Chapter 87: CH 87

There was a giant surface of water in the room.

No, it would not be accurate to call it a room. Surrounded by white circular alabaster pillars supporting entablature with finely detailed friezes, such a mysterious and solemn place was worthy to be called a temple.

The floor was polished marble, its continuity broken by a set of steps heading down into the water located near the centre of the room. You could call it a pool inside the temple, even though it was just a square area ten metres in length.

Moonlight shone right through the ceilingless construction, reflecting in the water and making it glow palely. Not only the water, the walls and floor were illuminated by the gentle radiance as well, making the whole place shine. Thus while there were no torches, everything was blindingly bright.

A slight wind flowed between the round pillars in this mysterious room.

Despite it being a mysterious and solemn place, certain inelegant people were destroying the atmosphere.

Between the round stone pillars were people wearing full body armour, swords hanging from their waists. However, while the armour and swords were completely functional, there were features which seemed purely aesthetic in nature.

While it was boorish, the design of the armour negated its effect on the mysteriousness of the place. Rather, it added to it.

And the surprising thing is, that while there were three times as many people as there were pillars, all were women.

Since men were usually physically stronger than women, women were rarely employed as guards. But the reason for their being here at this location, clearly of great importance just from its appearance? There was only one.

They were the honour guards assigned to this mysterious place.

This place—

The Slane Theocracy. The sacred city that was their capitol contains six Great Temples. Amongst them, the Temple of the Water God was one of their largest sacred grounds.

[Tinu Al Rianes]. It was a location with the title of [The Eye of the Water God].

There was deathly silence.

The guards standing in the surroundings— They were called Temple Guards in the Slane Theocracy— were so still one might think they were immobile. It was likely to mistake them for statues. Even their armour made no sounds; each piece did not shift and rub against one another. This extreme lack of movement was something that was praiseworthy.

Time passed.

It was not just silent, it was tranquil. And then a sound broke that tranquility.

It was the sound of bare feet on stone.

Petari petari.

Petari petari.

Petari petari.

The guards’ helms turned slightly, facing the people that entered the area.

At the lead was an old woman. White hair sprouted from above an extremely wrinkled face. However it was obvious that she was no ordinary old woman, for her eyes glimmered with wisdom, affection and power.

Her pure white priest’s outfit was engraved with symbols, and on each hand she wore rings that gave her magical protection. A plain but powerful magical headband decorated her forehead. A mysterious holy accessory hung from her neck.

Right behind that old woman.

Walking there was a young girl. She was extremely young, and did not seem to have gone through puberty yet. Wearing a blindfold, she was led by two young women.

The cloth covering her eyes hid most of her facial features as well. Even so, it was possible to tell that she had a sharp face. However, as if nervous, her expression was a frozen mask. Her long hair fluttered in the wind, and shone with a soft glow in the moonlight.

On her forehead she wore a large circlet that covered her head with threads like a spider’s web. Decorating the string-like metal were countless gems, and a large blue crystal was embedded in the centre.

She wore a cloth that was slightly open in the front.

The cloth was thin, and with the moonlight shining brightly on her, her body underneath could be clearly seen. In addition, since the cloth was loosely fixed around her waist by a string, one could almost see her naked body each time the wind blew.

That girl walked barefooted. No, not only the girl. Several women dressed similarly followed her closely.

The main difference that their eyes were not covered, and that some were older. No, perhaps the first girl was the youngest.

This was a scene that would leave most men drooling. For that reason, all the people here were women.

The old woman reached the edge of the pool. The entire procession came to a synchronised stop.

“We shall now begin the ritual…. Water Miko-Hime, please enter.”

A woman pulled on the blindfolded girl and led her to the centre of the pool.

The girl silently entered the water, showing no expression of surprise at the difference in temperature. Perhaps she knew that it was going to happen. Or perhaps it was for another reason altogether.

As the Water Miko-Hime reached the centre with water up to her waist, the others behind her began to enter as well.

With the Miko-Hime at the centre, a circle was formed around her.

Absorbing the water, her clothes stuck to her skin. There was practically no difference from her being naked. However, all of them stayed silent. The Water Miko-Hime’s expressionless face, and their own, all hid a tinge of nervousness.

“Now focus your power on the Water Miko-Hime.”

Responding to the instruction of the old woman outside the pool, the people around the Water Miko-Hime began chanting simultaneously. These chants were part of their sacred book; prayers to the Water God.

Waves formed in the water. These were not due to the wind. It was like the waves were conscious and formed waves. To be more precise, it seemed like they were caused by the Water Miko-Hime.

No— it was not like she was causing it. The Water Miko-Hime was indeed causing it.

Fatigue started showing on faces of the surrounding women as their magic was drained.

The old woman, sensing the flow of magic, decided that it was enough. She gave her next order.

“Now, activate. 8th Tier Magic [Planar Eye].”

A large ritual.

It was a method to temporarily increase one’s magic power by concentrating the magic power of a group into one person.

A large volume of magic power was sent to her by the surrounding high priests.

A drop of blood dripped from the Water Miko’s nose. She was trying to contain the large volume of magic power provided by the surrounding priests. This was an act that harmed her body.

However the Water Miko-Hime showed no anguish.

And then the Water Miko-Hime activated the magic that was far beyond her limits.

“<Overmagic Planar Eye>”

A divination magic of the 8th Tier.

The divination target was in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. Their goal was an investigation of the god-like being who resided there.

The Water Miko-Hime activated the magic.

Nothing happened. The moonlight filtered down in the unchanged silence.

Then a metallic sound was heard. Each sound was small, but a large number of it mixed together into a louder sound. It came from the movement of the surrounding guards.

The old woman directed an unhappy gaze at them. However she could not hide her unease at the fact that nothing was happening.

Supposedly, an image should have been formed.

A projected image should have formed in front of the Water Miko-Hime. That was the effect of the magic.

But nothing happened.

In all of the countless rituals, such a thing had never happened before. It was true that if they were blocked by magic, nothing but darkness would be shown. However this was the first time nothing had occured.

Why is it that this time?…

As that question reached a climax in their heads, words appeared in the air. No one present could read it. Japanese was not a common language in this world. But there was something more pressing.

The priests in the water slowly began to fall.

Losing consciousness due to lack of magic power was possible. However, large rituals did not cause such a loss of magic. This was as the members assembled were calculated to have ample magic power. And at worst, they were people that understood the point where they should stop. It was impossible for so many of them to lose consciousness.

“Lend me your strength! We are pulling out!”

Reacting to the old woman’s voice, several guards moved forward. They all simultaneously entered the water. Most of the guards stayed behind, drew their swords and looked around in caution.

“You three, call the priests from outside!”

“Yes!”

The selected three guards ran out. At that period the guards parted the water to try and save the Water Miko whose body was spread out like a flower in the water.

After the old woman gave her orders, she gazed at the words in the air. If she were a deviant magic caster she could cast a magic that allowed them to read the unknown words. However, the old woman was a priest and could not read it.

However she could tell when the words changed.

The old woman’s eyes narrowed.

The words that first appeared were [—Confirming an attack to the 2nd Defensive Layer. Resulting from the effects of divination, this location has been confirmed as the one to have activated a divination spell targeting Nazarick. From this point forth the people of this location are taken to be hostile to Nazarick, and Ainz Ooal Gown shall begin the counterattack.]

The words had changed to [Initiating the 1st Attack. Summoning a group of low-ranked demons. Activate [Runesmith] skill. Activating <Summon Abyssal Lesser Army> from Rune creation skill.]

Suddenly— Something unfathomable appeared in the sky.

A black hole that seemed to suck in everything. While it looked like a circle, it was actually a sphere.

Sensing the empty hole, the guards aimed their swords at it. This was not a normal occurrence, but until all the priests were recovered retreat was impossible.

Shielding the priests that were slowly being recovered from the water, they surrounded the hole and prepared for anything that would happen.

“Vice-Head Priest of the Water God, please step back.”

“I’m fine. More importantly, get the unconscious priests to safety.”

“Yes.”

One of the guards picked up a Water Miko and ran outside as quickly as she could. In her peripheral vision, she saw the old woman, the Vice-Head Priest of Water, sigh in relief. Even if the worst case scenario occurred, the crown of wisdom was still protected.

As if waiting for this moment, the sphere began to change.

As if born from the sphere, several marbles fell to the floor. Some fell into the water, making splashes.

“What!”

Someone made a sound that was a mix between a scream and a shout of surprise. Reacting to it, the ‘marbles’ also made some sounds.

“Gyagyagyagya!”

The strange voices belonged to demons that were slightly larger than children.

They had large heads of varying size, crimson eyes without eyelids, and a mouth baring a row of sharp teeth. Their bodies were also had varying narrowness. Their two long arms almost reached the floor and had sharp claws growing out of them.

Their skin was pale like corpses, and under the moonlight, they did look like corpses that died of disease.

They were monsters known as Light Fingered Demons

“The intrusion of evil into this sacred place cannot be forgiven.”

“Attack!”

The guards ran and swung their swords at the Light Fingered Demons. The demons skillfully dodged and made their counterattack.

“What!”

“No way!”

The guards facing the demons simultaneously became rowdy. It was not from pain, but due to some confusion.

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“My armour!”

The armour she was wearing had disappeared.

“—My sword’s gone!”

“No way! My holy symbol’s gone!”

The shouts of the guards losing their possessions could be heard. Under these circumstances, it was obvious what had happened. The demons in front of them had taken it. Thinking about it, the demons should have retaliated, but none of the guards were injured. Then these demons had to be that class of monsters.

Light Fingered Demon. Their name meant [Bad demons with sticky fingers].

They had the setting of being able to steal any item in Nazarick, and could even steal World Items. However since the development company had received many complaints, they patched them such that they could only steal equivalent level items.

But given they could steal potions, there were still many unhappy low level players.

“Shit! Give it back!”

“My ring! My fiance gave me that!”

“They are really stealing everything!”

The guards attacked the demons with swords— The ones that were not stolen.

They were the lowest level demons in Yggdrasil and were monsters that did not have powerful abilities, but to the guards, these were strong enemies.

Not to look down on the guards. They had all undergone strict training, and were stronger than the guards of Roble Kingdom. All of them had well-defined six-packs, (ED: puts me to shame) that was how much they had trained.

However, their swords did not reach the demons.

While making their high-pitched strange noises, the demons dodged the swords. However they stayed within the reach of the swords. The guards then immediately noticed something.

They were being made fun of.

“Shit!”

“Damn it!”

“Please give it back! What good will it do to take it!”

Even if their swords hit the demons, no major damage was dealt. Fortunately, the demons did not try to kill the guards. Understanding that, the Vice-Head Priest of Water heaved a sigh of relief. Now even if she could not protect the priests, their lives would not be in danger.

The Vice-Head Priest of Water, protected by guards, began to attack.

“<Holy Aura>!”

As the Vice-Head Priest of Water activated the magic, waves of virtue were released into the surroundings. It was a 4th Tier magic that had an effect against beings of evil. As the waves of virtue wrapped around the bodies of the demons, their movements slowed.

“We can do this!”

“Eat this!”

“Seriously, give it back!”

Their swords hit, and the air slowly filled with the smell of blood. However, while they were the lowest ranked demons, they were part of a strong race of monsters, and were not that easily defeated.

In the end, the demons turned and ran.

“Wait!”

“Shit!”

“Please! Wait! Seriously, wait!”

The demons showed surprising adroitness and jumped into the sphere of emptiness. The moment they did, their figures disappeared like they were disintegrated. While the guards chased them as close as possible, none of them had the courage to jump into that ball.

The guards’ gazes fell on the Vice-Head Priest of Water. The old woman shook her head.

“It’s fine. We should be happy that no one was killed.”

The Vice-Head Priest of Water looked at the words floating in the air. They were indeed different from the ones in her memories.

Written there was, [Confirming that the amount of time has elapsed. Shifting to the 2nd Attack. Summoning of a group of middle ranked demons. Activate [Blood Magus] skill. From the skill Sacrifice Blood—- Failure. Unable to detect the necessary number of dead allies.]

While ordering a withdrawal, the Vice-Head Priest of Water was troubled.

“….Did they not attack seriously? Or could they only do that much?”

She then refuted herself immediately. It was definitely not the latter.

It was a being that could block a spell of the 8th Tier, that was the highest rank humans could cast, and there was no way that this was the best counter they could give. Then it was best that they interpret this as a warning.

“Basically the master of Nazarick has the ability to block an 8th Tier spell and send demons as a counter.”

The Vice-Head Priest of Water said that and laughed from her heart.

This wasn’t a joke. How did something like that possibly exist? However, the truth in front of her eyes could not be glossed over.

Looking at the guards retreating in a panic, and confirming that there was no one that could hear her, she spoke her thoughts.

“….Could it be that he is a god?”

When she first heard it she thought it was a joke.

That the master of Nazarick looked similar to the God of Death [Surshana].

“This will be trouble. At worst it could cause a theological split.”

The Slane Theocracy believed in the Six Great Gods, worked together as an organisation, and built a country. Thus while they had different gods, they had the same goal could work together on them. Then what would happen if only one of the gods descended?

At worst, there was the possibility that the power balance within the temples would crumble. However she could not erase what had happened. It was not because sealing everyone’s lips was difficult, but because of the worry of what would happen in the future should she hide this.

No, her heart might only be filled with fear.

Should a god truly appear, she would fall on her knees. In front of a being that she should obey.

However what was scary was that the being looked like [Surshana]. The god that granted eternal peace to those with life, and the god that granted eternal despair. And the god that was stronger than the other five.

If it was true—

The Vice-Head Priest of the Water God’s body shook. She then prayed. Not to her god, but to the God of Death [Surshana]. As if saying, please do not punish us.

■

The white sparkling mass slowly got up.

It was a huge being.

It was a dragon.

This race was once known as the strongest in the world, and were the previous rulers of it.

One may think of a dragon bearing traits of a reptilian animal. However, that was a mistake. Dragons had characteristics that were extremely similar to that of felines.

Their muscular system, the movement of their eyes, the similarities were countless.

Most important was the fact that the combination of several thousand muscles allowed its giant body to move in perpetual silence. If one did not train, one would not be able to detect a dragon’s motion.

The scales that completely covered their bodies were harder than steel, and could break any normal metal blade. Even if their scales were pierced, their muscles could prevent the blade from going in too deeply. It was the same for blunt weapons. They would bounce off the thick layer of muscles.

Any being would turn to ash in front of their blaze and their wisdom was far beyond any great sage.

To top it off, dragons were extremely beautiful. Their body gave off a silver glow and had an air of elegance about it. It was to the point where one could call it a work of art as much as the strongest species.

The dragon looked into the distance.

It had a bad feeling. Like the world was being shaken.

“Did something happen? Platinum Dragonlord-sama?”

The one who spoke was the dragon’s knight. The dragon knew from its dragon sense that he was there, but turned to look nonetheless, feeling that a lack of eye contact during a conversation would be rude.

This was a knight that the dragon had chose.

A silver scale mail armour similar to dragon scales covered his body and he held a platinum spear. The armour’s dragon motif made it look like an upright dragon.

And who would know, that this armour was worn by the person known as one of the 13 Heros nicknamed [Platinum].

“No, it’s nothing.”

The dragon looked once again, eyes glazed with emptiness.

The knight looked in the same direction, but could not see anything. No, even the dragon was not looking at anything either. In response to the knight’s confusion, the dragon explained.

“I just felt that the world was screaming.”

“Screaming you say?”

The senses of a dragon was on a different scale. The knight knew that he could not feel anything and did not enquire further.

The dragon said nothing. However, his senses told him that he had felt this feeling long ago.

It was simple to recall that feeling.

It was because it was impossible to pour those memories into the drain of oblivion.

—The Eight Greed Kings. The beings who had fought with his race in the past. And the beings that had hunted and killed most of the dragons. The magic released felt similar to its past dangerous enemies.

The dragon recalled the history of the world.

By those beings, the dragons that were harkened as the strongest were hunted down. The current beings called Dragonlords, were in the past— More than 500 years ago, nothing more than children to the past Dragonlords.

And Wild Magic.

No one but the dragons knew the primordial magics, the secrets of the world.

If they had banded together earlier to fight they would have won. This dragon had thought the same thing over the past five hundred years.

In the end they won. This was because the past dragon lords defeated the Eight Greed Kings.

They attacked one King with many dragons. Even against just 1 King, the dragons had multiple casualties. And the Eight Greed Kings had magic that allowed them to revive after death.

However, the Eight Greed Kings grew weaker every time they revived. If they banded together they might have won. But that did not happen.

In the end the world was violated and defiled.

Wild Magic was lost and the world was filled with the magic the Eight Greed Kings had spread.

The dragon twisted its long neck and looked at the weapon behind it. At the weapon that ever since placed here, was never touched. It was a resplendent sword, with a blade of crystal. It was the weapon that the Eight Greed Kings swung to kill his brethren. And the sword that the leader of the 13 Heroes wielded.

In the base of the Eight Greed Kings, he had lent out the item as a symbol of his blessings.

Its name was—

The dragon then blinked its eyes.

“What did he call it?” Thinking for some time, the dragon forced out some words. “….A Guilti Weapon?” (TL: Two options: Guild Weapon or Guilty Weapon.)

Of course, there was no way to check if that answer was right or wrong. The dragon made an annoyed sigh, and again, looked in a certain direction. There— far beyond the range of a dragon’s senses.

The Southern End of the Azerlisia Mountain Range, at a certain giant lake.

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