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[LFTAW] Chapter 333: Questions (II)
🕑 Added 2024-11-30 01:49:26 +0000 UTCIn YGGDRASIL, all items had a clear classification and were divided into eight classes.
From low to high, they were classified as Low, Medium, High, Top, Legacy, Relic, Legendary, and Divine.
Naturally, the higher the class, the stronger the item's power, and the rarer it was.
For example, even the max-level NPCs in the Great Tomb of Nazarick could only equip one or two divine-class items, and only Ainz had the ability to outfit himself entirely with divine-class items.
However, above divine, there was actually another class of item, known as 'World Items.'
World Items were top-of-the-line items, with only two hundred existing in YGGDRASIL—their effects were so powerful and unique that their very existence was considered to destroy the game's balance.
It was understandable, as they could do things that were generally impossible, such as allowing undead, who should be immune to mind control, to be mind controlled, or even changing the fundamental laws of the game itself.
Moreover, not only did World Items have the highest priority effects, meaning they could take precedence and activate before anything else in any situation, but only another World Item of equal level could resist their power.
Super rare and super powerful, World Items were coveted by every player of YGGDRASIL.
Now, Riezel suddenly mentioned them, telling Ainz that Shalltear had been mind-controlled because someone used a World Item on her.
"No, that's impossible…" Ainz muttered in disbelief.
World Items?
Even when Ainz Ooal Gown was still at its prime, with all guild members still active, they could only obtain eleven of them.
Yet, World Items existed in this world?
Was that even possible?
"Why is it impossible?"
As if he had anticipated Ainz's thoughts, Riezel suddenly spoke.
"You managed to bring your entire guild base and everything in it to this world, so why couldn't the Six Great Gods, Eight Greed Kings, or the players from the Thirteen Heroes bring World Items here?"
It was a simple and blunt reason.
"...Who?"
Ainz suppressed his emotions and asked in a heavy tone.
"Who used a World Item on Shalltear?"
At this moment, the emotions Ainz felt were not anything else—they were anxiety, anger, and fear.
It couldn't be helped.
Someone had actually used a World Item on Shalltear, controlling one of the Great Tomb of Nazarick's important and powerful NPCs.
Knowing this, didn't that mean the other NPCs of the Great Tomb of Nazarick could also fall under that World Item's mind control?
What if they did something to the NPCs of the Great Tomb of Nazarick using the power of that World Item without him knowing?
Just thinking about this made Ainz uncontrollably anxious, angry, and fearful.
Riezel, however, appeared completely indifferent to all of this.
"Okay, that's the tenth question." Riezel reminded with a neutral expression before continuing. "It was the Black Scripture from the Slane Theocracy who used the World Item on her."
Indeed, the human group that suddenly barged into the battle between Riezel and Shalltear last night was none other than one of the special units of the Slane Theocracy, directly under the command of the Six Cardinals—the Black Scripture, the strongest and most special unit among the Six Scriptures.
Every single member of the Black Scripture had stepped into the Realm of Heroes, especially its captain, a young man with long hair holding a long spear, who was one of the awakened god-kins, someone Clementine had repeatedly referred to as superior to her.
Truthfully, although Riezel had half-expected their arrival, he was still somewhat surprised.
Riezel had expected it because this event, where the Black Scripture had encountered Shalltear in the forest and used a World Item on her, had happened in the original work, so he wasn't at all surprised by this development.
As for why Riezel still felt somewhat surprised, it was because he had originally thought that with his own intervention, the Black Scripture wouldn't be sent to the forest near E-Rantel.
All things considered, in the original work, the Black Scripture arrived because the Sunlight Scripture had been completely annihilated near Carne Village when Ainz, freshly out of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, obliterated them.
As a result, the surveillance magic that the Slane Theocracy used to monitor Nigun was reflected back at them by Ainz's defensive magic, causing the theocracy to mistakenly believe that the Sunlight Scripture had been caught up in a disaster caused by a revived Dragon Lord known as the 'Catastrophe Dragon Lord', which led to their decision to send the Black Scripture.
However, this time, it was clearly not Ainz who obliterated the Sunlight Scripture, but Riezel.
Given that Riezel didn't use any defensive magic to counter the Slane Theocracy's surveillance magic, this meant that, in theory, the theocracy should have discovered the truth—he was the one who had obliterated the Sunlight Scripture, not the so-called Catastrophe Dragon Lord.
Such truth would have meant that the Slane Theocracy might seek revenge against Riezel, targeting him specifically.
With this assumption, Riezel thought that the Slane Theocracy wouldn't directly send their strongest force, the Black Scripture, to hunt him. Even if they really came, they likely wouldn't bring the mind-controlling World Item, since what they planned to confront was him, not the Catastrophe Dragon Lord.
However, who could have known that, in the end, the event that happened in the original work still occurred?
At this moment, Riezel didn’t realize that, in the grand scheme of things, the situation was actually unfolding much the same as in the original work.
Although it was indeed not Ainz but Riezel who obliterated the Sunlight Scripture, the Slane Theocracy’s surveillance magic still ended up being countered, and surprisingly, the one who countered it was still Ainz, just like in the original work.
At that time, after Riezel made contact with Ainz for the first time and sold information to him, Ainz became suspicious that Riezel wasn’t alone and that there might be others still lurking around.
Because of this, just to be safe, Ainz expanded the Great Tomb of Nazarick’s defensive network by several levels, coincidentally bringing Carne Village within the range of Nazarick’s defense system.
Thanks to this, the Slane Theocracy’s surveillance magic to monitor Nigun was countered, leading them to mistakenly believe that the Sunlight Scripture had been annihilated by the revived Catastrophe Dragon Lord, just like how it unfolded in the original work.
As expected, the Slane Theocracy ended up sending the Black Scripture.
Miraculously, everything fell into place, and the events returned to the path laid out in the original work.
Unaware of all this, Riezel simply kept moving forward, explaining the Slane Theocracy to Ainz.
Eventually, Ainz’s mind was filled with a deep murderous intent.
"Slane... Theocracy..."
Needless to say, at this moment, Ainz had developed a strong hatred for the Slane Theocracy.
It was truly unavoidable.
Just the fact that they had used a World Item to mind-control a Floor Guardian of the Great Tomb of Nazarick was enough to earn Ainz's absolute zero tolerance for them—perhaps even negative tolerance.
Everything in the Great Tomb of Nazarick was the result of his past comrades' hard work—it was their legacy, especially the Floor Guardians, who had been carefully created and personally designed by them.
In all honesty, to say they were the children of his past comrades wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Now, knowing the children of his past comrades were being mind-controlled by someone else using a World Item—that was something that had crossed his bottom line completely.
"Other than the Six Great Gods, there shouldn't be anyone more powerful than players in the Slane Theocracy, right?" Ainz asked seriously.
Why did Ainz ask this?
It was something obvious.
As long as he confirmed that the Slane Theocracy wasn't a major threat, he wouldn't hesitate to send the entire Great Tomb of Nazarick to annihilate it.
Upon hearing Ainz's question, Riezel squinted his eyes slightly and stared at Ainz for a moment before replying indifferently.
"As far as I know, the Slane Theocracy has three people who are descendants of the Six Great Gods, known as god-kins, and their strength far exceeds that of the natives of this world, almost on par with players."
"Among those three, the strongest one holds the title of 'Certain Death' and is the current holder of the Extra Seat in the Black Scripture. If she wears the equipment left behind by the Six Great Gods, her strength should be enough to match you in your bare state."
In other words, if Ainz or the Floor Guardians of the Great Tomb of Nazarick were fully armed, Certain Death would definitely not be their match.
Understanding this, the red glow in Ainz's helmet intensified, glowing like flames.
At the same moment, Riezel spoke again.
"Well, that's pretty much it. Certain Death is probably the strongest in the Slane Theocracy right now, and as for whether the theocracy has other strong figures comparable to players, I'm not sure."
"Nonetheless, the Six Great Gods clearly left a lot of stuff for the theocracy, and the World Item they used to mind control your vampire is just one of them."
"Who knows if they have other World Items?"
Riezel's words calmed Ainz down.
Indeed, even if the Slane Theocracy's power only reached that degree, it didn't mean they possessed only that level of power. World Items alone were strong and powerful trump cards—ones that Ainz himself had to be cautious about.
"It seems that dealing with the Slane Theocracy will require more careful consideration..." Ainz sighed inwardly.
"By the way, that's the eleventh question." Riezel reminded with a faint smile. "Do you have any more questions?"
As soon as Ainz heard this, he began to hesitate.
Eleven questions meant he had to pay Riezel for detailed information on 1,100 magic spells and demonstrate their effects, or he would need to use items as payment.
1,100 magic spells no doubt far exceeded the range he could provide, so he would have to find another way to make up for the shortfall.
Realizing this, Ainz knew that he couldn't ask questions as freely as before anymore.
"In that case, let me ask one final question..." Ainz said solemnly. "Why did the Slane Theocracy abandon Shalltear? Are they scheming something?"
Riezel had to admit that the answer to this question was, in a way, quite dull.
Regardless, it was something that would put Ainz at ease.
"Well, your vampire severely injured the World Item's user before she was controlled, causing the mind control to be incomplete. Now, your vampire is in a state where she can't tell friends from foes, so if anyone approaches or attacks her, she'll attack them in turn, which is why the Black Scripture had to retreat."
As soon as Riezel finished saying this, he stood up.
"Okay, I have answered all your questions. I hope you can prepare the payment as soon as possible."
Leaving these words behind, Riezel turned and calmly left the room.
Ainz watched Riezel leave, lost in thought, silent for a long time.
