Chapter 13: Price of Pride

Tsa POV

When words of the Catastrophe Dragon Lord's revival and prompt deployment of the Black Scripture reached him, The Platinum Dragon Lord, Tsaindorcus Vaision, had made a decision to tail them from afar, while keeping his presence concealed.

However, his staking out was suddenly halted when he noticed the retreating form of the Black Scripture members. They all looked like they barely escaped with their lives, with two members already dead, judging by the corpses that were being carried away.

"Was this Catastrophe Dragon Lord's doing?" Tsa asked himself right before he felt the use of powerful magic. Curious as to what that was, he swiftly used the spell [World-Teleportation, to close the gap between himself and the magic source. On arriving to his destination, his armour was suddenly engulfed in an explosion. Though the explosion did damage him slightly, Tsa did not let it bother him as peered through the dust kicked up by the trap.

Since the keen sensory abilities of Dragons far exceeded those of humanity, seeing through the dust cloud was not difficulty.

To his far right was a human boy, whose eyes matched the armor he was controlling. From the way the boy studied him, he had to assume he was the one responsible for the recent explosion. He could not really fault the boy for his actions though, even he would be on edge had someone teleported out of the blue beside him. Still, for him to have been damaged by someone so young, he would need to be careful how he addresses him.

While he was still thinking of a way to address the boy, a sudden sinister presence caused him to look above the trees. Clad in a red-colored full plate armor was a young female. She wore a swan-shaped helmet which left only the face exposed. Plumes of avian feathers sprouted from either side of the helmet, while the chest and shoulders of the armor had been styled into the shape of wings. Crimson skirt armor covered the lower body. She also held a strange-looking Lance in one hand as she studied Tsa.

Though this was his first time encountering this girl, something already told him that she was pure evil.

For a brief moment, a heavy silence filled the air. The only sound was the soft rustle of leaves, and the quiet hum of the boy lighting up one of the many Runes on his robe with magic.

In this moment, the forest itself seemed to hold its breath, waiting to see which of these three warriors would make the first move…

…In an impressive show of speed, Shalltear closed the distance between Tsa, while aiming the tip of her lance at the Dragon Lord.

"So fast!"

Shalltear's speed completely caught Tsa off guard, allowing the vampire to pierce the shoulder blade of his armour. Tsa suddenly felt the lance begin to eat at his Life force. In an impressive show of resilience, Tsa made a somatic gesture with his hand, causing all the weapons under his procession to move in an unnatural manner, before suddenly crashing directly into Shalltear's chest, knocking her back a few feet.

Despite taking a direct hit to the chest by all four weapons, Shalltear showed no signs of slowing down as she began rushing towards Tsa again.

[Maximize Magic - Reality Slash]!"

Shalltear's advance was instantly halted as the powerful spell cleaved through the very fabric of space, and fresh blood fountained from Shalltear's chest.

If Tsa's armour could make facial expressions, he would have been widening his eyes as he watched Shalltear blood flowed back into her body, as though time itself had reversed to render the attack completely ineffective. Tsa could only imagine the disappointment the young man was feeling from watching his attack get rendered useless.

"One down." Ben muttered in a satisfied tone, confusing Tsa, and simultaneously causing Shalltear to tense up.

"One down?" Tsa asked himself as he created some distance between himself and Shalltear, while also floating a bit closer to Ben. Surprisingly, Shalltear did not give chase to him, instead she seemed to be contemplating her next course of action critically. "Perhaps he knew his attack would be ineffective?"

"You have my thanks." Tsa calm voice spoke through the armour, the moment Ben was within hearing range.

"What exactly are you?" Ben asked, not taking his eyes off Shalltear. "Are you some kind of sentient armour?"

"He knows there's nothing in this armour?" Tsa thought.

As Tsa contemplated the implication of being figured out, Ben was also having a different line of thought. "Something isn't right here. For some reason, I was hostile to those people from earlier and Shalltear but now I'm merely just hesitant with this thing. Maybe it's because it's not an actual living being? I should just focus on dealing with Shalltear for now." Ben concluded with a sigh.

"I am Tsaindorcus Vaision."

The floating armour said, slightly catching Ben's attention. At first, Tsa was hesitant on revealing his name, but after considering the fact that the had boy just saved him, he instantly buried the thought.

"Ben." He answered after a while.

"In any other circumstances, I would refrained from engaging such a foe. But something tells me you have a plan to take her down?"

"To a degree…"

Shalltear POV

"This is bad." Shalltear thought, as she tried shake the feeling of unease on hearing Ben mutter 'One down'. Those simple words told Shalltear that the magic caster was aware of her various skills and limits. The mere thought that he was aware of her ability to reverse damage three times made her to cease her original plan of using the Armoured figure to replenish health.

Right now, her mind was telling her to retreat and inform Ainz of Ben's state, but her pride did not permit her to take such an action. As though sensing her previous thought, Ben uttered a new spell.

[Greater Life Barrier]."

With Ben as the origin, a light blue shockwave passed by Shalltear. it continued to expand in its initial form, until the area became encompassed in a dome. Its size was immense, at least a kilometer wide.

"Looks like escape isn't an option right now." Shalltear thought to herself. Sure, she should potentially destroy the barrier but it would take time. Time which when wasted would be detrimental to her…

Shalltear's line of thinking was suddenly cut short as all four weapons of Tsa began speeding towards her. Though Shalltear knew she was stronger than this armoured individual, his original attack had cause quite a bit of damage to her already dwindling HP. Not wanting to loose more HP, Shalltear proceeded to deflect the weapons with her lance, but this act left her wide open for an assault from Ben.

[Triplet Maximize Magic - Reality Slash]."

The three dimension-rending slashes were now heading towards her at great speed. Thinking fast, Shalltear manage to dodge the first slash, but the remaining two drew gouts of fresh blood from Shalltear, with one severing her from the torso, while the other from the head. Just like before, her skill activated, canceling the damaged received, but this meant she could not use her [Time Reversal] skill again.

"Tch, I guess it can't be helped." She muttered as a white light began to form Infront of her, fully resolving itself into the shape of a person. This was as a result of Shalltear using her trump card, [Einherjar].

While this spitting image of her lacked spellcasting abilities and several skills, while having no magic items as well, its weapons, armor, and stats were otherwise identical to Shalltear's. It was not undead, but a golem-like Construct. The two creature types had nearly identical resistances and immunities.

In other words, there was another Shalltear, who could only fight in melee combat. For the first time since their battle stated, Shalltear saw Ben tensed up ever so slightly, as he mentally cursed Yggdrasil for having so many unbalanced and exploitable mechanics.

Just then, both Shalltear and Einherjar charged forward. With a renewed confidence, Shalltear charged Tsa, who barely managed to block her attack by grabbing hold of his Broadsword and Hammer. However, despite blocking the attack, Tsa was still pushed backwards into the forest. The Einherjar, did not share the same luck with Shalltear as it's lance bounced off a barrier Ben had placed prior to Tsa's arrival. This was a stronger version of the [Protection Rune] he used earlier. [Greater Protection Rune].

Unlike the [Protection Rune, which consumed very little MP to activate, [Greater Protection Rune] had a slightly higher cost to activate, with a stronger defence that even allowed it to block against Super Tier spells, but one would need to time the use of the spell as to not expend MP unnecessarily, and precise timing of reaction spells was Ben's forth due to [Sage's Eyes].

Now Runes had a rather simple rule. One could activate as many Runes as possible as long as they did not share the same property. Meaning, if you activated a Rune to boost your speed, you could not activate another speed rune to stack it up. So, right now, Ben did not not deem it fit to activate other Runes as to not expend MP, and thus needed something else to deal with the Einherjar. Luckily for him, he had a class skill just for it.

"[The Goal Of All Life Is Death]."

In that moment, a clock face appeared behind Ben, its hands indicating 12:00. The moment the timer started, Ben began activating his protection spell strategically, only using it when an attack could not be evaded while in turn waiting for the countdown to end.

Tick.

The clock face behind Ben ticked, and its hands slowly moved as the spell took effect. Ben glanced at the Einherjar who failed to breach his defences.

"Once I'm done with you, I'll have cook up a strategy to deal with a fully healed Shalltear." Ben said as he mentally cursed his guildmate for given Shalltear an item to fully restore her HP.

Blocking the the final blow just before the twelve seconds timer ended, Ben stretched forth his hand at the last second, before uttering a spell at the exact moment the Eclipse skill took effect.

"[Grasp Heart]"

In that moment, the Einherjar evaporated into white mist as it couched its lance, and dispersed before Ben's eyes.

The Eclipse skill, [The Goal Of All Life Is Death] strengthened the effect of instant death magic and skills. Thus augmented, those instant-death effects could bypass any immunities or resistance and kill their targets after a certain amount of time had passed.

With the Einherjar defeated, Ben let out a breath of relief before turning to the direction Shalltear was probably at. "Now for the bigger threat." He mused as he began flying towards the upcoming fight. As Ben got closer to the battle field, he suddenly felt the activation of his passive ability, [Manafont]. "Better late than never."

[Manafont] was an ability that restored 15 percent of a casters MP, once their total MP pool drops below twenty percent. The ability had a cooldown time of 60 seconds, thus making it a vital skill for PVPs.

Tsa POV

With a terrifying roar, Shalltear swung down her lance with the intention piercing Tsa's heart. Before the attack could connect, Tsa raised his greatsword and spear in a cross to block her attack.

The impact caused Tsa's feet to sink into the ground. In the next moment, Tsa was blown away to the side. Shalltear had stomped her foot onto Tsa's chest. The armor let out a pitiful clang.

"Will you please just die!" Shalltear's declaration caused the air around them to quake. She began attacking afterwards. The distance between the two was closed in an instant as Tsa received an attack with enough force to send him into the sky.

The sound of metal clashing together rang out at an ear-piercing volume. Tsa used two of the floating weapons to block this attack.

He flew backwards with all of his strength. As Tsa struggled to escape Shalltear's onslaught, he suddenly felt the presence of Ben approaching them.

"He defeated his opponent so quickly?" Tsa couldn't help but feel impressed. "Then it's decided, I cannot afford to let this suit's limitations tarnish his progress."

In a surprising show of power, Tsa sent his hammer into Shalltear's chest, knocking her towards the ground. Now free from her assault, Tsa began preparing his next attack.

Shalltear, who had now recovered, was about ready to dash after her opponent again, but stopped as she suddenly felt shadows form behind her. From above, Tsa saw an amalgamation of shadows with multiple eyes loom over Shalltear. He did not know what those were, but their timely appearance had provided him with ample time to complete his spell.

"Take to the sky!" Tsa yelled to Ben, who was a few meters away from Shalltear manipulating the shadows. Halting his spell, Ben proceeded to teleport a few kilometres away from the ground. And with that, Tsa struck.

Channelling every bit of Wild Magic he could muster into his weapons, he proceeded to launch them all at Shalltear who was still recovering from Ben's previous spell.

The moment his attack made contact with Shalltear, the image of the True Vampire was instantly dyed with a brilliant white light.

Shalltear's POV

Now free of Ben's distraction spell, Shalltear was completely unprepared for the attack which followed after it. She had no idea where she was. She was tossed and turned about, like a branch swallowed in a whirlpool, and she lost her sense of balance. Shalltear had no idea what was going on. All she felt amidst the blinding light was intense pain.

Her body felt heavy as she tried to defend herself and she had difficulty moving. However, Shalltear moved with all her heart and soul. That was because she understood that something bad had happened.

She curled up into a ball, shielding her body with her arms.

This was an ultimate explosion.

It stained the world with a blinding white flash. There was a thunderous roar and an eruption of heat. The shockwave it generated blew the land away and the rising dirt and sand formed a mushroom cloud in the air.

The lethal area of the superheated pulse was measured in kilometers, and there was no trace of movement within it. As the dust and smoke dispersed, the horrific conditions within were made clear.

Nothing could have lived within that area, but inside it, someone cast the soil off and stood up.

"Gaaah, gaaah, gaaah..."

Since she had been caught in the heat flare of the explosion, her throat had been burned away and she could not speak. No, it was not just her throat. Her entire body had been scorched, and her previous beauty was nowhere to be seen. She had lost all her hair and she looked like charcoal briquette.

Beyond the burns caused by the tremendous heat, the shockwave had lacerated her body. The left side of her vision was completely gone. Her right side was milky and blurred, but she could still make out vague shapes somehow. Her body listed to one side because her right arm and its shoulder were gone. Her dress was in tatters, its remnants plastered to her body. However, the highest-grade items on Shalltear's body and the parts hidden by them were untouched.

Pain stabbed through her entire body. This was a bad pain. This pain would destroy Shalltear Bloodfallen.

"Ahhhhhh"

Her thoughts were shredded, the fragments leaping from her mouth.

She should have been immune to fire, so why had she taken fire damage? How had her defenses been breached? Countless questions rose through her mind, but the pain and confusion drowned them out. As thoughts crisscrossed through her head, the most important thing rang in her head like a warning klaxon.

That was, she could not stay here any longer. If she remained here, she would die. Thus, she had to withdraw. However…would it be alright if the Guardian of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, Shalltear Bloodfallen, turned her back and fled? From a being that was far inferior to her? That would be a betrayal of the expectations of the 42 Supreme Beings. Then again, the only reason he got a drop on her was because of Lord Ben's aid.

The sound of grinding came from Shalltear's mouth. Her remaining teeth were gnashing against each other."

"Kaaahhhh, kuuu..."

She could not cast spells.

"Gigaaaagagakku!"

Ben's POV

"Take to the sky!".

That was the only warning Ben received before watching Tsa's HP drop like a rock. For the first time since their battle began, Ben felt goosebumps form on his skin. Not in the mood to get caught in Tsa's attack, Ben teleports to the sky, only a few meters away from the [Life Barrier] he had set up.

And then it happened. Shalltear was immediately engulfed in a bright light of powerful magic. Because of how powerful the attack was, Ben had instinctively erupted his barrier. Despite not being the target of said attack, the shockwave still knocked him back, shattering the Barrier created by his [Greater Protection Rune] and [Life Barrier].

"Impossible!" Ben could not help but yell out at the prospect of his barrier shattering. This was a barrier that could defend against Super Tier spells. Nothing save a World spell or item should be able to break it. As the light died down, Ben looked down at the scorched and bloodied form of Shalltear. The fact she could stand was an amazing feat on its own. Still, Ben understood the reason she had survived that attack.

In reality, Shalltear did not survive the attack. The only reason she was alive right now was as a result of her resurrection item restoring her to maximum HP after dying to the attack.

As Ben mind raced through various strategy to deplete Shalltear's HP, something strange happened. Time seem to stand still as Ben felt something shift in his brain. His mind was instantly flooded with information of a new form of Magic.

[Wild Magic]

At first, Ben was taken aback by this, but then remembered he had just witnessed Tsa use this magic with his [Sage Eyes]. Normally, when Ben observed a new spell, the process of replicating it was sent as a notification, but now that everthing was real…

"[Weapons Master]".

About a dozen weapons of light, shot out of multiple portals, heading towards Shalltear. But halfway through their journey, Ben willed them to stop, causing them all to gather in the air.

"[Wild Magic: Draconic Judgment]."

Like Tsa before him, Ben's HP dropped as he infused this weapons with Wild Magic, and with a gesture akin to slamming one's hand down, sent them crashing into Shalltear.

Like before, a brilliant flash of light erupted and swallowed Shalltear up. Shalltear could feel her body disintegrating in the incredible heat. The attack that ignored her resistances and stats began eating up her already damaged form until there was nothing left, allowing her armour and Spuit Lance to slowly fall to the ground in this bleached-white world.

Once the light died down, Ben let out a relieved sigh, before slowly descending to Shalltear's fallen equipments. Tsa, who looked frozen from witnessing Shalltear survive his attack, began descending as well, though at a slower pace.

Though the Dragon Lord's armour could not convey emotions, Tsa was actually shocked beyond belief. Not only had this boy of unknown origin used Wild Magic, but he had successfully replicated a spell he spent years to not only create, but master in a single moment.

"What is Wild Magic?" Ben suddenly asked Tsa, as he began picking Shalltear's gears before placing them in the blackness of his inventory.

"I can't believe this." Tsa's words carried a weight of total disbelief of what he just heard. "You just used one of the most offensive Wild Magic known to my people, without even knowing what it is? How?"

"Let's just say it's a talent."

It wasn't a complete lie, neither was it the truth, but Ben did not want to reveal all his cards to a sentient armour with powerful magic.

From the corner of Ben's eyes, he could have sworn he saw Tsa nod, as though agreeing with Ben's thoughts.

"I believe it's time I take my leave." With the evil that was Shalltear gone, Tsa remembered why he had originally tailed the Black Scripture. "Perhaps when next we meet, we can discuss about Wild Magic?"

"Sure." Ben said before sitting on the ground in a crossed leg position. Satisfied with his reply, Tsa decided it was high time he left.

"[World Teleportation]."

In an instant, Tsa vanished from Ben's eyes, leaving the Player alone in the now empty battlefield.

"Two spells in one day…" Ben smiled lightly as he closed his eyes in meditation to speed up his MP recovery process. "...And they don't require MP to use…not bad at all."

Elsewhere

The first thing that Ainz saw after teleporting was a in the land, six meters tall at the very most.

The raised land was covered in dense vegetation of the kind one might find on the plains, and it gave the impression of having been there for a long time. Many similar mounds dotted the landscape as far as one looked, giving the impression that they covered the surrounding region.

Naturally, this was not the case.

This landscape had been created by Mare, one of the Guardians of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. The surface walls of the Tomb were buried beneath these mounds.

Ainz cast a [Fly] spell and flew over the heaped dirt. Within his expansive field of view, the only thing he could see was weed-strewn land, with no trace of the surface level of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. It was almost completely covered by soil.

Ainz did not linger over this scenery, but continued flying at his current speed.

Once he reached a certain point, the scenery changed, and he felt as though he had pierced some sort of thin membrane. The hilly terrain vanished, and the familiar scenery of his home filled Ainz's eyes.

This was the sign that he had breached the protective layer of illusions.

Without slowing the speed of his [Fly] spell, Ainz continued toward his destination, the largest mausoleum at the center. That was because it was the sole entrance to the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

As he neared the bone-white steps of the mausoleum, he discovered countless forms beneath him. Suppressing his feelings of anxiety, he landed before them.

"Welcome back, Lord Ainz," said a rather worried female voice, though she managed to hide it well. It was soon followed by a chorus of other greetings and welcomes.

The woman in the pure white dress who stood before him was none other than Albedo, the Guardian Overseer of the Great Tomb of Nazarickl

The four maids behind her were members of the battle maids (Pleiades), and behind them were a line of level eighty vassals.

After speaking to Albedo via a [Message] spell, he had given Narberal her orders and then teleported back immediately. The fact that Albedo could gather so many people to welcome Ainz in five minutes spoke volumes of Albedo's skill as an administrator.

Filled with respect for that fact, Ainz raised his hand and waved in response to his vassals' greetings. Perhaps he should have said a couple of words in thanks, but that was not suitable given the circumstances.

"Lord Ainz, about what you said through the [Message]..."

"I've been trying to contact Ben but something seems to be blocking all my attempts to reach him." Ainz answered, causing Albedo to bite her lip in frustration. "Have you been able to contact Shalltear like I asked?"

"I did Lord Ainz, but for some reason, she is ignoring my calls." Albedo growled in annoyance.

"What's going on here?" Ainz wanted to ask that question, but hesitated to do so. Because he wanted to fully focuse on contacting Ben, he had requested for Albedo to get a hold of Shalltear herself. "Judging by Albedo's reply, she isn't in Blood Frenzy. But why would she ignore Albedo?"

"Let's discuss this elsewhere?"

"That's right… we should speak of it in the Throne Room, no?"

"Indeed. Then…Yuri, present Lord Ainz with his ring."

Yuri Alpha, assistant leader of the Pleiades Battle Maids, stepped forward. As the male Sebas was their leader, it would not be wrong to consider her the manager of the Pleiades.

She held a tray in both hands, which was draped with a purple satin cloth. The cloth itself bore a ring, the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown.

Ainz picked up the ring, and placed it upon his ring finger.

This ring permitted its wearer to freely teleport throughout the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Ainz removed it during any excursion to the outside world, because he feared that it might be stolen.

As he looked at the ring upon his skeletal finger, Ainz nodded, as though in approval. The discomfort of not wearing it for several days vanished, replaced by a supreme satisfaction.

"Then, let us go, Albedo."

He could not directly teleport into the Throne Room, so he used the Ring's power to send him to the room (the Lemegeton) which directly adjoined the Throne Room.

After opening the massive doors, Ainz entered in the company of Albedo, heading for the crystal throne. As he walked, Ainz noticed a faint trace of blood on Albedo's gown. "Did something happen to you?"

At first, Albedo seemed confuse by the question, but then noticed Ainz pointing at her gown. "Oh, this isn't my blood."

"Then who's blood is it?"

"A prisoner brought here by Lord Ben. She's in the frozen prison as we speak."

At her answer, Ben remembered the female assassin who was responsible for the deaths of the 'Swords of Darkness'. If Ainz had to guess, Albedo might have vented her frustration of Ben's absence on the prisoner.

"Shall I summarize what happened on my end?" Ainz asked as a means to ease Albedo.

"Please do Lord Ainz."

With that Ainz began summarizing the events of his and Ben's time as adventurers. It did not take long for Ainz to explain who the 'Swords of Darkness' were, and how Ben had grown attached to them. Ainz had finished his report by the time they reached the stairs to the throne. However, he had not gotten to the events of the tomb yet, so he continued speaking.

After it was all finished, Albedo who had been listening attentively and silently nodded in acknowledgement. For a brief second, Albedo felt a bit jealous of the one named Ninya, who had befriended Ben.

Ainz wanted to ask if he had handled the situation well, but there was something more important that he wished to know.

He looked to the throne and recited the designated password.

"Master Source, Open."

A translucent window appeared before his eyes. It looked like the console, but was completely different from it.The window had multiple pages within it, each covered in densely-packed characters.

This was the administration system for the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

It recorded the daily maintenance costs, the numbers and types of vassals present, all sorts of magical traps, gimmicks and other such things. One could exert large-scale control over them all from here. While they had still been in YGGDRASIL, one could access this system from anywhere, but after some experimentation, Ainz found that in this world, the system could only be operated from the heart of the dungeon, the Throne Room.

"Although it's troublesome to have to come here every time… at least I have the ring to teleport me… so it's not such a big deal."

With practiced movements, Ainz brought up and enlarged the NPC status page.

This page recorded the names of all the NPCs made by the guild members. After changing the sorting method from alphabetical order to level order, from highest to lowest, Ainz's eyes travelled down the list and then his eyes halted on a single spot. Then, he silently turned his gaze to Albedo's face. "Everything seems normal."

"That is true Lord Ainz, but we cannot be too sure."

Amidst a sea of names written in white, his focus was only on Shalltear Bloodfallen's name.

"I believe it high time I contacted her myself. I doubt she would ignore my calls-"

Just as Ainz was about to message Shalltear, said vampires name on the console suddenly vanished without a trace. For a brief moment, Ainz just stared blankly at the now empty space that once held Shalltear's name.

"What the fuck!"

Author's Note: Now unlike Shalltear's mind control in the anime/novel, Ben's own is slightly different. Like he is still the same person but views anyone within his range of sight as an enemy that needs to be killed. As for why he did not outright consider Tsa an enemy, it's because he only encountered an Armour. Think of it like this. Let's say a character encounters a talking sword, you won't outright attack it unless it trys to attack you.