Ainz was an undead that did not need to breathe and had absolute resistance against such airborne attacks. Aura was protected by magic items that would block the effects of the stench if it was an attack. Hence, this place simply smelled bad.
“The Giant of the East does not seem to be a hygienic creature. It would be great if it is intelligent enough to converse with.”
“That is true. However, that will be difficult. Judging from the footprints, they are several barefooted creatures living in this cave. The prints are large, so they must be at least two meters tall.”
“I see… And that is one of them.”
They descended the slope in the next second, and Ainz saw the monsters that lay beyond.
“Ainz-sama, that is an ogre…”
Two of them were carrying something with a bloody scent into the cave . Ainz pointed at them with a wry smile. If this was a dungeon crawler, he would have killed the ogres in silence and proceeded to clear the floor quietly, but this time the objective was a bit different.
“...I didn’t come here to wipe them out, I need to chat with them in a friendly manner... Hey, you ogres there, sorry for interrupting your meal.”
The two ogres looked at Ainz in unison and roared. Echoes were loud in the caves, so Ainz wasn’t able to tell where the roar in response came from, but it probably came from the depths of the cave.
“What a loud doorbell, how tasteless... Aura, fall back.”
Watching the ogres become more agitated, Ainz sighed. He understood that they had no intention of conversing with him.
“Skeleton! Skeleton! Bad!”
The ogres came before Ainz with their murky words, swinging their clubs.
“Anyhow come—” The ogres raised their clubs high and swung down “in house—” as they attempted to send Ainz and Aura flying. However, their non-enchanted clubs would never be able harm them. “Say sorry—” The ogres struck again.
Ainz head was clobbered hard and his vision shook a little. It didn’t hurt, but it still made him mad.
Anyway, Ainz would kill anyone invading Nazarick in a fit of rage. When he thought about it that way, it was only natural that they would attack him, so he took it without complaint.
An envoy of peace would lay down his arms and wait for the situation to unfold.
The ogres arriving afterward didn’t have clubs, and simply reached for Ainz and Aura with their bare hands. They probably wanted to grab him after seeing that clubs were useless. Ainz furrowed his brows for a moment, although that gesture couldn’t be seen since he was a skeleton. It was fine for them to grab him, but Ainz saw through the darkness that the hands of the ogre reaching for him were covered in blood.
“Filthy.”
Ainz immediately took a staff out of thin air and swung it. It wasn’t imbued with any special magic, only an enchantment that increased the blunt damage it dealt. The head of the ogre reaching for him exploded. The ogres were splashed by the splattered brains and blood, and stepped back after dropping their clubs.
“You, you no skeleton…”
“It is troubling to think of me as a skeleton. I am here to meet your boss, the Giant of the East. Can you get him to come here? Well, he will probably come anyway if I wait.”
Ainz waved to shoo them away, and the ogres sprinted into the depths of the cave.
“Ara ara, I showed them the difference between our abilities too soon.”
Ainz touched the place where he had been hit by the clubs as he made his way slowly down the slope. This seemed to be their dining area, with the remains of numerous corpses lying everywhere.
Ainz and Aura continued walking while avoiding those places.
“I messed up, I accidentally used too much strength because it was annoying. I was planning to negotiate with them before the talks broke down and it turned into a massacre…”
“This can’t be helped! Those lowly ogres wanted to touch Ainz-sama after all!”
“I am happy to hear you say that. Punitto Moe-san also said ‘throwing a punch to get the other party’s attention’... Or was that Warrior Takemikazuchi?”
“It can’t be wrong if these are the words of the Supreme Beings!”
Those two had extremely different views, so who said it? Ainz tried to recall when a large number of monsters flooded out of the cave. All of them were much taller than humans.
“A bunch of trolls huh. I thought the part about giants was just a ruse, but there appears to be some truth in it.”
Trolls had long noses and ears, with an exceptionally ugly face. Their large bodies were deformed, and thus nauseating. They wore clothes that looked like the skin of tiger-like creatures, with the beast’s heads hanging on their shoulders. Well over two metres in height, they had strength far exceeding that of ogres. Only fire and acid could stop their powerful regeneration abilities.
Altogether, there were six trolls and fourteen ogres.
Ainz paid the most attention to the troll at the head of the group. It had a superior physique as compared to the other trolls and its confidence could be seen clearly on its ugly face. With leather armour made from the hides of several animals and a great sword that was larger than the one Ainz used in the guise of Momon, it had also better equipment than the others. The sword seemed to be a magic item, with some form of liquid flowing back and forth in the groove right in the middle of the sword.
“About the same as Hamsuke?”
“Looks like it.”
So this troll was the Giant of the East. Ainz observed carefully, wondering what kind of troll it was.
Trolls were monsters with many different subraces, with unique adaptations depending on the place where they were found. For example, there were volcano trolls that were resistant to fires, sea trolls that could swim nimbly and breathe in the ocean, mountain trolls with monstrous strength living in the mountains and the rare toll troll, which lived under arched bridges. They could increase the variants of their species almost at will.
And so, what was the specialty of the troll before Ainz? Trolls which adapted to caves were called cave trolls, but they were different from what he saw before him. A troll that he saw for the first time in this world— this ignited Ainz’ collector spirit.
The Giant of the East was a rare variant. It had survived countless battles and had adapted to battle, a troll specializing in battles. Ainz dubbed it a war troll, a rare specimen even among the many types of trolls. Its combat abilities were exceptional compared to other trolls its age. Its body might be smaller than those of mountain trolls, but its muscular body and fighting ability were far superior to them. Its weapon wasn’t something that could be wielded with just brute force, but a sword. It was knowledgeable enough to know that clubs were subpar weapons. It was a troll that had awakened as a warrior.
“So you are the Giant of the East?”
When the other party didn’t deny it, Ainz pointed slightly to the right of the troll.
“I would be really happy if you are the Serpent of the West. Are you?”