Chapter 144.2: Volume 16: Chapter 5: Kill Steal (2)

The Theocracy's assault turned fiercer, finally breaking through the capital's outer defenses.

Seeing that the Theocracy's soldiers had begun entering the city, Ainz and his party started to move quickly.

The first thing Ainz did after infiltrating the castle under [Perfect Unknowable] was to find an elf who was alone—with no witnesses around—and capture them.

After passing up multiple opportunities because of the possibility of being discovered, he finally captured a female elf who looked like a servant.

Ainz immediately charmed her and returned to the twins' location using [Gate]. Then, he questioned her just like they did with the elf before. Unfortunately, they weren't able to get much useful information out of the woman.

Realizing there was no more useful information to be gained from the elf, Ainz immediately killed her with [Death] without hesitation. There shouldn't be any problem with a single woman disappearing from a castle that was going to fall soon.

After divesting the elf of her clothes and other things that could be used to identify her, they moved her body to a faraway place—to the place they initially discovered the 'Ursus Lord—using [Gate]. The wild animals would probably pick her clean. Even if she was discovered before that, she would just be a mysterious corpse without a single wound. It's very unlikely that someone would connect it with Ainz and the others.

He thought it would be more natural to teleport her above the castle and have her die from the fall as it would have been a reasonable action for her in this situation. However, given that they might need to use her identity later, he just made her disappear.

Some MP exhaustion was necessary to deal with the body, but with Ainz's MP recovery rate in mind, it was not a big deal. Plus, even if he wanted to wait until it recovered, they didn't have any time left to observe things from the sidelines anymore.

The Theocracy's forces were still having a hard time against the Elves' guerilla warfare in the city. That said, considering the difference in their fighting strength, their victory was just a matter of time. No strong individual had appeared on the field yet, so it was probably correct of them to think that there was no one like that present here.

The Elf King, who was said to be a strong person, was nowhere to be found on the defending side, probably because he had already escaped from this place.

In that case, the magic items would have followed him, rendering their actions here into a meaningless endeavor. Ainz muttered such thoughts internally and then called out to the twins.

"—Well, let's move."

They now knew the general position of their destination, but it was unfortunate that they didn't manage to find out the abilities and items of the king who was known as the strongest individual in this kingdom. Maybe they should have chosen a more important-looking Elf, but there wasn't enough time to carefully select their target.

There's only one problem left.

How should we—no, to be more accurate, who should be the one to conceal themselves?

In this hostile territory, each of them moving independently was out of the question.

They had acted out of sight up to this point, so moving brazenly in the open now would render all those efforts meaningless.

It would then be best if all three of them moved in stealth.

They certainly had the means to do that, but it also created a new problem.

Aura was the only one who could sense Ainz in [Perfect Unknowable] and even then, she could only sense that he was somewhere around them. Druids have a spell to see through [Perfect Unknowable] but Mare, who mostly specialized in the use of offensive spells barring a few exceptions, didn't have that particular one.

If Aura went into stealth with her Ghillie-Ghillie Cloak, even Ainz and Mare couldn't find her.

The Sunlight Dapple Cloak that Mare usually equipped had extremely high stealth capabilities outdoors, especially in the forests, but its ability would be reduced to half while indoors. Unfortunately, it seemed like this place was considered indoors even though the castle was made out of trees, reducing the cloak's ability to the point where even Ainz could sense him more or less. If both Aura and Ainz could sense Mare's location, it was highly likely that the enemy could as well, so it would be meaningless.

This meant:

If Ainz hid, Aura could find him but Mare couldn't.

If Aura hid, both Ainz and Mare couldn't find her.

Mare's Sunlight Dapple Cloak was weakened, and even if he used the Ghillie-Ghillie Cloak the result should be about the same. It's highly possible that a third party could discover him as well.

They finally concluded that if the three of them could not move covertly together, one of them should hide to act as their trump card in an emergency. While Aura was the most appropriate one for the role, it would be troublesome if Mare and Ainz couldn't grasp her location in a pinch. If they were too unlucky, they might even end up crashing into her while trying to move.

This is really a large mistake on my part...

They had a week of time to prepare. They absolutely should have discussed this before coming here.

Ainz went through such stealth operations many times in YGGDRASIL. For example, during Nazarick's first clear, they had to secretly travel through the Tuveg-filled swamps.

But, all of his guildmates generally prepared their own measures for stealth operations. As everyone was generally used to it, a little talk before taking action worked well enough for them even if they didn't discuss it before.

Ainz got a little excited at the word "kill steal" because it made him remember things from YGGDRASIL, so he completely forgot about discussing the plan with the twins.

Then why didn't the other two point it out to him? He didn't confirm if his hunch was true since that would be scary for him, but they were probably thinking that "Ainz-sama probably has some plans" with full trust in him. Actually, their eyes were gazing upon him with absolute faith right at this moment.

He couldn't tell them that he had no plans right now. He spun his non-existent brain matter at full speed enough to heat his—also imaginary—brains. Ainz could instead ask them about what they should do right now, but they couldn't waste time here, so he should propose his idea first.

"—Then I will use [Perfect Unknowable], Aura will be the vanguard."

Ainz decided.

The twins would not hide. They would just have to rely on Aura's senses to avoid others.

If something unexpected were to happen, the twins would face them openly with Ainz ready to support them at any moment. He was more worried about them becoming separated during an attack than he was about them being discovered by someone, because they wouldn't be able to find each other in the first case.

The twins raised no objections.

Is it really, really fine? You can speak your mind if you notice something you know?

Honestly, Ainz would be happier if they had any objections.

Three heads together instead of using Ainz's alone would probably think up a better plan.

There was also the possibility that the twins agreed just because it was Ainz's plan. Strictly speaking, they were throwing the responsibility onto him. If Ainz overlooked something or his plans failed—which was a common enough occurrence—what were they going to do? They probably wouldn't say anything even if things went awry, but that was most definitely not a good thing.

...That's the problem with the NPCs. But...even if I force them to squeeze out some ideas here, there isn't enough time...Let's just ignore this problem for now and be more cautious the next time around.

He explained various countermeasures to Aura and Mare, and then walked after them into the castle with his spell active. There were barely any Elves, just like when Ainz infiltrated alone before, so they didn't meet anyone on the way. Of course, the fact that Aura was listening to the footsteps around them and timing their movements so that they would avoid them was also a major factor in this situation.

There were barely any people in the Kingdom's royal castle during its last moments as well, but they worked to create barricades at the entrances at least...

There were no such things here even though the Theocracy was on their doorsteps. In fact, the mood here felt like nothing unusual was happening outside at all.

It doesn't feel like they intend to defend it...As I expected, did the country's upper echelons leave the city to its own devices and escape already? From what I've heard there doesn't seem to be any other Elven countries around here but the Great Sea of Trees is rather huge. It's entirely possible that there are lands further south with cities and we just don't know about them.

All this trouble would be for nothing if that's the case.

Anyhow, they would have an answer soon. It would be dumb of him to continue thinking about matters they could do nothing about.

The restricted area—likely the treasury—seemed to be on the upper floors.

It was two floors above the one where the king's personal room was and it was the highest point in the castle. He initially thought about entering it from the outside, but abandoned the idea when he considered that it was unlikely that such a place had windows.

And so the three of them continued to advance up the stairs.

They climbed the floors without getting discovered. Upon reaching the floor of their destination, Aura raised her voice with a hint of suspicion.

"What is this place even?"

The entire ceiling, which was about 15 meters high, was filled with lights covering all of its surfaces. There weren't any windows around so there was no doubt that it was done through some kind of magic.

But, it wasn't bright enough to be called dazzling.

Ainz moved his body a little to try and see if he received any debuffs.

It would appear that this was not the kind of light the priests would use that negatively affected the undead. Considering that this was the Elven Country, it was probably some divine magic related to the druids.

The phenomenon itself wasn't that weird. After all, Nazarick's sixth floor was similar. Even Arcane magic and Psychic magic had light-emitting spells after all, but the lack of secondary effects made it hard to know which type of magic this light belonged to.

But that was not what made Aura raise her voice. It was the thing directly opposite the ceiling, the floor—

—which was completely covered with soil.

Most of the floor, free of any walls or partitions and about a hundred meters wide in every direction, was covered by soil.

There were some areas free of the soil coverage but the area around the huge door further in was completely covered.

Aura lightly kicked the soil a few times and turned some over. It didn't take that long before she hit the floor beneath it. It wasn't that deep.

"A substitute for a carpet, maybe?"

Hearing that, Ainz felt like that was probably the case. The Dark Elf village didn't have a culture of using carpets either. They at most used some floor cushions weaved from grass.

"Eh—, wait...no, culture is a diverse topic, but doesn't this feel a bit primitive? Or is this a measure of caution? To make intruders leave their footprints?"

"B-but, in that case, s-shouldn't there be a patrol or a guard watching this area?"

Ainz concurred with Mare's words. There didn't seem to be anyone around here.

Too careless...to think no one's here...no, maybe even the ones who were here were mobilized to defend against the Theocracy's assault? That servant said this area was restricted, though nothing about soldiers being stationed here...

"...M-maybe they planned to cultivate vegetables and stuff if they ever need to hole up in the castle..."

Aura raised an "ah" in agreement with Mare's hypothesis. Ainz agreed as well.

It was possible for druids to cultivate crops here even though there wasn't any sunlight coming in. Maybe this light substituted for real sunlight to grow plants here.

Though the area Aura kicked over was shallow, it was near the edge. It was possible that the soil further in was deep enough to grow plants.

I can test this better if someone like Shalltear, who receives a penalty from sunlight, was with us here...I could use [All Appraisal Magic Item] if it's a magic item, but...

If they didn't find anything good in the treasury, they can try taking this along with them as a consolation.

Ainz settled on that decision and started walking after the twins. Those two used skills to not leave any footprints behind, while Ainz cast [Fly]—while maintaining [Perfect Unknowable]—to do the same.

As the group neared the center of the room—

"—Hoo. I felt some strange presence and came over to check but to think it was some Dark Elves. Twin kids at that."

A voice suddenly spoke.

Turning back, they found an elf standing about 10 meters away from them.

He had a cold-looking but handsome face, with each eye being a different color. He was definitely not a servant.

They could feel that this elf was used to ordering others around—one could feel the haughtiness that was radiated around him.

"—What?"

Ainz let out a surprised voice that no one else could hear. There shouldn't have been anyone there. He was sure. Ainz and Mare may have missed him but there's no way Aura would have as well.

He had not been invisible either, Ainz would have seen him if that was the case.

Maybe he deceived Ainz's eyes with a special concealment skill while using invisibility at the same time to hide from Aura. Or else—

—He teleported here? Shit. I should have deployed [Delay Teleportation].

Aura moved gracefully to position herself between Ainz and that elf while Mare took on a fighting stance, gripping his staff with his two hands.

In contrast to the twins, the elf didn't change his stance at all. Ainz found him full of gaps but maybe that was the opponent's attempt to bait them.

A skilled warrior could probably judge if he was being genuine or if it was a bluff, but Ainz couldn't.

Ainz moved a little and tried waving his hand at the elf.

The elf didn't turn his gaze at all.

So, he couldn't see through Ainz's [Perfect Unknowable].

Ainz turned to look at the twins.

His orders before the infiltration were, "in case we were to meet any mysterious individual, focus on gathering intel from them until they attack us."

Aura nonchalantly extended her hand to grasp her necklace. The twins probably intended to gather the information while having a discussion among themselves.

He could understand their intentions, but they were being a bit rash.

If it were Ainz, he would have immediately attacked the infiltrators if they made any suspicious movements before him. Touching equipment was the same as drawing a gun in his eyes.

Expecting the mysterious elf to start attacking them at any moment, Ainz readied himself to meet him with magic at any time. But, he ended up tilting his head in puzzlement after observing the elf.

There's no change in the elf's attitude.

He saw Aura's actions but didn't look like he was particularly bothered by them.

Was it because he was highly confident in his strength or was it because he couldn't understand what Aura was doing? Or maybe he was trying to gather information just like they were and so was hesitating to attack them?

"—nnnn. What's the meaning of this? Those eyes...I don't remember bedding any Dark Elves...No, maybe I did? Hmmhmm. Let me test you then."

The elf's air of intimidation became stronger. It even felt like the elf had swelled up a little.

Tch, Aura clicked her tongue.

"[Body of Effulgent Beryl]."

"Hoo. hooo. Hoo. So you can withstand this. This is probably the first time ever that I've seen someone being able to do that."

"Hey, why did you point killing intent at us? Do you want to die?"

"[Indomitability]."

"—hah, hahahahahaha!"

The elf laughed like he had just heard the greatest joke. Aura furrowed her brows in a manner that screamed "danger." She made a fist with a scary amount of force behind it, but gradually loosened it as Ainz continued to watch.

"[Greater Resistance]."

"That was splendid! No, no, I see. I see! I never even had an inkling. Grandchildren, I see. I understand now! So even if it doesn't awaken in the children, it could awake in the grandchildren's generation! To think that I didn't realize it, that was somewhat stupid of me."

"What nonsense are you muttering about?"

"[Greater Potential]."

"No, no, it just means I had the right idea all along. Well then, my grandchildren."

Grandchildren? What the heck is he saying? He seems to be having some sort of misunderstanding.

"Eh? ...No way, are you Bukubukuchagama-sama's...?"

That made Ainz panic for a moment. He realized that there was a possibility that Bukubukuchagama had arrived in this world alone and left this guy behind. But—

—there doesn't seem to be any slime bits left in him. Maybe he can change his form like Solution!?

"Chagama? What are you talking about?"

No...? In that case...could it be Akemichan-san!?

Yamaiko had a sister named Akemichan. She had made an elf character, but as she wasn't that into YGGDRASIL, he barely knew anything about her.

"Nnn—, you there, you are a pure elf, right?"

"...Oops. [Breath of Magic Caster]."

"What is this odd question—There's no way you don't know who I am, right?"

"We know, we know."

"Y-yes. We know."

"The two of you are shit at acting!"

Their perfunctory attitude and the monotone reply were enough to make Ainz retort unintentionally. The elf didn't believe them either, opening his mouth in surprise.

"T-to think that you didn't know...It's impossible... good grief. I heard Dark Elves live near the borders but to think you are so uncultured..."

The elf sent them an intense glare.

"I will forgive this once because you are my grandchildren, but ignorance is a sin. I will educate you thoroughly under my guidance."

"Even if you say you will teach us...wait, actually, who are you? I am just making sure, but you are the king of the elves right?"

Aura likely made that conjecture because the Elf King was the only strong person they were informed about.

"[Life Essence]. Hoo!"

Ainz let out a voice in surprise. The elf's HP pool was huge. It easily surpassed the Pleiades and was probably at least level 70 by YGGDRASIL's standards. This made him an opponent they couldn't be careless around.

"Haa...I am stunned. What did your parents teach you until now? There shouldn't be anything more important than the name of the pinnacle of all the Elven races...at present anyway, and the king of the elves, THE Decem Hougan"

Shit.

Ainz cursed.

He expected this, but he couldn't help but curse after receiving confirmation.

All their effort until now to stay hidden was in vain. He could only lament at all of their wasted efforts.

Now, they would have to kill this person, the greatest combat entity—probably—in this nation, one that they could have expected to decimate the forces of their hypothetical enemy nation, the Theocracy.

They certainly couldn't leave him alive after this. Overwriting his memories was one option if they could incapacitate him and make him unable to resist, but after seeing his [Life Essence], Ainz realized that this king's battle strength—his HP to be more precise—was surprisingly huge for a denizen of this world.

Of course, they would win without a doubt if they fought normally. There are three level 100 entities here after all, but it would probably be hard to incapacitate him without killing him, as holding back here could turn out to be a mistake.

Considering his sudden appearance, it's highly likely that this elf—Decem—had some abilities unknown to them. It was dangerous to prioritize incapacitating him when they didn't have enough information on his true strength.

After seeing that Akemichan's name wasn't mentioned, he was 90% sure that there was no relation between them. If there was any, she would have named him something recognizable.

He would only kill him if they were driven to the wall, if he really was the Yamaiko household's child.

"The king? Is it fine for you to be here? Aren't the humans attacking? Why won't you immediately go over there and save your people"

"[Mana Essence]...I see."

Even Decem's mana was quite high for this world's denizens. It was about the same as Shalltear's.

HP and MP. Taking Elven culture into account, he most likely had the same class as Mare, a druid. A backline druid, to be specific.

"Why should I do something like that? Seems like you are misunderstanding what being a king means. A king is someone who should be venerated as a supreme existence by his people, not someone who works for them. Mercy is the only thing the superiors give to those inferior. Understood? And mercy can only be pleaded for, not demanded. They should be satisfied even if they don't receive it."

What the hell was this guy saying?

Ainz was stunned. If Decem was really being serious, then there's something wrong with his brain. Ainz even found the Elves pitiful for having such a king.

"So you don't feel like saving them? But, well—I can agree with a part of what you said."

"Y-yes. We can't say he is entirely wrong either..."

"—Haa?"

Ainz stared at the twins' faces, flabbergasted at their replies. It didn't seem like a tactic to loosen the opponent's tongue by flattering him.

Which part of his utterance did they think was acceptable?

N-no, maybe it's me who was in the wrong? Maybe that is how a king should think...? Jircniv also had an air like that about him...How was the Quagoa King like? That one was too servile.

"Hoo. As expected of my grandchildren. Even though unlearned, your minds can understand the truth"

"—Ah, not again. I wasted time...I have my own tasks to do. [Magic Ward - Fire]"

"But you made one big, critical mistake. Only the Supreme Beings can be objects of veneration, not a small fry Elf like you. Well, you can get venerated however you want as long as it's only the Elves around here, I guess."

No, no...that's completely wrong...But they won't change even if I reproach them...and it's not like I don't understand their feelings...If only they made friends outside of Nazarick...From this point of view, I have hopes for Shizu who became friends with that girl with the scary eyes...This trip was a failure unfortunately. No, considering our talk on the way back, even Shizu's a bit...as I thought, only Sebas—Ah! I am thinking about useless things again!

"What? Supreme Beings? Did Dark Elves have such oral traditions?" Decem pondered a bit and slightly shook his head. "Well, whatever. I can just hear about it in detail later."

"Do you really have the time for it? Like I said before, isn't the human country knocking on your doors right now?"

Ainz was flustered at the time he had wasted, so he immediately cast the next spell.

"[False Data Life]."

Right at that moment, a rumbling came from under them, shaking the floor. It looked like the Theocracy finally brought out the siege engines.

The twins and Decem turned to look at the floor and closed their mouths. Ainz continued to cast magic.

"[False Data Mana]."

"—Tch. Humans are really troublesome. I could go over and wipe them out myself but...it's bothersome. Let's go."

"...Where are you telling us to go?"

"[Penetrate Up]."

"I haven't thought about it but, well, nowhere should be a problem with my strength."

"To think you had no plans, aren't you the worst...And what are you going to do if we follow you?"

"Is it earth...It would be a waste if I got it wrong..." Ainz hesitated for a moment before taking out a scroll and activating it. "[Earth Master]."

"Aah," Decem stared intensely at Aura's body. "You are still a child, huh. It will be some time before you mature...but there's nothing to be done about it. I have already waited for this long. A few decades is too long to be seen as a mere miscalculation, but we will just have to think of it as inconsequential. You asked what will happen if you come along, right? The answer is simple. You will have children with me."

"—Eh? What are you even talking about?"

"—Ah? ...[Greater Luck]."

"You too," Decem turned his gaze to Mare. "After the women become pregnant, it takes time before they can bear a child again. I expect more from you on that account. You will also be making multiple children alongside me. I assume the blood will be further diluted, but seeing how it awoke in the grandchildren's generation, it should be possible for the great-grandchildren as well. I should take time to experiment. Aah, it will be troublesome but I will probably have to take some people along with us to become your partners. But...why are you wearing a female's attire even though you are a boy? Is it the Dark Elves' tradition? Honestly, the fact that you are not a pure elf is a bit irritating, but it's far better than extending my hand to all the humanoid races."

Aura and Mare stared at Decem with their mouths agape.

"—"

"Well, I don't mind if you don't understand it yet. Let's go."

He was unsure what Decem was thinking, but he approached the twins who stood rooted to their place and extended his hand towards Aura.

—Ainz brushed that hand away. Determining the action as an attack, [Perfect Unknowable] got dispelled.

Before Decem could turn to look at Ainz in surprise, his bony fist planted itself in Decem's face.

Decem flew away, sprawling on the ground.

"—This pedoshit pervert. To think you dare to stare lecherously at the girl entrusted to me by my friend. Die."

While he continued to hurl abuse, the small part of him that managed to stay cool clicked his tongue at his mistake.

He went through all that trouble to maintain [Perfect Unknowable], but ended up throwing a punch because he lost his temper. There's nothing more wasteful than this.

Ainz's emotions would be suppressed if they cross a certain line. He would have acted more rationally just now had that been triggered—instead of punching the guy, he would have cast instant death magic on him. However, it didn't trigger, probably because he was more disgusted than angry. The extent of that emotion probably didn't cross the line either.

"Wh, wha—"

Decem stood up in a fluster, with blood flowing from his nostrils. But, he didn't receive much damage. [Life Essence] showed Ainz that only a little bit of his HP was gone.

Even though he received Ainz's full-powered punch defenselessly, that's all it managed to do to him.

There's a possibility that he was faking it with a skill like [False Data Life] or some equipment, but that was most likely not the case.

Ainz showed his open palm to the twins, making a pose to tell them not to move.

From his estimates of Decem's HP and MP, he seemed to be above level 70 but below level 80.

That said, although it's very unlikely, they should be on guard against one possibility.

YGGDRASIL had no such classes, but maybe this world had some that wouldn't raise HP and MP when leveling up. Those could make it possible so that someone is at level 100, but their MP and HP would stay at level 70.

He would probably be right in assuming that there was nothing like that, but there is no such thing as an absolute.

—The three of us can gang up and kill him, but that's a bad idea for now. At least not until we figure out the method behind his teleportation...

While Ainz continued to think up their battle tactics for the hereafter, Decem raised his voice.

"—An U-undead! Why, here, and so suddenly." He turned his gaze to the twins.

"Is one of you a necromancer!?"

Ainz answered before the two could speak.

"Just like you have surmised. These two are peerless necromancers, and I am their guardian who was born from the power of these two and their parents, from the combined powers of four people. I will definitely not allow the weak to touch them. I wouldn't mind you taking them away on the dawn of the day you defeated me but—" Ainz used his full effort to laugh scornfully, trying to anger the opponent. "—Well, I think that's impossible for you, right?"

"Hoo..." Decem removed his hand that had been pressing down on his nose. It seemed like the bleeding had already stopped. "I am a little surprised. To make me bleed...how many decades, no, centuries has it been? I see. You are strong enough to match your boast, but that's not the way to speak to a king. That said, this is rather fortunate. Rejoice, I shall teach you the difference between our strengths and discipline you."

He said those words while looking at Aura and Mare. It looked like he really believed Ainz.

So, Ainz continued to think.