Overlord (LN)

Shalltear snorted at him as her left hand moved faster than the eye could see. A sound of metallic clashing rang out through the night air. What had happened was that the simultaneous deflection of the four strikes had blended into a single sound.

All four blows had been repelled, leaving her untouched.

Shalltear shrugged her shoulders, laughing under her mask. It was not directed at the foolish warrior before her eyes, but rather at herself for having played along with him thus far.

But then, in the next moment, Shalltear’s eyes went wide.

♦ ♦ ♦

Right now, if someone had converted their ability into data and compared them, he would undoubtedly be cheering for Brain.

Indeed, it was a miracle, like the sun rising from the west, a sight that would fill people with awe and respect.

♦ ♦ ♦

“...Eh?”

Before her eyes, the nail of her left pinky finger had been shortened. It was a tiny flaw less than a centimeter in length.

Shalltear considered the current situation. The place which had been cut was the same place which had been used to repel all the strikes.

Come to think of it, those four strikes had been executed in two pairs, one above and one below. They had intersected on the spot where Shalltear had intercepted the attacks.

“...Were you aiming for this?”

“Kuh— Ahahahaha!”

Suddenly, the man in front of her began laughing. Is he insane? Shalltear wondered. But it did not feel that way. More likely, he was laughing heartily over the fact that he had managed to slice off the tip of her fingernail, but she did not understand. So what if he managed to do it?

Shalltear’s nails and teeth were natural weapons, so using specialized weapon-destruction skills to sunder them was technically possible. However, they would simply grow back with the application of healing magic, and they were more easily broken than weapons of a similar level. That was all they were. They were inferior to Divine-class magic items like the Spuit Lance.

As such, Shalltear could not understand the reason for this man’s laughter.

Cutting off a fragment of her fingernail would not change anything. Shalltear looked at the other four fingers of her left hand. Even if the nail of her pinky finger was shaved down a little, it would still be enough to tear a human body to pieces.

“...So, cutting it off means you pass, then?”

The man’s eyes went round, and his jubilation intensified.

“I’m very grateful to you for such praise. My sword... my life was not spent in vain, after all. At the end, I still managed to make some progress towards the peak!”

That was not praise, however.

Shalltear was just mocking him.

However, she could tell that his feelings were honest. In other words, the man was truly rejoicing about being able to clip a fingernail.

Did he have a few screws loose? Come to think of it, he had spouted a pack of rubbish when they had first met. All in all, it made her feel uneasy, so she had better kill him quickly.

With that in mind, Shalltear stepped forward and—

—And Demiurge’s call to battle came through.

Shalltear knew what that meant. Despite herself, she looked over to the distance, but she could not sense a presence.

“Is that the effect of the Master’s ring?”

One of the rings that Ainz wore would completely conceal him from all kinds of divination-type magic. It was normally issued to all the guardians, but it could also erase the presence of the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

With a sense of regret for not being able to sense her master, Shalltear turned her head back, and found that the human with a screw loose in his head had vanished.

Ah! I completely forgot about that strange fellow!

After a quick look around, Shalltear discovered that the man had turned his back to her and was busy jumping down into an alley. He must have made his move while she was distracted.

There’s no way a mere mortal could escape unscathed from me.

If she used magic to slow down the flow of time, she could catch up to him before he even hit the ground. Without hesitation, Shalltear cast her spell.

“[Time Accelerator]!”

The world felt thick and viscous around Shalltear as she moved through it at incredible speeds, heading towards the place the man would land. As she descended, she observed his posture as he leapt down with glacial slowness. Although she could not harm him directly while the spell was in effect, she could still set up an ambush and make other preparations.