Chapter 392: 370 Decided to go to war?
The way of addressing in this world is the same as in Earth Mistake World and the Akasha continent, with the first name followed by the last name, not vice versa.
Therefore, in these worlds, where people are not very familiar with each other and have no close relationships, they usually use the last name followed by a title to address someone, rather than calling them by their first name directly.
Gejiev, Brian, and everyone in "Brilliant" addressed Reiger by the last name "Brilliant," and others did the same to show respect.
In this world, the only person who would address Reiger by his first name was Ainz, who came from the present world, originally a person from the island nation, and still retained the habit of putting the last name first when he first arrived in this world.
Given that, there was no need to think about who the visitor was anymore.
It was none other than the ruler of the Nasalik Underground Tomb, Ainz Ooal Gown.
"It has indeed been a long time, Lord Reiger."
Ainz, who had spoken, appeared behind Reiger at some unknown time, hovering in front of Reiger, who was slowly turning around.
Unlike before when he disguised himself as a warrior, clad in airtight full-body armor, he had returned to his true form, a white skeleton with red pupils, the ruler of death.
He was clad in a gorgeous black cloak, holding a golden staff adorned with numerous precious gems; each of the ten bony fingers was adorned with rings of different colors and designs, and his body lacked skin, muscles, blood vessels, nerves, and internal organs, consisting only of bones.
This was Ainz’s true face in this world, as well as his fully armed appearance.
All the magic items and equipment on him, whether the cloak or the rings, were unquestionably Divine Artifacts, glamorous to the extreme.
Several figures appeared around such an Ainz.
The first was Shalltear, standing to the left of Ainz, still equipped in bright red full-body armor and a tubular spear, staring at Reiger with murderous eyes.
Then, beside Ainz to the right, was Demiurge, with his winged membranous wings spread, his frog-like face revealing a demonic posture.
Albedo and Cocytus were also there; one clad in pitch-black full-body armor wielding an ominous giant axe, and the other radiating coldness, holding a silver halberd, standing like guardians in front of Ainz, protecting him.
With these four Guardians, Ainz made a striking entrance, causing Absolute Death’s pupils to shrink sharply and his mind to tremble violently.
It was inevitable.
In Absolute Death’s senses, these beings before him, undoubtedly not human but creature-like, all exuded an aura so terrifying without exception.
Each aura was no inferior to Shalltear.
Each one was superior to himself.
"How, how is this possible?"
Fear filled the heart of Absolute Death.
To exceed his own, such terrifying creature-like beings akin to that vampire—so many of them appeared here all at once?
Moreover, looking at their appearance, they seemed to be in league together?
This was a truly despair-inducing hellish scene.
Even Reiger narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling the heavy atmosphere as the four Guardians released their aura and killing intent, completely locking him down, his heart also pervaded by a sense of heaviness.
However, this pressure, this scene, made the corners of Reiger’s mouth lift slightly.
"Not too long, just about two months, right?" Reiger eyed Ainz, ignoring the Guardians, and said, "I hadn’t expected that we would meet again under such circumstances, Dark Warrior Lord."
The somewhat mocking address seemed to elicit a bitter smile from Ainz.
"Call me Ainz. Haven’t you known my real name for a while now?"
These meaningful words did not change Reiger’s expression.
Instead, it was Reiger’s next remark that made Ainz’s expression involuntarily change.
"As far as I know, that is not your real name either; am I mistaken?"
These indifferent words caused the red light in the hollow sockets of Ainz’s eyes to flicker several times.
"It seems you know much more than I had imagined," Ainz looked deeply at Reiger and said, "Lord Reiger, I’m increasingly curious about your origins."
"That’s not important," Reiger responded to Ainz’s meaningful gaze with some indifference, "what’s important is, by bringing the Guardians here like this, can I take it that you have finally decided to go to war with me?"
These words not only caused Absolute Death’s heart to throb but also made the surrounding air grow even heavier.
Despite being surrounded by a group of monsters, Reiger was still able to make such a confrontational statement calmly and composedly, a sight that inadvertently made others feel admiration.
At the very least, that was the case with Absolute Death.
She was now in such a state that she couldn’t even utter a single word and was using all her might to suppress the urge to flee. Reiger, however, was able to face such terrifying monsters with such ease. If it weren’t for the inappropriate circumstances, Absolute Death felt that she might have even praised Reiger a few times or even developed a bit of admiration for him.
Unfortunately, her entire heart was filled with fear, leaving no extra capacity for such thoughts.
Luckily for her, Ainz’s eyes were not on her but on Reiger.
"That is what I should be saying, Sir Reiger," said Ainz.
Ainz stood against the wind, his robe fluttering in the breeze, emitting a pitch-black Spiritual Energy from his body that could instantly kill an ordinary person.
That was one of Ainz’s special abilities, capable of exerting a terror effect on external objects while simultaneously reducing their abilities— "Despair Spirit Energy."
If faced with Ainz when he activated "Despair Spirit Energy," individuals of insufficient level or without corresponding resistance could even trigger an instant death effect and die on the spot.
After being enhanced by the scepter held in Ainz’s hands, this ability could even affect NPCs who were at the highest level of 100.
Consequently, except for Reiger, everyone present felt an almost suffocating terror, especially Absolute Death, who almost let out a scream of collapse.
The only person who could truly face this ability was probably only Reiger.
He was the only one among everyone present who could completely ignore the effects of "Despair Spirit Energy."
Reiger, who could be immune to mental interference, could completely ignore the terror effect brought by "Despair Spirit Energy."
Reiger, who could be immune to physical interference, could also completely ignore the ability-reducing effect of "Despair Spirit Energy."
As for the instant death effect, given Reiger’s current level, it was impossible to trigger this effect from "Despair Spirit Energy."
Thus, for Reiger, Ainz who had activated "Despair Spirit Energy" was merely adding a special effect on himself, without any other impact.
Ainz, not knowing this, emitted a cold voice.
"In this operation, I believe you have already noticed that it involved the handiwork of Nasalik Underground Tomb," Ainz said very calmly. "According to my investigation, although your origin is still unclear, you are not a citizen of any of the three human nations—the Kingdom, the Holy Nation, or the Empire."
"That is to say, you have absolutely no connection with the Kingdom, the Holy Nation, or the Empire."
"Given this, why did you choose this time to intrude into Shalltear’s stronghold and launch an attack on her? Why did you obstruct us?"
"If anything, it should be you who decided to start a war, right?"
Although Ainz’s remarks sounded like accusations, Reiger always felt that he was testing him, probing his motives to conjecture his origins.
Unfortunately, Ainz was bound to be disappointed.
"Before I answer that question, let me ask you this," Reiger said indifferently. "With all the extensive arrangements you made like this, what is really your purpose?"
This question intensified the red glow in Ainz’s eyes.
This operation, as Reiger had guessed, initially began because Ainz wanted to enact vengeance on the Holy Nation.
The Holy Nation had overstepped his bottom line by desecrating the precious children left by his companions, a transgression Ainz could not tolerate under any circumstances.
It could be said that from the moment the Holy Nation used a world-class item on Shalltear, causing her to suffer mental domination, Ainz had resolved to fight them to the death.
But the Holy Nation was founded by six gods who, like him, were players. Since they had left behind a world-class item, there might truly be something as Reiger said, a trump card that could be activated in critical times. If he attacked rashly, Nasalik might inevitably face unnecessary threats, leading to significant losses.
Of course, Ainz did not want to see Nasalik suffer losses.
Therefore, Ainz devised an operation plan, which involved sending Shalltear, the victim, on a mission of vengeance without revealing the existence of Nasalik, to attack the human cities of the Holy Nation.
This was to gauge the reaction of the Holy Nation and, secondly, to draw out the most powerful special intelligence unit of the Holy Nation, the Black Scripture, which had previously used the world-class item on Shalltear.
In other words, Shalltear was the bait sent out by Ainz as the first step in a series of operations against the Holy Nation.
The result was successful. The Black Scripture mobilized, and the Holy Nation, as mentioned in the intelligence, being a human-centric nation filled with hatred and hostility towards demihumans and aliens, would not sit by and allow their territory to be violated by aliens, especially when the vampire who had been reported by the Black Scripture for her terrifying power appeared before them. They did not hesitate to send out their strongest, "Absolute Death," and equipped her with the divine artifact of the six gods, ready to annihilate Shalltear, a formidable enemy, in one fell swoop.
However, the opposing side did not use another world-class item or activate any other means, which still made Ainz somewhat wary.
At this moment, Albedo and Demiurge jointly made a suggestion to Ainz.
"Why not take this opportunity to steer the conflict toward the Kingdom, making the two countries stand against each other to further probe what measures the Holy Nation might take?"
This suggestion transformed the situation into its current state.