"Sister, Lord Ainz."
"The place I'm in is very strange. There's no air, so I can only speak using magic."
"I saw a Dragon. It's even bigger than the Eight Dragons World Boss."
"Its mana is overflowing. It has more than-even more than Lord Ainz."
"I tried to escape with teleportation, but I couldn't."
"A dimensional anchor has sealed this place off. It's like a natural barrier."
"I'll test the Dragon's strength for everyone."
Mare usually dressed as a girl and looked timid and weak, often hiding behind the others whenever something happened, creating an endearing contrast.
But he was undoubtedly one of the most representative embodiments of evil in the Great Tomb of Nazarick.
Mare meant "sea" in Italian, and its use as his name foreshadowed his unfathomably deep malice.
Aura was afraid of dragging people over to Kyouhukou, whereas Mare only pretended to be timid. Deep down, he was never afraid.
He had more courage than Aura when facing this terrifying Dragon.
The Space Dragon sensed that this little creature possessed a certain amount of power and questioned him twice.
But Mare only hurriedly relayed his information.
He was incredibly grateful that he and his sister wore a matching pair of legacy-class items, rated at levels 51-60-the Silver Acorn Pendants.
His sister's was gold, while his was silver.
The item wasn't powerful, and it had to be held in the hand to be used.
Its advantage was that it cost nothing to use and allowed them to chat anytime, anywhere.
Only today had Mare discovered by chance that it could transmit information even in such a bizarre place.
"Mare, Mare!"
"Where are you?"
"We'll teleport over to help you right away!"
Aura called out urgently, losing some of her usual composure.
But Mare didn't reply.
First, he cast Triple Maximize Magic: Magic Shield to give himself the greatest possible defense. Then he cast the Tenth-Tier Magic most likely to stop the Dragon.
Maximize Magic: Nature's Shelter!
He pushed the Shadow of the World Tree in his hand to its full power.
Before the Space Dragon, a massive fortress rose from the ground, enclosing Mare within its protection.
Just as the Bone King could construct a fortress with a single spell.
The Nature's Shelter Mare had now constructed could withstand at least two blasts of Super-Tier Magic.
"A paltry trick."
The Space Dragon was rather annoyed that this little creature refused to answer its questions, so it breathed out once.
Dragon's Breath.
The Dragon's breath struck Nature's Shelter head-on like a high-energy particle cannon!
The shelter, which could withstand Super-Tier Magic, crumbled in an instant.
The triple magic shields around Mare shattered along with it.
Shockingly, the Dragon's breath had only dismantled Mare's defenses without leaving a single wound on him.
"Eve, how's the situation?"
After laying his plans, Roy had been eagerly waiting for the Great Tomb of Nazarick to bring them valuable information.
Now that the two sides had entered battle, he could finally grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.
Come on, I want to see rivers of blood!
Roy became a bloodthirsty spectator, activating the All-Seeing Eye to observe the battlefield.
With Mare providing cover, Roy could monitor the Dragon through the peripheral vision of the All-Seeing Eye without being discovered.
Eve calculated the crucial information from the images.
"Supreme One, the Dragon's breath was equivalent to two casts of Super-Tier Magic, [Fallen Sky]. That's how it destroyed [Nature's Shelter] so easily."
"What's even more terrifying is that it merely expelled a magic particle stream. It didn't use any magic."
It was a pure stat monster.
So strong it was sickening.
Just like Pandora playing the adventurer Momon, who had killed a War Troll with nothing but basic attacks.
Mare raised the divine-class item [Shadow of the World Tree] and shouted at the Dragon:
"Long live Ainz Ooal Gown!"
"Lord Ainz Ooal Gown, the Supreme Being who leads us, will destroy you!"
A second later, every last drop of Mare's mana was drained away.
He wanted to uncover one final piece of information for Lord Ainz.
Mare possessed an exceptionally unusual class: [Disciple of Disaster].
It was a downgraded version of [World Calamity], a class in Yggdrasil with extraordinarily powerful damage output.
World Calamity possessed [Great Catastrophe], the most destructive individual skill in the game.
This skill required 60% of the user's maximum MP to cast, and its power far surpassed Super-Tier Magic.
It was known as the game's strongest offensive skill.
Mare's [Disciple of Disaster], meanwhile, possessed a weakened version of that killing move, called [Petit-Catastrophe].
Though less powerful than Great Catastrophe, it still surpassed Ainz's greatest damage output.
In the original story, Petit-Catastrophe had the embarrassing record of failing to kill [Certain Death] in one hit.
But it was still Mare's strongest killing move, the only attack with any hope of harming the Dragon.
The Space Dragon watched the little creature struggle frantically.
It neither interrupted him nor chose to defend itself. It simply watched Mare in silence, as though a mosquito were buzzing around.
What harm could there be in taking one attack from you head-on?
A tremendous wave of energy, born of the curse of the world's destruction, struck the Dragon directly.
Petit-Catastrophe's area of effect could be large or small. To test the Dragon's strength and weaknesses as thoroughly as possible, Mare pushed the attack's power to its absolute limit.
His mana was drained dry, and he could barely remain standing.
BOOM!
A tremendous explosion rang out, shaking even the ground.
Did it work?
Mare's eyes widened.
The Dragon shook its body a little. It seemed to have merely gathered a bit more dust.
Then it watched Mare in silence.
Little fellow, do you have any other tricks?
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
Even when 1,500 level-100 players had besieged the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Mare had never worn such a despairing expression.
No matter how hard he tried to imagine it, he couldn't conceive of a way to defeat this Dragon.
"Lord Ainz, Petit-Catastrophe had no effect on the Dragon."
"It looks completely unharmed. It's a true World Boss. You must use a World Item..."
Mare desperately tried to relay all the information to the Bone King.
But it was too late.
The Dragon unleashed its Dragon Breath.
Powerful magical particles gushed forth like a beam of high-energy blue plasma, searing Mare directly.
"AAAAH!!!!"
His agonized scream traveled through the Silver Acorn Pendant to Aura's ears, nearly breaking her heart.
A moment ago, they had tortured ordinary adventurers to death. Now it was Mare's turn to be tortured to death by a Dragon.
This moment was just like that one.
The Dragon-Scale Light Armor on Mare's body shattered, and his cloak fell apart.
Cook him almost all the way through.
The Dragon rarely ate, but now it had spotted a decent high-energy creature.
Then I'll roast him and eat him.
The Dragon carefully controlled its power, roasting its prey with its Dragon Breath until Mare was almost cooked through.
It opened its mouth and bit down.
Huh?
Mare died on the spot, but unlike other creatures, he left no remains.
His corpse vanished without a trace.
All that remained were a scorched Silver Acorn Pendant and the magic staff [Shadow of the World Tree].
The Dragon seemed to realize something and released another Dragon Breath.
This breath lasted a very long time.
Roy put away the All-Seeing Eye once more.
His goal was achieved.
Before you continue