And anything that exploited metallic weaknesses worked just fine.
HeroHero would have made short work of it.
In other words, it was weak to acid, et al.—and one more attribute.
Ainz got ready to draw a staff from his item box. It wasn’t time for that just yet. This foe thought he was a standard-issue undead. Best not to reveal any abilities that would make him cautious.
The question was—could he withstand this blow?
He did fancy the idea of acting like he only realized this was no ordinary earth elemental after taking the hit. The downside was that if that didn’t kill him, his foe might start taking this fight seriously.
Yeah, he’s definitely specialized in summons. And that means the elemental’s blow will be pretty destructive. Taking unnecessary damage could work against me later. I should—
“Wall of Skeletons.”
The elemental’s fist came crashing down, and Ainz summoned a massive wall made entirely of bones. It crumbled as soon as it appeared.
I thought so… He lost mana.
“Wh-wh-what?!” Ainz said, loud enough that the man could hear him. “How can it destroy my wall in a single blow?!”
“Ha-ha-ha! Your walls must be fragile indeed, unable to withstand a hit from a mere earth elemental!”
Decem seemed to be in a very good mood, so Ainz tossed a spell at him.
“Lopsided Duel.”
This was a third-tier spell. If his opponent tried to teleport away, this spell would ensure Ainz was automatically taken to the same place. Even if someone was protected by Delay Teleportation, this allowed him to ignore that and move at the same time.
That could be a two-edged sword. If they teleported right into the middle of their friends, you’d be dragged along with them and get the snot beat out of you. That was why it was so low tier despite the obvious benefits. Before it got patched, you’d been able to cast it on a friend and move them with you, but they soon issued a fix that made the spell work only on enemies.
Naturally, if Decem fled somewhere with an opponent as strong as he was, Ainz would need to run for it, but that wasn’t actually hard—like the name implied, if Ainz teleported away, it would not pull Decem along with him.
“What did you do?”
“……An instant-death spell. I take it you’ve got countermeasures in place?”
“……Hmm, that’s at least mildly intelligent. After realizing it can’t beat Behemoth, it attacks me. Did you think I was somehow weaker than the elemental?”
By Yggdrasil rules, the summoner would never be weaker than the summon, but I bet you are actually lower level. You’ve deemed me weaker than you but ignored my question because you have no strategy against instant-death spells? Also, why “Behemoth”?
Decem jerked his chin, and the primal earth elemental raised its fist. Moving faster now. He heard Decem cast a spell at the same time.
“Mercy of Shorea Robusta.”
Tch. I figured he could use tenth tier, but that one’s obnoxious. Gotta double the spell on my finishing blow.
Mercy of Shorea Robusta was indeed a tenth-tier spell, and it came with one of the highest mana costs around—on the same level as Reality Slash.
It had three effects.
First, for a period of time, it would steadily restore your health. But this was not an impressive heal, and at Decem’s level, it was hard to call that useful.
Second, it completely protected against instant death. If you just wanted this protection, there were lower-level spells for that, but there was a good reason many druids acquired this skill anyway.
That main appeal was the third effect, which allowed you to come back to life if your HP hit 0. In this case, the resurrection carried no level-down penalty. Zero HP was a required condition—deaths caused by things that didn’t deal combat damage, like drowning, were not affected. Still, it was a pretty good spell. Priests had revival spells that could avoid the level-down penalty if cast right after a death, and druids had Phoenix Breath, but this spell was widely used to prevent accidental deaths. It didn’t give you much health after a revival, so combo hits would still kill you outright—but still, people had been saved by it…on occasion.
And since this was classified as resurrection magic, it could negate fatalities caused by Ainz’s ultimate move, the Goal of All Life Is Death. But that would make this spell dissipate, even if it would normally still have active time left. This was because all spell effects were lost at the moment of resurrection.
My bluff about casting an instant-death spell made him cautious—bad move on my part. I should have mentioned something I can’t use. Will do in the future.
“Triplet Magic: Wall of Skeletons.”
As expected, the first blow smashed a wall, and the next blow smashed the second. That left one standing—and while Decem’s line of sight was blocked, Ainz moved a bit away, took out a scroll, and used the spell.
“Piercing Cacophony.”
This was a buff and might not be necessary, but just in case.
The primal earth elemental attacked again.
Shattering the bone wall—
“Triplet Magic: Wall of Skeletons.”
As the first of these new walls went down, he heard Decem cast.
“Aspect of Elemental.”
An eighth-tier druid spell, this granted you an elemental’s resistances. This negated a lot of status effects—poison and sickness included. It also negated the effects of critical hits and any effects that depended on them.
The ninth-tier Elemental Form was similar.
This was rough—he was swiftly eliminating a lot of Ainz’s strengths.
Still—
How far can I diminish his MP pool?
Triplet Silent Magic: Greater Magic Seal.
Ainz moved a few more steps. This put him a ninety-degree turn away from his original position (assuming Decem as the center). He was closer to the stairs now.
The primal earth elemental’s attack broke through the bones. Sadly, he could not make more.
Triplet Maximize Boosted Silent Magic: Magic Arrow.
This took a huge chunk of MP.
Even a low-level spell would do a lot strengthened four times.
If the primary earth elemental had been a standard summon, he could have simply used Greater Rejection and had no need to use spells like this. But if Decem’s class build was a specialized summoner, there was a solid chance Ainz would be unable to dismiss the summon even with his level advantage.
And Greater Rejection could only cancel summons—it couldn’t do anything to creatures made with a Create skill.
Elemental Adjutant, etc. If he sacrificed experience to create it, it can stick around for basically ever. Given that it’s costing MP to maintain it, I don’t think that’s this…but I don’t wanna gamble.
Better to prepare just in case.
“Oh—” Decem saw where Ainz was standing relative to the twins and frowned. “Why would you move there? You claim to be their guardian, yet prepare to flee?”
“Tch!”
“Ha-ha-ha! I’d be glad to assist!”
Ainz made a run for the door, his back wide open and the primary earth elemental took a swing at it. The sheer bulk had a knock-back effect that sent Ainz flying.
“Oh? One blow isn’t enough to finish you. I see you’re not all talk. Yet, resistance is futile.”
Ainz used Fly to land at the top of the stairs without losing his balance.
“But if you’re running, I assume you’re abandoning your masters here?”
“Of course not.”
Ainz made another Wall of Skeletons.
“This again?” Decem said, sounding appalled. “Not even trying to harm my elemental? Your strategy is laughable.”
“Ha-ha-ha!” Ainz chortled. “I know the humans are invading your country! Elf king, time is on my side.”
“…Ah. That explains it. Aren’t you clever? But that, too, is futile. Impossible.”
“Mm? You think so?”
“Did you really think mere humans could defeat me, commander of the highest-tier elemental?”
I scoffed at that man who summoned an angel, but in this case, a primal earth elemental is more or less the highest tier around. Do the Theocracy really know how strong he is? Or do they have a way to defeat him? This guy sure doesn’t think so. Who is in the dark here, Decem or the Theocracy? Would the latter really call that the highest-level angel if they were aware of Decem’s abilities?
Ainz had gone quiet, thinking.
“It should be obvious, really,” a scornful voice said. “What a shallow fool you are. I suppose you are undead. You’ve got air where your brain should be.”
I can’t tell. If they’re serious about this war, they have to have someone on his level in their camp. In which case, time isn’t on my side. I don’t want to fight two in a row…
What would be the best way to tire out his opponent?
As he considered this, he threw up another Wall of Skeletons.
Like his Message to Mare, if you really wanted to win, fighting one-on-one was stupid. But this time, he was forced to do so—unless he was on the verge of losing. That was why this fight was such a headache.
This way of fighting tied his hands.
He knew Decem was unable to see through Perfect Unknowable. Using that would give him an overwhelming advantage.
But he couldn’t use it.
Why not?
If he cast Perfect Unknowable and started unilaterally attacking, what then?
Or if he did anything else that made Decem realize his true strength—using high-level spells like Stop Time, for instance?
If Decem realized he could not win, he would likely retreat. Fortunately, his attacks were unlikely to target the twins—it might happen, but the odds were low. The man’s goal here was to capture Aura—and Mare, if possible. He was unlikely to do anything that might prove fatal.
But before they figured out how Decem had arrived so suddenly, they didn’t want him fleeing.
Someone who appeared out of thin air might well disappear. They had to prepare for the worst and act as if he had a skill for that.
And if they let him get away, this degenerate might continue to come after the twins.
That had to be avoided.
Without knowing the full extent of Decem’s powers, that would be akin to dangling them off the edge of a cliff.
Thus, the plan.