Hi all, author here again!

Sorry that it took this long for anyone who has been following. I've been quite busy with some work, and also got distracted by an MMO game I recently picked up again after retiring from it for 2 years.

Like always, see you again in the afterword.


[X][X][X]


Ryu buried himself under blanket on his bed in Golden Pavilion inn. The recent shopping trip he had made to Magician's Guild had accidentally created an impression of him proposing to Lily.

I just wanted to check if the size of the rings fits with our fingers!

Moreover, Ryu feared that the false rumor would spread fast like wildfire. He had let his name known there. That meant the Guildmaster, Theo Rakheshir, would soon know. Rakheshir seemed to be close friends with Pluton Ainzach, so eventually it would spread to Adventurer's Guild too.

Oh please, now I have to deal with an embarrassing false rumor.

Ryu seriously thought of sleeping all day in the inn for some days and let the false news die out by itself, but it might backfire on him if he let the news settle into everybody's mind. Still, he was still undecided on what to do.

"Ryu-san. Are you all right?"

Lily asked that while sitting on her bed. Ryu replied without getting out of his blanket. His body was facing away from Lily.

"Lily, I want to make sure. You didn't misunderstand like the others, right?"

"I know you just wanted to check if the size fits"

At least she got it. But come to think of it, why did she blush?

"But... Somehow I felt something... strange"

"What? What was strange?"

"I don't know. My face somewhat warmed up, my heart skipped a beat..."

Don't tell me that...

Ryu knew very well that what Lily had just described was the same as what happens on many stories he had read in the past. In pretty much all of them, those things were signs of love.

"Lily, do you have any idea about that?"

"No. I have never experienced it before"

Ryu had no idea what to do against this situation. He had never been romantically loved by a woman before. Also, he couldn't return the feelings because while he loved Lily, he was certain that his love was more like a father-daughter love rather than the romantic couple one.

This will never work out. But how do I tell her...?

But then again, there's still no confirmation that Lily had started to love him for real. Therefore, Ryu decided to brush the topic off.

"If you don't feel ill or anything, better pay it no heed"

"Alright, Ryu-san. So what are we going to do?"

Ryu pondered about Lily's question. The sun was still high in the sky, so spending the time just burying himself on the bed would be a waste. Therefore, he got out of the blanket and stood up from the bed.

"Let's go to the Guild"

The two of them left the inn and walked to the Adventurer's Guild. Nothing happened on the way, and they arrived pretty quickly. Once they arrived, Ryu immediately went to the receptionist.

"Good afternoon, Ryu and Lily of Ignite Maximus. How may I help you?"

"I know this is sudden, but I'd like to meet the Guildmaster if possible"

"Please have a seat and wait. We will get back to you shortly"

The lady went to the back and talked to a fellow staff as Ryu left the counter and sat down on a vacant seat, with Lily following along without saying any word. Other adventurers who saw them looked in awe, as if they were a group of celebrities. This was the first time Ryu felt something like it, and he could make out some of the nearby whispers.

"It's Ignite Maximus. The real deal!"

"I heard he killed hundreds of undeads with one spell"

"Don't forget that the girl killed a skeletal dragon all by herself"

"Darkness is still the best, but Ignite Maximus is not to be taken lightly"

Ryu didn't really mind the attention, but indeed it felt a little heavy to be looked up by people around him. Should he try his best to keep up with his image, or just act as if he was the same person as always? There was no correct answer since both options had their own merit.

While he was thinking, a guild staff approached him.

"The Guildmaster is ready to meet you"

"Thanks"

Ryu said that while getting up from the seat. Lily followed him, and they went to Ainzach's office room upstairs. Once they arrived at the room's door, Ryu knocked on it.

"Come in!"

Ryu opened the door, and what he saw inside was not only Ainzach but also Rakheshir. At this point Ryu wondered about how often Rakheshir, the Guildmaster of a different Guild, visits Ainzach. He also remembered that Ainzach used to call Rakheshir on first name basis so maybe they were close friends. Then again, this world seemed a bit inconsistent in the usage of either first name or last name for addressing other people.

Ryu realized that he was going nowhere in his thinking so he stopped.

"Hello, Ryu-san and Lily-san. Nice to see you safe and sound"

"The same applies to you too, Ainzach-dono and Rakheshir-dono"

Ryu and Lily shook hands with both Ainzach and Rakheshir, and then all of them sat down on the available seats.

"I heard that you wanted to see me. Is something the matter?"

"Yes, actually"

"Ah, but before that. Let us congratulate you"

Ah, crap.

"Congratulations for your engagement! Don't forget to invite us for the party!"

Rakheshir said that while clapping his hands in applause. Ryu just facepalmed seeing this.

"Well, that is what we wanted to say, but this was a misunderstanding, wasn't it?"

Ryu got surprised hearing Ainzach's words. He had just been expecting things to get more difficult, but it seemed to go the other way just now.

"Yes, definitely! I was just checking if the size fits!"

Rakheshir laughed a little, and then he spoke.

"My staff members told me about what happened, and I told them that anyone in their right mind wouldn't use magic ring to propose. They were convinced that you wanted to propose in a unique way, but I beg to differ"

"Thank you for clearing up the misunderstanding!"

"No problem. But still, why don't you do it for real?"

"What...?"

"You two seem to work together really well. Going further with your relationship would be good, wouldn't it?"

Lily seemed to be startled and immediately started blushing again. On the other hand, Ryu immediately went into ending this conversation as fast as possible.

"Being partners in work is a different matter from being a couple. Anyway, I should go. Let's go, Lily"

"A-Alright, Ryu-san"

Ryu stood up and left the room without looking back. He totally didn't want that topic to go any further, because he had already determined himself that he and Lily would never work out as a couple.

As the two of them went down to the first floor, Ryu could hear a commotion at the main hall. Among the crowd noise, he could hear a wailing of a girl, but he still couldn't see the one wailing. Ryu increased his pace and approached the nearest person.

"What's happening?"

"Ah, I don't know much but it seems she had just lost all her party"

"What? How did that happen?"

"She has not said anything other than that"

Being curious, Ryu intended to approach the girl, whom he could not see yet because of the crowd surrounding her. However, before he could step further, he heard someone else shouting.

"Give way! Give way!"

The voice sounded like the receptionist lady. Immediately, the crowd dispersed, giving way to the staff and the grieving girl.

"Now, please calm down and go with me"

The staff member then slowly and gently brought the girl with her through the crowd. The girl was still sobbing as they walked. It was at this point that Ryu recognized who the girl was.

"Alice?"

There was no mistaking it. The girl was Alice Vegelshaft, the one who had given Ryu and Lily the ability to read and write this world's written language with her Talent. It has been a while since the last time he had seen her, and she pretty much had not changed. She still wore the same simple hooded long robe, which reached her knees, over a simple one-piece dress which reached halfway through her thighs. She also still wore the same leather pants under the simple dress and a pair of high-cut boots which reached slightly below halfway through her calves.

"Ryu-san"

Lily called his name while looking at him with determined eyes. Ryu immediately undestood what she wanted to say, and he had intended to do so without doubt.

"I know, Lily. Let's help her in any way we can"

Lily nodded, and the two of them followed Alice and the staff. She was brought into one vacant conference room upstairs, and in there the staff politely made her to sit down.

"Now take a deep breath and collect yourself"

Ryu and Lily were standing right at the room's door. Quite a lot of other adventurers were behind them, looking pretty worried. He could not confirm their motives behind their worried look. They might have genuine concern about Alice, or they might fear about a new strong adversary out there, or some other reason.

The staff member looked this way and spoke.

"Ryu and Lily of Ignite Maximus, may I bother you to accompany her while I go get another staff member?"

"Sure"

"Thank you. The rest of you out there, please leave for now and give her some space"

The staff member then stood up and left the room. Ryu closed the door once she left, leaving only him, Lily, and Alice remaining inside the room. Without saying anything to the still-crying Alice, Ryu and Lily approached and took a seat nearby.

"Uhh, Liz. You can take your time. We will be here to hear from you once you are ready"

Alice didn't show any reaction. She just continued her sobbing, although she slowly started to calm down compared to before. Still, seeing her like this rather than the usually calm and sleepyhead Alice was quite heavy for Ryu.

A few minutes later, the door opened, and the one coming in was the staff lady from before along with Pluton Ainzach and Theo Rakheshir. The staff lady brought pen and paper, probably to write down a report about what had happened to Alice's party.

The three newcomer immediately sat down on the available spaces. At this point Alice almost finally stopped with her crying.

"Alright. Now that we are here, first thing first, let me express my condolences for your loss, Alice Vegelshaft. Your team has done a lot of contributions for the guild, and this loss is quite a blow to us"

Inside Ryu's mind, he was quite confused. The amount of attention given to Alice by the guild was very significant, with the Guildmaster himself paying a visit in person. He wouldn't be as confused if Alice's rank was at least Mithril, but she was still Gold Rank like before.

Is this the norm, or is there something I still don't know about?

"Now, to prevent any more people to fall victim, we need you to give us information about what has happened to your party"

Alice was silent for half a minute, and then she finally spoke.

"We... We were just visiting Katze Plains to hunt for undeads. There was nothing strange happening. We easily exterminated all the undeads we found. But suddenly... That thing..."

Alice fell into silence. Ainzach tried to make her talk by asking a question.

"What thing? An undead?"

"I... I don't know! That thing just came from behind and chomped on Roland! When we looked back only his legs were left!"

Alice started to leak tears again.

"Did you see the creature?"

"It was... It was a floating fish, as big as a horse!"

"What...? I have never seen or heard about a creature like that. Are you sure?"

"There's no mistaking it! I will never forget its wide red mouth and those sharp teeth!"

There was a silence after that. Ainzach seemed to lean over to Rakheshir and whispered something. Since he was nearby, Ryu could still hear it.

"Do you know any creature like that, Theo?"

"No, but I will look it up as soon as possible"

"I hope you will find something. A new type of monster is the last thing we need"

Ryu pondered about the mentioned fish monster. He had seen a distant silhouette of a floating fish back then when he had visited Katze Plains to exterminate a wave of undead horde. Could that be the same creature? But the one he had seen looked like one type of Darker named Dahgash. If that was really a Dahgash, then that means this planet has fallen to the fate of being targeted by Darkers.

There's still no confirmation, so I still can't say for sure.

"Did you fight that monster?"

Ainzach asked another question. It was clear that he was trying to get as much information as possible since this was a matter of every adventurers' safety. Katze Plains was a popular spot for adventurers to hunt for their income due to the infinitely spawning undead there, but if suddenly a new monster capable of wiping out a Gold Rank team appears the news must be spread to prevent more unfortunate victims.

"We did. We struck it with all we got, but nothing worked. We then decided to run away, but..."

Alice fell into silence again.

"But what?"

"But just then we realized that we were surrounded by many more of the monster"

"Surrounded? How? I believe Gus should have seen them from miles away despite the battle, shouldn't he?"

"Maya asked the exact same thing. What Gus said was that... He suddenly sensed those monsters when they were already too close, as if... as if they have teleported in"

Ainzach's face turned grim as he heard the last part.

"This is very bad. Theo, you better start looking it up immediately"

"Please excuse me then"

Rakheshir stood up and left the room in a hurry. Ryu wanted to ask a question, so he spoke up.

"Alice, among those fish monsters, are there ones with smaller size?"

"Y-Yes! We were surrounded by at least ten, and only two or three were as big as the first one! The rest are smaller!"

Ainzach looked at Ryu after hearing Alice's answer.

"Ryu, do you know something about the monster?"

"I still can't say for sure, but there are monsters similar to that from where I came from"

"Tell us about it! Unconfirmed info is still better than no info at all"

"Alright, but let me remind you once again that we still don't know for sure that it was really them"

Ryu then told everyone in the room all he knew about Dahgash and Dagacha, from their tendency to come in swarms and their attack behaviour of chomping wildly. He still didn't mention anything about them being Darkers and him being part of a space army specifically founded to exterminate them.

"And they really can teleport?"

"Yes, but after teleporting they won't attack for a few seconds. The cause is still unknown, but probably because they have to reorient themselves"

"Do they have weaknesses?"

"They are weak against lightning element, and the forehead or inside the mouth is a weak point. I can kill the smaller ones with one hit of a well-placed lightning spell. The bigger one needs two or three hits, though"

The staff member wrote down everything Ryu had said. Ainzach's face seemed to be relieved after hearing Ryu's answer.

"Thank you very much, Ryu. You have provided a very crucial info I never thought I would get this quickly"

"But once again, we still don't know if it was really them"

"And once again I say that unconfirmed info is still better than no info"

"By the way... Liz, how did you escape?"

"They... They told me to fly away. I didn't want to leave them! But they... they... Waaaaaaah!"

Alice broke down crying again. Ryu looked left and right in panic because he felt really guilty for asking a question that had triggered a mine.

"H-Hey, Liz. They might be still alive. Let's go save them"

Ainzach and the staff lady next to him were surprised hearing what Ryu had just said.

"Ryu-san, I really don't recommend doing that. Despite your knowledge about them, we still don't know if they are really the monsters you know about, but from her story we know for sure that these monsters are dangerous"

Alice barely stopped her crying and spoke up.

"T-They told me... to never come back for them"

"But is it really what you want?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Then let's not wait any longer"

"Ryu-san, did you hear anything I have said? I don't want to risk losing another capable adventurer team. Please reconsider"

"There's another reason I want to do this, Ainzach-dono"

"What is it?"

"I need to confirm if those monsters are really the ones from my origin"

Ryu was very worried inside his mind. If the monsters were really Darkers, that would mean that this planet was in a very grim situation. The combat capability of this planet's residents was nowhere near enough to defeat any Darker outside the weakest mooks, and eventually a Dark Falz would arrive. There was no guarantee that ARKS would arrive in time to protect this planet.

Worse come to worst, I have to request help from Ainz. But...

Ryu then remembered a critical fact about Darkers: Only photon attacks were effective against them. While they still could be killed without photon attacks, doing so would cause their remains to spread their essence like spores, which would infect living creatures and cause them to go berserk, or convert the area into Darker spawning ground.

Ainz probably can kill them with his might, but that will only serve to spread the plague faster.

Ryu soon decided to not think about it too much for now since there was still no confirmation. Later, they arrived at the city gate and Ryu noticed something strange there. The length of the queuing people wishing for entry was quite longer than usual, and it didn't seem to advance at all. It was not a problem for Ryu's group since people going out were handled separately and as Orichalcum Rank he essentially has been given a privilege to walk past the officers nonchalantly, but he got curious.

"Wait here for a second"

Ryu said that to both Lily and Alice. He intended to only take a little glimpse on the thing going on at the duty station and then immediately get going with his trip. When he was in front of the station, he saw that the officers there seemed to be interrogating a village girl, and this particular girl was somewhat familiar to him.

"Oh! Ryu of Ignite Maximus! How may I help you?"

One of the officers noticed Ryu's presence and greeted. Being Orichalcum Rank, Ryu was pretty much well known among the guards, especially since a number of them had seen him exterminating hundreds of undead by himself.

"I noticed the long queue and got curious about what's happening"

"Ah, you see, this girl brought a suspicious item, so we are checking her out"

"I see"

Ryu was about to leave after knowing the gist of things happening, but suddenly...

"Ah! You are the one with Ainz Ooal Gown – sama!"

Ryu was surprised by the girl's sudden exclamation. The same applied to the officers around her. Immediately, the one who had greeted Ryu asked a question.

"Ryu-dono, do you know this girl?"

Ryu's mind went into overdrive. He was never proud of the fact that he had a tendency to easily forget the face and name of people he met. But fortunately, he could quickly deduce who this girl was since there was only one place where the people had seen him with Ainz.

"You are... the girl from Carne Village, aren't you? Sorry, but I forgot your name"

"Enri! I'm Enri Emmot!"

Ryu was now confused on what to do. He had to hurry with his current mission, but right in front of him was someone who knew both him and Ainz. He would prefer to not leave someone he knew in trouble.

At least I have to understand the full situation first.

"I'm in a hurry, so please briefly explain her situation"

Ryu asked that question to the same officer.

"She claimed to be a simple village girl, but she was carrying a powerful magic item. She said that someone named Ainz... what was the name again... anyway, that person gave it to her"

Ah, so she was one of the two girls back then.

"Is the item a blowing horn?"

"Y-Yes! That is correct! How did you know?"

The officer couldn't hide his surprise.

"I was there when Ainz-dono gave the item to her"

Before any of the officers could express their surprise, someone else came and asked a question.

"We wish to enter the city, but… what's going on?"

It was Momon, Ainz's adventurer persona. The officers seemed as if they were about to faint seeing another celebrity figure within a short time. The one who had been talking to Ryu then repeated what he had said to explain to Momon about things going on.

Momon made an armfold posture and seemed to be letting out a sigh. Ryu wondered what he was thinking, either as Momon persona, or as his true identity. He then made a gesture to the nearby officer dressed like a magic caster to come with him to a nearby separate room. Once the two figures disappeared into the room, the previous officer asked a question to Ryu.

"So, Ryu-dono. Do you know about this Ainz person?"

"Not much actually. We met and walked together for a little while, and then we went our separate ways"

"What kind of person is he in your opinion? What does he look like?"

"He is a very strong magic caster, and he always wears a full face mask so I don't know what's behind it"

Ryu already knew too well that it was best to not talk too much about Ainz, so he decided to craft his words to give information within the limit of what Enri also already knew. That way he would not leak information unnecessarily. Still, he sometimes worried that his mouth might slip without him realizing it.

Soon, Momon and the officer with him came back from the separate room. Without saying a word Momon left the duty station and the magic caster officer told everyone there that Momon had vouched for Enri, so she may enter without further investigation.

Ryu remembered that he was in a hurry, so he decided to leave as well.

"If the matter is resolved, then I will take my leave"

"Understood, Ryu-dono. Be careful out there"

Ryu left the duty station, and to his surprise Lily and Alice were right nearby.

"Took you long enough"

Alice, having regained her calm, spoke in a flat, sleepy tone like she had always been before. In a way, Ryu was somewhat relieved.

"Sorry, it turned out the one in trouble was someone I know"

"Who?"

"A villager girl I met before I met you. Both of you"

"So you helped her?"

"I was about to, but Momon vouched for her so in the end my involvement was not needed"

"Heh, kinda figured that when we saw him coming in and out"

"Let's go, then"

The three of them then rode a carriage Ryu had hired to take them to the edge of Katze Plains. The trip there went smoothly without any trouble.

"It might be dangerous, so you can go home if you want"

Ryu said that as he handed two silver coins to the driver, who complied with Ryu's words and went away back to E-Rantel.

"Show us the way, Liz. Lily, watch out for anything from behind"

The three of them walked through the thick fog of Katze Plains with Alice leading the way in front, Ryu right behind her, and Lily at the back looking out for hostiles that might come from behind. On the way, they encountered several weak undead creatures which they exterminated easily. From this trip Ryu learned a bit about Alice's capability in combat. She was capable of casting spells of third tier such as fireball without much effort.

"Liz, I must say that you are stronger than your rank implies. You could be Mithril if you ask me"

"The Guildmaster said the same, but I didn't want to leave my mates behind"

"I see"

From the short exchange, Ryu could finally understand why there was so much attention to Alice. Her capability was higher than her rank would suggest, therefore despite her being Gold Rank the guild treated her like Mithril Rank at least. On the other hand, the other members of her team were as capable as Gold Ranks should be, so she chose to stay at Gold Rank and climb the ranks along with them.

"We're here..."

As Alice said that, Ryu looked at the battle aftermath in front of him. Indeed, like Alice had said, there was a pair of severed legs left behind. There was no monsters in the vicinity, but one can't be too careful.

Alice approached the severed legs and kneeled.

"Roland..."

In some distance ahead, Ryu could see more severed body parts, all of them dyed the ground around them red with blood.

Alice slowly approached the scattered body parts one by one. She kneeled near each one of them, speaking their names in a soft, sad tone.

"Gus..."

"Maya..."

"Gunther..."

"..."

Alice stayed kneeling near the last body part. She did not speak a word, but her face showed that she was holding herself hard from crying.

"Liz... Are these... all of them...?"

Alice just nodded slightly, but from that Ryu knew that all of her partners were dead. He had no idea what to say to her.

"So... what are you going to do, with their remains?"

Alice took a few seconds to breathe deeply.

"I will cremate them"

"Let me help you then. Lily, please stay on guard"

"Sure, Ryu-san"

Both Ryu and Alice took the body remains and arranged them in a line. The body parts were put separately for each person represented by the body parts. However, there were so few of remaining body parts, it felt very sad praying for them.

"I'm sorry... that I couldn't protect you all... and that I couldn't even send you off as a whole..."

Alice leaked tears as she casted a fireball to cremate all the remains of her partners. She finally cried once again as the blazing hot fire consumed the remains of her partners.

"Alice. I don't know if this is a right thing to do, but... you can cry on my shoulders if you need it"

After hearing that, Alice immediately hugged Ryu and cried on his shoulders. Ryu gently caressed her back as she continued with her grieving.

With not much to consume, the fire died out within minutes. Along with the fire, Alice also stopped her crying and released her hug.

"Ryu... Thank you... for helping me bringing my partners closure..."

"It's all right. Let's go home then"

Ryu decided to not continue scouting for the monsters responsible for this. The main reason was that he didn't want to tire out Alice. The other reason was that if the monsters were really Darkers, they would have attacked him already since Darkers have a tendency to get attracted by photons possessed by ARKS. Therefore, the monsters probably were not Darkers after all.

The three of them walked back to E-Rantel without trouble other than it taking more time since they had to walk all the way back. Alice could use Fly but since Ryu and Lily couldn't she chose to walk with them. By the time they reached the city gate, the sun was already not far off from the horizon.

"What are you going to do from now on, Liz?"

"I... don't know"

"I want to let you know that if you need someone to talk to, we are here for you"

"Thanks..."

"Do you have a place to sleep tonight?"

"Not yet. We were planning to camp out for today, but..."

"How about spending the night with us?"

"What?"

"I just can't have you bear the burden of loneliness from having just lost everyone today. Though Lily will have to share her bed. Is that fine for you, Lily?"

"I was hoping that you would say that, Ryu-san! I'm all good for that!"

"Heh... you're too kind. Thanks"


[X][X][X]


Great Forest of Tob, Night

"The lair is over there, Ainz-sama"

"...Nobody's standing watch. How careless. Alright, it can't be helped. We'll knock next time."

With Aura by his side, Ainz walked toward the entrance to the underground cave believed to be the lair of The Giant of The East. He came here intending to just talk at first, but the moment he entered the cave he could smell the stench of blood and the feeling of lingering death.

"Something is wrong here. Aura, be on your guard"

"Ainz-sama! I feel the presence of unknown creatures behind that corner!"

Aura pointed at a corner where the cave had a T-junction; one way straight ahead and the other to the right. Ainz prepared himself both for battle and for fleeing if things would go hairy.

Immediately, one creature showed itself.

It was a quadruped about the size of a horse. Its head had no mouth, instead it had a long sharp spike in its place. At the back of its head there was a pair of horns pointing upwards and what seemed to be a pair of small insect wings near the horns. Despite being as large as a horse, most of its size came from the collective size of its four legs, which seemed to be naturally armored and had two opposite joints making its posture similar to a spider. Its actual body was rather small, just slightly bigger than the head. The creature's color was a combination of grey and pale brown, but its body had a glowing red part right underneath.

Ainz could feel from his instinct that this creature was aggressive and would never negotiate, and he soon was proven right.

More of the creatures appeared from the corner, making a swarm of at least twenty of them. They all charged towards Ainz and Aura.

"Stand back, Aura"

[Lightning]

Ainz only casted a low tier spell for a number of reasons. One, he wanted to test if these unknown creatures were about as strong as the average creatures he had encountered so far. Two, the cave they were in might collapse if he used more powerful spells. It wouldn't be a problem for him and Aura, but salvaging possible information from this location would take more work if that happens.

Despite only casting a tier three spell, Ainz had a very high overall magic power as a level 100 player, so the damaging capability of the spell was much stronger than any average magic caster of this world would produce by casting the same spell.

The lightning hit the creatures clean through. They were staggered and damaged, but they all survived the spell. They soon continued their charge

[Dragon Lightning]

This time Ainz casted a tier five spell, the same one he had casted back then when he stepped out from Nazarick to save the two villager girls.

If this is still not enough I will cast Chain Dragon Lightning, and if that is still not enough I will retreat.

Thankfully, this time it was fully effective. All the unknown creatures dropped dead taking the full brunt of the spell. Something strange happened, though.

All the creatures soon disintegrated into black mist which soon dispersed, leaving nothing behind.

Summoned creature? No, the effect was different than that.

"Aura, are you all right?"

"I'm all right, Ainz-sama! How about you?"

"There is no problem on my part. Still, those creatures were quite formidable compared to what we have encountered so far"

This was just Ainz's prediction, but from what had just happened, he guessed that those unknown creatures were at least around level 40 each, which was a level pretty much the average combatants from this world would never have any hope to beat. Also, judging from their aggressiveness, they should have already wiped out everything in this region since a long time ago, but there has been no sign of it happening.

Were those creatures new arrivals from somewhere?

Ainz could not come into any definite conclusion since the information was still scarce. Therefore he decided to continue scouring the cave with Aura.

In one of the deepest rooms of the cave, Ainz discovered a bunch of troll and ogre corpses. But what caught his attention the most was the presence of an invisible creature clinging to the ceiling. Its invisibility would be good enough to fool the eyes of this world's residents, but not even close in regards of fooling his eyes.

"You there, come out from your meager invisibility and come to me"

The creature, the shape of which was of a snake with humanoid upper body, dispelled its invisibility and dropped down from the ceiling. It kept its distance from Ainz, looking very afraid and shivering.

"A naga eh? I am here to talk. If you cooperate, I will not kill you"

The creature slowly approached Ainz and prostrated in front of him.

"If thou art here, then this one believes thou had killed the vile creatures. This one bows to thou of great power"

"What are those creatures?"

"This one had no idea. They just appeared... from the ground, and killed everything"

"From the ground? But I didn't see any signs of burrowing around here"

"No, this one saw it... Many black mist appearing on the ground, and those creatures climbed out from the mist clouds"

Could that be some kind of gate? That means those creatures were either summoned or teleported. This could be bad...

Despite further questioning, the naga claimed that he had no idea at all about what those creatures were and from where they came from. Ainz felt that this turn of events would lead to something much worse in the future, and he had to be even more cautious than ever.


[X][X][X]


Afterword:

And so the saga continues along with canon's volume 8, and once again with a departure from canon events.

There's no Q&A this time since I see no questions asked, but I need to say something to one of the commenters. To the east of Kingdom is not the Roble Holy Kingdom, but the Empire. Roble Holy Kingdom is located far southwest from Re-Estize, with Slaine Theocracy inbetween the two.