Текст книги "Overlord - The Lizardmen Heroes"

Автор книги: Maruyama Kugane

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

“That is precisely it. However, do not forget that we also have an objective of making a demonstration.”

“Then, we can send out Nazarick’s Veteran Guards to act as the main force, so that the composition of the army appears even more powerful.”

Cocytus internally agreed with Albedo’s response.

There was a kind of undead guard known as Veteran Guard.

Nazarick Veteran Guards only existed amongst the guards of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. It could be said that Veteran Guards were high class undead. They possessed items with various magic effects, and were equipped with magic armour and shield, and furthermore were skilled in fighting special abilities. They were quite excellent undead guards.

“There are no problems with that. How many do you require?”

“Three thousand.”

“That’s a little on the small side. With this kind of numbers, it will be difficult to reach an earth shattering effect. … We want to obtain an overwhelming victory this time, causing those who look down on Nazarick to feel true terror. If the number is less than the previous instance, then there is no meaning in it. I hope that I can double the numbers. What other units can we use?”

“Then, we can also mobilize Nazarick’s Elder Guard and Nazarick’s Master Guards, what do you think? With this, the number will reach six thousand.”

No wonder she was the Overseer of the Guardians. Albedo’s response was as fluid as water. To this, Ainz gave a concise answer.

“Very well! Then, have there been any problems in activating Gargantua?”

“None, Ainz-sama. We have already gotten Gargantua operational.”

“Then, Shalltear, you shall use ‘Transfer’ to send all of the forces over.”

“But if it is only myself, then my magic power is insufficient.”

“Allow Pestunia to assist. Have her transfer magic power to you. If it is still not enough, find Lupusregina to assist.”

“Understood.”

“Following that, have Nigredo and Pandora’s Actor’s alarm network transferred to our side here. Although this will allow Sebas’ alarm network to slightly weaken… we are only able to physically strengthen our monitoring. Very well! Then, everyone move out! Tomorrow we will give the lizardmen a taste of the Great Tomb of Nazarick’s true strength.”

Part 2

“Thank you, Demiurge.”

After the master had left the Throne Hall, the first thing that Cocytus did was to give his thanks to Demiurge. To Cocytus who was bowing deeply, Demiurge gave one of his regular slight smiles.

“No, it was nothing.”

“That won’t do. If it were not for you, the lizardmen would definitely have been exterminated.”

“... Cocytus, I would say that you should not take Ainz-sama’s words at face level. I believe that Ainz-sama originally expected things to turn out this way.”

Demiurge raised a finger during this explanation, after which there was a surprised voice. The one who gave out that voice sounded like himself, yet also sounded like it came from all of the surrounding Guardians.

“That also means to say that I reckon that Ainz-sama predicted that you would say those words earlier, thus he sent you to be the commander for the invasion of the lizardmen settlement. I also believe this because when you opposed the extermination of the lizardmen settlement, Ainz-sama appeared to be extremely delighted, and when you were unable to suggest an alternative, he looked quite disappointed in comparison.”

“Then what you mean to say is that Ainz-sama felt disappointment because things did not go according to his plan?”

“That is precisely it. It also means that all of the dialogue that happened in this place was quite possibly within Ainz-sama’s predictions.”

“No wonder he is Ainz-sama! Apparently he has perfectly calculated this far ahead!”

“B-But then….a-about tha-that…”

“... If you have something to say then be quick about it.”

Elder sister Aura severely directed her stuttering younger brother Mare to speak quickly.

“Y-yes, about that, I always felt that something was off. At the start, why were those weak undead assigned. Th-that… c-can’t say for certain, maybe Ainz-sama set this expedition up to fail from the very beginning…”

“Instead of thinking of defeat as a given, maybe our master took into account that Cocytus will scout the Lizardmen out and report back the viability of the task?”

Cocytus thought back to that conversation he had with Demiurge and felt ashamed, because he had screwed everything up.

“If he was not familiar with Cocytus’ personality, it would not have been possible to carry out this plan. As expected of Ainz-sama…”

“In the battle with Shalltear it was already possible to figure out Ainz-sama’s fighting ability, but it was not expected that he was also a strategist of the highest class. It truly is remarkable to the highest degree. Although Ainz-sama said what he said, I still feel that it is sufficient to act accordingly to Ainz-sama’s orders…”

“It really is incredible. Being able to bring together all of the Supreme Beings, goes to show that his name is not just for show.”

After Demiurge whose brain was top class finished, Shalltear approved what was said with delight, and all of the other guardians nodded their heads in agreement.

♦ ♦ ♦

Ainz returned to his room and leaped onto his bed. After a lengthy hang time, Ainz’ body fell into the bed, then – he began to roll around.

Rolled right, then rolled left.

He was only able to roll as such because the bed was large enough.

Although his exquisite changpao was already greatly wrinkled, Ainz, who was completely fine with this happening, continued to laugh softly as he rolled around. Of course, he acted so childishly because nobody else apart from himself was allowed to enter.

Not long afterwards, Ainz who was fully satisfied in his indulgence in the mattress, laid there facing the ceiling.

“Haaa, so tired… Ah~ I really wish to indulge myself in alcohol to my heart’s content, and drink myself into a stupor… although that’s no longer possible.”

Ainz finished complaining then gave a big sigh – However Ainz did not breathe, that was why it was merely the appearance of a false sigh.

It was because he was an undead, that was why he was indifferent to physical and mental fatigue. However, to describe it in human terms, for the past month he had been worn out every day. If he still had a stomach, it would have been long ruined by now.

Because Ainz had been enduring pressure.

Momon the warrior had vanquished the silver-haired vampire– Shalltear. For those who didn’t know, perhaps they would only consider this feat as incredible, but to the mysterious person who used a World class item on Shalltear, it would give another impression. The opponent would probably keep a close eye on Momon, or even establish contact.

That was why Ainz had remained on alert for the entire day, and had also prepared several cash items to enable him to escape at any moment. During his free time, apart from maintaining alertness, he had also done some imaginary role playing – or perhaps better called paranoia training – visualising if the opponent had showed up, would he be able to escape whilst at the same time devoting energy to collecting information.

Although being stressed out like this every day had no real impact on Ainz Ooal Gown, it was still mentally taxing on the remnants of humanity he still possessed, as the human Satoru Suzuki. During his free time where he was able to relax and be by himself, he would push aside his attitude as Nazarick’s Supreme Being, and revert to his childish behaviour. This was probably because deep within Ainz, that stressed out and tired Satoru Suzuki desired to act like that.

“I have no memories of ever having such restless and sleepless work before… makes me wonder how much overtime I will be getting this month.”

This outburst of complaint was perhaps due to the Satoru Suzuki personality taking over Ainz.

“The Great Tomb of Nazarick… no, I mean Ainz Ooal Gown… is not a corporation. Joint venture companies are compassionate enterprises, and should fully guarantee compensation for employees’ overtime.”

Rambling as such, Ainz pursed his non-existent eyebrows.

“Eh? … It can’t be because of duty allowance that I am not entitled to overtime compensation? Wow…”

Ainz once again rolled left and right. After rolling over about five or six times, he suddenly stopped moving.

“Enough… meaningless babble needs to stop here… Come to think of it, Cocytus was quite incredible too, being able to speak out as he did.”

It was surprising. Apparently Cocytus would empathise with the lizardmen.

That action of Cocytus had made Ainz feel troubled greatly.

Satoru Suzuki was the kind of person whom, when preparing a briefing, would first fully assemble all of the data, then proceed by following standard practice to the letter. As such, he was not accustomed to dealing with unexpected problems. However, if only it were mentioned in writing as part of the information, then he would be able to handle it according to the data information. In other words, for Satoru Suzuki, the key to the success of his briefings were that any problems were already dealt with at the investigation stage. Such a kind of person was extremely unsuited for situations where it was necessary to adapt to the situation, to the point that he detested such scenarios.

As it was, it was neither possible to bring data into the Throne Hall, nor have the comfort of being able to say “then, please turn to the next page.” Therefore Ainz had prepared for flow of events in the Throne Hall long before, by rehearsing the entire sequence in his mind for more than ten times. In his heart, he had even prayed that nobody would act unexpectedly.

And this small wish of his had thus been shattered by Cocytus.

He was extremely worried about what Cocytus wanted to say, but had also felt delighted.

It was because at the same time he also had the pleasure similar to that of a parent– it was as if there was a docile child in the household who had, for the first time, expressed his own opinion. The most important thing was that the person’s development had exceeded Ainz’ expectations by far.

When he returned to Nazarick previously, he asked a maid to cook a dish. What he asked for was steak. With elements such as proficiency level, she might require more practice, but the steak doesn’t require high levels to be made. He was not expecting the meal to provide buffs upon consumption, just something that could be eaten.

However the result could only be described as a blackened piece of charcoal.

Even if that maid non-stop repeated the exercise, the end product was always charred meat.

Whilst he was accepting that maid’s sincere apologies, Ainz was also able to fully accept these results which were within expectations. It was exactly the same as when Ainz was trying to equip a large sword in the clothing room.

In YGGDRASIL, only those who possessed the job-specific special ability were able to cook. This was because food could temporarily raise battle capability through buffs, which was why requiring a job specific special ability was natural. However, that maid did not have the cooking special ability.

That also meant that if he wanted to do something which required a special ability yet lacked the skill himself, he would be bound to fail.

This matter regarding Cocytus was Ainz’ objective all along, which could also be described as an experiment. Ainz wanted to test if his servants, who already had their settings fixed, were able to learn new things. This experiment concerned proving whether they could continue to develop after learning tactics or strategy. Allowing Cocytus to command weak undead was because he simply thought that through defeat he could probably obtain much more.

Ainz was extremely pleased with the end result. Cocytus had shown Ainz that there was the possibility of such growth.

Of course, there was a large difference between learning through actual actions, and merely learning through memorisation.

Ainz’ eventual objective was to acquire and perfect all of the magic particular to this world– if such did exist. Right now, Ainz was still uncertain of whether the currently existing magic was either technique or knowledge. In any case, this experiment proved that the knowledge aspect could indeed be developed.

Cocytus proved that growth was possible. He demonstrated this exceedingly well.

Ainz thought to himself.

Without growth, one could only wait until eventually one stopped. Even if they were powerful now, there would eventually one day where they would certainly be surpassed.

Even if he had a one hundred year lead in military technology, if he no longer made any progress, then eventually there would be one day where he would lose the position of being the most powerful. Right now, the neighbouring country could probably count as a powerful nation, but if it believed that it would forever preserve its status as the most powerful nation, without any need for further improvement, that would be incredibly foolish to a fault.

“Even if those are my thoughts… but whilst I am overjoyed that the child has grown up, at the same time I worry whether I am a person worthy of their loyalty as Supreme Being.”

As he rambled on, Ainz gazed at the ceiling above the bed.

“Ah, ah, so scary, so terrifying…”

The remnants of human personality, Satoru Suzuki, once again lamented because of this new source of unease.

Since growth represents change, then who can guarantee that their current loyalty will not waver either? Even if it does not change, there is still the possibility that one day I will be considered ill-suited to be the glorious Supreme Being of Nazarick. A worry that I, who was nominated to be the Guild Leader, will lose the right to be branded as such.

“... I have to become a Supreme Being worthy of the Guardians’ loyalty… is there anyone who can teach me in the ways of being an emperor...?”

There shouldn’t be anyone who was so conveniently programmed that way in Nazarick.

Trapped in his own thoughts, the images of two persons came to Ainz’ mind. Those two were part of the dreadful five person team, respectively the one who held the title of Duke, Lord of Terror, and the one who had ‘King’ in his name, Gashokukochuuou. Carefully considering whether or not he should approach those two individuals to be educated, Ainz gave a short response to himself.

“... Pass.”

Unless he ran into a dead end, he did not wish to be taught by those two.

“Let it be… so long as no major mistakes are made during actions, I should be fine for the moment. Anyways… about those bipedal sheep…”

Ainz was already aware of the identity of the bipedal sheep long before, which was why he did not pursue specific details of the bipedal sheep’s appearance. That was a type of monster which he had encountered before in YGGDRASIL.

“Having the heads of both a lion and a mountain goat, as well as the tail of a snake, paws of a lion, and legs of a mountain sheep. That should be right… it is a chimera… “

In YGGDRASIL, chimeras walked around on two sheep legs and used their lion legs as arms to initiate attacks; a monster which was born with a lion’s head and a mountain goat’s head. This monster’s appearance was based off the deity called Baphomet.

Then why did Demiurge not directly say it was a chimera? Although he pondered this question, Ainz already had his answer.

“That is, it could possibly be a chimera subspecies. Is that how it is, Demiurge?”

Ainz laughed heartily, then added a note to his evaluation of Demiurge: ‘Unexpectedly poor name picking taste’.

“In YGGDRASIL there is also a species like Chimera Lord whose appearance was a bit… No, I should say the appearance of fish type chimera is strange to the point of being disgusting. Bipedal sheep is a new species of chimera… Theocracy chimera … having someone bring one to Nazarick isn’t a bad idea either. Then there’s also Victim…”

His appearance was exactly the same as in Ainz’ memories, except there was one feature which caught his attention.

“The language he used… it really is the Enoch language used by angels, right? It feels like conversing with someone who speaks another language…”

Because it was already automatically translated, Ainz had no idea which language was spoken, but he felt that it was a bit strange. Of course, it could very possibly be because Ainz himself didn’t understand the Enoch language.

“Let it be, no need to debate it. Good, it’s about time to set out for battle…”

Ainz once again rolled left and right to get enough of it. After he stopped and lay there, he returned to pondering over the points he was concerned about earlier.

He buried his head inside the bed and took a deep breath.

Of course, Ainz did not have lungs, therefore this was just a pretended movement. However, inconceivably, he could smell a fragrance.

“This is a floral smell… is there perfume on the bed? Could it be that wealthy people’s beds are all like this? If that is so, that really is surprising… perhaps those pretending to be wealthy can also notice this aspect? Mmmm…”

Part 3

There was a type of ability called ‘Danger Perception’.

Amongst adventurers, bandits, and others whom possessed discovery-based skills, this was considered the most important ability. Just as the name stipulates, it was an ability which enabled the detection of danger.

This ability was split into two types. One type was not reliant on reasoning or observation, merely reliant on sense to trigger awareness. The other type was awareness which was reliant on reasoning and observation accumulated from experience. The former can be described as a sixth sense internal feeling, and the latter can be described as one which was derived from the small changes in the surrounding– one derived from minute changes in sound and smell.

The latter would be naturally improved on the battlefield and during solo adventures, even if it were not intentionally trained. It was obtained through experiences by placing oneself in dangerous situations.

And ability-wise, this aspect of lizardmen was many times greater than that of humans. Biologically, their sensory organs were more sensitive, because they lived in harsher environments. Humans tended to live in safe places far from monsters, whereas lizardmen lived as neighbours to such monsters.

Zaryusu, who was a traveller and often travelled alone, was even more sensitive to slight changes in the environment.

Feeling tension filling the air, he opened his eyes.

Before him was a familiar room– although he had only stayed here for several days. Humans, even if they tried to, would not be able to make out details in this room which had no light source, but it was not that difficult for lizardmen.

There was nothing out of the ordinary in the room.

Zaryusu looked around, and after confirming that there were no strange objects, he gave a sigh of relief as he moved to sit upright.

He was an outstanding warrior, which was why even if he was sleeping moments ago, he was as awake as normal. There wasn’t an issue of drowsiness, as he was even energetic enough to immediately enter battle.

This was also related to the fact that lizardmen were habitually light sleepers.

However, Crusch who was sleeping beside Zaryusu showed no signs of waking up.

Having lost the body warmth of Zaryusu, Crush merely sleepily let out a dissatisfied soft murmur.

If it were under normal circumstances, Crusch would also sense the change in the air and wake up, however this time it seemed as if she had not noticed at all.

Zaryusu felt some regret, whether or not he had allowed Crusch to shoulder too much burden.

He recalled last night, and came to the opinion that the burden on Crusch was perhaps greater than his. During the operation of defeating the powerful opponent, the lich, the female Crusch seemed to have suffered a greater burden than the male Zaryusu.

He himself wished that he could allow her to continue sleeping, but after listening carefully, he could hear the frantic movements of many lizardmen beyond the house doors. At these times when various emergencies had already occurred, not waking her up would might be more dangerous.

“Crusch, Crusch.”

Zaryusu used a bit of force to shake Crusch several times.

“Mmm... Mmmm…”

Crusch curled her tail, then immediately revealed her red eyes.

“Mmm…?”

“It looks like something has happened.”

This phrase caused the drowsy Crusch to instantly widen her eyes. Zaryusu grabbed Frost Pain which was by his side and immediately stood up, and not long afterwards, Crusch was also out of bed.

The two of them walked outside and immediately understood the reason for the commotion.

They saw a large thick dark cloud covering the air above the village.

Looking to the distance, they could tell within a moment that the dark cloud was completely different to ordinary dark clouds. This was because it was a clear cloudless sky for miles around.

That also meant that this was—

“It’s… back?”

It was the enemy’s signal for another attack—

“Looks like it.”

Crusch agreed with this view. All of the lizardmen of the five tribes that had grouped together to fight could see the dark cloud in the middle of the sky, and were talking about it. However nobody had a look of fear on their faces.

That was because they were victorious under unfavourable circumstances in the previous battle, causing everyone to become more spirited.

The two of them ran towards the village, giving off a water splashing noise as they sprinted. They passed by several lizardmen who were commencing their battle preparations, and wasted no time in arriving at the main entrance.

There were many warrior class lizardmen already gathered at the main entrance, all of them cautiously prying outwards. Included amongst them was their familiar companion, one who had gone through hell and back with them, Zenberu, and beside him was the tribe chief of the Small Fang Tribe.

After Zenberu waved towards the two individuals who were generating large splashing noises as they came over, he immediately jutted his jaw towards the direction of outside the entrance.

Zaryusu and Crusch stood beside Zenberu and observed outwards from the main entrance.

On the other side of the shore, at the boundary between the wetlands and the forest, was an army composed of skeletons.

“So they have come again.”

“Huh…”

Zaryusu responded to Zenberu, then clicked his tongue.

This was anticipated, except it had arrived too soon. At first he reckoned that since their losses were so severe, they would require some time to replenish their troops, and had not considered having completely miscalculated. Apparently, the opponent was capable of once again marshalling units for a large army.

“... However, these skeletons should be weaker than those summoned by the lich.”

These words had a hidden meaning. What Zenberu meant was that he believed that the current skeleton army was in fact stronger than the one which invaded before.

Zaryusu also observed intently at the skeletons arranged on the shore of the other side. This was to size up the opponent’s strength, to then carry out the appropriate defensive actions.

Indeed, they were all skeletons, but the ones this time were different from the previous ones.

For outward appearances, the biggest difference was their equipment. The skeletons from before were only equipped with rusty swords, but the skeletons this time were quite well equipped. Furthermore, their physique seemed better than the ones from last time. The skeletons seemed to have three different kinds of equipment.

The most numerous kind of skeleton wore elaborate breastplates. In one hand they held triangular-shaped shields, kite shields, and in the other hand they held all sorts of weapons. They even carried quivers and compound bows on their backs. These were skeletons which were equipped to be both offensive and defensive, with capabilities to fight at both long and short distances.

Next were helmeted skeletons which wore identical breastplates, draped in tattered red cloaks, holding bucklers and bastard swords.

Finally, and the fewest in number, were the skeletons which were fully equipped. They wore beautiful shining golden full body armour, and held lustrous spears in their hands. Their dazzling fresh red cloaks had not a speck of dirt on them.

Zaryusu observed this much, and discovered a particular fact. He couldn’t help but doubt if he had seen incorrectly, and rubbed his eyes several times. However that remained a reality.

“Eh… that can’t be…”

“H-How is that possible…”

At the same time as Crusch’s exclamation, Zaryusu who had discovered the same fact involuntarily spoke out in a pained low voice. This time, Zenberu replied:

“... Oh, you realised it too.”

Zenberu’s voice was also extremely pained.

“Mmm…”

Zaryusu was done with speaking, and remained silent. He did not wish to speak, because once words came out, he would be terrified. Yet it was impossible to remain silent:

“... Their weapons seemed to be magic equipment.”

Crusch by his side nodded solemnly.

All of the various equipment on the skeleton army carried magic power. Some of the skeletons carried flaming swords, some held blue electricity hammers, and some skeletons even held spears with tips coated in a green light, or had sickles coated in a viscous purple liquid.

“Looks like that is not it. You two should also look closely at the armours and shields. Those… are also magic defensive equipment.”

Hearing Zenberu utter these words, Zaryusu immediately looked closely.

Following this he even more involuntarily let out a groan. This was because Zaryusu discovered that those shining armour and shields looked simply like they were naturally luminescent, and not at all like if the light given off was from the reflection of sunlight.

Just what kind of authority could enable such numerous skeleton soldiers to all be equipped with magic items? If it were simply magic weapons which had heightened sharpness, Zaryusu had heard it was possible for large countries to achieve this amount over a long period of planning and accumulation. However, to enable each magic weapon to have attribute – furthermore to have quite a large variety of effects – was a completely different matter altogether.

Zaryusu thought of the dwarves which Zenberu had mentioned a few days ago.

Dwarves were a mountainous race which excelled in metalworking. During feasts, those dwarves would often talk about the legend of a particular hero– the King who established the great Kingdom of Dwarves, the hero who wore shining metal armour and solo defeated a dragon, then becoming one of the thirteen heroes, ‘Magic Engineer’. Even within the legends told by the dwarves, there were no stories which told of this kind of magnitude of magic equipment preparation – for a legion exceeding over five thousand units.

Then, what was the scene before Zaryusu?

“... Is that an army from the myths?”

If this was not a story from mankind, then it must be a scenario from a mythical story.

Zaryusu’s entire body was trembling. Because he realised that this exceeded his predictions, and they were facing an enemy which absolutely should not be provoked.

However, from the very start, he himself had gathered everybody here whilst carrying on his conscience the fact that they could all be wiped out. How could he, who had started this outrageous battle, be afraid? He had already figured out that the opponent was a powerful enemy which exceeded their imagination. The importance was on what to do now.

“Impossible. That must be an illusion.”

All of the people at the scene who heard these words shortly displayed an expression that spoke “what kind of nonsense are you spewing.” The opponent was indeed silent and immobile, but their existence was plainly clear. They even gave off an atmosphere which caused people to tremble, therefore they could not be a simple illusion.

However, these words would cause confusion, which was why the one who broke the silence was the tribe chief of the Small Fang Tribe. He absolutely could not have gone deranged, which was why he spoke these words.

“What basis do you have for such an assertion?”

Towards Zaryusu’s question, the Small Fang Tribe chief confidently answered:

“We have taken turns in sending out scouts, yet nobody has seen that kind of undead before. With a number such as that, there is no way they could have remained undiscovered. Of course, all of the scouts who were sent out have returned safely.”

“So that is why… however, I don’t think that is an illusion.”

“... But then… no, perhaps it is not an illusion. If it is not an illusion, we can imagine that an underground tunnel was used for their transport. If there is such an underground passage, it could explain why they were not discovered before their arrival.”

“... It does not matter whether they used a tunnel to get here, or whether they flew through the skies. What should we do now? Although they look as if they have no intention of starting the fight, it still feels like they are not here to negotiate.”

“It does seem that way… however, think about the previous situation. I feel that the opponent will initiate some sort of action…”

Zaryusu stared at the skeleton army.

He was looking for the commander amongst the enemy– at this moment, a chilly wind rises. It didn’t stop and continued to blow.

Such a strange and sudden freezing wind could not be a natural phenomenon. It must be created by magic.

“Wind? Eh… that can’t be! This must be another kind of magic… how is this possible…”

Crusch held herself and trembled. The reason for that did not appear to be because she felt cold, therefore Zaryusu asked:

“Crusch, what is the matter with this cold wind…”

“... Perhaps you will have no way of believing this, but hear me out Zaryusu. I originally thought that the climate change in the past was created through magic of the 4^th tier, ‘Cloud Control’, but I was wrong. Although ‘Cloud Control’ is able to control clouds, it is unable to generate these kinds of cold wind. Which is why… this is not simply the control of clouds, but actually causing changes in the weather and meteorology. That means, I believe that the opponent has been activating 6^th tier magic… ‘Weather Control’.”