PART 2: ADAMANTITE ADVENTURERS ARC
ACT 2: DARK WARRIOR
†††
".......How nice of them to show up themselves." A voice boomed; a deep voice that was both demeaning and somewhat charismatic at the same time. It was also muffled, as if the person's mouth was covered by something.
"Foolish.... Or to say, as expected of an inferior and unintelligent species humans are." Next was a feminine voice— a beautiful one, yet its tone was cold as it could be, seemingly devoid of any emotions.
"Don't say that, Nabe. Humans can be of worth.... especially when they are made into undeads." The deep voice answered with an amused tone.
"Y-your honoured conversations are really fearful......." A third voice muttered, which had a lighter tone than the other two. Its voice was shaking slightly as it talked.
"Be quiet, beast. Momon-sa...san, may I ask if a Djungarian Hamster makes a good undead?"
"Hm.... I have never tried my undead-summoning skill on magical beasts before. Perhaps, when I find the time, I will......."
"Hiiih!? M-m-milord!?"
"...................I am joking. Let us go."
"Y-your tone was obviously not joking, my master!!"
† † †
The sentry guards at the front gate of the Great Cemetery was struck with panic as hundreds, thousands of undeads swarmed at the wall, banging their rotting bodies against the gates and climbing over each other in order to get over the walls. In fact, many of the skeleton warriors got over the wall and was engaged in combat with the panicked guards.
"Fall back! Get down from the wall!"
The section commander shouted, making the guards move away from the rising skeleton army. As he listened, he could hear the sounds of the undead banging at the doors getting louder, and the doors themselves began groaning under the strain.
Many guards, including the section commander, hurriedly ran down the stairs to station themselves in front of the gates that was about to be taken down. Once the doors opened, the wave of undeads would flood into the streets, and only the gods knew how much damage could spread inside the fortress town.
"Damn it...... until reinforcements arrive....!!!"
Just then, a voice boomed.
"—————Open the gates."
Everyone reflexively looked to the source of the voice.
Behind the soldiers, a gigantic magical beast stood on four legs, its round black eyes gleaming with intelligence. Mounted on top was a warrior in black full-plate armour. Beside them was a beautiful woman with silky black hair and white skin, holding two massive greatswords that were completely oversized in her hands.
The section commander noticed the metal plate dangling from the warrior's neck.
An Adventurer!!
Even as he thought, the slight hint of hope turned to disappointment in an instant as he realised that it was a copper plate. Adventurers of the lowest class couldn't possibly be of an asset against this army of monsters.
Even though from their equipments and attire, the section commander could've guessed the pair's level were much higher than those of the copper-rank, but under the situation of immense pressure, he had failed to notice this.
"O-oi! This place is very dangerous! Get out of—"
The warrior nimbly leapt off of his beast. His movement was so refined that even under this situation, the section commander couldn't help but feel impressed.
"I said, open the gates." The deep muffled voice sounded from behind the warrior's black helmet.
"D-don't be stupid! There's an undead army right behind it!!"
"Hmph..... so what? What can mere undead do to me, Momon?"
Faced with the absolute confidence of the warrior Momon, the other guards couldn't help but show their confusion. The warrior sighed, then extended his palm to the woman.
"Nabe, my sword."
"As you wish."
As the woman handed Momon one of the massive greatswords, he pointed the blade into the air.
"..........Besides. Look behind you."
"Huh!?" The section commander turned to see what the warrior was pointed at—and felt his body shiver. An enormous shadow had crossed over the ground, belonging to a massive monster rising into the air behind the wall.
It was a «Necrosome Giant», a gigantic undead creature made of countless corpses.
"Uwaaaaah—"
Just as the guards screamed and prepared to flee......
"Hnnnhh!!"
Momon, the warrior in black armour, threw his greatsword like a javelin——and with its power and precision, struck the Necrosome Giant's forehead.
The monster gave a strange howl, and staggered back as if hit by a large-scale magic attack. It collapsed behind the walls, out of sight, and the guards could all hear the thunderous crash of the monster collapsing into pieces of bones.
The section commander was at a loss for his words.
".........If you do not wish to open up the gates, it cannot be helped."
"W-what are you——"
Ignoring the section commander, the black warrior broke into a sprint and kicked off the stone floor, vanishing over the other side of the wall in an instant. He had leapt over a four meter high wall in a single bound, and while wearing full plate too.
The beautiful woman followed suit and floated into the sky——it was a magic spell of the third tier, «Fly». She soundlessly disappeared over the wall.
"——This one must rush to his master's side! Wait for me, milord!"
With a cry like that, the magical beast moved at a speed impossible for his size to climb up the stairs and hopped into the cemetery.
Now all was silence.
They stared with open mouths and stunned eyes for a while, as though a storm had just swept past them. The section commander, with a trembling voice, muttered.
"Oi... can you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"The sounds of the undead."
Even though they strained their ears to listen, they could not hear anything. It was as though a veil of silence had been drawn across the land. The constant sound of the undead pounding on the doors from just now was nowhere to be found.
".........he, they...... did they kill them all.....?"
"What is this... that adventurer.....who the hell was that.....?"
As the section commander hurriedly went up the wall again, what he saw tremble—in fear, or in excitement?
Countless shattered skeleton bodies littered the ground. Mountains of corpses were everywhere, covering the entire graveyard. The three figures were already hidden inside the fog, but they could still hear the sounds of a distant battle.
"N-no way......." One of the guards cried.
".........He called himself Momon, I think.......perhaps..... we might've witnessed a legend born right here........."
† † †
"Naberal, have you spotted Nfirea's location yet?"
"I am working on it, my lord."
"Hm." Copper ranked adventurer, Momon —— Ainz Ooal Gown gave a small grunt as he swung his greatsword and mowed down the low-tier undeads in his way.
".........located. The source of this magic item's power is coming from the Great Chapel at the back of the cemetery."
"Good work. We will head towards there..... Naberal, Hamsuke is in your care."
Naberal was currently holding the giant Hamsuke behind her back as she flew over the battlefield.
"I....I truly apologise for my incompetence....."
"Stop squirming, beast. It's difficult to hold you because you are so.... soft."
Naberal's voice came from Hamsuke's stomach; she was halfway buried into the Wise King of the Forest's fur.
Because Hamsuke and Naberal were living organisms, their life force drew undeads towards them. Having them next to Ainz would only increase his burden. Thus, Ainz had ordered the two of them to stay out of the undeads' radar by flying.
Countless undeads had already been annihilated by Ainz's greatswords, and yet many more remained before him on his way towards the chapel.
"Still, if this keeps up, it'll only be a stalemate," Ainz grumbled.
"Ainz-sama, should we call reinforcements from Nazarick? A couple assets could wipe out all hostile beings in this area."
"....do not be foolish. If any of our comrades are seen, we will not be recognised as 'a single party who solved the case'.... even worse, can be convicted for working with monsters."
"I see..... as expected of Ainz-sama. However, please enlighten my incompetent servant of yours on one case..... Would it not be better to send the «Eight Edge Assassins», «Shadow Demons», and various other vassals who are adept at hiding themselves.... and take out the undeads without anybody noticing?"
Ainz silently looked at Naberal floating in the air.
A night wind blew past them in silence as Ainz stopped his movements.
".....If, if I taught you everything, how would you learn? You must figure out that yourself."
"——!! Yes, my deepest apologies!"
Ainz coughed loudly, shaken by Naberal's sound, accurate argument.
"H-however! It is as you say, perhaps it cannot be helped!"
Ainz unleashed his skill, letting out his undead aura slightly.
"Create Mid-tier undead! Jack the Ripper..... Corpse Collector!!"
Two shapes emerged from the ground in front of Ainz's outstretched arm.
One was a slim creature wearing a trenchcoat and a mask showing a smiling face. Its fingers were elongated into sharp medical scalpels. The other was a large enormous figure covered with stained bandages and two massive arms connected to large hooks.
"......Kill them." Ainz coldly ordered to his two minions, which set into motion instantly.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Hngh...... hah..... yah!!!" With refined movements and immense speed, Yuuki rushed past the many skeletons, drawing their attention and cutting them down at the same time. With her night vision and natural strengthening in the darkness, she was cutting her way through the cemetery.
"There.... are.... too.... many!!" Asuna cried frustratedly as she fought with her rapier against the undeads. Rapiers and stabbing weapons of the kind were the worst tools one could have against skeletons——every stab could do little damage to monsters who had to be broken into pieces. Asuna was only keeping up with the battle because of her brute strength of a level 75 fairy.
"Two of you, watch it——!!"
Just as the energetic voice of Lisbeth cried, Yuuki and Asuna dashed backwards behind the pink-haired Leprechaun. And———
"Yaaaaahhh!!!!"
Lisbeth swung her «Lightning Hammer Mjolnir» horizontally at the air, producing pure electricity with a bzzzzzttt!! sound that blasted away at the skeletons in front of her, numbering over a hundred in one go.
"Nice one, Liz!!" Asuna shouted brightly as she rejoined the battle.
"Mmm...." Lisbeth, on the other hand, made a sour face. "I guess that's all I can do huh...."
Because this was a public cemetery, she had to prioritise minimal damage done on the graves in the area. She couldn't produce lightning attacks on a full scale, otherwise an enormous section of the cemetry and the residential area outside the walls would be blown to smithereens, along with Asuna and Yuuki as well. That was how overwhelming «Mjolnir» was as a weapon.
Lightning attack that would cause minimal collateral damage that could defeat the enemy at the same time would naturally be downsized to such small scale.
"It's fine, you're doing good!" Yuuki called as she jumped into the air, spreading her wings. In ALfheim Online, the Imps were the only race who could fly without sunlight.
————and the battle continued.
—————————————————————.
".........?" Asuna turned towards the direction deeper into the fog, frowning.
"What's wrong?" Lisbeth, who was fighting next to her, asked.
".....I just felt something. How do I say this.... some kind of aura? It made my skin tingle."
"I didn't feel it...." Lisbeth turned to Yuuki, who had been listening to the conversation while fighting a distance away.
Yuuki shook her head. "I didn't feel anything either! Asuna, are you sure!?"
The Undine nodded firmly. "Yes. I feel like we should check it out."
Lisbeth and Yuuki exchanged glances again. "Lead the way, then! We'll follow you!" Lisbeth called without hesitating.
Asuna, looking back, smiled at them, thankful for their trust in her. "Thanks. Let's go!"
† † †
A faint laughter came into their hearing as they made their way fighting through the army of skeletons. Not a funny, humorous laugh, but one filled with madness and evil.
Hearing this, Asuna was sure that something had appeared, one that was incomparably stronger than the monsters in this place, including the regular skeletons, Bone Knights, Necrosome Giants and Undead Wraiths.
And soon, they came into view.
A thin, slim man wearing purple-coloured trenchcoat and a face-mask with a smiling symbol on it nimbly leapt around, laughing madly in its squeaky high voice as it cut through the undeads around it.
Slightly farther away was a large bulky figure swinging its arms as thick as tree logs, carving the ground as well as blowing away the skeletons in its trajectory. Its brute strength was fearsome in sight.
"KAaaaarrrhhh!?"
The slim masked one turned its neck around unnaturally, raising an unpleasant squeak.
——— Undead Monster
Jack the Ripper
Level 60 ———
Before Asuna could process what she was seeing, the monster 'Jack the Ripper' gave a delighted scream and dashed towards them while laughing madly. Feeling a deep disgust and fear against the monster, Asuna immediately charged and released her one-hit charging Sword Skill «Linear» at the oncoming monster.
The rapier, travelling at an immense speed shot at the undead's head with a straight trajectory———
Jack the Ripper suddenly swerved to the right in a motion impossible for a humanoid creature, bending its waist nearly 180 degrees to the side, effectively dodging the attack.
Shocked at the sudden alien movement, Asuna was stricken with shock. And as her body went rigid from the Sword Skill's post-motion delay, the monster's elongated claws were unhesitatingly swung at her neck———
"«Dark Blast»!!"
Yuuki shouted and extended her hand, causing a purple flame to explode in between Asuna and Jack the Ripper, blowing them away from each other.
"Sorry Asuna! You okay!?" Yuuki shouted over her shoulder while readying her sword against the masked monster, positioning herself so that its attention was focused solely on her.
Asuna immediately realised that Lisbeth and herself were terribly disadvantageous to the monster Jack the Ripper because of its unpredictable movements and speed.
If it was strong enough to dodge Asuna's «Linear», then the stabbing movements of her rapier would leave too many openings. The same could be said with Lisbeth's mace/hammer attacks; that left only Yuuki who was able to hold up against the creature.
In the distance, the bulky giant noticed them and was approaching them from the side while bellowing.
——— Undead Monster
Corpse Collector
Level 65 ———
Lisbeth's Mjolnir disappeared from her hand, and in its stead materialised her silver mace and buckler shield. "I'll go against that one! Asuna, can you do our support!?"
Asuna nodded, retreating to the two girls' back as the fighting began. Though she was frustrated that she couldn't help the battle, she understood that it was best for her to stand back.
Yuuki, as a swordswoman with skills equal to people like Kirito and Heathcliff, would not be outmatched in one-on-one combat against an opponent like «Jack the Ripper». Her longsword provided more versatility and agility in combat, more so than Asuna's rapier did.
And Lisbeth, with her status parameters focused more on strength and defence, was a good match against the «Corpse Collector». Weapons with blunt attacks like maces worked best against undead creatures, so in that sense Lisbeth had the best damage output inside the party as a mace user; because if the opponent was as large as the Corpse Collector, Yuuki and Asuna wouldn't be able to deal effective damage with their blade-based weapons.
—And Asuna very well understood that even if the enemies were lower levelled than the three of them, there was more than enough chance of them losing.
In simple RPGs, one would win if they had a higher level.
But this was an actual combat. Anything could decide the fate of the battle, and so the loss of HP was to be avoided. This was why Asuna willingly pulled back to the support role, so that even when her friends were damaged, they were not put into actual danger.
Asuna started chanting her buff and healing spells for her two partners.
* * * * * * * * * *
"............Hm?"
Ainz stopped in his movements as he felt something through the «connection» with his underling undeads.... particularly from the connection of the two unique mid-tier monsters he had created just a few minutes ago, Jack the Ripper and Corpse Collector.
"They are.... taking damage?"
Unable to understand the information coming into him from the «connection», he looked back at the direction of where he had summoned the two monsters. The fog was too thick, however, blocking his sight.
"Ainz-sama?" Naberal asked as she floated in the air. Hamsuke was no longer in her arms——the magical beast was left on top of a nearby tree to attract undeads away from Ainz and Naberal.
".......impossible." Ainz muttered, feeling a small sense of panic inside him. He swung his hand and shouted. "Shadow Demon!"
Ainz's shadow on the ground that was lit by the faint moonlight extended, as if something two-dimensional had gained a shape. It started forming into a pitch-black humanoid shape with bat wings and yellow eyes. The level-30 «Shadow Demon» bowed in front of Ainz.
"Find out about the beings fighting against my underling undeads. Go!"
The demon silently bowed, then disintegrated into the ground. Shadow Demons didn't have a high battle capability, as almost all of its levels were put into Hiding and Concealment skills. They were monsters generally used for information gathering and emergency shields.
In about a minute, the Shadow Demon returned to Ainz's location.
"Report!!"
"Three women..... copper adventurers..... long ears..... stronger than.... the undeads."
Long ears..... are they elves? But there are elves stronger than level 60 undeads in this world!? Even Gazef Stronoff, a human champion, was around level 30 or so......
Though he was under panic inside, Ainz managed to keep his voice cool and monotone as he spoke. ".....Is that so. If that is the case, we must somehow prevent them from catching up."
"Ainz-sama, perhaps we should erase them right here? Lowly scums like the residents of this world possibly cannot hinder your plans!"
"Calm down, Narberal. If they have made it this far already, their party entering the cemetery would be known to the other humans by now. If so our chance of achieving recognition as the 'sole party who solved the case' has all but disappeared. There is no point in risking our loss in assets by fighting meaninglessly."
"H-however......"
"Besides, achieving fame is only a secondary goal for us. What we should prioritise is Nfirea's rescue, and the magic item's acquisition. We can gain recognition as adventurers all we want later on, amn't I right?"
Narberal nodded deeply. "As expected of Ainz-sama, our supreme leader.... I bow before your great wisdom once more."
"No need for flattery, Naberal. Now........" Ainz pointed a finger to the ground in front of him and chanted his spells.
"Summon Greater Mid-tier undead......Lich Commander!"
* * * * * * * * * *
Yuuki's five-hit strike Sword Skill «Howling Octave» tore the body of the undead monster Jack the Ripper apart, killing it without giving it a chance to even cry out.
"Yes! Let's get that big one!" Asuna cried, drawing her rapier and charging towards the Corpse Collector whom Lisbeth had been holding up against with her shield and mace.
"Yuuki, stay back!" Asuna cried to the Imp who was breathing with her shoulders. Without waiting for a response, she quickly approached Lisbeth from behind.
"Liz, switch!!!"
The Corpse Collector was almost finished, as well. One of its arms was blown apart by Lisbeth's Skill, as well as numerous dents and holes all over its zombie body. Lisbeth turned slightly, hearing Asuna's voice — and readied her shield in order to perform a parry.
"Asuna, sw—————"
Just then, a fireball blasted Lisbeth from the side, causing a massive explosion that caught Lisbeth and the Corpse Collector at its centre. Just the impact and shockwave was enough to send Asuna flying through the air, landing amidst the broken graves.
Asuna's vision was flashing with white spots dancing around before her eyes. Her mouth tasted of blood, and her skin was red all over from the burns.
"Ah.....aahhh....................."
Far away, amidst the smoke, dust and fog, numerous shapes were appearing. Undead knights with gigantic build and equipments formed a line, followed by other stronger-looking undead monsters...... and at the very back floated a figured covered in absolute darkness, emitting a powerful negative energy.
Asuna felt deep dread filling her.
And she screamed.
".......................Liz——————————!!!!!"