Of course, Ainz would also be damaged by this spell. While friendly fire was off in YGGDRASIL and so using a spell this recklessly would not be a problem, right now he would be hurting himself. Even if his magical defense was very high, there was no need for him to go out of the way to take damage to cast his spell. Rather than act like a suicide bomber, he ought to have chosen another spell.
However, Ainz had already worked it out.
If he expended the 「Body of Effulgent Beryl」 spell to stop all the bludgeoning damage, the fire-elemental damage would also be negated, which would mean he would not be harmed. In addition, all those negative statuses were ineffective on the undead.
In other words, Ainz was undamaged by the spell.
If he completely resisted its damage, the knockback would not take effect either, and so Ainz was the only one left standing in the heart of the explosion.
“Hahah.”
Ainz laughed. The feeling of everything going as planned was very refreshing, after all.
Ainz’s aim was to blow the enemy away and tear the enemy formation to shreds.
For a moment, Ainz briefly imagined the guild members who had taught him various things ― including this tactic.
Both the earlier simulated battle and even this battle where failure meant death reminded Ainz of YGGDRASIL, which made him strangely happy.
I’ve wondered about this before, but I don’t think I’m a battle maniac…
“Come, it’s not over yet. The battle’s just beginning. I’ll show you the strength that I nurtured with everyone.”
Unleashing the fury of that 9th tier spell meant that the surrounding buildings had all been swept away, and there was much more space all of a sudden.
That could not be helped. After all, this city had outlived its usefulness.
He could have widened the spell to try and catch CZ in the blast. However, Ainz was worried about the problems that might result from destroying too much of the city, so he had not done so. For all he knew, it might have been a mistake.
Forget it, let’s leave it at that. What’s left is―
Ainz looked in Lupusregina’s direction. The enemy envelopment was in shambles.
Even with Aureole’s buffs, they could not avoid the knockback, and Ainz could see the enemy hurriedly getting to their feet.
“That’s about all the damage 「Nuclear Blast」 ought to be able to do, so―”
Ainz flew towards Lupusregina and cast 「Reality Slash」.
This time, he was not interrupted by CZ, and Lupusregina’s body spurted a fountain of blood.
“「Widen Magic Shark Cyclone」.”
An extra large cyclone came into existence behind him, swallowing up Yuri and the Evil Lord. This was both to obscure Yuri and the Evil Lord’s vision and also to buy Ainz time. In truth, Ainz had planned to create a cyclone before the 「Nuclear Blast」 to block their vision and then get rid of Yuri first, but after considering that the Evil Lord could probably break out of the spell easily, he decided not to go with that plan. Instead, he had decided to use it when the enemy was confused.
Ainz heard the sound of displaced stones as he saw Entoma push a pillar off herself while rising to her feet.
He had no idea where CZ was even now. Ideally, she would be pinned under a fallen house.
“He’s coming here! Stop him!”
Solution shouted from her place in front of Lupusregina, but her voice could not reach the ears of Yuri and the Evil Lord, who were inside the cyclone. Yuri in particular was shifting desperately within the cyclone to avoid being blown away. While certain classes could use spells or special abilities to teleport or go incorporeal and thus escape the cyclone easily, she did not seem to possess such abilities.
And that would mean Yuri had focused on strengthening other things―
After reviewing this battle, they ought to understand what gear they need to have and what preparations they need to make, right? No, that’s not it…
If they were the true Pleiades, they might have been able to deal with this better. They were simply Doppelgangers copying the Pleiades’ abilities, after all. It only made sense that they would lose out to the real deal in terms of combat skills.
As Ainz closed the distance and prepared to cast 「Reality Slash」, bugs fell from the sky one after the other. They were large transport insects with no combat ability. The objective of this action was simply to block Ainz’s line of sight.
Such a use would not be possible in YGGDRASIL. Even so, Entoma ― though actually a Doppelganger ― could use them in this way. Ainz gave thanks in his heart as he incanted a spell.
“「Greater Teleportation」.”
After teleporting into the air and avoiding the rain of bugs, Ainz cast 「Twin Maximize Magic Reality Slash」.
Even if CZ had Ainz in his sights, the fact that her target had suddenly teleported into the air meant that she would lose him. After all, the weakness of the humanoid body was its inability to follow sudden up and down movement with the eyes.
That said, if he were facing an experienced shooter like Peroroncino, for example, they would be able to anticipate their opponent’s movements, even in the vertical plane. Therefore, it was possible that one could not even escape with teleportation magic.
Peroroncino-san’s aiming would have been like locking on to his target… CZ, you need to work hard to get on his level…
As he basked in the nostalgia, Ainz shouted:
“Lupusregina, out!”
Having to fight while keeping an eye on the HP of his opponents was very difficult. One could even call it a handicap. Therefore, if he was asked if Lupusregina’s HP was really depleted, Ainz would not be able to reply with any confidence. Even so, he had to avoid any chance of killing Lupusregina because of a moment’s carelessness.
She’s a Doppelganger, so not only is she weaker than the original, but her HP isn’t the same as the original Lupusregina’s. Alright, now that I’ve taken out the enemy’s magic caster, it’s time to be a real bastard. 「Perfect Unknowable」.
While there were ways to discover Ainz after he had cast 「Perfect Unknowable」, without the aid of magic items, the only member of the Pleiades who could do it was Lupusregina, and the Evil Lord ought to be unable to detect him too. Therefore, it would probably be safe to say that they had no way to deal with this underhanded means of attack.
Since I’ve taken out the enemy healer, I should go search for CZ. Don’t tell me she’s burning up consumable items?
Personally, Ainz could not forgive wasting the wealth of Nazarick on a battle like this.
“Where is he?”
“He’s gone! Is he using 「Invisibility」?”
“I can find him if he’s invisible! But he’s not there!”
“Is this some other kind of invisibility?”
He could hear their confusion.
“You idiots! He’s using 「Perfect Unknowable」!”
“Lupusregina! You’re cheating!” Ainz shouted, but thanks to 「Perfect Unknowable」, others could not hear him.
Ainz scratched his head.
The Evil Lord and Yuri seemed to have broken out of the cyclone, and they were now looking all around for Ainz. While the best option would have been to drop another 「Nuclear Blast」 on them, that might end up killing Lupusregina, so Ainz abandoned that notion. Instead, he descended and kept tabs on Yuri’s position at the same time. After that, he compared the amount of HP Yuri was missing to that of the others, and verified that in addition to the bludgeoning damage, she had also taken fire damage from the earlier magical attack―