Killing the nth imp with her enchanted sword, she ran around the ship. In hope of finding someone to talk with. The ship was on fire. And if the structure of the ship was truly made of flesh, mostly, then in the next few hours, she would be walking around in a roasted ship.
It was something that her sisters would enjoy to see, but Nabe was not into such type of stuffs.
The imps were not even putting a challenge as her blade sliced them off like a hot knife cutting through butter. At most, they were just annoyance not a hindrance. Saving her mana was the most important thing right now.
As she walked in another chamber, her eyes widened in surprise at number of pods filled with many different races, most humanoids of course.
Some were in deep pain, while others were in coma. Among them, a crimson woman could be seen fighting with the imps, killing some brain-like dogs. Her broken horns and glowing chest put her an odd type of imp. A wingless imp to be exact.
Nabe sighed in relief. Here she wondered that there were no other heteromorphs. She thanked the supreme beings for being proven wrong. Though she hated to party up with the outsiders, she knew that Lord Ainz would not mind making friends with the very same outsiders. Something she and others yet to understand the logic behind of.
She stepped forward to greet herself, but then a powerful explosion shook the whole ship. She quickly used [Fly] on herself.
Though the crimson girl was not that lucky. As she drifted away alomgwith the imps.
Just great. Now she had to found her all over again. And amusingly, one of the brain dog had grabbed her leg in order to survive the fall.
Fall?
Her head was filled with the information of a falling ship, that she was on. From the gazes of other inhabitants, like her own perception had taken over them. It was a small glimpse but a helpful one to find the true status of situation.
"[Penetrate Magic : Electrosphere]"
Using the third tier spell, she destroyed the roof with ease and flew out. Now, being outside of the ship, she saw the fall of occupants of the ship dying tragically...
... only to be saved before they could break their heads.
"Flight magic? No, it seems to be psychic." Nabe whispered to herself as the presence of powerful psychic ability washed over her. Though her anti-divination items rejected the effect altogether. She was cautious enough to not go anywhere near of them. Who knows what kind of traps laid around them?
She watched over the new location and gently flew around the beach with the brain dog on her leg. Once finding a good spot to land, she descended there.
"Get off of me!" She stopped her foot on the ground, throwing away the creature as well. She pointed her finger at it ready to fry this thing.
The creature in question was shivering at her deadly stare. It was trying to speak with her, but her items blocked the telepathic link off. Fortunately, she decided to prone its mind to get the answers.
"Please don't kill us! We are innocent. Please!" The words sounded similar to that of a child, yet she remained cautious.
Nabe asked, "What are you? And what exactly are you doing around me? Are you related to that ship?"
At her questions, it answered, "We are called Intellect Devourers. We are the creations of our masters, born to be their thralls. When we saw you killing the imps, we decided to follow you for our safeguard. Please spare us, strong one!"
It, the intellect devourer, begged her with its sweetest tone. Though Nabe had no idea what to do with this creature. She would let this creature follow her. If lucky as on her side, she would find her way back to Nazarick. There, Lord Demiurge could use this thing for whatever experiments he wanted to conduct. That would also solve her lack of absence at Nazarick at the same time. Till then, she would let this brain dog follow her. And if it tried to do anything funny with her, then she would...
"I will kill you like a roasted brain and shove you to the worst Residence of Nazarick. You better not betray me." She commanded.
"Yes! We will do our best to help you out. You are the only one with a strong mind around here. We will do our best to be useful for you!" It spoke enthusiastically.
Nabe was amused. She did not consider this creature to be of any use aside for corpse material for her master. If she sensed anything wrong with it, she would kill it immediately.
"Now tell me, how are you going to help me?" She asked it. Though she had no faith on its capabilities, she was quickly surprised by what it did then.
Her mind felt much more opened, like she was aware of her surroundings despite not using any spell. It was kind if amazing to see, feel, or know of location without needing any spell.
"What did you do?" She questioned with an interested gaze.
"We boosted your awareness temporarily. Though it has some cost." It explained.
"And how much is the cost exactly?" She inquired as this awareness enhancement power seemed way more useful than any spell she had.
"We need to feed on memories, or some ample supplies of mental energy. Then, we can share some of our reserves with your mind too."
She blinked her eyes as she processed the information she got, "Huh?"
.
.
.
.
Tavain groaned in pain as he grabbed his shaking head. His eyes blinked as he observed the nearby beach. The nautiloid's carcass was not too far away from him. The ship brought some bad memories that froze him for a moment.
He remembered the fight he had in the ship. But the worst of all was the tadpole in his head. His spine shivered at the thought of turning into a mindflayer.
He quickly stood up as quickly as possible. He'd to hurry. He checked his gears, which was mostly his pants and his pouches around the waist. These pouches had herbs and other money for his travels. Being an Arctic dwarf, he was completely immune to ice-type attacks. As a Monk, he lived his life in seclusion and rarely interacted with the settlements.
As he was about to move away, he found the unconscious form of Shadowheart not far from him. He recalled her to be a cleric except her deity's name. She was a very helpful ally when facing against the devils and that mindflayer. She deserved to be helped.
He woke her up from her unconscious state.
"Wake up girl! This is not a place to sleep. Wake up." He called her out of her dreams as she grabbed her head as well.
Suddenly a sharp pain filled his head. Shadowheart seemed to carry the said pain too. It was a reminder of the future they were going to walk. A fate worse than death was awaiting them.
"Yo-You alright, lass?!" He asked her with a fatherly tone.
"I am fine..." She somehow stood up and stared at the beach with confusion, "Where are we?"
Her question was left unanswered. Tavain had nothing to satiate her question as he was not familiar with this place as well. The vegetation and soil were different than the ones he had seen in the monastery.
"I don't know. But we must hurry or else we will join our captors' ranks as well." He replied grimly.
At that reply, Shadowheart nodded with a hardened look on her face. She knew what was coming their way.
'Crash'
The crashing sound was heard by both of them. As they investigated the source of this crash, they came across a dragonborn. A white dragonborn to be exact. By his attire alone, he came off a civilian. But they could be wrong about his profession.
"Hey, you okay there?" Tavain asked with concern.
"I am... not okay. My head feels heavy,... ughh!" He grabbed his head with a painful cry. It kind of scared the dwarf and the half-elf as they stepped back from him.
"Ahhh... where... what... happened here... ?" He asked panting at the same time.
"We don't know too. But we are going to find the cure of these, want to join?" Tavain asked the dragonborn as he gave him the hand.
"Yeah... that will save my time. The name is Dergel."
"Well, hello Dergel. Hope we get along." Tavain welcomed the new guy. Shadowhear took the lead to help him to walk.
Far away from them, Nabe watched the trio with curiosity. She wondered if she should join these patients on their journey for the cure or just observe them from afar.