A vampire who can cast holy magic just sounds like cheating

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The effectiveness of the adamantite class heroes was even higher than the princess could have anticipated, in fact it was astonishing to see just how quickly they dealt with the first wave of soldiers in front of them without so much as taking a single hit. In the front of the madness was Momon who was assisted by Evileye, the two having made quite a force for the incoming men.

"These soldiers aren't trained very well."

"They aren't trained at all."

Ainz could tell that much pretty easily, these men were just swinging their swords like baseball bats, not an ounce of discipline in their attacks. If that weren't enough of a giveaway the armor they wore was minimal, only protecting vital areas such as the head and chest, not like it would do them much good though. One swing was enough to cleave several people in half and with Evileye backing him up they might as well be training dummies, it'd be less painful for them in general if they just surrendered or lined up in an orderly fashion.

Now why would the Empire send a bunch of untrained civilians who were essentially cannon fodder? That was the real question plaguing Momon's mind right now, the force was too big to just be a test but also too weak to be considered an actual threat, what could they possibly stand to gain from sending these people at them? Well given their tenacity they probably weren't average citizens, possibly convicts or slaves actually. He stopped for a moment and took a glance around, everywhere he looked was the same thing.

Most of the enemies were easily disarmed and disabled to prevent unnecessary killing but the more strongly willed of them met their end all the same, everyone else seemed to be having just as easy a time as him. Even the useless knights they'd brought along were racking up a generous amount of bodies.

"This army was just a bluff, they attempted to scare us with numbers and it proved fruitless."

Yes, that's the only thing that made sense to him. Using a bunch of extra bodies to feign having a powerful army to force them to surrender without a fight. Honestly they should have known a scare tactic would be useless, the warriors of the Kingdom were of the stubborn sort, they would rather die in combat than to surrender out of fear, this had been proved to him the moment he saw Gazef's men come back for him in his initial encounter with Theocracy forces in Carne Village so long ago.

They should have known things would turn out this way, so why even waste the resources? To just pull the adamantites out to get a good look at what they could do? That was far too convenient of an excuse. He looked towards the back line, the real knights were far off from the fight on their horses, simply watching the slaughter. These men weren't enough to even pull out his best moves, what information could they possibly gather? Leading the heroes out of their carriages into…

It hit him. He turned around instantly and sprinted back towards the carriages.

"Momon!?"

He didn't answer her, he was putting all his effort into his speed. He was so focused on showing off that he didn't notice it before but it began to make more and more sense, the strategy wasn't to test them but to lure them away from the princess.

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Lying in wait, watching the horizon was the godkin Zesshi Zetsumei. The friendly Captain was nice enough to relay to her that the Kingdom and it's best warriors would be "Coming for tea.". She didn't exactly get the metaphor but it didn't matter much to her anyway, her destined partner was on his way and she just couldn't wait to take him on.

Her life had been long and boring at this point, no warrior she met was a challenge and those old men and women had stuck her in a dark room defending gear that no one else probably had the capacity to use anyway. Well there was one, but now she was gone too.

That "Wind Goddess" had sent most of them into an uproar initially and while they now tried to pretend that she was just a mistake who could be forgotten, their actions began to contradict their words. Regardless of just who that girl was she was still a remnant of a past that the very country was founded on, and they let her slip right through their fingers and into the enemy's.

Her power would be an asset the enemy could use well, assuming they captured her rather than killing her. No one wanted to admit it but their rude behavior towards the supposed goddess could easily sway her opinion on which side was worthy of her power, this miscalculation stirred up too much controversy for them to hide. Their win against the kingdom should have been certain, now there were those who honestly feared the thought of having to take down one of the deities they praised, a conflict which could make the very foundations of the Theocracy crumble.

"Serves them right, they've made our lives too complicated to be justified."

She could care less about their rules and government, if she needed to take on a Goddess as well as another person who was even more powerful then so be it, the thought alone was exciting as is. Though she couldn't help but wonder just what kind of monster was waiting for her, what horrifyingly sadistic man would present the biggest challenge she'd ever face.

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"Our forces seem to be far stronger than they anticipated."

Princess Renner watched the battle with a smug grin. She'd been told to wait in her carriage but saw no reason to do so, she already knew what the outcome of this fight would be, all she had to do was stand out of the way and wait. The utter annihilation of their forces would be proof towards their military might and prevent them from interfering any further, except that things would take a bit of a dramatic twist once the fight was over. She looked over to Climb and wondered if he would still see her as a shining beacon in the dark when this was all over.

Well she could easily force him to view her that way regardless of her actions but there was no fun in that, it would be better to simply make his life choices for him and listen to his cute squealing. Mind control was interesting in that it could force someone to obey another without necessarily changing who they were as an individual, as a result the victim wasn't just a brainless zombie but an obedient follower who retained all their personality traits. Climb was still himself and yet he couldn't help but do everything she asked. Thoughts like this often brought a scary smile to the princess' face and this time was no exception.

"Princess!"

Her moment of satisfaction was almost literally cut off, the blade was coming right for her. In brave display of heroism, Climb was right in front of her, having taken the stab right to his shoulder and launching a rather shaky counterattack, throwing the would be assassin stumbling backwards.

It happened so quickly that Renner wasn't able to fully process what she'd just witnessed, one moment she felt like giggling over her excitement and the next Climb was throwing someone away from her, no part of this was expected.

"Not a bad attack kid, but taking the stab was a mistake."

The assailant's voice was slightly muffled and hard to comprehend but Climb got the gist of it all the same, after all he was the one who took the hit. That attack didn't just sting horribly it also left a strange numbness in his arm. Paralysis, the blade was poisoned and he'd taken a direct hit.

"Climb..! There's no need to get hurt for me, you can go get the others!"

It was more of a suggestion than an order, because of that Climb didn't move at all. She was reluctant to say anything more out of the suspicion it may cause. The assassin decided to speak up in response to her instead.

"You should listen to her and save yourself the trouble and just take a nap, I'll need the princess for awhile."

Climb wasn't having any of that, he stood his ground regardless of the possible consequences. The little scuffle hadn't evaded the attention of their allies, he could already see Momon himself in the distance heading towards them, all he needed to do was last a little while longer. He could have easily accomplished this in any other circumstance but the poison was acting quick, if only Renner hadn't insisted that he would be her only bodyguard this situation could be avoided. Wait, that raised some very concerning questions.

How did they plan to just snatch her away from a group of highly trained knights with just one assassin? They didn't, they knew she would be left vulnerable in this situation somehow, but where could they acquire such information? He did not have time to think it through, there was little time and the moment that man got his hands on the princess it would be all over, even if he couldn't escape he could still very easily hold the princess hostage. He wouldn't give up, he'd dedicated his life to her and regardless of his condition he would give it his all.

With as much strength as he could muster he lunged towards his attacker through the air and brought his sword down hard, the strike itself was strong but too slow to catch his opponent, it wasn't a total miss but he'd put himself in a horrible position.

"Good attempt but you should work on your follow through."

His enemy came in for the finishing a blow and small smirk came to his face. He'd been given that advice already, he wasn't in any shape to go through with his regular plan but this would have to do. He turned abruptly and took the attack right to his side but paid it back in full and then some, his opponent was not expecting him to purposefully take another attack just to land a hit. With the dagger still firmly in his side Climb used all of his weight to deliver a horizontal strike right through his chest.

The blood splattered along the grass, both men were down.

With the poison coursing through him Climb couldn't move an inch but he didn't need to, he'd won the battle, his first real battle and it only lasted a few moments. If he could laugh he'd be doing it, even if it wasn't much he'd at least landed a decisive blow. The princess should have surely ran far from the scene by now. He struggled to move his head even slightly in her direction, he needed to know she was okay. What he saw nearly gave him a heart attack, the princess had gone nowhere, she was too busy being pinned to the carriage by yet another assassin. And they seemed to be...Talking

He'd messed up, there was no way he would have even guessed that there would be more than one but it only made sense. His mistake would cost them dearly...Well it would have normally.

"Uh excuse you, we need that."

The assassin was hoisted up by the back of her cloak, a hero had shown up to save the day. It wasn't the one Climb expected.

"You know I really wanted to avoid getting involved in any of this and stay hidden but the moment I take a peek outside you idiots are over here attacking the princess."

Renner was stunned, she didn't remember contracting this big of a warrior to join her on her trip, if anyone she expected Momon to be her saving grace not whoever this was. Besides that there was also climb lying motionless on the floor past him and it was her fault, staying locked in the carriage may have been a much smarter idea after all.

"So princess, are you ok-"

She'd already run off, she was far too worried about Climb to even care about her savior.

"Well okay...Still better than some of the conversations I have with Seashell."

Chasing after her wasn't his business, saving her from a potential threat must have been more than enough effort on his part for the others to consider him a productive teammate. When he saw an army waiting for them he was sure to let the ladies of Blue Roses out first and just stay seated, he'd only gotten up to show up at the end and make an appearance so no would say he did nothing.

"Put me down you lunatic."

"That's not nice."

Holding a relatively small person who was yelling and flailing angrily with daggers wasn't as easy as it looked, luckily her weapon wasn't capable of even scratching his armor so she was no more than an angry child from his perspective. She paid for her mistake soon enough, he tucked her under his arm like a pet, no amount of flailing would save her now.

Letting out a sigh he turned to face the battle going on just out of sight, among the death and destruction being dealt in the background he could point out Nabe firing off lightning bolts and Shalltear basically walking through everyone in front her. You could tell who was from Nazarick due to the amount of dead bodies they piled up in comparison to the captives the others had taken. For the most part it seemed like everyone was completely oblivious to the situation happening back here save for a few knights and the dark hero charging towards him at full speed. How embarrassing might it have been if they actually got away with such a sneaky strategy? Not like it mattered, Momon was just about there and he knew he would have to navigate through yet another difficult conversation.

"Tanabe, what happened here?"

Momon didn't sound like his usual self, his panic induced state had caused his Perfect Warrior to falter, making him begin to slip further towards the form of the undead sorcerer Ainz Ooal Gown. It was clear that once Momon realized just what was going on that he almost completely lost his composure, he even had a bit of an aura seeping out from that armor.

"Calm down, I just caught this runt trying to capture the princess. Her blonde boyfriend took care of the other one."

"Runt!?"

Her reaction was ignored, instead Ainz looked over towards the princess kneeling over Climb and calmed down.

"It seems I was mistaken about your character."

"Yeah well I told you I was trustworthy."

"Useful, not trustworthy."

"Thanks boss, that sure means a lot."

The sarcasm wasn't anything to take note of, all that mattered was the princess' safety. With his primary concerns taken care of, Momon needed time to consider his next move as he wandered away from the other player. He could probably take credit for leaving Tanabe behind to watch the princess, honestly that man would probably be happy to have the attention shifted off of him. What scared him the most was just how effective the Empire's strategy was, the people of the Kingdom were almost made into the biggest fools on the continent.

It was as simple as making all the battle hungry brutes run out into combat and leaving their leader vulnerable, truly it would be disgraceful from a strategic standpoint. Had Tanabe not lacked behind he may have very well been chasing down a quick little rogue right now, at worst he would have to drop the act as Momon and ensure she wasn't taken away. Now he knew just what mistake he'd made, like a noob playing chess for the first time and just leaving his king out in the open with no thought for the consequences, an actual mistake he'd made before in his younger days.

For the Empire to bank on such a tactic though, had the Kingdom made such a mistake before? No, if that were the case then they wouldn't be making it now, having a weakness like that in international conflict was like begging to be destroyed. If the Kingdom hadn't made this mistake before then wasn't it possible this really was meant to just harass them? To take a shot in the dark and try to win big?

"Wait a minute...Haven't I seen this situation before?"

It took him a moment of trying to remember in order to realize the truth. He'd definitely seen this strategy before executed in a much different way, an event that came to his mind earlier and yet he failed to make the connection. The Theocracy had sent men once before to lure out Gazef and kill him before hadn't they? They'd all assumed these were the forces of the Empire but there was no proof to back up that thought process, these men were mostly generic soldiers with no clear allegiance.

"Then...Is the Theocracy…"

His mind was racing, he'd already made the assumption that their venture to the Slane Theocracy was just a setup devised by others operating from the shadows but to think that there was the possibility that even the Theocracy was in on trying to get them killed was mind boggling. If that turned out to be true then that meant that just about everyone was trying to kill them right now, this was a trip they were not supposed to complete.

They were in checkmate, the stakes were high and there was no turning back now.

"That's too bad, all they've done is give me a stage to take the world by storm."

He wasn't some cliche antagonist but even he felt like he could just let out an evil laugh and no one would care, this situation was just too sweet of a deal.

No matter how thoroughly this trap was planned out, they could not account for the unstoppable force that was him and his followers. The people of this world were weak and frail, he alone could decimate their armies and siege their capitals without breaking a sweat, they wouldn't even be able to touch him. Now stacked against odds that would seem impossible for any man to overcome, he laughed at the thought of crushing all their notions of strength and showing the world his might.

He'd lost his chance at creating his own kingdom for now but soon he would an even more grand opportunity to siege this world, his enemies would know their mistake before long and by the time they realized it he would already be standing at the top.

The world was a box of jewels waiting to be claimed and the one who would claim them was none other than the undead sorcerer himself. His plans had been smashed to pieces but now everything was his to take. He could already see the day of his triumph, the day when all would bend their knee and only have one thing to say:

All hail Ainz Ooal Gown.

Awkward schedules make for awkward release times