Overlord - The Lizardmen Heroes - Куганэ Маруяма - Страница 43

Demiurge was right. But—

“But Ainz-sama ordered me to defeat them with the forces given, and to do so in a direct confrontation.”

?That might be so, but I want to think about it carefully, Cocytus. The important thing should be what kind of result do you want to present to Ainz-sama, right? If the objective was destruction of the village, you would need to consider the best way to go about it, correct??

Cocytus couldn’t answer, Demiurge got right to the point.

?Ainz-sama must have considered all this when he gave those serfs to you.?

“... You mean Ainz-sama intentionally gave me forces that wouldn’t be able to win the fight?”

?That possibility is high. If you had collated intelligence beforehand, you might have been able to tell that the forces you have on hand is insufficient to take the village. In that case, you should report to Ainz-sama that ‘the current forces are not enough to complete the mission, I will need more reinforcements’. That should be Ainz-sama’s goal.?

Which meant that Cocytus had to understand the true intention of his master. He should not just follow orders blindly and had to make adjustment on the fly. That was what Demiurge was trying to say.

?This was Ainz-sama’s method of changing our way of thinking. But he seemed to have another objective as well…?

“What else is there?”

Cocytus asked Demiurge in panic. He had already made one mistake, he doesn’t want to risk another one.

?Ainz-sama sent out messengers to the villages, but did not mention Nazarick by name. He also forbid you from taking the field. This means—?

Cocytus gulped and waited for Demiurge to carry on. But Demiurge didn’t continue.

?Urg! Cocytus, my apologies, I have an urgent matter to attend to. Sorry but I need to go, may you obtain victory.?

Demiurge cut off the communication suddenly and the ‘message’ ended.

Cocytus could guess what made the calm and collected Demiurge so flustered. He shifted his eyes onto someone in the room. He saw Entoma casually tearing off a tattered talisman from her forehead.

For a Talismancer to use a talisman meant—

Everything was too late.

It was time to deploy the undead that was held back until the very last moment, the ace card. But was this really the intention of his master?

This was probably the first time Cocytus thought about the intention behind the orders of his master. But he could only come to one conclusion.

Cocytus activated the ‘Message’ spell.

“— Lich Commander, I order you to attack. Show the lizardmen your true powers.”

¦ ¦ ¦

An old and luxurious robe covered its body of skins and bones. One of its hands was holding a twisted staff. Its rotting face was just a skin covered skull with evil eyes full of intelligence in its sockets. The emitted negative energy covered his body like a thin fog.

This undead magic caster was — a Lich.

The undead obeyed Cocytus' command and looked at the wetlands. He then issued orders to the Blood Meat Hulks standing behind him. They were undeads with fresh red muscles and fats, made by the Supreme Being just like him.

“Kill those three lizardmen.”

The two Blood Meat Hulks obeyed the orders and walked towards the three lizardmen destroying the skeleton riders.

Although Blood Meat Hulks were low-tier undead that could only attack with brute force, they had regenerative abilities. If they were facing physical attack on the same level as them, they would be able to stall for time.

The Lich was certain the Blood meat Hulk could stall for sufficient time.

This wasn’t a good strategy. As a magic caster, the Lich was not good in melee battles, so having the Blood Meat Hulks close to protect him was the orthodox way to fight.

However he couldn’t use such tactics.

The order he received was to ‘show the lizardmen your true powers’. Hence, he had to take the base camp of the lizardmen alone with his overwhelming power.

As the Lich advanced, his terrifying face laughed softly.

He felt this was too easy.

As a creation of the Supreme Being Ainz Ooal Gown, he was far superior to the Liches that spawn automatically in Nazarick. And his mission was to display his might to the lizardmen.

He vowed to win in the name of his master.

“I, Iguvua, will present this victory to my master.”

Part 4

After finishing the extermination of the undead beasts, the lizardmen stooped their shoulders tiredly and sighed in relief. They were saddened by their losses, but had a faint smile as well.

There were many injuries, but they count themselves lucky they didn’t lose more. If the wetland fairies didn’t join the fray… No, if they had appeared any later, their formation would have been broken and they would have been routed.

“Let’s go.”

The Head Warrior said, announcing the commencement of the next fight.

Everyone were weak from fatigue, and only managed to pick up their weapons after some time, and seemed too tired to wield them. They might be exhausted, but the war wasn’t over.

They were needed to take care of the zombies in the distance and guard against enemy reinforcements.

“Alright, bring the heavily wounded back to the village, the rest follow us—”

A sudden burst of flame cut his speech short.

A heat wave radiated out to the surrounding, the two fairies caught in the midst of the fire were swaying weakly.

After the flame dispersed completely without a trace, the appearance of the two fairies was terrible. They were on the verge of falling from that one attack.

Before anyone could scream, the flame blasted once again. The fairies couldn’t withstand the attack and their bodies began to crumble, dispersing into the fire.

The powerful fairies that displayed unmatched strength against the undead beasts were gone. The lizardmen couldn’t process what was happening and had blank expressions.

What happened?

They knew the wetland fairies were destroyed, but they were rejecting this reality. If the two wetland fairies were really defeated, that meant a stronger monster than them was approaching.