Iri, whose consciousness was gradually recovering, secretly rejoiced that she had won this grand gamble.
She couldn't help but admire how quickly her mind worked! To be able to think of a solution at such a moment.
However, this was also thanks to the substitute necklace Shalltear had given her; without this necklace, her fate would surely have been the same as Shalltear's before.
She would have become a neutral monster, then been ganged up on and killed by the Guardians… But Ainz-papa probably wouldn't let the Guardians gang up on her, right!
So… let me first explain how she broke the Falling Beauty of a Nation!
After the Falling Beauty of a Nation was activated and was about to hit her, Iri did three things:
The first was naturally to throw the Pure Throwing Spear at that sickly guy.
The second was to unequip the Amulet of Fortitude, canceling her magic resistance state.
The third… and most important, Iri set the target lock of the second Pure Throwing Spear on her own heart.
To be able to complete this series of actions at such a critical moment, this was probably what they called a burst of potential, right?
If she had been even a little slower, she would have truly been hit. Before the golden light of the Falling Beauty of a Nation struck, her Pure Throwing Spear directly pierced her chest, instantly killing her.
She didn't even feel any pain; her consciousness was directly interrupted. The power of the Pure Throwing Spear was truly astonishing!
The reason Iri did this was because she thought that the effect of Falling Beauty of a Nation was mind control, which was brainwashing.
And it was the kind that ignored abnormal resistance, so Iri's Guardian Ring would definitely be useless.
Although the currently known method of breaking it was to kill the user of Falling Beauty of a Nation before they could issue another command.
But even so, the affected person would still become a neutral monster, like Shalltear before, attacking anything with hostile intent.
Originally, the method Iri adopted was this one too, at least to protect herself from becoming a toy for the Theocracy.
But at this moment, she thought of another possibility: mind control! The prerequisite is that there must be a mind for you to control, right?
If she were a corpse, what could you control? Of course, doing this also carried a lot of uncertainty.
When Shalltear was brainwashed and fought Ainz-papa in PvP, this substitute necklace had been activated, but it didn't remove the brainwashing effect of Falling Beauty of a Nation.
This indicated that the control strength of Falling Beauty of a Nation couldn't be solved by dying once. As for why Shalltear returned to normal after being resurrected in Nazarick later?
Iri's current inference was that it wasn't resurrection at all. Strictly speaking, it should be called recreation. The evidence was that Shalltear lost a long period of her memory.
She didn't even have the memory of chasing down the nail clipper, which meant that Shalltear at that time was indeed killed by Ainz-papa, and the current Shalltear was Shalltear Mark II, recreated by Nazarick.
So Iri was very worried whether the power of Falling Beauty of a Nation could even brainwash the brain of a corpse without consciousness or spirit.
However, the time left for Iri was not enough for her to dwell on that much. Even if Falling Beauty of a Nation was truly that powerful, capable of brainwashing even corpses.
Her 'suicide'… would at least directly consume one revival effect of her substitute necklace, making it less troublesome for Nazarick to retrieve her.
After all, the charging time for this substitute necklace was one week, meaning that for one week after activation, this necklace was no different from trash.
Judging by her current clear and lucid consciousness, she had gambled correctly… Falling Beauty of a Nation was not powerful enough to brainwash a corpse without consciousness or spirit.
So… it's time to get up. Lying in front of those scoundrels like this isn't an option. Get up quickly and deal with them first!
If she dragged it out any longer, Black Scripture and that uncle would return for support, but given her current extremely annoyed mood, their return would be futile anyway.
Since they brought out Falling Beauty of a Nation, don't blame her for being impolite… She'd just crush an hourglass and blow them and this whole place to ashes!
Iri suddenly opened her eyes, scaring the blonde-haired guy and the Greatsword Hunk, who quickly retreated a step.
"Did… did it succeed? It's not like last time, is it?" The blonde-haired guy asked nervously.
Hmm? Like last time? He must be talking about Shalltear's incident. She remembered that after Shalltear was affected, they wanted to retrieve Shalltear on the spot.
Then, after being counterattacked, someone died, and they decisively gave up.
Hmm? Judging by the blonde-haired guy's tone… it means they aren't sure of her current state either!
Suddenly, a good idea struck her… Hmm, Iri, you really are a genius! Iri thought to herself, then feigned a weak appearance and slowly got up.
The blonde-haired guy and the Greatsword Hunk watched Iri nervously, maintaining a wary stance and backing away.
Hey, hey? Aren't you going to check on the sickly sister lying on the ground, covered in oil?
But that sister is basically completely dead, right? The Pure Throwing Spear she threw could instantly kill even herself at full health, let alone a native!
Speaking of which, Death Knight used some skill to resist it back then, which also shows that she is indeed very abnormal.
"W-where is this? W-who am I? What's my name, and w-who are you? Ah!" Iri clutched her forehead, showing a very pained expression, then took a step back.
… The blonde-haired guy and the Greatsword Hunk exchanged a wordless glance. They had never seen a situation like this.
This time was almost identical to the previous encounter with the vampire. After Falling Beauty of a Nation hit the target, the user was severely injured, lost consciousness, and eventually died.
They didn't even have time to control the target, and as a result, another teammate was killed. Now, the same situation appeared before them once again.
However, the reaction of this target in front of them was completely different from the vampire last time. The vampire last time completely ignored people.
It only reacted when hostile actions were taken against it. This little sister in front of them actually spoke first… This was very new.
"Are you all right? Hmm! What happened?"
At this moment, Black Scripture and that axe-wielding uncle also rushed back, and then they saw this inexplicable scene.
The blonde-haired guy and the Greatsword Hunk were dumbfounded and wary of the little sister, who was supposedly a new member of Blue Rose.
The priestess who could use Falling Beauty of a Nation, borrowed from Windflower Scripture, was already lying in a pool of blood, completely dead.
And the most crucial person, that little sister, was cowering with a confused expression, also wary of them.
When they rushed back just now, they saw the golden light of Falling Beauty of a Nation activating from afar, knew something had happened, and hurried back.
But what was this situation now? Black Scripture was also dumbfounded and could only turn his gaze to the One-Man Army, Queen Aeseth, wanting him to explain what this inexplicable situation was about.
The blonde-haired guy gave Black Scripture a look, indicating for him to come over, which Iri didn't miss… But Iri still pretended to be very "scared" and "helpless," remaining wary of them.
Iri just wanted to see if she could trick them into thinking she had been brainwashed, but that the unlucky priestess sister had died before she could give her orders.
So, the current situation of "Who am I? Where am I?" arose. If they didn't believe her, then there was nothing she could do but crush the hourglass directly!
"What's going on?" Black Scripture asked the blonde-haired guy in a lowered voice.
"Captain… It's like last time, but… not the same…" The blonde-haired guy said something with unclear meaning. Hey, hey, who can understand your explanation! Even Iri wanted to complain about that blonde-haired guy.
"Like last time? Could it be??" Black Scripture's expression became even more serious. Uh… it seemed this guy's vigilance was even greater than before.
"Who exactly are you! Are you bad guys! Ah… over there!! You really are bad guys, aren't you!" Iri turned her gaze to the priestess sister lying in a puddle of oil, then retreated several steps in horror, and even directly adopted a fighting stance as if ready to fight them to the death.
"Ah… No! We… we are comrades! Don't you remember anything?!" The blonde-haired guy seemed to have thought of something, then put on a smile and said to Iri.
"Com… comrades?" Iri secretly rejoiced, Yes, yes~ this is the effect she wanted… Although she thought this in her heart, Iri, as a seasoned actress, still maintained a confused expression on her face.
"Yes… yes! We are comrades!" Black Scripture, seeing Iri's reaction, also interjected.
"Comrades… But… but I don't remember you at all. I… I… I don't even remember myself. What… what happened to me?" Iri clutched her head with both hands, looking utterly bewildered.
"Ah… that's, just now… we were ambushed by assassins from an enemy country! You were hit by a magic spell released by an assassin while you were fighting them." Seeing the blonde-haired guy looking confused and not knowing how to explain, Black Scripture said, pointing at the priestess sister's corpse.
Iri almost burst out laughing… Fortunately, she still had the most basic professional acting skills and didn't break character.
You guys are too much, aren't you? That priestess sister just had a cloak over Falling Beauty of a Nation, didn't she? She did look a bit like an assassin, but she was still your comrade, right? She's already dead, so there's no need to put an unwarranted blame on her head, is there?
"So that's it? Is that why I can't remember anything, because I was hit by an assassin's magic?" Iri asked.
"From the current situation, that does seem to be the case." Black Scripture forced out a slightly awkward smile and said.
The others also looked at each other, then nodded in agreement that it was indeed so…
You can tell at a glance that you can't act; your acting is terrible! Iri complained in her heart.
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