"Dragons, huh?"
And a group of them at that. Ainz tensed slightly. Depending on the situation, he might need to go all out...
"Has Aura used her special skills to observe the approximate levels of the targets?"
"Yes. According to Lady Aura's observation, the leading dragon is around level 75. The seven dragons behind... seem to be only slightly stronger than Frost Dragons. One of them is more prominent, about level 60 or so."
— Seems there's no need to be overly nervous.
"Tell Albedo there's no need to dispatch reinforcements. Continue surveillance. If there's any new situation, report to me immediately."
"Understood!... Also, lord Aura asked me to inquire... 'Lord Ainz~ If possible, can I handle these dragons?~'... like that."
She imitated her so vividly. Does Endoma have a talent for this? Ainz smiled inwardly, like a parent who has just accidentally discovered a special skill in their child.
"Ah... Unfortunately, Endoma. Please convey my apologies to her. I need to handle this personally. Let them in."
"Lord Ainz doesn't need to apologize!... But understood. This subordinate will truthfully convey Lord Ainz's words. Then, this subordinate will take their leave now..."
"Mn."
The girl's voice disappeared from his mind.
And Demiurge beside him immediately leaned in.
"I see... Lord Ainz had seen through all of this long ago. Was the purpose of deliberately spending time with those humans for this...!"
"Huh? Ah... Mn, that's right."
"As expected of Lord Ainz... This subordinate actually dared to delusionally attempt to interfere with Lord's plan... Ah! Please forgive my stupidity."
"De, Demiurge, don't take it to heart. Alright, let's hurry and prepare... to welcome our new guests."
There was an unfortunate team of Imperial Sky Guards who happened to be flying in the area on patrol... In the blink of an eye, before they could even cry out, they were eaten clean by the flying behemoths that suddenly barged into view, like a school of fish encountering a raging shark.
All were treated as the dragons' "food". Along with their precious flying mounts, hippogriffs, not a single survivor was left.
"Lord Icarus, you aren't eating at all? Not hungry?... No appetite?"
Upon hearing this, the leading black dragon glanced at the speaking silver dragon.
"Deldarave... Eating those humans was just to boost morale. Do you think it's to fill my stomach?"
"Hmm? Eh? Ah! No... How could that be, haha, no no no, how could that be, no way!"
"Sigh... Buck up. Don't be careless just because the opponents are only humans and undead."
"Un, understood!"
Watching Deldarave slink away, Icarus turned his gaze back to the other side of the plain — the Baharuth Empire's execution ground.
(... 'Filth'... huh... Even the Platinum Elder regards it as a formidable enemy... Must not underestimate it.)
Humans are nothing to fear. No matter how many come, it's just a matter of sweeping them away with a flick of the tail. The key is that 'filthy' country, the undead sent by the Sorcerer Kingdom... They are probably at the level of Demon Gods.
Demon Gods.
Disasters that once ravaged the land, each possessing terrifying power and strange special abilities, truly synonymous with destruction, leaving only ruins in their wake...
Two hundred years ago, Icarus was once proud of his power, calling himself the "Dark Moon Dragon Lord", occupying an entire horned human country as his lair and accepting their offerings.
However, when these horned humans requested him to face a Demon God, Icarus was defeated.
A pitiful defeat...!
He used all his strength but was always at a disadvantage. In the end, he had to abandon those lowly creatures and flee shamefully, only to be pursued all the way by the Demon God... Finally, he was fortunate enough to encounter the Platinum Elder manipulating armor and was rescued.
Since then, Icarus understood that only those who can use Primeval Magic are truly the 'Dragon Lords'... What kind of Dragon Lord was he!
So he abandoned the title of "Dark Moon Dragon Lord" and willingly submitted to the Platinum Dragon Lord. Over time, he has now grown to become a trusted general of the Platinum Dragon Lord, guarding one of his main bases in the East.
A few days ago, Platinum urgently summoned him from the East to the Council State.
In that country where Platinum conducts multi-ethnic fusion experiments, Icarus didn't even have time to exchange pleasantries with the Elder he hadn't seen in a long time before receiving his "mission" for this trip.
"Icarus, only you can accomplish this mission...! Sorry, please go. You are my most capable general... Now, you should be able to fight on par with my armored form, right?"
Create a disturbance in the Imperial capital, kill the degenerate Baharuth Emperor, rescue Rigrit, recover Azuth (armor), and finally, if possible, recover an undead lent by the Sorcerer Kingdom for research.
This is the mission Platinum gave to Icarus.
— The Platinum Dragon Lord is preparing to eliminate the Baharuth Emperor.
Of course, not in the capacity of the Council State. How could Icarus' actions be related to the Council State? This black dragon of unknown origin just happened to pass by the Empire and just happened to kill a human emperor.
There is indeed an element of anger in this plan. The old friend Invern was actually ordered to be executed by this emperor, and because she was undead, there must be no remains left... Platinum felt a long-lost "anger".
But besides anger, there is also a component of strategy — or rather, the component of strategy is greater.
Once the Emperor is killed and the Imperial capital is destroyed, the Sorcerer Kingdom, as the suzerain state, will be labeled as "incompetent in protecting its vassal state".
The reason the Sorcerer Kingdom completely destroyed the Kingdom was probably to show the world the consequences of defying it and to use the obedient Empire as an example.
So what if this "example" is destroyed immediately?
Even if you obediently submit to the Sorcerer Kingdom, you won't be safe — Platinum wants the world to have this understanding, to offset the effects of the Sorcerer Kingdom's carrot and stick.
Depending on the situation, Icarus might be brought to the forefront, as the leader of the Eastern base, to make the Sorcerer Kingdom aware of the threat of the Dragon Race and have a containing effect.
This is the Platinum Dragon Lord's plan.
Among the forces Platinum can mobilize, excluding the Council State, Icarus should be the most trustworthy. In terms of both strength and loyalty, Icarus can be said to be Platinum's right-hand man... Or it's not an exaggeration to compare him to another "armored form" of Platinum.
And yet, Icarus has felt a sense of unease since just now.
(— Why... it feels like someone is staring at me... But special skills and my nose haven't detected anyone... Is it because Deldarave and the others ate humans, and the smell of blood is causing an illusion...)
He glanced at Deldarave and found that the other was still smacking its lips from time to time, probably savoring the rare delicacy — human races are rarely hunted in the Eastern base.
Although Deldarave is a bit unreliable, thoughtless, reckless, and hasty, in terms of strength, he is quite formidable and a useful subordinate.
"Hey, get ready. We're almost there."
"Ah, yes! Then Lord Icarus, let me take the lead!"
As he spoke, Deldarave accelerated, drawing a rough arc in the air, with continuous sonic booms sounding, and flew rapidly towards the execution ground.
"Wait —! Ah, forget it."
Originally, this hasty fellow wasn't included in the formation. It was completely wandering outside the flying formation, moving left and right, up and down, so its presence or absence didn't affect the formation of the entire team.
(Although the Platinum Elder doesn't like it much, this guy has its uses... Such as a vanguard, a decoy, or... a disposable piece.)
One must not be careless when dealing with Demon God-level enemies. Since someone is willing to volunteer to test the waters, that's the best thing.
Icarus narrowed his eyes, controlled the formation behind to maintain a relative distance from Deldarave, and also began to accelerate.
"Hoho, here they come."
The air vibrations from the distance had formed a considerable hurricane, blowing everyone's robes loudly.
The moment the winding lightning of a silver dragon entered the execution ground, it let out a deafening roar at the people on the execution platform.
— ROOOOOOOOOAR!!!
"Oh my, what a noisy fellow, Lord Ainz." The frog-like demon showed a bizarre smile.
"Hahaha, indeed, Demiurge. They all look very energetic."
Jircniv stared in horror at the two monsters chatting leisurely — those are dragons! A group of them! Yes, the Sorcerer King does have dragons in his service, but this is a large group! Aren't they... aren't they nervous at all! !
At this moment, a beautiful girl suddenly appeared at the edge of the execution platform.
"Lord Ainz~!"
The silver-haired girl in a purplish-red dress immediately knelt before Ainz and bowed.
"Oh, Shalltear. Raise your head."
Presumably thinking she would be useful, Shalltear dispelled "Complete Unknowability".
"No! Lord Ainz! Please first allow me to apologize for failing to come to your protection in time!"
Because she received an order to lie in ambush, Shalltear hesitated for a moment longer than Demiurge, thus missing the "rare and precious" opportunity to protect him.
She shot a jealous glance at her "successful" colleague, who returned a crafty smile.
Although it was only a few drops, he was now the first guardian of Nazarick to shed blood to protect the Supreme One. Facing his colleague's jealousy, Demiurge felt immense glory and pride.
Ainz looked back and forth between the two in the strange atmosphere, not understanding the situation.
"Ah — ahem! Shalltear, don't blame yourself. You did nothing wrong..."
Ainz's words were interrupted. The silver dragon was already approaching.
"Gahaha —!! Are you the undead borrowed by that Emperor? Just a skeleton, but you dress quite well!!"
(— I won't let Icarus get the credit. Before him, I will eliminate these pests first!)
(Just because he's older than me, he relies on the Platinum Dragon Lord's favor to act like a boss in front of me...! Just you wait... Sooner or later, I will be greater than the Platinum Dragon Lord!)
Upon hearing the dragon's extremely unreasonable roar, Shalltear and Demiurge immediately wanted to act, but Ainz waved his hand, stopping the two with angry expressions.
He stood at the edge of the execution platform, facing the rapidly approaching dragon, motionless.
"This is a 'guillotine', you know?"
"Oh! Undead! So what!"
"No, I just thought it might be nice to do something appropriate... that's all."
"Haha! What nonsense! Watch me bite you to pieces!"
With that, Deldarave opened its huge mouth, its sharp teeth shining with a dagger-like fierce light, and charged straight at the Sorcerer King —! !
"「Magic Maximum Enhancement • Reality Slash」."
An invisible blade flew from the King's fingertips, neatly "decapitating" the offending dragon.
— Gah? !
The lonely head in mid-air opened its mouth wide, emitting a confused cry of horror.
Suddenly, it couldn't feel its own weight. Why did its body seem to disappear?
What's happening? Where are its wings? Why are they gone? Where are its legs? Where is its stomach? Why do they all seem to be gone??
Ah, they... why...
Then, its brain died, its eyes lost their fierce light, and it fell to the ground like trash.
First, the bright silver giant body fell to the ground, becoming a mountain of dead meat enough for an ordinary human family to eat for a year; then, a huge amount of blood poured down like sauce; finally, the head — thud, thud, landing on the back of the head, rolling a few times, and stopping. Although the mouth was still open, it could no longer make a sound.
"Well... since this is an execution ground, I couldn't help but do something fitting. Dragons are precious all over. Maybe 'Heart Grasp' would be more appropriate... But since it's done, we'll recover them like this later."
"... Ghi...!!"
The Emperor let out a sound that was definitely not befitting an Emperor. His palms tightly gripping the armrests of the throne were covered in fine sweat.
When the dragon came, he wanted to run, but when the dragon died immediately, he wanted to run even more.
Baziwood was shaking. At some point, out of a warrior's instinct, he drew his sword to defend himself, but the sword was visibly shaking, and the shaking became more and more intense. The tip of the sword was full of hesitation, not knowing who to point at.
As for Fluder —
"Oh! Oh oh oh! Master, Master! Disciple wants to ask what magic that was! Forgive disciple's incompetence for not seeing it. Please definitely tell disciple! Oh!"
"Ah... Mn, it just sliced through space... Anyway, I'll tell you later."
"Space... Space! Ahaha, slicing through space!... Disciple understands. When Master is free, please definitely explain it to disciple...!"
And Icarus and the others, who had reached the middle of the execution ground, were of course greatly alarmed when they saw this absurd scene.
"— Stop!!"
It and the group of dragons landed on the barren ground, their huge claws digging into the ground, as if they didn't want to move forward at all. Then, like a flock of chickens, they stared wide-eyed at the other side of doom.
— That's... How is that possible?! Deldarave was actually killed with just one blow...!
"They're not stupid either. Shalltear, go. Don't let them run away, but don't kill them either."
"Understood!"
Watching Shalltear fly away and ignoring Jircniv's confused murmurs like "Huh? Isn't she a concubine? Isn't she a concubine? Huh?", Ainz began to think about how to deal with these dragons.
Dragons are precious materials all over. Ainz definitely wants to recover them all, but there is another purpose that Ainz finds hard to give up.
That is "deterrence".
These dragon groups that have unlawfully intruded into the "Sorcerer Kingdom's territory" should be killed in this "execution ground" with exaggerated effects, preferably where everyone can see their end.
Let everyone realize the miserable end of invading the Sorcerer Kingdom's vassal states.
And through this protection of the Empire, the effect of the carrot and stick can also be strengthened, letting people know how safe it is to be under the Sorcerer Kingdom's protection — even dragon groups are no match for it.
Ainz weighed the two benefits and finally came up with a two-in-one solution.
Don't recover them for now. Just preserve the bodies intact here! In a way that makes people feel fear and is shocking...
"Ah... Then, let's preserve them by 「salting」 them...!"