"Dolores, be careful. They're not simple." Now that he understood Chu Lian's intentions, Ainz no longer wished to display excessive strength. He planned to let her take the spotlight while he supported her from behind, gradually retreating into the role of an observer in the shadows.
The moment those dragons entered his field of vision, Ainz had already roughly assessed their capabilities. However, he still did not fully understand what dragons represented in this world, so he could only offer a warning for now.
"There's no need to worry, big brother. Though they possess extremely high resistance to magic, and their scales grant formidable defense against physical damage, opponents whose strength is close to mine are the ones I fear least. Because they are destined to die beneath my blade."
Chu Lian gently shook her head and raised the Senra Longblade before her eyes. She looked at the reflection of her own pupils on the blade's surface, a faint curve forming at the corner of her lips.
"Then be careful. I'll hold off the other monsters and magical beasts here. Focus on the dragons." Ainz knew his little sister carried countless secrets, and her strength was far from as simple as it appeared. Judging by the punch that had shattered an entire coliseum, these dragons truly posed little threat to her.
"It won't take long. Once they're all dead, I'll come back." She turned her head slightly to glance at him. A light breeze stirred the tips of her hair as she stepped forward in her white armor.
She lifted her gaze and stared at the dragons circling in the sky.
Suddenly, her pupils transformed into an intricate and mysterious pattern. A blue-green radiance bloomed within them. A terrifying aura surged from her body—an intensity that felt as though it could split the heavens themselves. Every living being around her was instantly forced to the ground, trembling, not daring to look at her again.
"So this is Miss Liliana's true strength?"
When Chu Lian's aura shifted, it was not only the monsters who felt suffocated. Even the members of the Swords of Darkness and Nfirea found it hard to breathe. In their eyes, her figure was like a blade capable of slicing apart their very sight—impossible to gaze upon directly.
After all, once she activated the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, she became the natural enemy of all life.
If the disparity in strength was too great, even looking at her form gave the sensation that one's soul might be severed. It was the instinctive warning that arose from the depths of weaker beings when confronted with an existence beyond resistance.
She angled her blade downward.
Her eyes narrowed.
Teleport.
In an instant, Chu Lian appeared before the head of one of the dragons and lightly brought her blade down.
There was no resistance whatsoever.
The moment she saw its line of death, its fate was sealed. Her body moved effortlessly from the dragon's crown down to the tip of its tail in a single descending stroke.
Behind her, the dragon that had been alive just a second ago was split cleanly into two even halves. It never even had the chance to attack before plummeting to the ground.
"So this is… a lethal ability?"
The crimson light within Ainz's skull flickered beneath his helmet. The power Chu Lian had displayed was too extraordinary. He could sense that the dragon had already lost all vitality the moment her blade fell. Its scales—hard as the most indestructible metal in existence—had offered not the slightest defense before being cleaved apart.
Even in his full state as the Overlord of Death, he might not achieve such ease. This was not a skill that ordinary beings could wield. Perhaps only the gods of legend could accomplish something like this…
"God?"
The thought struck him sharply.
Could Dolores truly be the god from the system of the past? Although the game's maximum level had been one hundred, that did not mean an NPC who had developed her own consciousness would not possess abilities beyond ordinary players and NPCs.
If she were truly the embodiment of the system, then secretly designing a set of abilities befitting a "god" would not be strange at all. Though any data would normally be visible to the game's GMs, it was not impossible to find ways to obscure certain things.
"If she truly is the divine manifestation of YGGDRASIL's will, then everything makes sense. Why monsters do not harm her. Why she was the only NPC in YGGDRASIL to possess true intelligence. Why she knows so much about the outside world. Why she knew this was a game. Why she carries so many secrets I cannot fathom…"
With that single stroke, Ainz's thoughts spun wildly, weaving together countless fragments of speculation until he reached a startling conclusion.
In YGGDRASIL, Chu Lian had never been an ordinary intelligent NPC. She was the incarnation of the game system itself—a god walking within the game.
Unexpectedly, this explanation resolved every inconsistency. It even clarified her origins for him.
Whether intentional or not, the identity granted by the system was astonishingly convenient, sparing her countless troubles.
If she were not a divine incarnation, then how could she possess skills foreign to YGGDRASIL? How could she wield a weapon surpassing even World Items? How could she split a dragon in half so effortlessly?
As a level one hundred magic caster who stood at the pinnacle of all players—the Overlord of Death—Ainz could judge strength by comparison.
Perhaps Chu Lian's current level of power was not overwhelming. A level ninety-plus expert could likely suppress her with ease.
But she was only level forty-five.
At level forty-five, she already possessed such destructive force and lethality. What would happen when she reached level fifty? Sixty? Or even the full hundred?
Ainz did not know.
But he was certain of one thing. If she continued like this, once she surpassed level ninety, Dolores would become an opponent he could never hope to defeat.
Realizing this, Ainz felt a surge of relief that Dolores stood on their side. If, upon arriving in this world, she had left Nazarick instead, they would now be facing a nightmare of an enemy.
While Ainz lost himself in speculation, the others were thinking their own thoughts.
Narberal did not know much about Chu Lian's origins. She only understood that this single strike had been nothing short of earth-shattering.
Even if another Guardian—or even Lord Ainz Ooal Gown himself—had acted personally, they might not have accomplished it so effortlessly.
She knew such thoughts were disrespectful.
Yet the scene of dragon-slaying replayed over and over in her mind. She could not help thinking this way.
Whether it was because Chu Lian had already taken root in her heart, or because that single stroke had been too stunning to ignore… that, she could not tell.
"Is this Liliana's true strength? How laughable that I approached such a powerhouse with those ulterior thoughts. They must have long since seen through my intentions. The only reason they accepted my commission was out of the magnanimity of the strong, unwilling to stoop to my level. Once this is over, I must personally apologize. Even if they refuse to forgive me, I cannot continue deceiving them."
The legendary dragons—apex predators of the food chain, beings that had pressed an almost suffocating weight upon them—had been split apart by Chu Lian with a single stroke. The shock and deterrence of that sight could never be understood by anyone who had not witnessed it firsthand.
That blade did not merely cleave a dragon. It severed their delusions and shattered Nfirea's lingering luck. If not for the inappropriate timing and setting, he would have already leapt from the carriage to apologize to Ainz, Liliana, and Narberal.
"She's like the heroes of epic tales… What a pity she doesn't use magic. Otherwise, I would truly have begged her to take me as a disciple. With that kind of strength, she could surely help me advance swiftly along the path of magic."
A trace of regret flickered through Ninya's eyes. Back at the Adventurers' Guild, Liliana had once asked whether she wished to become her disciple.
At the time, unfamiliar with her and wary that her own identity might be exposed, Ninya had refused.
Now, seeing such overwhelming power, how could she not feel regret? She did not know whether Liliana would still accept her as a disciple. Even if she herself did not use magic, she could surely find an excellent mentor for her.
It was not selfishness so much as instinct. All living beings ultimately strive to secure greater space for themselves. As long as hope remains, as long as ideals still burn, the heart does not cease its search for someone stronger—someone who can shape them into something greater.
What she did not know was that she had already been targeted by Chu Lian. Until the girl became her disciple, Chu Lian would not give up. She needed someone who practiced magic to help her understand how to cultivate it properly.
Among the characters she knew, there was no one more suitable than Ninya. A natural-born talent whose magical training speed was doubled—such conditions were more than enough to catch her eye.
So Ninya need not worry about whether she would be accepted. Chu Lian would naturally find a way to tempt her again. What she should worry about was how to avoid becoming a "guinea pig."
If Ninya, a magic caster, felt such shock and regret, then Peter, as a warrior, was even more deeply shaken.
His eyes and mind were filled entirely with that small white figure. That single stroke—the one destined to cleave apart countless delusions—gradually solidified in his mind into an eternal image.
He wanted only one thing now: to wield his own sword and perform that very strike.
No—if possible, he wished to wield the same kind of weapon Liliana had used. Only such a domineering blade could unleash such a blow.
No matter what the future held, that strike would occupy his mind forever. The one who delivered it would become his ultimate goal, the figure he would chase as he strove to become strong enough to cleave out such a blow himself.
The Swords of Darkness no longer mattered.
Once one possesses a lifelong figure to pursue, that alone is the most beautiful thing. Everything else—everything—can be discarded.
Setting aside their thoughts, Chu Lian knew her own situation best.
The reason she could deliver that strike was not only due to the dominance of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, nor merely because her strength exceeded that of the dragon. It was also because she had equipped the S-rank title "Dragon Slayer."
When these factors converged, any dragon whose strength did not surpass hers by half a realm could not withstand that blade.
As long as a line of death appeared, it marked the moment of their demise. Unless they possessed the ability to evade her even with Teleport at her disposal, wherever her blade pointed would be the place of their execution.
"Ha… that wasn't an easy strike."
Though the dragon had been slain in less than a second, it still took her several seconds afterward to regulate her breathing. Recovery was not so effortless.
After she donned the title "Dragon Slayer," the remaining dragons seemed to go mad. Blood vessels bulged in their eyes as they stared at her like mortal enemies.
Though fear lingered from witnessing their kin's gruesome death, what mattered more was the black rune affixed to their bodies. The voice guiding them urged them to slaughter the girl before them—regardless of her power, regardless of whether they were her match.
That voice, which might have been suppressed after her effortless slaughter of one dragon, instead grew stronger due to the Dragon Slayer title. Their hatred deepened, forming a struggle that would end only with death.
Yet the gap in strength and ability could not be bridged by anger or hatred.
Though they were beings most humans could never defeat, though they possessed the capital and power to look down upon the world, before that small white figure, they were nothing more than insignificant obstacles.
She turned her head. Her hair swayed lightly.
A radiant smile blossomed on Chu Lian's face.
After evading the dragons' attacks and finishing her brief recovery, it was time for the next one…
She raised her blade. Brilliant sunlight reflected upon its surface, forming a unique gleam. Was that the light that heralded life's end?
She swung.
A diagonal slash.
The ferocious dragon stiffened midair. Then, from neck to hind legs, its body split cleanly in two and crashed to the ground.
Seeing this, the remaining two dragons grew even more vicious. Recklessly, they charged and unleashed their dragon breath upon her.
Their only chance of survival had been to split up and flee—flee desperately, perhaps allowing at least one to escape.
But they did not flee.
They chose to attack.
Even during the brief interval after her swing, she did not fear dragon breath that inflicted less than three hundred points of damage.
Still, she did not choose to endure it with her body. Though her Undying Body could negate up to eight hundred and fifty points of damage—making three hundred trivial—there was no need to draw further attention.
Instead, she stepped upon empty air and kicked off, retreating backward in midair. As the two dragons formed a subtle arc between them, she activated Teleport, appearing before their lines of death. With a single sweep of her blade, she reappeared at the opposite end.
The dragons froze for a heartbeat in midair.
Then they split into four segments and fell to the earth.
A rain of blood cascaded from the sky.
Suspended in the air, Chu Lian resembled a divine being, gazing down upon the myriad magical beasts below with eyes devoid of emotion—like the gaze of a god.
Under that gaze, none of the beasts dared move. They stood as though submitting, lowering their bodies and heads in reverence.
The zombified monsters, however, were another matter.
They ignored everything happening around them. Even with their numbers reduced to less than a tenth of what they had been, they continued their assault.
Just as they drew near once more, the sound of hooves thundered from the distant forest.
Feathered arrows suddenly shot forth, piercing through the monsters' skulls one after another.
At the sight, Chu Lian turned her head slightly.
Charging from the forest were centaurs, bows drawn and arrows flying.
The other magical beasts seemed to understand what was required. A portion of them immediately broke away and slaughtered the remaining monsters.
Roughly fifty centaurs approached, led by a comparatively petite figure. They stopped not far below Chu Lian's hovering form.
They lowered their longbows, placed one hand over their chests, bowed their heads, and knelt upon all four limbs.
This was an act of submission…