Chapter 9: proving yourself

"Oi, you bastard… do you even know what you have just said?"

Despite every warning that the elder had given him, Camus simply boiled with anger. The combination of being reminded of the reason why he hated humans and the clear challenge by Ainz caused him to internally flare up and discard any form of courtesy that he had tried to keep.

"You clearly have a deep grudge and unresolved vengeance with humans, but depending on how long it's been since whatever tragedy occurred, those humans might already be rotting in the ground. You shouldn't generalise humans just because you have suffered at the hands of a couple."

At this point, it was the last straw for Camus who drew his sword and pointed it at Ainz.

How could this insignificant human understand what Camus or any of the dark elves had been through? A human understanding just how precious a life was to elves who shared lifetimes and centuries with their children or spouse. The loss of a single dark elf was mourned for sometimes years on end in their tribe, and the parents or siblings would often seclude themselves for decades of mourning their lost family.

Dark elves were not as fickle or as indecent as humans and did not mate anywhere near as easily as humans did. At least not most of them. Dark elves spend much longer around a potential spouse and to them trying for children was something of a magical moment that only happened on a special occasion. A solar eclipse or when the harvest that their tribe reaped was the biggest that they had seen in history. Their belief was that those conceived or born on a special day would be blessed for all their centuries to come. Due to this, every child was like a precious treasure, and every man who took it away from the tribe...

"You and me in the arena, now!"

Ainz simply chuckled as he and Camus stepped into the small arena while the other six elves watched from behind the fence. All of them wanted to stop Camus since the elder had made a decree, but the emissaries of Ainz Ooal Gown were those two dark elves. The adventurer Momon was just their escort and he himself had requested this duel. Also, to see a human beaten to the ground was always a pleasant sight to watch. After all, Camus had the strength and skill that would place him on par with any orichalcum adventurer in the human world. His combat prowess as the captain of the hunting troupe was not for show after all.

Ainz himself couldn't be more elated about Camus accepting his challenge. This dark elf most clearly carried a grudge against humans to the extreme. That did not conform to Ainz's plans. This place in time would be integrated in Ainz's new empire and that would mean obligatory human interaction. If by that time this dark elf was still such a human hater, it would just cause more problems. Not to mention that he seemed to occupy a rather high position in the tribe.

If he could beat Camus here and force him to submit, then it would be all the more profitable for Ainz who wanted to unite all races under his banner. Camus, or rather his tribe, was merely a pit stop on that perilous and long road.

Against a foe of this level, he didn't even need his two giant swords as he took one of the practice wooden swords that lay around the arena and pointed it at Camus. Looking at his foe, Ainz remained unimpressed. His opponent had a rather lean and well-built physique that even some of the more muscular adventurers wouldn't dare to scoff at. Although his armour was light with no real form of defence against slashing or stabbing, it wouldn't be so easy for bludgeoning attacks to inflict serious damage against him.

"Hey, are you sure you're going to be okay with that toy for a weapon? I'm just asking because if I beat you one-sidedly the elder will be on my ass instead of yours if you are beaten to death because you chose to defend yourself with a wooden sword."

"Consider it my handicap with our armour being so uneven in quality. More importantly, are you going to attack or chat all day?"

Ainz strengthened his stance as he taunted Camus into attacking

Camus was a veteran who had decades of training and preparation as he had to be ready to fight even the demon beasts if the situation demanded it. Why on earth would he react from such a small taunt?

"[Stride of Wind], [Duel Master], [Evasion Boost], [Earth Splitter], [Ability Boost]!"

Instead, he first prepared himself as he activated multiple martial arts. All this he did while keeping a close eye on Momon, who surprisingly simply stood there and watched him prepare himself. Humans truly were the most arrogant of the more intelligent species. And that was why they were destined to fail. This would be their downfall eventually, of this Camus was convinced.

I'll start off light and won't reveal too much of my hand. Let's see if this human has even the capability to keep up with me visually whilst I dance around him. He'll likely fall after one or maybe two attacks!

With that, Camus charged in and with logic defying speed swept around Ainz whilst kicking up a dust trail in his wake. This was both a confirmation of just how fast he was and to blind Ainz's vision. With that narrow slit in his helmet, his foe would already be hard-pressed to see straight and now he would see even less.

Still believing that his enemy had been completely caught off guard by his foe's speed, Camus changed the direction of his dash and swung his sword at Ainz's back. His aim was the gap between the helmet and the back of the armour where it was at its weakest excluding the slit for the eyes.

With full force, he lashed out and could almost imagine the blade of his sword slashing through Ainz's flesh and decapitating his head in one fell swoop.

This… didn't happen as a strange sound resounded at the moment of impact.

AA: tadah! A second chapter! Consider it my way of saying sorry for not making it to the release scheduled on yesterday! Yes I know it's even smaller than usual! You try writing at 2 am!

PS: thx for those who saw the slight error in the previous chapter. Already patched it!

And as always

Glory to AINZ OOAL GOWN!