Текст книги "Overlord - The Invaders of the Large Tomb"

Автор книги: Maruyama Kugane

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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

“Che, it was a double trap? So evil. But you saw through it.”

“It was a hunch. No, to be precise, I simply chose the known over unknown. Plus, that door was at a position where it would keep taking negative energy bursts. Non-living objects like doors would take less damage from the bursts, but I wondered why they would make a door down there. Now, let’s move…”

Greenham closed his mouth in middle of a sentence. The rogue who had been talking so much just now raised a finger to his lips and was focusing on listening.

When Greenham listened, he could hear an irregular clacking sound, like something tapping the floor.

Everyone turned towards the tunnel where the sound was coming from.

“Probably an enemy… right? I was hoping they would let us take a break.”

“Yea, and there’s only one. No signs of trying to conceal itself either. It would be good if this was the last one…”

Everyone slowly raised their weapon. The warrior standing in the front received his shield and hid half his body behind it. The magic caster readied his glowing staff to launch an attack at any moment towards the direction sound was coming from. The cleric readied his holy icon and the rogue aimed his bow.

Clack, clack. The sound gradually became louder and the opponent showed itself.

Old, but luxurious robes covered the limbs, which were as thin as a young girl’s, and it held a staff in one hand. This was the source of the sound.

With only a thin layer of decomposing skin, the face had a look of fiendish wisdom and negative aura surrounded the body like a fog.

It was an undead magic caster. Its name was—

“—Elder Lich!”

The magic caster who identified the monster first shouted.

That was right. A monster that spawns when the corpse of an evil magic caster gained unholy life. It was that kind of fiendish monster.

Greenham’s comrades immediately changed formation when they heard “Elder Lich”. No one stood in a single file and they kept their distance from each other in case of an area of effect magic.

An Elder Lich was a strong opponent. It would be challenging for a platinum-ranked adventurer, and relatively winnable for a mithril-ranked adventurer. For Greenham’s team, if one disregarded their fatigue, it was an opponent they could easily win against. Fortunately, they also had a member who was especially potent against undead, so they were confident.

Plus if the opponent was extremely far away, it would have been dangerous, but the distance between them was advantageous.

“You must be the master of this tomb.”

Greenham had come to that conclusion. Elder Liches were rulers. Sometimes they ruled over an undead horde and occasionally traded with living beings.

There were plenty of infamous Elder Liches such as the captain of a ghost ship which glided across the fog of Kattse Plains, or an Elder Lich which ruled over an abandoned castle. If it was an Elder Lich, then it wasn’t strange to think it would be the master of the tomb.

“We’ve got the right address. Lucky.”

“Although killing the owner of this tomb wasn't the request.”

“Let’s show him the power of “Heavy Masher”.”

“Kneel before the blessing of god!”

All his comrades shouted together. It was to shake off the fear of facing against a strong opponent like an Elder Lich.

“Defense magic—”

Greenham tried to shout orders to his comrades filled with resolve, but was surrounded with a feeling of dread. The source of this dread was the powerful opponent standing before them, the Elder Lich.

“…What’s he doing?”

“Is he planning… for a sneak attack?”

The Elder Lich showed no sign of movement against Greenham’s team. It did not raise its staff, nor did it chant any spell, but simply watched them.

Greenham’s companions could not hide their surprise at this. Their expectations of an immediate battle had been shattered. But they also hesitated to strike first.

The undead harboured hatred for all living beings. But certain sentient undead were capable of suppressing their hatred to negotiate. If the living were to offer negotiation, it would usually end up as a bad trade, but if the undead made the first offer, there had been instances of people obtaining ancient items that had been made with now-forgotten knowledge.

It would be the best-case scenario if they didn’t have to fight a strong opponent like an Elder Lich. Perhaps it was anxious because it couldn’t finish them off with traps or perhaps it recognized their skills and was looking for a way to settle things peacefully.

Considering all these factors, it would have been foolish to attack first since it would destroy any chance of negotiation. A hard battle without an established escape route carried huge risks.

Greenham’s companions looked at each other as if they had all arrived at the same conclusion.

It was the leader’s job to talk as the representative.

“Excuse me, we believe you are the owner of this tomb. We are—”

The Elder Lich turned its grotesque face to Greenham and raised its bony finger to its lips.

Meaning: be quiet.

It was not an action fitting an Elder Lich, but nobody was brave enough, no, nobody was stupid enough to say something like that to such a strong opponent.

Greenham closed his mouth obediently. In the hallway filled with silence, he doubted his ears when he heard “that sound” again.

The clacking noise he heard not too long ago. The noise of something knocking on the floor. And six of them.

Greenham’s team looked at each other. They could not believe their ears.

And everybody descended into panic.

“Who was it! Who said that Elder Lich was the master of this tomb?”

“I’m sorry! It was me!”

“What the hell is this? How does this make any sense?”

“Oiiiiiii, how are we supposed to win against this!”

“Even god’s blessing has its limits!”

Behind the first Elder Lich, similar monsters had showed themselves. Six of them.

There were total of seven extremely strong undead magic casters.

As long as they were of the same type of monster, they had similar methods of attack. In other word, if one had a way of neutralizing their attacks, it was theoretically possible to defeat all of them. However, none of them possessed the method to do so, nor was it possible to possess such methods.

In this hopeless situation, Greenham and his comrades lost all will to fight.

“Then, let’s begin.”

Following the voice of the Elder Lich that did not show even a hint of wanting to negotiate, seven staves rose slowly. At the same time, Greenham’s shout echoed.

“Run!”

As if waiting for that command, all of them ran with all their strength in the opposite direction from the Elder Liches. Of course they had no time to think about what would be beyond the tunnel. They only sought to improve their chances of survival against the onslaught of Elder Liches.

The rogue ran at the front, then Greenham, then the magic caster, then the cleric and finally the warrior.

They all ran without hesitation.

A corner. Normally they would be wary of a monster around the corner, but considering the footsteps that came from behind them, there was no time to carefully look around before going. They left everything up to luck and just ran.

On the either side of the hallway, there was a door made of stone, but they were afraid of running into a dead end and didn’t bother opening it.

Loud metallic sounds echoed through the hallway from the people wearing full plate armour, which could attract other monsters, but there was no time to cast ‘Silence’.

They ran and ran and ran.

After turning corners after corners and running down the tunnel at full speed, they had lost their bearings and could no longer tell where they were. If possible, they wanted to return to the entrance, but they couldn’t relax just yet.

“Are they still chasing us?”

Greenham asked while still running. The reply came from the warrior at the back.

“Yea! They’re running, too!”

“Damn it!”

“Stop running after us! Just use flight magic!”

“If they use flying magic, then they can just attack while following us, you idiot!”

“Let’s lock ourselves in some room and negotiate…”

The magic caster shouted while gasping for air. He was the least physically fit out of all the members and looked as if he was about to collapse. Greenham decided this was not the way to go. They couldn’t last any longer.

Undead monsters like Elder Liches felt no such thing as fatigue. At this rate, they would eventually catch up and slaughter the exhausted workers.

“How are there so many Elder Liches…”

It was something that defied common sense.

“Is the master of this tomb something even stronger than an Elder Lich?!”

That was the only explanation he could think of. But did such undead exist? Greenham had no answer.

“Damn it! This god damn tomb!”

The warrior at the rear shouted while breathing hard.

As if waiting for that moment, the floor began to glow in shapes. It was big enough to surround all of Greenham’s group.

“Argh!”

Someone’s voice rang out with what sounded like a scream—

—and then there was a floating sensation, different from when they had fallen earlier.

♦ ♦ ♦

Greenham’s vision was nothing but pitch darkness. There was something crunching underneath his boots and he felt a slowly sinking sensation, as though he was being sucked into a swamp. He had panicked for a bit, but it didn’t seem too deep as he stopped sinking after he was submerged to about his waist level.

Greenham spoke out in the realm dominated by pitch darkness and silence, like a lost child looking for his parents.

“…Is there someone here?”

“Over here, Greenham.”

The voice of one of the comrades, the rogue, rang out. He didn’t sound too far away. Probably about the same distance they were keeping when they were running.

“…Is there anybody else?”

There was no reply. It was the expected answer. Considering there was no light, the magic caster or the warrior wasn’t likely to be here. He should consider it lucky that at least the rogue was with him.

“…It seems there’s only us.”

“That means… Che, I guess you’re right.”

He looked around with taking a step forward. The deep darkness was everywhere and invoked the fear that he wouldn't be able to tell where he himself ended and where the darkness started. There was no sign of movement anywhere.

“Should we turn on the light?”

“Sure thing.”

He wondered if their movement would break this silence, or activate a trap, and other negative thoughts creeped in. However, human eyes could not see in the dark and they needed some kind of light source.

“Hold on a moment.”

With the rogue’s voice, some kind of moving noise came from the darkness and there was a light.

The sight of the rogue holding a glowing stick was the first thing in view. And countless shining objects which reflected the light. It reminded him of the treasures in the mausoleum.

But that wasn’t the case.

Greenham barely suppressed his screams and the rogue looked as if he was about to have a seizure.

The light brought up countless reflections. Insects filled the entire room and the identity of the reflections were cockroaches. The room was filled with cockroaches of various size ranging from ones the size of pinky finger to ones which were over a meter long. Furthermore, they were stacked on top of each other in countless layers.

The crushing sensation and noise by his feet had been the cockroaches. Considering they came up to his waist, he didn’t want to imagine how many there were.

The room was so wide, the light did not reach to the walls. Considering the effective area of the glowing stick was fifteen meters wide, he could roughly comprehend how wide the interior was. When he looked up towards the ceiling, he could see a humongous swarm of cockroaches reflecting the light back at him.

“What… is this place?

The rogue murmured in groaning tone. Greenham could understand what he felt like. He felt if he spoke, they would all start moving at once.

“Just what is going on?”

While looking around in fear, Greenham remembered the last moment before they were teleported into the pitch darkness. He thought about the glowing magic circle and asked the rogue.

“…Was it a floor trap?”

“It’s probably not the case. Wasn’t it something else? A different spell…?”

“A teleportation type magic trap… Maybe the Elder Liches cast it?”

Teleportation magic existed. For example, the 3^rd tier magic used for running away, ‘Dimensional Move’, was one of them, but the caster could only use that spell on himself. Magic like this, which could be used on other people, and multiple people, on top of that…

“There is 5^th or 6^th tier magic that could teleport a group of people at once, right?”

“Yea… I think so.”

“To think they could use that kind of magic…”

A being that could use 5^th tier magic at the very least. It was unheard of. But Greenham could make sense of it. If there was someone as strong as that, then it made sense he would be able to rule over multiple Elder Liches at once and given that they were intelligent, they would be easier to command and control as well.

Greenham realized the true extent of danger lurking within this tomb and a chilling sensation filled his body. At the same time, hatred for the Earl who had made this request started boiling deep inside him. Of course, the people who had taken on this work were Greenham and the other workers, and they had put their lives as a betting chip despite all the risks. They couldn’t say anything about it.

But the Earl must have had some information about the tomb. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have offered such significant sum of money to gather the workers.

“Did he purposefully hold back on us? Damn it… Let’s get out of here fast. This place… it wasn’t something we should have messed with.”

“Alright, Greenham. You lead, I’ll follow you.”

The rogue didn’t seem to have noticed, or perhaps it was better if he didn’t.

The cockroaches weren’t moving at all.

Greenham looked around at the cockroaches that surrounded him. Considering their antennas were moving ever so slightly, they weren’t dead, but they did not move either. It reeked of unknown danger.

“No, you cannot escape.”

The voice of a third person sounded.

“Who’s there?”

Greenham and the rogue looked around everywhere, but there was no sign of movement anywhere.

“Ah, I apologize. This one is Kyouhukou, the one entrusted with this territory from Ainz-sama. Pleased to meet your acquaintance.”

In the direction where the voice was coming from, they witnessed a strange scene. Pushing away the swarm of cockroaches, something was trying to climb up.

It was not at a range that could be reached with a close combat weapon. The rogue quietly readied his bow and Greenham tried to take out his sling and stones, but decided otherwise. He would rush across the swarm of cockroaches coming up to his waist and cut the opponent immediately.

The one that appeared after pushing through all the cockroaches was another cockroach.

But it was certainly different from rest of its species. This cockroach was about thirty centimeters tall and stood on two legs.

It wore a bright red cape decorated with luxurious golden threads around the edge and a cute little golden crown on its head. Grasped in its front leg was a scepter with a pure white gem embedded at the end.

The strangest thing of them all was despite the fact it stood on two legs, its head was facing Greenham and the rogue. If an ordinary insect stood upright, its head would point towards the sky. But the strange being in front of them wasn’t like that at all.

Greenham and the rogue exchanged a glance and decided that Greenham would be in charge of the negotiation. After confirming that the rogue had nocked an arrow and had it pointing downwards, he talked to Kyouhukou.

“Who… are you?”

“Hmm… It seems you did not hear me the first time. Would you like me to introduce myself once more?”

“No, that’s not the problem…”

Greenham realized this was not the kind of thing to talk nor ask about.

“…I’ll be honest. Do you want to trade?”

“Oh-ho, you want a trade. Since I am feeling very grateful towards the both of you, there is no reason why I can’t listen to your proposal.”

The mysterious words, “feeling grateful”, made him uneasy about what exactly made it feel grateful, but it wasn’t something they could afford to ask under such disadvantageous circumstance.

“…What we want… is for you to let us go unharmed from this place.”

“Of course, that would be something you wish for. But even if you do leave this room, you are currently on the 2nd Floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. I must advise you that it would be extremely difficult to return above ground.”

2nd floor—

Greenham’s eyes opened wide at the word.

“So the door underneath the mausoleum on the surface leads to the 1st Floor?”

“Is that unusual?”

“No, I just wanted to confirm it.”

“Haha, since you were teleported from the 1st Floor, I can understand your confusion.”

Looking at Kyouhukou who was nodding at the structure layout, Greenham felt a chill running down his spine, as if an icicle was stabbing him in the back. It was fear arising from realizing his earlier theory was correct.

In other word, something had somehow used teleportation magic as a trap. What kind of magic would it be and what kind of magical abilities would it require? He was not a magic caster, but he fully realized the implications.

“…Of course, it you could tell us the way out of the tomb as well… Hmmm, no we won’t ask that much. Just let us leave this room.”

“Hmm hmm.”

“We’ll… give you whatever you want.”

“Is that so…”

Kyouhukou nodded and appeared as if he was concentrated on thinking.

Some time passed in absolute silence. Then Kyouhukou nodded as if he understood and started talking.

“This one already has everything one could wish for in its hand. I doubt you would be able to provide what I desire.”

Kyouhukou stopped Greenham, who was about to talk, by raising its front leg and continued.

“But you seem to be confused as to why I was thanking you earlier, so I wish to provide you with an explanation. You see, my subjects are getting tired of cannibalism. To you, who will be the food that will serve as the solution, I give my thanks once again.”

“What!”

The moment the rogue understood what was being said he shot the arrow. The arrow cut across the air but was wrapped around by Kyouhukou’s red cape and fell on the ground.

The room started to tremble.

Countless sounds started coming from every direction and crescendoed.

A tidal wave erupted. It was a swell of a black sea.

“It may be unfortunate for you two, but now it is time to have you for dinner.”

The gigantic tidal wave swallowed Greenham and the rogue. It was truly as if they were being swept away by currents.

While being rolled around in the black whirlpool, Greenham slapped at the cockroaches that had managed to crawl into the openings in his armour. There was no weapon that would work well against a horde of such small insects, nor did they possess a method for area of effect attacks. It was faster to use hands than anything else. Because of that, they had already abandoned their weapons which had long since disappeared.

He tried his best to struggle and wave around wildly, but due to countless cockroaches holding onto him, he could barely move. It was a movement that resembling someone drowning. The only sound Greenham could hear was that of countless cockroaches crawling about.

The rogue had already been swept away and his voice was nowhere to be heard. No, it was only natural that Greenham could not hear his voice. The rogue couldn’t speak with all the cockroaches that had crawled into his mouth, throat and stomach.

Greenham felt painful stinging sensations from everywhere on the body. It was the pain from cockroaches that had slipped inside his armour slowly eating away at him.

“Sto—”

Greenham tried to shout but was immediately choked by the countless cockroaches flooding his mouth and clogging his throat. He tried to throw up with all his might, but cockroaches kept crawling in from the tiny opening of his mouth. Then they scrabbled around in the mouth.

As if one had crawled inside his ear, the rustling sound was persistent and loud enough to give him chills.

Countless cockroaches crawled and ate away at his face. He felt pain on his eyelids, but he didn’t dare to open his eyes. It was obvious what would happen if he ever opened his eyes.

Greenham understood what would happen to him. At this rate, he would be eaten alive by these ravenous cockroaches.

“I don’t want this!”

He screamed in desperation and the cockroaches poured into his mouth once again. They crawled, trying to move into his throat. Then something mushy, a sensation of something tumbling down into the stomach. Then the disgusting sensation of cockroaches squirming inside his stomach made him want to throw up.

Greenham resisted with all his strength. He didn’t want this kind of death.

He had worked for the status that he had attained with the single-minded goal of showing off to his brothers.

He had gathered enough money to live comfortably without having to work anymore. Thanks to his fame, he could marry a beautiful girl that one would never be able to find in a regular village. He had become a winner in life who had far surpassed the brothers who had denied him their wealth and kicked him out.

He didn’t want to die here.

“Abrrwargagh! I’ll go back alive!”

He shouted while throwing up the cockroaches he had crushed in his mouth.

“…You are resisting quite valiantly. Then I shall give you some more.”

Even Greenham’s shouts were buried underneath the black whirlpool in mere seconds.

♦ ♦ ♦

His eyes opened.

What came into his vision was a strange ceiling. It was made with stone and had white glowing objects embedded in it. He tried to look around to understand how he got there, but realized his head wouldn’t move at all. No, it was not just his head, but he couldn’t move his entire body. It was as if something was tied around his wrists, ankles, waist, and chest.

This incomprehensible situation filled him with fear and he wanted to scream, but something was stuck in his mouth, so he could not speak nor close his mouth fully.

When he desperately tried to look around by straining his eyes, a voice spoke.

“Oh my, you’re awake now?”

It was a guttural voice. It was difficult to tell whether the voice belonged to a man or a woman.

The one that appeared in his unmoving sight was a disgusting monster.

It had the body of a human, but the head of a deformed octopus. The six long, squirming tentacles attached to its head extended all the way down to its thighs.

The skin colour was milky white, like the waxy flesh of someone who had drowned. On the bloated, corpse-like body was clothing made with black leather which barely covered anything. The cloth wrapped tightly around its body, like butcher’s twine tying up a piece of meat, and it could be described as nothing but grotesque. If a beauty had worn it, it would have been attractive, but on a monster like this was nauseating.

On each hand were four webbed fingers. It had long fingernails, with strange and bizarre nail art on them.

This strange heteromorphic being turned its pupil-less milky blue eyes on him.

“Fufufu, did you sleep well?”

“Hff, hff, hff hff.”

Fear and panic. Gripped by those two emotions, he could only let out a harsh breathing noise. The monster touched his cheek softly like a mother trying to calm a scared child. But the cold and mushy feelings of the hand sent chills all over his body.

It would have made perfect sense if the pungent smell of blood or rotten flesh had wafted over, but the creature smelled like aromatic flowers. This only amplified his fear.

“My, to think it’d shrink this much. There’s no need to be scared.”

The monster’s gaze was towards his lower body. From the sensation of air on his skin, he realized that he was naked.

“Hmm, mind if I ask your name?”

It tapped its slender finger on its cheek and tilted its head while asking. The pose would have looked good if it was a beauty, but a monster that looked like a drowned corpse with an octopus for a head only evoked disgust and fear.

“……”

The monster smiled at him, who could only move his eyes. The tentacles covered its mouth and its expression barely changed. Despite that, he knew it was smiling because its bead like eyes had narrowed.

“Ufufu, you don’t want to speak right? How cute. Don’t be so shy.”

The monster’s fingertip slid across his chest as if it was writing something, but all he could feel was fear that felt as if his heart was being ripped out.

“Onee-san will tell you her name F.I.R.S.T.”

It was a seductive and sweet tone of voice that sounded as if heart marks would pop out of them.

“I’m the Great Tomb of Nazarick’s Special Information Gatherer, Neuronist. Hehe, they also call me the “Interrogator”.”

The long tentacles squirmed apart and revealed a circular mouth at their base of the tentacle. Amidst rows of razor sharp teeth, a tube that resembled a tongue came out. It truly looked like a red straw.

“I’ll suck you dry with this in a bit.”

What did it mean by “suck dry”? He tried to move his panic-stricken body, but it was tightly clamped down.

“Now, now. You were captured by us.”

That was right. His last memory was of Greenham and the rogue disappearing from right in front of him. Then he blacked out and woke up to his current predicament.

“You should know where you are, right?”

Neuronist laughed before continuing.

“This is the Great Tomb of Nazarick. The place where the last of the 41 Supreme Beings, Momon– I mean Ainz-sama, resides. It is the most holy of places.”

“Heinhu sawa?”

“Yes, Ainz-sama.”

Neuronist understood him perfectly despite his inability to speak properly and slid her hand across his skin.

“One of the 41 Supreme Beings. He ruled over the other Supreme Beings in the past, and he is very, very cool. If you look at him once, you’ll want to swear loyalty with all your heart, too. If Ainz-sama ever calls me over to his bed, I don’t mind offering my first time to him.”

She fidgeted, no, jiggled as if she was embarrassed.

“Hey, do you want to hear something?”

Like a timid girl playing with her finger, she traced letters across his naked body.

“There was this one time Ainz-sama was staring at my body. It was the stare of a male selecting a target for his hunt. Then he turned his face away as if he was embarrassed. It made my chest tighten and sent chills down my back.”

It stopped suddenly and brought its face closer as if trying to look deep into his eyes. He tried with all his might to get away from the grotesque face, but he couldn't move his body at all.

“Even though that brat Shalltear and that ugly pumpkin Albedo are aiming for Ainz-sama’s attention, I’m still more attractive. Don’t you think so?”

“Wevs E wnph mahs hoo” (Yes, I think so, too.)

What would happen if he dared to disagree? That fear forced him to grunt his muffled agreement.

Neuronist clasped her hands and looked up happily into the air. It looked like a zealot praying up into the sky.

“Fufufu, you’re a good boy. Or are you telling the facts as they are? But why isn’t Ainz-sama calling for me… Ah~ Ainz-sama… Even your abstinence is amazing…”

The way her body twitched in delight called to mind the writhing movements of a giant, squirming maggot.

“…Ha, it makes my body feel electrified. Ara, I’m sorry. I’ve been talking only about myself.”

Don’t mind me. Neuronist ignored his thoughts and continued.

“Now, should I tell you about your fate? Do you know what a choir is?”

He blinked at the unexpected question. Looking at his surprised expression, Neuronist assumed he did not know what a choir was and explained.

“A choir is a group of people that sings hymns praising god’s love and glory. I want you to become one of them, along with all your little friends.”

If that was all, then it wasn’t much. He wasn’t very confident in his singing, but he was not tone deaf either. But was this monster really talking about something like singing? He could not hide his unease that rose like the tide and eyed Neuronist.

“That’s right, a choir. Even fools like you that haven’t sworn loyalty to Ainz-sama can dedicate their voices to sing his praises. The goal is a chorus. Ah, how electrifying! It’s Neuronist’s gospel music dedicated to Ainz-sama.”

A cloudy colour spread in its revolting eyes. Was that because it was excited by its thoughts? Its fingers wiggled like worms.

“Fufufufu, now I’ll introduce you to the ones who will support you in your chorus.”

As if they had been waiting in a corner, several figures came into view.

He stopped breathing the moment he saw them. It was obvious that they were evil creatures.

Black leather aprons that clung tightly to their figures. Their skin was ghastly pale, almost transparent, and purple veins were visible as if their blood was purple.

They wore tight black leather masks with no visible openings, which made him curious how they could see or breathe. Their arms were long as well. They were about two meters in height, but their arms were long enough to reach their knees.

Each of them had a belt on their waist, with numerous tools hanging off them.

There were four of them in total.

“They’re ‘Torturers’. They’re going to help me help you sing a beautiful song.”

A dangerous premonition. He finally realized what it meant by singing and struggled to escape. However, he still could not move.

“It’s no use~. It’s not going to break from someone of your strength. They’ll cast healing magic over and over, so you can get plenty of opportunity to practice.”

Neuronist said this as though she were extending the hand of mercy to him, but she did so in the most evil of tones.

“Thnd du mus!” (Don’t do this!)

“Mmm? Why do you say that? Do you want us to stop?”

Neuronist asked softly to the man who had tears rolling down from his eyes. Then the six tentacles squirmed.

“Listen well. Because he remained, we, who were created by the 41 Supreme Beings, were allowed to exist. Our very existence is to serve him. Do you think we’ll show even a shred of mercy to some filthy thieves that tracked mud into the holy place where such an exalted being lives? Do you really think that?”