The third will-o'-the-whisp died in a flash of radiant light, and the crunch of Lupusregina's mace with as much fanfare as the others, which is to say none at all.
"Well, this definitely seems like the right way." Lord Ainz commented.
"How can you tell?" She asked, "these tunnels all look the same to me."
"Ah, a bit of dungeon delver superstition mostly. 'If enemies are spawning ahead of you, you're going the right way.'" He admitted, "but also look at that wall with the crack in it up ahead. It looks too smooth to be fully natural. I'd bet it leads to a forgotten crypt. Which would explain the undead."
'Makes sense.' Ainz had told her enough about 'game mechanics' and proper form for 'dungeon delving' on the way down here that Lupusregina had a good idea of what to expect. Of course Ainz was very clear on where game-logic likely differed from real life. Dead ends, useless rooms or enemies, and stuff mostly that would not have been 'coded' into a game, but which could very well exist here.
Still, as she approached the usual wall she was careful to be on the lookout for possible traps - there were none - or tricks, none of those either. Getting close she did see that Lord Ainz was right. The stones of the wall were a different texture, probably colour too, but they couldn't know that without light, which neither needed, and beyond the crack was worked stone. The presumed crypt.
Lupusregina began to step through the entrance but stopped. Something was wrong about the way the air moved between the two zones. She quickly cast a 'detect magic' and 'yep, a ward of some kind.' Necromantic, it looked actively maintained. Pretty powerful for a new world bit of magic, but nothing truly notable.
"It's warded." She told Ainz. "Looks like it would drain life from anyone who stepped through".
"So it is." He confirmed after a similar detection spell. "Intriguing. I'm surprised you caught that, neither of us are built for trap detection."
"Aaah it was mostly intuition, from your advice, I thought something might be here." She rubbed the back of her neck.
"Good instincts, you're learning fast. Now to deal with this, we're powerful enough to tank that trap no problem - it would actually heal me - but that might alert whoever cast it. We could also dispel the ward with the same caveat, or I could summon an undead with the appropriate skills to disarm it."
"Which do you think is best, Ainz?" Lupusregina asked, presuming it to be the latter option.
"Diamsarming, usually." He confirmed. "But I wonder, do you think Solution would enjoy dungeon delving? A rogue would really round out this party?"
"I think so, Sol would probably be really excited!"
"And would you want her here?"
"Of course!" Lupusregina bounced. 'Nice of him to ask, but obviously it would be even more fun with Sol around .'
"Well let's see if she's interested then. 'Message' Solution, are you free for a few hours. Your sister and I are exploring a crypt system and we could use your expertise."
A few moments, and a presumably affirmative response later Ainz cast 'gate' and Lupusregina watched Solution walk through into the cavern.
"Hopefully this was worth pulling you from your book, we don't actually know how expansive this place is yet." Ainz said in greeting.
"Even if it's small, I'm glad you thought of me." Sol answered which, fair, Lupusregina thought. 'This whole friendship with Lord Ainz thing was amazing! But also very new, and a little anxiety inducing .'
"Up for some B and E Sol?" Lupusregina asked, throwing the anxiety to the curb.
"Oh you've been breaking things?" Her sister replied, "That explains the state of this place."
'Rude!' She gasped in mock outrage to which Solution responded with a deceptively innocent face 'Who? Me? Never.' She seemed to be saying
"The gap is warded though." interjected Ainz, chuckling. 'We thought we'd do the rest quietly."
"Of course, I'll take a look." Solution nodded, walking over to the crack and peering inquisitively at the faintly shimmering ward she could just discern.
"Local withering field, active maintenance." She muttered fingers tracing runes on the outer wall that Ainz and Lupusregina had missed. "Energy flow tied through here, huh, not very well."
Turning Solution reported to Ainz "I should be able to disable the effect, but keep the energy flowing through the ward scheme so it appears to still be active."
"Clever." Ainz noted "I wonder, since this is an active ward, could you amplify the power drawn?"
"I don't know." Solution admitted. "The ward is all pretty slapdash so probably, but it would take a while to work out. I haven't worked with these new-word wards very much."
"Wouldn't that alert the person holding the ward?" Lupusregina wondered allowed 'surely not even the insignificant idiots of this world could miss a sudden mana drain '
"I'd certainly hope so, it would be a bit depressing otherwise." Ainz confirmed "It was largely an academic question though, no need to ring the doorbell this early. Shall we?"
'So Ainz was just checking Sol's confidence then. Makes sense.' Another thought occurred to her. "It would be really funny if you did steal all the casters mana though! Imagine their face!" Lupusregina cheered.
Ainz chuckled while Solution got to work bypassing, smirking at the idea. "It would probably be delightful, but we haven't confirmed if it's just the one caster. Or even their true power level, so it's better to be cautious."
"If this ward is any indication, not very high." Solution said, stepping through to the crypt. "Should I scout ahead for any other traps?"
"However remote, there is the chance it's supposed to lull us into a false sense of security, but you have a point." Ainz said. "And yes, go ahead."
Stepping through after Ainz as Solution was already making her way forward, Lupusregina took a look around. They were in a sort of dead-end passage of a dingy stone structure. To the immediate left of her was a mass of loose stone and earth, the collapse being the cause of the dead end. The whole hallway was quite small, but not enough than she'd need to stoop.
To the right, a tattered string of what was likely once a carpet was laid on the ground. And up ahead were three half rotted wooden doors lining the hallway a few dozen feet apart, the closest one being about twenty feet down, and the last just before a T junction. Solution having apparently deemed nothing of interest to be within the first two was peering cautiously into the third.
'This place looks terrible, a disgrace to tombs everywhere .' Lupusregina couldn't help but think and would have said so to Ainz but for Solution's hand raised in a sign for silence.
At the follow-up gesture to approach quietly Lupusregina crept over, Ainz following behind but first twitching his hands in an arcane sigil 'Pass Without Trace' he cast. And with that, their already soft footfalls became utterly silent.
Lupusregina gazed through the rotted gaps in the door as she posted up opposite Solution. The inside of the room looked like an old chapel. Six rows of pews in several states of shattered and mouldy. A trickle of water dripped down the wall at the far right corner, pooling into a feted puddle. Ornate sconces lined the walls, but unlit all was dark, except for a lone ghostly figure, glowing faintly and floating behind the pulpit. Chanting in a soft voice, arms waving like an orchestral conductor. A fairly weak looking spectre in Lupusregina's estimation.
Sitting in the pews watching rapturously as the ghost moved it's silent arms were a dozen or so zombies in several states of decay. Lupusregina was almost disappointed not to see the 'lost' child as a member of the restless dead. 'Enri and it's parents would have made such sad faces if they had a zombie-kid, it'd have been great! ' She thought
'But Is that it? She thought, turning her attention to the -slightly- more pressing present, a little disappointed, 'a single turn undead ' and they're all dust. Shaking her head she saw Ainz reaching Into his inventory and withdrawing three small opals basketed in thread-of-copper with a small hook extending from one end of the basket.
Seeing both the Pleiades watching, he took one and anchored the hook to the side of his skull at about ear level. Taking one of the proffered gems Lupusregina did likewise, feeling the small prick of metal as it patched onto her ear. Solution following suit.
'I wonder what this does ?' Lupusregina thought, considering the object.
'These earrings allow for limited telepathy between wearers within a certain radius. It's a private whisper chat.' Ainz's voice answered in her head.
'Oh'
'That's handy .' Solution's voice mentally sounded.
'Especially with no party chat in this world ,' Ainz confirmed 'That banner in the back looks like it's hiding something, would you sneak around and check? '
'I can squeeze through the door, but there's nothing to block line of sight.'
'I can fix that Sol! Complete Invisibility.'
'Spectres can occasionally have truesight but I doubt this one does. Lupusregina prepare to cleanse the room if Solution is spotted.'
'On it!' She thought.
'Moving.' Solution's voice rang through their shared mind-space. There was no indication of that, which just proved that her sister was good at her job.
Waiting for her sister, Lupusregina once more scanned the room from where she was crouched outside the door. Fingers curled around her holy symbol in preparation. 'I wonder what that chanting is about ' she wondered.
'A ritual of subservience it looks like. A mid-tier party buff to undead summons that drastically improves their targeting AI and resistances, but has the downside of life linking the caster to them. I've never seen anyone dumb enough to use it on cannon-fodder. ' Ainz answered her inadvertent question, seeming amused. 'Killing a minion deals irresistible damage to the caster equal to fifteen percent of the summoner's maximum health, plus half of any carryover damage from the death.'
'There are twelve zombies.' Lupusregina thought, incredulous.
'And another three spectre's down here. Staircase behind the tapestry.' Solution's voice broke in on their conversation 'as well as a warded coffin, central. Circular room, twenty feet across, intact door at the other end. Ritual circle of lit candles around the coffin.'
'Hmm, I'm curious.' Ainz mused ' Solution you can make holy oils yes? '
'I can.' She confirmed.
'Prepare to take out the spectres from the shadows if needed, but I doubt it'll come to that. Lupusregina, would you care to consecrate that chapel, overkill if you would?'
'Of course! ' And uplifting her idol and finally speaking Lupusregina cast a sixth level "Purity." The pooled water briefly glowed silver before evaporating into a cloud of holy light that enveloped the room. Positive energy suffused the space, and when it dissipated several seconds later the undead inside had turned to ash, which quickly disinterested to nothing.
'What the hell .' Came Solution's surprised thought 'the spectres down here just got dusted too.'
'Ha. ' The sound of Ainz's restrained laughter rang through their minds ' the subservience ritual can stack between casters to further bolster the summons.' He explained. 'But the detriments apply to all of them and carryover damage stacks too.'
Lupusregina cackled aloud at that, before quickly smothering herself, remembering the need for silence.
That's just… Why would anyone stack those, it's like asking to be AOE'd to oblivion? Ainz really was amazing to have predicted something like that.' She thought, inadvertently projected through the mind link.
'As expected of a supreme being.' Solution confirmed.
'Aaah, umu.' Ainz projected, sounding embarrassed. 'Something of a lucky guess. Let's move on, depending on the size of this place we may have poked an anthill. '
While the two made their way around the shattered pews to the staircase Solution's projected voice once again spoke to the shared mindscape. 'Coffin has basic protection against being opened without the proper key. Blood, looks like. And lead lining against divination. Lock isn't engaged right now, it'll just open if we try. '
'Vampire? ' Lupusregina questioned
'I'd think so, and away from home.' Her sister confirmed
'You're probably right Solution, but wait for us before opening it, we're nearly down. ' Ainz requested.
A few moments later they stepped into the room. Apparently completely empty save the coffin to Lupusregina's eyes. Familiar arms wrapping her in a surprise hug from behind made her jump and very nearly scream.
'Shit Sol !' She screeched mentally 'not the ambiance for that! '
'Whatever do you mean?' The coy response came 'it is a literal haunted house.'
'Recently un-haunted thank you!' She retorted, settling into the embrace.
'Both excellent points.' Ainz sounded amused 'but we still don't know what's behind door number four .'
'Right, sorry!' The sisters thought in sync.
'No need for that, I'm glad you're having fun . Now let's see if anything is in here.' "Disintegrate." A beam of pale green light shot from Ainz's outstretched finger and impacted the coffin lid. An intricate pattern of red stands of magic briefly flashed to visibly before being consumed by the disintegration spell. The ornately carved wood of the lid similarly fell to dust, revealing a cushioned interior. Peering inside Ainz withdrew a small black book.
In the meanwhile Solution had let go and was making her way over to the far door so Lupusregina saddled over to Ainz. 'Anything interesting boss? ' Still using telepathy, just in case.
'Without the Glass of the Rune Keeper I can't say, and Albedo has the translation item for now. Do you have a 'comprehend languages' spell?'
'Nope! I've mostly just got combat. '
'We'll figure this book out later then.' Ainz replied, placing it in his inventory. 'Have you heard anything Solution? '
'I do, someone over there is having the most delicious panic attack. Apparently a few spectres were on the other side and also dropped.'
'So much for not ringing the doorbell! Whoopsies! ' Lupusregina projected to the mental space.
"On no, caution hardly ever lasts in this type of thing, and I believe we've found the boss-mob." Ainz spoke aloud. "Care to show off that combat and have some fun?"
"Sure do!" Lupusregina bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet. 'Good thing loud is not a problem.'
"That would be wonderful." Solution confirmed. So saying, she allowed both arms to reform into her natural acidic slime body and preessed herself against the edges of the door, dissolving the hinges in seconds. She reformed and kicked the door in, then stepped aside.
Taking up the initiative Lupusregina charged up next to her sister, who stepped out of the way, and cast "sunlight " the room beyond went from dark to brightly lit, magical sourceless sunlight suffused the room, an area debuff and damage over time to undead, triple to vampires. The spell was of 5th tier, so it would do nothing to Ainz were he to step in, and would maybe tickle Shalltear a bit.
The hiss of pain and fury from within proved this spell to be an excellent choice against these less potent undead. She noted Sol taking the opportunity the distraction provided to slip into the room, using a skill to travel unseen to the far side.
Taking stock of the interior Lupusregina saw an emaciated man of middling age diving under a table to escape the light currently blistering his skin 'not that it would help, the sunlight is everywhere in the spell's area' she thought, amused.
A score of now-withering idols, swamp fungus growing and glowing bioluminescent within discarded lanterns sat on carved niches in the walls. The likely source of will-o'-the-wisps, was now also being unmade by her spell.
A young body lay on the table, ritually carven, a sacrifice to something, probably, lay untouched. 'Huh, found the kid.'
"Stop! Please it burns!" The vampire cried in agony, now rolling back out from under the table. "Please make it stop for the lo-"
He was cut off by Solution, unseen by the creature, crouching behind him and stabbing an elongated, sharpened, and venom infused finger into the back of his neck.
He collapsed unconscious, skin and the flesh underneath still melting in the sunlight.
The room was silent but for light sizzling for a few moments while everyone waited for something else to happen. Nothing did.
"Hmmm, not much of a boss battle after all." Ainz commented from the doorway. "Shame, I was looking forward to it."
Lupusregina let the sunlight drop, most of the vampires flesh was melted off by now, and a few bones were mere ashes, thoroughly dead. "That was kinda depressing."
"I don't exactly know what I expected but…" Solution agreed.
'Aaah it ruins the mood!' Ainz's unspoken thoughts reached her mind through the chat-earring.
'Unfortunately .' Sol projected in agreement
"Dang I really wanted to fight something worthwhile!" Lupusregina agreed aloud.
"Eeerm, I could summon a better vampire, if you two would like to fight that?" Ainz asked aloud, a little awkwardly.
"I would enjoy that Ainz." Sol looked nearly ecstatic at the prospect despite her calm words Lupusregina noted, smirking.
"That'd be fun!" She agreed loudly.
"Well then!" Ainz cleared his non-existent throat. "Oh my! We seem to have missed the vampiric lord hidden in the coffin last room 'Summon Undead Eighth -Starved Bloodfiend .' He spoke in a perfect deadpan as a swarm of bats flew from the coffin and coalesced into an eight foot tall vampiric monstrosity.
The creature let out a horrific shriek, charged and swung its extended claws at Lupusregina which she ducked away from into the circular room with an actual effort.
"It's only a level 54 monster, but with summon-buffs it could fight on par with a 65." He explained, as Lupusregina ducked another swipe and retaliated 'heavenly lance.'
The ray of light stuck in the creature. Piercing it and dissipating with a pop of energy. A dagger struck the thing in the side of the head, and another in its elbow. Both flashing radiant light as Solution's venoms ate away at its ability to regenerate.
As the thing reeled from the nearly simultaneous blows Lupusregina had time to draw her mace, and swept it at the bloodfiend's legs. It dodged up, directly into a glob of acid that struck it in the face. Sticking and blocking both eyes and nose.
Stepping to the side Lupusregina cast "scentless" ' and "complete invisibility " in quick succession to take advantage of the opportunity, Lord Ainz's silencing spell still being in effect. The enraged vampire cleared its face, but not before three more darts were embedded in its chest from Solution's relentless attack. The holy oil Sol had smothered her darts with continuing to eat away the vampire's flesh like an acid.
Noting that threat and failing to perceive her, it charged Solution. Directly into the path of Lupusregina's swinging mace, a few meters from its target.
It was flung back from the critical blow, enhanced with a 'searing smite' and crashed into the central coffin. Now with room to spare Lupusregina cast a tier seven 'Sunbeam' the radiant light striking the creature while it was down. Solution used the opportunity to slink into the shadows of the outer wall.
'Now this is a vampire fight ' she thought, excited.
The creature once again exploded into a swarm of bats, deftly avoided her continued beam of light and surrounded Lupusregina, making a multitude of small necrotic cuts as she was unable to get a good impact with her mace on the swarm.
"Ichor of Dawn " she responded, taking some holy damage as her blood was transmuted to positive energy, including that consumed by the bloodfiend in an attempt to heal itself. The searing pain was immensely satisfying to see mirrored in the face of the reforming creature before her.
Ever the opportunist, Solution chose that moment to emerge from somewhere and speared the vampire through the back with a sword visibly dripping silvery venom. She withdrew the blade, and planted another dagger into the side of the thing's throat, tearing sideways.
Not to be outdone Lupusregina swung her mace at the bloodfiends midsection 'searing smite! ' Her mace was caught in the things hands, but the infused fire still enveloped it.
Unfortunately the unexpectedly large blast of fire also disrupted her view of the vampire, and a claw caught her across the shoulder, slashing deep and flinging her across the floor.
The spilling of blood apparently invigorated the beast and it lunged at her faster than ever. Or would have if Solution hadn't impaled it's leg to the ground with a shortsword pulled from her midsection, delaying it.
"Purity " Lupusregina once again cast, this time using her lost blood as a focus for the divine mist, mostly to get it off the field.
'Close wounds ' she quickly added, as her sister used the conjured mist to once again avoid the enraged beasts senses. That done she rolled to the side towards her dropped mace, avoiding another claw swipe from the bloodfiend, still burning in a holy element AOE.
Quickly grasping her weapon, she blocked another claw swipe with the haft of her mace, and kicked to sweep the vampires legs, even with her lycan strength it stayed upright, but stumbled.
Emerging from the last wisps of the holy mist that still seared the vampire, Solution once again plunged her envenomed blade into the enemy, this time through its side, and yanked up.
It howled and Lupusregina, glad for the distraction, cast a 'Maximize magic: Heavenly Lance ' directly into its chest. Letting the sword go, Solution then repeated her move used on the much worse vampire, stabbing it in the spinal cord with a spearlike finger and directly pumping it full of holy venom. Then ducking aside to give Lupusregina room to stand and swing.
It shrieked briefly, but lost the ability to act momentarily as the venom paralyzed it. Taking the opportunity for what it was, she once again brought her mace down with a ' searing smite ' that caved in the creatures chest and set it properly ablaze. It fell back, getting impaled onto another of Solutions's envenomed swords, and falling to the ground.
She cast "Immolation " for good measure and it slowly turned to ashes.
Breathing heavily and grinning Lupusregina turned to her sister to see a similar expression on her face. "Now that was more like it!"
"You said it Sol! I haven't exercised like that in ages!"
"Excellent teamwork you two! Well done." Ainz praised
'Aah if only I could fight things like that all the time .' She thought, once again accidentally projecting to the mindspace.
"Seems like there are very few beings on par with any of us in this world though." Solution continued a little forlornly.
"It does make things much easier for us, but… I agree it's less interesting." Ainz affirmed. "I could summon another hidden boss though, if you two would like."
"Oooh yes! Let's go!" She cheered, fist pumping the air.
"It would make for a good experience." Solution agreed. Hiding her giddy excitement behind her usual calm demeanor. 'No good playing coy when we can hear you bubbling with excitement in our heads Sol! ' She sent, winking at her sister.
"Very well!" Ainz said, laughing at their antics. "Twin magic: Summon Undead 7th - Shadowborn Prophet."
Enri put down the disk, having just seen proof of the village monster's death. Lupusregina and the blond maid had dispatched it easily enough. The vampire begging for mercy and running away almost the entire time.
The blond maid was always faster, and tripped the vampire, laughing all the while, sending the thing backtracking. They went back and forth several times before the creature ran up to Lupusregina, pleading.
"Please don't let her kill me!" It begged. And Lupusregina acquiesced. "Okay, since you asked nicely I promise not to let her kill you." Much to the blond maids chagrin if the cute pout was anything to go by.
"I'll be sure to do it myself!" She cheered happily, brandishing her gigantic mace. The vampire had collapsed, horror overtaking it's features from the stark relief that had been there moments ago.
Then, without any further fanfare. Lupusregina swung her mace faster than Enri's eyes could follow, and the vampire vanished into a spray of blood and black mist. A flash of light dispelled that mist, and all was quiet.
"You could have let me savour it just a little longer," the blond maid complained half-heartedly before the memory vision faded.
Swallowing back bile at the far too cheery faces of the two maids in the vision considering the gore and viscera strewn about what looked like some sort of chapel, Enri looked up at her friend.
"So it's really gone then?" She asked quietly
"Yep!" I hit it with a sunlight-infused strike so there's no way for it to reanimate." Lupusregina confirmed.
"O-oh, thanks Lupusregina. U-Um, that looked pretty easy."
"Sure was, everything around here is sooo weak!"
"Right, uum, could- could you have done that the whole time?" Enri asked, pretty sure she already knew the answer.
"Yep!" The confirmation was terrible
"But… Lupusregina it had been tormenting us for weeks, why didn't you stop it?"
"Did you want me to Enri-chan? You never asked for that, just for me to find some villagers, and I told you they were in the cave." Lupusregina replied, looking the picture of naive confusion.
"I would have gotten rid of it if you asked Enri-chan!" She continued earnestly "I'd known where it was hiding for like a month. You should have told me you wanted it gone! I thought you just wanted me to find the lost people! And I did, they were all the zombies in that chapel!"
Enri felt sick. She knew her friend wasn't the best with social cues, or with understanding differences in strength between villagers and monsters. She should have asked. Should have been more clear. Oh god this was all her fault! She collapsed to her knees, tears overflowing. Those deaths were on her hands.
Lupusregina smiled down at her. Still the mask of innocence.
"Right!" A voice interrupted, and Lord Ainz Ooal Gown was suddenly in the room "That might have been too much Lupusregina, it looks like you actually broke her. 'Control amnesia', let's pretend that didn't happen."
Enri blinked into awareness confused. She was kneeling on the floor and her face was wet. 'Why, what had happened?'
"Hey are you okay?" The concerned voice of her dearest friend Lupusregina came from above. "It looked like you hit your head pretty hard."
Taking the proffered hand Enri stood. "I'm okay I think. What were we doing? I think my wits got knocked out."
"You were telling me about Nemu, it was super cute!" Lupusregina cheered, wiping the stinging tears from Enri's face.
Enri began the story of yesterday's escapades again.
Lupusregina was such a good friend. Enri was glad to have her. And the village too, it was great to have someone so caring and protective around.