The meeting hall in the Royal Palace was packed full of men and women. They were all dressed in battle gear, but there was no unifying theme among them. Hanging from all of their necks were metal plates of varying hue and luster.
Only two of them wore the iconic blackish-blue of adamantite, the Beautiful Princess Nabe, and the Dark Warrior Momon.
They had all been summoned in a hurry to address the powerful demon that had appeared out of nowhere: Jaldabaoth.
The adventurers were in heated discussion with the princess who stood at the front of the room.
A mythril plate stood up.
"What hope do we even have then!? Like you said, Blue Rose has already been obliterated by Jaldabaoth! And now the warrior captain just said that he won't participate either! So I'll ask you again, what hope do we even have!?"
The Princess took a deep breath.
"We have Momon-san who was able to fight off Jaldabaoth. Whether or not we will win is out of the question, the question is, how many civilians are going to die before that happens. Our job will be to defend the people and let Momon-san handle everything."
The adventurers wanted to rebuttal, but they held their tongues. They had no chance against a creature that was able to slay Blue Rose. Renner's plan was their best option to minimize casualties.
"Then I will be counting on you. May I now ask the various party leaders to step forward—"
The large doors to the meeting hall bursted open. All the adventurers turned to see the Gray Wolf marching down the aisle in a seething rage.
"What is the meaning of this!?"
A woman with an eyepatch ran after him, grabbing his arm and trying to hold him back.
"Wesley. Wesley! You're making a scene. Let's try something else."
The adventurers gave the man accusatory glares. They whispered under their breath. "...Probably some rich kid mad about his warehouses being poached…"
Stockwell threw off Vera from his arm and continued marching down the aisle, beelining for the princess.
"What the hell is happening in this city!?"
Renner took another deep breath, she had too many things on her mind at the moment, and the last thing she wanted to do was deal with was an angry madman. But, she had to maintain her pleasant facade.
"Wesley-san, we were just discussing that, so why don't you come with us as well?"
...
Several men and women sat in the little room: Princess Renner, Climb, Prince Zanack, Marquis Raeven, Wesley, Vera, Several orichalcum ranked adventurers, and finally, the dark Warrior Momon.
And of every single person in the room, only one of them seemed to be in any semblance of a good mood.
The Gray Wolf: He sat with a slightly insane look in his eyes, it was clear that he was enraged with something. The organization he had worked so hard to grow and defend had been obliterated in a single night, and along with it, many of his plans. He was glaring at Renner.
Vera: She sat next to him. Concern written on her face as she guessed as to what Stockwell might do next.
Prince Zanack: He sat with his shoulders slumped over. He had committed nearly all of his private forces to the operation and had just learned that not a single one had returned. Renner had informed him to keep quiet about it.
Marquis Raeven: He sat awkwardly in his seat, fidgeting with his hands and while his head hung low. He was too ashamed of himself to look anyone in the eyes.
Renner: She maintained her pleasant smile, but she was clenching her hands tightly underneath the table. Of the 174 man operation against the Eight-Fngers, Climb was the sole survivor. While this outcome was within their predicted possibilities, Rhamnusia defeating Blue Rose was the most concerning.
It meant that there was either an information leak, or that Rhamnusia was truly a being worthy of caution. In a way, she and Demiurge were using Blue Rose as a canary for testing the coal mine.
That canary was now dead. It meant that Renner would have to be very careful about what she did and said in Stockwell's presence until she had more information to work with.
At least, she was happy to find that Climb had managed to survive. Though, the only information he was able to relay was that his group had been infiltrated by the Eight-Fingers and ambushed with magical weapons.
Climb: He was still in shock from the whole experience and had a dead look in his eyes. He had seen many of the people he thought to be allies either unceremoniously stabbed in the back, or turn on him. He had also been saved twice in a row by two very evil looking creatures.
The Orichalcum adventurers: They were only nervous, but rightfully so. They would soon be engaged in an uphill battle with all of their hopes resting on the shoulders of a single man.
And finally, Momon: Frankly speaking, he was the only one who wasn't actually in too bad a mood. He had seen Demiurge attacking some random city guards earlier and stepped in to save them, but due to the situation he hadn't had time to speak with him. He was simply just a little anxious that he would accidentally mess up his subordinates' carefully laid plans.
He thought behind his helmet.
Uhwah~ Why does everyone look so on edge? Demiurge really did a good job at scaring everybody. And who's the guy with the gray hair? I feel like I've seen him before...
Renner was the one speaking, she was still finishing up addressing the orichalcum adventurers about the battle specifics. "Then I trust there are no questions as to where your posts will be?"
"No. Your highness."
They all nodded together in affirmation.
"In that case, go ahead and organize your parties."
The adventurers nodded once more and left the tiny room.
No one talked for several seconds. Stockwell thought to himself.
Wesley, just think calmly about this. What do I know so far?
The distress signals started being deployed after flames appeared. So that means that Jaldabaoth is the one responsible for destroying the bases then, right? If that's the case, did he simply decide to attack them on a whim? No, it was clear from the way the fireworks started launching all at once that the attack was premeditated.
He turned and looked at Renner. He recalled the conversation he had heard between her and the man called Demiurge.
"I would like you to continue to keep my knight, my Climb, for the time being. He seems to have become more reckless recently."
Was it for something like this she was talking about then? The dog was a part of the operation if I remember correctly, he was on the team assigned to attack one of the larceny department's bases. That means he managed to survive both my trap as well as whatever Jaldabaoth threw at them. I doubt he could survive that without help.
Yes. Okay, so that means that there is a connection between Renner and Jaldabaoth.
Stockwell scanned the room.
But something isn't adding up here. If their only goal was to simply crush the Eight-Fingers, then why are Renner and Jaldabaoth staging this massive invasion event? Why are they…
Stockwell finally interrupted the painful silence in the room.
"Why is Jaldabaoth attacking the warehouse district?"
The reply came from Renner.
"We don't know, perhaps he is after some kind of item or perhaps it is simply by chance."
Stockwell glared at the princess. An obvious lie. He turned back to the room.
"Anybody else have any ideas?"
Renner spoke again, she was struggling to maintain her smile. "We can tell you're upset about your warehouses being in Jaldabaoth's zone of control, but you need to calm down…"
Suddenly Momon spoke up. He turned to Stockwell. "Pardon me, but who are you again?"
"Hah? I'm Wesley Aamon, the Gray Wolf, I own half of the metal in this godforsaken kingdom for christ's sake! How do you not know—"
Vera grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back. She whispered to him. "Wesley. Do you think it's smart to get mad here?"
Momon's eyes lit up behind his helmet. Ohhhhhh! That's why he seemed so familiar! He looks a lot like Stockwell from Earth. Haha, he shares the same name too.
Suzuki Satoru had spent so much time in the New World that he had begun to forget details in peoples faces.
Momon laughed lightly and waved his hand.
"Kukuku, forgive me, I just thought that looked familiar, think nothing of it, Wolf-san."
The dark warrior continued. "I do not know why Jaldabaoth appeared or why he is attacking the warehouse district specifically. It really may just be a coincidence. I encountered him by chance and drove him off—"
"—If you drove him off, why is he coming back-"
Snap.
Everyone looked over to Renner, she had snapped the pencil she had been playing with underneath the table. She smiled sweetly, but she was radiating pure hatred.
"Wesley-san, please be quiet."
Stockwell began to stand up. He was beginning to lose it.
"Why you—!"
Vera grabbed him and pulled him back into his chair. "Wesley!"
Everyone was staring at him.
He suddenly got up and headed for the door. "I'm going to go cool off outside."
The others in the room nodded frantically as if saying: Yes! Please do that!
He opened and slammed the door behind him. Vera shakily got up and bowed to the room. "S-Sorry, he's just stressed is all."
She quickly made her way out the room as well.
Everyone quickly shook the daze out of their heads now that the disturbance was gone.
Climb quickly seized the chance to contribute to the conversation. "I-If I may, there's someone else that I think we should add to the plans, his name is Sebas…"
...
Stockwell leaned against the back of the wall and took a deep breath. He turned to Vera.
He forced his mind to calm down.
"Thank you, I'm fine now."
Vera gave him an unsure nod. "I don't mean to tell you your business, Wesley. But I think it would be better to play it cool."
Stockwell sighed nervously and an a hand through his hair. "Something is fishy about this whole situation, I want you to re-equip and go investigate this Jaldabaoth character. How much mana do you have?"
Vera nodded. "Some. Enough. What about you? What are you going to do?"
"I have to stay and keep an eye on Renner. Also, my gear is cooked, courtesy of the vampire."
Vera nodded in understanding.
"What should I do if I find him?"
"Don't fight him of course, just see if you can find anything. Retreat the moment you feel you're in danger."
Vera nodded in understanding once more. Stockwell sighed to calm himself down once more, but it still contained traces of both urgency and anxiety.
"Then go, the adventurers and guards are already forming their lines and Jaldabaoth's second attack should be coming any minute now."
Vera turned and left the palace as quickly as she could. As she left, she saw the countless city guards and adventurers running around to fortify the area.
She prayed that everything would go smoothly and headed back towards the house to re-equip herself.
…
Demiurge's orders to the Pleiades were simple: Spread out and watch the area. Capture any suspicious individuals if possible.
Shizu had equipped her 21st century sniper rifle, because even if it wasn't as powerful as her lazer rifles, it only produced a small amount of light when firing which made it much harder for her position to be exposed. For a mission that required caution and covertness such as this one, it was an ideal choice.
Her position was also an ideal one. She sat at the top of the bell tower overlooking one of the central squares of the business district. The major streets of the capital fanned out below her, granting her undisturbed vision down the cobbled roads for nearly two kilometers, and perfect coverage of the tiled rooftops sandwiched between them. Anyone wishing to gain access to the heart of the warehouse district while also wanting to avoid Jaldabaoth's demons would have to pass under her sights.
She leaned into her scope when she noticed something. She spoke to herself in a robotic, monotone fashion.
"Suspicious person."
She saw the form of a cloaked woman cautiously maneuvering the abandoned streets below her. The target shaped pattern inscribed on Shizu's pupil rotated as she examined the form in her scope. She gazed at the rifle slung across the woman's back, and the gas mask sitting ablight upon her face.
"Shadow Demon-san."
A seething presence emerged from Shizu's shadow.
"Inform Demiurge-sama. Target identified. Attempting capture."
There was no response, but the presence began moving. It faded away into the dark shadow of the bell tower's room cast by the faint moonlight.
"Proceeding with caution."
Shizu's scarf activated and shrouded her body in invisibility. Her pupil dilated as she traced the tiny form in the scope of her rifle.
「Guided Shot」
It was a sniper class skill that allowed her to measure the distance between her and her target, and assist in the aiming process.
"Distance: 865 meters. Aiming for legs."
She stabilized the rifle and brought her finger to the trigger. The gentle mechanical humming of her body fell silent.
She gently squeezed the trigger.
RUMBLE.
…
Vera maneuvered with great care through the abandoned city. She didn't want to attract more attention than she needed to. The fighting had started soon after she left the house, so she had to take a less conventional route to get to the warehouse district. So far she had managed to avoid most of the demons by taking this back route.
She heard a tremendous sound and the ground rumbled beneath her, making her lose her balance. She fell to her hands and knees.
"I wonder what's causing all of these earthquakes…"
She started to pick herself up.
WHIZ.
"W-What?"
She blinked. A bullet had just narrowly missed her. Her eyes grew wide in realization.
860 meters away at the top of a bell tower, an automaton clicked her mechanical tongue. "Mare-sama made me miss…"
Vera sprung to her feet and dove behind the nearest building. Fear was plastered on her face behind the gasmask.
W-Where!? How!? She breathed frantically, trying to organize her thoughts. That was definitely a rifle, not a musket! So how!? Only Wesley and I have rifles, how did this person get one!?
She stared a few meters away at the small crater in the cobbled road left by Shiuz's bullet. I couldn't hear the discharge. They must be far away and suppressed somehow.
She looked at her surroundings. She was safe for now, but she couldn't stay hiding behind the building forever. She was completely boxed in by an alleyway, her only path of escape was the cobbled road with the bullet crater in it.
Think Vera, think.
After exiting the alleyway, she knew she would be immediately shot down before she would be able to make it to the next building across the street.
I can't escape with 「Fly」 either, I would be a sitting duck. Think Vera! There's got to be a way out of this!
She unslung the rifle from her back and loaded in a round. I need to figure out where that sniper is.
She began to cast a spell.
...
Shizu's sights were trained on the corner that her target had disappeared behind. After seeing her enemy's rifle, she operated under the assumption that she was another sniper. That being the case, the safest option would be to keep her pinned down in the alleyway until allies from Nazarick could arrive.
She fired two more shots into the cobbled road, spraying stone fragments into the alleyway.
"Just stay there…"
After only a little while longer, she saw movement. A small sachel had been thrown into the road. It soon erupted into a cloud white smoke, obscuring the road.
"Smokescreen…clever."
Suddenly she saw movement once more. A dark form sprinted across the street at full speed. It was trying to use the smoke as cover.
"...You're cover won't hide you."
「Clear Vision」
Her pupil dilated. The smoke's opacity diminished in her mind, leavening only a silky white haze. She saw Vera's gas mask and nodded motionlessly to herself, though she didn't see the rifle which concerned her.
She focused, she would not miss a second time. She aimed for the legs and fired.
"...Hit."
The cloaked form stumbled and crashed to the ground. The gas mask fell from its face and skidded across the road.
Shizu looked away from her scope and gave a sigh of relief. "Mission complete."
An extended duel with an unknown enemy could've been dangerous. Taking them out quickly was the ideal outcome.
CLINK.
She felt something collide with her gun. And although her face didn't show it, she was utterly surprised.
CLANK. BANG. FIZZ
Bullets ricocheted around the room of the bell tower. Shizu quickly shook the surprise out of her head and retreated behind cover.
She waited until the ricocheting subsided before examining the scope of her rifle.
She took the scope off and examined it closely. A bullet had smashed its way through the first two lenses and firmly lodged itself inside.
That scope was a medium class item from YGGDRASIL, clearly demonstrating the power of her enemy's weapon. Shizu dug the bullet out and examined the warped piece of metal.
"... .300 caliber maybe?...no...non-standard make?...hard to tell… It's heavy…"
The bullet did not resemble any of the equipment she was familiar with. Most surprising of all was that the bullet was not fading away like the projectile from a spell gun normally should.
She removed her eyepatch, revealing a glowing red eye. She needed to get serious.
"Taking three or four of those would be bad."
She switched her rifle to her left hand. Her now uncovered eye distended from her head with a mechanical whirring noise.
"...She determined my position based on the trajectory of four shots...and her accuracy is superb...she has talent..."
And although she was on a serious mission, she let herself smile a little.
...
Vera panted madly.
So they were in the bell tower!
She leaned out her window of her new cover and fired one more round into the window of the bell tower for good measure.
Hopefully that will keep them down for a while. That was insane, the decoy was shot down in an instant.
She looked out at the cobbled road through the open door of the new building she found herself in. The downed skeleton wearing her cloak was slowly crumbling to ash. Her gas mask was lying on the road a few feet away from it.
I need to go back for my gas mask, It would be bad if someone got it. They might assume that Rhamnusia is involved with this whole mess.
She leaned back out against the window and calmed her breathing.
It disturbs me that I couldn't see them though, they were definitely there when I fired my first shot. They must be using invisibility magic.
Vera's brought her face to the scope of her rifle. Her exposed stygilight mail glinted in the light of the distant ghostly flames coming through the window. She fired another shot into the window of the bell tower.
I'll keep pressure on them for a little while longer and escape as soon as I have the chance.
...
CLANK. BANG. FIZZ
Shizu's extended mechanical left eye whirred as it tracked the ricocheting bullet coming through the window.
「Bullet Trace」
"...Calculating possible trajectories."
The path's of the bullets were made clear in her mind thanks to the sniper skill.
"Origin of bullets located. Target found."
She got out from behind her cover in the back of the room, still shrouded by invisibility. She crept up to the window and positioned herself at an angle.
".Safe here. No possible ricochet can hit me here…attempting to disable the target."
「Bounce Shot」
She fired at the metal rims of a cart park outside the building Vera was hiding in.
CLINK. WHIZ Vera was startled when she heard a clink next to her followed by a bullet whizzing past her leg.
What!?
Shizu fired again.
CLINK. WHIZ. The bullet narrowly missed her once more.
Are they seriously ricocheting shots with that kind of accuracy!?
Vera fired another shot into the window of the bell tower. The bullet sailed past the invisible automaton, missing her by millimeters.
CLANK. BANG. FIZZ. It ricocheted perfectly around her.
Shizu's mechanical eye whirred.
"...Adjusting…"
CLINK. WHIZ. SHING. The bullet glanced off of Vera's stygilight mail. She was horrified as she looked down at the mark it had made in the dark metal.
That was a glancing blow after a ricochet and it made a mark on the stygilight!? How powerful is their gun!? My position is compromised, and my shots aren't scaring them at all! I need to get out of here!
She steeled herself for what she was about to do.
She took a deep breath vaulted out of the window. "「Lightning!」"
She aimed at the belltower. She knew that it probably wouldn't hit the enemy sniper, It was just to blind them for a second.
Vera didn't take the time to properly aim the bolt so she could fire off the spell quicker. She felt a very small tug on her fingers, the same tug she felt whenever her lightning neared a large metal object. The lightning ended up going through the bell tower's window and getting absorbed into the massive metal bell.
Shizu had her eyes open in hard focus when Vera had cast her spell. She was blinded by the sudden flash of light, but only momentarily.
The white quickly cleared from her eyes. She moved to get a better look out of the window now that Vera had moved.
"...Where did she go?"
Vera had dived behind the cart that was parked right outside the building she was hiding in. Thankfully it was filled with sacks of flour so it provided decent cover in terms of her ability to hide.
She thought as to what her next move should be. Her eyes opened in revelation.
That's it! The bell!
She found a small gap in the wood paneling of the cart and caressed the barrel of her rifle in it.
Focus, just do what they did. Imagine the ricochet.
The bell was too high to the ceiling of the bell tower to see from her vantage point.
Imagine the spin of the bullet, imagine it bouncing off the windowsill and upwards towards the ceiling.
She focused and the path of the bullet appeared in her mind. She exhaled slowly and squeezed the trigger.
...
Shizu scanned the road below her.
Suddenly her eye tracked a bullet coming towards her.
"...calculating—"
CLANG. DONG.
Shizu reeled in response to the deafening sound of the massive bell being rung just meters above her head. The intense vibrations of the air jostled resonated with the solid material that constituted her body. It made her nauseous.
Her eyes tracked another bullet.
"...Target found—"
CLANG. DONK.
This time the bullet hit higher up on the bell, near where it was connected to the ceiling. It didn't resonate as well so Shizu was able to fight through the painful nausea. She confirmed Vera's location and took aim at the cart.
"...eye for an eye."
She and Vera shot at the same time.
CLANG. DONG. ting ting ting tingtingtingting
FWOOSH.
Shizu gripped her head and contemplated fleeing after the massive bell rang for a third time. This time the bullet ricocheted inside of it for several more bounces before stopping.
However, shizu had been able to get a shot off as well.
The cart of flour that Vera was hiding behind erupted into a cloud of white.
"Gah!"
The flour got into Vera's eye's, blinding her. She stumbled to the ground, desperately trying to flush the powder from her eyes.
The air in the bell tower quivered as the massive piece of metal vibrated.
Shizu steadied her pounding head and raised her rifle.
She saw that Vera was disabled and stumbling around on the ground.
Shizu knew that she had won this duel, and although it had given her quite the head ache, she smiled.
She had enjoyed herself. And while she could tell that her opponent wasn't as experienced as her, she had still been able to fight well enough to really test her skill as a sniper. Shizu felt fulfilled, like she had been able to fight in earnest for the supreme one. Not many others in Nazarick can have claimed to do the same.
"...You did well…I would like to see you again.."
Aiming for the legs, she began to squeeze the trigger.
RUMBLE
The belltower shook with the artificial earthquake.
Vera was quite literally saved by the bell.
The bell had had its connection weakened by Vera's second shot, and the still vibrating bell jostled in the quake.
It came loose and smashed into the floor behind Shizu. It hurtled like a wrecking ball and crashed through every floor of the tower..
As the floor came apart beneath her, Shizu caught herself at the end of a protruding beam. Her rifle plummeted to the ground level.
Vera flushed the flour from her eyes just enough so she could barely see. She sloppily picked up the cloak and gas mask and retreated into the night, praying that she wouldn't be shot in the back.
Shizu hung there for a moment. Her target had managed to escape, so she had nothing to smile about, but regardless she did.
It was an expression that people would have never thought possible to see on her robotic face.
She hung there laughing joyfully to herself in her own robotic fashion. Mare had lost a few points in her book.
...
The battle was turning grim. The orichalcum adventurers were being pushed back.
"Form up!"
The command was filled with desperation. The guards manning the barricades shakily held up their spears in preparation for the next wave of hell hounds.
"We can win if we all just stand our—"
The guards and adventures starred in horror as a winged demon descended from the sky. They all knew who it was simply by the terror it exuded.
The adventurer who had just been screaming orders to hold their ground instantly changed his mind at Jaldabaoth's arrival.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
There was no order to the men's retreat. It was a rout in every sense of the word.
Demiurge laughed lightly behind his mask. He hadn't even done anything yet and the insects were already fleeing in terror. He calmed himself down, preparing himself for what was about to happen.
"Retreat! Retreat—"
The adventurer's crazed orders were interrupted once more. But not by a demon this time. A wall of black metal was standing to meet them.
Momon drew his mighty swords and lifted them towards the demon.
Everyone stopped at his words, men and monsters alike.
"Here I come! De—mon!"
Jaldabaoth cackled.
"Foolish human! You may have won last time, but now—"
Momon jumped toward the demon faster than he could finish the sentence.
"—Impossible!"
Jaldabaoth raised his claws to defend.
The two of them sailed across the battlefield. They crashed into an abandoned building.
…
The door shattered as Ainz drove Jaldabaoth into it, scattering splinters everywhere. The interior was dark and cramped, unsuited for Ainz to swing his sword.
Ignoring Jaldabaoth, Ainz rose to his feet and walked off. Jaldabaoth got up as well and followed him. They entered another room, with a small table, two chairs, and Mare.
Mare pulled up a chair for Ainz to sit. Then, with Ainz's permission, Jaldabaoth removed his mask, revealing Demiurge's face.
"Firstly, is this room secure?" Ainz asked.
"There is no problem. The words spoken here are for our ears alone."
"Is that so... Well, then. First off, I have a favor to ask of you. Do not harm the guards I passed on the way here. While this place is fairly distant from E-Rantel, helping people in distress is good publicity."
"Understood".
Demiurge chuckled for a moment and Ainz raised a non-existent eyebrow at him.
"Forgive me, I was simply thinking about how weak the humans were. We had prepared additional forces just in case they were able to fight back, but it seems that their numbers are actually slightly less than our calculations. Will it be acceptable to transmit orders by telepathy?"
"Go ahead. In the meantime, tell me about your plan."
"Very well. This operation has five main objectives -"
"Ho... I only counted four. Five, you say?"
Demiurge smiled. It was a smile of smug satisfaction.
"I feel as though I have gotten the better of Ainz-sama for once."
Ainz magnanimously waved his hand. Of course, he did not even know what the first four were, but Demiurge's words still made him uneasy all over.
"You've always been one step ahead. I've got a long way to go."
"What are you saying, my liege? Truly, you are too humble."
"No, really— hn, forget it. Then, tell me about these objectives."
"Indeed. To begin with, the objective of attacking the warehouse district was to secure the wealth and goods within and transport them to Nazarick. To facilitate this, I had Shalltear open 「Gate」 in front of the warehouses, and let Pandora's Actor handle the matter of transportation."
This was a very profitable objective indeed. Ainz silently praised Demiurge from the bottom of his heart.
"The second is to cover up our involvement in our attacks on the hideouts of the Eight-Fingers in the area. As you have no doubt surmised, a direct attack on the Eight-Fingers' hideout would arouse suspicion. If we are unlucky, it might even lead to the exposure of Sebas and his contacts. As such, we expanded the area of operations in order to make others think our true aims lay elsewhere. I also planned this to occur on the same night as Princess Renner's raid so that no one would be able to point their finger at us with any degree of certainty."
Demiurge paused as he thought of something.
"It seems that Renner's side of the operation ended in disaster, but this was withinin the range of predicted outcomes, so I digress.
The third objective was to investigate the rumors of Rhamnusia's ties to the organization as well."
The embers in Ainz's eyes brightened in response to the name.
"I will prepare a full report later on what we have learned, but I will tell you a little bit about what we've discovered so far."
Ainz waited in anticipation. He had explicitly warned every guardian to operate with absolute caution after he had read the reports about firearms that used actual gunpowder. Not only was he unsure how such weapons would interact with the denizens of Nazarick, he was also highly aware of the possibility that Rhamnusia could be a fellow player. And if there was something Ainz was unmatched at, it was caution.
"We learned that the rumors of Rhamnusia having connections to the Eight-Fingers were more than deserving. We captured two of the department heads and learned that Rhamnusia was secretly leading them for quite some time. Of the 11 locations we invaded, 7 of them were fortified with firearms."
Ainz panicked inside at the mention of firearms and shifted in his seat. Demiurge noticed this and interpreted it as concern.
"Do not worry. The only ones from Nazarick who were killed during the operation were low leveled summons, and other than that, Entoma and Solution received negligible damage. We managed to secure 78 muskets and 42 flintlock pistols, though, it seems the men carrying them had only been given enough gunpowder for one or two shots so we weren't able to secure very much."
A great weight lifted off of Ainz's boney shoulders. Ah~ Thankfully it seems that real firearms are still weak compared to Nazarick, that's a relief.
Demiurge smiled after sensing his master's relief. He continued on to explain the last of the objectives of their plan: To hopefully bait out and investigate Shalltear's brainwashers, and to build Jaldabaoth's infamy and Momon's fame.
Ainz smiled to himself after finally learning Demiurges plans.
"Then, shall we begin? Demiurge, I'll leave the battle damage to you. Also, you're able to move the flames of Gehenna, right? There aren't too many witnesses around here, so let's keep the duel mobile and move around a bit to build as much fame as possible."
"Assuredly. Mare, send the signal. It will be an earthquake, like the last time."
…
Stockwell, the royalty, and nobility alike roamed about the palace's greeting hall.
The floor was packed tight with the groaning bodies of adventurers and city guards. There was a non-stop flow of people coming through the door being carried on stretchers.
Priests had been summoned from the temples to help heal the injuries of men that were fighting on the frontlines, but the amount of help that they provided was a drop in the bucket in the face of the overwhelming influx of wounded men.
Stockwell gazed at the seared claw marks embellishing the chests of the men packed on the floor. He then looked over to Princess Renner.
Anyone watching her would've called her a saint. Despite being a member of the royalty, she did not hesitate to tend to the men's bandages. She did her best to smile and greet every injured man that came through the door. To the wounded men who had just been fighting demons on the front lines, she was nothing less than an angel.
Stockwell glared at her. This two-faced whore! She's the one who probably planed this whole-
He caught Climb glaring at him. Stockwell took a deep breath.
Just calm down. I need to stay calm and wait for Vera to come back.
Climb turned away and got back to tending to the men's bandages.
Just...just look on the bright side. Most of the arsenic and sodium nitrate left the capital for E-Pespel this morning, so thankfully I won't lose those.
But he suddenly felt a small ember of rage grow inside of him once more. But I also had a large portion of my company's assets stored in those warehouses! This will put me behind half a year at least if they're destroyed by that damn demon! I just want to—!
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He suddenly turned to face the man who placed his hand there, his face still reflecting his internal rage. He exploded at him.
"What do you want!?"
Marquis Raeven reeled at the insane look in Stockwell's eyes. Stockwell realized that many of the people in the room were looking at him and that he was scaring Raeven. He quickly calmed his tone and apologized.
"S-Sorry, Mr. Raeven, I... I'm just a little stressed at the moment."
Raeven nodded with empathy.
"I can tell. Here."
He handed Stockwell a small cup of tea.
"Thankyou."
Raeven nodded. He sat down on the small steps that led up to the stage at the front of the room. He sighed. He then revealed a small thermos and poured himself another cup of tea.
Raeven's hair had become almost as gray as his own in only a short amount of time. Stockwell sat down next to him and took a sip of the tea.
It was delicious.
"Thank you, Mr. Raeven- Or do you prefer san?"
Stockwell still found it strange how the auto translate tended to intermingle both English and Japanese honorifics.
"Either or is fine, it doesn't make much of a difference to me."
They looked out upon the sea of groaning men. Raeven looked at them with tired eyes. He chuckled ruefully to himself and ran his fingers through his graying hair.
"I'm younger than 40 and I'm already starting to look like you."
Stockwell simply stayed quiet. After all, Stockwell was almost 70 years old, he just looked middle age due to modern medicine and gene therapy.
Raeven sighed and continued.
"Men like us have to stick together."
Stockwell raised an eyebrow at him. "Men like us? I'm afraid we probably have less in common than you think."
"Are you sure? We're both suffering at the hands of a demon, we both know what the Golden Princess is really like behind closed doors, and now we both have blood on our hands."
"How did…?" Stockwell stopped himself. How did you know I have blood on my hands!?
Raeven chuckled tieredly. "I saw the tally marks on your dagger when you handed it to Climb-kun on the night of the ball."
Stockwell began to shift, but Raeven put his hand up to stop him.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."
He rested his head on his hands and looked back out upon the greeting hall.
"We all have our reasons for killing. And as of this night, I'm probably responsible for the deaths of….no, as of this night, I've killed probably more people than one could fit in this entire room."
Raeven took another sip of his tea.
"I guess...I guess I've been feeling rather empathetic recently. Or perhaps I just needed a friend to talk to."
Stockwell turned to Raeven. The noble was looking down at the ground like a man at loss for words.
Stockwell got the feeling from his eyes that he could break him at a single misplaced word.
"Do...do you have children, Wesley-san?"
Stockwell shook his head. "...Didn't want to bring others into this hellish universe."
Raeven nodded sadly and continued.
"I suppose I share some of the same sentiments. Well then, you see, Wesley-san, my son,my little Rii-tan, he was born out of a loveless marriage. The entire reason he was conceived was because I needed an heir to inherit my estate. But at the moment..."
Raeven took a deep breath and continued.
"...The moment his little hand grasped my finger, something changed inside of me. I fell in love with him. I thought that if I could just be a good father and live in peace, we would all have a happy life. So I stopped aiming for the throne and committed myself to making this place a peaceful kingdom. I thought…"
Raeven paused.
"...I thought that I was becoming a better person because of Rii-tan. I thought I could become someone that he would be proud of."
Raeven continued to look at the ground with eyes awash in melancholy.
"Wesley-san, even...even if her highness is a monster, on someone's request, I did something terrible to her...no...not just to her, but to everybody. I thought that the gods were forgive me if I was only doing it out of love but…"
He turned his gaze to meet Stockwell's
"...but does that still make me an evil person? Even if it was just to save him, will Rii-tan... will my little boy still want to call me papa after he learns what I've done."
Stockwell pondered for a moment. After seeing the look in Raeven's eyes, he realized how easy it would be to utterly break the man. In fact, he became morbidly curious and played around with the idea in his head for a while. I wonder what would happen if I simply said...
He realized that Raeven was still looking at him and that he was taking too long. He shook the thoughts out of his head. Why would I even need to do something like that? Where is this rage coming from?
He gave him the warmest smile he was capable of.
"Of course that doesn't make you evil, you were put in an unfair situation so the laws of fairness and justice don't strictly apply here. The blame lies solely on whatever forced you into such an unfair situation to begin with."
Raeven nodded. And even if he only thought that Stockwell was just simply being polite to cheer him up, he desperately craved any kind of affirmation.
"Thank you, Wesley-san."
Raeven slowly stood back up to his feet. After that, he did something that no noble should ever do, he bowed to a commoner. Though, Raeven hadn't thought of himself as anything as grand as a "Noble" for quite some time.
"I'm sorry for spilling all of my thoughts onto you. I'll get out of your hair now."
Stockwell simply nodded and watched him leave. …what a funny guy.
He took another sip of his tea, and for a brief second, he had forgotten about his many troubles.
That second immediately ended when Vera came barging through the door. He was able to catch the blackish glint of stygilight plate mail peeking out from underneath her brown cloak. It told him that she had changed and came back as quickly as possible.
Stockwell stood up and watched her skillfully dodge the bodies and stretchers as she hurriedly made her way to him. He saw the urgency written on her face and felt the seeds of panic growing in him once more.
He gestured that they should both go and discuss things in the corner.
Stockwell prepared himself as Vera reached him.
She talked in a whisper.
"Wesley, I don't know how, but someone else out there had a rifle."
"What!?"
He yelled in his surprise. Everyone turned to look at him once more and he quickly dropped back down to a whisper.
"What do you mean by someone had a rifle? Are you sure it wasn't a musket that we handed out that someone managed to get a hold of."
"It was without a doubt a rifle, they were able to shoot at me from half a kilometer away. And they didn't just find a rifle lying around either, they've had to have years of practice. They were good, too good."
"What!?"
Vera shuddered and pulled up the cloak to show her leg to Stockwell. He examined the mark on the black plate guarding her shin.
"This mark was left by a glancing blow after the bullet had already ricocheted off of the rims of a cart."
Stockwell's eyes grew wide. He forced his voice to stay down.
"That's insane! Even the most powerful sniper rifles from where I came from wouldn't be able to mark stygilight from half a kilometer away after a ricochet! They must have been using magic somehow, they must have been…"
Stockwell stopped when he realized he was still missing the most important part about Vera's information. There were only two ways someone in this world would've been able to get their hands on a high powered sniper rifle.
One, they managed to get a hold of one of the muskets, which of course had only been in circulation around the eight-fingers for only a day or so, and briefly in a couple of villages for about a week. Then, after finally managing that, they were able to figure out how to make jacketed rounds and primers completely from scratch. And finally after all of that, were able to figure out the theory of rifling as well as the intricate reload mechanisms of the gun itself, and do all of that without a clear model to work off of.
Even with magic, doing all of that in the matter of a week was simply too impossible. That being the case, the only other option was that...
Vera looked at him with concern. "Wesley."
"...They must have been from Earth."
"Earth? You mean your home?"
Stockwell let off a soft, slightly insane laughter.
"Haha...Of course, I was brought into this world, so what's to say that other Earthlings aren't here as well."
He started to finger the dagger underneath his coat and he began to amble away from the corner. His eyes began to lose focus.
"Where were they hiding? How...who...where? Just what else do they have?"
Vera started to approach him. She started to recognize the familiar signs.
"Wesley."
"But if they think that they can out tech me, then—!"
A wall of ghostly flames passed through the building. The ethereal flames simply passed through the front wall and continued forward and passed through them like a ghost. It was clear that Jaldabaoth had extended his perimeter to the royal palace.
An adventurer came barging through the doors and never would anybody have thought that someone could scream so loudly.
"It's Jaldabaoth! He's here! And he's fighting with Momon-sama!"
"What!?"
Panic filled the room and the able bodied rushed outside to see. Stockwell, Vera, Marquis Raeven, Climb, Renner, everyone who could move rushed through the doors and out of the palace..
The area just outside the palace had transformed into a hellscape. Gazef and the royal guard had hastily reformed their lines now that demons had begun to assault them from every direction. Guards and adventurers were being slaughtered by the second by flying demons and devourers.
For the humans, it was like they were trying to stop a hurricane of death and fire with a hastily formed line of spears. But even so…
At the eye of this storm, In the middle of the sea of demons, Momon was fighting a duel of mythical proportions with Jaldabaoth.
The after-images of countless swords, parried and countered by the extended claws of Jaldabaoth. Swords that if made of adamantite or anything of comparable density must have weighed well over a hundred kilograms. And yet, he swung each of them around like a pair of toothpicks fast enough to leave after images.
The small party of people who had rushed out to see the spectacle stared in awe behind Gazef's lines.
For a moment, Vera forgot about the man next to her and whispered underneath her breath.
"...Incredible."
And as far as the man next to her went, well...his emotions were difficult to discern to say the least.
Stockwell's maddening wayward eyes scanned the battlefield and those around him.
"...Where...Where is my enemy...?"
He began to meander towards the desperately crumbling fortifications. His fingers were madly playing with the dagger beneath his coat.
"...where...who is my enemy?"
His field of vision turned red and green with confusion. The heads of the guards had turned 180 around their necks to turn and face him. Their faces deformed and flowed down into the ground. The faces coalesced and the floor underneath him began to mock him.
"Where!? Who!?"
Vera noticed and turned. Her eyes flashed with worry.
"Wesley! Stop it! You're-"
Stockwell suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He had gotten just close enough to Momon and Jaldabaoth's duel to truly grasp the scale of their battle. His understanding screamed bloody murder at him through his chaotic state of mind.
The numbers cycling through his head pertaining to the forces that were being exchanged between the two god-like beings told him one thing.
"...It's unfair."
He dropped to his knees and clutched his head in pain. The ground underneath him continued to mock him, laughing at his powerlessness.
"It's unfair. I don't want to do this any more."
Seeing the duel, and thinking about it rationally, his position was made clear. Nothing he could ever do would matter here, just as it had been on Earth. He could collect all the wealth and knowledge of the entire planet and it would still be insignificant in the face of true power.
The universe itself conspired to be unfair. And he didn't wish to be a part of it anymore.
Vera began to rush towards him.
Stockwell screamed out his entire soul.
His eyes clouded over and he sprung from his kneel. He charged towards the eye of the storm.
"Wesley!"
In that moment, the cloud surrounding Stockwell's mind had gathered so thick, that Vera's voice would never have been able to penetrate it even if she tried for a million years.
"AhHhHhHhHhHH!"
He shoved a guard out of his way and vaulted over the barricade. Marquis Raeven and many of the others turned their sight away from Momon for just a second to see the businessman charge into a sea of demons armed with nothing but a single dagger.
"Wesley-san?"
"...Mr. Wesley?"
"The Gray Wolf?"
The hellhounds and imps locked in melee with the guards turned their gazes at Stockwell's insane barbaric yawp. As if drawn in by the man's hysteria, they broke away from the guards and charged him in one mind.
The sea of red closed in on him as he continued to charge toward the eye of the storm with single minded intensity.
"Shit! 「Fly!」 「lightning!」"
Vera flew towards the barricades and outstretched her hands. Bolts of light extended from her fingers.
The lighting shot out from over the barricade and cleared the demons closing in on Stockwell.
Completely oblivious, the madman continued to charge.
Ainz and Demiurge were still fiercely locked in their duel. They looked out of the corner of their eyes to see a madman sprinting towards them, dagger raised high in the air. Oddly enough, it wasn't exactly clear who his target was.
Ainz furrowed his non-existent brows. Isn't that the Stockwell look-alike?
He shook his head and made a wordless gesture to Demiurge, as if to say: Make a scene, but don't kill him. It'll make for a better show if I manage to save him.
Momon and Jaldabaoth exchanged a fierce volley of blows and separated. Jaldabaoth exposed his defenseless side to the madaman.
Stockwell was only a few meters away, he put every ounce of strength he had behind his dagger and pounced at the demon.
All eyes on the battlefield, demon and human alike, turned towards the madman. It was impossible not to be captivated by the scene of a powerless human with nothing but a dagger, recklessly charging a demon emperor.
"AhHHhHhHHHHHHHHhhH!"
Though no one really expected the man to accomplish anything, any small hopes they may have indeed had were snuffed out in an instant.
Without even looking away from Momon, Jaldabaoth stopped the dagger with the soft pad of his left pinky finger.
"Foolish human, you— hmm?"
A normal person would have at least shown some pause at their blade being stopped with just a finger, but the madman's mind had long since degraded past anyform of logical judgment. He only wished to stab at that which he hated.
"AhHHhhHhHHHhH!"
He immediately pulled away his dagger and thrusted again.
Jaldabaoth rolled his eyes. He stopped the dagger again, this time catching it between his thumb and middle finger.
The madman continued to struggle with the dagger, but it was locked in an iron grip. Demiurge gave the man another once over. His eyes narrowed.
"Begone."
The dagger's blade shattered between Demiurge's fingers and he released a wave of killing intent.
Though there was physically nothing there, everyone watching could've sworn that Jaldabaoth was standing in the middle of a vortex of black swirling aura. Climb who was watching from a distance felt that it rivaled if not surpassed the strength of Sebas's. He collapsed. In fact, every single being on the battlefield, demon and human alike, collapsed to the ground. All of the low level demons surrounding them dropped dead to the ground. Vera dropped out of the sky and the guards manning the barricades began to double over and vomit, such was the demon's unrestrained power.
Demiurge stopped the storm and Stockwell looked up at him with eye's full of both awe and fear.
Seeing that he had gotten the madman's attention, he cast an 8th tier spell.
In YGGDRASIL, the spell inflicted a wide range of debilitating debuffs, but in the New World it did as the name implied.
"「Power Word: Pain.」"
As Demiruge Spoke a wave of energy formed from his mouth and permeated Stockwells mind. A sensation far more intense than even the backlash he felt during his fight with Evileye manifested.
His knees buckled. His muscles spasmed and his joints felt like they've been ripped out replaced with shards of broken glass. His stomach filled with bile. He vomited and when he did it felt like someone forcing a white hot hammer down his esophagus, tearing his flesh apart.
Blood pooled in the back of throat, choking and gagging him with a slick coppery taste of burnt pennies. Everything surface of his body itched like an open wound. One moment his skin was on fire the next second it was encased in ice.
Every pain sensor in his body fired at the same time. No— he had somehow manifested even more pains sensors than he should have had.
Agony was no longer a word or a concept. It was his only reality
Outwardly, he appeared to fall unconscious with his eyes open. He slipped into a dream were the boundaries of the living hell outside blended into the dreamscape of his own mind.
Jaldabaoth brought his right hand around and made an 'O' with his thumb and middle finger. He brought it to Stockell's forehead.
"Begone insect."
Jaldaboath flicked Stockwell away.
The humans and demons alike recovered just enough in order to see the businessman sailing through the air.
A blur of black metal intercepted him.
Momon caressed him in his arms like a maiden.
"You're safe now, I'm—"
Gah! He's unconscious! Learn to hold back Demiurge!
Stockwell's neck was sprained and he had a massive red welt on his forehead. He was muttering gibberish underneath his breath as he hung limply in Momon's arms.
He looked over to demiurge who gave him a subtle gesture as if to say: My apologies, I did what you asked and didn't kill him.
They wordlessly signaled to each other and Jaldabaoth immediately charged the Dark warrior.
"You fool! By saving the human, you left yourself open to attack—"
「Magnetic Launch!」
The sword that Momon had set down on the ground to tend to Stockwell suddenly rocketed toward Jaldabaoth.
Gah! More and more people keep showing up!
The attack wasn't threatening, as Jaldabaoth had blocked sword strikes from Momon that were going ten times its speed. What was interesting however was that even if it was only slightly, he felt a force pulling him towards the sword as well. He stopped his charge just simply out of curiosity and caught the sword.
Vera landed at Momon's feet. Her voice was full of urgency.
"Momon-sama, give him to me."
"Um— Sure."
Momon handed Stockwell's limp body to Vera.
"「Fly!」"
Vera began to rise back up into the air.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Jaldabaoth tossed the sword that had just been launched at him around in the air and caught it at the hilt. He took aim at the retreating woman's back.
"You forgot something."
He hurtled it at her at unreal speeds.
"Not so fast, demon!"
The audience cheered when a blur of black metal intercepted the sword, saving the woman. They cheered hysterically at every small victory accomplished by the warrior against a demon that had shown them the meaning of fear.
Momon landed and spread his now completed set of greatswords.
"Let's finish this."
...
Vera made her way back behind the barricades and collapsed to the ground. Stockwell was heavy and she was running too low on mana the maintain the 「Fly」 spell.
Raeven and Climb rushed to them.
Raeven got down to one knee and examined Stockwell who was still clutching the hilt of his broken dagger. He tried to chuckle lightly but it contained hints of disturbed hysteria.
"I don't know if that was the bravest or the craziest thing I've ever seen, Wesley-san. You too, Miss Vera."
Vera tried to smile and nodded through a ragged breath.
"Help me take him back to our house."
"Yes."
Raeven looked around the battlefield for one of his men, but he realized that he should be the one to actually physically help them.
He gestured to Vera and she helped to drag Stockwell onto his shoulders. They supported Stockwell in between them and continued toward their house, unconcerned about the possibility of being attacked by demons.
It sounded like Momon was engaging in his final dialogue with Jaldabaoth behind them.
Climb watch them leave, wondering how in the gods' name how the man had managed to survive the wave of Jaldabaoth's killing intent from point blank range.