One of the paladin guardians stood unmoving like a statue amidst the corpses of the soldiers as he was vigilant against any disturbance around him.
Suddenly, he felt that despite his best efforts to detect the enemy, his foot had been grabbed by something below him. A look of shock appeared on the paladin's face as he gazed at what had grabbed hold of him, only to find that it was the hand of one of the fallen soldiers that was laying next to him.
At first, the paladin was overjoyed as he thought that perhaps this soldier had somehow resisted the lethal effects of the poisoning. But then his expression quickly twisted into one of pure horror as he saw the face of the man that had grabbed him.
The soldier's face was covered in strange green veins that bulged almost like a heartbeat but in his eyes there was no light anymore as a dull expression covered his face devoid of reason or will. It was painfully obvious that this soldier was no more alive than an actual corpse. The only thing that still moved was his body. In other words…
"Zombie!"
The paladin shouted frantically as he drew his sword and slashed at the head of the soldier before he could do anything but was a little too late as the zombie soldier's teeth managed to dig into the calf of the paladin before he could cut off the head.
Just as he chopped off the head of the zombie did he notice that all the other corpses around him began to rise up. To a paladin, this was still a horrible situation but not without hope. He had been trained in divine magic; in other words, he had the advantage against undead enemies like these. Even if they all joined together, he would be more than capable of cleaning up a dozen zombies like these. The bigger cause for worry was if really all of the corpses in the city would rise up like the ones here.
Just as he was about to take a stance and launch a series of divine spells at the zombies nearest to him did he notice that something felt off.
The paladin's eyes suddenly went wide as he quickly looked at the place where the zombie had first bitten him. Pure fright and terror emerged on his face as he saw green veins spread out from the wound identical to the ones present on the bodies of the zombies. All of his holy spells had indeed shielded him from the fog as they had created a sort off lair around him that protected him, but he was defenceless against an internal attack like this.
Before he could somehow react, he felt his strength leave his body completely as if it had been sucked dry by leeches and promptly fell to the ground in a lifeless manner. In his mind, he realised the horror that had been summoned to this city. There could be no mistake. This would spell the death of all citizens in the capital without a doubt.
All over the city, corpses began to rise once more as they spread out into different directions and started tearing down the doors of various buildings. These creatures seemingly had the ability to detect life as they quite methodically began to tear down the homes where people had locked themselves in to hide from the disaster.
It didn't take long for the sound of screaming to envelop the city. The sight of these monsters invading their homes whilst wearing the armor of the city guard caused most people to be frightened beyond belief.
Some fought back or tried to hide, but most ran out into the streets hoping that there weren't many of these creatures. When they saw just how many monsters were roaming their beloved capital, some simply fell to their knees in complete despair almost as if they were accepting their deaths.
Some of the citizens managed to run away into parts of the city where there weren't any zombies since the city guard naturally couldn't cover the entire surface of the city with troops. Thinking that they were at least temporarily safe, the few that escaped almost felt elated until a familiar feeling of sickness and weakness came over them.
The true terror of Ainz's spell was the unfading poison fog that the rain caused would not cease so quickly. It would still be an hour before the poisonous fog would subside, but by then the amount of infected zombies in the city would be almost equal to the previous number of living people in the capital. Whether one was killed by the fog or by infection from so much as a single scratch or bite from the other zombies…
The result would still be absolute death. This was the truest form of terror that Ainz had brought down upon this nation.
Unbeknownst to anyone else, the zombie knights were tearing down one house in particular that seemed a little more lavish than the ones next to it. As they bashed on the door, not a single soul could spare a glance as they were too busy running fighting or dying to worry about who might live there and whether they were in danger. The ghoul knights smelled food in this house and were rapidly bashing down the door with their immense physical strength.
As the loud bangs were audible throughout the house, just one person stood just on the other side of the door, not even trying to hide or run as the monsters continued pounding on the door with all their might. It would not be long before the door would cave under the pressure and she would be beyond saving as these monsters would tear her to shreds in seconds.
Vi looked fearfully at the rapidly fading door that separated her from death as she clenched her stomach with her hands. Not a week ago she had received such wonderful news and now…
Initially the plan was for her to leave the city as was ordered by Sylvan in order to guard the bloodlines of the Six Gods. However, she argued that if Sylvan could not best the danger that was coming towards them, then no place in the nation would shield her from this evil.
Sylvan could have ordered to drag her out of the capital or he could have tried to persuade her, but he knew that Vi was right. This would be a battle where they would throw every last ounce of strength at their enemy. If they lost that, the Slane Theocracy might as well fold completely.
Even now, she continued praying that she would hear her husband's voice any second, that he would burst down the door as he stepped over the monsters' corpses and took her hand to lead her to safety. Even though deep down, she knew it was futile.
As this last thought ran through her head, the door finally broke down and from behind it jumped out two humanoid beings who wore the armor of Theocracy knights ,but their gaze betrayed that their humanity had been lost beyond a doubt. Without even giving Vi half a chance to act, they leapt towards her and slammed her to the ground as their mouths neared their next victim.
Sorry, Bastion-sama, no Sylvan. Looks like I won't be able to make you happy as your wife in this lifetime.
As the bodies began dropping and then rising anew, the sound of screaming victims and horrified city folk echoed all the way to where Ainz and his group were standing as they watched the city being consumed in a green fog.
If the words of the Sorcerer King were to be believed, right now the scene that was unfolding inside the capital was too gruesome for words. But not a single soul that heard the sounds coming from the city had even a slither of doubt in their minds about the authenticity of what Ainz had said.
Roune and the other members of the Empire could not utter a single word. Even from this distance, they could hear the horrendous wails of the unfortunate inhabitants of the capital. Even if they wanted to, they could not provide any kind of help to them. Despite the Slane Theocracy and the Empire not being on friendly terms, it was but natural to feel pity for the innocent civilians that would suffer an agonizing death due to the mistakes and crimes of those that ruled over them.
As silent as their group may be, the other spectators were full of praise for their lord, one more than the next as they watched the clouds continuing to spill their malignant contents on the city and heard the sounds of the spell's victims crying out in horror all the way to where they stood.