Chapter Volume 1 46(1/2)
War Part 6
Translators: Skythewood, Frostfire10
He was going to lose.
Cocytus understood this fact.
He had no undead that had intelligence. But for them to be this weak.
Cocytus was bothered by his shallow thinking. There was a way to turn the tide under such a situation, but it wasn’t a good method as taking such a step was equivalent to admitting his loss.
On the other hand, how could he report this failure to his master? Cocytus picked up the scroll. Who should he contact at such a crucial moment—
“.. Is this Demiurge?”
[Yes my friend. For you to actually <Message> me, something happened?]
An extremely composed deep voice rang in Cocytus’ head. Yes, he decided that Demiurge, who apart from being a Guardian was also the head of Nazarick’s defences, could give him good insight.
If asked if he would feel a bit of regret asking a rival-like existence for help, he would reply yes. However, this was something where failure could not be tolerated. So, he could not feel regret bowing his head.
“Actually—”
An explanation of the current situation.
After using several scrolls, Demiurge who listened quietly gave a troubled sigh.
[And what do you need from me?]
“I wish for you to lend me your wisdom, the battle will be lost if this carries on. I can accept it if it was my personal fight, but I do not wish for Nazarick and the Supreme Beings to be disgraced by this.”
[Does Ainz-sama truly wish for victory?]
“What do you mean by this?”
[I am talking about why Ainz-sama formed an army from such lowly serfs.]
“Hmm...”
Cocytus also had doubts about this. He couldn’t fathom why they had to form an army from the lowest servants in the Great Tomb of Nazarick. But then, to have such a composition...
“He must have been aiming for something” No, he could think of nothing else. “Then, what was his aim?”
[.. I can think of several possibilities.]
As expected of Demiurge.
Cocytus didn’t express this out loud and kept his respect for the demon in his heart.
[Let me ask you.. Cocytus. You had been in this place for several days now, shouldn’t you be gathering intelligence on the lizardmen before the attack?]
“Mm...”
Demiurge was right. But—
“But Ainz-sama ordered me to defeat them with the forces given.”
[That might be so, but I want to think about it carefully, Cocytus. The important thing should be Ainz-sama’s objective. If the objective was destruction of the village, you would need to consider the best way to go about it, correct?]
“Mm...”
Cocytus couldn’t answer, Demiurge got right to the point.
[Ainz-sama must have considered all this when he gave those serfs to you.]
“.. You mean Ainz-sama intentionally gave me forces that wouldn’t be able to win the fight?”
「The possibility is high. If you had gathered enough information, you might have realised that your troops were not sufficient to bring down the village. If you had done so, you could have reported it to Ainz-sama. Was that not Ainz-sama’s aim? This was why he had spoke so. For you to wonder if your orders were absolute, or if you could immediately tell if the completion would be difficult.]
Which meant that Cocytus had to understand the true intention of his master and react based on that.
That was what Demiurge was trying to say.
[This was Ainz-sama’s method of changing our way of thinking. But he seemed to have another objective as well..]
“What else is there?”
Cocytus asked Demiurge in panic. He had already made one mistake, he did not want to risk another one.
[Ainz-sama sent out messengers to the villages, but did not mention Nazarick by name. He also forbid you from taking the field. This means—]
Cocytus gulped and waited for Demiurge to carry on. But Demiurge didn’t continue.
[Urg! Cocytus, my apologies, I have an urgent matter to attend to. Sorry but I need to go, may you obtain victory.]
Suddenly Demiruge had cut off. And the magic <Message> had disappeared. Cocytus panicked, and looked at the others in the room. There, Entoma casually dropped a torn apart scroll from her hands.
That was the proof that it had been used. Basically—-
It stated the reason for Demiurge panicking, and why he had cut off the magic, Cocytus thought deeply. Should he deploy his ace. It was the ace that his master told him not to deploy until he was about to lose. However, was that truly Ainz’s aim?
Cocytus, for the first time, thought about Ainz’s aim. However, he had but one conclusion.
Cocytus activated the <Message> spell.
“— Lich Commander, I order you to attack. Show the lizardmen your true powers.”
■
An old and luxurious robe covered its body of skins and bones. One of its hands was holding a twisted staff. Its rotting face was just a skin covered skull with evil eyes full of intelligence in its sockets. The emitted negative energy covered his body like a thin fog.
It was a magic caster of death.
It was—-A Lich.
It was an extremely evil monster that was born after an evil magic caster was born and his body was filled with negative energy. Different from the brainless undead until now, the intelligence inside was about the same as a regular person.
The undead obeyed Cocytus’ command and looked at the wetlands. He then issued orders to the Blood Meat Hulks standing behind him. They were undeads with fresh red muscles and fats, made by the Supreme Being just like him.
[Kill those three lizardmen.]
The place he was ordered towards had three lizardmen, and the two Blood Meat Hulks walked forward. They had beaten the Skeleton riders, but the Blood Meat Hulks were stronger.
Blood Meat Hulks were muscular undead with blood red skin.
Instead of sweat, a blood-like liquid flowed down their skin. With each step, their meat bounced up and down.
Although Blood Meat Hulks were low-tier undead that could only attack with brute force, they had regenerative abilities. If they were facing physical attack on the same level as them, they would be able to stall for time.
As a magic caster, the Lich was not good in melee battles, so having the Blood Meat Hulks close to protect him was the orthodox way to fight.
However he couldn’t use such tactics.
The order he received was to ‘show the lizardmen your true powers’. Hence, he had to take the base camp of the lizardmen alone with his overwhelming power.
As the Lich advanced, his terrifying face laughed softly.
He felt this was too easy.
◆
After the lizardmen had killed the undead beasts, they dropped their shoulders in exhaustion and breathed a sigh of relief. Many wounded had appeared. They had to transport them without being able to rest.
The ones able to fight were all tired to the point that they wanted to sit down. Their bodies were dull, and it was exhausting to lift their weapons. However, they had to clean up the zombies.
The Head Warriors commanded.
They said that those who could still fight had to oppose the zombies.
Then—-
—-A blaze erupted. With that one blast, the spirits had become half broken. Then, another hit.
After the second, the spirits crumbled and disappeared.
What happened?
The lizardmen couldn’t suppress their confusion and looked around. When they saw an undead in the distance, a fireball was shot from its hand once again.
The fireball that was the size of a human head flew through the air and blast into the lizardmen unit taking point.
Normally, fire would be put out when it come into contact with water, but this fireball was a magical phenomenon and ignored such common sense. The moment the fireball hit the water surface, it exploded as if it had collided with solid ground, creating a tornado of fire.
A crimson battery fire engulfed the lizardmen.
They 5 metre radius balls erupted and disappeared.
An illusion— it disappeared so fast that this was the feeling it gave. But the smell of burning flesh— from the lizardmen that laid on the ground motionless was definitely not an illusion.
The undead slowly approached. Should they move like they had done against the Skeleton Archers? As the lizardmen hesitated, another ball came flying.
It exploded, and stole the lives of the nearby lizardmen.
It was an overwhelming power. Even though their ancestors had descended, several lizardmen were swallowed by fear.
Several tried to attack, but were intercepted by the fireballs.
“Run!”
A spirited roar sounded out, shocking the lizardmen like lightning. It was one of the Head Warriors.
“That is a strong enemy. The fight will be different from that until now!”
Yes. The figure of just one person approaching.
Every lizardman could feel an overwhelming pressure from it.
“Run back and report to the Chiefs and Zaryusu.”
“Let us buy some time!”
Yet another fireball exploded, felling several lizardmen.
“Run! Report to them!”
The five Head Warriors ordered the lizardmen to escape as they gauged the distance between each other. They spread out with the blast radius of the fireball in mind, their goal was for one of them to reach the enemy. It was a suicide formation for this sole purpose.
The five of them of them looked at each other after spreading out and sprinted at full speed.
The distance was about two hundred metres. It was a hopeless distance, but they still charged in with all their might. They knew even if they fell while rushing in, it would leave clues for the chiefs and Zaryusu who were watching from behind.
◆
The pressured lizardmen continued to run.
Zaryusu coldly watched the scene. No, the moment the strong enemy appeared, he had paid attention to it.
Fireballs came flying from the single undead. It’s actions were different from the brainless undead until now.
It was probably the commander.
The moment a lizardman was within range, it welcomed them with an AoE <Fireball>. There was no one who got up after being hit. The Head Warriors who tried to attack, were all killed en route.
The distance was 200 metres. Nothing more. However considering that it was wetlands without cover, that distance had changed to a hell.
The lizardmen’s projectile weapons were slings. It was an impossible feat for it to fly 200 metres and hit its target. In addition, some high ranking undead received no damage from unenchanted weapons. If the approaching undead was one, it would just serve to anger it.
Now, it was strolling towards them with ease. Trying to poorly attack was a fool’s errand.
Zaryusu thought of attacking with numbers.
He could see that attacking an existence that could use large area attacks would only result in death. Then only the elite should challenge it.
However, that was the problem.
Zaryusu and the others could take a couple of hits from fireball, but they will suffer more than a couple of attacks before they close the gap. And the real test begins after reaching the target. It was easy to see that taking the attack of the fireball from the front will kill them.
The chance of them being killed en route like the 5 Head Warriors was high.
While Zaryusu was watching, the last Head Warrior was swallowed by flames, and fell to the wetlands.
“Such a despairingly long distance.”
“Ah...”
Zaryusu’s group thought about how to reach the enemy without injuries— or with minimal injuries.
“How about tunneling through the wetlands?”
“Even for the powers of a druid.. that would be difficult. It would be great if we could use ‘Invisibility’.”
They could sneak close immediately using ‘Flight’ after casting ‘Invisibility’. But these were not among the spells a druid could learn.
“How about making a shield while we advance?”
“Making a shield will take too much time.”
“What about dismantling.. a house?”
Zenberu smiled wryly as he knew the proposal he just said wouldn’t work. The enemy was attacking with fireball explosion, even if they could protect one side, the heat would still get in from the side. There was no time to craft a full body shield to protect against the heat.
Like this or that, Crusch and Zenberu who were discussing noticed Zaryusu’s cold face murmuring.
“What is it, Zaryusu?”
Crusch was slightly taken aback and asked fearfully. While the male Zaryusu was making a blank face, she felt uneasy.
“No.. I just.. found a shield.”
◆
It was progressing smoothly. The two Blood Meat Hulks were still battling, but he was making good progress towards the village.
There were several foolish lizardmen who wanted to charge him, but they seemed to understand the futility of their action after witnessing the power of fireball. The five that spread out before the assault had the best record right now.
But they only made it to one hundred metres.
The Lich moved through the empty wasteland silently. However, there was no hesitation. There might have been people hiding using invisibility magic or hiding beneath the mud. The Lich did not forget to check for anything strange.
There was not much of a distance till the village.
However, the lizardmen did not want it to arrive. So a counter offensive was imminent.
As it thought, the Lich looked at the village.
[Hmm]
It seemed to be the ace. One figure of a hydra was visible. It was slowly heading towards the Lich.
If that was the ace of the lizardmen, he will crush it with overwhelming strength and sap their will to fight. That would make the destruction of the village simpler.
The Lich prepared itself for when the hydra would enter its range.
When it just about did, the hydra began running. Yes, towards the Lich.
[Fools, you think you can cover this distance of 200 metres? Beasts will just be beasts.]
The Lich sneered, and made a <Fireball> in its hands.
It then released it towards the hydra.
The fireball flew straight and scored a direct hit on the hydra. The eruption of flames engulfed the hydra. It was as if the hydra’s body was a torch.
Although the hydra staggered, it continued to advance. It carried on charging even though it was on fire. No, the flames dissipated instantly, that was just the imagination of the Lich. The scene before the Lich conveyed the exemplary determination of the hydra.
The Lich frowned with displeasure.
It withstood one of its magic. From that, the Lich’s pride was hurt. It did seem that the hydra had protective magic that defended against energy attacks on it. However, while it was not high class, its own magic could not completely erase it.
The magic beast hydra was filled with vigour. Then it was natural for it to endure one hit.
Yes, the Lich decided so and comforted itself.
Then, it faced the approaching hydra with a cold gaze. It felt that its magic was being made light of.
Eating one hit, it seemed that it did not understand pain. It was running to its death.
[.. How unpleasant, die!]
He fired a fireball once more, engulfing the hydra in flames again. It even gave the illusion of charring flesh from such a distance. The wounds might not be fatal, but it would make it hesitate from advancing further.
But—
[— Why isn’t it stopping? Why is it still coming?]
◆
Rororo ran. It might be huge, but it had a speed matching the lizardmen since it was traversing the wetlands. Ripples splashed everywhere with loud splattering sounds.
Its amber eyes turned white from the high temperature, two of its four heads had lost its strength.
Despite that, it ran.
Another ‘fireball’ struck Rororo squarely in the body. The heat inside the ‘fireball’ exploded in an instant, penetrating Rororo’s entire being. It felt a pain equivalent to being punched all over its body, its eyes were dry as the fiery air burned its lungs.
With burns all over its body, the feedback of pain that came nonstop from its body warned Rororo: it will die if it was hit again.
Even so— it ran.
Ran.
And ran.
It did not stop and continued forward. It was an unbelievable action.
The high temperature peeled the scales away, warping the skin underneath it and blood gushed out. Despite that, it still ran.
—-Rororo was a type of monster called hydra.
There were all sorts of monsters, with those that surpass humans in intelligence, and those that were no different from animals. Rororo belonged to the latter.
Rororo only had the intelligence of an animal. Then was it not strange for it to be on the brink of death and yet running towards the Lich which was tormenting it? Was it not unfathomable for it to not turn but instead continue onwards?
It was strange.
And unfathomable.
In fact, even its enemy the lich was baffled, and suspected Rororo was being manipulated by magic.
But, it was different.
Yes, it was different.
The Lich would probably never understand.
Rororo who only had the intelligence of a beast— it was running for the sake of family.
Rororo didn’t know its parents. This was not as hydras abandoned their babies at birth. And neither did they die after Rororo was born.
Rororo was a premature baby. Normal hydras were born with eight heads. Over the years this would increase to at most twelve.
However, Rororo had only four. It might be rude but, the natural world was not such a sweet place to say that such a birth defect was fine. So, Rororo’s mother naturally left it behind.
It mother was not being cruel. It was a normal scene in nature.
A hydra was just born was without its parent’s protection. Even if it became a strong existence in future, it could not save itself while young. Its life was now a race against time.
If it wasn’t for the male lizardmen who happened to pass by and picked it up.
If that lizardman had not ignored the dwarf companions he was with and picked him up.
If that lizardman had no explained to the dwarfs and said that he would feed it himself.
— And so, Rororo got a family that was its father, mother and close friend.
Why was its body so big? Why did it have so many heads? It thought about this when it looked at its foster parent.
And Rororo held a belief from old conclusion.
Several of its heads would fall off and it would look like its parent.
Then—-what should it do. It might be nice to sleep together for the first time in a long while—-
As if blowing away such thoughts, a flame covered Rororo’s vision, and another round of pain hit its body. It raised a small cry. There was no longer a place where it could run and be safe. A safe warmth was transmitted from behind it, but compared to the flames surrounding its body, it was extremely weak.
Rororo felt pain as if countless hammers were smashing into it.
It was far too painful, to the pain that it could not think.
Its legs became limp, it was telling Rororo to stop.
However—-
However—-Did Rororo stop its advance?
—-No
Its legs did not stop. Rororo continued. Its steps were slowing. It was being burned by fire, and its muscles seemed to be tearing. There was no way it could continue with the same speed.
Just taking a step forward was hard.
It was hard to breathe and it hurt when it inhaled, its lungs probably being damaged by the heat.
However, its legs did not stop.
Only one of its heads could move, the others were just a burden now. The image of the undead conjuring a fireball from its hand appeared vaguely in Rororo’s murky eyes.
Its instinct as a living being told it one thing.
If it was hit again, it will definitely die. But Rororo was fearless as it relentlessly braved ahead—
Rororo frantically, with all of its strength, staggered a few more steps as a crimson ball of flame flew from the Lich’s hand.
It would probably burn all of Rororo’s life. It could not resist any further.
Death awaited it.historical
This was the end—
If—
That’s right— if that male lizardman wasn’t here.
Will that male lizardman allow Rororo to die before his eyes?
Watch such injustice unfold in front of him?
That was impossible!
“— [Icy Burst]!”
Zaryusu who was running behind Rororo lept out to the side and shouted as he swung his magic sword.
The air before his sword seemed to freeze instantly, forming a white wall of mist before Rororo. That was an extremely cold wave of air. It was a flow of cold air created by Frost Pain.
One of the abilities of Frost Pain.
A powerful skill that could only be used thrice a day— [Icy Burst], it could freeze everything within range instantly and deal heavy damage.
The wall of cold mist blocked the incoming ‘fireball’ as if it was solid barrier. The fiery ball and chilly wall— according to magic theory, it was wise to counter one with the other.
It hit—
The ball burst into flames, struggling mightily against the white mist.
Both sides were like a white and red snake struggling and devouring each other. After pushing back each other for a moment, the two energies disappeared.
<Fireball> and [Icy Burst].
The two disappeared as if nothing had happened.
While they were close, it was still quite far—-There, the Lich was surprised, and could be seen panicking. It was making the most suitable figure for one that had its magic erased.
Yes.
There was still some distance between the two groups, but they were close enough to make out each other’s expressions— and actions.
An impossible distance was covered thanks to Rororo’s effort and determination, bringing the three lizardmen this far with no injuries.
“Rororo..”
Zaryusu didn’t know what to say. How should he put it, what was the most suitable words to say to Rororo. In the end, he chose a clear and simple phrase from the millions of expression in his mind.
“Thank you!”
Spitting out words one would say to their childhood friend, Zaryusu ran forward without looking back. Behind him, Crusch and Zenberu followed.
In its blurry vision, Rororo raised a small cry towards the leaving figure, knowing that its role was done.
That was a cheer for one’s family.
◆
The thought of how could this be.
It’s magic was erased.
What did they do. The Lich thought.
[Impossible!]
Lich cast ‘fireball’ once more. He was not willing to acknowledge that the lizardmen rushing at him had dispelled his magic.
The released fireball was aimed towards the three lizardmen and ran through the air.
It was blocked by a wall of mist conjured by the leading lizardmen with his sword, and it disappeared together with the wall. That’s right, it was the same situation as before—
“Try all you want! I will block all your attacks!”
The angry roar of the lizardman projected over.
The Lich had no choice but to accept the fact that there was an existence that could erase its magic, and unhappily clicked its tongue.
The possibility of his magic <Fireball> not making it through was extremely high.
However, contrary to what the Lizardman said, it guessed that blocking all was impossible. The Lich was not that much of a fool to fall for that bluff.
As for why, it was as if this was true, then there was no need to hide behind the hydra. If they had to do so to get close, then there were limits.
However—-If he could use it ten times, and it just decreased his stamina with every use, if he recovered then he might be able to use it infinitely.
The Lich could use <Fireball> about 150 times, but it could not decide if what Zaryusu said was a bluff.
The Lich and the lizardmen. The distance between the two parties was not very far.
A distance of 40 metres.
The lizardmen charging in seemed to be warriors and as an undead magic caster, the Lich wanted to avoid melee combat.
He couldn’t use fireball in this situation. The Lich wasn’t dumb enough to confirm how many times they could block his spell. If they didn’t hide behind the hydra in the beginning and had closed the distance, the Lich might test it out. But that chance had been destroyed by that damn hydra.
[Curses.. just a mere hydra.]
After spitting out these words, the Lich decided his next course of action.
In the game Yggdrasil, monsters that could use magic only had up to six different types. Of course, boss monsters were exceptions.
So the Lich had the same ability to use multiple magics.
[— Well then, how about this?]
It just so happened that they were running in single file. Then—-
Facing the three lizardmen who had closed the distance, the Lich pointed its finger at them. That finger was covered in lightning.
[Taste my 「Lightning」!]
A white flash of lightning emerged and—
They could confirm it even from this distance. The white light from the Lich’s finger, lightning. Frost Pain’s [Icy Burst] could defend against fire attacks. However, he had no confidence that it could guard against lightning attacks. However, he had to try. Or should they disperse and limit the damage.
Should they try their luck, or spread out to minimize the damage they will take?
Zaryusu gripped Frost Pain tightly.
The air was buzzing with static electricity, proving that a lightning attack was imminent.
“Leave this to me—!”
Zenberu made his judgment before Zaryusu did and jumped forth with a shout. The spell was casted at the same time.
[—-[Lightning]!]
“Warrghhh— [Resistance Massive]!”
The moment the electricity was about to pierce Zenberu’s body, his muscles pumped up.
A small moment passed, and the electricity which was about to pierce Zenberu and hit Zaryusu and Crusch, was dispersed by Zenberu’s muscles.
[Resistance Massive.]
It was an ability of monks, a martial art that reduced magic damage by emitting ki from their bodies. This was what Zenberu had learned on his trip after he lost to Frost Pain’s trump card [Icy Burst]. Even if it was a ranged attack, if the magic had damage, it would be reduced.
A shaken voice was heard from the Lich, and Zaryusu and Crusch. However, compared to the Lich, the two of them believed in Zenberu and so their surprise was small. So they were able to close the distance even further while the Lich was shocked.
As Zaryusu ran, he finally figured something out.
During that one battle, if he had used [Icy Burst], it would have been blocked and he would have instantly lost when Zenberu took advantage of the gap in his defense.
“Haha! Too easy!”
Zenberu’s casual voice made Zaryusu smile. However, his face tensed the next moment. A small, extremely small, aspect of Zenberu’s voice had pain in it.
A male like Zenberu could not bear all the pain. Then there was no way that the damage was small. And if that skill was perfect, he was not a man to agree to let Rororo run in front of them.
Zaryusu stared in front. The distance was not far. About 25 metres.
A distance of 200 metres. That long distance was finally reduced to this.
The distance closed, and the Lich judged them to be the strongest enemies so far. It praised them for being able to defend against its magic. Of course, he had other methods of attacking, but it had to consider defending itself.
The Lich looked down on the Lizardmen. However, he did not have the complacence that accompanied it.
The Lich was not a fool.
The Lich activated his magic with a smile.
<4th Tier Summon Undead>
The wetland bubbled and skeletal bodies with four hands holding round shields and scimitars emerged to protect the Lich. They were undeads known as Skeleton Warriors, much more powerful than normal Skeletons.
There were other undead that it could summon, but the Skeleton Warriors were chosen to avoid cold attacks. Liches and other skeletons made of bones had complete resistance to cold.
While being protected by soldiers it summoned, the Lich made some distance and looked down upon them. That was the attitude of a king facing against challengers.
The distance had been closed.
There were just — 10 meters left.
There was nothing else but that. Yes, nothing else. Zaryusu confirmed that the Lich was not immediately attacking, and looked back.
They had broken through 190 metres.
A 200 metre land of death with nowhere to hide. Rororo, Frost Pain, Zenberu and Crusch. It was a distance impossible to cover without any one of them. An impenetrable distance. It was reduced to almost nothing. The remaining distance could be covered if they stretched -->>