Overlord - The Lizardmen Heroes - Куганэ Маруяма - Страница 70

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Hearing these words, Zaryusu felt a deep despair as if the world had ended.

If it were a large army that would attack, perhaps the lizardmen would have a chance of victory. This meant that, at first, he had believed that this time could also be a continuation of yesterday’s unfortunate battle which was called an experiment. If it were like that, then there should still be a miniscule chance of victory.

However, it was not going to be a large army which was sent out to attack.

The one attacking would only be one person.

The previously defeated army had once again made such a big declaration, but would only send one person this time. Unless it was a punishment, or there was some hidden meaning behind his words, he must have complete faith in that person.

Someone who was trusted by the Overlord of Death who possessed overwhelming strength. Then, there could only be one answer: that person also possessed overwhelming strength, and furthermore the kind of strength that would make lizardmen feel that there was no chance of winning.

"We choose to surren..."

"Losing without a fight is simply too boring. Do put up a bit of a fight, we would also like to have a taste of victory."

Ainz interrupted Shasuryu, not allowing him to continue.

So blatantly, he would make an example out of us, this bastard.

Zaryusu cursed as such in his thoughts.

The powerful using slaughter to wipe away the shame of defeat.

What that meant was that in a moment the opponent would be carrying out a live sacrifice. It would be a performance, eradicating the rebellious lizardmen.

"That is all that I wish to say. Then, four hours later, do your best to enjoy it."

"Please wait a minute— will this ice melt away?"

Regardless of who won or lost, with the lake frozen, the lizardmen would find it very difficult to survive.

"... Ah, I almost forgot."

Saying that he had forgotten. This airy attitude of Ainz surfaced in his reply.

"I only wished not to dirty myself with the wetlands mud as I walked, which is why, after returning to the shore, the magic effect will be dispelled."

"What!"

Zaryusu and Shasuryu were shocked into silence, and questioned if they had heard wrongly.

He froze the lake simply because he did not wish to get dirty?

This was no longer at the level of being hard to believe. The opponent's strength was simply too overwhelming, even able to easily change the force of nature, and furthermore for such a silly reason.

So it turned out that they were opposing such a powerful being— Zaryusu and Shasuryu both felt the same fear as a child would being all alone.

"Until next time, lizardmen— ?Portal?."

Feeling that everything that needed to be said was said, Ainz stretched out his hand and gave it a gentle wave, and a dark hemisphere appeared in front of the throne. Next, he jumped into that darkness.

"See you, lizardmen."

"Goodbye, Mr. Lizardmen."

"Farewell, lizardmen."

The two attending females and one male also jumped into the darkness after speaking with an attitude that was as if they had lost interest.

"E-Eh, t-then, good bye, take care."

"drows ym fo enob eht ma I" [Then, goodbye.]

After the dark elf female, the bizarre creature also followed and entered the darkness.

"?Freedom Granted?. Then, try to enjoy it as best you can, lizardmen."

At the same moment the last one, the man with the tail, entered the darkness, he spoke with a gentle voice and also the weight pressing down on the two lizardmen disappeared without a trace.

Zaryusu and Shasuryu who were left behind in their spots were sprawled in the mud and did not move. This was because they lacked the strength to pull themselves up.

They no longer even felt pain from the continuous freezing wind, because they had suffered a mental attack which exceeded their physical pain by far.

“Damn it…”

Shasuryu cursed in a low voice, quite unlike his personality, and contained in it was a mix of many emotions.

The two were welcomed back by the various tribe chiefs who had climbed on top of the mud wall in order to avoid the cold gas. There were no other lizardmen in the surroundings.

Possibly, this was arranged because they had already considered early on that there were some matters which needed to be discussed in confidentiality. Shasuryu roughly thought that this was the case, and that there was no need to conceal it any further. He then directly informed everybody of what he had gathered about the progression of that meeting that hardly could called a proper negotiation.

Nobody had too much of a reaction, except for being slightly alarmed, towards Shasuryu’s explanation which was said in a heavy tone. They were most likely like this because they had probably predicted the conclusion of the negotiation from a long while back.

“Understood… then the ice will melt, right? If it does not melt, then we won’t be able to fight even if we wanted to.”

“Not a problem. The opponent said that the magic would be dispelled.”

“Was this an exchange brought about by the negotiation?”

Towards the question posed by the Small Fang Tribe chief, Shasuryu did not reply, but merely smiled a little. Seeing that reaction, and understanding what it meant, the tribe chief of the Small Fang Tribe shook his head disheartedly.

“When you were heading to the negotiations, we conducted an investigation… and discovered the shadows of enemies inside of the lake which look like skeleton soldiers. We fear that they are in a formation surrounding us and awaiting orders.”

“I do not think… our opponent… plans to let us go.”

“The opponent was quite serious, so this means…”

“That is only speculation.”

The four who had not participated in the negotiations gave a long sigh. The conclusion that they had reached should also be a belief that what would follow was a live sacrificial ritual.

“Then what shall we do?”

“... Mobilise all warrior class lizardmen, and also… the ones here…”

“Older brother… can you permit only five people to participate?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Zaryusu saw the puzzled expression on Crusch’s face. He continued, appealing towards all of the male lizardmen including his older brother.

“If the opponent’s objective is to demonstrate his own powerful strength, then lizardmen shouldn’t be exterminated completely. Therefore, we need an individual who is able to lead, a central figure to bring together all of the survivors. If all of the people here were to lose their lives, it would be a huge loss for the future of lizardmen.”

“... That is a valid point. Isn’t that right, Shasuryu.”

“Hmm, Zaryusu… is correct.”

The two tribe chiefs alternatively looked at Zaryusu and Crusch, then both expressed their agreement.

“— There’s nothing unacceptable with that; I also agree.”

After the approval of the final tribe chief Zenberu, Shasuryu could not find any reasons to refuse his younger brother’s request.

“Our decision is thus settled then. I have also thought about it, that it is necessary to have someone survive to lead and bring together the tribes— Crusch should be very suitable to carry out this responsibility. Her albinism may perhaps be a hindrance, but her abilities as a druid are indispensable.”

“Wait a moment. I also want to fight together!”

Crusch shouted loudly, protesting why she was excluded now out of all times.

“Furthermore, if we were to leave one person behind, wouldn’t leaving behind Shasuryu be better? He is the most trusted tribe leader amongst us!”

“And that is exactly why we cannot leave him behind. The opponent’s objective is to demonstrate overwhelming force, probably in hopes that we will despair, so that we will submit to his authority easier. However, what would happen if there was someone amongst the survivors they could pin their hopes on, hmm?”

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