19/03/2020: Reuploaded


Chapter 16: From the Maw of Sorrow


'This is not good.'

It was like watching the jumps between the scenes of a movie. Her unbelieving eyes stared at the lance that was buried deep inside her stomach. An image zoomed into her mind: a close up vortex of angles, several shades of maroon of her dress, and the blood mixing together to become a new hue of red and brown.

She could only watch as the point of the lance ripped through her skin and muscle, right into her organs. The vivid image and the pain she felt as she collapsed to the ruined ground was unlike any she had felt before.

It came in varying degrees of intensity: sometimes small twinges, sometimes jolts of agony, all within the gaping wound.

Tiamat wavered in and out of consciousness as she struggled to spread the wings on her back to get away from the lance as fast as possible, all as spasms of pain attacked her body at the slightest movements.

All she could hear was Shalltear's laughter between her ragged breathing.

"Thank you for the delicious meal, Lady Tiamat~"

Shalltear's resurrection item thankfully only restored her HP, and not MP. Now she only had the remaining MP she had from fighting Tiamat before she was blown into atoms, but her HP was back in full.

Tiamat had made a huge blunder.

'How could I forget that Peroroncino gave Shalltear a resurrection item?!'

She looked back at her status screen,『Bleed』.

『Bleed』 was most probably the worst possible debuff she could receive. It dealt damage over time based on a percentage of her total health, and if not for her high Resist stat, she would have already lost nearly half of her remaining health.

She had to heal up before this could drag on any longer.

Just as she was about to cast her healing spell, Shalltear appeared right in front of her in a blink of an eye, the Spuit Lance aimed at her head.

"『Aegis』!" Tiamat cried out panickedly. A transparent golden globe enveloped her, repelling the Spuit Lance. Shalltear clicked her tongue in annoyance.

She jumped back from where the Dragoness stood, kicking up a small cloud of dust as she did. The only way to discern the Supreme Being's weaknesses was to use『Detect Life Essence』 to check her HP while barraging her with attacks of various elements to see which ones hurt her the most.

But Shalltear was smarter than that. She would only use elements which the Dragoness should be weak against.

She knew now that the Supreme Being was immune to fire.

'How typical,' she thought to herself. But she should've known, considering Lady Tiamat was a dragon.

"『Maximize Magic- Brilliant Radiance』."

A pillar of holy light crashed around the form of the Dragoness, and Shalltear smiled happily as she saw the Dragoness standing still in the radiant column.

However, her smile fell when she saw that Lady Tiamat was using her MP to prolong 『Aegis』, thus rendering her attack useless.

The two of them locked eyes, and Shalltear angrily recasted the spell with a frustrated shout.

Once again, a beam of purifying light engulfed Tiamat, who yet again stood stock-still in the wake of the divine arcana.

Shalltear threw one spell after another at the Dragoness who blocked each and every one of them, staggering back with each hit. When Shalltear looked at her HP using 『Detect Life Essence』 she saw that her opponent's HP had even raised a little bit.

In the midst of Shalltear casting her spells, Tiamat had casted 『Full Cure』 on herself, curing herself of her『Bleed』status.

Shalltear gritted her teeth. As she had expected, Spuit Lance couldn't critically injure the Dragoness due to her ridiculous defense. The Divine Class lance would've easily impaled anyone else, but Shalltear could feel the thickness of the Dragoness's skin pushing back against the Lance. Although Spuit Lance had managed to drill itself inside the Supreme Being's abdomen, Shalltear couldn't say that it was easy to pierce the skin of the dragon heteromorph.

'Truly, the scales of a Dragon.'

Realizing that she was getting nowhere with her meaningless stabbing, Shalltear decided to change her strategy. Since the Dragoness had so much more HP compared to MP, the vampire's plan was to empty all her MP so that there would no way for the Dragoness to defend herself against her spells.

Using 『Detect Mana Essence』, Shalltear noticed that Lady Tiamat's MP was greatly reduced from when they first started brawling.

From behind the warm light of『Aegis』, Tiamat tried to calmly study Shalltear who had momentarily ceased her relentless assault.

'What should I do…?!'

As someone who had played support, she didn't have a lot of job classes that were suitable for DPS. Instead, she relied more on her racial class skills, which although were quite strong on their own, were not enough to contest with those who focused more on attack power. Her lack of attack stats didn't help either.

The only way for her to be able to push Shalltear back was to generate DPS equivalent to that of a tenth tier spell, and all she had were her 『Dragon's Breath』, fire spells, and her healing spells.

And Shalltear was far from finished.

(;﹏;)

The Guardians watched as Shalltear and Lady Tiamat fired various bolts of arcana and traded blows with each other from the『Crystal Monitor』.

The battle was the longest PvP match Cocytus had ever seen.

With Lady Tiamat's high defenses and Shalltear's high attack, the battle was always, always, going in Shalltear's favor.

The Dragoness simply had no spells or skills that could decrease Shalltear's HP by a significant enough amount.

Whenever Lady Tiamat would bring Shalltear's HP down, she would restore it with 『Regeneration』or 『Greater Lethal』, not to mention the passive leech effect of Spuit Lance.

Moreover, whenever the Goddess was within reach, Shalltear would simply evade any attempts at melee combat with her high agility. Furthermore, it was difficult for Lady Tiamat to catch up to her, making it easy for Shalltear to just harass her from a distance.

Even when Shalltear was within the Goddess's range, Shalltear could just simply thrust Spuit Lance, and the battle would once again turn to her favor.

It was incredibly frustrating.

However, he was even more surprised to see the Dragoness hold out for so long in a one on one fight against Shalltear, the strongest Floor Guardian in Nazarick.

'She. Is. Indeed. A. Being. Worthy. Of. Being. Called. A. Supreme. Being.'

Cocytus exhaled another mist of frozen air.

Demiurge, noticing his reaction, asked him, "What's the matter Cocytus?"

"It. Is. Surprising. That. Our. Lady. Has. Held. Out. For. So. Long."

"Truly? Even so, the battle is definitely not in her favor."

"Indeed. If. She. Could. Last. This. Long. She. Might. Have. Other. Surprises. In. Store."

"Perhaps I may have been wrong in my estimation then," A hint of hope entered Demiurge's gemstone eyes as he turned his attention back to monitor with newfound eagerness.

However, a looming question hung in the mind of the Ruler of the Frozen Glacier. He was thinking about Lord Ainz's statement, and he wondered, to whom it was stated.

Was it directed to Lady Tiamat who was the clear underdog in this battle?

Or was it directed towards Shalltear?

(;﹏;)

'Shit, I'm having a hard enough time as it is...'

Tiamat helplessly watched as a ball of white light coalesced besides Shalltear, slowly shaping itself into a humanoid form.

Tiamat was very aware of what it was.

Her face grew stiff, and in contrast, Shalltear grinned as if she had scored an overwhelming victory.

"Finally…『Einherjar』," Tiamat whispered to herself.

The white form blinked.

If one ignored the bleached-white armor and the glowing skin, it was the spitting image of Shalltear.

Tiamat was fully aware of『Einherjar's』capabilities.

Another Shalltear that lacked spellcasting ability and several skills, but bore an identical copy of Shalltear's gear, magic accessories aside. A clone with the same stats that was identical to Shalltear in both resistances and immunities.

She had to fight two Shalltears, the thing she wanted to avoid the most in this fight.

Tiamat cursed under her breath.

However, Shalltear was far from finished.

"『Summon Household』."

The back of her armor bulged out, and a pair of bat wings burst forth, going straight through her armor plates as several giant bats flapped out from behind her to the sky. These were Elder Vampire Bats summoned through her household summons skill.

They were not strong enough to pierce through Tiamat's stats, so she wondered why exactly Shalltear had decided to bring out useless summons.

As Tiamat was mulling over her next move, 『Einherjar』 charged, surprising her.

Here, the best situation for Shalltear was to launch spells from a distance while 『Einherjar』 engaged her in a melee brawl.

Because of her low agility, it was easy for Shalltear to find an opening in her defense and attack.

So why wasn't Shalltear moving?

While blocking 『Einherjar』 with 『Aegis』, Tiamat saw the summoned minions disappearing one after another from the corner of her eyes.

"That's cheating!" she cried out loud.

Shalltear was killing her summoned minions with Spuit Lance to restore her health.

It went without saying that the amount of health restored by Spuit Lance depended on the amount of damage it inflicted. Compared to Tiamat who had much higher defense; it was immediately obvious which would give her more HP in return.

The summoned minions steadily died and vanished.

Since they were no longer bound by the rules of YGGDRASIL, friendly fire was in effect. Tiamat should've seen it coming.

'How cruel…'

Even if Tiamat was cornered, she would have never considered using any of her summons in such a horrific way. Just thinking about it brought a cold chill to her spine.

The very sight of the small creatures being stabbed and turned into paste before being absorbed by the Spuit Lance brought the taste of bile to her throat as she imagined the baby dragons in their stead.

Tiamat couldn't calm herself after witnessing Shalltear killing her own summons, a fact 『Einherjar』took advantage of as it caught her by surprise with a powerful stab to her back.

The Dragoness bit her tongue to hold back a scream of pain.

Casting 『Aegis』, she quickly blew『Einherjar』away.

She was in an overwhelmingly disadvantageous position. She was right in the middle of two Shalltears and both of them were about to impale her with their Spuit Lance.

Taken by instinct and panic, Tiamat brought out one of her strongest skills.

"『Nidhogg's Descent』!"

Tiamat had sixty racial levels.

Dragons as a class were quite popular among heteromorphs in YGGDRASIL, or any fantasy game in general.

However, it was tough for those players to reach the highest racial level. The amount of grinding involved took a lot more time and effort, as dragon racials required the most EXP out of any heteromorphic race. And although such classes granted generous amounts of stats, this perk was far outweighed by the lack of skills they provided.

In the end, those who reached the highest peak of the dragon evolution line were a scant few. And even then, those players were often weaker than those who focused on job classes.

This was because most players in YGGDRASIL pursued power. A high enough DPS or a cheat like build that could easily accrue victories were obviously going to be the modus operandi of most players.

However, to reach the same place that Tiamat was currently standing, the player had to climb an extra step from the beginning, and that was deliberately weakening the character they were playing.

A step that players would most likely skip, as it bore far too many penalties.

The Dragonling class. Practically babies who were incapable of doing anything.

Only those who took the Dragonling racial class could ever reach the God Beast class, the highest racial class for Dragons in YGGDRASIL, after they had invested more than half their levels into racial classes.

The class description stated, "Only a being who holds onto their pride as a Dragon will have their soul reformed and unimaginable power within their grasp. With a strengthened bond to the Devourer of the Nine Worlds, these beings can call upon it for its malicious power."

『Nidhogg's Descent』was a rare skill that could only be used once a week. As a result, she had never used it back in YGGDRASIL, constantly hoping to save it for an epic battle that would never come.

Tiamat shot up to the sky with an unnatural burst of speed, pausing at the apex as a swirling inferno of crimson-black charged within her maw. Her eyes flared with residual mana as the fearsome fires gathered.

'Can't believe I'd actually get a chance to use this…' she thought wryly.

A spiraling bolt of dark-red flames descended from Tiamat's jaws, dying the world with otherworldly malice.

Shalltear shielded her eyes as a twinge of fear made its way to her face.

'What is this?!'

Then everything surrounding her turned black.

All burnt down to ashes.

Unbearable heat bathed the entire area below her. The air was no longer breathable for any living creature, for if they did, their lungs would combust with a single breath.

The skill that was the definition of 'scorched earth.'

Nothing escaped this spell of hers, and through the effects of『Phlegethos』, the effect was boosted. The skill dealt true damage, bypassing any immunities or resistances, and greatly amplified weaknesses to demonic and fire damage.

Tiamat softly landed on the ground and looked around her surroundings in shock.

In YGGDRASIL, the environment would not have succumbed to any type of attack. But in the New World, the effects were appropriate to the skill.

After the glare had subsided, she saw herself standing in a glass crater, the rubble vaporized by the heat. Even a forest fire could not create such a thoroughly destroyed vista.

The wind blew, and ashes rose from the ground into the air, as they slowly gathered into a familiar form. Slowly and gradually, Tiamat could make out the appearance of the Valkyrie in the ash figure.

Shalltear took a step forward as the last trace of ash fluttered away from her cheek.

"Incredible, arinsu! It seems that I have underestimated you, My Lady! For you to burn away my entire HP pool with one skill... if it wasn't for my second『Time Reversal』, you would've won. However, you're out of trump cards now, arinsu!" she cackled.

Just by examining with『Detect Life Essence』, Shalltear could see that although Tiamat's HP was more than half, her MP had hit the bottom of the barrel. She might be able to use two or three more Defensive spells, but after that there was no way the Dragoness could protect herself against Shalltear's assault.

Shalltear's grin stretched to her ears.

She had won the battle.

There was no longer any doubt that she, Shalltear Bloodfallen was the victor, and Tiamat, the supposed Goddess of All Dragons was the loser.

Shalltear patronizingly congratulated the loser who had struggled so bravely until now.

"Truly, it was magnificent how you had almost depleted my MP and forced me to use up all my skills in order to drain your MP to this level. You are to be praised for lasting this long, arinsu~"

Shalltear tightened her grip on Spuit Lance. All she needed to do was to deliver the fatal blow in melee combat and feel the Dragoness's life ebb out of her dying eyes.

Shalltear slowly closed the distance between them. From the past few hours of fighting against the Dragoness, Shalltear was confident that she would be able to strike faster than her. Thus, there was no need for the vampire to be hasty.

"Any last words?"

Contrary to what Shalltear had expected, Tiamat did not flee, but instead proudly stood tall where she was. The determination exuding from her was unsettling.

She was not prepared for the Dragoness's next words.

"Well, since I'm probably going to die soon," Tiamat flicked the blood off her chin, "Do you mind twirling your parasol for me one last time?"

"Wha…?"

Shalltear doubted her ears. There was no way she heard something as stupid as that, right?

Ignoring Shalltear's confusion, Tiamat continued.

"Peroroncino told me a lot of things when he was making you. I can't say I remember all of it, but I know one thing for sure," she smiled warmly, "You look the prettiest when you twirl your parasol."

That was not what Shalltear wanted to hear.

She was expecting the mighty Dragon to beg for mercy and admit defeat.

Not...not this.

"If I could see that one last time... I think I could die happy," Tiamat continued smiling.

That was not a lie.

Nothing she was saying was a lie.

The flow of blood meant nothing to the undead, but Shalltear could feel hers draining from her face as a wave of agitation spread through her body.

One particular thought crossed her mind.

'She's insane!'

No one in their right mind would be thinking of something so ridiculous when they were about to get killed.

It's as if the Dragoness was confident that she would win the fight.

Anxiety and unease grew within Shalltear's previously confident heart as she clutched her Spuit Lance even tighter, intending to finish the battle right away. Shalltear's lips parted and she howled, to better to vent the emotions welling up inside of her.

She was supposed to be the lion, and Lady Tiamat was supposed to be the rabbit!

—No that was wrong.

This should've been a battle between lions, but somehow, the one in front of her who was supposed to be a lion looked more like a dragon instead.

"『Reality Slash』!" in that instant, Shalltear casted the highest DPS spell in YGGDRASIL.

Then something like bandlimited white noise and the sound of a flowing brook slowing down was heard.

Shalltear couldn't help but doubt her eyes.

In front of Shalltear, a black void fashioned in the form of a beastly maw swallowed 『Reality Slash』before disappearing into thin air.

The vampire's heart raced, and she trembled. A foreign emotion shrouded her entire being as she licked her dry lips. Like an infection, it spread within milliseconds, permeating her entire body. Consuming ever fiber, every thought, every fleeting hope.

It was fear.

Somehow, Shalltear knew that eerie void was not the work of magic.

"W-Wh-What was that?!" Shalltear shrilly screeched.

She had never seen such a thing in her entire life.

The black thing travelled back to the shadows of her Lady's dress, hidden yet again. Even as it disappeared, Shalltear knew that it was not a thing of this world, nor anything anyone at Nazarick could recreate, no matter how many lifetimes passed.

Tiamat looked at Shalltear. No, she was looking down on her.

Shalltear's face turned red with fury. She thought she knew everything about the Dragoness, and the fact that she was wrong fueled her rage. However, she didn't have any energy to spare on that thought because the Dragoness replied to her question.

"『World Eater: Maw of the Void』."

(;﹏;)

There was a loud clatter as Cocytus shot up from his seat.

Not just him, but even Demiurge and Albedo jolted back at the sight the monitor was displaying.

"Finally," Ainz muttered to himself.

Demiurge squinted at the crystal monitor as Lady Tiamat breathed the name of that...thing.

"『World Eater』..." he raised his glasses up, "It's shameful of me to say this, but I've never heard of that spell."

"Me. Too. I. Have. Fought. Many. Intruders. But. No. One. Had. That. Kind. Of. Ability," Cocytus exclaimed excitedly.

But all they got was one simple word in reply from the Overlord.

"No."

"No?" Albedo repeated, confused, "Forgive us for not knowing Lord Ainz, but what is that?"

"That is not a spell, that's a skill," Ainz simply explained.

"A. Skill?"

And so Ainz explained the nature of Tiamat's secret class.

World Eater, named after the last boss of the main campaign.

Ainz recalled the story of how she gained that class.

A skill from the shitty devs that all the members of Ainz Ooal Gown had gawked at.

This secret class allowed her to absorb attacks and return them with the same power amplified by a factor of her own physical and magical attack. The only drawback was that she had to withstand the enemy's onslaught without dying. Furthermore, the spell-absorption skill of the class was limited to only three uses a day.

Of course, with such a cheat skill, almost everyone would be aiming for it. However the number of players who were able to use the skill could be counted on one hand. One.

And that was because of two reasons. One, because they didn't have high enough physical and magical defense stats to be able to use it without dying, and two was because…

There were too. many. fucking. criterias.

Most players quit halfway before they could finish.

As far as Ainz knew, Tiamat was the only one who was able to abuse the skill, tanking high-tiered spells from enemies and returning them manyfold was only possible because of her high defensive stats.

If Ainz were to receive a tenth tier spell three times in a PvP battle—despite his impressive magical resistance—his HP would be halved. But if it were Tiamat, her HP wouldn't suffer nearly as much. Moreover, it was boosted considerably by her God Beast class.

Something that many guildmates had pointed out to her when she joined Ainz Ooal Gown.

When the Floor Guardian heard this, they could only murmur in awe.

"To think that Lady Tiamat had such a powerful skill…"

Albedo's skin broke out in goosebumps.

At this point, Shalltear had used most of her skills, and her MP was almost gone as well.

The Succubus wrapped her arms around herself in reassurance.

One thought in particular crossed all the minds of all present.

'She might win this battle.'

The battle that was stacked against her from the beginning.

"Astounding. To. Think. That. Lady. Tiamat. Had. Acquired. That. Particular. Skill. I. Am. In. Awe."

Though the battle had not yet been decided, the Guardians present were filled with incomparable reverence for Tiamat's experience that was able to guide her to victory in such a difficult battle.

As the Guardians watched the Crystal Monitor, their delight and awe growing within them, they waited excitedly for what was about to come.

(;﹏;)

"『Implosion』!" Shalltear screeched out, casting a tenth tier spell that caused the target to collapse or burst inward.

The Vampire's eyes were dyed an even deeper shade of red, and she scrambled back, looking at Tiamat in shock to see that her spell, even though it had definitely hit her target, was once again devoured by that strange void.

A waste of mana for Shalltear.

Shalltear leapt back, avoiding the Goddess entirely. The very fact that she had jumped so far away was a sign of how frightened she was.

"What's wrong Shalltear?"

The Dragoness, no, the Goddess in front of her was truly worthy of her title. To possess such a scary power…

When Tiamat stepped forward, Shalltear unconsciously took two steps back.

Looking at her status through both 『Detect Life Essence』 and 『Detect Mana Essence』, Shalltear could see that Tiamat's MP bar had even risen by a decent amount.

'How! When I looked before her MP was…'

As if the Goddess was reading her mind, she calmly explained to Shalltear.

"This skill allows me to recover MP equivalent to the cost of the spell I consumed. So thank you Shalltear," The Goddess grinned at her warmly.

Shalltear could only wail as she shortened the distance between the two of them in a flash, and as she brought her Spuit Lance down upon Tiamat's head, it was once again repelled back by a transparent golden shield.

Tiamat raised the palm of her hand and pointed it right at Shalltear's face.

"『World Eater: Disgorge』."

Pitch black mana surged around Tiamat's hand as it coalesced into the head of a titanic dragon. The dragon-shaped mana opened its massive maw and released all of the attacks Tiamat had sustained the entire battle. The Dragoness frowned as she noticed that Shalltear wasn't attempting to dodge.

'Well, it's not like she can dodge at this range anyways…'

Then her hopes were crushed as Shalltear cried out, "『Time Reversal』!"

A storm of spells and powerful blasts of force ripped through Shalltear; burning her body to crisp while lancing her through with the kinetic energy from her own Spuit Lance.

However, as if time had reversed itself, her body quickly reassembled itself, rendering the attack ineffective.

"If I can't fight you with spells," she thrust her lance at her shoulder, taking Tiamat off guard as a green aura surrounded Shalltear.

"Close range it shall be, My Lady~"

What happened next was a single sided massacre.

It was impossible for Tiamat to see Shalltear's attacks. More accurately, even though she could see where Shalltear was going to attack, it was impossible for her to dodge.

"Take this!" and as Shalltear shouted, the Spuit Lance impaled her once again.

Tiamat reflexively raised her hand and covered her eyes to defend her head as she was stabbed once more.

(;﹏;)

From within the Arena, they could all feel it.

They had all been peacefully sleeping, oblivious to the world, but then the overwhelming sadness, pain, and hurt came over them, and they didn't know why.

When it stopped, they walked it off, but it happened two more times.

They walked it off each time, but the second time it happened, they were too scared to sit back down and relax because they had no clue what was happening to them.

This incident especially stressed out the little ones.

After the third time, Pentakrisis tried to compose himself and flew around, but then he fell to the ground as he felt a sharp, stinging pain on his shoulder.

He, a Dragon who ruled the skies, felt fear.

He pulled himself to his feet and he roared.

That was because his immediate thought was of her.

This particular act had brought down the annoying hyper chibi.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

She tried to pat his scales to comfort him, but it was no use.

The hands were different. Her hands were smaller. It wasn't her hand.

Don't touch me!

He had to get out.

He had to go to where she was.

NOW!

He flapped his wings and flew away higher and higher towards the skies, but an invisible barrier stopped him.

It was the sky! So whywhywhywhywhy?

He roared once again, a roar so deafening that the children hid themselves behind the female chibi in fear.

He slammed his body against the sky over and over and over again, the shock-waves from the impact blowing back the trees around him.

LetmeoutletmeoutLETMEOUT!

"I-I understand," the female chibi stuttered, "But first calm down! What would Lady Tiamat say if she saw you like this?"

"That is precisely why! She needs me, so let me out, RIGHT NOW!"

As soon as he said that, Aura's eyes jolted wide in understanding. She recalled how her own pets would react to the emotional turmoil of their master and immediately contacted Albedo through 『Message』.

[Albedo, is there something wrong with Lady Tiamat?]

However, Albedo did not answer. All Aura could hear was background static.

Aura tapped her foot impatiently.

She had to contact Ainz-sama.

And so she did.

(;﹏;)

Beep Beep

[Ainz-sama! Lady Tiamat, is there something wrong with Lady Tiamat?!]

Ainz chastised himself for his obvious blunder. Not all Floor Guardians knew what was happening.

And so, Ainz answered Aura's question honestly.

[Tiamat is currently fighting Shalltear.]

Right after Aura heard that, she was hit by a severe pain that rendered her speechless and breathless, followed by dimming vision and her eardrums pounded as everything around her grew distant distant.

She knew that both Supreme Beings were going to do everything in their power to bring Shalltear back; however, the very thought that Lady Tiamat was fighting Shalltear by herself didn't even cross her mind.

'Is this what she meant when she promised that she would bring Shalltear back?'

[Aura?!]

Ainz was a bit afraid that his voice was too panicked for a Supreme Being of Nazarick, but he was genuinely worried for Aura when he had heard her breath hitch against her throat and go quiet.

He knew just how much the Dragoness meant to the twins, and he could empathize with the terrifying feeling despite being an undead.

Afterall, he fully understood what it was like to lose a mother.

Unable to draw his eyes away from the monitor, he ordered one of the Floor Guardians to fetch the twins to the room.

"Fetch Aura and Mare and bring them here, now!"

Immediately, Albedo stood up and went out of the room, using the『Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown』to teleport to the sixth floor. As she stepped out into the Arena, she was greeted with chaos.

A titanic white dragon slamming himself against the fake sky.

Mare trying to comfort his sister.

And the wailing of unnamed baby dragons.

As soon as Albedo took in the distressing sight, she instantly knew what was going on.

The Dragons could feel the intense pain that Lady Tiamat was currently feeling, and Pentakrisis wanted to go to her side as soon as possible.

Her initial response was pity; however, that quickly changed to understanding.

Afterall, they all wanted to be by her side, fighting her fight, and supporting her just like how she supported them.

That was why, before Albedo could fulfill Ainz's request, she made one 『Message』 to a particular person on the Eighth Floor.

And just like that, a portal that led to the outside world opened wide, allowing the huge white Dragon to immediately leap to the other side of the portal, leaving his baby siblings behind.

(;﹏;)

Making use of her high agility, Shalltear leapt, dashed, and lunged all she could

Shalltear's onslaught restored her health, while Tiamat burned Shalltear with scorching spells and skills to negate the health Shalltear would gain.

Every time the lance scored a hit on her, it felt like her hold on reality was getting a little looser. Her vision felt fuzzier with each hit, and surprisingly, her wounds would hurt a little less each time.

Tiamat looked down. The ground was slippery with her blood. 'Definitely going into shock...'

Seeing that she once again had the upper hand, joy filled Shalltear's heart and she felt that she still had a chance at victory. If they continued trading blows, then that would certainly be the case.

Abandoning all defense because of her empty mana pool, Shalltear threw herself into the assault wholeheartedly. She finally smiled as a light appeared in the darkness that was the long, long battle.

Shalltear laughed as she struck and was struck in return.

"I'll win this battle, arinsu!" she confidently boasted. "I'll make you fall beneath my feet, begging for mercy!"

With each and every thrust of the Lance, Tiamat desperately defended herself, shutting down Shalltear's attack with the golden transparent globe that was the only barrier between her and impending defeat.

'God, my HP is already less than half...she's not giving me an opening either,' Tiamat gritted her teeth.

If it wasn't for her enhanced physiology as a dragon, she would've broke down from the stress and blood-loss a long time ago.

The sound of metal squelching against meat resounded repeatedly, over and over without end.

But there was nothing Tiamat could do.

Just as Tiamat was about to cast another『Aegis』, Shalltear stabbed her in the throat to stop her from speaking. She choked on her own blood.

Shalltear was ecstatic as she saw the『Bleeding』status reapply itself, making the Dragoness HP plummet faster.

'Just a bit more…! A bit more until her HP is gone!'

"Look at you, My Lady! Your HP is almost gone at this point," Shalltear kicked Tiamat to the ground.

The Dragoness couldn't even reply to Shalltear's mockery.

Her HP was at the lowest it had ever been in any PvP. She never thought that losing HP would hurt so much. Hell, she didn't even have the strength to stand; her energy had completely run dry.

"Indeed, you are the Weakest Dragon My Lady~!" Shalltear happily quipped. "Sayonara~!"

With this one last attack, the Dragoness would be done for.

A sense of dread filled Tiamat as the Lance approached in slow motion. For all her bravado, she still feared death.

She closed her eyes, accepting her fate.

'I'm sorry Momonga, guess you were right, huh? Just as always….'

Shalltear was gloating again, she dimly realized. Her senses and body had stopped responding to her a while ago.

She slowly sank into unconsciousness.

There was no feeling of anxiety, there was no need to breath, no cause for alarm, no pain of any kind. She felt peaceful.

'MASTER!'

A roar filled her head, shocking her awake. Tiamat blearily blinked. In the sky, a shadow appeared over them.

Just as the Spuit Lance was about to land for the last time, a presence appeared above Shalltear with a hostility too intense for her to ignore.

Shalltear averted her eyes from Tiamat to see who the enemy was.

Tiamat coughed, her voice straining, "True, I really might be the weakest dragon, but..." she pointed up.

"He isn't."

Shalltear turned back to Tiamat with a snarl on her face that morphed into horror, as the Dragoness coughed out,『Holy Awe』, stunning Shalltear one more time, rendering her incapable of moving.

'A distraction!' Shalltear realized.

With the Vampire being 『Stunned』 for a few seconds, Tiamat and Pentakrisis had enough time to get into position.

The sound of a mountain slamming into the ground shook the ruined forest as gleaming white claws trapped Shalltear in their grasp.

Pentakrisis brought the furious Vampire up to his mouth, and fired his 『Overloaded Dragon's Breath』 towards the Vampire. A beam of blue-white consumed the Crimson Valkyrie and her prey.

Shalltear gritted her teeth as she felt her flesh bursting apart until the beam finally ceased.

"A-Plus for effort My Lady, but I'm afraid that's not enough!"

'More Taki...Hotter...!'

Pentakrisis took a deep breath as the damned Bloody chibi tried to escape from his grip.

Shalltear's screams filled the air as another torrent of pure hot blue washed over her.

"ENOUGH!"

Spuit Lance rushed downwards with ungodly speed.

The Dragoness raised her hand as her flickering mana once again formed the head of a fearsome dragon. She had finally accumulated enough damage again.

Shalltear's eyes lit up in desperate realization, and her efforts to escape the dragon's clutches grew even more desperate.

"...Ahhh, ah, ahhhhhh—" Shalltear's voice was bordering on the cusp of hysteria, "Y-You're insane, your pet is going to die too!"

Tiamat choked out, "『Divine Favor: Walls of Uruk』."

'Now!'

"『World Eater: Disgorge』!"

The world stopped existing; Shalltear had completely lost all sense of where she was. She was totally alone and the only thing that existed was the vortex rushing towards her.

She knew exactly where the flames were coming from, yet she could not evade it.

Then it began.

The air around her thickened with heat, filling her lungs with pure fire.

She felt a searing trail of flames coiling around her entire being.

A barrage of her own lance thrusts poked holes throughout her entire body, hurting more than she could have ever imagined as a serpent of pain consumed her insides.

The amalgamation of Shalltear's own attacks that Tiamat had received and Pentakrisis's blue flames caused her body to gradually crumble to dust. Her burned and fleshless hands dropped Spuit Lance, the weapon clattering to the ground. Her face was shriveled up from the all-consuming heat, and all she could see beyond the raging tongues of fire, was a bloodied Goddess and a pure white Dragon.

Her throat had long dried up, making it difficult for her to speak. But still, there was one thing that Shalltear Bloodfallen had to say.

"That's just like you to protect your Dragon. Truly you are the most terrifying of all, arinsu..."

That was Shalltear's sincere respect towards the almighty one that she had belittled and disgraced. One of those who had chose to stay behind.

The heatwave finally burned her away, and even if she couldn't move, she somehow felt free.

In the end, Shalltear smiled. 'Goddess of Dragons, huh? Not bad…'

Satisfied, Shalltear vanished in a world of blue.

(;﹏;)

The Dragoness painfully pushed herself to her feet once she confirmed that Shalltear was indeed gone.

She slowly hobbled over to Pentakrisis while grimacing in pain, and saw nothing but the ashes of her remains.

She felt like vomiting.

Collapsing where the remains of Shalltear lay, Tiamat felt the strong urge to vomit.

Her heart ached, and sje felt like she had been through hell and back. This was by far the worst thing she had ever experienced. The feeling was so unbelievably, insurmountably powerful that it truly did feel physical.

It was a degree of suffering that was impossible to grasp without experiencing it first hand.

And she knew exactly what it was.

Grief.

She sobbed uncontrollably.

With the adrenaline of battle wearing off, she let out all the tears that she had been holding back.

Even screaming wouldn't be enough to get rid of the terrible feeling.

Nothing felt right as the full realization of what she had lost washed over her.

Pentakrisis felt it too, the overwhelming feeling that overflowed into their mental link, a sensation that made him feel numb and weary.

All he could do was to curl his tail around her in an effort to protect her from further threats.

But soon the feelings he felt changed.

Tiamat's field of vision was tinged with red, and she saw things through a pink haze as blood rushed to her head.

'It's their fault,' she realized. The only country who had information on the magic of YGGDRASIL must have known about World Items as well.

All of this energy had to be spent somehow, or she felt like she might explode. It was like trying to hold back an evergrowing tsunami.

Everytime she exercised patience, the water receded a bit more.

Every time she pushed down frustration, she saw a little bit more sand,

And in a perfect storm of events the water pulled back further, and further, and further, until it had formed a wave of rage that blocked out the sun.

It overwhelmed her and for an instant, the rush of the terrible feeling felt so good.

She spread her wings and let the rage took over.

(;﹏;)

"Lady. Tiamat. Has. Won. The. Battle."

Cocytus didn't even realize that those words had slipped out from his mouth.

Naturally, Albedo who was convinced from the beginning that her master would win, sighed in content, as if a huge burden had been lifted off her shoulders.

The twins who had only watched the last half of the fight almost cried when they saw the state their Lady was in, their tears only held back by their pride as Floor Guardians before Lord Ainz.

The last second before Tiamat's dragon had arrived, Ainz had thundered at Albedo to open the teleportation channels before it was too late, but seeing how the battle had turned out, the Overlord could now breathe in relief.

Not that he needed to breath anyways.

Demiurge, the sole logical Floor Guardian, needed more information to make sense of the situation, and so he voiced the doubt in his heart.

"Who let Lady Tiamat's summon out of the Sixth Floor?"

"I did," Albedo answered resolutely, the tightened clasp of her hands around each other the only sign of her nervousness.

"I see. So that's how it was," Demiurge turned around and began walking away before stopping, "Be careful, because next time, we might not be so fortunate."

Albedo just smiled in reply.

Mare smiled happily at the monitor, the fear that was constricting his heart having vanished.

Even though the twins had only watched the latter part of the battle, they could say for certain that it was the most intense battle they had ever seen. If Pentakrisis wasn't there, who knew what would have happened to Lady Tiamat.

"I am sure Lord Ainz will come up with a punishment for your insolence. You were acting too emotional as the Overseer, Albedo," the demon pushed up his glasses.

He knew that Lady Tiamat had survived merely because of pure luck. If the summon did not arrive on time, Nazarick would have lost two of its most valuable people.

The Overseer of the Guardians of Nazarick, and their Goddess of Dragons.

Demiurge looked at Albedo with his sharp gemstone eyes. Even he was shocked to hear Lord Ainz threatening to relieve Albedo of her duties because of this incident. This just proved how valuable the Goddess was to Nazarick.

Albedo looked down, and in a fit of shame she softly replied, "As her subject, there is nothing I can do but to deliver her wishes."

"There are limits to what wishes you can grant the Supreme Beings. I understand the need to fulfill all of their wishes, as that is our reason for being. But the way you did it was undeniably, overwhelmingly, and blatantly stupid."

"As. A. Fellow. Floor. Guardian. It. Seems. That. Demiurge. Is. Quite. Right. You. Are. Acting. More. On. Your. Feelings. Instead. Of. Thinking. Things. Through." Even Cocytus chided the Succubus.

However, Demiurge was far from finished.

"Lady Tiamat mentioned how important Lord Ainz is to Nazarick, a fact that all of us are already aware of. However, Lady Tiamat is also important within Nazarick. And that is a fact that you failed to remind her of."

At his words, Ainz nodded. "Well put, Demiurge."

"B-But…" Albedo stuttered trying to justify herself in this situation. But she knew well enough that she had indeed made an almost tragic mistake.

The twins watched the scene in front of them with a smile.

As long as nothing happened to their Lady.

However, from the corner of his eyes, Mare caught his Lady spreading her wings and leaving the battlefield.

"L-Lord Ainz, it seems that L-Lady Tiamat is going back."

Ainz returned his attention to the monitor and saw that no one was there except for Pentakrisis who shortly disappeared, in pursuit of his master.

He considered what he was seeing.

Shalltear's equipment was still lying there on the ashes, and even if Tiamat was going to return to Nazarick, why didn't she use『Gate』 instead?

He once again controlled the camera to track where Tiamat was, and when he saw the direction of where she was going, his red orbs flared in shock, turning into small fires in his eye sockets.

'She's heading towards the Slane Theocracy…!'

Immediately he gave his orders to the Floor Guardians.

"Albedo, now that the battle is over, please『Message』 Aureole to open the Teleportation network. Demiurge and Cocytus, you two contact Pandora's Actor and bring whatever is necessary for Shalltear's resurrection to the Throne Room," Ainz's finger tapped against the table, "Amd bring 『Avarice and Generosity』 as well as 『Depiction of Nature and Society』for the twins. Aura, Mare, fetch Shalltear's equipment. I am going to personally bring Tiamat back to Nazarick!"

Moved by those words, the Guardians lowered their heads and in response, they simultaneously replied.

"Understood!" Ainz nodded.

He had to go before she did something stupid once again.

(;﹏;)

The Slane Theocracy was a human nation of the New World and one of the three human nations neighbouring Nazarick. A religious country that worshipped the Six Great Gods and was considered the strongest human nation in the region.

A rich country with six hundred years of history that divided itself into six different religious sects, each with its own specialized agency who all had their own area of expertise.

A state that had a civilization so advanced that it was said to be an entire era ahead of any of the neighbouring countries that surrounded it.

However, even they could not see the single dot in the sky furiously glaring at them from above.

If they had paid enough attention, or perhaps if they had a telescope and pointed it at the sky, they could have seen a humanoid figure looming over the centre of the country, right above the biggest building they had.

Her red hair was whipped to the side by the wind, and despite the harshness of the howling gust, her wings held her in place, unmoving.

Amethyst eyes that were meant to convey warmth were unbearably cold and unforgiving. Her teeth gritted at the sight below her.

Just like fear, anger was an emotion suited for survival. But while fear saved through avoidance, anger saved through the destruction of the threat.

One first tries to have a deterring effect, and failing that, moves to aggression.

The volcano of compressed anger was about to erupt, and someone had to suffer.

Her heart pounded as her head ran through hundreds of hateful retorts, looking for the most potent one. The thump of her heart whispered for her to take vengeance.

'They were the ones who did that to Shalltear.'

She clenched her teeth to keep her mouth shut and was shaking from the force it took to restrain her own muscles as she justified her behavior .

'Her blood is on your hands because of them. Kill them, what are you waiting for?'

Her heart whispered seductively in her ears and every muscle in her body tightened up at the very thought.

'DESTROY THEM!'

And so she did.

The first attack landed in just a few seconds.

Loud explosions, air bursting, rumbling, hissing, and the roaring of falling monoliths sang in her ears as ethereal meteorites erupted into firestorms on the largest temple of the Slane Theocracy.

Sadly, she didn't have enough mana to bring down the whole country, so the biggest building would have to do.

To those who survived the incident, it was a vision of Hell itself.

Clouds of ash were flung to the sky as chunks of molten lava the size of carriages came crashing down. Rocks collapsed on the building, and the people inside choked on the heat.

As she was about to swoop down to personally end each and every one of them, she could feel a hand pulling her back. Tiamat spun around with a snarl.

Ainz had stopped her from going rampant.

Her feral features shocked Ainz to the core. There was no remnant of the kind friend or the lovely baker he was used to seeing.

All he could see were her bloodshot eyes, filled with hatred.

"Let. Me. Go." She demanded.

How could he stop her? He should be supporting her; they were the ones who hurt Shalltear.

However, the reply she got from the Overlord was firm and unyielding.

"No."

She gritted her teeth, getting angrier by the second.

"Why are you protecting them? They were the one who did this to Shalltear, they—"

"You don't know that," Ainz replied calmly.

Just like a child throwing a tantrum, Tiamat screamed at Ainz, "They did! They're the only country who knows about YGGDRASIL magic, so it must be them!"

"No, every mage in E-Rantel can use YGGDRASIL magic. You would have noticed if you paid attention. But you didn't, as always," he explained. "If that was the basis of your rage, then shouldn't you attack E-Rantel as well?"

Her eyes widened at his verbal blow.

It was obvious he knew the answer to that. Antonios, Borg, Paolo, and the innocent children…

Once he saw that she had calmed down, he pointed a finger at the view down below.

"Take a look at what you've done. Is this what you wanted?"

She still had not completely processed what Ainz had said, but she shifted her gaze to where his skeletal fingers were pointing

Several glowing large rocks were embedded in the ground, having already destroyed half of the building, with fires spreading out even further. Smoke was pouring out, but even if she didn't recall summoning so many flames, it was clear that there was a raging fire going on.

Through her sharp eyes, she could see a number of people jump to their deaths from the devastated uppermost level of the temple, desperate to get away from the heat.

Her mind could not comprehend what was happening—her brain almost in an overloaded state.

She saw it with her eyes, but she was somehow mentally detached from it at the same time.

"I-I did that…?" she lamely questioned Ainz.

Then she saw a child.

Just one.

Crying over a dead body that was stuck under a large rock; it seemed as if the person had threw the child away, taking the hit instead.

The wailing of that particular child would haunt her forever.

Her nose, blocked by her own snot. Her eyes, puffy and red from crying. Her voice, small and cracking from screaming for help.

As turmoil roiled in Tiamat's heart, Ainz calmly replied.

"Yes."

Her mouth opened wide in shock as the reality of her actions suddenly slammed into her.

She looked down and realized that the red stuff spurting out was blood, and she had to do something. Anything.

She dived down, only to be pulled away by Ainz.

"Let me go…" this time she said those words softly, as tears started to edge out of the corners of her eyes.

She couldn't believe she had made an orphan out of that child.

"Please."

Ainz sighed, "There's no use crying over spilled milk."

Her anger died down, only to be replaced by an ineffable sorrow. Where smoldering fury once existed, a rainstorm of misery took its place.

The small, but stabbing feeling settled in her chest as she kept thinking about what she had done. She felt as if she was burning. She deserved it.

Her lungs burned, her chest felt like it was full of hellfire, and her throat was drier than the wastelands outside the Domes on Earth. She couldn't scream even if she tried.

All she could do was weep for the small girl who would now suffer because of her stupidity.

Ainz's non-existent heart ached at the sight.

When the two of them were given a chance to continue, this was the last thing he would ever have thought of. The very sight of her tearing up was something he could not deal with.

Not once had he ever seen her cry before back on Earth. She had always dealt with everything with a smile on her face. It seemed that she had cried more in the New World than back on Earth.

He felt like a failure for allowing all of this to happen.

All he could do was embrace her and hope that everything would be better.

She stiffened for a fleeting moment before melting down and sinking into his chest as he circled his arms around her. He was completely taken by surprise at how frail and small she was.

Back on Earth, she was taller, older, wiser. But here he was so much taller than her, almost looming over her. Just when had she become so small, so vulnerable? And so he couldn't help but to gently stroke her head.

"Let's go home," he finally said, his voice soft and sad.

He could feel her nodding beneath his cloak.

And just like that, the two Supreme Beings disappeared from the sky above the Slane Theocracy while mass panic ensued down below as the citizens tried to put out the divine flames.

All that could be heard were screams of loss and pain.

(;﹏;)

Hackslashbash: No one:

Tiamat: Nukes a city.

Ainz: You have become the very thing you swore to destroy!

A/N: It was just one building lololol. Whaaaaaatttt? (You never played Tuber Simulator could be heard from a distance) Tiamat won? How? This is how. For now…

HETEROMORPHIC RACE: DRAGON

TIAMAT

Title:

The Weakest Dragon in Yggdrasil

The Goddess of Dragons

Job:

One of the Almighty 41 Supreme Beings

World Guardian

World Eater

Residence:

Great Tomb of Nazarick

Floor 9

Alignment: True Neutral

Karma: 0

Racial Level: 60

Dragonling(10)

Young Dragon (10)

Adult Dragon (10)

Old Dragon Lord (10)

Elder Dragon Lord(5)

Ancient Dragon Lord (5)

Primordial Dragon Lord(5)

God Beast (5)*

Job Class: 40 (41*chapter 13)

Cleric(10)

High Priestess(5)

Dragon Saintess(5)

Ascended Guardian (10)

World Guardian (5)

World Eater (5)

Cook(1) *(As of chapter 13)

HP Exceeds Limits

MP 90

PHY. ATK 35

PHY. DEF 100 [Exceeds Limits with World Guardian]

Agility 45

MAG. ATK 55

MAG. DEF 100 [Exceeds Limits with World Guardian]

Resistance 100

Special 80

Total 705+

Skills:

Passive:

『Cooking』

You can cook and make something to eat. It may not be edible

Bonus 80% chance of success to all food items you make

『High-Tier Physical Immunity V』

Nullifies physical attacks below level 80.

『High-Tier Magical Immunity V』

Nullifies all spells tier 8 and below.

『Phobos Ambience』

A passive aura that increases the user's hate values, and forcing the enemy to attack the wielder rather than another target.

『World Eater: Devour』

Passively stockpiles damage from attacks in order to release them with『World Eater: Disgorge』.

Active:

『Dragon's Breath』(MAX)

Shoots a giant gout of dragon-flame that devours all in its path. Tier and damage increases the more draconic racial levels one has. High chance of inflicting the『Heavy Burn』debuff. The『Overloaded』modifier greatly increases damage, range, and burn duration in exchange for a longer cooldown time.

Damage, range, and effects increase with more dragon racial classes or other special classes.

Range - 250 meters (Increases by 10 meters for each 10 Mana spent up to 1 Kilometer)

『Censure of Vritra』

A Dragon Saintess skill. Inflicts heal block and increased weakness to fire damage for a limited amount of time. This skill cannot be stacked.

『Dragon Saintess Summon』

Summons a high tier angelic or draconic being from ambient mana. Limited to once a day.

『Divine Favor: Light of Regeneration』

God Beast skill that drastically increases regeneration for one summon or moderately for a large number of summons.

『Divine Favor: Light of Vigor』

God Beast skill that drastically increases max health for one summon or moderately for a large number of summons.

『Divine Favor: Feral Impulse』

God Beast skill that drastically increases attack for one summon or moderately for a large number of summons. Cripples target's magic casting ability.

『Divine Favor: Breath of the Zephyr』

God Beast skill that drastically increases speed for one summon or moderately for a large number of summons.

『Divine Favor: Walls of Uruk』

God Beast skill that drastically increases defense for one summon or moderately for a large number of summons.

『Flying』

User takes to the skies with wings.

『World Eater: Disgorge』

Returns attacks absorbed with 『World Eater: Devour』with damage equal to the original damage of the attacks plus the user's physical and magical attack stats. The user must receive a certain amount of damage before they can activate this skill.

『World Eater: Maw of the Void』

A skill exclusive to the World Eater class that allows one to consume spells up to the 10th-tier and below three times a day. The user recovers Mana equivalent to the cost of the consumed spell. Super Tier Spells cannot be consumed with this skill.

『World Eater: Reality Cruncher』

A joke skill made by the shitty devs, yet is still an effective attack nonetheless. Damage is determined by the player's mouth characteristics. For example, a dragon heteromorph who has not altered their mouth shape would deal far more damage than a human would as a result of a stronger bite.

Regardless of the user's stats, Reality Cruncher always deals a base amount of true damage and has a 100% chance to inflict the debuffs 『Armor Break』,『Cripple』, and『Trauma』

Cannot be used in quick succession.

『Nidhogg's Descent』

Once per week ability. Large AOE attack that deals a percentage of true damage. Also deals a high amount of unpreventable burn damage and increases weaknesses to fire and demonic damage.

Spells:

MP cost goes from 1 for first-tier spells all the way up to 10. Metamagic increases cost regardless of tier.

Metamagic:

『Maximize』 - Improves Damage of spells.

『Greater Maximize』 - Stronger and costlier version of『Maximize』.

『Widen』- Increases the range of a spell's effect.

『Penetrate』- Increases the chances of a spell bypassing defenses.

『Boosted』- Raises a spell's tier by one.

1st-Tier

『Light Heal』

The ability to heal slight injuries.

4th-Tier

『Minor Flare』

Omni-directional fire spell that incapacitate those around it. Has a base radius of 1 meter and can be increased by 1 meter for each additional point of Mana up to 25. Moderate chance of inflicting the『Burn』Debuff.

7th-Tier

『Holy Awe』

Stunning the opponent for 3 seconds, more potent effect on targets with low karma.

『Full Cure』

Heals players from injuries, debuffs, and status ailments. Health recovered rises with karma

8th-Tier

『Firaga』

Inflict major Fire elemental damage on one enemy.

『Draconic Power』

Grants one the might and sturdiness of dragons. Overall stat buff.

Super-Tier (With Item)

『Plane of Nine Hells-Phlegethos』

Summons the fourth layer of the Nine Hells, a blazing desolation of fire and lava. It comes in two sets. One to decimate the entire place by slamming Abriymoch into the area, damaging 500 meters from its surrounding areas as well as increasing fire damage by 50% for all characters. Two, automatically casts boosted 『Lava Streams』 from the Pit of Flames targeting enemies (Range - 60 meters from the Pit of Flames)

Status Effects:

『Burn』

Afflicted target takes a set amount of fire damage per second.

『Cripple』

Afflicted target deals decreased physical damage.

『Trauma』

A stronger version of the 『Fear』debuff. Target also deals decreased magical damage and receives increased magical damage as a result.

『Armor Break』

Target's physical defense is decreased.