Screams echoed in the chamber as Demiurge observed the "interrogation" of one of the foolish humans who got in the way of his master's plan.
Neuronist was hard at work, masterfully peeling the flesh of his chest before inserting one of her tools inside.
"ARGGHHHH!" The screams got louder, bathing him in their sweet symphony.
Demiurge let this painful melody soothe his evil soul for a moment longer before continuing his questioning.
Seeing the disturbing monster with tentacles on its head stopping momentarily, the man began to happily talk about the power structure of the Theocracy and everything he knew about powerful figures in history and the present.
He talked without stopping, seemingly afraid that any hesitation on his part might make the horrible monster resume the torture. No secret was more important than stopping the pain he was feeling.
As he listened to the man, Demiurge mentally compared the information he received with what he had heard from the other prisoners.
He trusted none of what these inferior beings said. Their weak minds were quick to conjure up facts in an attempt to free themselves from the torture. To make up for that, he had to cross-reference their testimonies to separate facts from fiction.
Listening to their filthy lies made him feel annoyed, but there was no helping it. He didn't want to bring false information to his master.
Just the thought of it was unbearable. To disappoint his master in any way would be a betrayal deserving of death.
Looking at these prisoners, Demiurge could no longer hide the disdain he was feeling.
What a pathetic race of creatures.
Save for Aureole Omega and Yamaiko-sama's little sister, he was hard-pressed to see humans as anything more than cattle to be used as food or entertainment, but his master seemed to think otherwise.
What role does that small human village have in Ainz-sama's plans?
Even with his intellect, Demiurge couldn't quite see through his master's plans, which he found a most humbling experience.
As expected of Ainz-sama! I can't begin to phantom the depth of his cunning.
His thoughts drifted at a quick pace.
In no time, he found what was true and what was false in the prisoner's statement, and at the same time, singled out the most important details from it and wrote them in his report to Ainz-sama.
Dragon Lords are the biggest threat, but the Slaine Theocracy is also suspicious, as is the Elf County that can engage them in warfare for so long.
"You can continue, Neuronist." Demiurge smiled at his colleague before leaving the room.
"Ufufu! Thank you, Demiurge-sama." The tentacles on Neuronist's face moved happily as she resumed her work.
The cold air outside the Room of Truth hit him as soon as he opened the door, but he ignored it.
The temperature here was so low that if any of the prisoners somehow escaped from their rooms, they would probably freeze and die in less than 10 minutes.
But again, even if they left this building, where would they even go?
The thought of letting one of them escape the room only to find that there was no escaping from this place crossed his mind, but no matter how fun it seemed, he could not risk one of them dying. His master made it clear that he should try to keep these prisoners alive as much as possible, and he couldn't go against his orders.
This place was the Frozen Prison, an area on the Fifth Floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, an ice hell for any enemies that might find themselves trapped here.
Demiurge walked on the icy floor, receiving greetings from the occasional servants. Behind him followed three of his Evil Lords, Wrath, Lust, and Envy. There were 7 Evil Lords on his floor, bestowed upon him by the Supreme Beings to be his bodyguards.
Their levels were all in the 80's, so they could be considered some of the highest-level servants in Nazarick, and they had the power to match.
After a few minutes walking, he found the one he was looking for already waiting for him.
"Demiurge-sama." The woman bowed briefly upon seeing him.
"Hello, Nigredo." He politely bowed back.
"How is the situation outside?"
This faceless, undead woman with long black hair was Nigredo, Albedo's older sister.
She was a powerful arcane magic caster and the best diviner in Nazarick. By his master's orders, she had been coordinating with many of his colleagues on missions involving the outside world.
Her skills made her incredibly helpful in finding anything, and also in hiding from any divination an enemy might cast their way.
As the one responsible for Nazarick's defenses, Demiurge had asked for her help in monitoring the situation outside of the tomb.
"Everything is going well. Aura-sama and Shalltear-sama have returned safely after retrieving the corpses, and no threats were detected. Ainz-sama continues in the human village with Sebas-sama, but there is some conflict going on between two human groups outside of the village."
"Oh? And which groups are these? Do they pose a threat to Ainz-sama's security?"
This was his biggest concern.
"They don't seem to be a cause for concern. One of them is comprised of low-level casters with low-level angel summons, while the other is made out of low-level warriors. Ainz-sama looked to be on good terms with the leader of the warrior group, but right now, he is only observing their fight." She seemed tired throughout the report, which should be impossible for an undead.
"That's good to hear, but are you ok? You seem tired." There was genuine concern in his voice.
"I'm okay, it's just that Albedo already asked me about this, and she… got worked up about it."
"I see." He could now understand why she looked like this. Albedo could be very intense with her affection for their master.
"Also, Nethys-sama was asking if you could give her a few of the captured knights after you finish interrogating them."
The image of the Vice-Floor Guardian of the 5th floor flashed through his mind.
She was a skeleton warrior created by their master.
"What does she want to do with them?" This piqued his interest.
"She said that she wanted to see if the warriors from this world fight in different ways from the ones she knows."
I see. That's very like her.
Just as he was about to answer, a [Message] was transmitted to him.
[Demiurge.]
[Yes, Ainz-sama?]
[I need you to go to the entrance of the First Floor. I'll summon you very soon. Have Shalltear waiting with you.]
***
He seems to be holding up well.
Ainz observed the battle happening in the distance through the eyes of a Wraith he created. He achieved this using [Undead Slave Sight], a spell that let him see what his undead creations saw.
Gazef and his warrior troop were facing a group of dozens of casters and their angel summons.
They were at a disadvantage, but thanks to Gazef's superior power, none of his subordinates had died so far, although he seemed to be struggling to maintain this as time went by.
The angels he killed with difficulty were quickly replaced by new angels summoned by the group of casters, so he didn't make any progress towards defeating his opponents, and only got more and more tired as time passed.
Any attempt at reducing his distance to his foes was quickly stopped by another group of angels brandishing their swords at him.
Archangel Flames and Principality Observation, huh? These are 3rd and 4th-tier summons from Yggdrasil, so what are they doing here?
Not only were these members of the Sunlight Scripture using summons from Yggdrasil, but they also used many familiar spells from the game.
Could it be that this world developed in a similar way to the game, and as such, this coincidence came to be?
He found that unlikely. It would be too much of a coincidence for all of these to be exactly the same as in the game.
I'm more inclined to believe that other players already made their way into this world and taught these spells to the natives.
Ainz didn't think that Nazarick was a special case. If they moved into this world, others could have been transported here as well.
Seeing as these people were already well-versed in Yggdrasil spells, he guessed that some players might have come to this world a long time ago.
Now the question is, are there any other players currently living in this world?
Do any of them live in these neighboring countries?
And will they oppose Nazarick?
Ainz considered the number of problems this new information might present to his quest for world domination.
It seems I'll need to be even more cautious going forth.
Nazarick was strong enough to face a big group of level 100 players, but there would be many casualties. When everything was a game, he might not feel too heartbroken with an NPC's death, but now that all of them came to life, he did not want to endanger any of them.
"Ainz-sama, why didn't you go help the Warrior Captain?" A small voice took him away from his thoughts.
It was Enri Enmot, who was waiting together with the other villagers for a chance to escape to the forest.
It's because I wanted to use him to test the Sunlight Scripture, is not something I can say, right?
"It's because I was not sure if there were any other people lurking around the village, waiting for me to get away to attack, so I had to stay here to protect you all."
His answer seemed to satisfy her and the other villagers who were looking at him with worried looks.
Just to be sure, he had given an item to the Warrior Captain, and he thought that the time to use it was coming.
In his vision, Gazef's ring shone briefly, and after that, the man seemed to grow stronger, quickly dispatching a number of angels with one attack.
He marched forward, killing a few more angels on his path, but eventually the boost ended, and he was surrounded.
Seeing that Gazef would die, Ainz silently activated the item.
His vision shifted, and suddenly, he was in an open field.
In front of him, at a distance, a group of magic casters had confused expressions on their faces.
They were looking at him and Sebas, searching for the group of warriors that had been there until a second ago.