“This should be the Great Rift…”
Ainz turned to look from left to right.
“But there doesn’t seem to be anything like a suspension bridge here… no, is that a bridge stump? If that’s there, then that means…”
“It might be that the the enemy destroyed the bridge during their retreat,” Shalltear said from the side.
“Hm…”
If their enemy was a powerful being who could easily defeat a Death Knight, was there a need to destroy the bridge? If this was meant to block their attack, that meant that they were not confident in their strength — No.
Ainz shook his head.
Death Knights were rare in this world. Thus, the enemy must have surmised there was a powerful entity controlling the two Death Knights. That being the case, losing the bridge would not be a big loss.
“Not bad… Tell the Dwarves that the path is safe.”
“Understood!”
As he watched Shalltear head towards the Dwarves, he saw Aura squatting down. He wanted to ask what she was doing, but given her diligent expression, it would be best not to interrupt her focus.
Ainz turned to look at the Great Rift, then picked up a stone and threw it in. There was no particular meaning to it; he had done so on a whim. Still, he could not hear the stone striking the bottom.
“Its depth is unknown, Your Majesty,” said the commander whom Shalltear had brought back with her. He must have seen what Ainz was doing. “We’ve sent two expeditions to investigate, but neither of them came back.”
“I see. There were probably monsters there…Have those things ever come out?”
“Sir, there hasn’t been anything like that to date. Therefore, we decided not to send in expeditions. Probing too deep would be unwise.”
“Well, that’s right.”
Ainz could make incorporeal undead like ghosts, and by using magic to share their senses, he would be able to mount a full investigation. However, now was not the time for that sort of thing.
Given the present circumstances, investigating the Great Rift was a low priority. Still, it had to be done. In YGGDRASIL, places like this often concealed valuable items or dungeons.
If the shitty devs had their way, they’d hide a tunnel at the bottom of the Great Rift, and there’d be rare ores inside that tunnel. No, they’d definitely do that. In fact, it’s happened before.
“—Then, we shall cross to the other side, pursue the fleeing Quagoa, and press them back into the Royal Capital, then.”
The flight spell was still in effect, so that was not a problem in itself. However, what worried Ainz was whether or not something would crawl out of the darkness.
It was an incident from YGGDRASIL, but Ainz could not help but recall the time when he had been crossing a lake and spotted a giant serpent-like monster swimming below. It was not a pleasant memory, but that experience had been put to use in the creation of the 5th Floor—
After bidding the commander farewell, the four of them took flight, with Shalltear and Aura looking out below them. His worries from just now were ill-founded, and they reached the other side without seeing anything else below.
That said, he breathed a quiet sigh of relief when his feet were once again firmly planted on terra firma. Granted, he had to keep it secret from the others.
Ainz surveyed his surroundings.
There were only four enemy corpses here, which meant that the Death Knights had been defeated in this place.
“Shalltear, there are a few things I need to tell you now.”
After calling Shalltear to him, Ainz glanced at Aura, and saw her inspecting the ground.
Perhaps it would be better to call Aura over as well. He thought that, but then he mused that he wanted to have Shalltear take the lead this time round. He could explain a simplified version to Aura afterwards.
“Hang on a bit, Ainz-sama!”
Shalltear took out a notebook and flipped it open.
“Please, go on.”
“Oh. Umu. A notebook, huh… Very attentive of you. Ahem! Er— we are now about to enter a very dangerous area. As for why it is dangerous, that’s because there is a being who can defeat two of my Death Knights. While comparing Death Knights to you is something of an insult—”
“—It’s nothing of the sort, Ainz-sama. I will use my full strength to do battle with any powerful being who could defeat the Death Knights you created.”
“No, you must not use your full strength.”
“Why, why is that? If the enemy is strong, shouldn’t I attack in earnest — forgive me for asking such a question of you, Ainz-sama!”
“Not at all. Your question is very sensible.”
Ainz put his hands behind his back, and then told her how to deal with an unknown enemy.
“That said, you must be aware of how the opposition expects us to act. What the enemy wants most is information — our fighting ability, in other words. They might use expendable ambush troops and the like to gauge our combat strength. In other words, they will verify our abilities and when they feel they can achieve victory, they will attack us in such a way that they cannot lose and we cannot flee.”
“To think they would actually do that…”
“Granted, we don’t know if the enemy will go that far—”
“Ah… Ainz-sama…”
Aura called to him in a nervous tone, something which was very unusual for her. Under normal circumstances, he would stop his explanation to Shalltear and listen to Aura.
However, he was in a very good mood since this was a chance to speak at length about one of his specialties.
Therefore, Ainz turned to Aura and put his index finger to his mouth.
“Ah, yes!”
Understanding dawned on Aura. Ainz was giving an earnest lecture, so he wanted her to be quiet. She understood what Ainz was trying to say.
“Like I was saying, Shalltear. I would do the same thing if I were fighting a strong foe. No, my friends would do the same as well.”
“The Supreme Beings would do that too? But, comparing this enemy to the Supreme Beings is a little…”
“Really? You should assume that the enemy can do everything I can do. Only a fool thinks that they are special and gets full of themselves. Remain ever-cautious. In any case, I do not wish to let the enemy see our full fighting strength.”
Keeping the Hanzos in hiding was also to disrupt the schemes of the enemy.
“Therefore, Shalltear, I will lay several restrictions on you when you are travelling with me to the Dwarven Capital — before we reach the enemy’s headquarters.”
“Yes! What sort of restrictions are these?”
“Umu. Concerning magic… while I permit you to use spells of up to the 10th tier, you are not to use too many different spells. At the very most, limit yourself to one or two of them.”
“…I see, this is to deceive the enemy and make them overconfident, and then defeat him with a counterattack. That being the case… why not limit me to 5th-tier magic or lower?”
“No, the enemy will not be lulled into a false sense of confidence that way. In the moment that the enemy thinks they have the measure of our true strength and seeks to utterly destroy us, we have a chance to strike a fatal blow to the enemy. In my case, if I saw the enemy attack me with just a few techniques and no spells beyond the 5th tier, I would immediately conclude that the enemy was trying to keep their abilities a secret.”
“In that kind of situation, what would you do against that sort of enemy?”
“I’d think of how to learn more about them. For instance, I’d briefly abandon an expendable base. Then, I’d slowly gather intelligence. Once the enemy gains a base, they’ll feel the desire to hang on to it. That sort of attitude will limit the enemy’s actions, and they’ll invariably reveal their true colors.”