“We’ve got company.” Or maybe we are the company, Ainz quipped in his head as he moved in front of Narberal. Since they didn’t know the Wise King of the Forest’s combat ability (or what level he would be), protecting Narberal was an obvious thing to do; casters were at a disadvantage in hand-to-hand fights.
The moment Ainz stood in front of Narberal, he thought he could feel the air bend. In response, he shielded himself with one of his great swords. Then, a metallic screech echoed out, and one of his arms took some weight. It was the shock of something hitting his sword with a fair amount of speed.
Ainz saw an unusually long tail covered in scales like a snake withdrawing back into the trees. So its tail can attack like a whip? But from the sound and feel when it hit me, it’s like a whip made of metal… And the fact that its range is more than twenty yards is a pain… How does it even go about its daily life dragging that thing around?!
Ainz didn’t have any skills for frontline fighting, so he had no idea what to do short of moving in to make it a fight at closer quarters.
He exhaled. Of course, he didn’t have lungs, so he only pretended to, but the tension went out of his shoulders, and he was more prepared to take up the chase if necessary.
In response, a deep, quiet voice came from behind the trees. “A magnificent job blocking my first attack, that it was… It may be…the first time I have met such an opponent…”
“That it was…?” Ainz screwed up his illusionary face and then remembered that the words he heard were translated. So apparently that was the closest his brain could get to the original.
“Well, invader of my territory, if you flee now, I’ll refrain from pursuing you out of respect for your magnificent defense…but it’s your choice, that it is.”
“…Don’t be ridiculous. I stand to gain from defeating you. …More pertinently, are you ever going to come out, or don’t you have enough confidence in your looks? Maybe you’re shy?”
“Well, you’ve got a mouth on you, that you have, invader! Very well—gaze in wonderment at my majesty and know fear!” The Wise King of the Forest slowly pushed through the bushes and revealed itself before Ainz.
The eyes of Ainz’s illusionary face nearly popped out of their illusion sockets.
“Hoo-hoo-hoo. I can sense your terror and astonishment from under your helmet, that I can.”
The beast’s face twisted into a smile and her tail wriggled. There were strange markings almost like writing on her silver body—and she was big, probably as big as a horse, but not very tall. Wide from side to side, but flat.
The Wise King of the Forest began to slowly close the distance between them.
“What the heck…” Ainz was seized by a feeling that was difficult to describe. Since emotions would be suppressed by his undead mind if there was a big swing, he could assume this was not a very strong feeling. Still, it had been a long time (even including his Yggdrasil days) since he had faced a monster and felt like this.
“…I’d like to ask you something. What race are you?”
“I’m what you all call the Wise King of the Forest. I have no other name, no, I don’t.”
Ainz swallowed spit he didn’t have and asked, “Are you a…Djungarian hamster?”
The Wise King of the Forest. She was the spitting image of a Djungarian hamster as far as Ainz could tell. Her hair was more snow white than silver, and her eyes were black and round. Altogether, she looked like a big ball of mochi.
Of course, hamsters didn’t have long tails like that, and they didn’t grow to be bigger than humans, but Ainz couldn’t think of anything else to compare her to. If you asked a hundred people, a hundred people would say she was a hamster—a giant Djungarian hamster or maybe a mutant Djungarian hamster.
The Wise King of the Forest tilted her face (it was hard to tell where her head ended and her body began), nose twitching, and replied, “Hmm…I’ve lived alone ever since I was born, that I have. Since I know none of my kind, I cannot answer your question… Perhaps you know my race, do you?”
“Mmmm, I as good as know it, I suppose… A friend of mine once had a pet that looked just like you.” Ainz recalled his guildmate who didn’t log in to Yggdrasil for a week because his hamster died of old age. The admiring “ooh” from Narberal behind him must have been because it was information about one of the Forty-One Supreme Beings.
“What?! How dare someone make a pet out of a monster who looks like me!” The Wise King of the Forest puffed her cheeks into a pouty face.
Did I upset her? Or is that supposed to look threatening? Or…? All Ainz knew was that she didn’t have food packed in there.
“Hmm…I would like to hear the details, that I would. As a living thing, I must ensure the survival of my species, that I must. If there are others like me and I don’t create descendants, then I’m a horrible being, that I am.”
By the Wise King of the Forest’s logic, Ainz hadn’t made any kids, so he was a horrible living thing. Mentally giving the excuse that he was already undead and not a living thing, he replied apathetically, “Well, it wasn’t as big as you.”
“Is that so, hmm…? Perhaps it was a baby?”
“…No. It was an adult and could fit in the palm of my hand.”
The Wise King of the Forest’s hairs drooped; she was probably a little discouraged. “Then it would be rather impossible, that it would… So I really am the only one, that I am…”
“If you were a cool race, that would be great, but…mm, yeah, you’re a hamster. Not that I don’t feel bad for you, but if you did have relatives, they’d probably multiply like mice—I think the world would end!”
The Wise King of the Forest’s hairs stood on end. Her cute, round eyes stayed the same, but when she spoke, her anger was palpable. “Such impertinence! Ensuring the survival of one’s species is a serious matter, that it is! And I’ve been living my whole life on my own, that I have! You would want to make some friends, too, would you not?!”
“H…rm… I don’t disagree… Forgive me…” Thinking of his guildmates, Ainz apologized. Still, he wasn’t sure how he felt about being reminded of them by, and apologizing to, this hamster.
“Well…I forgive you, that I do. Let’s stop this pointless chatter—we shall fight to the death, that we shall. Now, then, invader, I’ll turn you into my dinner, that I will!”
“Mm…kay…” Ainz felt less and less interested in continuing.
Even if the Wise King of the Forest’s cuteness was an evolutionary advantage, Ainz wasn’t motivated. When he imagined himself, the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, facing off against a giant hamster, it was just too shameful.
And if he killed her and presented the giant Djungarian hamster corpse, saying, “This is the Wise King of the Forest. It was a fierce battle and I couldn’t drive her away,” what would the Swords of Darkness think? No matter how optimistically Ainz considered the situation, awkwardly kind looks were the best he could imagine getting. Then, instead of killing her, he would capture her and extract her wisdom.
“Nabe, fall back.” Ainz had forced himself to muster the will to fight, and upon his order, Nabe bowed deeply and withdrew to the edge of the clearing, confident her master would be victorious.
“Hmm? I don’t mind if you both fight me at once, that I don’t.”
“Fighting a hamster with backup is too embarrassing!” Ainz spat as he readied his weapons.
Sensing that he’d moved into a combat stance, the Wise King of the Forest crouched. “…If you regret those words, it’s too late to take them back, that it is! Here I come, that I do!” Then, she kicked off the ground with a boom and flung herself, in a ball, at Ainz. Anyone human size taking the Wise King of the Forest’s body slam directly, without using any martial arts, would normally have been blown away, but Ainz blocked it with a great sword. It was a terrible amount of destructive power, but Ainz’s strength was more than up to the task of enduring it.
“Argh, that I say!” Shouting in surprise that
Ainz hadn’t retreated so much as a step, the Wise King of the Forest raised her front legs with their unexpectedly sharp claws and began to scratch. Ainz beat back the attack with the great sword in his left hand and slashed with the other in his right. He didn’t go all out, but it was still a hefty blow.
And it was repelled with a screech. The shock went up his arm. The Wise King of the Forest had brandished a foot to counter Ainz’s attack. Their strikes clashed in midair and repelled each other.
“Magnificent, that it was! And how about this, hmm? Charm Species!”
Undead were generally immune to psychic attacks. Ignoring the spell completely, he stabbed with both of his great swords simultaneously.
A metallic screech rang out, and Ainz’s swords were repelled once more. He squinted under his helmet. He wasn’t trying too hard, but the Wise King of the Forest was repelling his attacks with her skin alone—it must have been harder than low-grade metals. So she’s not just a fluffy fur ball? Ainz felt momentarily betrayed, but he realized that thought wasn’t appropriate for combat and cleared it away.
Considering his physical attack strength by Yggdrasil standards, Ainz estimated that he would be equivalent to about a level-30 warrior, maybe a little higher. Of course, his magic and gear made a big difference, so he couldn’t be sure, but if he used that as the bar and compared the Wise King’s combat ability to it, they were probably close to equal. The illusionary face under his helmet twisted into a sinister smile. “Nothing wrong with that… This is a good chance to test out my close-quarters combat ability.”
He judged that he would be able to win no problem if he put real effort into it. He couldn’t let his guard down, but this opponent was a good one for practicing frontline swordsmanship.
Ainz brandished each of his great swords in turn. The Wise King of the Forest deftly blocked them with her front claws and then one of the markings on her body glowed as she cast a spell. “Blindness!”
Unlike the psychic spell Charm Species, Blindness would work on Ainz; however, he had a racial skill that neutralized all low-level magic, so the spell disappeared without having any effect.
The marking that lit up was a different one from last time… Seems like she can only use as many spells as the number of markings she has? In Yggdrasil, the amount of spells a monster could use varied a great deal depending on their level and race, but it was generally around eight. Ainz counted the markings on the Wise King of the Forest and it was about that number, so he felt like he was fighting a Yggdrasil monster.
Unconcerned by the resistance to her magic, the Wise King of the Forest closed in to fight with her front legs. Ainz blocked with one sword and kept attacking with the other.
The way some of his guildmates used to fight crossed his mind. Touch Me was one of the strongest warriors in Yggdrasil and used a sword and shield. NishikiEnrai had the highest attack power in the guild and wielded two katana named Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi. The Warrior Takemikazuchi who said “no second strike necessary,” even though it wasn’t true, used two different ōdachi, Imperial Sword Zanshin and Takemikazuchi Style Eight, for different purposes.
Then, he remembered someone he’d met more recently, the brave captain of the Royal Select, Gazef Stronoff. It was possible that the reason Ainz headed to E-Rantel in the guise of a warrior had something to do with him.
He sneered at himself for thinking such things in a corner of his mind. You’re in the middle of a fight! Even if I can afford to do it, thinking about stuff that off topic is just rude…even if she is a hamster…
Ainz attacked over and over, trying to emulate the memories of his friends while deftly blocking the Wise King of the Forest’s claws with the great sword in his left hand. It seemed like neither one of them would land a decisive blow, when suddenly Ainz managed to penetrate the Wise King of the Forest’s defenses.
“What!”
The sensation of his blade piercing flesh was accompanied by the smell of fresh blood. The great sword in Ainz’s right hand had made a small rip in the Wise King of the Forest’s skin. A handful of hairs hung in the air.
Ainz tried to follow up with a blow from the sword in his left hand, but the Wise King of the Forest leaped backward as if she’d sensed it. Then, in a flurry of footfalls, she retreated to a position a little more than ten yards away.
He did say his hamster would jump and escape his cage…but wow, I had no idea hamsters could run backward like that! Ainz was letting his mind wander, feeling exactly like he was fighting a giant hamster, when the Wise King of the Forest suddenly got into a low crouch.
Ainz wasn’t sure what to make of it. What’s she planning to do at that distance? If she’s going to charge again like before, I should stick out my swords so she impales herself…but I suppose it’s more likely that she casts another spell. He didn’t think the Wise King of the Forest’s wriggling tail would reach, but—
“I was wrong!” He realized how foolish he’d been. The first tail strike had come from even farther away, i.e., he was well within range this time. The bizarrely long tail did indeed strike, tracing a large arc through the air. He blocked it with the great sword in his right hand, but then his eyes widened: The tail turned at a right angle with his sword as the axis. “Ngh!”
He swung his sword sideways to shake off the tail, but he hadn’t reacted fast enough, and he heard it graze the armor on his back at the same time as he felt the impact. Thanks to a racial skill, even if the tail had pierced his armor, he wouldn’t have taken too much damage from an attack of that intensity. Still, it was like missing one shot in a level of a shoot-’em-up game.
“So we’ve each connected once, that we have…”
You damned hamster…, thought Ainz in a wave of mild irritation. I can attack at range, too, you know. He poured energy into his right hand.
As he was preparing to attack, the Wise King of the Forest expressed her heartfelt admiration. “Your armor…it’s tremendous, that it is. But your strength, your sword—everything about you is astonishing. Truly magnificent, a superior warrior. You must be well-known in the human world, that you must.”
All the energy drained out of Ainz’s right hand. “You think I’m just a warrior?” he asked, with a hint of disappointment.
“What do you mean, hmm? What else would you be? A knight, hmm?”
“The Wise King of the Forest is…not so bright. I should’ve known this was a bust from the moment I saw it was a giant hamster…”
It was probably difficult to tell that Ainz was a caster when he was wearing full plate armor. But he wanted a monster with the name Wise King of the Forest to at least have had an inkling that something was off, even if she couldn’t see through the disguise completely.
Did she think those spells were being neutralized through the power of sheer will alone? It’s true that immunity and resistance had the same end result in Yggdrasil, but would it kill this thing to live up to her name as a “wise king”?
The name Wise King of the Forest is just not appropriate here. If she would have been called a giant Djungarian hamster, I wouldn’t have bothered getting my hopes up. The blame lies squarely on the parent who named her. It’s blatant false advertising—a misleading representation.
Ainz had completely lost the will to fight and let his sword droop.
“What do you think you’re doing, hmm? You can’t possibly…you wouldn’t dare give up before the victor is decided, would you? Take me seriously, that you must! We shall fight to the death, that we shall!”
Every time the miffed Wise King of the Forest opened her mouth and missed the point, it chipped away at something in Ainz’s brain. Taking into account the fact that any large mental swings would be prevented, he could probably still fight, but…
“Ugh…I’m done,” Ainz uttered in a voice so cool it seemed to be accompanied by a frigid cold front. He pointed the sword in his right hand and unleashed an ability—Aura of Despair V.
A chance of instadeath was a tad overkill, so he went
with the weaker fear-inducing tier I spell instead of tier V. A wind whipped up around Ainz, and a chill that only affected the mind radiated into the area.
The moment the chill made contact with the Wise King of the Forest, all her hairs stood on end, and she keeled over with astonishing force, leaving her soft silver belly completely unguarded.
“I surrender, that I do! My loss, that it is!”
“Ahh, so you really are just an animal…,” Ainz replied in a hoarse, spiritless voice and walked over to the Wise King of the Forest to stare down at her belly while he contemplated his next move.
She’s a monster from this world and all; it’d be a waste to shoo her away. Plus, she’s a hamster, so maybe she could be like a pet… The only other option would be to make good use of her corpse.
One of the classes Ainz had acquired was necromancer. They could tamper with dead bodies to create undead familiars, but the strength of the undead that were created depended on the race of the corpse. The best corpses were powerful beings like dragons; humans and the like would end up zombies or skeletons. What kind of undead would a monster that didn’t exist in Yggdrasil turn into? A great zombie king of the forest, I guess?
“Are you going to kill her?” a cheerful voice called out. At some point Aura had shown up and stood next to Narberal. “If you are, I’d like to skin her! She seems like she has a pretty nice pelt!”
Ainz looked down at the Wise King of the Forest’s glistening black eyes and their gazes met. The monster quietly awaited her fate, so scared of what might happen to her that her whiskers were trembling. Ainz suddenly recalled their conversation—the one about friends that had struck a chord with him. He wavered but then sighed as he made up his mind. “My real name is Ainz Ooal Gown. If you’ll serve me, I’ll let you live.”
“I—I thank you, that I do! In exchange for sparing my life, I give you absolute devotion, that I do—me, the Wise King of the Forest, to you, the great warrior Ainz Ooal Gown!”
Aura watched, disappointed, as the Wise King of the Forest jumped up and swore her loyalty.
The Dark Warrior Page 16
