The ten men that stepped out of the nearby forest surrounded the lone carriage in a half circle. The men wore a wide variety of different equipment. Their equipment may not have been top quality, but it was certainly not trash. It even seemed like they had put in some effort towards maintaining their weapons.
The mens’ weapons glimmered under the moonlight.
They were nearly all equipped with light armor called Chain Shirts.
At that moment, the men were having a discussion on things like what to do with their prey or their position in the queue. They seemed utterly relaxed, and this was not because they were careless, but because they were highly experienced. Having robbed so many carriages, it would certainly be stranger if they were showing signs of nervousness.
Zack leapt from the driver’s seat and jogged towards the men.
Naturally, to forestall any attempts of escape, he cut the reins attached to the horses and bound shut the door of the carriage on the side facing away from the men.
Believing that the people in the carriage could see them, the men flashed their weapons in a silent warning: “If you don’t come out quickly, things could get bad for you.”
The carriage doors slowly opened.
A beauty appeared under the moonlight. The vulgar laughs and lust-filled eyes of the gathered mercenaries and bandits were drawn towards the girl, their delight at what they expect to happen next written clearly on their faces.
There was only one man among them that was shocked.
Zack.
To describe his shock in one sentence, it would be “Who is she?”. That mysterious person, he did not recall seeing her in the carriage. In his moment of confusion, Zack was not capable of saying anything else.
After seeing another similarly dressed girl appearing, the others began to display a shocked expression. According to their information, their prey was a naive merchant’s daughter and her old butler.
Their thoughts were soon wiped away by the appearance of a young girl.
Her silver hair shined under the moonlight, her crimson pupils sparkled like fireworks.
The bandits could not even uttered a single word of alarm under the presence of such a beauty. Instead, they let out a relaxed sigh of praise to such a beauty. Shalltear smiled lustily as she walked towards the group of men.
“Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for gathering here. Now then, I would like to find out who is the strongest amongst you. Let’s negotiate.”
The bandits were all then directed at one person. Shalltear deemed that she had all the information she needed. Other than the target, the other humans were not required.
“W, what are we negotiating for?”
As if his wits had returned from the shock of Shalltear’s beauty, a person that looked like the leader of the band came forward.
“My, my. My apologies. The part about negotiating was just a joke to obtain the information I need. My sincerest regrets.”
“You all are….”
Shalltear turned towards Zack, who was mumbling to himself.
“You must be the one called Zack. You will be given to Solution as agreed, can you step further away.”
A few of the bandits looked at each other to grasped the situation. At that moment—-
“For a little brat, you seemed to have some nice goods.”
One of the bandits who coincidentally stood in front of Shalltear, reached out a hand towards Shalltear’s bust, larger than those belonging to girls who is of her age. Then, the hand dropped to the ground.
“Do not touch me with your dirty hands.”
The man was in a daze as he was looking at his missing arm. There was a delay before he started screaming.
“Aaaargh! My, my hand, my hand isss!!”
“You do not have to scream so loudly with losing a mere hand. Do you consider yourself a man?”
Shalltear spoken softly before waving her hand once, with that simple gesture, the man’s head dropped and rolled on the ground.
The bandits started to a panic after seeing the delicate beautiful hand performing such a monstrous feat, not to mention, that person was not holding any blade. The mental shock fogged up their minds. But they soon regained their wits after witnessing the terrifying scene that came next.
Blood gushed out from the open wound of the corpse, as if guided by an external will, gathered above the head of Shalltear, like a spherical ball.
The skill was unhuman-like. Those were the thoughts of the ignorant on this situation.
“Spell Caster!”
Spell caster, it was a general title to anyone who used magical abilities.
They comprised of a wide range of existences.
The clerics and priests that performed the miracles of the gods, wizards and arcaners that bent the rules of the world, and the druids that were able to harness nature’s power were all spell casters.
The type of magic used differed between job classes and the outcomes would be vastly different as well.
If there was someone more knowledgeable among the group, the warning would be more specific. With such a general outcry, it was obvious that these group of people had a negligible level of magical knowledge.
Shalltear who recognised the situation as such, boringly looked upon the bandits, who were unsheathing their weapons in haste.
“This is pointless. Clean them up excluding that man and Zack….Understood?”
“Yes, Shalltear-sama.”
The vampire servants behind Shalltear advanced as she casually lashed out at the bandit who had presumed to swing his sword at her. The man spun in the air as he burst like a balloon, blood and innards alike spilling outwards in an fantastic explosion of crimson.
The gory display signaled the start of the festival of pain and suffering that would soon bring Shalltear such joy.
Zack looked on at the slaughter before him, his face a contorted mask of fear, his lips stretched taut over his face in a rictus grin.
It was a hideous sight to behold.
The scenes of cruel slaughter and the thick scent of blood in the air was enough to send any man retching.
Limbs flew about in the air like so much confetti, a head was caught between two hands and exploded like an overripe pomegranate.
One unfortunate bandit was caught in an embrace by a pair of arms. He struggled desperately as the arms squeezed his torso with explosive force sending his guts flying out his mouth like a tube of toothpaste. And yet, somehow he remained alive. An unfortunate reminder of the remarkable resilience of humans.
A man rolled on the ground in a desperate attempt at escape, white bones peeking out of the mangled mess of flesh and skin that used to be his legs. Even in his current condition, his hands worked furiously grasping the earth to move himself away from the horror, to survive.
A maiden of unearthly beauty looked down at the man prostrated at her feet begging for his life. She began to laugh. It was off-pitch with an oddly discordant, almost ear-wrecking quality.
How did it come to this….
Zack thought furiously. He was not going to just tamely accept his hideous fate.
No way in hell was he going to accept being slaughtered so cruelly. But what could he do? By luck it seemed that nobody had attacked him, but if he was going to make a run for it, he had better make sure his escape plan was a good. There would be no second chance.
Zack put his hand to his chest and felt the shape of the dagger hidden under his clothes.
Why the hell was it so small? You couldn’t even cut off a man’s arm with this.
Zack did not think about what he was doing. He didn’t think about what he was going to do about that monster.
Zack tried to hide as best as he could. He shrunk into himself, his arms hugged tightly around his body, his teeth chattering away loudly and rhythmically in fear. As if drawn by the chattering of his teeth, that monster started walking in his direction. Zack tried desperately to calm himself, but the chattering defied his best efforts.
He had no idea what those monsters were.
As he was thinking —-
“Zack-san. Please come here”
—-Suddenly, a bright cheery voice, which seemed oddly out of place in this hideous scene of slaughter, called out from behind him.
Zack looked back fearfully. It was his employer.
The expression on her face was nothing like the normally arrogant and haughty master he was used to. If he had been rational, his danger sense would have warned him something was wrong. But in this bizarre world filled with the smell of blood, Zack could not sense it at all.
“What are those things?!”
Zack shrieked in a high, off-pitched voice of panic.
“If they were there, then say something about it!!”
Shalltear glared at Zack’s back as Solution passed over a map. Shalltear accepted the map with a grudging nod of acknowledgement.
“Come on say something. It’s all your fault!”
Zack grabbed at the front of Solution’s dress, as if trying to shake an answer out of her.
“….I understand. Please come here”
“W, will I be spared ?!?”
“No. I will be entertaining you”
“What ?”
“Sebas-sama doesn’t really like this but I have permission to do this. Let’s go over there away from him.”
Zack did not have a clue what she was saying, but being the only person to be led away from this slaughter might mean that he could possibly be spared. Hope appeared on Zack’s face as he grasped at this last straw of a chance for survival. Solution’s smile never changed.
“Please don’t be too rough”
Solution whispered as she led Zack to the other side of the carriage. She reached backwards and started to unfasten her dress. Zack was stunned by this utterly bizarre turn in events. He wondered what the girl was trying to do as he stared at her in amazement like she was some kind of strange animal.
“W, what are you doin?”
“What indeed.”
Solution slowly let down the bustier around her chest.
Like they were waiting for that instant, the twin peaks that were seemingly crushed bounced out. With a cone-like shape, the moonlight reflected off her white skin.
Zack unconsciously gulped at that scene.
“Go ahead.”
She thrust her bare chest outwards towards Zack
“What are….”
Zack thoughts were charmed. It was the most probably out of all of his thoughts.
“Is it standing up?”
Still exposing her chest to the air, Solution lied down.
Beautiful. More beautiful than the body of any woman Zack had seen until now.
The most beautiful of the woman he had embraced was, the woman that was in the carriage they had once assaulted. When his turn had come, without moving, she just opened her legs like a frog. However, she did not lose her beauty.
However, the woman in front of him was even more beautiful, there was no way that he would not react like back then.
A flame of lust burned in Zack. His nether region became hot, and while trying to control his excited breathing, he also crawled down. Until the coldness of the earth was comfortable.
While breathing like a dog, he slid his hand across Solution’s skin.
A cloth made of silk—-That sensation.
Zack was unable to control himself, and squeezed Solution’s chest.
His hand sunk in.
Was it so soft that my hand just sank in? Zack’s first thought was probably that. However, he moved his gaze to his hand, took a sharp breath and instantly realised that his thoughts were wrong.
His hand, just as it was said, was sinking into Solution’s body.
“W, what, is this!”
Facing a situation he could not understand, raising a scream, and attempting to retract his hand. However, it did not move. On the contrary, it was like it was pulling him in. Solution had multiple tentacles inside of her, and they grasped his hand, and pulled.
Solution’s expression did not change. She just watched Zack quietly.
“Hey, stop! Let go!”
Zack made a fist with his free hand, and hit Solution’s face with all he had.
Once, twice, thrice. Each heavier than the last. Even though she received blows that could shatter bones, she had a calm face. On the contrary, the blows Zack gave reverberated back to his spine.
It was like hitting a bag filled with water. This was definitely not human. Forgetting his arousal, the scene of this hell flashed through his brain.
Zack stifled his scream.
He finally realised. The woman with her skin showing was a monster.
“Did you finally realise? Then shall we begin?”
What. Before he could respond, the feeling of several hundred needles piercing through his arm swallowed his arm.
“Aaaaah!”
“I am dissolving you.”
He heard those cold words in the midst of his pain. He could not understand them. This had diverged from the world that Zack knew far too much. The current information was overflowing from his brain.
“I, like to watch things as they dissolve. Zack-san wanting to enter me, I thought it was perfect.”
“Giiiiiiiii! Shitting monster! Die!”
Ignoring the pain, Zack spat out those words and drew the sword at his chest. He then fluidly stabbed it into Solution’s face. Her body jumped.
“Die shit!!”
Now, would stabbing a sword in a lake change anything?
At most waves would be created. In conclusion, that was what happened.
With the sword stuck in her face, Solution’s eyes gazed at Zack and she quietly spoke.
“My apologies. I have a complete resistance to physical attacks, and so this cannot hurt me. Anyway I will dissolve it.”
An irritating smell was made, and the blade of the sword was dissolved in a few seconds, and the remnants fell off her face. Underneath was, as she had announced, a completely unharmed beautiful face.
“What are you, bastard.”
The pain from his arm, and the fear born from Death in front of him, Zack whimpered from his half-crying face. Solution replied calmly.
“A predator slime. There is not much time left, so I will swallow you up.”
Zack’s arm was instantly swallowed in Solution’s body. Crying, screaming, begging for his life. However, Solution’s pull remained as strong. A strength that humans could not resist was pulling his arm and shoulder.
“Eleina!”
In his final moments, he cried out that name, and was swallowed by Solution’s body. Zack was swallowed like a snake eating its prey—-
In the short time of a few minutes, there was no movement there. However, the smell of blood irritated one’s nose. Only the man whose head was stepped on by Shalltear and licking her shoe was left.
“I did not kill you. Just as promised.”
Shalltear sent a moved gaze to the figure of the groveling man whose face was filled with fear. He quickly bowed his head, and expressed his gratitude. To the dog-like man, Shalltear had the expression of an affectionate mother. She then snapped her fingers.
“Suck him.”
What did those words mean? The man finally understood
While watching the life of the man being extinguished with a sidelong glance, she talked to Solution who was walking from the carriage.
“My, done already?”
“Yes. Everything has been completed. Thank you very much.”
Solution hid the disorder of her chest.
“It’s fine. After all, we are all companions in Nazarick. By the way, did Zack-san have his fun?”
“He is in the middle of it. Would you like to see?”
“Eh? Is it fine? Then please show me a little.”
Suddenly, an arm of a man came out of Solution’s face. Matching it, an irritating smell filled the area. The source was that arm. It was inflamed like it was soaked in strong acid, and smoke rose out of it.
It was like an arm reaching out of a lake, desperately trying to grab on to something. Every time it flailed, the fluids covering it flew into the surroundings.
“I apologise, to think that he would be this energetic.”
With a face that showed that she was in no pain from the arm sticking out of her face, she blushed slightly. She then casually pushed it back. Once the flailing arm was fully back inside of she, she smiled again.
“That is marvellous. Being able to completely swallow a person without affecting your own appearance.”
“Thank you very much. The reason is because my body is hollow, and due to the effects of special racial magic.”
“Hmm, it may be too much to ask, but when will he die?”
“That is true. I can instantly kill him by secreting a stronger acid, but since he wanted to enter me, I want him to enjoy it for a day or so.”
“In addition, you cannot hear him scream.”
“Yes. I am blocking his mouth and so no one but myself can hear him. Also, the stench is also blocked.”
“Predatory slimes are amazing…. Yes. Would you care to play with me?”
“I do not mind but….What shall we do for toys?”
Solution let her gaze fall onto the vampires behind her with a smile. Shalltear noticed and playfully smiled.
“These girls are not bad, but I want to request them of Ainz-sama as a reward for repelling intruders.”
“Understood. At that time, please call me. It will be interesting to swallow them up to their chest and leave the rest hanging out.”
“Fine. Doesn’t your words fit those of the torturer?”
“The arts of that person, unfortunately does not fit me.”
Shalltear was about to open her mouth in reply, but a voice from behind stopped it.
“Solution. My preparations are done. We will soon make a move.”
Sebas had replaced the reins and spoke from the coachman’s seat.
“Yes. I will immediately come over.”
Watching Solution enter the carriage, Sebas looked up from the coachman’s seat.
“Then, this is where we will separate.”
“I see. It seems that you have found the lair of those bandits.”
“Yes. I will attack them and search for men who hold information Ainz-sama is looking for. It seemed that this was a failure.”
“Is that so. It was a pleasure working together with you, Shalltear-sama.”
“Thank you. Until we meet in Nazarick.”
“Yes, then we will make a move—-”
Sprinting through the forest were two shadows. They were Shalltear’s subordinates, the concubine vampires.
The vampire running in front was holding Shalltear with both hands like she was a treasure, the vampire behind was dragging a dried up stick of a human.
In the forest, there was no footpaths, and occasionally, thin branches blew across.
However, in the darkness, their clothes were not dirtied, and they advanced with such a speed seemingly impossible for high heels.
Suddenly, the vampire in front stopped like something had caught her leg. Matching her, the vampire behind stopped as well.
Shalltear moved. She then gently landed on the ground. Her high heels touched the ground, and her dress soon followed, hiding her legs.
She brushed her long silver hair in frustration and tilted her head. She then looked down upon the vampire that was following her.
“Exactly, what happened?”
She asked the reason why her subordinate had stopped.
The reason that Shalltear did not run was simply because it was a hassle. That and she wanted to avoid her shoes getting dirty.
And so she would not forgive someone who was bringing her and yet stopped without her signal. Normally it would be a severe scolding. That intent was placed into a question.
“Please forgive me. I have been caught in a bear trap.”
One could see that the vampire’s thin leg was caught in a metal trap. It was not made for humans, but for animals—-Bears. Even with armour, it was at a level where it could snap a human’s ankle.
However—-A vampire was different from a normal human.
The teeth of the trap did not even pierce the skin. Without harming it, it was stopped by the skin.
Vampires had resistances to physical attacks and they would not be harmed unless it was made of silver or special metals, hold a certain amount of mana, or was made specially for undead. With that, it was impossible to harm them with mere metal.
However, the bear trap had another effect.
It was doing its job of restraining movement well. It was connected by a thick chain to a nearby tree.
Just from the fact that poison had not been applied to the trap clearly showed that the person who set the trap had not meant to kill his intended target. The trap was simply meant to hinder, a deadweight to restrict the movement of its target.
“…Haaa” with a resigned sighed Shalltear shook her head “Get rid of it”
“I understand”
In response to Shalltear’s orders, the vampire extended her slender arms, gripped the jaws of the trap and pulled without any sign of effort. The trap unable to withstand the overwhelming strength of her arms, released its prey.
It was a surreal sight, a seemingly normal beautiful girl opening a bear trap. Of course to those who know the true strength of a vampire, it was hardly surprising. It was easy enough for a vampire. Of course, Shalltear’s strength as a True Vampire was of a different level altogether.
“I’m surprised to see a trap here. Maybe we are still a little ways from our destination”
“I understand. Please wait for a moment”
The vampire following Shalltear threw an object that resembled a withered branch on the ground.
It wasn’t a withered branch. It was a withered mummified corpse, totally devoid of moisture.
The dessicated corpse fell to the ground and began to move.
Razor sharp claws extended from limbs resembling withered branches, a red glow shone from its empty eye sockets. The same glow that vampire possess. Sharp fang protruded from its slack half opened mouth.
Lesser Vampire. That was the name of this monster.
Those that were bitten by a vampire would turn into a monster. This was a remnant of the earlier bandit.
“I will ask. Are we close to your base.”
The Lesser Vampire nodded deeply to his master, and let out something like a scream.
“And so it seems, Shalltear-sama.”
“Yes. Why are there not any more traps?”
They should have encountered more alarms and traps if they were close to the bandit’s base. However, try as they might, they could not find any more traps. After a brief moment of consideration, Shalltear looked around her.
There was no sign of anyone concealing themselves, then—-
“Well, it’s fine.”
There was no point banging one’s head on this. They’ll just have to accept the risk of encountering hidden traps. It was impossible for Shalltear, who had no skill in disarming traps, to locate any and it was too troublesome to use magic for this purpose. It was probably easier to just accept the situation.
“It might have been better to borrow that girl.”
Shalltear recalled Solution who had just departed. Solution was an assassin, and quite a powerful one. If it was her, she could discover traps. They could enjoy it together, she held back those words.
They eventually arrived at the Bandit’s hideout. The trees in the forest gradually grew more and more sparse until it opened abruptly into a wide plain.
The area appeared to be a land feature called Karst topography.
An opening could be seen at the bottom of a bowl-like depression. A faint light leaked out from the opening. Light escaping from the entrance could only mean that the path behind the opening was a relatively gentle slope.
On each side of the opening, there was something that left no glimmer of a doubt that humans were present.
That something was a barricade that reached up to a man’s stomach. That being said, the barricades weren’t much to look at. Just something roughly cobbled together with some logs. However, two guards stood on duty. One behind each barricade.
The log barricade covered the lower half of the guards’ bodies. If they were attacked by bows, they would probably take cover behind the barricade and sound the alarm. Even though any enemy who attacked had the advantage of height and arrows could fly further, it was still no mean feat to kill someone through the barricade with one shot. Covering one’s head with a shield would most likely nullify the height advantage.
In addition, there was a big bell hanging at roughly shoulder level to the guards. Even if one managed to silence the guards, there was a chance that the arrows could also hit the bell. Thus raising the alarm.
It seemed like a well thought out defence.
If one were to attack normally, a surprise attack from this distance would allow enough time for reinforcements to appear.
The stealthy approach was equally difficult since all possible cover such as large rocks had long been cleared away.
However, in this world there was something that could achieve what physics dictated to be impossible.
That was magic.
If one thought of those methods then there were several one could take.
Killing someone after using
Which would be the most fun? Shalltear was enjoying herself until she realised that she was missing one piece of important information.
“Is there only one entrance?”
The Lesser Vampire nodded his head in reply.
“I see. Since we have come to this point, there is no longer any need to hide. Anyway this stealthy business—-I don’t like it.”
“Shalltear is a glamourous existence.”
“Pointing out the obvious is not flattery. If you want to flatter me, put more thought into it.”
Ignoring the vampire bowing her head in apology, Shalltear reached out, and grabbed the Lesser Vampire.
“I give you the honour of being the first spear. Now go.”
She swung her arm, a sound of the atmosphere being broken could be heard as the Lesser Vampire was let go of towards one of the sentries. They smashed into each other, and were blown apart in an unbelievable fashion. The sentry’s head was split apart, and blood painted his surroundings. The other man could not believe what he was seeing, and he had a shocked face upon watching his comrade’s death.
“Strike”
“Amazing, Shalltear-sama.”
The two vampires were clapping their hands.
“Hmm, only one left.”
Shalltear’s gaze flickered between the two vampires and the they hurriedly gave Shalltear a fist-sized rock.
“Good.”
Shalltear was holding the slightly large piece of rock before throwing it at an unimaginable speed. The outcome was as expected. Shalltear cheered for the outcome.
“Strike Two”
Another round of applause.
The sentries inside heard the chime of the warning bells and started to shout about intruders. The cave gradually came alive with commotion.
“Now go. Climb a nearby tree and make sure that no one escapes. There might be a hidden escape route that the small fry did not know about.” Shalltear faced the remaining vampire. “You will be the herald. However, if there are any strong ones it will be my time to have fun, be sure to tell me.”
“Yes, Shalltear-sama”
“We’ll depart from here.”
The vampire bride in front of Shalltear approached the cave entrance silently in a stride—-
—- and disappeared.
The ground collapsed, no, it did not collapse. It was a pitfall.
Shalltear would have been able to evade the trap before it was sprung. But for the vampire with their strength, they would not be able to get away when their footing was lost.
“Uh.”
Shalltear could not help but sigh in disappointment. She then smiled.
It was not a gentle smile, nor was it filled with good intentions and shyness.
If one thought about it carefully, it would be obvious that there would be traps in front of the entrance. The feeling of foolishness for not foreseeing it and anger for being tricked, rose up in Shalltear’s mind. She expressed her emotions with a smiling face.
“I am going to kill you. Get up now.”
Making a large jump, the vampire appeared at the edge. Apart from her dirty clothes, she was not hurt in anyway.
“Do not continue to disappoint me.”
“I truly apologis—-”
“Fine so move. Or should I toss you over?”
The vampire yelped and showed her understanding and dashed into the hole. Shalltear walked freely into the cave, following her.