Chapter 116: Momon's New Mount
The troll that Gu had struck let out a wrenching howl, nearly half its shoulder severed.
But the wound's edges immediately began to writhe. New flesh grew and drew the opening closed.
Gu dipped a finger into the blood on his sword blade and tasted it.
Then he looked back at Momon, and the shock in his eyes deepened.
"Weapon... no problem." He muttered to himself.
Weapon was fine. So where was the problem?
Gu clenched his teeth, raised the enormous sword again, and this time he stopped fighting alone. He bellowed at the subordinates behind him: "What are you all standing around for! Together!"
The trolls and ogres shook off their shock and charged Momon with howls.
Momon stepped forward. The greatsword in his right hand swept outward in a broad horizontal arc, passing through a troll's waist. Its upper half slid to the ground almost immediately, and a torrent of blood sprayed against the cave wall in a spreading dark-red pattern.
The wound had barely been struck, however, when the edges began to writhe and regrow.
"Regeneration." Momon tilted his head slightly, sidestep a club swung from behind. A counter-slash cut the ambushing troll clean through the middle. The same result — the wound began healing within moments.
A vicious grin spread across Gu's face.
"Can't hurt us! We are immortal!" He charged in personally, his enormous sword driving home a series of strikes at a speed completely at odds with his size.
Momon blocked with his left-hand sword in a loose, almost casual parry. The two blades clashed again and again, each impact sending showers of sparks and metallic shrieks through the cave.
Gu's attacks grew more frantic. No matter how much force he poured in, the black warrior's blocks remained effortless.
"Regeneration is a bit inconvenient," Momon said between clashing blades, tone perfectly level. "But this is all it amounts to."
He deflected a heavy downward strike and stepped back half a pace to create space.
Then he activated [Despair Aura V (Instant Death)].
Every troll and ogre in the cave went limp simultaneously, collapsing like cut marionettes.
The cave went instantly silent.
Momon walked to Gu's body, raised his right-hand sword, took aim at the massive neck, and let it fall. The head was severed.
He lifted the ugly head and examined it briefly.
"Using this as leverage should save some trouble."
Gu's head was large enough that Momon could only carry it by the tuft of coarse hair on top, letting it dangle in the air.
Blood dripped from the severed neck bone one drop at a time onto the fallen leaves, making a faint, dry sound.
"Lord Momon." Narberal finally couldn't hold back any longer. "That... how much longer are you going to carry it?"
"Hm?" Momon looked back. "This? Until we reach the Western Serpent's lair, obviously. It's a bargaining chip."
---
"Here."
Momon stopped walking.
Narberal raised her head. The forest ahead had gone quiet in a way that was entirely unnatural. The birdsong had gone silent at some point, and even the rustling of wind through the leaves seemed deliberately suppressed.
A small clearing. At its far end, a rock face — and in the rock face, a crack, black and gaping like a half-closed reptile eye.
"Come out." Momon's voice carried through the crack. "I know you're in there. Your concealment won't work on me."
Silence stretched for a few moments.
A figure emerged slowly from the shadow of the rock face.
A serpentine lower body covered in fine scales. A withered, dry upper torso in the shape of an old human man. A face deeply layered with wrinkles.
A Naga.
Its cloudy eyes were fixed on the large head in Momon's hand.
Gu's face was angled toward the Naga, its dead eyes seemingly issuing some silent warning.
"I am the Western Serpent — Rurarus Speniya Ei Indlen." The Naga's voice was like two pieces of dry bark rubbing against each other, with a serpentine hiss threading through the end of each word. "You two... have killed Gu."
As it spoke, its serpentine tail coiled slowly on the ground — an instinctive defensive posture when facing a threat.
But its face showed not a trace of hostility.
"It refused to submit." Momon tossed Gu's head to the ground. The large head rolled twice and came to rest squarely in front of the Naga. "So I killed it."
"Now. Your choice — submit, or die."
The Naga looked down at the head and was silent for a long while before finally shifting its gaze away.
"Gu was the strongest troll in this forest." The Naga's voice was lower than before, its bearing deferential. "It has ruled the eastern territory for more than ten years. In all that time, not one creature dared challenge it. Even I could only manage against it through concealment and intelligence."
It paused. Turned to face Momon. Made its decision.
"I am willing to submit."
The Naga bent its dry, withered upper body. The serpentine tail released its coiled stance and lay flat against the ground.
The wrinkled old face lowered, exposing the dense scale patterns along the back of its neck.
"The weak follow the strong — that is natural law. Gu did not understand this, and it died. I have lived long enough to at least understand that much."
Narberal's eyebrow lifted slightly. She mentally compared Gu's behavior in the cave against the posture of the Naga before her now. The contrast left her faintly disoriented.
Truly, things that have lived long are different.
"A wise choice." Momon released his grip on his sword hilt. "In that case, I accept your submission."
He raised his right hand and activated [Message].
A faint ripple of magic spread through the air.
"Hamusuke. Come here."
Almost before the words had finished, rustling came from the distant undergrowth. Before long, a massive Djungarian hamster pushed out from the bushes.
A round body, jet-black eyes, and a small leather helmet sitting on its head from some unknown provenance — the overall effect was distinctly comical.
"This humble one arrives late — please forgive this humble one, Lord Momon!" Hamusuke stood on its two hind legs, forepaws pressed together at its chest, manner genuinely earnest. Combined with the round body, it looked entirely like a pet begging for food.
The Naga's gaze rested on Hamusuke briefly. A difficult-to-describe expression crossed that wrinkled face.
The Wise King of the Forest. In the Tob Forest, Hamusuke was one of the three apex creatures alongside itself and Gu.
The Naga had privately complained more than once about why this oversized hamster deserved to share its reputation. But watching the Wise King of the Forest now, fawning respectfully before Momon —
The Naga suddenly felt that its decision to submit just now was probably the single most correct thing it had done in its entire life.
"Hamusuke." Momon indicated Hamusuke's round silver body. "You carry Nabe."
Hamusuke immediately turned to Narberal. "Lady Nabe, please get on! This humble one groomed very carefully today — very clean!"
Narberal gave a slight nod and stepped toward Hamusuke.
Riding a hamster was hardly dignified, but after this much time together, Narberal had more or less grown accustomed to it.
"As for you." Momon turned to the Naga and, in an entirely matter-of-fact tone, said: "Carry me."
The air solidified for a moment.
Narberal turned her head. On the battle maid's usually expressionless face there was now an expression of rare, genuine shock.
The Naga itself clearly hadn't processed this either.
It blinked those cloudy eyes, looked down at its own serpentine lower body coiled in the fallen leaves, then looked back up at the black-armored warrior before it.
"...You wish to ride me?" Its voice carried a faint tremor.
"Is that a problem?"
A half-human, half-serpent being. Serpentine lower body, yes — but the upper half was an old man.
Ainz-sama. The absolute ruler of Nazarick. The Supreme Being. Ainz Ooal Gown. Riding on an old man. From the forest all the way to E-Rantel. Through the city gate. Along the streets. Arriving at a stop in front of the adventurers' guild...
Narberal's lips moved. The cold composure on her face was struck from inside and shattered, exposing the genuine panic beneath — like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"Lord Momon. Please wait a moment."
Momon turned his head, the gaze beneath his helmet settling on her.
"What is it?"
"This..." Narberal stopped, drew a deep breath, and tried to steady her voice. She failed. The tremor at the tail of her words gave her away entirely. "This absolutely cannot happen."
"Why not?"
"Because..." Narberal opened her mouth but could not continue. She couldn't find the right words. She could hardly say "because it would be extraordinarily undignified for someone wearing Ainz-sama's face to ride an old man."
Narberal gritted her teeth. "Because it isn't appropriate. This Naga's size, while not small, for it to bear a fully armored warrior, the strain would probably—"
At this moment, Hamusuke spoke up at exactly the wrong time.
The oversized hamster tilted its round head, raised a paw, and offered a very earnest suggestion: "In that case, why not have the serpent carry Lady Nabe, and have this humble one carry Lord Momon! This humble one is very robust!"
"No." Narberal and the Naga said it at almost exactly the same moment.
Narberal shot the Naga a sharp look. The Naga coughed and quickly softened its manner. "While this one has submitted, Lady Nabe and I are after all not yet acquainted — the two of us may perhaps need some time to grow comfortable with each other..."
The Naga's meaning was transparent enough.
Given Narberal's feminine appearance, if she happened to take exception to carrying a creature of its male bearing, it feared it might snap its own tail before it reached the road's end. Having survived this long on formidable life-wisdom, the Naga had no interest in dying as Gu had died.
Narberal returned her gaze to Momon, posture considerably more composed, voice still firm. "Lord Momon, please reconsider. Entering a town while riding a serpent will draw unnecessary attention. The adventurers' guild is invariably cautious toward unregistered creatures — if they form a wrong impression of you because of this..."
"They won't." Momon cut her off. "The guild will only acknowledge Darkness's strength — that the team is capable of subduing and taming creatures like this. And if we don't ride them in, the impact won't be sufficient."
The decision was made.
He raised one hand and pointed at the Naga: "I ride the serpent."
Then pointed at Hamusuke: "Nabe rides Hamusuke."
Narberal opened her mouth, about to say something. But Momon had already turned and was walking toward the Naga.
He put his black greatswords away on his back.
When he reached the Naga's side he only lowered his head slightly to glance down at it — and the Naga immediately lowered its serpentine body and let him settle across it.
Momon sat steadily on the Naga's back. The serpentine tail coiled to support him, lifting him to roughly a foot off the ground.
He adjusted his center of gravity. Then he raised his right hand toward the forest canopy ahead, and made a forward march gesture.
Calm. Composed. Entirely at ease.
The corner of Narberal's mouth twitched.
She watched Momon sitting on the Naga's back, rising and falling gently with the serpentine tail's sinuous motion, occasionally straightening his spine to maintain balance, even reaching out to pat the Naga's withered shoulder in a gesture of approval.
Her ears were burning again.
Beneath that helmet was Ainz-sama's face.
And right now, that face's stand-in was sitting on a creature that was half old man, half serpent — chin up, fearless, like a knight in an epic who had tamed a great dragon.
Narberal silently climbed onto Hamusuke and lowered her head.
This time she lowered it further than before — almost burying her face in the ring of fluffy fur around Hamusuke's neck.
"Let's go." Momon said.
The Naga's tail began its rhythmic swaying, tracing a winding S-shaped path on the ground.
Momon swayed gently from the waist with each rhythm, the joints of his armor making slow, measured sounds with the motion.
Hamusuke followed on four short legs, the Narberal on its back with her face buried in its fur, the flush running from her ears all the way to her collar.
"Lady Nabe?" Hamusuke asked carefully, feet still moving, the four stubby legs making small sounds on the dirt path. "Are you all right? Your face is very red. Are my fur not clean enough? This humble one really did wash today, and combed it three separate times—"
"Shut up." Narberal's voice came muffled from somewhere in the fur around Hamusuke's neck. Her fingers were clenched tight in its coat.
"Yes, this humble one will shut up." Hamusuke contracted its neck.
Silence lasted about three seconds.
"Lady Nabe, actually you need not worry so — this humble one thinks that the Naga is—"
"I said shut up."
"Yes." Hamusuke clamped its mouth even tighter and did not dare twitch so much as a whisker.
Narberal raised one eye from the fur, took a single look at the scene in front of her, and buried her face back in the fur immediately.
She still could not quite accept this.
Narberal thought that she would probably need to reevaluate the psychological toll of this mission.
And this was not yet the worst of it.
She had a dim premonition that when they reached E-Rantel, things would get considerably worse.
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