What Ainz believed to be his greatest ‘weapon’ in his battle against Shalltear.
Dodging it will be difficult.
Shalltear calmly judged it as such while staring at the incredibly fast thrust heading her way. However, a thrust was a risky technique. Exploiting its weakness will give her a great opportunity.
With the determination to sacrifice an arm, Shalltear squeezed her left hand into the trajectory path of the thrust.
The instant the katana stabbed her; Shalltear slightly moved her left hand and averted the force of the thrust to veer off to her side.
Piercing through her left palm rather than her chest, the katana lost none of its momentum and cleaved through both the flesh and bone, tearing through the inside of her left arm. The lightning riding through the blade pierced Shalltear’s body from the inside.
Even for an undead, the feeling of having one’s flesh torn apart gave her goose bumps. However, a corner of Shalltear’s lips twisted upwards.
That was a smile— it was not an expression that should have been on someone who had just received such damage. But it was not a bluff either. This was what Shalltear had been aiming for.
Shalltear flexed her left arm with the katana lodged inside. Her muscles grabbed on to the blade and stopped its movements.
It was common that a thrust would often miss its mark or become stuck because of the muscles. That was why it was considered difficult to use, in other words, it had a weakness. Because Shalltear knew this, she gave up her left arm to create such a opening.
It was an incredible technique where the window of timing between the blade entering the arm and cutting through the flesh was less than a second.
“An opening!”
With his sword restrained, Ainz had no way to avoid the Spuit Lance.
Shalltear, who was about to swing her Spuit Lance with the speed of light, saw a surprising scene.
Ainz threw away the Divine Class katana, one of the strongest in its class, and drew one of the many wooden rods that he wore around his belt.
“Hah! How foolish! You’re going to try blocking my Spuit Lance with something like that?! And you even threw away your weapon, you’ve made the wrong choice!”
Not clinging to the Divine Class item Takemikazuchi Mk 8 was wise, but there was no way to win without it.
With a jeer, Shalltear, determined to inflict as much damage as she received in her left arm, thrust her Spuit Lance with all her strength and— was repelled with a metallic sound.
“Eh?”
Shalltear let out a stunned noise.
The wooden rod in Ainz’ hand was no longer there. In its place were two kodachi. The weapons held a brilliant radiance like the sun, a serene light like the moon.
Smoke rose from Ainz’ hands that were holding the weapons, as if they resented being touched by an undead.
“Where is this opening, Shalltear?”
“Ehhh?! What? H, How?”
The weight of the weapon that was supposed to be in Shalltear’s left arm was no longer present. As soon as Ainz pulled a new weapon, it disappeared, as if it couldn’t exist in the same world. Shalltear vaguely understood: It had returned to where it originally belonged.
“Not knowing how to feint, even if I held a sword in each hand, it would be better for me to just use one… was it?”
As if recalling a memory, Ainz’ muttering seemed to be directed at a person who was not present.
“Maybe, but what about the present me?
Without even a chance to ponder the meaning of those words, the kodachi seeped in moonlight flashed towards Shalltear.
Despite looking as if it was heading for her neck, the trajectory skillfully changed course and headed for her shoulder. Such an attack was just barely deflected by the Spuit Lance.
Aiming for this, Ainz deeply stepped into the gap in Shalltear’s opening. The larger the weapon, the weaker they become in close quarters. Understanding this thoroughly— those were the movements of a veteran.
The sun kodachi in his other hand— penetrated the Spuit Lance’s defences and lightly dug into Shalltear’s body.
“AAAAAHHHHHHH!”
A voice filled with pain exploded from the space between her lips.
The pain from the actual sword was nothing. However, pain from the holy attribute of the blade seeped into her body like a toxin. This she could not endure.
With the blade still lodged, Ainz moved the sword to the side to try and widen the wound.
“Get away!”
Because it was not a distance where she could freely swing the Spuit Lance, Shalltear threw a kick. Although Ainz blocked it with his kodachi, he could not completely absorb the force of the impact and was blown backwards. Then Shalltear saw it; the figure of Ainz letting go of the kodachi and grabbing a small wooden rod.
And the moment the rod shattered, it covered his hand and revealed a dreadful, huge gauntlet. Large enough to touch the ground even while standing, the gauntlet—
“Haah!”
—cleaved through the air as Ainz stepped forward and charged with a yell.
