The added speed of the freefall meant that he was moving quite fast. The air struck Ainz’s face and flowed past him. At the same time, Ainz opened his eyes and observed the square.
“Though I think hiding in a house would have been better…”
Ainz muttered quietly and then selected Lupusregina ― who was proudly standing in the middle of the square ― as his target.
Yuri was some distance away. While she could see him, she did not look like she was prepared to intercept him. Leaving a healer alone was quite frustrating, but Yuri had made the right decision considering that she had to be wary of area-effect spells,
Ainz ground to a halt as he skidded across the ground ― in truth, he would not have been hurt even if he had crashed straight into it ― and cast a spell.
Ainz chose one of the most destructive tenth tier spells in his arsenal, 「Reality Slash」. At the same time, he used a special ability to maximize the spell. While he could have tripled the spell or something similar to do a great deal of damage, it would be very dangerous while he did not know how much damage the Doppelgangers had taken. He had to avoid the possibility of killing them by accident.
“「Maximize Magic―」”
As he raised his hand, his hand was struck and damaged, and the spell fizzled. The mana spent on casting the spell was wasted.
What? Interfering with a spell through a ranged attack? Is it some kind of special ability?
Perhaps it was because he was undead, or because he was a veteran player, but his confusion only lasted for a moment. Ainz immediately analyzed the attack he had received.
Neither the Evil Lord nor Yuri nor Lupusregina possessed abilities like this.
Perhaps it’s the World Class Item holder who brainwashed Shalltear―
And if the Hanzos missed him―
If it was a ranged weapon user―
If it was her, she could use a special ability to interfere with spells―
“―I fell for it!”
Ainz shouted as he found the answer.
Although Yuri closed in and delivered a punch, Ainz had already enhanced his defense with a spell, so he did not need to be so wary of her. After all, there was something more important than that.
The whole thing was a trap from the start! No, Yuri ― I see! “Here” was referring to the square! That was why the Hanzos said “the Pleiades” were present! Dammit! I was wondering why they said “all of us” when it was just the two of them!
All the points of data made a beautiful line.
CZ was attacking now.
It was not just Yuri and Lupusregina who were present. CZ was also on the battlefield. In all likelihood, Solution and Entoma were here too. All the Doppel-Pleiades were present in the city.
No, no, I need to calm down. Doppel-CZ was just lucky. It was easy enough for me to resist that because of the level difference between us. She won’t be so lucky ― well, unlucky for me ― next time.
“「Greater Word of Curse」!”
The Evil Lord had finally caught up and cast a spell, but Ainz resisted it without any problems. It was only threatening in close combat, so all he had to do was keep his distance.
Ainz ignored the Evil Lord above him and ignored Yuri, who had only done minimal damage to him from the start. He lunged straight at Lupusregina.
In that moment―
Countless Bullet Bugs flew over from the side. There was no doubt that it was Entoma.
He did not even need to use his High Tier Physical Immunity to stop it. That was because non-magical ranged attacks could not harm Ainz.
Perhaps if it was a weapon carried by the Pleiades, Ainz’s immunity would have been defeated thanks to the massive amount of data within them. The best example of that was CZ and Yuri’s attacks from just now. However, certain skills were calculated based on the user’s level. Entoma was a prime example, since she possessed many of these user level-based attacks.
Entoma was only around level 50, so her attacks did not bother Ainz at all. In addition, if all damage from an attack was nullified, none of the rider effects would take place either.
Therefore, he could ignore it.
Ainz did not even spare Entoma a glance as he moved in to finish off the healer, but just then, Solution erupted from her ambush point in front of Lupusregina. It would have been a futile gesture if she was facing an area-effect attack, but that was the only way to protect the healer.
However, Solution had made a fatal mistake. Ainz was a magic caster and did not need to close to attack. All he needed to do was cast attack spells from a distance. He had to think about why she would charge out from in front of Lupusregina.
Ainz had only one aim.
He wanted to expose the enemy and reveal whatever card they had up their sleeve.
Narberal’s not around?
He did not understand. She was not among the maid demons who had attacked the Royal Capital. However, one could not rule her out if all the Pleiades were present. It was possible that they were saving their ace in the hole for the last moment. Still, since he knew what kind of hand the opposition had, there was no reason to continue fighting in the middle of the enemy.
“「Greater Teleportation」.”
CZ did not interrupt his spell, and he managed to teleport under a roof within line of sight.
I need to remember what Yuri and the others can do. Who should I kill first? ―Lupusregina, the healer. While I need to be very careful of CZ… I have no idea where she is… so I’ll let the others go first. The Evil Lord will take the most time, so I’ll save him for last.
He saw Lupusregina casting a spell on Solution. Had they not pursued Ainz because drawing out the battle was not a problem for them? No, it was because they understood that since Ainz could move at will with 「Greater Teleportation」, they could be easily scattered and individually defeated. After all, Ainz was hoping for that too.
It did not matter if they saw through him.
All he had to do was harass them with ranged spells and then take them out one by one. While CZ the ranged combat specialist was present, she would eventually expose herself if she attacked continuously. Therefore, she would only attack at critical moments. In that case, she would not be so frightening. Or rather―
“I didn’t see her, so let me guess, you’re standing in for Narberal.”
Ainz muttered to himself as he watched the Evil Lord land.
“Haha, you’ve become fat, Narberal. Shall we call you Gorillal now? And your element’s changed greatly too. Well ― this is interesting. If the Doppel-Pleiades are my opponents―” Ainz flourished his cape. Of course, there was no meaning to it; he simply wanted to show off in a kingly way. “Then I ought to get a little serious.”
Don’t die~
“「Twin Maximize Magic Re―”
Just as Ainz was about to cast a spell at Lupusregina, another bullet hit Ainz’s arm and interrupted his spell.
“―Hah?”
Impossible.
Even if she had succeeded once by luck, she could not have interrupted his spell twice in a row. CZ was far lower level than Ainz.
Could he have been unlucky enough to fail his resistance check twice in a row? How unlikely were those odds? Or perhaps this was not bad luck, but certainty ― for instance, if his opponent was not CZ at all?
The Evil Lord of Wrath spread his fiery wings and closed in on Ainz. Yuri came in from the right, and Entoma flew in from the left in a roundabout fashion.
What’s going on? Why is this happening? Is this some change that occurred after coming to this world? Or did Garnet-san give CZ something? Or is it not CZ? What did Yuri say just now? They’re sisters, but they’re Doppel… Pando ― ahhhh!