The Great Tomb of Nazarick stood in the no-man's-land between the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharuth Empire.
From the outside, it looked like a raised black hill. Only by getting closer could you see the entrance, which was unfathomably deep.
Jodie stood at the entrance, looking up at this giant structure that was more like a palace than a tomb, and said incredulously, "A palace this big, and no one discovered it before?"
An adventurer wearing armor with a sword at his waist narrowed his eyes and said, "This area has a large number of monsters and undead wandering around at night. It's been a no-man's-land for years. Neither the kingdom nor the empire wants to bother with this place. No one is willing to sacrifice soldiers for a territory with no resources."
This man was the leader of the adventurer team [Tenmu], named Erya. It was said that his strength was comparable to that of the kingdom's strongest warrior-captain.
"But indeed, I never expected something like this to be here."
As soon as Erya finished speaking, the surrounding adventurers grew restless.
No one had been here, which meant there was a high probability of a large amount of treasure and burial goods hidden inside.
If they could steal one item and take it away, wouldn't they strike it rich?
Momon and Nabe stayed outside.
Nabe leaned against the carriage, her arms crossed, her gaze coldly sweeping over the adventurers who were organizing their gear.
Momon stood beside her, equally silent.
The adventurers filed in.
Chatting and laughing, as if going on a picnic, completely unaware of what they were about to face.
Kaito walked at the very back of the team. His steps grew slower and slower.
Finally, he scratched his head and stopped. "Um... could I also stay outside? The treasures are yours. I don't want my share."
Saguru looked back at him, the corner of his mouth curling. "Kuroba-kun, you're too timid, aren't you? You should be very good at this kind of thing, shouldn't you?"
Kaito rolled his eyes hard. This kid was implying he was Kaito Kid again.
Forcing down his anger, Kaito squeezed out a smile uglier than a cry. "Yeah, yeah, I'm timid. You guys go ahead."
He knew very well that ahead was hell.
He remembered clearly the fates of those teams in the original work.
Leaving aside those eaten alive by cockroaches, there were also those who had things stabbed into their urethras.
He even suspected that Makoto's torture methods might have been learned from this novel.
But Kaito would never imagine that this novel was written by Makoto.
Momon's voice came from the side. "Sir, go ahead with confidence. If something happens, I will go inside and help you."
Kaito's cold sweat rolled down his forehead.
'It was precisely because of you that I didn't dare to go.'
But his peripheral vision swept over Nabe. That woman was staring at him, her gaze carrying a hint of 'what are you dawdling for' intimidation.
'If I didn't go in, would these two kill me right outside?'
Kaito swallowed his saliva.
The interior of the Great Tomb was much larger than it appeared from the outside.
Every so often, a magic lamp was embedded in the wall, emitting a faint blue light, illuminating the passage like the yellow spring road leading to the underworld.
After walking for a while, a fork appeared.
It was pitch black, with no end in sight.
Without anyone having to say a word, the teams wordlessly chose to split up.
The Avengers team took the passage slightly to the right of center.
Kaito walked at the very back, holding the magical pistol he had obtained in this world.
It was probably not enough to fight the people of Nazarick.
But it was definitely enough to kill himself.
He set a bottom line for himself: if he was caught by Ainz's perverted subordinates and faced the kind of living-death torture from the original work, he would just shoot himself.
The Heavy Masher had the worst luck.
They walked into Kyouhukou's room.
Those cockroaches, larger than fists, instantly swallowed the entire team like a black tide. Cockroaches crawled into their collars, burrowed into their ears, filled their throats, and gnawed at their flesh.
The dwarf leader's screams echoed in the room for a long time.
But it didn't end there.
Kyouhukou used resurrection magic to revive them, then let his cockroach swarm devour them again.
Until their spirits completely broke, their eyes hollow, lying on the ground, letting those cockroaches crawl all over them, without even the strength to scream.
The Tenmu team also died.
Led by the human swordsman Erya, they had three elf slave girls with them.
They encountered Mare, the trap.
Seeing that the other party was a 'little boy', Erya breathed a sigh of relief.
Then Mare raised his staff. He didn't use magic. He just used physical attacks. The staff smashed into Erya's head. The sound of his skull shattering was especially clear in the passage.
For dealing with this kind of trash, Mare, as a nature-type magic caster, didn't need to use magic at all. Physical attacks were enough.
The Foresight encountered the maid sister group led by Yuri Alpha.
Hekkeran was quite happy at first.
So many beautiful women!
He thought he had really hit the jackpot this time.
Then Solution began to deform.
Her delicate face melted like wax, revealing the melting true face of a slime underneath.
Entoma also broke free from her maid disguise. Insectoid limbs stretched out from under her clothes. The tips of the joints were as sharp as blades.
Hekkeran's smile froze on his face, and he couldn't laugh anymore.
Screams echoed in the passage, rising and falling from all directions, like a symphony without a conductor.
The Avengers Team also sensed that something was wrong.
"Go back!"
James ordered decisively.
Several people turned at the same time—
A gigantic stone door fell from above, hitting the ground with a dull 'boom'.
Heiji's expression changed dramatically. He drew his sword and swung it at the door. The blade created a shower of sparks on the stone door, but the door didn't budge.
His arm was instead numbed by the impact.
"Impossible..." Heiji looked down at the Holy Sword in his hand.
Since obtaining this sword, he had never encountered an opponent that could block its attacks without a scratch.
"It's been protected by magic."
Jodie crouched down. Her fingertip gently traced across the surface of the stone door. A faint purple light pattern lit up where her finger touched, then went out.
James took a deep breath. "We have no choice but to keep going."
Soon, the group arrived at an open space.
This was... an arena.
Pitch-black stone steps rose in layers, extending from the ground to a height that couldn't see the top.
Those stone steps were empty, but they could accommodate tens of thousands of spectators.
The style was very similar to the ancient Roman Colosseum in the real world, but bigger, taller, and more desolate.
Heiji looked up. His pupils contracted.
The ceiling was not rock, but a starry sky.
Countless stars twinkled in the darkness. The Milky Way stretched across the sky like a glowing ribbon.
"Isn't this underground?"
Saguru's voice carried strong confusion. "Why is there a night sky?"
Kaito stood at the very back of the team and slapped his forehead.
'Damn, we'd hit the jackpot.'
A small figure jumped down from the spectators' seats.
She wore a white tight vest. Her blonde hair danced in the wind. She held a microphone in her hand. A brilliant smile was plastered on her face, as if hosting a grand performance.
"Challengers... foolish ones who have intruded into the Great Tomb of Nazarick, seven people!"
Aura's voice was magnified by magic. Then she turned and waved toward another passage in the arena.
"And their opponent is... the Supreme One of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the Great Lord of Death, Ainz Ooal Gown!"
A person… no, a skeleton walked out of the passage.
He wore a black robe. He was over 2.6 meters tall. His skeleton was thick and large. Two crimson pupils burned in his eye sockets.
Heiji swallowed his saliva. "This opponent feels tough."
Andre asked in a low voice, "Should we fight? Or try to negotiate?"
"Although it feels unlikely, let's try to communicate."
Jodie responded quietly.
Listening to the screams they had heard along the way, which included experts whose strength was not inferior to their own,
The fates of those people were predictable. They weren't arrogant enough to think they were much stronger than those people.
Saguru quietly pressed the button on the distress device.
This had been given to them by the client before they entered the Great Tomb. They were told to press it if they were in danger, and Momon would come.
But Saguru pressed it several times in a row, and the distress device still had no response.
"..."
Saguru tucked the distress device back into his pocket and lowered his voice. "No response at all. This tomb must have a mechanism installed that blocks the transmission of magic power."
Kaito stood at the very back of the team, his brain rapidly thinking of countermeasures.