The following day, they could all feel the ground shake as all could feel the Spirit Tortoise moving across the land, stamping anything under its feet as it moved.
"God-damn, that is one gigantic reptile." Ty said, looking at the beast through some binoculars as he, Kat and Kumoko were scouting the Spirit Tortoise.
"Understatement, that thing is ultra-huge!" Kumoko said. "There's no way we can beat something that big!"
"It's so nerve wracking even being this close to it… why did Ainz ask us to do this again?" Kat asked.
"Probably so we can have an edge to see where this thing's going. It's moving just as the others thought, right towards the largest populated area." Ty said.
"So let's get outta…" Kumoko said before she moved down to the ground.
"Hey what are…" Ty said before seeing Kumoko chewing on an arm. "Really? You're eating up the dead?"
"Hey, I can't help it." Kumoko said.
"Well at least show some…" Ty said looking at some of the bodies. "Wait…I've seen some of these people before. They were with the Sword Hero's party, weren't they?"
"But that would mean…" Kat said.
"Grr…I thought those three idiots gave up too easily." Ty said. "Let's see… everyone in Ren's party is accounted for here except the man himself."
"Do you think he's…you know…" Kumoko said.
"Yeah, it's possible. But if he is, he didn't die here." Ty said. "Given the states of the other two parties, they'd sooner run than face this thing."
"Speaking of running, shouldn't we be doing that before we get stepped on?" Kumoko asked.
"Right. Contact Ainz as we do so." Ty said as he and Kat got on Kumoko as she started using webbing to flee from the path.
"I see….that would explain things. Continue to monitor." Ainz said. "Well…seems we were right to worry. It would seem the Sword, Spear and Bow heroes did come to this land to fight the Spirit Tortoise."
"And…how are they?" Hope asked.
"No sightings of the Bow Hero or Spear Hero parties, and the Sword Hero's party is all dead. However, the bodies of the three heroes have not been found, so their status is currently unknown." Ainz said.
"So it's a 50/50 chance that Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki are still alive." Hope said.
"I feel bad for Ren. If he is still alive, he's gonna have a hard time adjusting to the fact he set himself and his party on a suicide mission and got them all killed." Visha said.
"The other two parties are probably still alive. They likely chose their own lives over their companions and fled, leaving the two heroes for dead." Demiurge said. "Typical for cowards."
"Yeah, they weren't exactly top-draw, but we thought they'd at least be able to back them up. But considering how Motoyasu and Itsuki treat them… Guess not." David said.
"Motoyasu was an idiot who picked women and tried to be a dashing gentleman. Big mistake since that woman went and used him every step of the way." Kaze said. "Itsuki…somehow I don't think he was the one mistreating them…I think…it was the other way around."
"Are you saying his own party was just using him?" Jesmon asked.
"Some of them were pretty shady-looking. It wouldn't be much of a surprise if he was taken advantage of." Crusadermon said.
"And he was too naive to think that because of his Righteous Hero act." Tanya said. "You try to be a self-serving hero of justice? People are gonna take advantage of your kindness."
"Ouch. That's not gonna bode well for the kid's psyche." Grantz winced.
"If they're still alive after this, you guys are gonna have a lot of work to do." Ragna said.
"It was hard work already trying to find ways to get them in line." Ristarte said. "Well worry about that later though. Right now, we've got a two-ton tortoise bearing down on us who wants a buffet of souls."
"Are all the nations' armies in position to pull off the strategy we came up with?" Sakura asked.
"Ready and waiting!" Ed confirmed.
"Then let's get to work. We can't leave Ty, Kat and Kumoko by themselves to get killed out there." Legolia said.
"Right. Prepare the troops! We depart…to the Spirit Tortoise." Ainz commanded.
With Naofumi and his party at the head, the united force charged straight towards the Spirit Tortoise.
"Okay…here's the plan. The soldiers in that chasm ahead will attack it and try to chop off a foot to cripple it. After that, we'll come in and lop off its head." Theo said.
"In the meantime…we got company." Neumann said, as the Spirit Tortoise's familiars swarmed en masse towards the united front.
"That's a lot of familiars… Naofumi, y'might wanna-" Ethox said.
"I know, I know. Hate Reaction!" Naofumi declared as the familiars changed targets and flocked towards the Shield Hero and his allies.
"Now we've rattled the cage… Alright, it's a high stakes game of tag here in Melromarc, and we're all it!" Nemo said. "Kick it into high gear, Filo!"
"Okay!" Filo said as she ran like the wind, the other groups keeping pace.
"Ranged fighters, focus on the bats! Melee fighters, take out the Yeti's!" Ainz commanded.
"Of course." Revali said as he fired at a few of the bats.
"We're on it!" Eijiro said as he and some of the hand to hand fighters pummeled a few of the yeti's.
Ethox dashed towards a trio of yetis, jumping over one of their arms swinging towards them, landed behind them, quickly switched to the Poseidon Hammer, and swung with all his might, sending all three crashing to the ground. "Alright! Getting better every day!"
The soldiers of the 203rd quickly formed up, gunning down as many bat familiars as they could get their eyes on.
"That's five for me!" Grantz remarked.
"Five? I'm on fifteen!" Koeing spoke up. "You can do better than that, Vooren!"
"It's not a competition, First Lieutenant." Matheus chided.
As the fight raged on, Ty, Kat and Kumoko were quickly getting to the scene where the tortoise was.
"So that's why all the bats chasing us diverted." Kat said.
"It must be part of the strategy. We deal with the familiars, the nations slow the tortoise down." Ty said. "So we'd better do our part to make sure this works. They probably want all the familiars toast."
"Then I guess we should help out, right?" Kat asked.
"No doubt. Let's get it!" Ty said, pounding his fists and he and Kat leaped off Kumoko's back in mid air to join the fight, the Arachne following right behind.
As soon as he touched the ground, Ty immediately engaged the Yeti Familiars. "Let's dance, you mangy furballs! Who's first?!" he asked as the yetis charged in as singular groups. Ty dodged one at a time and countered with hard hitting blows via his fists.
Kat activated her gravity powers with Dusty as she used Micro Black Hole, forming a small black hole and engulfing herself as it unleashed a series of destructive energy pulses, dealing multiple hits to the Yetis surrounding her.
"Okay…it's about time we dealt with the big ugly reptile." Kumoko said, drawing out a large scythe as she leapt at the Spirit Tortoise before swinging the blade, cutting off one of its legs as it let out a cry of anguish.
"Oh hell yeah! We did it! Take that you…" Ty said before the trio noticed large purple spikes forming on its shell. "Uh…"
"Don't tell me…it has a way to attack even if it can't move?!" Kumoko said.
The spikes began to shoot upward, before they fell down the earth onto the soldiers, devastating the allied forces.
"Holy crap!" Zephyr said as the allied heroes watched.
"This is insane. Does it really need all those souls?" Theo asked.
"No. This is far more souls than it needs. I suspect whoever is controlling it is behind that." Ost said.
"Meteor Shield!" Naofumi called out as he protected the group from an incoming projectile. "This thing is gonna slaughter us."
"Yeah…we don't have any options left. We need to go right to it and cut off the head." Theo said.
"How do we do that huh?" Garfiel asked.
"An option I didn't think we would need to use but now have no choice…Full Frontal Charge." Theo said.
"Full Frontal Charge? Are you crazy?!" Kazuma asked.
"No, he's right. Look." Naofumi pointed towards the Spirit Tortoise. "None of those spikes are hitting near it. It won't hurt itself."
"If we run now, we're sure to die. Getting closer is our only hope." Mirror Match agreed.
"Once we get close, the mage unit will fire a spell at its neck to make a wound. After that, we'll use that to take the thing's head. Now…are we ready to die for this kingdom?" Theo asked as they all mostly cheered before running at the tortoise.
"If this goes south, I'll see you all in Valhalla." David said.
"Take it easy, will you? I already died once, remember? I don't plan on having that happen again sometime soon." Genis said.
"Well, most of us really haven't. So, we don't know what it's like." DJ replied.
"Give it some time, you're hanging with the right crowd." Genis said.
"Let's go!" Theo said as they got closer and closer to the monster as a Judgment spell was cast from the mage unit, leaving a large wound right in the side of its neck. "There's our weak spot! Let's hurry before…" he said before they were stopped by strange looking creatures with lion heads, mantis claws and tortoise shells.
"More familiars? What are these guys supposed to be?" Maple asked.
"They look like some kind of parasites." Naofumi said.
"This ain't no chimera I've ever heard of." David said.
"Chimera? Oh, because of the mix-and-match body parts. Got it." Jesse said.
"We aren't letting a couple parasites block us now!" Jexi said as the hand to hand fighters cleared the way for the group to advance to the tortoise.
"We've got a clear shot." Naofumi said as both Raphtalia and Filo were sent right at the wound as both attempted to widen it. "Don't even think of running away!" he said, using an Air Strike Shield to wedge into the wound.
"Now or nothing." Theo said. "You with me?"
"Always, brother." Ethox said as the two leapt towards where the wound was.
Ethox switched from Deep Diver to Way of the East and activated Discipline of the Tiger: Claw Booster for a better attack. "Eastern Disciplinary Art! Grand Tiger Slash!"
"Combat of the Stars! Cosmic Force Slash!" Theo said as he and Ethox timed their attacks with Raphtalia's and Filos as all four struck against the Air Strike Shield as they forced to cut right through the neck before finally severing the head of the Spirit Tortoise.
"Decapitation~!" DW let a voice clip cry out from his phone.
"Please forgive us, but you left us no other choice." Thorani said.
"It was trying to kill everyone! Don't sympathize with it!" most of them said.
"Um…" Kat said. "I hate to ruin the moment but…" she said, pointing to Ost who stood nearby.
"But…the familiars were supposed to vanish after the Tortoise died. So…that means…it's still alive?!" Theo said.
"Yes, it would seem so." Ost said, innocently smiling. "Apologies, but it looks like you haven't quite defeated it yet."
"What now?" Leonora asked.
"We're heading back to camp to regroup. After that, we decide how best to take out the tortoise before it has a chance to revive." Theo said.
"We'd better think of something fast, or at least hope this thing's recovery is as slow as its movement." Ty said. "Either way, this ain't over yet."