Maruyama Kugane - The Invaders of the Large Tomb

“Hey, do you want to hear something?”

Like a timid girl playing with her finger, she traced letters across his naked body.

“There was this one time Ainz-sama was staring at my body. It was the stare of a male selecting a target for his hunt. Then he turned his face away as if he was embarrassed. It made my chest tighten and sent chills down my back.”

It stopped suddenly and brought its face closer as if trying to look deep into his eyes. He tried with all his might to get away from the grotesque face, but he couldn't move his body at all.

“Even though that brat Shalltear and that ugly pumpkin Albedo are aiming for Ainz-sama’s attention, I’m still more attractive. Don’t you think so?”

“Wevs E wnph mahs hoo” (Yes, I think so, too.)

What would happen if he dared to disagree? That fear forced him to grunt his muffled agreement.

Neuronist clasped her hands and looked up happily into the air. It looked like a zealot praying up into the sky.

“Fufufu, you’re a good boy. Or are you telling the facts as they are? But why isn’t Ainz-sama calling for me… Ah~ Ainz-sama… Even your abstinence is amazing…”

The way her body twitched in delight called to mind the writhing movements of a giant, squirming maggot.

“…Ha, it makes my body feel electrified. Ara, I’m sorry. I’ve been talking only about myself.”

Don’t mind me. Neuronist ignored his thoughts and continued.

“Now, should I tell you about your fate? Do you know what a choir is?”

He blinked at the unexpected question. Looking at his surprised expression, Neuronist assumed he did not know what a choir was and explained.

“A choir is a group of people that sings hymns praising god’s love and glory. I want you to become one of them, along with all your little friends.”

If that was all, then it wasn’t much. He wasn’t very confident in his singing, but he was not tone deaf either. But was this monster really talking about something like singing? He could not hide his unease that rose like the tide and eyed Neuronist.

“That’s right, a choir. Even fools like you that haven’t sworn loyalty to Ainz-sama can dedicate their voices to sing his praises. The goal is a chorus. Ah, how electrifying! It’s Neuronist’s gospel music dedicated to Ainz-sama.”

A cloudy colour spread in its revolting eyes. Was that because it was excited by its thoughts? Its fingers wiggled like worms.

“Fufufufu, now I’ll introduce you to the ones who will support you in your chorus.”

As if they had been waiting in a corner, several figures came into view.

He stopped breathing the moment he saw them. It was obvious that they were evil creatures.

Black leather aprons that clung tightly to their figures. Their skin was ghastly pale, almost transparent, and purple veins were visible as if their blood was purple.

They wore tight black leather masks with no visible openings, which made him curious how they could see or breathe. Their arms were long as well. They were about two meters in height, but their arms were long enough to reach their knees.

Each of them had a belt on their waist, with numerous tools hanging off them.

There were four of them in total.

“They’re ‘Torturers’. They’re going to help me help you sing a beautiful song.”

A dangerous premonition. He finally realized what it meant by singing and struggled to escape.

However, he still could not move.

“It’s no use~. It’s not going to break from someone of your strength. They’ll cast healing magic over and over, so you can get plenty of opportunity to practice.”

Neuronist said this as though she were extending the hand of mercy to him, but she did so in the most evil of tones.

“Thnd du mus!” (Don’t do this!)

“Mmm? Why do you say that? Do you want us to stop?”

Neuronist asked softly to the man who had tears rolling down from his eyes. Then the six tentacles squirmed.

“Listen well. Because he remained, we, who were created by the 41 Supreme Beings, were allowed to exist. Our very existence is to serve him. Do you think we’ll show even a shred of mercy to some filthy thieves that tracked mud into the holy place where such an exalted being lives? Do you really think that?”

“Auf lirru gwpph!” (I’m really sorry!)”

“Hehehe, that’s right. Regret is a valuable thing.”

Neuronist picked up a thin rod from somewhere. At the end of the rod were spikes that were roughly five millimeters long.

“Let’s start with this.”

Neuronist kindly explained every little detail to the man who didn’t understand anything about the tool.

“My creator used to suffer from a little problem called ‘kidney stones’. To pay respects to that, we’ll start with this. Since it became so small, I don’t think we’ll have much problem putting it in.”

“Thnd du mus!”

Neuronist took its face closer to the man who was screaming out in realization of what would happen to him.

“We’re going to spend a long, long time together. You shouldn’t start crying, because this is only the beginning.”

Part 3

Despite each team picking their own path at the crossroads, Eruya’s baseless assumption that stronger enemies would be in the deeper part of the tomb was why he chose to keep going straight ahead.

He came across countless corners and stone doors, but he silently walked on. In fact, he was bored that there was nothing happening. Not a single monster nor a trap. Maybe he picked the wrong route. Eruya thought that as he clicked his tongue.

“Move it, you slowpoke. Walk faster!”

Eruya ordered the elf who was walking ten meters ahead of him in a forceful voice. The elf had stopped every once in awhile, but after the order, she trembled a bit and started to walk again. She had been walking continuously since she came into the tomb.

She was lucky so far, but if there were any traps ahead, she would die for sure.

Rather than searching for traps, her treatment was more akin to the way canaries were used by miners. Eruya’s team consisted of Eruya and three elf slaves with distinct skills, — ranger, cleric and druid. Using someone who possessed detection skills as a mining canary was an unreasonable order to give.

But Eruya had his own reasons. It was simply that he was tired of the elf who was walking at the front.

Many would be surprised if they heard it. Not for moral reasons, but for monetary reasons.

Slaves from the Slane Theocracy were not cheap. Especially elves, whose prices varied drastically depending on their appearance or skills. Elves were normally expensive enough to make one’s eyes pop out and were traded at price far beyond the capabilities of an average person.

An elf with skills would go for around the same price as a weapon imbued with special magic. Even for Eruya, they were not something he could buy willy-nilly.

But since Eruya took all of ‘Tenmu’s payment for himself, he could make up for the losses quickly if the quests went well. Thus, he didn’t care if one of them died after he got tired of them.

Next time, I should get one with larger breasts.

Eruya thought that while looking at the back of the elf who slowly walked forward.

I like how they scream when I squeeze their breasts hard.

Because this quest was a joint operation between multiple teams, he couldn’t bed the elves for a few days. No one would have grounds to complain if he did, but jealousy could trigger all sorts of unpleasant events. Eruya had enough common sense as a worker to realize what kind of loss in profit the problems might lead to.

Eruya’s pent up lust made him harbour alternative thoughts.

No, maybe I should get someone like that woman.