"Haah.. hufff..."
On the grassy plains near Carne Village, the setting sun bled crimson across the sky, painting the battlefield in hues of fire and death.
A gust of wind carried the thick, metallic stench of gore, mingling with the coppery tang of spilled blood.
"Huff… huff…"
Gazef Stronoff, the Kingdom's Warrior Captain, gripped the hilt of Razor Edge with both hands, his broad chest heaving uncontrollably. Sweat poured down his face, mixing with grime and blood. His legendary armor was dented in places, his cape torn and stained.
"There's… no end to them!"
He scanned the encirclement. Winged humanoid angels—Archangel Flames, summoned from higher-tier divine magic—hovered silently on all sides. Their glowing swords of light hummed with holy power, waiting patiently for the next command. Dozens of them formed an impenetrable ring of divine judgment.
"Gazef, it's truly impressive that you can use so many Martial Arts in succession!"
In the distance, surrounded by some twenty black-robed magic casters of the Sunlight Scripture, Nigun Grid Luín curled his lips into a mocking sneer. The scar across his cheek twisted with his expression—a permanent reminder of a past defeat he refused to heal.
"However, this is the end!"
"Angel Legion, continue summoning angels!"
Vroom!
At Nigun's sharp command, twenty more angels burst forth from glowing magic circles, brandishing their blazing light swords as they surged toward Gazef in a relentless wave.
Seeing the endless tide, Gazef gave a bitter, exhausted smile. "It's never-ending…"
"Focus Battle Qi!" He gritted his teeth, forcing the last reserves of his strength to the surface. "Sixfold Slash of Light!"
Slash!
Six blinding arcs of sword light erupted in an instant, cleaving the six leading angels clean in half at the waist. Their holy forms dissolved into motes of shimmering light that scattered like dying embers.
"Huff… huff… huff…"
Gazef gasped for air, knees trembling. "Is this… my limit…"
"Kingdom Warrior Captain, are you still struggling so desperately at a time like this? Wouldn't it be better to just die quietly? You'd suffer less that way." Nigun feigned pity in a mocking tone while secretly assessing Gazef's condition.
It seemed the warrior had truly reached his limit. A warrior in the Hero Realm truly lived up to his reputation.
"Heh, but no matter how strong he is, he dies today!"
Nigun raised his hand and shouted, "Finish him! Don't let the angels go one by one! All of you, attack together!"
The next moment, the light wings behind the remaining angels flared as they swung their swords and charged in unison.
Clang!
"Ha!!" Gazef held his blade horizontally to block the assault, the impact jarring his arms to the bone.
"Don't look ...down on me! I am the Kingdom's Warrior Captain! I will never lose to a petty man like you who defiles the Kingdom!"
"It's precisely because you keep dreaming that you'll die here." Hearing this, Nigun burst into cold laughter.
A brute with nothing but raw strength, clinging to loyalty for a decaying nation.
How utterly ignorant of the times.
With that thought, Nigun continued, "Forget it. Once I kill you, I'll go clean up the stragglers in the village so they can be buried with you. That will be my mercy."
"Ha.. haha.. Fool," Gazef let out a cold, defiant laugh, "there's someone in the village even stronger than me."
He truly wanted to see their expressions when they encountered Lord Ainz Ooal Gown.
"Hmph, bluffing. Slaughter him!" Nigun sneered.
Someone stronger than the Kingdom's Warrior Captain? Ridiculous.
Nigun widened his eyes, eager to witness Gazef's final moments beneath the angels' light swords.
Vroom!
But at that critical instant, the twenty angels struck nothing but empty air.
"Gazef… vanished? And..." Nigun was startled. His eyes widened as he shouted in shock, "Who are you!"
Standing where Gazef had been was a mysterious figure clad in elaborate black magic robes, a crimson mask concealing his features. He stared at Nigun with cold, unreadable interest.
The setting sun sank toward the horizon, casting the mysterious figure's long shadow across the blood-soaked grass.
"Ainz Ooal Gown."
Momonga sized up Nigun with calm curiosity. "I heard you want to kill the people I went to so much trouble to save. That is quite upsetting."
"A magic caster? What big words!" The veins on Nigun's forehead bulged as he glared at Momonga as if he were already a corpse.
Faced with the retort, Momonga remained utterly unhurried. "Hand over your lives obediently. Do not dream of foolish resistance. That will only cause you to die in despair and agony."
"Arrogant fellow!" Nigun gritted his teeth and waved his hand again. "Angel Legion, kill him!"
What the hell is Ainz Ooal Gown? How arrogant. You can die first. Anyway, Gazef is badly wounded. He could not have gone far. He is probably hiding in that nearby village.
Whoosh!
Two Archangel Flames shot forward like arrows. Their blazing light swords sliced through the air and pierced Momonga's robed body as easily as a hot knife through butter.
Seeing this, Nigun sneered triumphantly. "So that's all you've got. To think you tried to scare me with a bluff—"
"The angels… the angels seem to have been caught!"
Before he could finish, his adjutant gasped in shock.
"What!"
Momonga gripped the throats of the two angels with skeletal hands, lifting them into the air as if they were mere chicks.
But that was not what shocked Nigun the most. His gaze locked onto the angels' light swords—still embedded in Momonga's chest, yet the undead showed no sign of pain.
"Why… even though the angels' swords pierced your body, you're fine!"
With two blazing swords lodged in him, Momonga acted as if nothing had happened and said calmly, "High-Tier Physical Nullification. This ability renders low-level physical attacks ineffective against me."
Boom!
Momonga slammed the two angels violently into the ground. The shockwave carried the scent of scorched earth and crushed divinity, jolting Nigun back to his senses.
Without using any Martial Arts, relying purely on raw physical strength, he had smashed the angels to death.
This was definitely not just the Hero Realm.
Someone like this could not possibly be unknown.
"Who… exactly are you!"
Nigun looked at Momonga warily, ready at any moment to deploy the Watchful Archangel that had been overseeing the battle.
"Hmph, who am I?"
Momonga let out a cold, echoing laugh and slowly removed his crimson mask, revealing a pale, grinning skull to everyone present.
Everyone felt as if their hearts were being squeezed by invisible giant hands.
"An undead! It's actually an undead!"
Ignoring the attacks of ordinary angels. This was no ordinary undead.
A lich? A Death Knight?
Nigun broke into a cold sweat, but this was still far from the moment of true terror and despair.
The cool touch of the Sealing Crystal in his robes gave him a strong sense of security.
The trump card of this mission was sealed within it: the Radiant Archangel, capable of wielding seventh-tier magic.
As long as he held this card, he could kill even a Demon God-level being.
"Don't be afraid! Watchful Archangel, cooperate with the other angels and crush this damned insect!"
Everyone's hearts settled. The fear in their eyes quickly faded, replaced by determination and disdain.
It's just a higher-tier undead. It's not like they haven't killed one before.
In an instant, more than a dozen angels, along with the Watchful Archangel, looked down on Momonga like gods passing judgment on a demon.
"Such low-level monsters are pathetically weak." Momonga sneered inwardly as he regarded the angels, whose average level hovered below thirty.
"Negative Burst."
The mana within Momonga's body erupted instantly, forming a spherical repulsive field of pure darkness around him.
Vroom!
In the next instant, the field exploded outward, expanding several times over and engulfing all the angels within its grasp.
Sizzle!
In less than a second, all the angels—including the Watchful Archangel—were torn into fragments of fading light by the powerful repulsive force.
"The angels… they're all dead!"
"With just one move… a Demon God. This is a Demon God!"
The red light in Momonga's eye sockets flared as he sneered. "Whatever tricks you have left, bring them out. If you entertain me, perhaps I'll let you die a little more easily."
"Even if you truly are a Demon God-level undead, you die here today!" Nigun pulled the Sealing Crystal from his robe and shouted fanatically, "O supreme and strongest angel, come forth!"
Vroom!!
A pillar of pure holy light shot into the darkening sky, condensing into a massive, majestic figure.
The Radiant Archangel held a gleaming scepter, its six feathered wings beating steadily against the twilight. Its five-meter-tall frame radiated divine majesty, holy light cascading from its form like a living aura.
"So this is what Helant San meant by 'don't be disappointed'…" Momonga looked up at the Radiant Archangel—whose level did not exceed seventy—and felt nothing but mockery in his heart.
"It's hard not to be disappointed. To think the so-called strongest angel is just an elite mob. I thought I'd get to enjoy a proper fight."
"Hmph, hmph, hmph, you're scared now, aren't you? But it's too late. Die!" Nigun stood behind the Radiant Archangel, his expression manic.
As long as he killed this Demon God-level undead and brought the result back to the Theocracy, he might be able to enter the Black Scripture and rise even further.
"Boring…"
"What did you say?" Nigun was stunned. This undead had lost his mind.
This was the strongest angel.
"I said, boring." Momonga had already lost interest, thinking to himself, I'd better let Helant San make his appearance soon. He's probably tired of waiting.
Momonga lightly raised his hand. Without using any flashy magic, he simply waved it casually, creating a swirling black hole of void and hurling it at the Radiant Archangel.
Sizzle!
Nigun felt his vision go dark, as if all the light had been sucked away.
By the time his sight returned, the massive, holy body of the Radiant Archangel had vanished without a trace—utterly erased.
It took a long while before Nigun could stammer, "The… the strongest angel was no match!?"
In the deepening night, the crimson light in Momonga's eye sockets flared brighter.
"All right, it's my turn to act."
Despair. This was true despair.
Nigun swallowed unconsciously, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.
I'm going to die. I'm really going to die.
"Y-you… don't come any closer!"
Just then, a blinding beam of holy light tore down from the night sky, crashing toward Momonga like a falling meteor.
"Sorcerer King, DIE!"