Demiurge's already narrow eyes narrowed even further when he heard Ainz's response. "As expected of Ainz-sama, everything dances within the palm of your hand. To think I would dare to match wits with such a great person... I should have expected nothing less of yourself."
As Demiurge chuckled to himself, Ainz back ran with sweat that wasn't there.
"Then, shall we begin? Demiurge, I'll leave the battle damage to you."
"Assuredly. Mare, send the signal. It will be an earthquake, like the last time."
♦ ♦ ♦
Lower Fire Month (9th Month) , 5th Day, 03:56
"Take my lightning!"
The lightning spell lashed out, striking one of the maids.
"Guwaaaa-su~"
The maid making the incredibly fake cry of pain was blown away like she was jumping by herself, until she vanished into the distance.
"Eiiiii~"
The drill-haired maid threw her knives. They travelled in a lazy arc and struck Nabe's body.
"Kyaa—"
As Nabe let out a deadpan cry of pain, she followed after the maid that had been blown away. Entoma was pursuing her silently.
They landed in the alley, forming a straight line. Ahead of Narberal was the maid with the two braids. Behind was Entoma and the drill-haired maid. This was a classic pincer attack, but there was no tension at all. Then again, how could there be? Back then, there had been the pretense of a fight, but now even that had completely evaporated, and the mood was like a group of schoolgirls chatting in a cafe.
"So anyways, this place's been warded against spying by Nigredo-san. It should be okay now~"
"Is that so? Then... it's been a while, Lupu~."
The two-braided maid — Lupusregina Beta — laughed under her mask.
"It really has been awhile su~ this is the first time we've met since Nar-chan started running around with Ainz-sama."
"I did return to Nazarick from time to time, but during those times, you were at the village."
"Oh well~ you know how it is, these things just happen. Come to think of it, I haven't seen you in a while, Sol-chan~"
"The same. However, your way of speaking..."
"Oya? Sol-chan and Yuri-nee-san were concerned about the same thing su~. But it's okay~ I'll be careful. En-chan’s the same way su~"
"That's good... speaking of which, why is Entoma so quiet?"
"Ah... En-chan doesn't seem to want to talk right now~"
“tHat lItTle bRaT ToOk mY VoicE!”
"I see."
Narberal nodded to her. Entoma hated her original voice, so she tried to use it as little as possible.
“i WAnT To lEt HeR fEeL wHaT iT’S LikE!”
Even though her true face was covered by a mask bug, her murderous intent and anger were still overflowing in her direction.
"You know that is impossible. Since she is travelling with Ainz-sama, it will ruin his reputation if she doesn't come back alive with him."
Entoma wasn't happy with what Narberal said, but she kept quiet. It was obvious which to pick between her master's good name and her own desires. Every battle maid knew this.
"That little lady was quite strong. What is her name?"
"I have no interest in the names of oversized mosquitoes. Although, I think her name was Evil-something."
"How mean~ Didn't you guys come together as comrades?"
Narberal frowned at her companion's words, so Solution answered for her.
"...that would probably be Blue Rose's Evileye. Sebas-sama wrote as much in one of his reports."
"Ah, that sounds right."
Narberal was sure that Solution had the correct name.
"Nar-chan, are you pretending to be retarded? Are you all right?"
"Can you all actually remember human names?"
"That is no problem for me. I might end up needing to know them during the course of my duties. I took care to commit a few important names to memory."
"No probs here su~ actually, you could say I get along pretty well with humans, yanno?"
”No pRObLEMs HErE.”
Narberal was slightly shocked when she discovered that she was alone among her fellow maids. Just as she was considering whether to pay more attention to names, the sound of an explosion rang forth. Because buildings blocked visibility out of the corner, they could not tell what had caused it.
"Ah, they must be getting serious over there."
"Well, it's Yuri-nee-san and Shizu~ they're always serious. But if the fight's not over yet, that means they haven't used their real strength yet."
”If iT wAs Up tO Me I WoUlD fIgHt hER tO tHe DeATh!”
"Evileye is quite strong. By levels alone, she might not be an opponent Yuri-nee-san or Shizu could beat."
A shadow passed over the face of the battle maids for the first time. Only Narberal was different. She was confident.
"It will be fine."
As everyone's attention turned to her, she continued, "Evileye and myself are both elementalists. We are arcane magic casters that specialize in the use of a particular element. Although this means our attack power increases greatly, it also means that outside of our area of expertise, we are quite weak."
"Earth-type, then... there should also be acid, poison or gravity, right? Why crystals?"
"It must be a further specialization within earth-type elementalism. Her crystal magic must be quite strong."
"Bludgeoning and piercing physical attack magic... I do not understand..."
If it were up to me, how would I kill Evileye? While the four of them were pondering this question, the earth shook. There was a slight difference between that and the shaking of the earth caused by a great impact.
“ThiS EArtHqUAke mUSt HaVE BEEn caUsEd By MaRE-sAMA. thEn, ShALl WE moVE On to tHE nEXt stAGe?”
"Was that a signal?"
"That is correct, Narberal. Then, is it alright if we hurt you a little? It will not look good unless we rough you up a bit."