Chapter 411: 389 Please help me out
The Nasalik Underground Tomb’s tenth floor, Throne Hall.
A day had passed, and Ainz once again took his seat here, but the crowd of NPCs and servants that once gathered was no longer present.
Apart from Ainz, only Albedo and Demiurge remained in the room, with the rest having been dispatched to various floors, busy with post-battle arrangements.
At the moment, Ainz was checking the losses of the Nasalik Underground Tomb in this battle through the guild system, while listening to Albedo’s report on the settlements.
"Currently, based on preliminary estimates, the losses for Nasalik in this battle are generally as follows."
"For the first, second, and third floors of the underground tomb zones, apart from Shalltear Bloodfallen who is the Guardian, all other deployed forces were annihilated, with no survivors."
"On the fourth floor’s subterranean lake zone, Guardian Kagandoya was unscathed, with no consumption, no anomalies, but most of the deployed forces were killed in the process of resisting Reiger Brillhaut, save for a very small handful."
"The fifth floor’s ice plains zone did not have its environmental effects impacted, the defense mechanisms were destroyed, Guardian Cocytus, after dying in battle, was successfully revived, but the ice-elemental creatures under his command suffered very heavy casualties, including several level 85 Yuki-Onnas, all burned to ash by flames of abnormal heat."
"On the sixth floor’s dense forest zone, all magical beasts sent to confront Reiger Brillhaut were slain, Aura and Mare died once, and several magic beasts over level 80 under Aura’s command were also slain. Mare’s pair of paid-for manufactured dragons were not spared either. Even most of the golems set up in the arena were destroyed, with only a few that could still be repaired."
"The seventh floor’s lava zone suffered losses second only to the first through third floors. Not only was the terrain altered, but the Domain Guardians such as the Envy Demon General, Wrath Demon General, Greed Demon General, and the Nai Luo Dominator were killed. Of the only seven from the Twelve Palace Demons, five also perished. The strongest amongst them, Crimson Lotus, who surpassed some floor guardians in power, was killed; all the deployed demons and undead were also defeated. Even Demiurge, who was the commander, had perished in battle, marking a heavy loss."
Hearing Albedo’s words, Demiurge beside her showed an expression of shame.
Ainz, on the other hand, had no reaction.
Because he knew the real heavy losses were yet to come.
"Finally, as the Nasalik Underground Tomb’s last line of defense, the eighth floor."
With the heaviest voice, Albedo reported to Ainz.
"Nearly two months of intense, large-scale battles caused most defensive and offensive mechanisms in the eighth floor to halt, more than half of the realms were destroyed, and the level 85 psychic-type creatures, Wood Spirits and Earth Spirits, deployed there died. Lubedo also perished three times, and ’those’ created at great cost by the Supreme Sovereigns perished several times, although they all revived in the end. However, the resources needed to initiate the eighth floor, as well as reviving Lubedo and other strongest forces, consumed more than the Guardians, which saw nearly half of Nasalik’s accumulated resources lost."
"Additionally, the damage to the realms on various floors, the defensive mechanisms and magic traps that collapsed and cannot be restarted, the automated emergence of special magic creatures—all of these point to a need for replenishment and restoring the lost combat strength, which will further increase the consumption of resources, approximately taking about twenty percent of the stockpile."
"Considering possible future second attacks, it would be best to reinforce and enhance the defensive mechanisms and combat reserves of Nasalik Underground Tomb, which again would consume a portion of savings."
"To sum up, after the assessment, the losses incurred by Nasalik Underground Tomb in this incident will lead to the evaporation of nearly seventy percent of its savings, maybe even more."
Having said that, even Albedo’s own heart trembled.
Nearly seventy percent loss!
This was the accumulation of resources by the once top-three ranked, super Alien Species Guild ’Ainz Ooal Gown’ in YGGDRASIL from the beginning to the present.
The uses of these resources were significant: they could be used to create high-level monsters on a pay-to-summon basis, to resurrect high-level NPC characters who died, to initiate defensive and offensive systems including those on the eighth floor, and also to create magic items, magic potions, and special items with a variety of effects.
In essence, these resources were the foundation of the Nasalik Underground Tomb’s existence—the treasury, the treasure house, the most important grain reserves.
If a guild were to consume all its resources, the day of its demise wouldn’t be far off. Players themselves might not be able to resurrect after death, completely perishing with no chance of return.
If the resources were still available, no matter how many times one died or was obliterated, there would still be an opportunity for revival.
Once resources ran low, even revival wouldn’t be possible.
Therefore, resources are extremely important to the Nasalik Underground Tomb, more vital than the lives of all the Guardians who serve Ainz.
If a Guardian’s life is lost, it can be revived with existing resources.
But without resources, including the Guardians, the NPCs are done for.
Such vital accumulations, today, Nasalik Underground Tomb would lose a full seventy percent, which was even harder to bear than killing Albedo herself.
Of course, Ainz felt the same way.
However, whether due to being forcibly calm or being mentally prepared in advance, Ainz surprisingly didn’t show too much emotional fluctuation.
He even had the capacity to put aside these issues and turned to Demiurge.
"The state of affairs inside Nasalik Underground Tomb has been confirmed. What about the situation outside?"
At Ainz’s question, Demiurge hurriedly responded.
"The outside situation is equally chaotic, but this is undoubtedly good news for us,"
Demiurge said.
"With the assistance of the Golden Princess, the royal family and nobles of the Re·Yestijie Kingdom have already pinned the responsibility for this incident on the Slane Theocracy. They are preparing to send emissaries there to demand an explanation. Judging by their attitude, the possibility of declaring war outright is not nonexistent, as long as those nobles are not foolish enough to shift the blame on one another in the capital for this incident, seizing the opportunity to oppose the royal family and plunging into infighting once more."
"There was a bit of an unexpected development from the Slane Theocracy’s side because of ’Absolute Deathantilene Heran Fouche’s’ unexpected survival. They learned of our existence from him and realized that something was amiss. However, with the near annihilation of the Black Scripture, and those members either dead by the hand of Gejiev Storunov or slain by adventurers and other large groups, their equipment confiscated, and stuffed into the greedy pockets of foolish nobles and avaricious adventurers, it is said that the head priest of the Slane Theocracy has lost his sanity and is preparing for revenge."
"As for the Empire, due to Aura and Mare’s secret manipulations, the Empire’s chief magician, an old man known as the strongest human Magic Singer capable of using sixth-tier magic, has already submitted to us in Nasalik. With his assistance, there is a very good chance that the Emperor of the Empire, who places great trust in him, could become involved."
"The atmosphere for a large-scale war to erupt among the three nations is already spreading. I believe our plan will be successfully enacted before long."
Demiurge’s reports, were undoubtedly a silver lining in a cloud of bad news, providing Ainz a bit of comfort.
Thus, Ainz issued the instructions he had already considered beforehand.
"Since that’s the case, let’s revise the plan a bit. The final aim of the plan remains to probe the depths of the Theocracy, but in the process, we must shift the emphasis somewhat and find a way to make a profit from this disaster, extracting resources sufficient to cover the losses Nasalik has suffered this time."
"Our final target remains the Slane Theocracy, but for the sake of Nasalik, even if it may cause the plan to be delayed, we must first find a way to fill the losses."
"When necessary, if there’s an opportunity to obtain resources as valuable as the seven-colored ore, like Shalltear did last time, it’s not out of the question to abandon the plan."
"After all, we are the undying, the alien species with longer lifespans than humans, so there’s no need to rush."
"For the foreseeable future, we need to lie low, and avoid encountering powerful enemies during this period, understand?"
Albedo and Demiurge knelt on one knee in response to Ainz’s instructions.
"Yes, Lord Ainz."
The two lowered their heads in acknowledgment.
"Good."
Ainz nodded, his mood finally easing somewhat.
However, it was at that moment...
"L-Lord Ainz!"
Shalltear’s voice, sounding panicked, suddenly filled Ainz’s mind.
"What’s wrong, Shalltear?"
Ainz sat up straight.
He then heard the terrible news.
"That, that monster has come again!"
......
The Nasalik Underground Tomb, surface cemetery.
When Ainz arrived there with a large force in a hurry, Reiger had just landed from mid-air.
"Yo, good to see you again, Lord Momonga."
Reiger greeted with a smile, as if he were just visiting.
Unfortunately, Ainz was not in such good spirits.
"What are you doing here, Reiger Brillhaut!" Ainz shouted somewhat defensively: "We’ve already agreed to a ceasefire, haven’t we? Have you changed your mind?"
Reiger, of course, shook his head in denial in response to this question.
"Not at all," Reiger said, revealing a smile that sent chills down Ainz’s spine, "It’s just that my strength has increased a little and I’m not quite used to it, so I was hoping you could help me out."
"Help you?" Ainz suddenly had a bad premonition.
"Yes," said Reiger calmly: "Could you open the eighth floor one more time and let Lubedo and the others play with me?"
"It won’t need to be too long, just about ten days or so?"
"Would that be alright?"
Hearing this, Ainz’s vision darkened, and he fainted on the spot.