The energy spear that had pierced through him vanished. Shadow wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, gazing at Shalltear who slowly approached him, and a faint smile touched his lips.
The vampire in military uniform no longer harbored any killing intent towards him. She stopped a meter in front of him, then knelt on one knee in a surprising salute, and exclaimed, "Master."
"What!?"
Those two light words were carried by the wind to Solution Epsilon, who had been observing the battle, yet they triggered a massive ripple in her heart. Lady Shalltear, a loyal Guardian of the Supreme Being, was actually betraying Nazarick and choosing to submit to a stranger!?
The shock lasted only a moment. Considering the strange occurrences that had transpired earlier, Solution Epsilon immediately suspected that Shalltear was being controlled by someone. This situation had to be reported to the Supreme Being Ainz Ooal Gown at once!
Without hesitation, Solution Epsilon immediately used her Assassin skills to conceal her body. At the same time, she fled the cemetery as quickly as possible and cast a [Message] spell. Even if they were intercepted and pursued, as long as they used [Message] to inform the Supreme Being about Lady Shalltear's situation, at least the Supreme Being and the other Guardians would be on alert.
To Solution Epsilon's surprise, her escape turned out to be remarkably easy. Shadow's attention was fully focused on Shalltear. As for the Great Undead Sage and the many other undead...
It seemed that while Shadow and Shalltear were fighting, the Black Scripture team had been very clever and chosen to retreat. The captain, hidden in the darkness, successfully diverted the attention of the strongest Great Undead Sage, creating an opportunity for his teammates to successfully escape. Finally, a large burst of energy pierced out, causing a massive explosion. Taking advantage of the billowing smoke and dust to cover his tracks, the captain immediately turned and left the scene.
As the dust began to settle, the Great Undead Sage stared at the dark shadow in the distance, standing motionless.
Shadow only glanced at Solution Epsilon, the Black Scripture, and others fleeing in all directions, and cared nothing for their escape, for this was exactly what he had expected. The purpose of luring the Black Scripture here was simply to use them to spread two pieces of information: that there was something wrong with the cemetery and that there was a powerful organization called the Dark Alliance.
"As for you, what should I do with you?" Shadow looked at the submissive Shalltear before him and pondered this question inwardly.
"Master, do you need me to capture Solution Epsilon?" Shalltear looked up at Shadow and took the initiative to make this suggestion. Her eyes and expression appeared completely unrestrained, and she seemed remarkably intelligent.
This surprised Shadow slightly, but then he seemed to understand something. In the original lore of Yggdrasil, Shalltear left Nazarick under Ainz Ooal Gown's orders to gather intelligence in the other world. After attacking a group of bandits, she coincidentally met the Black Scripture Team on a secret mission, and was mentally dominated by [Downfall of Castle and Country], a famous World Item.
Afterward, Ainz Ooal Gown learned that Shalltear had "rebelled" and suspected it was due to the influence of a World Item, so he planned to save Shalltear by killing her and then resurrecting her. When the two fought, Shalltear's mental state was truly not like that of a controlled puppet; she was very agile and active. If this was because she had been attacked by Ainz Ooal Gown before, she had entered a recovery state.
Yes, before Ainz Ooal Gown, there was also someone in this world who attacked Shalltear. Why did Shalltear not regain her sanity then, and was still in a "wooden doll" state when Ainz Ooal Gown found her later?
Shadow now seemed to have a clue to this question. It was estimated that when Karie activated [Downfall of Castle and Country] to control Shalltear, she was killed by Shalltear's final attack before she completely lost control. This caused the control effect to be imperfect, leaving Shalltear in an occasionally alert state. Otherwise, Shalltear's mind could function independently while obeying Karie as her master, and she wouldn't be a mere puppet obeying commands.
Capture Solution Epsilon back? The suggestion only lasted a moment in Shadow's mind before he dismissed it. "No need. I want you to immediately return to the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick and destroy the place with all your might."
"Yes, Master!" Without a second's hesitation, Shalltear immediately used [Teleportation] magic after receiving the command and left the cemetery in the blink of an eye.
That was that. Shadow put the [Ultimate Grimoire] back into his backpack and stretched comfortably.
Of course, he knew that Shalltear wouldn't be able to seize the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, but he still did it without considering keeping this vampire by his side. The reason was simple: the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick possessed the World Item [Throne of Kings], which could easily check the current status of all NPCs. The fact that Shalltear was under mental control could not be hidden at all from the scrutiny of such a powerful World Item.
Furthermore, Nazarick also had the ability to locate Shalltear. Once it was known that she had "rebelled," inevitably a large force would be dispatched, either to suppress her or attempt to save her. (Although in the original story it was a one-on-one fight between Ainz Ooal Gown and Shalltear, Aura Bella Fiora and Mare Bello Fiore were also guarding nearby, so it wasn't truly a one-person fight.)
If he truly had a 'Dark Alliance' that wasn't afraid of Nazarick at all, then it wouldn't matter if Shalltear was kept. But alas, the Dark Alliance organization he created was just an empty shell and didn't retain Shalltear's abilities at all. In that case, what was the point of keeping this vampire? To use her as an RBQ? Even if he were truly aroused and would rather be beaten to death by the Great Tomb Alliance tomorrow than not capture a woman from Nazarick, he wouldn't choose Shalltear. As we all know, although Shalltear's breasts appear large, they are actually padded.
So why was Shalltear sent back to attack Nazarick?
Of course, to inform Ainz Ooal Gown that there was a [Downfall of Castle and Country] in the world.
A characteristic of World Items is that as long as the World Item is equipped, the wielder gains a buff called [World Protection] which makes them immune to the control effects of other World Items. Given Ainz Ooal Gown's love for the NPCs, as long as they knew that [Downfall of Castle and Country] was a World Item that could even control an undead like Shalltear, who had "full resistance to mind control," then in the future, when Nazarick's NPCs went on missions, he would surely instruct them to equip themselves with Nazarick's World Items as a means to counter [Downfall of Castle and Country].
In this way, Shadow not only completed the basic task of terrorizing Nazarick daily but also had the opportunity to seize the treasure in the future. After all, once you die in another world, all your equipment will fall with your body on the spot and be plundered by enemies. In the original lore, when Ainz Ooal Gown killed and resurrected Shalltear, her equipment didn't appear on her body due to her resurrection. It was simply that it had already been recovered by the people of Nazarick, so it wasn't lost.
Oh, wait! It seems I forgot to ask Shalltear to take off her equipment!
Oh damn! It feels like losing 100 million Gold Coins!
Shadow gazed at the night sky and couldn't help but feel a slight regret, but since things had reached this point, there was nothing he could do. By now, Shalltear was probably already fighting the people of Nazarick.
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