It's been a long time since I've seen such unity of people in the face of a superior threat. All the guards and adventurers who could hold a weapon flocked to the city square like bees to honey. To be honest, I myself had to act in a similar way. With a small exception related to a funny fact. People turned against my ally, therefore, according to the logic of the game rules - they are all my enemies.
"Let's retreat, the monster is stronger than us!" the armored warrior, who was also the leader of one of the groups of mercenaries against the monster, ran away from the battlefield quickly - only his heels sparkled.
"Damn, damn, damn! We have to report this crap to the orichal… no, adamantite-ranked adventurers. That's right, Blue Rose will save us! They, kha..." An alarming muttering could be heard from the corner, but it died down quickly enough.
Instead, there were sounds of carnage, and a few moments later, Shalltear jumped out of the corner. Throwing herself at one of the swordsmen like a cheetah at an antelope. Not a coincidence, judging by the quick bite of the head through the unprotected neck. Such an aggressive attack, perhaps there is a justification for cruelty.
For example, the vampire tries to eliminate all witnesses to her failure. The mission should not have been distinguished by a high level of difficulty. The task is as simple as a couple of yen. However, it was still failed, and they also tried to cover up their tracks in the most crude way. In my opinion, the best solution to the deplorable situation was the "Message" spell. If I had received it in time, then I could have used several scrolls to resolve the conflict, avoiding unnecessary casualties.
Now panic has spread throughout the city like splinters from a chainsaw-attacked tree, in all directions. Along with information about a powerful vampire attack, which is sad. If there is no experienced group of adventurers or players here, then some secret cleanup squad will soon appear. Let's say guys with a mountain of artifacts to track. The "Men in Black" will turn the entire city upside down, find our tracks, and easily determine the location of Nazarick.
In any case, I can do something like this, which means that my pseudo-feat can be repeated by other Yggdrasil players or experienced masters from this world. Of course, with a small nuance - if the powers that be exist at all.
This is the prima, there is also a second and a third, if we speak in Latin.
The world may be inhabited not only by other players, but also by creatures equal to me in strength. Hidden deities or idols with a few trump cards up their sleeve. It is possible that I have developed a strong paranoia due to long communication with Momonga, the only friend who remained in the guild with me. Satoru is an extremely anxious person, always looking for hidden meaning where there is none. But he is right about one thing: there is only one life, and respawning costs experience points.
I need to cover up all traces, but my perverted sense of justice won't let me do so without benefiting myself. I have a developed sense of justice, but not like a hero. Rather, like a proper villain, who is obliged to justify every villainous act with some motive or hidden meaning that has long-term consequences.
"No, no, no, don't run away, I have to destroy you all, otherwise, sir…" The vampiress was not distinguished by her usual beauty and good manners.
In YGGDRASIL, the "true vampire" race stood out from the other races for their extreme ugliness. Only due to Peroroncino's good settings, Shalltear's humanoid form is attractive. In her true form, the girl resembles a monster with sinister scarlet eyes, a leech's mouth, pointed demonic ears, and disheveled hair. Her clothes also change to a shabby hodgepodge, and her long claws increase in size so much that they resemble small knives.
"It's good to see you," I greeted my charge in a casual tone, causing the curved figure of the true vampire to tremble. Her distorted pale face lost even more contrast, and her eyes trembled in panic like an aspen leaf. "Based on the assessment of life energy, you encountered weak enemies. Can you tell me how the panic began?" Under the surprised glances of a dozen frightened adventurers and a group of guards, my feet reached the vampire, and my palm fell on her head in a calming gesture.
- Ho-ho-lord... I... thought that the enemy looked into my real eyes, and then someone took my hand... A nonentity - a lower life form dared to touch me, grabbing my elbow, and I... I... - the vampire's voice sounded distorted in its true form, all the creatures around us heard it, but few wanted to listen to the conversation or interrupt the dialogue.
A pile of headless corpses is more eloquent than any warning signs. But the main thing is not that, but that I was briefly told, with a broken breath, once again, that fear has big eyes. One detail confused her vigilance, and another threw her off balance.
- The punishment for lack of tolerance will be a week of confinement in your personal room. Spend the allotted time composing a hundred explanatory notes on how you plan to prevent something like this in the future, - removing my hand from my disheveled snow-white hair, I shrugged to myself. - Return to the base, and tell the last person you saw there that I am expecting him immediately, - I had no desire to give away the names of my allies in front of the audience.
- Well, I... - her long tongue twisted unpleasantly, and everything inside was cramped from the overload of the nervous system. This conclusion can be reached by analyzing the tension of certain muscles on her disfigured face, forming sinuous wrinkles. She is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The tremors of her limbs aggravated my suspicion. It is better not to put pressure on her, so as not to break her. True, the punishment for failure is ridiculous, and is not suitable for ancient vampires, but for small children. - As you command... - lowering her head low, Shalltear bowed with all sincerity.
A few seconds later, her madness subsided, her appearance returned to human, and a change of equipment put a purple dress on her beautiful body. The only thing that distinguished the girl from her morning appearance was her face, flushed with shame, with which she now activated the "Gate" ability.
In the meantime, I got four scrolls: Loki's deception, time return, teleportation tracking, and area scanning.
The first is used to cover your tracks, but it can also reveal the enemy's "disinformation" ability. The second rolls back time, allowing you to explorean hour-long period of time in one turn. The third is the most important, indicating everyone who has used fast travel recently.
The fourth scroll is not the most important, but now we can't do without it. Much time has been wasted, and the anxiety of intelligent beings has spread further than the wind. The city is not small, so we need to find out how many people managed to leave it. If there are many escaped witnesses, I will send air-type chimeras to catch and destroy them.
"What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."
However, to my amazement, no one in this city had used a scroll or a teleportation spell, except once twenty seconds ago. No one had crossed the city limits, perhaps the guards had closed the gates to prevent the threat from escaping - a fatal mistake.
But oh well. Scrolls are the basics of Yggdrasil. Things like these should be in every player's inventory, regardless of race or class. So I'm lucky, if the dangerous witness exists, he's still in the city limits.
I have no desire to play the game of get what you want or lose everything.
I need to transform this city into something else, thereby destroying all traces of our presence, as well as information about the events that took place. Organics must be processed, items must be destroyed. No one must figure out Nazarick's involvement, so I will not push any of my people into harm's way.
I will create a powerful chimera...
In that case, all the kingdom's strong figures and players will flock here within a few days, like true believers to the first temple. If the weakness of the inhabitants of this city is a virus that has spread to a large area, and no one is able to destroy my creation...
It's okay, I'll do it myself.
A monster will appear, killing everyone and everything, becoming stronger with each newly absorbed organic matter. And people will find themselves on the brink of death, so that I can save them, glorifying myself as a national hero.
Otherwise, it will be possible to lure out all hidden powerful beings, or completely disprove their existence. If there is a force to be reckoned with, it is best to destroy it.
There is none? Great, let's begin the systematic expansion of Nazarick's zone of influence. Any mass PvP is centered around the development of one's own base and the surrounding area. It's time to take the first steps, because if someone appeared on another continent and also took up the development of their territory before me, then I will have to move into the category of outsiders.
The most important thing is that information about Shalltear's misdeeds does not spread to the masses, otherwise interaction with the local aborigines will be jeopardized, as will their existence.
- Bastard, were you in cahoots with her?! Surrender immediately, or else... - the guards' stupor dissolved before they could act, judging by the swords and spears pointed at me. In the new world, I had accelerated thinking, so it shouldn't have taken more than ten seconds to think of a plan. But that was enough time for the armed guards to surround me. They added up two single-digit numbers and assigned me to the criminal.
Excellent deduction, simply excellent.
"Super-tier Magic: Dark Realm"
By taking out an item from my inventory that reduces the casting time from fifteen seconds to one, I used magic that exceeded the tenth. Each player in Yggdrasil, starting from level seventy, can only learn thirty spells of this level; one for each level up.
A huge dark sphere passed through the city in an instant, with a characteristic buzzing sound, painting the space in dark crimson colors. Thus completely sealing any exit from the city. You can teleport here, but you are allowed to leave only in two cases: in the form of a spirit or until the spell ceases to act.
- So, it is extremely unfortunate that you will all have to be destroyed, but I can assure you that your existence will not end on this significant day for us. Most of you will become part of a single organism, the strongest form of life that you could ever dream of, - with the speech I gave, I decided to inform everyone about the evolution that was unforeseen for them. True, despite the good tone, people were busy with other things. Everyone looked at the dark red fog hanging in the air with shocked faces.
Ignoring the surprised crowd, I took out a shoot of the Ainnash tree from my inventory, which requires good soil for planting. There is a lot of such soil in the bloody area. As a result of the defeat from Shalltear, who soaked the ground with blood, the problem with fertilizer was avoided.
Slowly approaching the crimson earth, I planted a tree. A real man should start a family, build a house and plant a tree. I have a family - it's big, consider all the inhabitants of my house in Nazarick. Only the last point remains. Even if the tree did not look like a green shoot in a flowerpot, but was a wriggling leech - it does not matter. A tree is a tree.
"Triple Limit Metamorphosis: Growth Enhancement"
"Imposing a negative effect: Flame of the Abyss."
"Breakdown"
Stretching my hand towards the quickly sinking shoot, I activated three spells. One causes the monster to grow super-fast, its roots growing to the required size to quickly attract any organic matter to the trunk. The more material this creature absorbs, the faster it approaches the level of an average boss from Yggdrasil. When the tree trunk is fully mature, Ainnash will begin to move towards other settlements.
Yggdrasil players hated this subtype of chimera with all their hearts because of its rapid development, which led to the loss of quests in several areas. Any player above level seventy will try to stop the creature from developing further, no matter what price they have to pay in the process. Once a raid boss appears in the world, entire countries will start having problems.
The second spell can cast any negative effect from a short list on the chimera. For example, it is possible to make something like ice golems or fire scorpions. The flame from my spell went through every part of the newborn monster's body, so that the damage to the city increased to the maximum. Few people cast fire in real game conditions, since it slowed down development due to tissue burning. But there is no other way, it is important for me to postpone the beginning of its transition to the adult phase for several days, or even a week. Rumors about the tree should fly around this country, and it is desirable for me to resolve all issues on the border with the Empire at this time.
The last spell simply breaks the connection: master - pet. If dark druids appear, they will quickly track me down. Besides, if the world is threatened, it will be easier for me to destroy my own creation. The creature must be at least somewhat capable of fighting back against its creator. Beating a baby is too vile for me.
- Don't be afraid! Attack! Combat technique, vertical strike! - a martial cry of some close combat fighter brought me out of my reverie. Indeed, it would be better to move away from the place where the tree sprouted, any second now the roots along with the tentacles would burst forth.
"Amazing," I turned around in an instant, grabbed the blade of the huge two-handed sword with my palm and squeezed it. The flesh felt the pressure, and judging by the fact that the warrior almost fell over due to inertia, the recoil was not some kind of joke. Unfortunately, the scene resembled a stupid joke about a first-level noob attacking a high-level player. "You did not lose your head in the face of death, decided to attack the creator of the monster in the hopes of breaking the chain of deaths. However, it is very sad that the future cannot be changed by my or your death," the fingers of the other hand pressed together to use the palm as a spear. Surprisingly, a simple glove was able to pierce the warrior's metal armor as if it were made of cardboard.
Meanwhile, the tail has lengthened to knock five brave guys to the ground with one swing. The purple tail has a unique feature associated with its pointed end, easily piercing prone opponents from behind. Against creatures without good equipment, the attack has amazing effectiveness.
"Magic weapon," judging by the Halloween hat, one of the witches cast first-level magic on her ally's weapon. I'm surprised that anyone would use such useless spells, but most likely, first-level magic is the limit for most spellcasters. In any case, a slightly sharper sword is better than nothing.
"Shaker," sending two poisonous darts towards the adventurers, I crossed two opponents off the list of threats even before they hit.
Crafting and enchanting consumables will give the Hands of Umbra a headache. Each of them has exceptional skills and classes that can make up for my wastefulness. Think of it as killing mosquitoes with a grenade. What a waste.
- You will answer for her death, bastard! - They tried to attack me from behind. But a funny situation happened, the attacker's back was attacked by the tree's tentacles that had burst forth. More precisely, by burning tendrils that caused the victim incomparable pain.
As soon as I got the first part of someone else's body, my buff kicked in. The pet gained a triple weight increase, giving it the ability to attack all my enemies. Or rather, all of its enemies, since I'm no longer considered a friendly target, but that's the small stuff. I can jump around in circles for a bit until Demiurge arrives.
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