A Godsend

Under Nigun's command, his subordinates began summoning angels one after another. The number of angels, which had been whittled down to just one by Gazef Stronoff's blade, was now replenished.

At the same time, countless weakening spells were launched, all aimed at Gazef Stronoff.

"So this is magic. Can everything really be accomplished through magic? Damn it!"

Gazef Stronoff braced himself with his sword planted in the ground. His men had suffered heavy casualties. He had hoped to kill the enemy commander to give his subordinates a chance to escape, but it seemed that would not be possible.

He had reached his limit, yet the enemy showed no signs of exhaustion.

"Farewell, Lord Stronoff," Nigun said softly. If he set aside their opposing stances, he respected a man like Gazef Stronoff.

Not everyone was single-mindedly loyal to their country; even in the Theocracy, there were scoundrels. For instance, the disguised soldiers who had acted as bait to lure the Warrior Captain out and then slaughtered the border village—especially their captain, Belius.

Belius was a wealthy asset holder in the Theocracy who had joined the unit only to gild his reputation. His personality was selfish and vile, which was precisely why the Theocracy had chosen him for this task.

In fact, most of these Theocracy soldiers disguised as Imperial troops were individuals with checkered pasts. A unit composed of such people was best suited for performing such dirty work.

If they died during the mission or were exposed, the Theocracy could completely wash its hands of the responsibility without feeling any moral burden.

After all, these men were not good people. They had climbed the ranks at home through connections and money. Such parasites could not be entirely eradicated, so whenever dirty work needed to be done, the Theocracy would temporarily group them together for the operation.

Just as in this instance, Nigun was well aware of these men's backgrounds. Although he longed to execute these scoundrels who threw their weight around in the Theocracy, he had to obey the Theocracy's arrangements.

No matter how much he admired Gazef Stronoff's loyalty to his country, their positions differed, and what had to be done must be done.

Just as Nigun closed his eyes, preparing to wait for the angels summoned by his subordinates to deliver the final blow to Gazef Stronoff, he heard gasps of astonishment from those around him.

Nigun hurriedly opened his eyes to look. He saw that Gazef Stronoff had vanished, and in his place stood a figure in a magnificent jet-black robe wearing a mask, along with another individual clad in pitch-black armor and wielding a long axe.

Judging by their attire, these were by no means cheap, mass-produced goods; one could tell just by looking that they were top-tier magical items.

Nigun pondered. Gazef Stronoff, who had been pushed to the brink, was gone, and these two mysterious figures had appeared in his stead. It was likely some form of teleportation magic, though he could not identify the specific spell based on the situation.

He recalled that Gazef Stronoff had mentioned during the battle that the villagers were protected by a powerful magic caster. He had not taken it seriously at the time, but it seemed it was true.

Although Nigun loathed those disguised soldiers, that did not stop him from intending to slaughter everyone in the village once he had finished off Gazef Stronoff.

It was for the sake of secrecy; it was an unavoidable necessity. On the path to pioneering humanity's future, some sacrifices were always required.

"Greetings, members of the Slane Theocracy. My name is Ainz Ooal Gown. It would be my honor if you would kindly address me as Ainz."

Although there was some distance between them, the wind carried Momonga's words across.

Nigun watched Ainz in silence, offering no response. He was observing the opponent's actions and gauging their strength.

Momonga did not mind and continued, "The one behind me is named Albedo. I would like to make a trade with you all. Might I trouble you for a moment of your time?"

"..."

"Boring."

Hades spoke the word softly. Momonga had remained stationary in that house, so he slightly reduced the magnification of his monocular telescope. This allowed him to keep the war between the natives outside the village in view without losing sight of Momonga.

His "boredom" was a critique of the war between the natives. Compared to battles between level 100 players, where tenth-tier or super-tier magic was thrown around, a fight involving at most third-tier magic was truly dull. He felt he might have overestimated these people.

Although he could not hear any sound, he could glean much information just by watching. For instance, the natives—judging by their attire, they were likely an army; only an army would have such uniform equipment.

Combining this with what Enri's father had said about this being the border of Re-Estize, he could conclude that this was a skirmish between two nations.

Judging by the size of these two units, they were likely not elite troops; one of the groups didn't even have uniform armor.

Therefore, it was likely a minor border conflict. If such a group was not an elite unit, then third-tier magic was the baseline for the strength of a national army.

Following this logic, the elite forces of a nation could likely cast sixth or seventh-tier magic—meaning they were around level forty or so.

However, generally speaking, military strength could not be considered outstanding, as the most important requirement for an army was obedience to orders, not individual quality.

"Hmm..."

In other words, there might be people in this world capable of using super-tier magic—individuals above level seventy, or perhaps even level one hundred characters.

Hades felt a temporary sense of relief at this conclusion. At least the overall level of this world did not exceed his understanding, and they used tier magic as well.

"Huh! Oh..."

Hades suddenly felt a jolt of tension, but he relaxed shortly after. He saw Momonga vanish from the house. Since he had seen no signs of magic being cast, he assumed Momonga had used some special item to return to Nazarick.

But then, he saw the burly man who was about to be executed disappear, replaced by Momonga and Albedo.

Hades immediately understood. Momonga had used a Swap Doll. It was a microtransaction item in YGGDRASIL. Although it was a paid item, it was a consolation prize from a 500-yen lottery that allowed for individual or group teleportation.

Its typical use was during guild wars, where scouts would drop it in the enemy camp to launch a surprise attack. However, because there were many ways to counter it and the item had certain limitations, it was not very practical.

"Is this guy planning to bully children..."

Hades watched Momonga's actions and found it amusing. The man was actually going to fight those natives.

Excellent. He had been worried that if he were detected prematurely and forced to fly to a distance beyond the naked eye, his attempt at a one-hit kill would fail, leading to an extended battle.

Since Momonga had now attracted the attention of the natives, he could move a bit closer, thereby increasing the probability of a one-hit kill.