With Ainz, Shalltear, Cocytus, and the rest hot on her heels, EeDechi broke into a frantic sprint. She tore through the streets toward the heart of the city, but still couldn't escape being cornered.
At the center of the city, atop a raised stone platform, a colossal golden statue of Ainz Ooal Gown stood tall. It rose high above the surrounding buildings, its gilded surface gleaming beneath the sunlight.
"EeDechi, where do you think you're running off to?"
Shalltear floated in the sky with a cold sneer. She raised her Spuit Lance, and blazing white light gathered at the spear's tip.
"Purifying Javelin!"
She drew back the lance, ready to cast the brilliant light spear. But just before releasing it, her movement came to an abrupt halt.
Because EeDechi had leaped upward in a single bound and was now clinging to the Ainz Ooal Gown statue.
EeDechi's five fingers sank deep into the golden surface, anchoring herself firmly against the huge figure. She laughed mockingly at Shalltear.
"What's the matter? Why aren't you attacking? Go on, fire your Purifying Javelin already."
"You…" Shalltear ground her teeth in fury, but held back her strike. If she unleashed the light spear from her lance, whether it hit EeDechi or not, it would blast a crater straight into the statue of Ainz Ooal Gown.
That would be outright desecration of her Ainz-sama. Shalltear didn't dare do it.
Cocytus, with his massive odachi still raised high, and Aura, who had been chanting her spells, both stopped cold. They didn't dare move, terrified of striking the statue of Ainz-sama.
"Why aren't you guys fighting anymore? You were all so aggressive just a second ago?"
EeDechi leisurely sprang upward and planted her feet firmly on the statue's collar. She steadied her breathing, easing the sharp mental sting from [Super] Depiction of Nature and Society while she quickly ran through her options.
"What are you all just standing there for? Get in there and grab EeDechi!" Ainz still hadn't realized the sheer power his own statue held over his followers and barked at them to move.
"But… Ainz-sama," Shalltear said, her face twisting with unease. "That sneaky EeDechi has hidden herself on your statue. It's… difficult for us to strike."
"Yes, Ainz-sama," Cocytus agreed. "If my blade were to strike your statue, I would never forgive myself!"
"Oh, I get it now." Ainz slapped his forehead in sudden realization. "Damn it! If I'd known this would happen, I never would've put up that statue!"
EeDechi knew the group wouldn't dare attack her anytime soon, so she began scanning for an escape route. No question about it—her top priority was dealing with [Super] Depiction of Nature and Society. This super World Item was far more powerful than any ordinary World Item.
A normal World Item she could have powered through, but this one had pulled the entire city of E-Rantel into an alternate dimension, trapping her inside while constantly hammering her with mental damage.
The psychic assault prickled against her back like a thorn lodged beneath the skin, as if countless blades were stabbing into the back of her skull. The pain was excruciating.
EeDechi remembered that Shalltear had once mentioned that [Super] Depiction of Nature and Society had forty different ways to break it. All she needed was to figure out just one of them—but how?
...
Golden Apple Tavern.
The usually rowdy tavern was now dead silent, its doors tightly shut with no customers inside. Tables and chairs lay toppled across the floor, wine bottles scattered everywhere. With the whole city under curfew, everyone had fled.
Yet in the tavern that should have been empty, the crisp clink of gold coins rang out nonstop. It sounded like someone was endlessly tossing handfuls of coins into the air and letting them rain down on themselves.
The tavern owner, Joseph Lesua, lay sprawled in a huge pile of gold, eyes glazed over and dazzled by the fortune. His mustache twitched as he snatched up each coin and planted loud, smacking kisses on it.
After sending his family out of E-Rantel, he had come back and reported EeDechi's location to the Sorcerer Kingdom, earning himself a fat reward of ten thousand gold coins.
"They're all mine! Every last one!"
Joseph's grin stretched so wide it looked like his mouth might split. He scooped up fistfuls of the gleaming coins and rubbed them against his face like he was caressing a lover. He rolled around in the pile like a playful child.
"I don't have to stay in E-Rantel anymore! Ten thousand gold coins—all mine! All mine! Hahaha!"
...
Back at the center of the city, Ainz hovered in the sky. After a brief discussion with the other four guardians, he finally made up his mind.
He began chanting a 9th-tier spell. A deep crimson orb of light swirled between his palms.
"Starburst Blaze!"
A red beam shot straight toward EeDechi, its wave of energy sweeping across the surrounding area.
EeDechi's eyes widened in shock. Ainz was throwing all dignity aside—he was really going to blow up his own statue.
BOOM!
Flames erupted across the giant statue, and the cataclysmic roar shook the entire city of E-Rantel to its foundations.
The 9th-tier spell naturally did little real damage to EeDechi. She raised her giant sword like a shield and blocked the blast head-on.
But under the crushing force of the 9th-tier magic, the magically reinforced statue still gave way with a deafening crash.
The towering Ainz statue split open around a gaping hole. Then the whole thing tilted and came slamming down into E-Rantel—the city of more than three hundred thousand people.
Inside the Golden Apple Tavern, Joseph Lesua lay sprawled on his back in the pile of gold coins, using them to cover his eyes. Suddenly he heard a thunderous boom, and the light streaming through the tavern windows began to dim, as if some enormous object was hurtling straight toward the building.
Joseph flung the coins aside and scrambled up in panic. He rushed to the window, craned his neck, and looked up—just in time to see the face of Ainz's statue plummeting directly toward his tavern.
"NO!" Joseph's eyes bulged. He spun around and frantically dashed back toward his pile of gold, desperate to grab every coin and bolt out of the tavern.
But it was already too late.
BOOM!!
The entire Golden Apple Tavern was flattened into rubble beneath Ainz's colossal face. Joseph was crushed into a bloody pulp right there in his pile of gold coins.
...
It was like a stone pillar smashing into a child's tower of blocks. Houses shattered one after another, streets buckled and split, and churches collapsed under the impact. One-fifth of E-Rantel—the city the Sorcerer Kingdom took such pride in—had been destroyed.
Ainz's face twisted with fury. He had been forced to destroy his own statue with his own hands and wreck the city he had spent years building. Yet even after that sacrifice, the collapsing statue had only kicked up a choking cloud of dust—and EeDechi was still nowhere in sight.
"FIND EEDECHI!" Ainz bellowed, his eyes blazing with red light as if they were about to spit flames. "I'm going to kill that wretched adventurer myself!"
"As you command, Ainz-sama!" Shalltear shot forward toward the city ruins. "The lockdown from the World Item is still active. EeDechi can't get away!"
...
Using the dust that blanketed the sky and her personal item, the bronze seal—which made her immune to every form of detection—EeDechi had managed to shake off the Sorcerer Kingdom's pursuit for the moment.
But this wasn't a solution that would last. She could already see more and more Sorcerer Kingdom soldiers pouring into E-Rantel. Even the battle-maid corps from the Great Tomb of Nazarick had been fully deployed to hunt for any trace of her.
The mental pressure from [Super] Depiction of Nature and Society still stabbed into her back like a knife, the pain almost unbearable.
Gritting her teeth, EeDechi slipped into an empty marketplace. She had to find Franco first. That unreliable, lecherous mage might actually know one of the forty ways to break the World Item.