A single blade fell.
The entire ground turned to ice.
Mochi's figure was sliced in two, splitting in mid-air and dissipating bit by bit.
Dissipating?
No!
Demiurge realized.
That was a double!
In other words, that guy's target wasn't Cocytus. Could it be Shalltear?!
He hurriedly looked in Shalltear's direction, only to find her looking at them with a face full of confusion, seemingly still unable to grasp the current situation.
A wrong guess?
Then that guy's true objective was—
"Seal the exit!"
In front of the Wall of Fire, Mochi, covered in frost, revealed himself. At the cost of being heavily injured, he had bought these few seconds. Although it was a bit of a pity, it seemed he could only use that spell intended for the bespectacled demon. To be honest, it was truly unpleasant.
[Real-Shadow Displacement]
A Shadow leaped up from the ground, and in the blink of an eye, the Wall of Fire vanished. If one observed closely, they would find that in its original place, there was the Shadow of a Wall of Fire burning on the ground. This was Mochi's trump card.
He could pull objects he touched into the Shadow Space. The killing move derived from this was to seal the opponent as a Shadow, wandering forever in the world of Shadows. Moreover, because the Shadow Space itself was only a magic similar to Space Magic and did not essentially belong to the spatial attribute, even someone skilled in Space Magic would not easily be able to break this seal once trapped.
The exit was opened.
Mochi did not linger. Although one of his hands was ruined due to touching the Wall of Fire and his body was frozen stiff by the cold breath—a state in which an ordinary person would be unable to move—his will, strengthened by the power of the Goddess, was enough to let him move in this state.
[Pseudo-Teleportation]
The final Teleportation was activated. This time, truly not a drop of mana remained.
"How pathetic, Number 9."
Number 10, who had been on standby behind the Wall of Fire, saw Mochi successfully escape and stepped forward to support the collapsing Mochi. Then, they vanished before the three pursuing Guardians. It wasn't just their figures disappearing; not even a trace of their presence remained, as if they had vanished from the very source, as if they had never existed to begin with.
Shalltear took out her weapon and smashed it toward them, but as expected, it had no effect. Her expression twisted as she screamed, "Just mere humans, and they actually escaped before my eyes?! And here in Nazarick, under the circumstances where Lord Ainz ordered their capture, they were allowed to escape!!!"
Unacceptable!
This kind of thing, she could not accept!
"Ugh!"
Cocytus's emotions were also wavering.
After all, this was an unprecedented failure.
Unlike Shalltear's previous rebellion, these intruders could be described as weaklings. Yet such weaklings had escaped under the interception of three Guardians, and right here in Nazarick, a place where they held an absolute geographical advantage.
This kind of disgrace could not be excused as a mere mistake for a mission failure. If they had used large-scale magic to attack from the beginning, perhaps the result would have been entirely different. This was the price paid for their lack of experience and for underestimating the opponent. How should they beg Lord Ainz for forgiveness afterward? And they didn't know how much information the intruders had gathered. Depending on the situation, would they have to commit seppuku to apologize!
So that was it. That guy's ability wasn't spatial transfer, but a magic similar to elementalization. It was only because the attribute was rare that it looked like spatial transfer. In that case, this mission could have been completed by Cocytus alone, but because of his own excessive caution, the mission had failed.
Demiurge's expression shifted constantly. He had already thought of this when he saw the intruder risk injury to approach Cocytus, but at that time he was still guessing what the intruder's trump card was. It wasn't until he saw the intruder use a skill similar to Teleportation the moment he escaped—and that the range of the Teleportation was only forward and backward, unable to teleport to the upper floors—that he confirmed the truth of the intruder's ability.
It was an ability similar to elementalization.
The attribute was... Shadow.
Composing his emotions,
Demiurge said to the other two, "Now is not the time for self-reproach. A strong enemy has arrived outside; let's go take a look. Of course, since Lord Ainz has already taken action, it is likely no different from having already secured this victory."
"Damn it, damn it, damn it..."
Shalltear cursed as she followed.
Cocytus's low spirits were visible to the naked eye.
One wanted to atone for previous events, and the other was in his first battle; both wanted to perform well. But when facing intruders whose strength was completely below their own, they hadn't shown any brilliant performance at all, and in the end, they even let the intruders escape.
This blow was truly too painful for them.
Even Demiurge's current mood was not actually as calm as it appeared on the surface. He had completely memorized the group known as the Goddess Cult in his heart.
This lesson.
He would surely have his revenge!
...Unlike the lukewarm battles inside Nazarick, the battle outside had been incredibly grand from the start. After all, the Platinum Hero didn't possess those hide-and-seek abilities; his moves were a display of solid, raw strength.
The opponent facing the Platinum Hero head-on was that Succubus wearing pitch-black armor. To be honest, when he first realized the opponent's race was a Succubus, the Platinum Hero thought this opponent would be very easy to deal with. But in reality, it wasn't like that at all. It was the first time he had encountered a Succubus whose physical combat ability was even stronger than his own.
The battleaxe and the holy sword collided fiercely, and the mere aftershocks of the impact altered the surrounding terrain.
Feeling the pressure on his wrists, the Hero couldn't help but be shocked. "Is this woman really a Succubus?!"
Albedo remained completely unmoved.
That physique, which seemed entirely unsuited for a warrior, exploded with power far exceeding that of a dragon. Her opponent was completely suppressed by her, and even without both sides using magic, Albedo held the absolute upper hand.
The two engaged in battle in the sky.
Below, Ainz and two Guardians sat and watched the scene.
"As expected of the Guardian Overseer."
Ainz felt very gratified seeing Albedo gain the upper hand. Under these circumstances, the intruder would definitely not be able to escape, as he had already laid many traps in the surroundings—he was, after all, very skilled at doing such things.
Demiurge and his group teleported up at this moment.
Ainz asked happily, "Good, it seems the battle on your side has also been settled. However, I don't see the intruder. Or should I say, Demiurge, have you already sent that one intruder over for interrogation?"
"..."
Hearing the question from the Great Supreme Being, the three Guardians fell into a momentary silence. Facing Lord Ainz, who naturally assumed they would complete the mission, they simply couldn't bring themselves to speak of their failure.
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