“False Data: Mana.”
“Tch. These humans are a nuisance. I could go in person and wipe them out, but…I’m not in the mood. Come.”
“…Where to?”
“Penetrate Up.”
“Haven’t really thought about it, but with my power, anywhere.”
“No plan at all, huh? Worthless. And what’ll happen if we go with you?”
“Earth… Hmm, that’s a waste if I’ve read it wrong but…” Ainz hesitated, then took out a scroll and used it to cast Earth Master.
“Oh.” Decem’s eyes raked Aura’s body. “You are still a child. It will take time before you’re grown, but oh well. I’ve waited this long. A few decades is certainly not short, but I’ll have to convince myself it is. You asked what would happen? The answer is simple. You’ll make children with me.”
“Huh? What?”
“Hah? Greater Luck.”
“You as well,” Decem said, looking at Mare. “Once a female is impregnated, you have to wait a while before trying again. In that sense, I might pin my hopes on you, boy. The two of us can sire a great number of children in no time at all. I feared that might thin the blood, but if grandchildren can awaken, great-grandchildren might as well. Worth experimenting with, at least. In any case—it’s a bother, but I should bring some citizens with us for you to use. Still…why is a boy dressed as a girl? Is this a dark elf thing? Honestly, I’m displeased enough you’re not pure elves, but it’s far better than expanding my criteria to include all humanoid races.”
Aura and Mare were just staring up at him, mouths hanging open.
“”
“Doesn’t make sense yet? No matter. Come on.”
Seeing the children just standing there, Decem reached for them—for Aura.
Ainz batted his hand away. This registered as an attack, and Perfect Unknowable was instantly broken.
Shocked, Decem tried to turn—but before that happened, Ainz buried his fist in the man’s face.
Decem went flying, rolling across the floor.
“You pedo motherfucker. That girl’s in my care. How dare you lay your creepy eyes on her. Drop dead!”
Even as he hurled insults, the calm part of his mind was furious at himself for ruining his own plan.
Perfect Unknowable was a huge advantage and not worth losing in a fit of anger. Such a waste!
When Ainz’s emotions crossed a certain threshold, they were forcibly reset. If that had kicked in, he could’ve handled this rationally—perhaps casting an instant death spell instead of punching him. He’d been less angry and more disgusted—and that didn’t trigger the reset.
“Wha—wha—?”
Decem got up, reeling. Blood poured from both nostrils. Clearly not major damage. Life Essence showed no real loss of health.
Ainz’s full swing had landed a clean hit—and that was it.
There’d been a small chance he was using a spell like False Data: Life or an item to disguise his HP, but it didn’t seem like it was substantially inaccurate.
Ainz turned a palm to the twins, telling them not to budge.
Estimating Decem’s total strength from his HP and MP, he was over level 70 but probably not level 80.
But there was one thing to watch out for—albeit a very low possibility.
Namely, there might be classes not from Yggdrasil exclusive to this world—that didn’t raise HP and MP. In other words, he might be level 100, but his combined HP and MP made him look level 70.
This was extremely unlikely. But not impossible.
We could gang up on him and go for a quick kill, but that’s a bad idea. I at least want to work out how he pulled off that teleport…
As Ainz figured out his strategy, Decem began yelling.
“A-an undead?! Why here…out of thin air?!” His gaze turned to the twins. “Is one of you a necromancer?”
“Indeed,” Ainz said, answering before they could respond. “These two are necromancers beyond compare. And I am a guardian created by them and their parents, their four powers combined. I shall never allow anyone lacking to lay a finger on them. Should you be able to best me, you may take them with you—” Here he smirked, projecting contempt. “Not that you can.”
“Hmm…” Decem let go of his nose. The bleeding had stopped. “I’m almost impressed. I haven’t bled in…decades? Perhaps a century! You certainly have the strength to back your arrogance. Hardly how one addresses a king, but you are lucky. Rejoice, for I shall personally demonstrate the discrepancy in our power. You will bow!”
He was looking at Aura and Mare the whole time, like he’d fully bought Ainz’s total fabrication.
Huh, Ainz thought.
Why not doubt his story? Why act like he took it at face value?
Perhaps he had no means of turning invisible. Otherwise, he’d have assumed Ainz had been lurking all along, under cover of Invisibility—and was not actually a summon.
In which case, he was like Mare—a specialized druid.
Or is this a performance for my benefit? But what would be the point of bluffing here?
He tried to place himself in this man’s shoes, but stopping to think things over would arouse his suspicions.
“Then let us duel one-on-one! How better to prove who is stronger, my masters or you?”
Decem’s eyes went wide; then he laughed, like that was inherently hilarious.
Ainz used Silent Magic to send a Message to Mare.
Mare, that was a lie. If I’m at a disadvantage, step in and make sure this man dies. Quietly pass this on to Aura.
Obviously. No way was he giving the twins to this creep. Only a fool would insist on fighting one-on-one when your life was on the line. True, there were fights you could afford to lose, but those did not include any battles to the death.
Still…
Ainz definitely blew it this time.
He would’ve preferred to spend more time buffing himself. Yet, he couldn’t abide the thought of this deviant touching Aura. And he might have skills Ainz was unaware of—a forced teleport, for instance.
“A moment ago—when I saw you commanding this undead—I knew for a fact you are my grandchildren.”
The ground began to move.
Like waves retreating down the beach to the bay—the dirt on the floor headed Decem’s way.
Ainz ignored this, making a show of taking out a scroll—like he’d had it hidden under his robe—and activating its magic.
This was a real waste. But the situation left him with no choice. With no clear indication how knowledgeable his foe was, he couldn’t afford to make him cautious.
The spell used was an eighth-tier magic, Dimensional Lock.
Demons and angels—residents of other worlds—had this as a special skill, and this spell replicated that with magic. It negated attempts to move outside the area of affect with any instant-movement spells—Teleportation chief among them.
By this time, Decem’s dirt mound had formed a giant.
Clearly an elemental.
Mare let out a surprised noise, and Ainz was right there with him.
A primal earth elemental?!
No ordinary means could summon this type of elemental, and it made Ainz all the more cautious.
Unlike Mare, Ainz managed to stifle his shock—he made not a sound. Rule one of Player Killing for Dummies was not revealing what you knew.
Against a child like Mare, he might assume this was a reaction to the sheer power of the summon, but with Ainz, he would likely take it as a sign he knew what this was.
So Ainz shrugged instead.
“Hmm, is that it? Earth elementals are just huge piles of dirt. You don’t want to soil your hands, so you’re having this thing fight me instead? You must think I’m entirely feeble.”
“Aha! You know what this is?” Decem smirked.
Cool.
“Of course. There’s no mistaking an earth elemental. I’ve summoned and defeated them myself. Mine was not quite this large—at this size, I’ll acknowledge it must take some strength to command. Size is an indicator of power. But bigger is not always better.”
“True! I agree. Dragonlords have a clear advantage in bulk yet are helpless before elves. Still, I’m impressed. Your knowledge is accurate. This is, indeed, an earth elemental. Ha-ha-ha! You are well-informed—or at least have a good memory. Very respectable.” Decem’s sarcasm levels were off the charts. “The perfect opportunity! Why not try taking a hit from it? A blow from this elemental you scoff at?”
The primal earth elemental slowly raised a fist.
It oughtta be able to move way faster than that. He’s doing this deliberately—but that works for me.
If Decem was going to toy with him like a cat with its prey, Ainz was on board.
Perfect.
Hiding his grin—not that his face moved—Ainz mentally reviewed what he knew about primal earth elementals.
They started at level 80 and were definitely the tanks of the primal class. Well, that was basically true for all earth elementals.
Their attacks were supposedly imbued with all the metal attributes—at level or below—the earth contained. So if you had a weakness to silver, like Lupusregina, their attacks would take advantage of that.
There was also a minor stat boost provided if both the elemental and their opponent were in contact with soil. However, since all the dirt in the room had already gathered at Decem’s side, leaving only wooden floors, that didn’t apply here. Elementals could dive into the soil—similarly useless indoors. In conclusion, this wasn’t a great location for a primal earth elemental to fight.
The main means of attack was swinging those arms around. Simple but quite powerful. Speed and accuracy weren’t that high, but it would still be hard for a rear-line fighter like Ainz to dodge. And they did battering damage, which was effective against Ainz.
They could extend their arms like whips for sweep attacks, but that lessened the damage done.
Like their attacks, their defense was believed to have a variety of metal attributes, and it was treated as having Weapon Resistance V to all types. And that stacked with Reduce Physical Damage. For those reasons, it made an ideal tank and was quite a tricky foe if you were only going at it with physical attacks.
Naturally, it had its weaknesses.
It had no real tricks to play—no special abilities. In other words, nothing that could really shake up a fight.