Passing through the teleportation gate from the Throne Room, I returned once more to my own domain, the 8th Floor's 『Vault of Wisdom』.
A return from a divine sanctuary dominated by taut air, to a dark abyss filled with the scent of massive amounts of knowledge and parchment. The [Omniscient Flesh] composing my body of black fog pulsed softly and pleasantly in resonance with the magic power density of my home ground.
"——You have returned, Tawil. How was the meeting at the throne?"
When I floated back to my designated position, Ra, the golden bird god, appeared from the darkness on the left wing along with a burning heat haze.
From the right wing, Apep, the giant pitch-black serpent, raised his sickle neck and approached while hissing with his long tongue.
"Were there any lower lifeforms spouting insolent nonsense? If push comes to shove, I'll swallow them whole and digest them for you, so speak without hesitation."
"It was merely a tedious, yet extremely meaningful meeting."
Blinking my hundreds of pupils, I responded to the casual conversation with my defense units.
"Lord Ainz has correctly evaluated the information from the outside world, and his expectations for our 8th Floor are higher than ever. I am counting on the two of you to continue the absolute defense of this vault."
"Slither... Defense, defense, you say. Easy to say with words, however."
Apep slammed his massive tail against the floor, looking bored.
Clang!
The marble made of Divine Starstone let out a sound like a scream.
"Ever since we transferred to this unknown world, we haven't even been given the opportunity to sharpen our fangs. The gnats outside would supposedly melt away with a single breath of my poison, wouldn't they? At this rate, I'm worried my body will have grown dull when a true, mighty enemy - the kind the Supreme Beings are so wary of - finally appears."
"What a coincidence, Serpent of Gluttony. I harbored the exact same concern."
Ra quietly readied his golden spear and spread his wings wide.
"Overwhelming power is merely a decoration if not exercised. The intuition of battle can only be maintained by making one's blood and magic power boil."
As if they had planned it beforehand, the two giant gods turned toward me.
"What do you say, Tawil? Would you care to keep us company for a mock battle between the two of us?"
"You just stay floating right there, observe how we fight with those countless eyes of yours, and analyze our weaknesses for us. If it's the evaluation of an omniscient monster like you, I'll trust it second only to the words of the Supreme Beings."
Combat practice, huh… followed by tactical analysis and feedback from me.
I see.
It is extremely rational for Level 100 NPCs to want to reconfirm the movements of their bodies and the activation timing of their skills post-transfer.
While I myself am a complete non-combatant, observing how they fight as living data will be a massive plus when constructing future defense strategies.
"...Very well. However, I will not permit the archives in this vault to be damaged in the slightest."
I extended an ink tentacle and designated the spatial coordinates.
"We will use an unreleased reserve area at the edge of the 8th Floor. Absolute defense buffs from the guild weapon are active over there. Even if you rampage in earnest, the floor itself will not collapse."
***
The designated combat area was a vast pitch-black dome space devoid of any decorations or bookshelves.
I ascended to the highest point of the space, out of reach from the aftershocks of their magic, and prepared for observation.
The hundreds of pupils possessed by the [Omniscient Flesh] are not merely capturing optical visual information. The wavelengths of the magic power they emit, the cooldown timers of their skills, their buff and debuff icons, right down to the fluctuation values of their Hate - all the systemic numerical values of YGGDRASIL are completely deployed in my vision like an AR interface.
"——Then, begin."
The moment my starting signal was carved into the air as runes.
The absolute foundation of combat in YGGDRASIL, the exchange of buffs commenced at a furious speed.
"『Greater Magic Shield』! 『Invisible Body』! 『Holy Aura』! 『Blessing of the Sun』!"
Flapping his massive golden wings, Ra instantly applied over ten enhancement spells to himself.
Multiple barriers of light capable of cutting both physical and magical damage deployed around him, and his Defense stat skyrocketed.
"Slither... How solid. 『Shadow Hide』. 『Invisible Predator』. 『Magic Strike』."
In contrast, Apep literally melted his massive body into the darkness.
It was complete stealth via an ultimate skill of the Assassin class that nullified even magical detection.
Only in my vision was the trajectory of him slithering toward Ra's back at breakneck speed displayed in red.
Ra's build is an ultra-high durability tank combined with a wide-range annihilation magic caster.
In contrast, Apep is an Assassin who inflicts fatal status ailments [DoT] damage from high mobility and stealth.
As a matchup, they're evenly matched.
Even while I ran my analysis, the battle transitioned to the next phase.
"Right there! You clever little shadow!"
Ra sensed the invisible presence from behind via Intuition - or rather, a special detection ability of the [Divine Spirit] class - and swept his golden spear in a wide arc as he turned around.
Explosive solar flames radiated from the trajectory of the spear.
"『Ninth Tier Magic——Maximize Magic: Sunburst』!"
KABOOOOM!!
The pitch-black space was enveloped in absolute light and heat like broad daylight.
It was an overwhelming Holy-attribute AoE (Area of Effect) spell that would reduce any undead or entity with evil Karma to a cinder with just this single strike.
"Tch...! As blindingly excessive as always!"
Within the torrent of light, Apep, whose stealth state had been forcibly canceled, revealed himself.
His pitch-black scales sizzled and scorched as they took Holy-attribute damage.
However, his massive HP gauge hadn't even decreased by ten percent.
"A return gift, you bird monster! 『Tenth Tier Magic——Venom Tide』!"
Apep opened his jaws wide and spewed out purple liquid with the force of a waterfall.
It was the absolute pinnacle of continuous damage magic in YGGDRASIL, capable of melting magic barriers on contact, corroding metal, and turning the surrounding space itself into a lethal poison swamp.
The purple wave swallowed Ra, and the 『Greater Magic Shields』 he had deployed shattered one after another with high-pitched sounds like breaking glass.
"Nghhh! 『Heal』! 『Purify』!"
Seeing his own HP being violently whittled away, Ra instantly cast recovery and status ailment cleansing magic.
However, Apep did not overlook the cast time when Ra chanted his recovery magic.
"An opening! 『Skill: Abyssal Fang』!"
Apep's long tail kicked off the floor like a spring, and the giant serpent's face clamped down on Ra's neck.
A defense-penetrating bite attack that ignored physical armor and slammed a debuff directly into his stats.
Ra's golden feathers scattered along with fresh blood of magic power, and he was blown heavily backward.
"...Fuhahaha! What's wrong, Sun God! Is that all you have!"
"Silence, you mud-crawling snake! Behold my true light!"
From there, the battle developed into an earth-shaking, giant monster brawl truly befitting the recreation of a myth.
Countless spears of light fired by Ra rained down, and Apep's purple poison mist neutralized them.
The clash of massive mass defying the laws of physics smashed the buffed Divine Starstone floor to pieces, elevating the magic power density of the space to lethal levels.
I recorded the logs of that terrifying battle in my brain down to fractions of a second, continuously analyzing the behavioral patterns of the two Level 100 NPCs, their criteria for selecting skills, and the fatal blind spots they unconsciously harbored, all with the extremely cold eyes of a salaryman, or more accurately, the eyes of an Omniscient Record Administrator.
Eventually, the moment both sides entered the cooldown for their ultimate moves and took their distance to catch their breath.
"——That's enough."
I deployed massive red runes indicating the forced termination of the arena in mid-air, and wedged an ink tentacle between the two like a thick wall.
"Any further consumption of magic power defeats the purpose. ...I have gathered more than enough data for a mock battle."
When I landed quietly, Ra stowed his golden spear while panting heavily, and Apep also curled his long tail while regenerating his scorched scales.
"Haa... Haa... How was it, Tawil? Was there any decline in how we fight?"
Ra asked, oozing confidence mixed with slight fatigue.
"Yeah. The movements of both of you are flawless, not varying an inch from the YGGDRASIL era. I observed no degradation in stats nor any delay in skill activation."
I deployed dozens of pages before the two entities, displaying the combat logs and analysis results graphed upon them.
"However, you asked me to point out your weaknesses. Therefore, as your tactical advisor, I will deliver an extremely merciless evaluation."
The two giant gods held their breath, waiting for my words.
"First, Ra. You place far too much overconfidence in your own overwhelming magical defense and the elemental resistances granted by your [Incarnation of the Sun]."
I pointed a tentacle at Ra and played back the log of when he was hit by the wave of poison.
"Against Apep's poison, you did not retreat to evade; instead, you deployed a barrier and took it head-on. As a result, Apep targeted the approximately 0.5-second rigid time when you cast your recovery magic, and you took a physical, defense-penetrating attack. If this were under YGGDRASIL's combat rules, that would be one correct answer as a tank role."
"Mmm. Endure, recover, and counterattack. That is my basic tactic."
"However, this is not YGGDRASIL."
I instantly incorporated the New World Data I obtained in the meeting earlier into their tactical analysis.
"In this world, an unknown system known as Martial Arts exists. What if there is someone among our enemies who possesses a Martial Art or other unknown system that completely slips through magic barriers and ignores defense itself? In that single instant you judged you could endure it and stood still, your head could be lopped off. ...Standing like a pillar relying on magical defense can be a fatal risk in this New World. You must incorporate evasion tactics utilizing mobility into your rotation moving forward."
Ra widened his eyes at my point, and then nodded deeply and heavily.
"...I see. As long as unknown logic exists, my common sense is no longer absolute. A brilliant point, Tawil."
"Next, Apep. You."
I shifted my gaze to the pitch-black serpent.
"Your slip damage as a [Venom Master] and your surprise attacks from stealth are artistic. However, your tactics are built far too heavily on the premise that your opponent is someone whom poison affects."
"Slither... Unless they possess world-class resistance, my poison will melt even the armor of a god, you know?"
"Yeah. But that is only if your opponent is a biological organism."
I appended a massive red error warning to Apep's combat data.
"What if the next unknown enemy Lord Ainz is wary of is Undead, exactly like us in Nazarick? Or what if it's an army of Golems where the very concept of poison doesn't exist? All of your primary status ailment magic will be nullified, and your DPS will drop hopelessly low. ...You need to newly reconstruct a physical burst combo route that does not rely on poison."
Apep opened his mouth slightly to argue back, but faced with my flawless logic, he eventually clicked his tongue, reluctantly yet seemingly convinced.
"...Tch. It's an argument that hurts the ears because it's right. You monster of omniscience, doing nothing but nitpicking analyses."
"I am merely optimizing the facts."
I flicked the pages in the air with a snap, vanishing them.
"The power you two possess is unquestionably top-class in Nazarick. But in order to survive in this unknown world and support Lord Ainz's path of supremacy, you must break out of the old shell known as YGGDRASIL's common sense. Today's mock battle was extremely meaningful as the first step toward that."
Ra and Apep exchanged glances, and then lowered their heads toward me with deep respect as warriors.
"You have my thanks, Tawil Balah. As long as your cold gaze is present, the spears of our 8th Floor will surely never rust."
"Slither, it wasn't a bad way to kill time. Next time, I'll test out this physical combo thing you mentioned."
I narrowed my countless pupils, feeling a quiet satisfaction at their fighting spirit.
Nazarick's military force must not be mere violence. It must be backed by intellect, meant for perfect rule.
At that moment.
Deep within my body, in the deepest layer of an independent, encrypted network that only I could access, a single blank page flickered, emitting a faint blue light.
...It's here.
Without breaking my surface attitude in the slightest, I opened that communication via background processing in my brain.
The sender was Aureole Omega.
The contents were extremely concise.
『——Pleiades, Narberal Gamma. Preparations to infiltrate the fortress city E-Rantel as Lord Ainz's companion are complete. Sharing local initial observation data.』
My very own intelligence network, bypassing Demiurge's censorship, had now fully activated.
Leaving Ra and Apep with only the words, "I'm going to organize something for a bit," I quietly glided my black fog toward my throne - the center of the Vault of Wisdom.