63

Zhuge Liang did not feel at ease following Romulus.

Oh no, he had no doubt that Ainz's camp was on the strange island. But he doubted that the need to attack this camp existed at all.

More precisely, he was completely sure that there was no need to attack Ainz's camp. In the current situation, he was completely sure that Ainz remained, perhaps, the only ally that Zhuge Liang had in general in the current situation. Besides Alexander, of course...

Looking at Alexander, Zhuge Liang moved near him, he clenched his hand into a fist until his knuckles were white.

For the sake of Alexander... He needed to not to give any signs that he is aware. Do not give out his plans. To show Romulus that still did not know about everything.

Why did Ainz say that the attacking Berserkers didn't belong to Altera's camp? Perhaps he wanted Romulus to tell Zhuge Liang that this was not so? Why was it necessary then to talk about it initially? It made no sense...

Zhuge Liang did not understand why initially, but then Romulus sowed the seeds of doubt in his head. Probably, in the future, these seeds would have sprouted, but the Nero's murder broke any plans Romulus held for Zhuge Liang. And perhaps Romulus' Master's too.

Romulus blamed Ainz, but it was at that moment that Zhuge Liang felt the... incorrectness of his reasoning?

Caesar was saddened by the death of Nero, Leonidas was... Leonidas. Alexander did not understand the intricacies of politics. They would believe Romulus' accusations. However, Zhuge Liang felt someone put too much emphasis on Ainz's accusation. Looking at Romulus, Zhuge Liang could not believe that he could come up with such a plan. No, Romulus was not stupid per se, but such tactics did not fit in with his usual demeanor...

Zhuge Liang felt the attention of Romulus' touch him, and tried to exhale, relieving his tension. Politics was not his greatest strength.

"What are you thinking about?" - the voice of Romulus touched his mind.

"Trying to predict the location of the enemy" - Zhuge Liang answered, trying to sound as convincing as possible - "I'm used to a battle between armies, not a battle between only several fighters."

After the sensation of connection disappeared Zhuge Liang released the tension he held internally, and then focusing on Alexander's gaze.

The boy's gaze was focused, his hand rested on his blade.

Zhuge Liang had to find a way to escape from Romulus' control.

At least for the sake of Alexander.

"They're here ~ woof," Tamamo almost blurred into a cheerful smile, watching the figures appear on the horizon.

Mashu only tightened her grip on her shield, watching the appearance of their opponents. Caesar, Romulus, Zhuge Liang, Alexander and Leonidas.

Five opponents.

Exactly as it was predicted.

Ainz has already disappeared, like Cainabel, having set off to fulfill his part of the plan. Mashu, Jeanne, the Dragon Witch, Tamamo and Elizabeth remained on the island to fight with the attackers while waiting for the return of Cainabel or Ainz.

Medusa and Euryale disappeared somewhere - but Mashu was not worried, realizing that they would return soon. After that, with their return the defenders will be in a numerical advantage. This should, if not outright outweigh the scales in their favor - given Romulus' presence - then at least equalize the scale.

Mashu exhaled, closing her eyes for a second.

"Do not be afraid," Jeanne's voice sounded supportive. Mashu felt a hand on her shoulder, a supporting presence, - "Everything is fine. Cainabel and Ainz will be here soon. I do not think that there's anyone that could hold them for a long time."

Mashu agreed with this sentiment, so finding calm in this thought, she opened her eyes, smiling at Jeanne in response.

"Hm, so this is how the last battle begins?" The Witch smiled, throwing a cry to her opponents, as soon as they got closer.

Nobody answered her back.

A moment later, in the hands of Romulus a titanic spear appeared. Probably, even for Romulus himself, it looked huge, cumbersome - not to mention someone more human-sized then him - but his sweep was so quick that the Witch barely managed to evade - and then to get away from the next blow.

"So, we are starting without banter?" The Witch cast the last battle cry, "Good."

After which she instantly leapt to the side, rushing away from Romulus. The blow of his monstrous spear was parried by Jeanne.

The Witch's blade collided with the blade of Caesar who was nearby.

"Get out of the way!" Romulus waved his spear, trying to throw Jeanne away, but she, dodging, only attacked again.

"No," Jeanne glanced at Romulus, and then extended her hand forward, "Forget the Witch! Fight me!"

The Command Spells on her hand echoed with fervor, after which the first one disappeared, after which, due to Romulus's overwhelming hatred for the Witch, the second.

"Only two Command Spells..." - Jeanne bit her lip - "In the Holy Grail War, I would get two for each Servant..."

The skill God's Resolution was still an incredibly useful ability, but it's limitations meant that this ability could be used only in the rarest and most urgent of conditions.

The invisible power of the command spell gripped Romulus, forcing him to remove his attention from the Witch and toward Jeanne.

"Fine, first, I'll deal with you," Romulus intercepted the spear, "Then - with the rest."

Jeanne squeezed the blade in her hands tighter.

Romulus was the strongest of all the attacking Servants. Of all those present, nobody could defeat him in a one-on-one battle - Cainabel and Ainz were absent at the moment. Therefore, Jeanne, the one who was the only one able to, at least, fight on equal ground with Romulus was the right decision.

The Witch had a good chance to defeat Caesar, while Leonidas was too focused on defense, so Mashu, who was also focused on defense, was the best choice in the battle against him, leading the situation to a stalemate. As for Zhuge Liang, Euryale reasoned - and Jeanne had to agree with her - that the best thing that could be done with Zhuge Liang was to keep him at a distance. Tamamo agreed to do this - and then Alexander would remain against Elizabeth. After the start of the battle, Medusa and Euryale were supposed to attack Alexander and Zhuge Liang, taking the two of them out of the battle - after which the rest would join the fight against Romulus. By this time, Cainabel and Ainz had to be back, so they would be able to finish what the others had begun.

Jeanne prepared her banner before rushing forward.

Only…

Where, by God, are Medusa and Euryale?!

Teleportation definitely made life a whole lot easier. Ainz considered this fact obvious - that in the game, and in reality, such magic really helped people save time on a lot of things. In the game, such magic was also a good substitute for fast travel mechanics.

But in reality, it turned out to be even more useful than in the game.

Unfortunately, after the complete destruction of Rome, the landmark that Ainz could use for direct teleportation ceased to be relevant - so Ainz had to teleport to the hill he first appeared in, after which - with "Greater fly" ensured that his delay in the plan and absence at the the final battle was for a good reason and would be a short one.

The Barrier.

Ainz was not completely assured that he was the strongest - however, if you look at the past Singularities, he received enough evidence to believe that he was most likely to be able to cope with something or someone acting as the "final boss" of this Singularity. Or at least he hoped to be able to escape with important information.

Using the more advanced flight magic, Ainz's speed could hardly be calculated within reasonable limits.

He moved fast.

Very fast.

The vestibules of Rome appeared before his gaze after only a couple of minutes. And with it the Barrier itself.

It seemed that it was not at all affected by the destruction of Rome, continuing to stand in one place, silently, looking at the destruction around it with silent disapproval.

Ainz exhaled, then dived from the height of his flight. From his sharp landing, the charred black earth, which still remained in place, cracked, causing clouds of dust to fly in all directions, after which Ainz stood before the Barrier.

"Hmm," Ainz looked at the light pillar rising to heaven. Unfortunately, it was impossible to make out anything behind his pinkish-violet glow... It's a pity, but Ainz did not count on such a stroke of luck.

"What to do..." - Ainz looked thoughtfully - "But if it could resist such carnage... Probably the best thing to do is to use... "Anti-magic field"!"

A second later, a colorless, almost transparent wave slowly rose from Ainz's figure, rushing in all directions. The ephemeral wave didn't even raise any dust, but after crashing into the column of light shining into the sky, it unexpectedly showed its true nature, biting into the magical barrier, passing inside it like oozing water falling into the sand. After a second, a crack was heard, after which a scratch appeared on the surface of the previously monolithic barrier that had withstood the Noble Phantasm of the Witch as if nothing had happened. Quickly, with further ringing sounds, cracks began to grow along the barrier, turning into cobwebs, before with a loud clang of broken glass, the monolithic mass suddenly fell apart, crumbling with a hail of fragments.

The fragments of the barrier managed to melt before they could even touch the ground, so, after a second, Ainz entered the place enclosed by the barrier.

"Here" - Ainz looked around - "It is empty?.."

The inside of the barrier was an untouched wasteland, inside which grass grew, untouched stones lay and... Was there nothing more?

Ainz looked around carefully.

"How..." - Ainz frowned. "Is this possible?"

A second later, the ground under his feet flashed with many patterns, lines - after which the lines, similar to chains, collected from many words, bound him, connecting with each other, wrapping around his wrists and ankles like snakes. A second later, Ainz realized that he was immobilized.

"How?!" - Ainz glanced at the lines encircling him - "A trap?!"

Traps, tactics based on deceiving the enemy, using magic sigils to gain an advantage - all this was common in the world of Yggdrasil, of course... But the spying spell activated his defense, sending the counterspell here to this location. Why did this happen? Has the enemy escaped from behind the barrier just recently?

A second later, Ainz felt his barrier against observation activated, after which an explosion thundered not far from him. The counter-spell attacked the place from which the spying spell had been used... But there was no one in this place.

"It was not a living person who used the spells against me!" - Ainz realized this instantly - "It was a stationary spell that worked without a caster!"

In Yggdrasil, such magic did not exist - or at least, Ainz had never heard of it... But he had to guess that it was possible in the new world!

Ainz tried to pull his hand, but, as expected, this did not work.

"My physical strength is not great for the hundredth level..." - Ainz glanced at the fetters holding him back - "However, given my magical defense... This spell must be at least eighth rank..."

"Anti-magic field"! " - the rising wave instantly crashed into Ainz's fetters, however, after a second, powerlessly crumbled - "So, this is a spell above the eighth rank..."

The trap was made soundly. For the Barrier's attack, behind which, as Ainz was convinced, the enemy was hiding - which was confirmed by the explosions aimed at the one using the scrying spell - only the best forces should be used. However, they would inevitably fall into the trap if they were immobilized - if the spell used for the trap was higher than the eighth rank, then even Jeanne could not get out of it so easily...

If they were immobilized - they would be completely defenseless.

However, to take advantage of this opening, someone was needed...

"Ha!" Ainz didn't even feel the force of the blow, instead he simply heard a scream. Fortunately, the curse restricting his movements did not restrict his ability to turn his head, so turning, Ainz saw the one who attacked him.

Most likely, the attack attempt was aimed at blowing his head - however, instead of such a thing happening the attacker was only thrown back, holding her hand.

"Fuck, you are strong!" The speaker was... Euryale?

Ainz strained his eyesight - the girl who spoke was terribly similar to Euryale, but was very slightly different. Facial expressions, look, slightly different clothes...

"Hm," Ainz looked at the girl. "So you should have ended my existence here?"

"In a way," the girl, continuing to cradle her hand, slowly rose from the ground, looking at Ainz, and then broke into a smile, "Stheno, the third of the Gorgon sisters."

'Hm, yes, there were indeed three Gorgon sisters…' - Ainz thoughtfully tried to remember - 'Who told me this... Tabula, probably?'

"However, it's strange... My attack didn't affect you at all," Stheno frowned, "Usually it's easier..."

'Most likely, her strength is lower than B rank…' - Ainz looked at the girl, and then thought - 'But to get out of these shackles... It is problematic - if they are above the eighth rank, then I can't just break them with the Anti-magic field... How can I then free myself if I can't use higher rank magic in this body?"

"Hey," Stheno glanced at Ainz. "Do you want to know what the plan was?"

"I won't refuse," Ainz said calmly. While Stheno spoke, he could calmly consider his escape plan.

"Hm," Stheno allowed a smirk, "Honestly, I didn't want to give up all the reins of rule to Euryale, but the Master quite correctly decided that it would be easiest to hide an Assassin with the high-class Presence Concealment class skill, so that later he could kill everyone who decided to attack the barrier."

"Master..." - finally everything fell into place in his head - "Baal!"

Why did Euryale agree to help Ainz, although in the past Singularity the Servants easily rejected his offer to join hands? Why did she avoid Jeanne - the Servant that could identify her Master - or the fact that her parameters were also hidden, like those of Nero, Romulus and Altera? How did she manage to create many things that she should not have been able to? Baal!

An unexpected discovery forced Ainz to be quite surprised, and then thought, "But... What about Medusa? Your sister?"

"Hmm..." Stheno exhaled. She herself clearly did not like this topic, - "Listen... I did not want to do it, but... The situation is that we have no choice. Thus, we can hope at least that in the end the Master of the Master will leave us alone."

Master of the Master... That means ...

Ainz's line of thought suddenly broke.

Like his connection with Medusa.

Altera was waiting. Altera knew that her adversary, Cainabel, would return again.

The grail was successfully taken... Of course "taken" meant that it was already used up as a way to "control" an enemy Servant while strengthening him. However, neither Cainabel, nor her Master, Ainz, knew this. And even if they suspected such a thing had happened, they should at least check it.

Altera's Master believed that her strength was enough to distract Cainabel from the final battle. At least hold her until the Master finishes his preparations.

Altera did not mind her fate. She was a distraction — but, after all, wasn't that why she existed?

An Instrument of war. An Unfeeling machine of destruction. Attila.

Altera looked away.

The huge figure of Remus towered above her. The Servant, Avenger, only gave her a look and smiled supportively.

Boudica beside him was whistling a song.

Jing Ke enjoyed her last bowl of sake, looking at the bright blue sky.

Altera was not opposed to dying in a useless battle...

But didn't it bother her that her allies would die in the same battle?

Altera looked at the three Servants.

"Meditating, commander?" Boudica smirked, and then reached out.

"No..." Altera turned her gaze to the girl.

In a way, Boudica was her right hand.

Of course, the powerful Attila, the Scourge of God, had other commanders in her life. Generals, advisers, subordinates... But Altera always saw in them only as an instruments of war. The same as herself. And they obeyed her because of her origin, position, strength...

Boudica was not related to her. She was her right hand because...

Why?

Altera did not know why.

"Don't worry, Altera," Boudica smiled at her, "No matter how this battle goes... I'm glad I had such a commander."

Altera felt something turn inside her from these words.

"I'm glad," did anyone ever tell her that?

Altera felt regret cut through her soul.

After all, Boudica remained to fight in a doomed battle. Surely she herself knows this... But still she chose to stay. Why?

Altera looked away.

"Hmm, on such a day it's best to admit all your feelings, right?" Jing Ke grinned, then rose from her seat. Slowly she moved toward Altera, "Of course, the end turned out to be spoiled... But for all the time - thank you for-KHA!"

Jing Ke swung forward, spitting out blood, but did not fall, lingering on an umbrella that pierced her body. She looked incredulously at the weapon coming out of her chest - after which, after a moment, she fell to the ground.

"First strike," Cainabel smiled. None of those present noticed her appearance at all, which seemed to please Cainabel greatly. Spreading her lips into a smirk, she took a step forward, stepping over the body of the already dead Jing Ke, whom she managed to pierce through her heart, - "What a heart-breaking dialogue... Mind if I cut in?"

Medusa followed Euryale, descending after her along the steps roughly carved into the floor of the cave.

"Euryale," Medusa called to her sister. "The battle will begin soon. We must move to the rest of the Servants."

"Yes, just a little longer," Euryale exhaled, continuing to move forward.

The Medusa frowned - at such a depth, with such huge walls made of solid stone, her connection to the rest of the Servants refused to work - maybe the battle on the surface had already begun and now they were doing a useless thing...

"What do you want from me, anyway?" Medusa looked at her sister in confusion.

"Nothing. You can just stand and do nothing," Euryale exhaled, then frowned. "Almost here."

Euryale moved forward, following her guided route, periodically turning back and forth before Medusa, following her, entering a large circular room.

"What is…" - After a second, Medusa cut herself off.

Her perception could determine that there was a Servant in the room.

And not only the Servant.

The look of the girl - Nero - was practically lost against the backdrop of a mass of flesh rising from the floor and to the highest ceiling, shuddering and flowing like water, consisting of clean bare muscles, tentacles and huge, red eyes that opened and closed of their own free will.

"What... What is this?!" Medusa instantly felt the daggers slipping into her hands... Then a moment later she staggered, feeling sharp pain. Turning, Medusa saw her sister, Euryale, piercing her body through and through.

"Eury... ale..." Medusa staggered a moment later, falling to the ground.

"It took you so long..." the creature's voice sounded discordantly soft and calm.

"I hate you," Euryale, with whose hand her sister's blood continued to drip, cast a glance at the creature. "You promised that in the end you could give us the Shapeless Island."

"Oh, I always keep my promises," the mass of flesh slowly continued to flutter, so that it was not clear where the creature's voice came from, "Don't you trust me?"

"No," Euryale clenched her fists.

"But you still obey," the mass of flesh did not change in its vomit-inducing movement, continuing to change every second, however, the sounding voice now conveyed joy, "Oh, I love command spells!"

"Command... Spells..." - Medusa's mind, disappearing every second, clutched at reality - "Baal... Master..."

"Ainz..." - with that thought, Medusa, Rider, closed her eyes.

"Medusa is dead," Ainz said aloud.

Medusa is dead.

Another of his Servant died.

A slight delay in the plans. An additional factor for future Singularities.

There was nothing to worry about.

He has Servants who had died before, and he was not even particularly worried about it, sending them to slaughter.

And so, Medusa died.

"Yes," Stheno sighed, "Euryale killed her."

Euryale...

The older sister of Medusa. Her family. Killed her.

Ainz blinked.

"Your sister," Ainz looked up at Stheno, "Your sister is dead. And you knew about it. You helped in making it happen."

Stheno, having heard this, only frowned, "You understand nothing..."

"No," Ainz blinked. "I understand it perfectly. You killed your sister."

Medusa was glad to meet her sister. Maybe they did not have a perfect relationship, maybe they had problems in life, but despite this, they were still a family. They loved each other, supported each other, were close no matter what.

Like Ainz Ooal Gown.

And now she was killed.

By her own family.

If one of his Ainz Ooal Gown... would kill... not knowing about the resurrection... The one with whom he went through thick and thin... The one with whom he was with all this time...

The suppression of emotions was ready to react, but...

Ainz stopped it.

A new emotion rose in his soul.

No, not completely new... But the one that he had already forgotten for all this time.

Anger.

Oh, so interesting…

Ainz looked at his fetters.

The bonds suddenly trembled.

"What?" Stheno looked disbelievingly at Ainz. "What is happening?"

Slowly, Ainz's body broke under the weight of the released power. Useless flesh crumbled into pieces. Beneath it came his real body.

The fetters slowly touching his body turned black. Pure negative energy seeped into them like rust, causing them to creak and crumble under their own weight.

In preserving the conditions of his puppet body, he could not use magic above the eighth rank?

Hmm... In that case - Da Vinci will have to work hard making him a new one.

The spell that had been holding up to it was instantly swept away by an invisible wave that struck in all directions.

"Greater anti-magic field" is a convenient thing.

Ainz stepped forward. Stheno, looking at the body of a recently caught enemy being destroyed, how spells powerlessly approaching in strength to True Magic fell, took a step back.

Ainz was...

Angry.

And that meant that a certain Demon King - and a couple of Gorgon sisters - would very much regret their small plan.

High Tier Immunity: B (Case)

A similar ability is practically necessary for any high-level player who prefers not to die due to the actions of a group of more organized low-level players. Most often, players get a similar ability when they reach a certain level - although there are of course exceptions. Ainz, for example, received a different ability - preferring to get this one instead by completing a quest chain, as a result of which his High Tier Immunity was slightly lower than for players who received a high-tier immunity of the eightieth level and above - that is, of rank A - an ability that bosses of Yggdrasil often possess.