"Dee Gwols. That legendary Baharuth Empire is right here."
Ainz fell silent.
Higashino Makoto could sense his shock, though the skull face showed no expression.
The doll continued walking forward. Something was moving among the ruins on both sides of the street.
That's a monster--
Earth element.
They rose from the ruins, their bodies made of yellow sand and rubble, their eyes a deep yellow that gleamed with a dim light.
Through Huginn's intelligence magic, I roughly understood the levels of the earth element.
The level isn't high, around level 30, but there are many of them.
They didn't attack the doll; they just stood there, as if observing or waiting.
The puppet bypassed them and continued deeper.
The closer you go to the center, the higher the level of the earth element.
Level 40, Level 50, Level 60...
Upon reaching the city's central area, earth elements of level 70 or higher had already appeared.
They are larger, more solid, and have a metallic sheen on their surface.
Not just earth elementals. There are also undead.
Skeletons, zombies, ghosts—all sorts of undead roam the ruins.
Their levels also increase as you go deeper, ranging from a dozen or so to sixty or seventy.
Unlike earth elements, the undead react more violently to invaders.
When the dolls pass by, they turn their heads and stare at it with their empty eye sockets.
Perhaps because the dolls are not living beings, they did not attack them.
They just watched, as if judging something.
The puppet continued walking forward.
In the heart of the city stands a magnificent palace.
No, it's not a palace.
It was a fortress.
A fortress made of sand that has stood for thousands of years against storms.
Its walls are not made of stone, but pure sand. But that sand is bound together by some force, as hard as steel and as smooth as a mirror.
The walls were covered with runes, densely packed, stretching from the foundation to the top.
The runes shimmered with a dim light against the deep purple sky, and with each shimmer, an invisible force emanated from the fortress.
The entrance to the fortress was a huge archway, through which it was pitch black and nothing could be seen.
The puppet walked up to the archway and stopped.
Higashino Makoto hesitated for a moment.
He could sense that there was something inside the fortress.
Something powerful, dangerous, something that instinctively put him on alert.
"Let's go in and take a look."
Ainz's voice rang in my ears.
Higashino Makoto took a deep breath and controlled the puppet to step into the archway.
Darkness swallowed up my vision.
It wasn't ordinary darkness, but a deeper kind of darkness, one that seemed capable of swallowing all light.
Higashino Makoto attempted to have the doll unleash illumination magic, but the magic was crushed by some force as soon as it took shape.
Then, he saw the light.
It wasn't illumination magic, but rather a dim light emanating from the runes on the walls, inherent to the fortress itself.
The runes shimmered in the darkness, like stars or eyes.
The puppet continued walking forward.
The corridor was long, with tall pillars on both sides, and ancient murals were carved on the pillars.
War, sacrifice, death, rebirth.
It is identical to those in the ruins, but more refined and complete.
At the end of the corridor stood a massive stone door. A tree was carved into its surface.
World Tree.
The tree has a thick trunk, lush branches and leaves, and roots that are deeply embedded in the earth.
One of the scorched yellow leaves fell and transformed into a vast desert.
Higashino Makoto's pupils contracted slightly.
This pattern is exactly the same as the Seed of the World Tree he brought back from the ruins.
The puppet reached out and pushed open the stone door.
Inside the door was a huge circular hall.
In the center of the hall, there was a stone platform, and in the center of the platform, there was an earthen-yellow scepter.
The Sand Scepter?
Higashino Makoto's heart started racing.
He could sense that this was what he was looking for.
World Item, a legendary artifact capable of manipulating the desert, triggering sandstorms, and even altering the terrain.
Then, the doll's body broke into several pieces.
It's caused by a change in the space itself.
Subsequently, it seemed to be eroded by time and yellow sand.
Rust, decay, riddled with holes, it eventually turned into a pile of yellow earth.
Unfortunately, neither Higashino Makoto nor Ainz saw it, as their vision was completely cut off when the doll broke into pieces.
Higashino Makoto opened his eyes, a hint of seriousness flashing in his golden eyes.
"The doll has been destroyed."
He said this in a calm voice, but his fingers tightened slightly at his sides.
"That's the Sand Scepter?"
Although Ainz was asking questions, judging from the layout, it was almost impossible for him to make a mistake.
"I think so, the Sand Scepter."
Higashino Makoto paused.
"But the palace itself has some kind of defense mechanism. It could be magic, a trap, or even spatial manipulation."
Ainz's crimson eyes flickered.
"Spatial magic? Like 'Reality Slash' or the World Champion's 'Space Slash'?"
"Probably, that kind of silent attack..."
Higashino Makoto paused for a moment.
"It seems we need to prepare appropriate strategies if we want to conquer this dungeon. I'm fine, Ainz, what about you?"
The wind and sand howled around them, and lightning flashed in the sky, but the two simply stood there, gazing at the towering Tatsumaki.
"Sure, but how do we handle the distribution of World Item?"
Ainz finally asked.
After thinking about it, Higashino Makoto admitted he was a little regretful.
I shouldn't have told Ainz in the first place.
Although he had been monitoring the area, he could always evade detection through magic.
The result of acting on a whim was that the distribution of World Item suddenly became a problem.
Fortunately, the previous divination gave him confidence!
Everything went smoothly; I should be able to obtain the treasure inside.
Moreover, to be honest, although it sounded nice at the time, I wasn't really sure that the Sand Scepter actually existed there.
After thinking for a moment, Higashino Makoto took out a die from his backpack—the game item "Absolutely Fair Dice."
"We'll determine who goes first by rolling dice. The winner gets an hour to explore the maze alone, supervised by Tingyun and Nabe. Whoever gets it keeps it, but of course, no attacking each other. If you encounter trouble, you can ask the other side for help, but that will be considered as giving up the Sand Scepter."
"The party that doesn't obtain the Sand Scepter needs to give the other party 100 million game coins, how about it?"
After thinking it over, Ainz, not wanting to antagonize Higashino Makoto, agreed to his plan.
Okay, no problem.
Returning to where Tingyun and Nabe were, the two took turns throwing the dice.
"5""6""5"
At 4 PM, looking at the score he had cast, Higashino Makoto felt fairly satisfied.
Next up is Ainz.
"6""6""5"
The fact that his score was just a little higher than his own made Higashino Makoto's face darken.
Didn't we agree that everything would go smoothly?
I need to have my license checked!
Just kidding. After all, I came up with the rules myself, and I even prepared the dice. I couldn't possibly cheat.