, Gazef Stronoff. Brain had entered this war as Renner’s subordinate. In other words, he was in the same position as Climb.

"Apakah kamu yakin? Strictly speaking, you are not exactly the Princess’ subordinate.”

"Ah? Well, don’t worry about that. During the demonic disturbance we were on the frontlines, and somehow we still made it back alive. This time, we’ll just hope that luck is with us. And we hope that luck is with you too.”

“The gods will not watch in silence. During that disturbance, a hero came to save us. I trust they will change our fate too.”

Before Ranpossa III, Brain and the vice-captain touched their knuckles together to bid him farewell.

“How did it end up like this…”

Where had it all gone wrong?

Ranpossa III moaned softly. In all likelihood, none of the men in front of him would survive.

The vice-captain and Climb would die as bait.

And he did not know what had happened to Gazef, who had vanished into the chaos after saying he intended to stop the Dark Young.

His eyes burned.

Forgive me, he wanted to say.

They were going to act as decoys for an old man, throwing their lives and futures away for him.

But he could not say that. They probably knew they were going to die, but they were going to cling to life as hard as they could.

In that case─

“Return safely to E-Rantel, and I shall grant you any reward you desire.”

Climb and Brain paused mid-step and turned around.

“There’s no need for a reward, your Majesty. I exist to aid Renner-sama. How could I dare ask for a reward…”

“As for for what I want, well, I’d like this kid I’m interested in here to marry the prettiest princess in the country.”

“…Hahahaha. Well, that is a lavish reward.”

“Brain-san! What are you saying?”

“Well, we’ll have to start by giving the kid a lordship. Work hard!”

“Then you must return alive no matter what, Climb-kun.”

Climb’s frightened eyes and open mouth no longer had the warrior’s spirit they had possessed just now. The King, however, had forgotten everything and allowed a bright smile onto his face.

“Then, we’ll be off, your Majesty.”

"Aku akan menyerahkannya padamu."

The now-unarmored Ranpossa III was borne aloft by a soldier.

“Your Majesty. Even now, our flight is still a matter of luck. If the worst happens… I pray you will forgive us.”

"Tidak apa-apa. It was my decision to use your idea. If it fails due to misfortune, then I will have no complaints.”

“Then! Your Majesty! May we meet again in E-Rantel!”

The vice-captain galloped off on his horse. As though it was waiting for him, one of the Dark Young changed its direction.

"Baik! Let’s go while everyone’s drawing it off!”

Part 4

Amidst the chaos caused by men desperately fleeing for their lives, Gazef fixed his eyes ahead of him, and then slowly drew the national treasure of the Kingdom, Razor Edge. Every time he had drawn this coldly gleaming blade, he had achieved victory. In other words, this sword was the proof of Gazef’s triumph.

However, the sword seemed terribly weak and fragile today.

He was tiny and insignificant compared to the Dark Young which was charging right at him.

“If I let it past me, the King’s main camp is next. I need to stop it here.”

As he said that, Gazef face’s softened, as though he were mocking himself.

There was no way for Gazef to beat that monster. Just delaying it for a second was worthy of praise.

Even a man hailed as the Warrior-Captain of the Kingdom —a warrior renowned throughout the surrounding nations— could only do so much.

“Take his Majesty and flee. Pave his way home with your lives.”

Gazef whispered these orders —almost like a prayer— to his subordinates who were not here. The strongest soldiers in the Kingdom had stayed behind to protect their King. However, even if they stayed behind, they would not worthy of protecting the King from the savagery of those monsters. Even if they put their lives on the line, all they could do was serve as meatshields that would crumble after one hit.

However, that was enough.

They would die if the enemy hit them, but as long as they could make sure that hit was wasted on them, the King’s life could be extended just a little more. Maybe it would work if 80 men were there to be shields, he thought optimistically.

"Maafkan saya."

Gazef apologized to his subordinates even as the monster approached with uncanny speed, churning up sprays of flesh and gore in its wake. He knew that an apology to absent comrades was nothing more than comforting himself. Even so, he did not want to die without having spoken those words.

As he felt the earth trembling under his feet, Gazef exhaled forcefully.

He gripped the sword in his hands tightly, and raised it.

Compared to that vast body that crushed humans into red paste, his sword seemed utterly useless.

If it were a runaway horse cart, he could easily get control of it. Even if a ferocious tiger pounced him, he could evade its first blow and strike off its head.

Yet, in front of the Dark Young, his chances of survival seemed very low indeed.

“Huuuuu—”

As Gazef breathed out, a dramatic change appeared in the flow of people around him. Until now they had gone in all directions, but now it seemed like they were moving to avoid Gazef. It looked as though they were creating a clear path between Gazef and the Dark Young.

The Dark Young continued splattering humans under its feet as it closed in.

As Gazef raised his sword, he studied its body. Where could he attack for the best results?

He activated a martial art — (Sense Weakness).

Namun-

“—It has no weaknesses.”

Gazef did not know if that was because it truly had no weaknesses, or because it was so much more powerful than him that he could not read them.

Still, he did not despair. He had expected that much, after all.

He activated another martial art.

This was a secret move that was truly worthy of being called a secret move, a technique that strengthened his extrasensory perceptions, (Possibility Sense).

The difference in their physical abilities was so vast that it made no difference if he shrunk a gap of miles by an inch or two through augmenting his own physical attributes. In that case, he decided to rely on something else — perhaps his sixth sense might be more effective.

“Come, beast.”

The Dark Young seemed to have heard the challenge, and set a course straight for Gazef. The distance between the two shrank dramatically.

This was the truth.

Gazef was afraid.

If it was at all possible, he would have liked to flee with the surrounding soldiers.

Even after activating (Possibility Sense), he could not feel anything. It was like he was enveloped by an impenetrable wall of night.

As the Dark Young closed in, he studied its form in greater detail.

Judging by the way its hooves remained undamaged, it was likely that normal swords would not be able to deal any harm to it. From the deep prints it left in the ground where it stepped, its weight would instantly kill anyone it was applied to.

The more he learned about it, the more his fear of it grow.

Right now, Gazef was exposed to a terror far more intense than those of the soldiers fleeing willy-nilly around him.

But he could not turn back.

The Kingdom’s strongest warrior could not flee. He cancelled (Possibility Sense), and calmed his breathing.

The Dark Young closed in.

It was close enough that the clods of dirt kicked up by its hooves could reach Gazef.

It ignored the soldiers around it, like they were nothing but crawling worms, and headed straight for Gazef.

No, he was wrong.

The Dark Young swerved to the side, like it had hit a wall. Because it had turned so quickly, the Dark Young’s footsteps were messed up, and even with so many legs, it lost its balance.

Of course, Gazef did not think it had run away from him.

It had simply considered where it could find more prey and felt that it could trample more people if it turned to the side.

The Dark Young charged past Gazef, making the world quake in its passing.

Because there was only a meter or so of separation between them, the ground under his feet shook like an earthquake. Anyone but Gazef would have fallen down.

He aimed at the Dark Young’s gigantic hoof as it ran past—

“—Yeeart!”

Gazef swung his sword. At this speed, the enemy’s own velocity would become a weapon that would tear itself apart on the edge of his blade.

In the instant the hoof touched the sword, a massive impact travelled up the weapon and into Gazef’s arms. It made him feel as though his arms had been torn off.

His feet, planted firmly in the ground, left two trenches in the dirt as he was dragged backward.

“Gwaaargh!”

Somehow, he had kept his grip on his sword, but pain spread through his entire body. Be it his muscles or his tendons, every part of him hurt from the stress it had to bear.

Gazef panted heavily, and stared at the giant body that passed him.

Not far from Gazef, one of the Dark Young had finally stood still as opposed to running madly.

One of its tentacles became a blur.

Fear shot through his body. Gazef hurriedly raised his sword.

In that instant, an extraordinary impact struck him, and his body floated into the sky.

Gazef could not see anything, but he guessed that he must have been slapped away by the tentacle. His body flew through the sky.

After hanging in the air for a surprisingly long time, Gazef’s body finally struck the earth. He rolled several times. This rolling was not the tumbling of a flung corpse, but the deliberate action of a human that was trying to bleed off the energy of his rotation.

Gazef slowly stood up, spurring his ungainly body into motion. He stared at the distant Dark Young.

It had been just one hit.

The arm that took the strike had broken. It was probably sheer good luck that his sword had not snapped as well.

All emotion vanished from Gazef’s face

Why had he been spared? Why had it not pursued him?

It was probably because it had no need to finish him off. Gazef felt that was the most appropriate answer.

This was not a defeat. He had not even come anywhere close to the arena.

Fresh blood flowed from his bitten lip.

Following that, Gazef suppressed the intense pain which filled him and ran forth with all his might.

Even if he could not beat his opponent, even if his limit was one more hit, even so, he still had to protect his King.

However, his footsteps ─ filled with conviction and determination ─ faltered after several paces.

He looked at the Dark Young that had changed direction toward him —there was no mistake here— and he realized why he had managed to survive.

Upon the Dark Young, there was a king seated upon what looked like a throne made of tentacles. However, he had a bizarre face. It was skeletal, and there was no doubt that he was an undead monster.

He was not nearly foolish enough not to recognize who that king was.

“Ainz Ooal Gown… dono. So you weren’t human after all.”

The Theocracy’s special forces. Gazef had no hope of defeating them, yet they had been easily wiped out. No human could have done that, which made this realization simple to accept.

Iya. Why had he even thought someone that powerful could have been human to begin with?

“Stronoff-sama!”

Even before he looked back, he knew who it was by the hoarseness of the voice. The familiar pair came running toward him.

“Are you two alright?”

Climb and Brain were unhurt, and Climb’s pure white armor had not been so much as stained. Considering the two of them had not tried to escape at once, that was a considerable stroke of good luck.

“I’m glad you’re safe!”

“I didn’t think you would die, and turns out you didn’t. However, it’s not over yet, right?”

The two of them joined their lines of sight to where Gazef had been looking just now.

“That is…”

“It can only be one person, Climb-kun. The monster who rules over other monsters. That is Ainz Ooal Gown.”

“That is… that is… How shall I say this… I, I’m sorry.”

At a glance, Climb’s body was shuddering. His stiff, frozen expression betrayed the fact that he was not quaking in excitement or anticipation.

“Don’t worry, Climb-kun. This is nothing to be ashamed of. Or rather, it can’t be helped! A third person whose strength surpasses all rational sense! What has my life become ever since that day!”

Brain radiated a powerful fighting spirit he took a stance. Gazef was surprised at his facial expression, which was casual and easy and did not suit the circumstances.

“I-I mustn’t run away either!”

Climb and Brain stood at Gazef’s side.

Amidst flying chunks of meat, the Dark Young halted in front of Gazef.

Distant screams echoed over, and only this place was silent.

It was as though this area was no longer part of the world.

Ainz’s line of sight turned from Gazef, passed uninterestedly over Brain, and then halted on Climb. He shrugged, and looked back to Gazef.

“…You’re looking quite lively, Stronoff-dono.”

“I could say the same to you, Gown-dono… huhu. Would that be a problem, to say you’re lively? After all, if you stopped being a human after we parted ways back then, it would be terribly rude.”

"Ha ha ha. No, I have not changed since that time.”

Ainz floated down from the top of the Dark Young as he chuckled. He must have been using some sort of magical effect, given how he slowly floated down in defiance of gravity.

Although he thought it might be that famous spell (Fly), after considering the fact the Ainz Ooal Gown was a mighty magic caster, he concluded that it must be a superior version of that spell – though how superior it was, or what kind of spell it was, Gazef did not know.

“Truly, it has been a long time, Stronoff-dono. Ever since Carne Village.”

“Indeed it has, Gown-dono. Then… permit me to ask, why have you sought me out? Could it be that you found a familiar face on the battlefield and decided to meet me?”

"Baiklah. I don’t like fancy talk, and beating around the bush is not appropriate for this place. So… I’ll get right to it.”

Ainz slowly raised a skeletal hand.

There was no enmity there, but instead, it was a gesture of friendship.

“Become my subordinate.”

In that instant, Gazef’s eyes widened into circles.

At the same time, one could hear Brain and Climb on both sides of him gulping audibly.

Who could have imagined that such a mighty magic caster could say such a thing to him?

“If you do—”

Ainz snapped his fingers. How exactly he had done it with skeletal fingers remained a mystery.

Gazef’s body shuddered, as though something had been done to him.

However, there had been no changes in his mind or body. He felt nothing.

“Look around you.”

Gazef turned his eyes to his surroundings. Everything was—

"Saya melihat. They’ve stopped.”

The Dark Young had all stopped in the middle of whatever they were doing. The way they hung motionless in the air, halfway through stomping down, made them look like statues.

“This is only temporary. What happens after this will depend on your decision. If you refuse, I will give orders to these lambs once more. I trust I don’t need to tell you what those orders are?”

Gazef stared dumbly at Ainz.

Even if he forced Gazef to swear allegiance to him by using hostages, the bond would lack loyalty, and it would be courting betrayal from within. Surely Ainz must have considered all of this before making his offer.

Then, it meant there must have been some other reason behind his words.

But what it was, Gazef did not know.

Still, there had to be some reason why he —a being who could command an army like this— was interested in Gazef alone.

"Bagaimana? Gazef Stronoff, enter my service.”

Ainz extended his bony hand.

If he took that hand, he would save many lives.

Gazef’s heart wavered mightily.

He had been granted the chance to save the lives of the Kingdom’s people.

However — Gazef could not take that hand.

It was a poor decision.

That choice would only satisfy his ego.

A hundred out of a hundred people would curse Gazef for a fool.

Even so, Gazef could not do anything that would betray the Kingdom.

Gazef firmly shook his head in refusal.

"Saya menolak. I am the sword of the King. He has shown me his kindness, and I cannot compromise on this.”

“Even if, in the end, your choice costs more lives? You risked your life to challenge a mighty foe at Carne Village. Will you now throw others’ lives away that you could have saved?”

Gazef’s heart felt like it was being carved by a knife.

But even then, Gazef Stronoff still could not take Ainz Ooal Gown’s hand.

The Kingdom’s Warrior-Captain could not betray the King.

That was the extent of Gazef’s loyalty.

His irritation building in the face of the silent Gazef, Ainz shrugged.

“Such a foolish man. Then—”

Gazef did not allow him to complete the sentence, but turned his blade on Ainz.

“—What?”

His injuries from facing the Dark Young just now had not fully recovered, even with the power of the Talisman.

Even so, it was not his wounds which made the tip of his sword tremble. Gazef’s entire body radiated fighting spirit.

“Gown-dono. As one who has benefited from your kindness, I wish to apologize for this disresepctful act… I wish to request a one-on-one duel with you.”

Ainz’s face was a fleshless skull. Because of this, one could not tell what kind of expression he had, or discern what he was thinking.

However, for some reason, Gazef thought he was speechless. It was the same for the two behind him. They were silent, but he could sense their consternation.

“…Are you serious?”

“Naturally.”

“…You will die.”

“There is no doubt of that.”

“If you knew, then why do so? I had no intention of killing you at first… are you suicidal?”

“I did not think so at first, no.”

“…What are you thinking? I cannot understand your logic. If you believed you could win and challenged me, I could understand it. If you thought there was a chance of victory under the circumstances, that would be reasonable as well. However, you firmly believe that you will lose. Have you lost the ability to make proper decisions?”

“The enemy king stands before me, and he is within the reach of my sword. Is it not natural to see if I can take the head that presents itself?”

“It is true that the physical distance between us is very small. However, it seems to me that there is an overwhelming gulf between us. Apakah aku salah?"

With a whoosh, the sagging tentacles of the Dark Young behind Ainz snapped forth, gouging a crater into the earth beside Gazef.

Even Gazef’s motion-tracking vision could not follow the tentacle striking the ground beside him.

“That may be so, Gown-dono.”

“Are you pushing your luck because I said I did not want to kill you?”

Gazef laughed from the bottom of his heart.

“Certainly not. I simply wish to do what I, as the Warrior-Captain of the Kingdom, should do. That is all I was thinking.”

“…If I accept your challenge, you do realize I will slay you without mercy? It is only to be expected.”

“Indeed it is.”

“So that’s how it will be… even after I’ve said all this, you refuse to change your mind. What a shame. Speaking as a collector, it is a poor thing to have to destroy a rare specimen (you).”

Gazef had no intention of backing down.

This was an unbelievable stroke of luck. To begin with, Ainz, who surrounded himself with incredible subordinates, was now standing alone in front of him without any bodyguards.

On top of that, his pride as a mighty individual meant that he would not order the Dark Young behind him into action.

He would never get a chance like this again.

His enemy stood at a height that he could not reach with both hands. However, right now, he had a chance to bridge the gap between them.

The next time they met, he would probably surround himself with a multitude of guards, as befitted a magic caster who was poor in close combat. Gazef would never get within sword range of Ainz again. Having considered that, he had challenged Ainz to a duel.

And there was another reason for the duel.

While it was a very slim chance, even so—

Gazef issued his formal challenge.

“Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown-dono! My name is Gazef Stronoff, Warrior-Captain of the Kingdom of Re-Estize! I formally request a duel with you!”

“Gazef!”

“Warrior-Captain…”

The other two could not bear it any longer, and Brain cried out while Climb murmured. However, Gazef did not heed them and continued speaking.

“If you find it acceptable, Sorcerer King-dono, I pray you will find these two suitable witnesses for our combat.”

Ainz shrugged.

Go ahead, it seemed to say. When Gazef realised this, he nodded.

“Wait, wait a minute! Hang on, Gazef! I can always die alongside you! Don’t go alone! My lord Sorcerer-King! Please, I beg you! I know this is shameless beyond belief, but this is a heartfelt request! Please allow us both to face you! I know it won’t inconvenience you in the slightest!”

As he heard Brain’s strangled plea, Gazef thought, as I expected…

The carefree expression he had seen on Brain’s face then was that of a warrior that had embraced his fate.

He had long since resolved himself to die beside Gazef at the hands of Ainz Ooal Gown.

However, he did not accept it. He could not accept it.

“Brain Unglaus! Do you wish to stain my conviction as a warrior?”

Brain’s face was a picture of shock.

“—That is fine, Stronoff-dono. I don’t mind taking you two on at once.”

“Please don’t, Sorcerer King-dono. This duel is with me. You two, stay out of it.”

The pinpoints of red light floating in Ainz’s skeletal eyesockets glowed even brighter.

"…Saya melihat. I’ve seen those eyes before. They are the eyes of a man who has embraced his death and advances anyway. Firm, unyielding eyes. I admire them.”

Ainz was speaking like a human being.

"Sangat baik. I accept your proposal. I will duel (PVP) Stronoff-dono.”

***

Brain’s knees crumpled, and he collapsed to the ground.

His low-hanging face could not be seen, but droplets of rain spattered the crimson earth below him.

Maafkan saya.

Gazef told Brain in his heart.

“The corpse will be returned intact. It will facilitate the use of resurrection magic—”

“—There is no need for that.”

Gazef’s words left both his friends and enemy speechless.

“I do not wish to be brought back to life. You may dispose of the body here if you wish.”

It was not that resurrection magic was bad. However, Gazef disliked it.

Everyone only had one life.

That was why the decision to stake one’s life meant so much.

In addition, he could not come back from the dead, for the sake of the Kingdom.

If Gazef died, then the King could spread the news that he had lost an important subject. THat way, the King could temper the hatred and resentment which the people would feel towards the royal family for all the deaths in this battle.

This was a final act of loyalty from the Kingdom’s Warrior-Captain, who had chosen to act selfishly.

Ignoring the surprised stares around him, Gazef smiled calmly.

“Then, let us begin. You two, I hope you will bear witness to my final battle.”

***

Climb could not have imagined that the man called Brain Unglaus could have shown such a fragile side of himself.

The Brain he knew was strong, free-spirited and untouchable. However, he saw no traces of that in the man whose head was lowered. Even so, he did not think Brain was weak.

“Brain. Will you not complete this duty?”

Gazef spoke these words without looking back.

Brain refused to move. The way his hands clawed at the ground conveyed his regret to Climb. Even so, Climb had to say it.

“…This is Stronoff-sama’s wish.”

He did not think Gazef Stronoff could win at all.

That was why Climb and Brain had to fulfil Gazef’s request.

Slowly, Brain rose to his feet

It was hot.

Climb nearly turned tail and ran.

There seemed to be some kind of hot air propelling Brain upwards.

“…How many times have I made you see the disgraceful side of myself, Climb-kun? I’m fine now. I’ll scorch Gazef’s noble form into my eyes.”

"…Terima kasih."

What kind of relationship did Brain Unglaus and Gazef Stronoff have?

Climb could not understand the bond between them, especially on Brain’s side.

After losing to Gazef, he had embarked on a journey to advance his sword skills. This was the Brain that Climb knew. However, he did not think their relationship was that simple.

“Then, Stronoff-dono. Could you let me take a look at that sword? I wish to quickly look over it.”

Ainz made that request like he was asking about the weather. Enchanted swords could have all kinds of abilities imbued into them. Examining one would be like revealing the inner workings of one’s strategy. By common sense, nobody would ever agree to that proposal.

Climb was not the only person who had thought that way, which was why Brain’s eyes also went wide at what happened next.

Gazeff turned his sword a full 180 degrees and presented the hilt to Ainz.

“Gazef! Have you completely given up on winning?!”

“Brain! Don’t say such rude things! The Sorcerer King is nothing like that.”

Ainz held the sword and cast a spell. After that, he laughed happily.

“What a marvellous sword.”

Ainz returned the sword to Gazef hilt-first, the same way it had been given to him.

“Stronoff-dono. How much of this sword’s power do you know?”

“I fully understand it. This sword has an unreal sharpness that can cut metal like paper.”

“Incorrect. That is only a fraction of the sword’s power.”

“—What? What do you mean, Sorcerer King-dono?”

“Well, in short, this sword is a weapon that can kill me. Something like that is the absolute minimum condition for a duel. Without a weapon that can harm me, this would be nothing more than an execution.

Sorry for comparing you to the rats that entered my fortress.” Ainz muttered as he suddenly produced a shortsword out of thin air.

Without hesitation, he dragged the edge of the gleaming blade across his face in a forceful slice.

However, it did not leave so much as a scratch.

“Weakly enchanted objects like this cannot harm this body of mine. Incidentally, this shortsword is imbued with about as much data —or rather, as much mana— as that sword you bear, Stronoff-dono. However, your sword can harm me, in clear defiance of what I know to be true. Could I request that sword after I win?”

Gazef smiled thinly.

“Forgive me for refusing, but this sword is a national treasure.”

"Mm. PVP under the pretext of returning dropped items, then? Very well.”

“My deepest thanks, Sorcerer King-dono.”

After returning the sword to Gazef, Ainz stroked his chin in thought. He backed up, one step at a time, as though conforming to some regulated distance between them.

“I think this should be about five meters. And… because there’s no countdown, we will need a signal. You, in the white armor. Find something to start us off.”

Having been suddenly named, Climb shuddered.

“Climb, please.”

“I, I have a magical handbell here. I’ll ring it, and it will signal the start.”

The two of them nodded silently to Climb’s proposal.

Gazef raised his sword, pointing it at his enemy’s eyes. Strength suffused every fiber of his being. In the eyes of Climb who stood behind him, Gazef’s body seemed to grow larger before his eyes.

This was an overwhelming fighting spirit. He had never seen the true pressure the Kingdom’s Warrior-Captain could exert. Yet, his body seemed distant and illusory, like a mirage.

“Stronoff-sama…”

This was the last time he would see Gazef alive.

“It’s not guaranteed.”

“—Eh?”

Suddenly, Brain denied Climb from where he stood beside him.

“There’s no guarantee Gazef will lose. The chances are extremely low, but there’s still a chance of victory. That guy has a killer move, you know? The martial art he uses as a trump card?”

“The (Sixfold Slash of Light)?”

Brain smiled quietly.

"Tidak. It’s an ultimate martial art that far surpasses it. That fellow learned it.”

“Is, is that so?!”

As Climb prepared his handbell, he looked to Gazef’s raised sword, and the profile of his face, which was filled with the utmost focus.

It was the steely face of the man hailed as the Warrior-Captain, renowned in the surrounding countries.

"Iya. It came from a former adamantite-ranked adventurer of the Kingdom. It was a martial art invented by Vestia Croft Di Lofan, but he could not use it because of his advanced age. If my greatest secret move, (Nail Clipper) is the result of using multiple martial arts at once, Gazef’s trump is the strongest single technique. Who knows, that blow… it might even be able to reach Ainz Ooal Gown.”

Perhaps that was why he had asked for a one-on-one duel, Brain muttered. His eyes did not leave the scene before him for an instant.

Climb swallowed.

The hand holding the bell felt heavy. Once he rang it, Gazef’s fate would be sealed.

“Want to swap with me?”

“…Thank you. But… I’ll do it.”

Is that so, Brain mumbled, but he did not say anything else.

Climb raised the bell. He could only pray that victory went to Gazef.

And then —louder than expected— the bell rang.

His consciousness focused to the absolute limit, Gazef stepped in with an unbelievable speed—

Without missing a single moment, Brain and Climb opened their eyes and watched—

***

—And before any of them, the world went quiet.

“I see… so time-stop countermeasures are important, after all.”

Because Ainz had instantly cast a silent (Time Stop), Gazef was frozen in front of Ainz, his sword raised high.

No attack would work while time was stopped. Even if he used attack magic to barrage Gazef, it would cause him no harm. Because of that, Ainz cast a spell while keeping track of the time.

“(Delay Magic: True Death).”

This was a 9th-tier spell.

He did not use it often because (Grasp Heart) was a more convenient spell.

If no spell could affect an enemy while time-stopped, then all one needed to do was delay the activation of the spell until the moment the spell ended. Although it was a basic combination attack, the timing for it was extremely difficult. As such, only about 5% of all magic-users could pull it off.

Naturally, after much training and practice, Ainz was one of them as well.

“…Farewell, Gazef Stronoff. I never hated you.”

The spell ended, and time returned to the world.

Before anything else could happen, the spell took effect.

***

—Gazef slowly fell.

"Eh?"

“Wha-what?”

Climb and Brain had no idea of what had just happened.

In the moment Gazef had stepped forward, he had suddenly fallen over.

Ainz caught Gazef’s body.

His sword fell from nerveless fingers, and fell to the ground.

The battle was over.

Yet, they could not understand it.

Nobody knew what was going on.

“What on earth happened…?”

“The hell should I know!”

Brain gave voice to an angry cry.

"Apa yang salah? Get up! Gazef!”

However, Brain’s earnest hope was coldly denied.

“He is dead.”

Respectfully, perhaps even reverently, the Sorcerer King Ainz laid Gazef upon the ground. After that, he slowly closed the man’s wide-open eyes.

While looking at Gazef’s face, he spoke to the two people nearby.

“…Seeing how he made a challenge with no chance of winning reminded me of that time. As a sign of respect for the Warrior-Captain, I will call off the Dark Young. His body will be returned to you after it is properly prepared.”

“…No, there’s no need for that. We will bring Gazef back. There’s no need to trouble you.”

Climb exhaled heavily.

Would Brain challenge Ainz to a hopeless battle? he wondered, However, there was no need for that.

“Is that so,” Ainz replied before standing back up.

“The instant death spell I used, (True Death), will invalidate lower-tier resurrection magic. Tell this to the people of the Kingdom. Tell them I will be merciful to those who submit respectfully.”

Ainz lightly floated into the air.

Even as they saw his defenseless back, the two of them knew they could not commit a shameful act like attacking from behind.

Ainz sat on the tentacles of the Dark Young.

It was truly a terrifying throne.

“Cede E-Rantel and the surrounding areas to me without delay and these lambs will not frolic through the royal capital. Tell the King this, when you see him again.”

The Dark Young turned and left, and the other four Dark Young also began making their way back to the Imperial castrum.

“Climb-kun. I have one request…Could I bring Gazef-dono back?”

“…Very well. Then I will bring Stronoff-sama’s sword home.”

“A lot of people died.”

“Yeah, too many to count.”

“…What just happened?”

"Aku tidak tahu. But, if someone as powerful as that calls himself a king and claims this territory…”

“I’m sure that in the future, a war will definitely break out. And who knows, the dead may outnumber the corpses here today.”

Walking behind Brain, who was carrying Gazef on his back, Climb’s thoughts turned to the future of the Kingdom, which was wreathed in dark clouds.

Brain’s words would definitely come true. What was important was what he could do, and then, what he would do.

And the most important thing was─

—I have to protect Renner-sama.

Climb clenched his fist, and made up his mind. At the very least, he had to protect his mistress, no matter the cost.