“Yea. I need to hurry.”
『What’s it about?』
Mare’s shoulders flinched for a brief moment. He felt like his voice would crack, but then he barely managed to squeeze the words out.
“N-n-n-n-nothing? It’s nothing… but I need to go.”
『Hmmm…』
Aura’s voice sounded as if she was suspicious, and the thought of that caused Mare’s hands to be soaked with sweat.
But, uh, I can’t help it. It’s Ainz-sama’s orders.
Apart from Mare and Aura’s creator —Bukubukuchagama— Ainz’s words ranked higher than any other Supreme Being’s. It took priority over anything else.
『Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. Go then. Remember that the 5th floor is cold, so protect yourself against it… Ah, but if it’s Mare there won’t be a problem.』
“Y-yeah. It’s fine if I use magic. Then I’ll be off.”
If he kept talking for too long, he might give something away. So Mare quickly took his hand off the magic item. It sounded like his sister was trying to say something else before she was cut off, but whether it was fortunate for him or not, he couldn’t hear it.
“A-alright! Time to hurry.”
Mare activated the most important ring he received from his master.
Immediately after he teleported, Mare felt something white sticking to his face.
It was snow that was flying in the air.
Mare’s breath condensed into a white cloud which was instantly blown behind him. It was the result of the snowstorm and the extreme cold in the area.
The snow and ice flew along with the storm in a frenzied whiteout, and the endless snow covered any trace of footprints almost immediately. Though the weather was designed to make any invader lose track of where they were, it was usually not this severe. Usually, the black clouds in the sky would drop a few sprinkles of snow, and even though this was a gloomy world, the clouds never completely covered the sky.
“……Huh…”
Mare looked to the left and the right. He used the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown, so he should be close to where he wanted to go.
Mare moved swiftly after finding his destination. There were no footprints left where he walked. There was no soft sinking sensation like stepping on snow, it felt more like walking on hard ground.
This pure white world without a trace of anybody else seemed to be telling Mare that there was only snow here. Of course, Mare knew with his passive magical ESP that this wasteland was just a disguise. The ambushers knew that he was the 6th floor guardian, that was why they didn’t show themselves.
Mare arrived at his destination in silence. In front of him was a gigantic white sphere that resembled an upside down wasp’s nest.
Surrounding the structure were six towering crystals, their sharp edges pointed to the sky. There were human-like silhouettes visible on the inside.
As Mare stepped forward, an unnerving cracking sound came from below his feet. When he turned his attention to the floor, he could see that he was standing on a sheet of smooth ice, unlike the snow-covered plain he had been walking on thus far. The ice looked thick, but he could tell there were dark shadows lurking just under the ice.
Mare kept on walking. He took each step with confidence, as if he knew the ice would not break. Despite the cracking and crunching noise, Mare arrived before the gigantic sphere without a problem.
“E-excuse me. Uh, is Cocytus-san here?”
Mare spoke towards one of the gigantic crystals instead of the sphere.
In response, monsters with the appearance of a female human phased through the crystal. The number of monsters corresponded to the number of crystals and they wore pure white clothes. Their skin was bluish-white and their hair were black. They were “Frost Virgins” , a level 82 ice-type monster, that served as sentries for Cocytus’ residence “Snowball Earth”, as well as his bodyguards.
“Welcome, Mare-sama. Well met.”
“Uh, what about, uh, Coctyus-san?”
“Cocytus-sama is currently outside the Great Tomb of Nazarick, visiting the new lizardmen village.”
“I-is that so.”
The frost virgin replied while bowing.
“Yes. If you have a message to leave for him, we’ll take it for him. What do you wish to do?”
Mare hesitated.
Since he came this far, he could just leave the folder in Cocytus’ room and leave a brief message with the frost virgins. But considering the content of the memo, giving it directly to Cocytus would be fully respecting the master’s commands.
So how would he go to Cocytus, who was outside.
There was no special rule forbidding the guardians from going outside Nazarick. However, there were conditions to meet before going outside. It was because the master had forbidden all independent activity outside the Great Tomb of Nazarick.
The information gathered so far indicated level 100 beings like the guardians of Nazarick were unimaginable walking disasters in the outside world. There would be no problem even if Mare, one such walking disaster, engaged in independent action. It would be the outside world that should be afraid of him, but that was a mistake only possible after forgetting one important incident.
There was an unknown enemy who brainwashed Shalltear and might possess a World class item. There were also glimpses of player activity in the shadows every once in a while.
They needed to take extra precautions because they could not assess how many or how strong the enemies were.
“Hm, mmm. What should I do…”
Anyone who wanted to go outside needed to be accompanied by at least five level 75 servants. Mare had two dragons as direct subordinates, but they were too big to be discreet. It would be best to ask his sister, but considering how the conversation went, he did not want to do something so scary.
Then an epiphany struck him. It was perfect in both level and number.
“S-sorry, but can you come with me?”
“I, I apologize, but we have been ordered by Cocytus-sama to guard this place. With the exception of Ainz-sama, we cannot disobey Cocytus-sama’s order… Please forgive us!”
“Ah, no, no, it’s fine.”
It could not be helped. If he had thought about it, then it would’ve been rather obvious that they couldn’t do so. The next idea that came to his mind was to ask the demon lords in the 7th floor, but unless he gave them a good reason, he would be rejected again. It was true that he couldn’t rely on any floor but the one Demiurge guarded. It was difficult to ask for help from any guardians outside the names that were written on the memo. Also, most servants over level 80 in the Great Tomb of Nazarick were direct subordinates of a guardian and those who were not, were few and far in between.