Chapter 144.4: Volume 16: Chapter 5: Kill Steal (4)

Decem commanded Behemoth to search for the undead but realized that its movement was dull.

Behemoth's senses relied on its eyes, so it couldn't find the enemy because of the fog.

If that's how it is going to be, Decem thought. He cast the Fourth-Tier spell, [Tremor Sense].

This spell allowed him to sense even the smallest amount of tremors, allowing him to find his opponent's position. It was more effective on land but a floor should work as well. But—

—What? He is nowhere around, you say?

[Tremor Sense] told him that the two grandchildren were still here even though he couldn't see them through the fog. The tremors were probably caused by them changing their postures. It was hard to think that the undead would escape by teleportation, thus leaving them behind. It was even harder to believe that the summon was canceled. Then, what happened? Decem soon stumbled upon the reason.

He is not touching the floor! He is floating in the air!

He didn't realize it because the enemy previously only used his legs to run when he tried to escape, but he had to be floating through some means.

[Tremor Sense] could sense even the most trivial of vibrations from the floor, but its range did not extend to air.

The undead was doing a splendid job at getting on his nerves.

"Such attempts at stalling for time are meaningless! You irritating mook!"

This was starting to get really unpleasant. Maybe he should just call the humans over and wipe them out together, it would probably be quicker than this.

This weakling! He would have been dead already if we had been fighting outside!

He couldn't immediately think of a way to drag the children and the undead outside. He could blast the wall and push them outside, but he doubted that it would go as expected.

Decem hurled an order at the Behemoth—who was stumbling aimlessly—and made him stand by his side.

He was not sure about the guy's movements inside the fog, but it was possible that the undead was targeting him. That wasn't something he had to worry about as he wouldn't die in a single hit, but he didn't really want his blood spilled again by such a lowly being.

Time slowly passed by as he tried to sense the enemy's movements. It hadn't been that long since, but the sensation of his mana gradually going down made him feel like time flowed slower than usual.

—I can't waste any more time!

He would just blow the fog away. Decem tried to remember the spells he hadn't used for a long time. As Behemoth had mowed down all of his enemies up till this point, there were a lot of spells he hadn't used after learning them. He knew at least one spell that could blow this fog away.

He chose a Ninth-Tier spell—[Tempest].

A storm started rampaging, clearing the fog in an instant. However, the fierce rain that came along with it obscured their vision again. The swirling winds were ferocious, strong enough that even Decem had to spend his full effort just to stay put. It was extremely difficult to move amidst this.

As expected, only Behemoth with its huge body could withstand the raging winds enough to move around even though its speed would go down.

That guy shouldn't be able to move in the middle of this storm either.

Nothing was visible inside this downpour, even Behemoth couldn't find that undead amidst this. But, it was different for Decem. [Tremor Sense] would pick up the vibrations caused by all of the raindrops falling on the floor, so he couldn't discern between them and the steps made by some entity even if they walked around him. On the contrary, he could sense the spots where the tremors from raindrops were weaker. Inside the image of the flat topography this room made inside his head, he found two such spots where the rain was being obstructed. One was the place where his grandchildren stood, the other one was naturally the undead's location.

—he is moving?

This fierce rain was one in which he couldn't even see before him. Even Behemoth, with all the strength its huge body provided, could barely move around in the ferocious winds.

Then, how was that undead moving inside this storm? He should have been caught by the winds even if he tried to fly.

Decem was only puzzled for a moment. He immediately dispelled [Tempest].

The rain and the winds borne of magic disappeared like they weren't there in the first place, but the wet floor and his soaked clothes proved that it hadn't been an illusion.

Decem swiped away the wet hair that was stuck to his face and saw a wall standing between him and the undead's location. The undead probably made it when the spell was dispelled.

"Cut it out, you bastard!!" Decem shouted angrily. "What was that about fighting fairly?! Sneaking behind one wall after another! Such cowardice!!"

"—isn't it normal to use tactics in a battle? Please don't ask me such obvious things. I have some questions as well that I would like for you to answer."

The undead spoke from behind the wall.

He should have ignored it, considering his mana was vanishing by the second, but it sparked his curiosity. That undead's words should contain the ideations of those twins—and by relation, their parents—behind them. He should listen.

"...What are they?"

"Is it fine to leave the humans alone? It had been some time since we started fighting here. Maybe the Elves below are being massacred right now, you know?"

He was stunned at the somewhat unexpected question, but decided to give an honest answer.

He momentarily thought about canceling Behemoth's combat form, but then it would take some time if he wanted to return Behemoth to its present form again. We were talking about that despicable undead here. Even if they were in the middle of a conversation, he would surely come attacking if he saw a chance. A single hit would be far from fatal, but he wanted to avoid taking one head-on. So Decem decided to continue maintaining Behemoth in combat form even though it would continue to consume his mana.

"From a certain point of view, it's probably better to save them considering that they could awaken their blood in the later generations like those two, but there are Elves elsewhere too. Plus, I have more expectations for those who could escape by themselves. In a gist, there is no need to save those who are weak enough to get killed by something like humans."

"Onto the next question then. I heard there is a hidden treasure of the Elves?"

"A hidden treasure of the Elves? Are they talking about me? Or is it about this thing here?"

"... By 'this thing,' you mean Primal Earth Elemental?"

"Primal Earth Elemental?"

"Of all things, that's what caught your attention? A Primal Earth Elemental is what you've summoned, right? Or is it a different race...an elemental with a different name? Do you call it by a different name?"

Even though it was fine if the lowly worm died in ignorance, Decem was irritated that he thought Behemoth was just a simple earth elemental or something from a similar race. Considering he also had to educate his grandkids correctly, he had to correct the enemy's misunderstanding here.

"That's Behemoth. The Elemental Guardian of the Land, Behemoth."

"Behemoth? So I didn't mishear it...Elemental Guardian of the Land? Not the Great Magic Beast of the Continent? The raid boss? The Behemoth I knew looked a lot different...Who was the one that named it first? You?"

"Someone else, but—"

"—Then, who?"

The questioning tone felt a bit forceful. Why was he interested in that of all things? What's this Great Magic Beast of the Continent? He felt like he heard the term raid boss (a strong enemy that required a party to defeat) though... This guy—or his grandchildren to be more accurate; maybe they knew some things not even he knew about. It would be better to not answer the undead's questions anymore.

"...How about taking down that wall if you want me to answer? Isn't it rude to talk without even being able to see each others' faces?"

"Then it's fine if you don't answer. I only asked that question out of intellectual curiosity."

Was it the undead who wanted the information, or was it the grandchildren who somehow got their hands on some information and wanted to know more? The two kids who were drenched from the rain had blank expressions so Decem couldn't read anything from them.

"And another question—"

"That's enough. There's no longer any reason for me to continue talking with you."

Feeling anxious, Decem put strength in the stare he was directing at the twins. The questions were completely different from what he was expecting them to be about and he couldn't expend any more mana. There's no need to talk anymore.

"That's the end of our conversation."

Suddenly, the wall disappeared.

He was stunned at the unexpected development, just as he was about to use [Green Chain] on the twins. He hesitated for a moment about who he should target.

"—this should probably be your limit. Anyhow, your mana should be reduced by a lot at least."

"...what?"

Decem was confused by the undead's extremely cold voice.

Why could he sense complete calm from him?

An incompetent undead who could do nothing but stall for time—

He should just command Behemoth to crush him into a pulp—

Decem turned his gaze towards the stairs behind the undead. He thought that maybe this attitude was because he had achieved his goal to stall for the arrival of the humans, but he couldn't see anyone coming up the stairs. Even if he concentrated on listening, he couldn't hear any human footsteps—or any other footsteps for that matter.

He didn't know what the undead thought of his actions just now, but the undead started speaking again.

"I said your mana should mostly be gone by now. How much longer can you maintain Pri—Behemoth? Probably a few more minutes at least I think."

"Ah, so that's what this is about. You thought that you could win against me without my mana. Sure, I wasn't able to avoid your punch at the start, but that's because you were summoned suddenly. I could have easily avoided it if I knew you were going to appear."

"—I know."

The voice was as cold as it was before. Decem took a gulp unconsciously.

Why does he behave like that?

Strange.

Why was he getting pressured by such a weak undead?

He, whose blood came from the one who dominated the world in the past.

He, who stood at the pinnacle of the Elves as the current strongest Elf.

Decem gritted his teeth and suppressed the shameful emotions welling up inside his heart.

"I see it now!" he shouted with a thunderous voice. "You made me bleed with your fist so you're thinking that you can win in a physical melee. That punch barely did any damage to me you see!"

"I know that too."

Upon receiving the undead's calm response to his anger-fueled shout, Decem felt an unpleasantness that couldn't be put in words.

Maybe he was—

Just for a moment, an impossible thought flitted across his mind.

Then why?

Why did he fight like that?

This was a bluff.

The enemy was trying to deceive him by acting calm.

There's no way it could be anything else.

"Behemoth!" He wasn't sure if that was an angry shout or a scared shriek. "—Crush him!!"

"Let's start then".

Decem understood the reason behind the undead's calmness the very next moment.

"[Triplet Maximize Magic - Cacophonous Burst]—Release"

There was an explosion of sound waves at first, then a pair of angel wings appeared next.

A storm of shockwaves hit Behemoth who stood between Decem and the undead as a rain of light rivaling the downpour from before pierced its body. The Elemental Guardian of the Land's health was being blown away by the second. It didn't bleed or lose parts of its body like a living being, but Decem, as its master, knew Behemoth was standing on its last legs.

Confusion.

Nothing but confusion.

Behemoth was the greatest elemental. No one was on par with it. Even though it received damage in fights until now, they were no more than a few scratches considering its enormous health.

And that—

Like this—

Not once was its health reduced to the verge of death like this.

"N-no way..."

"Well now. I didn't expect that even six hits weren't enough to take it down even though I triggered its weakness. Would it have been different if I was more specialized in offensive magic?"

Just like before, Decem couldn't feel a single emotion from the undead's calm voice. It was like he was a completely different person from the undead before.

W-what the hell is even happening?

The confusion welling up in his heart calmed down for a bit and in its place, fear ran through his body.

The fleeting thought from before loomed larger now.

That, perhaps, this undead was stronger than him.

"No! Behemoth! Protect—"

Me—Behemoth, upon sensing his thoughts, moved to cover Decem from the undead's sight and brought down its right fist on the enemy.

"I did it!! —nn? What!?"

Behemoth followed with a punch from his left hand, meaning that undead wasn't killed in a single hit.

Even though he had received two hits face-on, he saw that the undead still brazenly stood on the other side.

He wasn't crushed.

Although it had crushed every enemy until now, that undead stood there like it was nothing.

"[Triplet Maximize Magic - Cacophonous Burst]."

In front of Decem's eyes, Behemoth—the invincible great elemental— turned into a large pile of dirt.

He was assaulted by a great sense of—

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—in that instant.

Something that was inside him had now disappeared without a trace, leaving a gaping hole behind.

"So it's overkill...but considering you might have some skills up your sleeves, I don't think I made a wrong choice. What do you think?"

"—Hiyeee!"

Impossible.

The absolutely invincible elemental, his own shadow. It's impossible for Behemoth to have lost.

But it's a fact that it was not standing in front of him right now.

Then what should he do?

What action should he take?

Who the hell was the undead before him—.

"You don't have to be so scared—[Reality Slash]."

He was assaulted by a flood of pain.

The kind of pain he never experienced till now.

"AA, AAAaaaa." Looking down, he saw that his rain-drenched clothes were now soaked red.

"Hurtss, It hurtssss!!"

It hurts.

It hurts.

It hurts.

That was the only thing echoing inside his head.

"I understand the feeling very well. If not for this body, I would have become hysterical from just a single one of those hits before. Well then, I have a proposal. Surrender. I will not cause you any more pain if you do that, and will guarantee your safety afterward."

"Ah, ah, Aah, it hur...r-really?"

With tears welling up from the pain, Decem posed the question to the two grandchildren.

The two looked flustered for a moment, and then the granddaughter replied with "yes, really."

"Now we have my masters' permission as well. Start removing your gear. Don't fear. I will return them back after confirming if there's anything dangerous with them. Really. I am not lying at all. I will swear it in the names of my masters. Trust me."

The undead spoke with a sincere and gentle voice. Decem felt like believing him.

It hurts.

[Mercy of Shorea Robusta] was slowly healing the wound, but it didn't take away the pain from the deep, deep wound.

Just for a moment, he felt like surrendering if it could take away this pain. But—he still had some pride left.

As someone who reigned over this country for a long time as its king, he was reluctant to plead for his life from people far younger than himself, even if they were his grandchildren.

It hurts.

He had no mana left. No, there was some, but he couldn't see himself winning against this undead with the remaining amount.

Should he attempt to settle this in a melee?

No, first of all, he was not confident in himself right now. He would probably die first if he were to take multiple hits from the undead's spells as strong as the one from before.

It hurts.

Decem turned his gaze behind the undead—towards the stairs.

There's no one there.

In that case—.

He should run. That's all he could do.

It hurts.

It hurts.

It hurts.

It hurts.

Even so, Decem started to run.

The blood he left behind was a sign of his declining health.

The fear of death welled up in his heart. Even though he had equipped magic items that resisted fear, it couldn't eliminate what was born from inside him.

That was why—because he was being urged onward by his fear—his body followed exactly what his mind demanded of it. He kicked the floor with a speed he had never reached until now.

His vision of his surroundings blurred as he picked up speed, instantly reducing the distance between him and the undead.

"Stop! Or I will kill you!"

He ignored the undead's warning as he passed by him, hearing a tongue click and then a spell being cast.

"[Time Stop]."

He expected more pain from the spell but didn't feel any. No, maybe there was. Perhaps the pain from his deep wound had taken a turn for the worse from him running, to the point where he couldn't even notice any other source of pain even if there was such a thing.

So—Decem continued to run. The stairs were very close.

The pain in his chest was surprisingly strong, but there was no hesitation in his legs.

"Aura!"

It seemed like the undead chanted another spell, but once again, this spell didn't affect him either.

Then, all he had to do was run.

He reached the stairs—and the floor under his feet exploded. Three times at that.

His body flew in the air for just a moment, but by wringing the utmost effort out of his body, he managed to keep his posture and continued to flee without reducing his speed even a bit. He didn't feel much pain from his legs. Or rather, he couldn't really feel anything due to the pain in his chest and the overwhelming fear he felt.

He felt like the undead was saying something behind him, but he didn't have the composure to hear it.

Decem ran like he was flying over the stairs.

He couldn't hear anyone chasing him from behind. The moment his tension melted a bit, a fierce pain ran through his legs.

Decem nearly cried out by instinct, but suppressed it in a panic. It would be extremely bad to make a loud sound right now.

Looking down at his legs, he found them in shreds, probably due to the explosion before.

Acknowledging the wounds made his pain that much stronger.

Decem looked back the way he ran and saw the trail of blood his escape had made. Even if they were not good at tracking, they could probably follow after him very easily.

It hurts.

He didn't want to run anymore.

But, he was sure there would be more pain waiting for him if he didn't.

And most of all—he didn't want to die.

With his mind filled with that single conviction, Decem bore the pain and willed his legs into motion.

Why do I have to do something like this? Why won't my grandchildren listen to me?!

He couldn't understand at all.

Why won't they cooperate for the sake of the Elven race?

Damn it all!

Shouting silently inside his heart—because he was scared of giving his location away by his voice—Decem spat profanities, wiping his tears away as he ran.

♦ ♦ ♦

Ainz called for Decem's surrender in the gentlest voice he could muster. Maybe because he couldn't use that strange teleportation technique anymore or maybe because Ainz had succeeded in his attempt to guide the guy's thoughts down a certain path by pushing him to the edge, it looked like he would accept his proposal.

Finally, Ainz smiled scornfully in his heart.

Of course, the proposal was a complete lie. He had no intention of guaranteeing the Elf King's safety. He would be dealt with the moment he took off his equipment.

The guy probably wouldn't target the twins anymore with his will broken, but [Death] was the more surefire way.

Yet, he felt a fire burning in Decem's eyes the very next moment.

"Nn?"

Decem suddenly broke into a sprint. Straight towards Ainz at that.

"Tch! Melee!? In that case—I don't mind at all!"

Ainz hid his smile from his face and instead adopted a voice of surprise and fear.

As an Arcane-type magic caster, Ainz hated fighting in close quarters so it could be said that the opponent was treading on his weakness. However, the fact that the guy still wanted to fight was a welcome fact for Ainz. He would now be able to kill Decem for sure in return for some of his HP. But, what happened next really surprised Ainz, so much so that it felt like even his face that couldn't make expressions looked surprised.

Decem's trajectory was just a bit off from Ainz, and it looked like he didn't intend to reduce his speed either.

Ainz immediately realized that his predictions were off.

—Damn it! He is making a break for it!

This made his opinions of Decem go up by a level—or maybe not, but it was raised by at least a little. The most troublesome scenario for Ainz was the enemy giving his all to escape. Ainz would do the same as Decem in a situation like this, although far sooner, before things would reach this point.

It was because he understood this, that Ainz put many countermeasures in place to prevent the opponent from escaping through magical means like the way he came in. However, he didn't prepare much against him escaping by physical means. There hadn't been enough time to prepare and it had been difficult to set up the countermeasures in place while trying to hide his true strength.

"Stop! Or I will kill you!"

He shouted a warning but didn't really expect the guy to stop. Plus, it's not like he wouldn't kill him even if he did stop running. Ainz immediately started thinking of the next card to play.

The opponent could just jump over any walls he made. They would instead obstruct him from seeing the guy's escape, making it more difficult to deal with him.

Psychic magic could end this in a single blow, but it's doubtful whether it would work on Decem who was expected to be over level 70. Skills or items to resist mind control were very easy to obtain in YGGDRASIL. It was hard to prepare against every type of mind control magic but he probably had countermeasures against at least some.

Jircniv had a magic item against being affected by mind control, so to think that Decem wouldn't have any would be idiotic. Personally, he wanted to kill the guy with instant death magic, but considering that he was protected by [Mercy of Shorea Robusta], it was meaningless.

So, he finally chose [Time stop]. This could be resisted as well if he had measures against it, but it should be harder to deal with unless he used a magic item.

"[Time Stop]!"

He didn't stop.

Decem didn't stop.

Ainz didn't click his tongue. He had already thought about this possibility in a corner of his mind. In this case, he only needed to borrow the help of others.

He immediately shouted a command.

"Aura!"

"Yes!"

Aura nocked an arrow and—

"[Shadow-Sewing Arrow]."

—shot an arrow that pierced Decem's shadow, but that too failed at stopping Decem even for a moment. He managed to reach the stairs. Luckily, Ainz made the minimum amount of preparations while he was hiding behind the [Walls of Skeleton] from before.

[Explode Mine] activated under Decem's feet.

"It's useless. At your feet—"

Decem ignored him and fled. He could hear footsteps going down the stairs, gradually turning faint.

"—did he realize I was bluffing? Or was he just not in the mood to listen to anything? He was not knowledgeable enough to use piercing magic against wall-type magic, so I ended up underestimating him."

He tried to stop him with a bluff, but it wasn't effective.

Decem was a druid. Though from a different system, as a magic caster, it was entirely possible that he saw through Ainz's magical traps. Generally, one couldn't cast multiple instances of the same spell at the same time. It's just like how one wouldn't be able to amass a lot of monsters by summoning them repeatedly.

"Sorry for letting him escape!"

Upon hearing Aura's apology, Ainz turned his gaze from the stairs that Decem had disappeared under to her.

"No... No, you are right...that skill was a poor choice, Aura. You saw that he had countermeasures against time stop and instant death during that fight. You should have also assumed that he had some countermeasures against crowd control." Ainz lifted a hand to stop Aura, who was trying to apologize again. "But, I am also at fault for not warning you about it. In fact, I didn't expect him to have measures for crowd control either. That aside...what do you think we should do now?"

"I will chase and kill him."

"Wait!"

Ainz stopped Aura, who was on the verge of charging out.

Considering Decem was probably a druid above level 70, it was highly likely that Ainz couldn't overtake him with his speed. Only Aura and Mare could do that. However, in that case, Ainz—who had exhausted a fair bit of mana—would be left alone.

I should get some reinforcements from Nazarick through a [Gate]—no, there's not enough time. First, I have to decide if I want to let him escape this time or kill him here.

Even with most of his mana exhausted, Decem's physical capabilities were comparatively high. Ainz couldn't win in a melee where he wouldn't be able to use his magic. Of course, that's assuming he didn't use [Perfect Warrior].

Without her beasts, it's possible that Aura may not be able to deal with him if he were to bring out some trump card he might be still holding on to. Maybe I should summon an undead...No, what if he summoned another Primal Earth Elemental? No, no, no...that should be impossible.

It would be broken if one could just summon elementals stronger than them multiple times. Even Ainz, who specialized in necromancy, couldn't do that. That said, what was "impossible" to Ainz was ultimately according to YGGDRASIL's standards and it was entirely possible that those rules didn't apply to this world.

Even though his game knowledge had been applicable till now, Decem's command of that elemental was impossible by the game's logic. In that case—

"—Mare!"

"Y-yes"

"It's probably going to be dangerous, but you will have to kill that Decem by your strength alone. You are wearing different gear than usual so don't be careless. If you feel like you can't win, conserve your mana and stall for time." Ainz wanted to give him more directions, but he couldn't waste any more time.

"Go!"

"Yes!"

Mare gave an unusually energetic reply and started racing down the stairs, following after Decem. He was fast as Ainz had expected, his steps already becoming fainter by the second.

Seeing him run alone, Ainz wanted to summon an undead to go after Mare as support, but decided to hold it back so that they could use it as a shield if there was an emergency. In any case, [Lopsided Duel] was still active. Maybe he could use the undead to quickly deal with him if he had to fight that king again.

"—Aura! You will be guarding me. Let's go through the treasury as quickly as possible and get everything. We will then regroup with Mare right after!"

"Okay!"