Chapter 8: Slashing Darkness

Lizzie's Shop

"Ah, I've been worried, you know? I thought you went missing. What poor timing. I didn't know when you'd be coming back, so I had to wait here all this while, you know?"

"…May…I ask who you are?" Nfirea asked

"Eh! You don't know each other?" Peter exclaimed in surprise. He thought they knew each other, from her familiar tone of voice.

"Hm? Ehehehe…I came to kidnap you. I need someone to use the spell which summons a biiiiiiig horde of undead, [Undeath Army, so could you be my magic item? I'm begging you…"

The Swords of Darkness sensed the air of malice radiating from the girl, and they immediately drew their weapons. Although everyone else was in a combat stance, the girl airily said. "That's a seventh tier spell which hardly anyone can use, but it can be cast with the Crown of Wisdom. You can't control all the undead it makes, but you can guide them! What a perfect plan…!"

"Nfirea, fall back! Get out of here!" Peter eyed the woman warily, his sword in hand, and spoke in a steely tone. "She's going on and on because she's certain she can kill us all. Since you're her target, the only way to turn things around is for you to escape."

As Nfirea withdrew in a panic, the Swords of Darkness closed ranks in front of him, turning themselves into his meatshields.

"Ninya, you go too!"

After Dyne spoke, Lukrut shouted. "Take the kid and run! Weren't you going to save your kidnapped sister?"

"That's right." Peter added. "You've got something you have to do. Though we might not be able to help you until the very end… at least we can buy you some time."

"Guys…"

"Mmm…how touching…I'm about to shed a tear myself, mm. But if he escapes, it'd be troublesome for me. So let's leave one to play with."

The girl smiled happily and withdrew a pair of stilettos from under her robe as she saw the doubtful gaze on Ninya's face as she bit her lip. Just then, the rear door swung open, revealing a sickly-pale, stick-thin man, who looked like one of the undead.

They were caught in a pincer attack. The Swords of Darkness' faces turned grim.

"…You're getting carried away." The man said

"Ahhhh…What're you saying, Khazi? Weren't you the one making preparations so their screams wouldn't spill out? It's just one person, so let me enjoy myself…"

The way the girl smiled with her teeth bared sent a chill down Nfirea's spine.

"Then, since there's nowhere for you to run, let's have some fun…"

Adventuring Guild

Riding Hamsuke had been a rather embarrassing situation for Ainz. That was because the Wise King of the Forest had a completely different body structure from a regular horse, Ainz was forced to stick his butt out and back while spreading his legs wide. If he did not adopt this stance, which resembled someone jumping over a box, while riding, it would be difficult to keep his balance.

Naturally, riding the Wise King of the Forest was not Ainz's idea. It had taken not only the Swords of Darkness and the Wise King of the Forest itself to persuade him, but also Narberal's humble submission that "a ruler should not be walking." That made him think that perhaps riding it back would be a good idea, but it had ended up like this. To add more salt to injury, Ben had teased him throughout their journey to the Guild. Even though he didn't say it, Ainz knew Ben was using this to get back at him for the stunt he pulled on him with Albedo in his office.

Registering Hamsuke itself was simple enough, but since none of them fully understood this worlds language, it took about an hour to finish the paperwork.

"Finally." Ben said once the registration was finished

"…You can say that again." Ainz said with an exhausted sigh. "Let's go," he added before heading toward Hamsuke.

Using his superior athletic ability, he mounted the Wise King of the Forest with a masterful vault. If he were an athlete, his name would have gone down in the history books. He did not have a saddle or reins, but several hours of experience was enough for Ainz to learn how to skillfully mount up.

The pedestrians were gasping in awe as far as his eyes could see. He could even hear the sounds of women screaming in excitement. In particular, he felt the piercing gazes of his fellow adventurers burning into him. After seeing the copper plate around Ainz's neck, their eyes went wide with disbelief.

"Now then, where did we leave off?" Ben asked in an innocent tone, but Ainz knew the boy was going to continue torturing him until they reached their destination

Just then, a voice called out to them, saving Ainz from whatever mischief Ben had installed for him.

"Say, would you be the people who went herb-picking with my grandson?" The voice was an aged one. When he turned to look, he found an old granny.

"…And who might you be?" Ainz asked

He said that, but Ainz could guess at the answer. If this granny's words were genuine, then there could be only one answer to that question.

"My name is Lizzie Bareare. I'm Nfirea's grandmother."

"Ah! So it really was you? That's right, I'm one of the adventurers who escorted your grandson to Carne Village. My name is Momon. This is Ben and Nabe."

Lizzie smiled to the bowing Narberal before facing Ben who bowed curtly as he greeted her.

"Good Evening Ma."

"Evening to you as well my boy." She said before facing Hamsuke. "Tell me, what is the name of this creature you're riding?"

"It is the Wise King of Forest, Hamsuke." Ainz said

"This one is Hamsuke! This one is very pleased to meet you!"

"What!? This mighty beast is the legendary Wise King of the Forest!?"

The adventurers around them who heard Lizzie's cry were even more surprised. With shocked looks on their faces, they whispered, "Is that really the monster of legends?" and so on.

"Indeed. After receiving your grandson's request, we encountered it at our destination and we managed to tame it."

"You actually… tamed the Wise King of the Forest…" Lizzie was dumbstruck and could do nothing but stare. "Then… where is my grandson now?"

"He went home first with the herbs." Ainz answered. "We're heading over there now to collect our payment."

The old lady breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked at Ainz with a strange look in her eyes

"Oh, I see… then, shall we go together? I'm quite interested in you adventurer types."

"Ah, the pleasure's all mine." Ainz said before the group proceeded through the streets of E-Rantel, led by Lizzie.

The journey to Lizzie's shop was mostly filled with silence. That had been the case, until Ben abruptly stopped in his track three hundred meters away from the storefront, causing both Ainz and Lizzie to look at him in confusion.

"Problem?" Lizzie asked as a look of horror suddenly dawned on Ben's face. Not bothering to answer her question, Ben suddenly vanished from her sight, causing the aged woman to jump back in shock. To Lizzie, the boy had used some sort of teleportation magic, but in reality, Ben had instead dashed towards her store with great urgency. "Where did he go?!"

"Something has happened." Ainz said as he hoisted Lizzie onto Hamsuke. Without another word, the creature began running towards the store, though at a slower pace

Meanwhile, on reaching the storefront, Ben rushed through the already loose door, while keeping to the right of the store as he made no indications of stopping his advance. Though this was a stranger's house, completely unfamiliar to him, there was no trace of hesitation in Ben's movement as rushed through another door which led him down to the herb storage room

Once inside the room though, an intense wave of guilt and sadness washed over Ben as he came into contact with three rather familiar Zombies.

"No." Ben muttered weakly as the now undead adventurers turned away from the corpse Infront of them to face Ben

One seeing Ben, Peter and Lukrut dashed toward him, but a transparent hexagonal shield prevented them from reaching the young man. Not discouraged by the obstacle before them, the two zombies began pounding on the barrier before them in an attempt to break it. While this was going on, Dyne also joined in to break the barrier but was met with a similar result.

Amidst their struggle, Lukrut tried to dig his fingers into the barrier in an attempt to tear it open, but the act resulted in him breaking his fingers over it.

"Please…stop." Ben begged as his former comrades continued to injure themselves in an attempt to get him. For a moment, he thought about using his Command Mantra to stop them, but couldn't bring himself to control them. Dead or alive, they were still his friends…

"...Kill…me."

Ben was taken aback by what he just heard from Lukrut. In YGGDRASIL, human undead were said to be soulless, mindless creatures. They shouldn't be able to produce thoughts of their own…

"... please…kill me…" Dyne grunted. "...Ninya…"

On hearing the Magic Caster's name, Ben froze as his gaze hesitantly landed on the corpse on the ground. The sight of Ninya seem to have caused Ben to deactivate his barrier, as the zombies used the opportunity to dive at him. But they never made it to him as they were instantly impaled by three floating Lances of light. With a pained and almost thankful growl, Lukrut, Peter and Dyne dropped down motionless.

For what felt like hours, Ben stood motionless as he continued to stare at the battered form of Ninya

A shocked Lizzie made to enter with shaky footsteps. Ainz put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from moving forward, and quickened his pace to get ahead of her. Stopping a few feet behind Ben, Ainz grunted as he processed the tragedy before them

"Nfirea!" Lizzie finally realized what was going on, and began looking for her grandson.

Ainz narrowed his eyes at her receding back, and gave Narberal an order. "Protect her."

"Understood." After a quick nod of her head, Narberal broke into a sprint to catch up with Lizzie.

Once he made sure that the two of them were gone, Ainz looked toward Ben who was now kneeling beside Ninya. His Guildmate wore a pained expression as he silently studied the corpse

Not only was she stripped of her clothings, but she seemed to have been beaten by some sort of blunt object, given how her cheeks were bloated up like pomegranates.

Her left eye was crushed, and the vitreous humor had flowed out. It looked like she was crying…

"...Tch…" The very thought caused Ben to ball his hands so hard, they began dripping blood

Much like the face, the body bore signs of a brutal beating. It was covered in the bruises of internal bleeding, and it would be harder to find a patch of uninjured flesh than the other way around. Both her mammary glands were torn open, with the Adipose tissues now in full view. Taking his gaze lower, Ainz noticed the bloodied and bruised form of her Vulga, a sign of force entry.

Ben's hand suddenly began to glow faintly as he prepared to use magic, but what ever spell he was planning to cast was swiftly halted by Ainz grabbing his wrist

"Don't." The Undead Player said

"Why?"

"You know why."

"What if I don't care anymore?" Ben said in a tone void of any emotion

After a long silence, Ainz let out an exhausted sigh before letting go of Ben's hand. "So what if you resurrect her. What then? You do know [True Resurrection, can't bring back the others now that they are undead. What will you do if she asks you to bring them to life as well? Would you use [Wish]?"

"I…"

"I won't allow it." Ainz said sharply. "The drawbacks for using [Wish] are too much. You could lose your magic forever, or worse, die. As your brothers friend I can't allow that to happen."

"Then I'll raise just her." Ben said

"And she will have to live with the memory of her torture for the rest of her life." Ainz said. "That is unless, you plan to erase her memory of todays events. And we both know you wouldn't do that to someone you consider a friend." He added.

"Let her rest Ben." Ainz said while placing his hand on his shoulder.

Glancing at Ninya one last time, Ben gently closes her eyes. "I'm sorry I wasn't here."

"Come on, their killers are still on the loose." Ainz said before heading for the door. Glancing over his shoulder, he took notice of Ben taking of the cloak of his robe to wrap Ninya's form. "You are far too kind hearted for this world."

"The plans I have for her torturer begs to differ." Ben said as he walked past Ainz, leaving the room

"…This is a little… upsetting." Ainz muttered to himself

Making their way to the main room, Ainz and Ben noticed Lizzie panicking as she continued to pace back and forth within the room

"I can't find Nfirea anywhere!"

"I believe his absence made that blatantly obvious." Ben said, trying to keep an even tone

"It doesn't look like the perpetrators stole anything from their packs. So that means

Nfirea was the only thing they came for."

"Who were these poor men that got killed?"

"Adventurers that came along with us on your grandson's quest." Ainz answered

"I'm sorry about your friends."

"You don't have to apologize." Ben said as his eyes trailed back to the room he just left. "Ma'am, could you go look in the other rooms and see if the people who kidnapped Nfirea left any clues behind. You're familiar with this home, so you're better suited to this."

Once Lizzie left the room, Ben turned to Ainz and Narberal.

"What do you intend to do?"

"Who ever killed them took their adventurer's plates as a trophy." Ben said as his Iris began to slowly take a new form.

"Too think you would use that in a time like this." Ainz said as he studied the changes in Ben's eyes. His pupil now took the form of a circle like Rune while his Iris morphed into two Ravens that were now standing on the Rune.

This new look was as a result of the class Aesir Lord. Like Touchme's World Champion Class, Aesir Lord was something akin to a cheat class that was gotten from defeating the Raid Boss 'Odin'. Taking this class to the highest level granted Ben an ability known as [Odin's Eyes]. A far more advanced vision than the ArchSage's [Eye]. This eye gave Ben a 360 vision of the world around in 3D, specifically about 200km. The only drawback of the ability was it's MP consumption. Even with abilities like [Manafont, Ben could only sustain this ability for 20 seconds before his MP ran out. Still that was enough time to find what he was looking for.

"Found them." Ben said as his vision returned to normal. In any other circumstance he would have been in awe at his heightened perception, but this was not any circumstance. "I've also found Nfirea."

"He's still alive I presume?" Ainz asked

"Yes." Ben answered. "There's also a horde of undead heading towards the city. Taking control of them shouldn't be a probl…"

"Don't."

"Pardon?" Ben asked his guildmate

"If you took control of all of them, how would we spread out our names as adventurer?"

"Is that what this is to you?" Ben asked in annoyance.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't plan to let the undead horde reach the city. Just let me destroy some of them before you control the rest."

"Tch…fine, just make sure you're fast about it."

Western Quadrant

A spear-wielding guard absentmindedly looked out to the graveyard, and said to his yawning colleague

"Tonight's quite peaceful too."

"Yup, there were only five Skeletons earlier, right? That seems a lot less compared to the past."

"Hm, could it be the souls of the dead were called back by the Four Gods? That would be pretty lucky for us if it were true."

The other guards were drawn in by the topic, and began speaking up:

"Well, if it's just Skeletons and Zombies we can deal with them. Still, it's a pain to take out Skeletons with a spear."

"I think the most troublesome ones are the Wights."

"For me it's the Skeleton Centipedes. I'd be dead by now if the adventurers standing guard nearby didn't chase them away from me."

"Skeleton Centipedes? I heard that the powerful undead only show up when you let the weak ones get away. So all you need to do is kill them all when they're weak and the strong undead won't appear."

"Yes, that's right. The captain chewed out the squad patrolling the graveyard last week. While it's nice to have them buy a round for us, I'd rather not have to go through that sort of thing again."

"Still… when I think about it, I've got a bad feeling about the lack of undead right now."

"…Why's that?"

"Ah, I just feel like we might have missed something out during our watches."

"You're thinking too much. There aren't that many undead normally. They say that they only pop up frequently when they bury the corpses of the people who died while fighting the Empire. So on the flip side, this is what happens when there aren't any big wars, right?"

The soldiers nodded to each other in agreement. They had buried human corpses in their own villages, but they had never heard of the undead appearing that often.

"…So that means the Katze Plains must be pretty insane."

"Yeah, didn't they say something about an unimaginably strong undead creature showing up?"

It was a place where the Empire and the Kingdom clashed in fierce battles. It was also a place famous for the proliferation of its undead. Adventurers hired by the Kingdom and Imperial knights would often go there to hunt down the undead. This task was important enough that the Empire and Kingdom's support corps had built small towns nearby to support their personnel.

"I heard-"

A guard who was about to speak suddenly shut his mouth.

Another guard, who felt easy about this, spoke up. "Oi, don't scare me-":

"Quiet!"

The silent guard looked straight at the graveyard, as though he could see through the darkness. Following this, the other guards turned to look at the graveyard one after the other.

"…Didn't you hear it?"

"Were you imagining things?"

"Though I didn't hear the wind blowing or the grass moving… I think I can smell dirt. Didn't they dig a few graves just now? It smells just like it did then…"

"Come on, don't joke about this sort of thing."

"…Eh? Ah, oi! Look over there!"

One of the guards pointed to the graveyard, and everyone else looked toward the spot he was pointing at.

Two guards were sprinting for the doors. Both of them panted heavily, their eyes bloodshot, and their sweat-slick hair stuck to their foreheads.

A growing sense of dread filled the other guards as they saw this.

Guard patrols in the graveyard moved in groups of at least ten. Why were there only two people here? Judging by the way they had no weapons and were running for dear life, they had panicked and fled.

"Open, open up! Hurry up and open the doors!"

Upon seeing the two men shouting in front of the doors, the guards hurriedly ran down the stairs and let them through.

Before the doors could even swing fully open, the two guards forced their way in. They collapsed to the ground but kept scrabbling on.

"What the hell…"

The two pale-faced guards who had just escaped the graveyard interrupted their questioners, panting and shouting:

"Close, close the doors! Quickly!"

This strange behavior sent a chill down the spine of the other guards. Working together, they pushed the doors shut and barred them.

"What happened? What about the others?"

As they heard this question, a haunted look appeared on the guards' frightened faces:

"They, they were eaten by the undead!"

Upon realizing that eight of their fellows had lost their lives, the guards immediately turned to their captain. He immediately ordered:

"…Oi, one of you go upstairs and take a look!"

A guard hurriedly climbed the stairs, but halfway up, he froze in place.

"What, what happened?"

The trembling guard shouted:

"The undead! The undead are everywhere!"

If one listened carefully, they would be able to make out a sound which sounded like ten thousand horses galloping, coming from the other side of the wall. Everyone, not just the guard from just now, were struck dumb by the scene before them.

A massive quantity of undead so great as to render all who saw it speechless approached the doors of the graveyard.

"Why, in such numbers…"

"Looks like it's more than one or two hundred… there should be a thousand of them… or more…"

The magical lights illuminated countless undead, like shadows writhing in the dark, and it was difficult to get an exact count.

Wreathed in the scent of rot, the shambling mass of undead pressed in toward the doors like gathering clouds. It was not just Zombies and Skeletons down there; there were also a few rarer and more powerful undead, Ghouls, Ghasts, Wights, Swell Skins, Corrupt Dead, and more.

The guards could not help their shivering.

Because the graveyard was surrounded by a wall, the undead could not attack the common folk as long as the wall held out. However, even if they mobilized all their guards, it was doubtful whether they could fend off such a massive horde of the undead. The guards were essentially normal citizens, and they had no confidence in wiping out these undead.

In addition, some undead could turn their slain victims into others of their own kind. If things went poorly, the guards might end up becoming undead themselves and attacking their fellows. And while they had not seen any flying undead yet, the guards had a bad feeling that if they did not wipe them all out, a flying undead creature would end up spawning sooner or later.

The undead tide washed up against the side of the wall.

Doom. Doom.

The swarming, mindless undead had no sense of pain, and banged wildly against the doors. It was as if they knew that they could attack the living if they broke the doors down. The sounds of repeated pounding and the constant moans of the dead came from the other side of the door.

"Ring the bell! Ask for help from the barracks! You two, go inform the other doors about this!"

The captain, who had recovered his senses by now, continued giving orders:

"The ones behind, take your spears and stab the undead getting close to the doors!"

The guards remembered their duty as they heard the orders, and they started thrusting savagely at the undead below them. The undead covered the land like a flood, so any stroke of theirs found a home in undead flesh.

They thrust, withdrew, and thrust again.

Tainted blood spilled over the ground, while the guards' noses were soon inured to the stench of decay. They repeated the same motions over and over again like workers. They killed several undead, which fell to the ground and were trampled to paste by the ones behind them.

Because the undead had little intelligence, they did not strike against the guards stabbing at them with their spears. Repeating the same simple actions eroded the guards' sense of danger.

And then, as though aiming for that moment…

"Uwaaaaaaaah!"

A scream pierced the air. As the other guards turned to look, they saw something long and wriggly curled around another guard's neck.

It was a slimy, pink object an intestine.

The creature that had shot forth this length of intestine was an egg-shaped undead creature, with a huge cavity on the front of its body. Within that cavity were several people's worth of internal organs, churning and wriggling like parasites.

This undead creature was called an Organ Egg.

The writhing intestine pulled at the guard's body.

"Hyaaaaaaa!"

Before his friends could save him, the guard wailed and fell…

"Save, save me! Someone save me! Agyaaaah!"

His screams filled the air. Every guard saw the terrible fate of their colleague, eaten alive by the throng of undead.

The armor which protected his body and his attempts to protect his face only prolonged his suffering. His fingers, his calves, his face, all of them were picked clean.

"Fall back! Get down from the wall!"

After seeing the Organ Egg's innards twitching, the guard captain ordered a retreat.

All the guards hurriedly ran down the stairs, and they could hear the sounds of the undead banging at the doors getting louder. The doors themselves began groaning under the strain.

The sense of doom grew stronger. The chances of them holding out until help arrived, or that no other strong undead would show up were very low. Once the doors opened, the tide of death would flood in, and only the gods knew how many lives would be lost.

Just as the guards were fully consumed by despair, there was a clattering of metal.

Everyone reflexively looked to the source of the sound.

Before their eyes was a magical beast whose round black eyes gleamed with intelligence, and a warrior in full plate armor. Beside them was a beautiful woman who seemed completely mismatched to the pair.

"O-Oi! This place is very dangerous! Get out of-"

Halfway through the guard's words, he realized that there was a metal plate dangling from the warrior's neck.

An adventurer!

However, that ember of hope was snuffed out when he saw that it was a copper plate. Adventurers of the lowest class could not possibly deliver them from this dilemma. A look of disappointment appeared in the eyes of all the guards present.

The warrior nimbly dismounted his beast. There was no sense of clumsiness in his movements.

"Didn't you hear me? Get out of here now!"

"Nabe, my sword."

The warrior's voice was softer than the guard's shouting, but it was surprisingly resonant even through the clamor of the swarming undead. The beautiful woman approached the warrior, and drew a greatsword from his back.

"Look behind you. It's dangerous, right?"

The guards turned around in response to the warrior's words, and they looked upon their doom.

They saw a shape which was taller than the four meter high walls.

It was a Necrosome Giant, a gigantic undead creature made of countless corpses.

"Uwaaaaah."

Just as the guards screamed and prepared to flee, a strange sight appeared before them. The warrior from just now raised his sword in a javelin-thrower's stance.

"What was he doing?"

In the next moment, that question vanished like mist in sunlight.

The warrior hurled his sword with unbelievable speed. The guards hurriedly looked where the sword had flown, and there they saw an even more incredible sight.

The Necrosome Giant, that vast, seemingly invincible undead creature, staggered back like it had been hit in the head by an even larger foe, before collapsing to the ground. A thunderous crash provided the proof that the gigantic creature had been knocked down.

"These undead are in the way." With that, the dark warrior drew his other greatsword and advanced.

"Open up."

The guards did not seem to have understood what the warrior said. They blinked several times before they finally managed to parse the warrior's words.

"Don't, don't be foolish! There's a whole crowd of undead on the other side of the door!"

"So? What does that matter to me, Momon?"

Faced by the absolute confidence of the dark warrior, all of the guards were shaken to the core, and they could not respond.

"…Well, if you won't open up, it can't be helped. I'll go over there myself."

The warrior broke into a sprint and kicked off the stone floor, vanishing over the other side of the wall. He had leapt over a four meter high wall in a single bound, and while wearing full plate too.

It was a scene that barely seemed real at all.

The guards could not bring themselves to believe the events which had just occurred. Each of them continued staring slack-jawed at the place where Momon had been.

The beautiful woman floated into the sky from her original position. She looked like she would cross the wall like that, but then a voice halted her

"A moment please! Please bring this one with you!" The voice came from the mighty beast which the warrior from just now had ridden here. Its voice was as awe-inspiring as its appearance.

Nabe's brows furrowed slightly and responded to Hamsuke. "…Climb the stairs over there. You should still be able to move after falling from a height like this, right?"

"Of course! This one must rush to his master's side! Wait for this one, milord!"

The massive creature shot past the guards and nimbly bounded up the stairs. It hopped over the wall and landed on the other side.

Now all was silence.

They stared with open mouths and stunned eyes for a while, as though a typhoon had just swept past them. The first guard to recover spoke in a voice that trembled uncontrollably:

"Oi… do you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"The sounds of the undead."

Even though they strained their ears to listen, they could not hear anything. It was as though a veil of silence had been drawn across the land. The constant sound of the undead pounding on the doors from just now was nowhere to be found.

The frightened guards muttered

"Oi, did that actually happen? That warrior… there were undead like that, and so many of them, and he broke right through them… went straight ahead."

They were filled with equal parts shock and awe.

The reason why the noise had stopped was because the nearby undead had been drawn away by a new target. Given that the sound still had not returned, it implied that they were still fighting and had not returned.

This unbelievable scenario drew the guards to the top of the walls to satisfy their curiosity. They could not believe what they saw from up there, and they muttered:

"What is this… that warrior… what kind of a man is he…"

Countless bodies littered the ground. Mountains of corpses were everywhere, covering the entire graveyard. Although some of the undead hung on to a thread of unlife and struggled weakly to move, all of them had lost the ability to fight.

The smell of decay floated over as they expected, and they heard the sounds of distant battle.

"…No way… he's still fighting? All these undead, strong ones too, and he could actually break through them! Incredible…!"

"Who was that warrior, anyway?"

"…He called himself Momon, I think… but calling someone with skills like that a copper plate is too much of a joke. He should be one of those legendary adventurers with an adamantite plate, right?"

The others quietly voiced their approval. Someone like that could not be a mere copper plate adventurer.

He should be someone who possessed a plate made of the highest ranked of all metals — in other words, a hero.

There was no other possibility.

"We… perhaps we just saw a man of legend… a dark warrior… no, a dark hero…"

Everyone else could not help but nod in response to that.

With Ainz

When his right hand moved, the undead were flung away. When his left hand struck, the undead were cut in two.

Ainz a tornado of death which killed everything it touched finally ground to a halt.

"What bothersome pests."

Ainz had recreated his greatswords with magic, and now he held them in both hands. He looked on the undead around him with an exasperated expression on his face, and then pointed a greatsword caked in vile fluids at them.

The undead recoiled at this and tried to flee Ainz. The undead should not have known the meaning of fear, yet they had come to fear Ainz.

"…This one apologizes deeply for this one's actions…"

The sound came from high above Ainz. The Wise King of the Forest floated in mid-air, limbs spread. Its whiskers drooped down and its voice sounded equally lifeless.

However, the person who responded was not Ainz.

"You… settle down up there. It's hard to carry you when you squirm."

Narberal's voice came from the belly of the Wise King of the Forest. It was not flying, but rather Narberal, who had cast the flight spell on herself, was carrying it. She was halfway buried into the Wise King of the Forest's fur.

"My deepest apologies…"

The unintelligent undead had not attacked Ainz when he appeared. This was because they now stood motionless with their eyes glowing purple, a sign that they were being control by the spell, [Control Undead].

"We're done here." Ben said as he floated down beside Nabe

"And here I was, hoping I would kill another fifty Undead creatures." Ainz sighed

Ignoring his Guildmates comment, Ben looked towards the direction he recalled Nfirea to be.

"[Bifrost]."

The moment said word was uttered, Ainz felt himself get pulled away by what he could only assume was 'A wave of many Colors.'

The wave barely lasted a second before Ainz noticed he was now standing in a Chapel located at the heart of the graveyard. Ainz was a little shocked that not only was he teleported, but Nabe, Hamsuke and the Undead creatures now under Ben's command, were teleported as well.

Several suspicious-looking fellows were standing in a circle in front of the chapel, apparently conducting some kind of ritual.

They all wore crude black robes which covered their entire bodies, and which varied in both texture and color. Their black head cloths hid their faces and only showed their eyes, while the wooden staves they carried had strange carvings on their ends.

They were short, and by the way they carried themselves, they were probably all men.

The only exposed face belonged to the man in the middle, and he looked like he was undead. He was well-dressed, and seemed to be concentrating on the black stone that he held in his hand.

"Kill them."

The wind carried Ben words to the ears of the stunned Cultists. In what one would consider a gruesome execution, the Undead Army began tearing through all the Cultist present as Ben and the others made their way through the Cathedral.

It didn't take long for them to encounter a man standing in the center of a magic circle

"Which one of you is controlling them?" Khazit asked as he watched his followers get torn to pieces. Not even the use of the crown could grant control over these Undead creatures.

Ignoring Khazit, Ben looked past the old man as he fixed his gaze on one particular shadow. "Are you going to keep hiding, or am I going to have to drag you out myself? Cause I don't have any issue dragging you with those blade of yours."

"Fufu~ You checked their bodies~ Not bad~"

Suddenly, a female voice rang out from the chapel.

A young woman slowly emerged into the light, and every step she took was accompanied by the clattering of metal against metal.

"You…"

"Ahhh~ they found me out, so there's no point hiding. Speaking of which~ I only hid because I can't use the [Conceal Life] spell~" The woman grinned, in response to the somewhat angered Khazit.

"That reply aside, they still haven't trotted out Nfirea as a hostage. Perhaps Nfirea's already dead…"

Just as Ainz was thinking along those lines, the woman asked. "May I know your name? Ah, I'm Clementine. Pleased to meetcha~"

"The old man is yours." Ben said before using his [Bifrost, spell again. The World around Clementine suddenly shifted as she now found herself a good distance away from the chapel with Ben standing a few feet away from her

"Uwah~ Pervert~If you wanted some alone time with me you could have just said so." She whined

"They don't belong to you." Ben said

Clementine's face twisted in a grin so wide it nearly reached her ears. "You mean these?"

Clementine threw open her coat, revealing what looked like scale mail whose individual plates had mismatched components. However, Ben's excellent vision saw the truth immediately. Those were not the metal plates which made up scale mail.

They were countless adventurer plates. Platinum, gold, silver, iron, copper, even mithril and orichalcum. All these were the proof of all the adventurers Clementine had been killing, the trophies taken from her hunts. Innumerable vengeful groans seemed to haunt the metal plates' clinking.

A thunderous, eye-wateringly bright discharge of lightning erupted in the Chapel, indicating that a fight was going on. But both Ben or Clementine completely ignored it.

"Could it be those people I killed in that store were your friends? Are you mad because I killed your buddies~?" Clementine continued in a mocking tone

"Ufufufu, that magic caster was soooo funny. Did you know she was a girl? Until the end she believed that someone would save her~ but how could she hold out that long against my attacks with just that little bit of health…Or could it be she was hoping you would save her? You know, now that I think about it she did mention your name a few times. Was it Be-"

Whatever she was about to say was lost in the sound of her ribs tearing through her lungs as she was sent flying through the woods by a blow from Ben

"What just happened?" Clementine asked herself after coming to a halt. "How can a mage move faster than me." She violently began coughing up blood, all the while trying to stand to feet.

Clementine was no stranger to pain, but the mere thought of a mage knocking her over with his fist caused her more pain than she could bare. Turning to the sound of footsteps, she saw Ben slowly approaching her, as his silver eyes seemed to reflect the moons light

Despite her pained breathing, Clementine began laughing at her predicament. "To think some nobody magic caster would be the one to kill me…"

"... Maybe…you're just…angry I…took her first time with…my sword…" Clementine said through pained breaths. She wasn't about to give this magic caster the satisfaction he hoped for. "...kill me all…you want…it won't chan-"

"Kill you?" Ben asked as he began to chuckle darkly. "Oh I don't plan on killing you."

Hearing those words made her reach for her weapons, but that never happened as both her arms were suddenly twisted backwards in an unholy fashion. Clementine was about to let loose a pain filled scream at the state of her arms, but was stopped by Ben placing his hand over her lower jaw.

In a swift motion, Ben proceeded to rip her entire lower jaw clean off her face. Blood spilled onto Ben's hand as he dropped Clementine on the ground. She had subconsciously tried to place her hand over her jaw to stop the bleeding, but her damage arm prevented that from happening.

As though things couldn't get any more worse, she felt Ben pull her up by her hair, before glaring directly into her eyes

"I'm going to torture you. Slowly…Painfully as humanly possible." Each word carried a weight of hatred promising only pain. "I will take my fucking time with you."

"[Hellfire]."

An explosion of demonic flame caught Clementine. With her jaw gone, she could only grunt in pain as the flames licked her skin.