Valkyrie's Shadow

Before the Storm: Act 8, Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A tense hush fell over the crowd as Albedo and Shalltear stared at one another from their places on the sand of the arena. Ainz’s gaze went back and forth between the two duellists as his mind fell into familiar patterns of thought and analysis whenever he got a whiff of PvP.

A Blackguard and a Cleric…this is going to be a long fight.

That was how it tended to go in such a matchup, at least. Unlike the fast-paced duels between DPS classes, this one would be a grind that hinged heavily on long-term resource management.

“Is this inaction prudent on Lady Albedo’s part?” Baroness Zahradnik murmured, “Lady Shalltear could be using the time to enchant herself.”

“Pride will stay her hand,” Cocytus said from over Ainz’s shoulder.

“Indeed,” Demiurge said from beside Cocytus. “In a real combat situation, I would prefer that battles be handled efficiently, but Ainz-sama declared this tournament a contest of skill and experience. Not only is their worth as combatants being measured, but also their eligibility for…other things.”

“Both preparation and deception are considered skills on the battlefield, my lord,” the Baroness noted.

“You are not incorrect,” Demiurge replied. “In this case, however…hmm, let us say that Shalltear has chosen to take the high road.”

No, it was more that they had always been that way. He had just considered it something like a collective personality quirk from the beginning. At times, he considered it slightly problematic, but he still wanted to honour the memory of his friends. Time had shown how rigid they could be, however, so now he struggled to find ways to foster change.

“Albedo’s methods have proven effective so far,” Ainz said.

“I am not opposed to a tale where the villain prevails,” Demiurge’s smile could be heard through his voice.

“Unlikely,” Cocytus said. “Albedo’s odds, negligible.”

Ainz turned his head to look at Lady Zahradnik.

“What do you think, Zahradnik-dono?”

“My experience with such lofty contests is limited to spectating this tournament, Your Majesty,” the young noblewoman replied. “I had hoped to gain some insight on duels between divine casters and knights in Lady Albedo’s match against Lord Mare, but, well…”

“It doesn’t hurt to speculate,” Ainz said. “I’m interested in what someone of your background thinks of these fights.”

“To be honest,” Lady Zahradnik said, “I was hoping to find some answers for myself. Despite my position, I am still inexperienced – especially when it comes to fighting magic casters of any type. I was hoping that Lady Albedo would provide some clues as to how it is done.”

“By all reports, you seem to have acquitted yourself well in nearly every situation. The campaigns that you’ve fought in have had plenty of magic casters in the enemy ranks.”

“As a general rule,” the Baroness said, “I conduct war as unfairly as possible. The Royal Army’s assets are not personal playthings, after all. Magic casters are either exhausted by expendable forces – such as spell-derived summons, Squire Zombies, and the Zombies that they raise – before being safely disposed of, or they are eliminated before they have a chance to do anything.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Ainz said. “The chance for an even fight is more rare for individuals in the military than I initially thought.”

Pragmatically speaking, that wasn’t something that should ever change. It was disappointing for a world in which so many familiar things from Yggdrasil existed, however.

“They still haven’t moved,” Lady Zahradnik murmured as she touched her fingers to her ear clip. “Are they moving faster than I can follow…? No, their health and mana remain unchanged…”

He wasn’t sure what the delay was about, either. Was there some technical issue on the field? A glance at the judge’s stand showed that Aura was just as confused.

“What are you plotting?” Shalltear finally broke the silence between them.

“That’s no business of yours,” Albedo sniffed.

As she replied, the Guardian Overseer produced a silver disk. Shalltear’s lance led the way as she flew forward, but Albedo casually parried the attack before it could reach the magic item in her hand. The silver disk emitted its visual effect – an equally silvery glow that momentarily enveloped its user – but that gave the crown no real indication of what it did.

Albedo looked down imperiously on her much shorter opponent from behind her bardiche, 3F.

“Did you honestly believe an attack of that level could get past my defence?”

In response, Shalltear pressed her offensive, Pipette Lance testing her opponent’s guard with a series of rapid jabs. Albedo made an unconcerned show of parrying each attack, continuing to wield 3F with a single gauntleted hand.

“Lady Albedo is incredibly strong,” Baroness Zahradnik said. “Even when I employ all of the defensive techniques and Martial Arts at my disposal, I still get a hole put in me by attacks like those.”

They looked like regular auto-attacks to him; no different from the blows she had delivered against him when she had been mind-controlled. Early on, Ainz found that one could learn how to handle one’s weapons better, but, ultimately, any attack that landed was bound to stats, equipment, and Job Classes.

Come to think of it, Albedo watched the fight between me and Shalltear. Can she use what she saw to her advantage?

Probably not. The fight playing out before them was a fundamentally different one from back then.

Albedo’s flawless defence persisted, filling the area with the continuous clash of her weapon against Shalltear’s. After a full three minutes, Shalltear leapt back with a single flap of her wings, blasting the Guardian Overseer with a swirl of loose sand. Albedo took advantage of the opportunity to pull out another magic item: a large white grimoire that emanated a sacred aura.

“Is Lady Albedo using an item that confers limitless stamina?” The Baroness asked.

“What makes you ask that?”

“Undead beings are tireless. Those inexperienced in melee combat always seem to underestimate that particular trait. An Undead combatant can fight at full force non-stop. Defending against an opponent fighting at full force requires a not insignificant amount of stamina.”

That was an interesting question. Yggdrasil didn’t have ‘stamina’ in the same sense that their new world’s natives did. Instead, it had resources – such as mana – and Skill timers. In the game, one could run around an entire world without getting winded. With this being the case, magic items that made the user tireless were entirely a product of the New World. If Albedo had procured such an item from somewhere, he didn’t know about it.

The grimoire in Albedo’s palm flipped open, its pages turning of their own accord as she activated its effect. This time, Shalltear didn’t try to interrupt her opponent.

“「Anti-Evil Protection」, 「Align Weapon」, 「Divine–”

Now it was Albedo’s turn to interrupt Shalltear. The Vampire Cleric held out her weapon in a two-handed parry, but was still sent crashing into the wall behind her. Albedo’s follow-through caught Shalltear solidly in the waist, cleaving through armour and flesh to smash into the indestructible barrier behind her foe. Shalltear darted away, leaving a generous spatter of blood where she once stood.

The savage exchange would have probably drawn a collective gasp from a crowd in Arwintar, but Nazarick’s denizens remained silent.

“I don’t understand,” Lady Zahradnik said. “She could have cast those spells before they started exchanging blows.”

“Shalltear settled on a cold start,” Ainz told her. “It wasn’t a bad decision.”

“What is a ‘cold start’, Your Majesty?” The young noblewoman asked.

“Essentially, it’s going in without using any spells or skills with the idea that doing so beforehand is a gamble. Since Albedo has shown that she’s using equipment to counter her opponents, Shalltear is trying to figure out what she’s up to before using her mana to best adapt to the situation.”

“Surely, there must be some better method…”

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Ainz said. “Albedo is fundamentally a Knight and her build is focused on defence. She can’t burst someone down like Cocytus can.”

If she wanted to be obnoxious about it, Shalltear could probably fly around until she regenerated to full health. Albedo was too slow to catch her. Fortunately for the spectators, Shalltear was quick to bank back to the fight. The sound of Albedo’s expert defence filled the air once again as she fended off another series of probing attacks.

Shalltear is fighting a lot smarter than back then.

While they didn’t seem to reduce their victims to pet-level AI in the New World, charm and domination-type effects did noticeably dull the mind. He could only be thankful for that. Watching Shalltear methodically work on her opponent greatly reminded him of Peroroncino’s approach to taking down unfamiliar targets.

The duelists separated again. Again, Albedo brought out her white grimoire. Shalltear reversed direction as soon as it appeared, catching Albedo off guard and batting the item out of her hand.

“That’s enough of that nonsense,” Shalltear said.

“What is that book?” Lady Zahradnik asked.

“An item that cures curses,” Ainz answered. “Shalltear can inflict various detrimental effects through her attacks and items that grant immunity to curses don’t exist. Using items or relying on others to cure curses are the only ways to get rid of them.”

Albedo swept her bardiche in a wide arc to drive Shalltear back. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to prevent the Cleric from picking up the fallen grimoire on the way out. She stuffed it in her inventory with a mocking smirk.

“Perhaps you shouldn’t rely on things you’re not supposed to have,” Shalltear chided her opponent.

“That’s rich, coming from you,” Albedo shot back. “Just who has been making outsiders do all of her work for her?”

“Hoh…” Shalltear’s voice lowered to a dangerous note, “So that’s why you’ve been trying to steal them from me?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb! I’m sick of you trying to seduce my vassal with your big, black pole!”

Uh, phrasing?

“Hah?”

Shalltear crashed straight into Albedo, sending the both of them tumbling over the ground. The minutes thereafter were filled with insults and incoherent screeching from both combatants, punctuated by the clash of their weapons. Lady Zahradnik looked up from the notes she was taking – or at least trying to take – with a frown.

“I cannot follow this fight anymore,” she sighed. “It has become too advanced for me.”

Rather than becoming too advanced, didn’t it just devolve into a catfight?

Neither had builds that were proficient at grappling like Sebas or Yuri, so the result was a chaotic mess of screaming, scratching, and rolling about.

“This development,” Cocytus said, “favours Shalltear.”

Stolen story; please report.

“I concur,” Demiurge said. “Shalltear might not be able to do much damage in this situation, but simply allowing her to touch you can lead to the accumulation of detrimental effects.”

That much was true. Being able to hinder conventional healing spells and effects was merely one thing that Shalltear’s Cursed Knight Job Class was capable of. Broadly speaking, a Cursed Knight could inflict many of the same debuffs that various Undead were capable of with their touch attacks. Of course, Albedo had done what she could to counteract the effects, but there was a limit to what her borrowed items could do.

The two combatants continued struggling, rolling over the sand as they grappled with one another. When Shalltear went in to bite her opponent, however, Albedo kicked her away with an enraged shout. Shalltear settled into a hover a dozen metres above the ground to leer down at the Guardian Overseer.

“You slut,” Albedo spat, “I’m not one of your playthings. Only Ainz-sama is allowed to bite me in the neck!”

Ainz froze in his seat. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he could see the Baroness stealing glances at him.

“I thought I could get away with a bonus,” Shalltear shrugged. “Oh, well. Do you honestly believe that you can continue the fight in your condition?”

Albedo snorted in response, reaching into her inventory. Shalltear’s smug expression transformed into one of outrage as the Albedo produced another white grimoire. Shalltear charged once again, her lance leading the way in another attempt to dislodge the offending item from her opponent’s hand. At the last moment, however, the trajectory of her attack inexplicably changed, sending the tip of her weapon into the blade of Albedo’s bardiche.

“I was wondering if she would do that,” Lady Zahradnik said. “How long can she keep it up for?”

No one provided an answer to her question. Ainz wasn’t sure what she was referring to in the first place. He leaned forward slightly, trying to figure out what was going on as Albedo casually tanked another rapid sequence of attacks from Shalltear.

Tanked? Could it be that she’s forcing Shalltear to attack her with taunts?

He knew that taunts existed in their new world, but he was so used to how they worked in Yggdrasil that it was still his default thinking. To Ainz, it was a PvE mechanic: taunts working the same way in PvP would be a nightmare, to say the least.

“Is this something you do as well, Zahradnik-dono?” Ainz asked.

“If necessary, Your Majesty,” the Baroness answered. “Mostly during training. The Death Knights are much better than I am in terms of raw defence and durability, so I usually leave it to them in real combat.”

“I see. For the most part, I’ve only witnessed Adventurers do this while fighting Monsters and the like.”

“It is standard practice for heavy infantry in the armies that I have observed.”

As Shalltear continued to attack Albedo, he tried to imagine what a Player would do if they were locked down by taunts. Could they break free somehow, or would they be forced to fight the tank indefinitely? It was a supremely annoying scenario…and a deadly one, if the tank had support.

“「Force Explosion」!”

A massive shockwave slammed into Albedo, forcing her out of melee range. Shalltear stood where she was, looking visibly confused before clicking her tongue. She raised her free hand to cast another spell.

“「Resist Break」 …tch, 「Resist Break」! 「Imp–”

Albedo appeared in front of Shalltear, polearm cocked at her shoulder for a massive overhead swing. She drove her weapon into Shalltear’s collarbone, sending the Vampire face-first into the ground. Shalltear pushed herself up to her hands and knees, spitting out a mouthful of sand.

“「Greater Teleportation」!”

Ainz sent his gaze around the arena, trying to figure out where Shalltear had gone. It stopped again at Albedo, who had her weapon at the ready for some reason. Then, Shalltear reappeared in front of her.

“Wha–”

Shalltear’s expression of shock was swatted right off her face by 3F. The ground shook as Albedo followed through with her attack, assailing her opponent mercilessly as she tumbled away in an attempt to regain her footing.

“What just happened?” Lady Zahradnik asked.

“Albedo used one of her Skills,” Ainz answered. “Punisher’s Shackles. A target struck by the attack is inflicted by an effect that teleports them back to the wielder if they end up outside of melee range. The further away the target gets, the harder the teleportation is to resist. It doesn’t matter how they got away or how far they are so long as they remain on the same world.”

“…the same world, Your Majesty?”

“Ah, erm, how should I say this…consider it a technical limitation on the effect. For example, if you hit someone with it and they somehow instantly transport themselves to the moon, it won’t teleport them back to you.”

“I am not sure if I can begin to understand why it works that way but…are you suggesting that this is something that I am also capable of?”

Ainz carefully considered his response. Mechanically speaking, certain melee Job Classes – tanks and mage killers in particular – gained access to a similar or identical Skill line in their thirties. Since the Baroness was capable of keeping up with the POP spawns in her training sessions against Aureole, she was probably close to that point level-wise. She was also one of the most prolific Martial Arts users in the Adventurer Guild, so she would have been tasked with researching the attack anyway if they wanted to look into it.

He looked over his shoulder at the two Floor Guardians seated behind him.

“What do you think, Demiurge? Cocytus?”

“Hmm…I believe it’s an experiment worth conducting,” Demiurge said. “Simply because the technique doesn’t appear to exist in the region as a Martial Art doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do our due diligence in investigating the possibility.”

“Mm,” Cocytus released a blast of frigid air. “Such a development; the Royal Army benefits.”

“And there you have it, Zahradnik-dono,” Ainz said. “I’m quite interested in what you’ll come up with, but don’t wear yourself out. Some techniques take lifetimes to develop, after all.”

Out on the field, Albedo continued chipping away at Shalltear’s health. From what he had seen so far, Albedo’s strategy involved maintaining a simple rotation that kept Shalltear on an involuntary offensive. The gaps in the rotation where Shalltear tried to escape and recover were closed using a variety of Skills like Punisher’s Shackles.

“「Brilliant Radiance」!”

Blinding light cast stark shadows from every spectator, momentarily obscuring Ainz’s vision. It seemed like a good opportunity for Shalltear to escape her predicament, but her onslaught continued due to Albedo’s taunt effect still being active.

“「Negative Impact Shield」! 「Vermillion Nova」!”

By the time the light subsided, Shalltear had cast several Skills and spells in quick succession. Despite taking damage from a series of high-tier spells, Albedo looked none the worse for wear.

I see, so that’s her play.

By keeping Shalltear taunted, all the Cleric could do was attack. Shalltear wasn’t specialised in magical offence, so any spells that she used against the highly resistant Albedo did relatively little against her massive health pool. Some of the equipment she had borrowed further augmented her magical defences, so attacking her with damage spells was essentially a fool’s errand, wasting mana that should have instead been used for buffs and healing. Except…

Ainz silently counted cooldowns as the fight turned into a grind that was far from showy. Three rotations later, Shalltear made her move.

“「Force Sanctuary」.”

There it is.

A defensive zone made of pure mana filled the area around Shalltear, filling the area with white radiance. Shalltear’s crimson gaze flared through the barrier to fix Albedo on the other side.

“Did you think you could overwhelm me with your boring tactics?” She said, “That you could defy the will of the Supreme Beings? Know your place!”

The will of the Supreme Beings? What was she talking about?

“「Summon Undead X」.”

Four Undead rose next to Shalltear inside the barrier. They were mummies, but unlike the shrivelled corpses wrapped in tattered bandages that one might imagine, their dressings were pristine. Each wore a suit of gleaming golden armour, which included a painted golden mask and striped metal nemes. Their regal bearing was unmistakable and they brandished their sceptres with an air of unshakeable authority.

“Risen Kingpriests,” Ainz said. “This is going to be trouble for Albedo.”

“What are they, Your Majesty?” Lady Zahradnik asked.

“A type of Undead Cleric,” Ainz answered. “They’re tough enough that Albedo can’t easily get rid of them, and since Shalltear is the summoner…”

Still safe within her Force Sanctuary, Shalltear raised a hand, palm-upwards.

“「Blessing」, 「Bolster Undead」, 「Mass Lesser Strength」, 「Circle of Anti-Evil Protection」…”

Albedo took several experimental swings at the barrier of force as Shalltear made her preparations in safety. There was no physical impact from her attacks: they simply couldn’t get through. When the barrier finally faded, Albedo wasted no time using a taunt to pull Shalltear out of her Circle of Anti-Evil Protection. The fight continued as it had before, save for one notable exception.

“「Greater Lethal」.”

From within the circle of protection, one of the Risen Kingpriests healed Shalltear. Albedo immediately taunted the offending summon to attack her, but that allowed Shalltear to break free from her control.

“「Prayer」, 「Battletide」, 「Divine Might」!”

The Vampire Cleric immediately went to work after casting her party-augmenting spells – which also affected her summons – moving to drive her Pipette Lance into Albedo from behind. Albedo ignored her attacks to focus on the summon, but then a second Risen Kingpriest healed the first. When Albedo turned her attention to the second Kingpriest, Shalltear ordered the first to withdraw to the supporting group to avoid Albedo’s sweeping strikes.

I see, so that’s how it works here…

In Yggdrasil, a tank’s taunt gave it just enough threat to put it on top of a mob’s threat list. That threat list didn’t appear to exist in their new world, so taunts only held for the duration of their active effect. It also explained why Albedo didn’t redirect agro to make the summons attack one another, as Shalltear could just order her summons to focus on Albedo again.

“Out of curiosity, Zahradnik-dono,” Ainz asked, “How long can you hold a taunt for?”

“Indefinitely, Your Majesty,” the Baroness replied. “More accurately, single-target taunts are a basic Martial Art. Any veteran warrior can maintain them easily so long as they do not otherwise overexert themselves. When I asked about it before, I was not certain how taunts worked as a Skill.”

Uwah, dirty.

Large-scale battles sounded like a pain to deal with. Now that he was thinking about it, he recalled that his Death Knights had been passed between opponents in at least two campaigns. The opposing forces were probably spreading out defensive cooldowns much like how tanks in Yggdrasil handled powerful raid bosses.

Albedo released an infuriated shout, drawing Shalltear and her summons with an area-of-effect taunt. 3F cut wide arcs in every direction as she tried to bring down all of her targets at once before the taunt’s effect expired. Shalltear let out an amused laugh.

“Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic! What do you think you can accomplish with your futile struggles? 「Mass Lethal」!”

Massive quantities of negative energy suffused the field, restoring the lost health of Shalltear and her summons. Albedo turned her attention to Shalltear once again, but there was nothing that she could do to reverse the result.

Lethal – and its higher-tier counterpart, Greater Lethal – were the top spells in the Open Wounds line. The Open Wounds line was the opposite of the Cure Wounds line, pouring negative energy into its target instead of positive energy. While taunted, Shalltear could only attack, but Mass Lethal counted as an attack against the living while also healing any Undead nearby.

“It looks like Shalltear took a page out of your book of tricks, Zahradnik-dono,” Ainz said.

“Mine?” The young noblewoman blinked.

“You devised a similar tactic while we were in the Katze Plains, yes?”

“I did, Your Majesty, but I cannot imagine that Lady Shalltear was not aware of it before. She is far more experienced in this field than I am, after all.”

Not exactly…

It was actually the opposite. Due to her role as a front-line officer in the Royal Army, the Baroness had accrued more practical combat experience than all of the Guardians combined. He would need to come up with a way to remedy that somehow…

A loud crack sounded from the field as the first layer of Albedo’s armour shattered. Shalltear’s laughter grew increasingly maniacal.

“I’m going to relish stripping you bare! Ainz-sama will surely enjoy the show that follows, as well!”

From her place on the judge’s stand, Aura’s lip curled in an expression of disgust. She sent a look in his direction. Ainz nodded. Aura raised a hand.

“That’s far enough!” She said, “Winner: Shalltear!”

Albedo fell to her hands and knees in defeat. Polite applause rose from the spectators.

“As expected of Shalltear.”

“That’s how it was meant to be.”

“It’s the Supreme Beings’ will, after all.”

Ainz frowned as the commentary once again brought up the strange assertion. The Supreme Beings’ will? What did that mean? Was there something that made it impossible for Albedo to win against Shalltear in a fight?

“Oh, come on, just a little bit! I won, didn’t I?”

Out on the field, Aura had grabbed Shalltear by the collar and was dragging her away. Peroroncino’s daughter’s face was flushed, her eyes locked on Albedo’s defeated form while her outstretched hands made groping motions. Her lustful pleas echoed from the exit tunnel long after she vanished from sight.

Once Shalltear was gone, Albedo rose to her feet and quietly left the arena. The crowd similarly dispersed without fuss. It looked like he didn’t have to make a closing speech. That was a good thing, considering he had forgotten what he intended to say.

With the tournament festival concluded, Ainz returned to the Tenth Floor. He walked slowly under the banners of the Forty-One Members of Ainz Ooal Gown – minus one, since he had taken down his own – reflecting on the past and pondering what the NPCs had said.

Supreme Beings, huh…

They were merely regular humans playing a DMMORPG, yet the NPCs considered them as nothing less than gods. Greater than gods, since their exploits included killing more than a few on a regular basis. What would his friends say if they saw their children now? Ainz was trying to act in their place, but he couldn’t say that he was doing a very good job as a surrogate parent.

Ainz lowered himself onto the Throne of Kings with a sigh, leaning his head back against its cold stone backrest. A glimmer of distant memory made him sit up again. He stared down at the bony fingers curled over the throne’s right armrest, trying to remember Tabula’s verbose description of the Guardian Overseer. A chill ran down his spine when he finally recalled one line in particular.

That said, she is not omnicompetent. For instance, in pure wits, Demiurge is her superior, while Shalltear is superior in fighting ability…

Was that what it was? A single line in her settings caused her to lose against Shalltear? Was this the ‘will’ of the Supreme Beings?

He rose from his seat, mind clouded by troubled thoughts. If that was truly the case, he had been grossly negligent. The NPCs–no, the children of his friends faced far greater obstacles than he had initially imagined.