Unlike Aura, Mare, and the others, Demiurge possessed the qualities of a battlefield commander.
He adopted a three-stage strategy for the rescue operation.
In the first wave, the Eight-Edge Assassin Bug would turn invisible and infiltrate the underground palace.
Meanwhile, Hanzo would become a shadow and merge into the Eight-Edge Assassin Bug's shadow.
Even if the Eight-Edge Assassin Bug failed, Hanzo could relay vital intelligence or kill the enemy instead.
The second wave would begin after Hanzo completed his hunt and dismantled most of the enemy's main force. The adventurers Momon and Narberal would then carry out the rescue operation and save Nfirea.
As for the third wave, Bone King and the Guardians would assemble their forces, ready at any moment to face a True Dragon Lord-or even the Divine Dragon.
Once the Divine Dragon appeared, they would abandon the entire operation and retreat immediately.
The battle maids would serve as lookouts and bait.
The enemy might notice and attack them, alerting the Guardians and allowing them to devise targeted strategies.
Shalltear had yet to reveal her idiotic side, so Demiurge regarded her as a core combat asset and stationed her near the battle maids.
If the maids came under attack, Shalltear, the strongest combatant in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, would have to enter the fray immediately.
Cocytus, Sebas, and the others would concentrate their forces in preparation for the enemy's main army.
Demiurge's attack plan could be called exceptionally thorough.
Even Roy and Eve would have found it quite reasonable to make such choices in his position.
The Great Tomb of Nazarick had one fatal weakness: it lacked an intelligence-gathering World Item.
The All-Seeing Eye and Laplace's Demon allowed World City to obtain comprehensive intelligence on their opponents.
Even though Bone King and Albedo carried World Items, preventing Roy's side from gathering information about them.
Their arrival could still be confirmed.
Intelligence was the lifeline of battle, and the Great Tomb of Nazarick's lifeline was firmly in the enemy's grasp.
Before Laplace's Demon, the Eight-Edge Assassin Bug and Hanzo's concealment might as well not have existed.
Roy entrusted the task to Eve because she had enough processing speed to compile and organize all this information.
Without her round-the-clock intelligence gathering, World City's intelligence advantage over the Great Tomb of Nazarick would never have reached this level.
The basement of a Dragon Slaying Cult branch.
Ragna was already covered in wounds. By now, most of the Dragon Slaying Cult's members had become feed for the Divine Dragon.
The Dragonkin Chief killed the resisters one by one. Their bodies vanished as though they had been sacrificed to the Divine Dragon.
The Dragonkin had also prepared magic that devoured flesh and blood to conceal the truth.
Only Ragna remained fighting, drenched in blood.
It would have been no surprise if he collapsed the next second.
In truth, he had only managed to fight this long thanks to Eve's precise instructions.
Every slash had been calculated precisely, keeping him just short of death.
He could also seize opportunities to restore his health and cast healing magic, which was how he had held out until now.
Ragna's fighting even shook Bone King.
Bone King was accustomed to cunning battles between players.
This style of fighting to the bitter end was utterly foreign to him.
Was Demiurge still not going to send anyone to save them?
Ainz was a little nervous.
Demiurge narrowed his eyes behind his glasses and said quietly:
"Lord Ainz's assessment cannot be wrong."
"Under normal circumstances, the enemy's reinforcements should have arrived by now."
"If they still fail to appear, we must have Hanzo intervene and rescue Nfirea and Ragna."
Demiurge treated the mercenary monsters as pawns, essentially using them to test both sides' strength.
If Ragna died, the Great Tomb of Nazarick would lose access to a wealth of intelligence.
Both sides held their breath.
Demiurge did not know that Eve was also calculating the changes in his emotions.
The time had come.
As though struck by sudden inspiration, Ragna received his instructions and grinned:
"Crimson, aren't you coming yet?"
No sooner had he spoken than Nfirea, who had been huddled up waiting for rescue, broke through Dimensional Lock and vanished without a trace.
The Swap Doll!
Impossible!
Ainz's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull, even though he had no eyeballs.
An ominous feeling rose in Demiurge's heart.
Nfirea had been replaced by a special mercenary monster.
A High-Tier Double Phantom!
The Double Phantom, a famous humanoid monster from Yggdrasil.
A Double Phantom had a basically humanoid shape, but its head resembled a pink or yellow egg.
Overall, it looked rather like a faceless person, with hollow eyes and a hollow mouth, along with exceptionally long hands.
A High-Tier Double Phantom could replicate the appearance of a level-60 character's equipment and ninety percent of their abilities.
This High-Tier Double Phantom had taken on the role of a special magic caster.
Roy and the others had equipped her with numerous special items.
Together, those items made her the equivalent of a level-75 caster.
Widen Magic: Time Stop!
Crimson raised her hand, and the entire world fell still.
Time-stop magic did not halt the entire world; it only stopped time within a particular area.
Crimson's range was immense. Time stopped throughout the area, including where Bone King and the others stood.
This was bad!
The Guardians of the Great Tomb of Nazarick immediately activated their rings with Time Stop countermeasures.
Every Guardian was now required to wear one of these rings.
In Yggdrasil, attacks involving time were commonly used.
The Great Tomb of Nazarick had ample resources stockpiled.
But that was not the problem.
The mercenary monsters, including Hanzo and the Eight-Edge Assassin Bug, were completely frozen.
Anyone who activated Time Stop countermeasures would inevitably reveal a reaction.
Demiurge immediately ordered:
"Everyone, regroup!"
"Protect Lord Ainz!"
At that moment, the Dragonkin Chief revealed an arrogant grin, raised his staff, and shouted:
"Crimson King, the Divine Dragon sent us here specifically to execute you!"
"Everyone in the Dragon Slaying Cult must die."
Divine Dragon's Breath!
A powerful breath attack unleashed jointly by countless Dragon-Shaped Magical Beasts.
Roy had summoned a hundred level-90 Dragon-Shaped Magical Beasts and ordered them to breathe dragon breath together.
The entire basement was utterly destroyed.
The dragon breath destroyed not only the basement, but also the Dragonkin Chief, Hanzo, the Eight-Edge Assassin Bug, and the others.
Only total destruction could conceal the truth.
If Demiurge captured the basement, his intelligence would surely allow him to discover traces of fabrication.
No matter how much World City aged the basement it had hastily constructed, flaws would remain.
Better to destroy it completely.
The combined breath of a hundred dragon beasts could instantly kill even a level-100 NPC.
As for Ragna and Crimson, they had resurrection items and then made their escape.
Just like that, the basement was annihilated.
At that moment, a voice rang out from the sky:
"I never expected Crimson to have so many helpers."
"Not a single one can be allowed to escape."
Magic circles lit up all around the Dragon Slaying Cult's grounds, including where Bone King and the others stood.
Widen Magic: Dimensional Lock
The enemy was locked down before the battle began. Then a Gate appeared in the sky, and ten Dragon-Shaped Magical Beasts emerged-fire dragons!
Every one of them was a formidable level-80 creature. With a Beast Tamer's enhancements, their combat strength rose directly to level 90.
The instant they passed through the Gate, they targeted Bone King's position.
Tenth-tier magic: Dragon Flame!
Red flames blossomed in the sky like invitations from death itself.
Even a max-level powerhouse like Bone King could not take them lightly.
Because all these dragons had also taken pills.
The World Item Immortality Gourd randomly produced ten pills each day that could temporarily increase attributes.
They had taken those pills outright, boosting their strength, magic power, and speed to the limit.
The pills were expensive, but their temporary effects were better than magical buffs.
For a short time, these fire dragons' combat strength rivaled that of level-100 creatures.
Ainz's tendency to react too slowly became unmistakably apparent at that moment.
He had already taken out the Hourglass, yet now he stood frozen in a daze.
Because these dragons looked familiar to Ainz, like gacha prizes.
Despite all the money poured into the Great Tomb of Nazarick, it only had two dragon beasts of this caliber-and they were the weakest forest dragons, also known as green dragons.
Now the enemy had deployed ten whole dragons, and fire dragons at that-red dragons with exceptionally high combat strength. It was simply unreasonable.
Could there be a player behind the Dragon Worship Cult?
Ainz was stunned on the spot, and his movements immediately slowed by half a beat.
"Lord Ainz, look out!"
Albedo had already been guarding Bone King's side and immediately activated Position Swap!
She replaced Bone King as the target of Dragon Flame.
Walls of Jericho!
Holy Shield!
Damage Transfer!
Albedo, the Great Tomb of Nazarick's strongest tank, unleashed the full extent of her defensive abilities at that moment.
In an instant, a sturdy wall appeared around her, and she became a fortress.
The Walls of Jericho were said to have fallen only through God's aid to the Israelites.
As a guardian of darkness, Albedo would protect Bone King from God's judgment.
Boom!
The terrifying Dragon Flame scorched the walls, making Albedo's expression change.
The power of these Dragon Flames could well be called the strongest among tenth-tier spells.
One blast, two blasts, three blasts...
Blast after blast of Dragon Flame struck Albedo.
The fire dragons had consumed elixirs, maximizing the power of their Dragon Flame.
They were therefore doing everything they could to destroy Albedo's defenses.
At that moment, Cocytus, Sebas, Demiurge, and even Pandora, who was playing Momon, rushed over to help protect Lord Ainz.
Bone King had been a step too slow, so the Guardians had to fill the gap.
Those seemingly powerful Dragon-Shaped Magical Beasts were nothing more than bait.
Even if he sacrificed every last one, Roy would not feel any regret.
They were no different from mercenary monsters.
Now it was time for the capture.
The Four Governors acted simultaneously at that moment.
Their first target was Shalltear, the NPC with the strongest overall abilities in the Great Tomb of Nazarick.
Before she could even figure out what was happening, she felt her hair stand on end.
I've come to catch you.
Lilith, the Governor of Hell City, revealed a delighted smile.
You're a resident of hell, just like me.
Then become my prey.
With her unique sense of smell, Shalltear detected a terrifying presence lying in ambush nearby.
No, I have to act.
The next second.
Absolute Hit: Pure Throwing Spear!
Before you continue