Maruyama Kugane - The Invaders of the Large Tomb

While being rolled around in the black whirlpool, Greenham slapped at the cockroaches that had managed to crawl into the openings in his armour. There was no weapon that would work well against a horde of such small insects, nor did they possess a method for area of effect attacks. It was faster to use hands than anything else. Because of that, they had already abandoned their weapons which had long since disappeared.

He tried his best to struggle and wave around wildly, but due to countless cockroaches holding onto him, he could barely move. It was a movement that resembling someone drowning. The only sound Greenham could hear was that of countless cockroaches crawling about.

The rogue had already been swept away and his voice was nowhere to be heard. No, it was only natural that Greenham could not hear his voice. The rogue couldn’t speak with all the cockroaches that had crawled into his mouth, throat and stomach.

Greenham felt painful stinging sensations from everywhere on the body. It was the pain from cockroaches that had slipped inside his armour slowly eating away at him.

“Sto—”

Greenham tried to shout but was immediately choked by the countless cockroaches flooding his mouth and clogging his throat. He tried to throw up with all his might, but cockroaches kept crawling in from the tiny opening of his mouth. Then they scrabbled around in the mouth.

As if one had crawled inside his ear, the rustling sound was persistent and loud enough to give him chills.

Countless cockroaches crawled and ate away at his face. He felt pain on his eyelids, but he didn’t dare to open his eyes. It was obvious what would happen if he ever opened his eyes.

Greenham understood what would happen to him. At this rate, he would be eaten alive by these ravenous cockroaches.

“I don’t want this!”

He screamed in desperation and the cockroaches poured into his mouth once again. They crawled, trying to move into his throat. Then something mushy, a sensation of something tumbling down into the stomach. Then the disgusting sensation of cockroaches squirming inside his stomach made him want to throw up.

Greenham resisted with all his strength. He didn’t want this kind of death.

He had worked for the status that he had attained with the single-minded goal of showing off to his brothers.

He had gathered enough money to live comfortably without having to work anymore. Thanks to his fame, he could marry a beautiful girl that one would never be able to find in a regular village. He had become a winner in life who had far surpassed the brothers who had denied him their wealth and kicked him out.

He didn’t want to die here.

“Abrrwargagh! I’ll go back alive!”

He shouted while throwing up the cockroaches he had crushed in his mouth.

“…You are resisting quite valiantly. Then I shall give you some more.”

Even Greenham’s shouts were buried underneath the black whirlpool in mere seconds.

♦ ♦ ♦

His eyes opened.

What came into his vision was a strange ceiling. It was made with stone and had white glowing objects embedded in it. He tried to look around to understand how he got there, but realized his head wouldn’t move at all. No, it was not just his head, but he couldn’t move his entire body. It was as if something was tied around his wrists, ankles, waist, and chest.

This incomprehensible situation filled him with fear and he wanted to scream, but something was stuck in his mouth, so he could not speak nor close his mouth fully.

When he desperately tried to look around by straining his eyes, a voice spoke.

“Oh my, you’re awake now?”

It was a guttural voice. It was difficult to tell whether the voice belonged to a man or a woman.

The one that appeared in his unmoving sight was a disgusting monster.

It had the body of a human, but the head of a deformed octopus. The six long, squirming tentacles attached to its head extended all the way down to its thighs.

The skin colour was milky white, like the waxy flesh of someone who had drowned. On the bloated, corpse-like body was clothing made with black leather which barely covered anything. The cloth wrapped tightly around its body, like butcher’s twine tying up a piece of meat, and it could be described as nothing but grotesque. If a beauty had worn it, it would have been attractive, but on a monster like this was nauseating.

On each hand were four webbed fingers. It had long fingernails, with strange and bizarre nail art on them.

This strange heteromorphic being turned its pupil-less milky blue eyes on him.

“Fufufu, did you sleep well?”

“Hff, hff, hff hff.”

Fear and panic. Gripped by those two emotions, he could only let out a harsh breathing noise. The monster touched his cheek softly like a mother trying to calm a scared child. But the cold and mushy feelings of the hand sent chills all over his body.

It would have made perfect sense if the pungent smell of blood or rotten flesh had wafted over, but the creature smelled like aromatic flowers. This only amplified his fear.

“My, to think it’d shrink this much. There’s no need to be scared.”

The monster’s gaze was towards his lower body. From the sensation of air on his skin, he realized that he was naked.

“Hmm, mind if I ask your name?”

It tapped its slender finger on its cheek and tilted its head while asking. The pose would have looked good if it was a beauty, but a monster that looked like a drowned corpse with an octopus for a head only evoked disgust and fear.

“……”

The monster smiled at him, who could only move his eyes. The tentacles covered its mouth and its expression barely changed. Despite that, he knew it was smiling because its bead like eyes had narrowed.

“Ufufu, you don’t want to speak right? How cute. Don’t be so shy.”

The monster’s fingertip slid across his chest as if it was writing something, but all he could feel was fear that felt as if his heart was being ripped out.

“Onee-san will tell you her name F.I.R.S.T.”

It was a seductive and sweet tone of voice that sounded as if heart marks would pop out of them.

“I’m the Great Tomb of Nazarick’s Special Information Gatherer, Neuronist. Hehe, they also call me the “Interrogator”.”

The long tentacles squirmed apart and revealed a circular mouth at their base of the tentacle. Amidst rows of razor sharp teeth, a tube that resembled a tongue came out. It truly looked like a red straw.

“I’ll suck you dry with this in a bit.”

What did it mean by “suck dry”? He tried to move his panic-stricken body, but it was tightly clamped down.

“Now, now. You were captured by us.”

That was right. His last memory was of Greenham and the rogue disappearing from right in front of him. Then he blacked out and woke up to his current predicament.

“You should know where you are, right?”

Neuronist laughed before continuing.

“This is the Great Tomb of Nazarick. The place where the last of the 41 Supreme Beings, Momon—

I mean Ainz-sama, resides. It is the most holy of places.”

“Heinhu sawa?”

“Yes, Ainz-sama.”

Neuronist understood him perfectly despite his inability to speak properly and slid her hand across his skin.

“One of the 41 Supreme Beings. He ruled over the other Supreme Beings in the past, and he is very, very cool. If you look at him once, you’ll want to swear loyalty with all your heart, too. If Ainz-sama ever calls me over to his bed, I don’t mind offering my first time to him.”

She fidgeted, no, jiggled as if she was embarrassed.