Chapter 15: Big battle continued
- Location
- Somwhere Under The Sea
Chapter 15: Big battle continued
Dracula was losing.
Avoiding attacks one after the other, Vlad understood that he was losing.
He had no opportunity to attack his opponent. All he could do was continue to throw useless spears into a soaring mage, who in turn just evaded them time after time, and then continue to run like a frightened mouse, feeling like each of the pillars of flame that kept coming from nowhere was melting his strength with his flesh.
He did not have the opportunity to use his trump cards. While the enemy was floating in the air, he was out of reach of Dracula's Kazikli Bey, which he could conjure according to his will in any place in his Kingdom. It would take him time and concentration in order to subdue the air around him, but if he even stopped for a second, he would get hit, and only two or three more direct hits would burn him completely. Moreover, even if he had subjugated the air to himself, this did not mean that his opponent would fall. In a strange way, the mage could escape his fate. He had already survived getting pierced with a dozen lances at the same time. It could be just a one-time trick, of course... But it could be something more.
And his opponent did not stop attacking. His attacks were exactly the same, as straightforward as possible, simple, and unmercifully strong. The fire arising with every word from his opponent licked tore flesh from the bones with the greed of a hungry beast, bringing with it the might and hatred of the primordial fire. Such magic was comparable to great magic - to the magic from the Age of the Gods. Even in the past, at a time when the gods walked the earth, such magic was not a bazaar trick, but a powerful ritual, magic available only to the strongest. Even if Dracula had fought the old Sumerian maiden, she would not have been able to use such magic more than ten times outside her territory. In her base, maybe she could reach fifty. But she was really strong, Vlad could not deny it, even if he did not want to admit it.
But his opponent continued to use spell behind spell as if such magic was, at best, a common occurrence for him. He was close to the designated fifty uses of such a spell, but unlike the witch, he was not in his territory. Even more, after fifty such spells, that witch would have been completely exhausted and would have had to leave the battlefield, while this mage, who continued to soar, seemed to not break a sweat, sending spell after spell at Dracula. And all that while he maintained his Fly spell. It was not a strong spell, many Servants could afford some sort of flight, but it was an extra waste of man, mana that was supposed to be used on spells, mana which seemed to be infinite in the body of Dracula's foe.
"What kind of monster is this?" Vlad asked himself a question and grinned. Not to downplay the irony of the greatest vampire calling someone a monster, but his opponent was truely much closer to a monster than to a man. Not every magi from the Age of the Gods could so calmly attack Vlad with this abundance of powerful spells, as if he was not at all concerned about his mana expenditure. Dracula tried to remember the name of someone who could attack over and over with magic of this caliber, but failed. His opponent used only three spells during the battle: fire, teleportation and flight. Vlad could not even imagine with whom he continued to fight - and at the same time, he was forced to reveal one of his main trump cards, his Kazikli Bey.
If it were not for his opponent's method of escaping from attacks and his excessive practicality in choosing the method of attack, Vlad would give him a respectful bow, as an equal. However, his enormous respect for his opponent was counterbalanced by his contempt for the tactics of his battle, because of that, all that the vampire could do was snort ardently, as if reluctantly recognizing that his enemy was still not weak.
Under normal conditions, even if Vlad faced such an adversary, his tactic would be to wait. He would wait out the attacks of his enemy, until he used all his strength - however, judging by the way his opponent continued to attack him, not caring about mana usage, Vlad understood that such tactics were useless. In other words…
Vlad was losing.
Dracula winced as if from a toothache, after which he glanced at his enemy, who continued to throw spells at him while floating in the sky.
Vlad still had four... No, five trump cards up his sleeve, although even the fact that he was ready to consider the fifth thing a trump card only showed how dangerous his opponent was, and how much his current summon changed him as a person.
One trump card, Kazikli Bey in his Kingdom was useless - and therefore the second trump card was useless too. There were three left, although under different conditions he would rather throw himself to stray dogs to be eaten than decide to use the last one, which was probably the strongest. So now he had only two.
And again, one was useless under current conditions, but another one ...
Vlad made a leap back, dodging the column of fire, then looked at the figure floating in the air.
If Vlad had the ability to neutralize the attacks of his enemy, he would rely on this ability. According to his theory, if the mage was able to neutralize his Kazikli Bey again, then there was no reason for him to rise into the air, evading further attacks of an ability not dangerous to him.
For Ainz, his thoughts were the opposite. No matter how much protections he uses against his enemy's ability, they will always fall short from absolute protection. This made him take his opponent seriously, which turned his battle into an endless race with an imaginary opponent, who could somehow outsmart any of his defenses or countermeasures at any time. Because Ainz took his opponent seriously, there was no such thing as "excessiveness" or "overkill". He could easily walk through the crowds of zombies, if he knew that they were weak, but when confronted with the Servant, who, by definition, was judged by his mind as "the pinnacle of power", Ainz took Dracula seriously. If he decided to prepare for a battle with a Servant who had fire magic, he would equipe himself with fire protection gear, use fire protection spells, protection against magic, protection against breaking through fire resistance, protection from breaking through protection from magic, anti-magic, anti-magic against penetration of protection, protection against penetration of anti-magic, anti-magic against anti-magic, and protection against protection from anti-magic ...
In other words, despite the fact that Vlad's attacks consisted of ordinary stakes, which could not harm the Ainz's body, despite the fact that the individual strength of each spear was below the threshold needed to cause damage to the mage, despite the fact that the physical resistance of the necromancer was able to cope with attacks much stronger, despite the fact that, as a creature made from bones, Ainz was particularly strongly protected from Vlad's piercing attacks, he nevertheless took to the air, protecting himself from Lancer's attacks even further. Moreover, he was ready to use at least five different spells aimed at defending against Lancer's attacks, all he needed to use them was for Dracula to demonstrate something that went beyond his assumptions. For Ainz, endless preparation and defense against all possible attack variants was a power.
For Vlad this was evidence of weakness. The king does not run away from those who are weaker than him, such were the thought of the legendary Dracula. If he was stronger than an advancing army, he would destroy it, proudly striding forward, ready to meet tens of thousands of enemies at a time. If he was stronger, then for him there was no such thing as "reinsurance", he would never have decided to retreat and then destroy the enemy from a safe distance. In this regard, he was infinitely different from Ainz.
In other words, in the actions of Ainz, who rose into the air, he saw not a demonstration of tactical wits, which means strength, but rather fear of getting attacked, and therefore weakness. For Vlad, such a retreat meant only one thing: The fact that his opponent was not as invulnerable to attacks as it seemed. That his Kazikli Bey, even if it didn't work the first time, was still not too weak to hurt - or kill - the mage. So in this trump card there was a meaning.
Avoiding another spell that exploded with a flower of fire at the spot where he was, Vlad stopped for a second. All that he could stand now was three direct hits of a spell of a similar level. However, in order to win, he was forced to perform such a gambit.
Fire sprang up around the vampire, burning his flesh. In the end, his face melted like a candle, his left hand burned to the ground, but he still stayed.
Concentrating on the power that had betrayed him before, Lancer appealed to the full power of his Noble Phantasm.
"Kazikli Bey!" and with these words a million lances launched out of the ground.
A million lances is still a million lances, it was hard to argue with that statement. Instantly, the stakes lashed from the earth to the very horizon, knocking away parts of the earth like horrifying, twisted trees, raising defeated enemies into the air, like an offering to the bloodthirsty gods of the sky.
Most of the Servants managed to respond to such a sudden occurrence - Arthuria's instincts forced her to disappear in a meaningless jump into the sky, Serenity's reaction was such that she used the rising stake as a platform for a new jump, even Medusa was able to escape from the blow of the legendary vampire. Some could not get away from the blows of the emerging stakes - Jeanne, who had barely stood up from the ground, managed only to move slightly from the impact trajectory, allowing the tip of the emerging lance to scratch her body, and Lancelot, devoured by his hatred, did not even notice how a certain peak pierced his body, impaling it as if on a pin, continuing his attack, breaking down the stakes emerging from nowhere as if they were splinters. However, no one was able to completely avoid the actions of the Dracula.
Except for one single girl.
Archer stepped aside, but this did not save him completely - even though a spear arising from the ground did not pierce him - the light surrounding him allowed the guy to understand what would follow next.
The blow of white fire that emerged from nowhere was not particularly strong, the opponent of the two Servants was not a particularly powerful mage in terms of attack, and Archer had small, but still relevant defense against magic, because of which, such an attack was only slightly more for him than a small flick, but nevertheless, Archer was extremely annoyed that he could not in any way evade such a spell, no matter what he tried.
At the same time, the girl who held the staff in her hands, more like a huge cudgel, did not even budge when the vampire stakes pierced the ground next to her. Not a single spear even scratched her, on the contrary, a thorn that emerged from the ground stood as an unexpected obstacle in front of the Assassin who appeared on the girl's side, and immediately retreated into the shadows.
It happened over and over again. Randomly, some of the Servants' attacks were simply interrupted without hitting their target. The blades in the Hassan's hands deviated from their course, passing in a centimeter from the girl's body, while Archer's arrows broke on her light robe, as if on a stone wall. However, this was not because of the girl's actions, nor because of the incompetence of the Servants the attacking her. The attacks broke down quite by accident. With equal probability, a shot from Archer hand would either fail, crashing powerlessly into an invisible shield around the girl, or hit her, causing the girl to step back. Equally likely, the strongest of Assassin's attacks would either powerlessly slide over Rider's skin, or leave huge wounds on the opponent's body. What kind of attack will be successful, and which will fai, it was quite by random, as random as Rider's own attacks.
Swinging her staff, Rider hit the ground under Assassin's legs, cracking it with in half, but Hassan easily walked out from under the blow, sweeping his blade on the girl's arm. This time Hassan's attack was successful, a red wound band appeared on the opponent's arm. However Hassan himself was wounded before, during a seemingly awkward movement, the girl was able to send Assassin flying with an unexpected blow.
Archer launched several arrows at the girl, after which, with blades he summoned in his hands, he rushed after her. Two arrows broke down powerlessly, as soon as they hit the girl's body, but one entered Rider's belly. However, the following attacks by Archer also ended in nothing, several flashes that lit up in the air turned out to be beaten off by the girl's staff, who, having caught the moment, drove her fist into the solar plexus of the guy, sending him too on a short flight.
"You will know the might of the Catholic Church, infidel!" the girl grinned, after which, waving her cross like a cudgel, she sent Hassan, who was near her, flying yet again. Now she didn't look like herself at all, there was no trace of the former modest nun. The fist blows of the girl sent her opponents flying with each hit, as if a huge bull was fighting them, and the staff in her hands turned from a symbol of faith into a threatening cudgel, breaking bones more easily than anyone would have thought. The girl's hairstyle was disheveled, there were a few drops of blood on her face, and the smile on her lips showed that the girl enjoyed the battle with the joy of a berserker, who seized the fight. Perhaps her Master, the Dragon Witch, really influenced her. However, it would have been impossible to achieve such a level of joy from the massacre taking place if the girl didn't have the original predisposition to it.
"Is that all you can do?" mocking them, the nun went on the offensive, forcing both Servants to prepare for the strike. The girl was injured, her staff carried several deep chippings, several arrows stuck out of her body - but the girl continued to fight with the enthusiasm of a real fighter, "Come on, fight!"
Rider's blow split the stone on which Archer was now standing, but the girl's attack did not end there. Archer blocked the girl's blow with a blade that appeared in his hands, but a sharp kick, as if received from a drunken sailor in a pub fight, knocked him back.
'Which of us is even winning?!' was Archer's only thought. He and Hassan continued to attack the girl time after time, she was much more heavily wounded than either of them, but she clearly was not experiencing any particular problems. On the contrary, it seemed that she had entered the berserker's rage, becoming more dangerous the more her opponents wounded her. Magic, fists, staff, kicks.. all mixed up in a single mad whirlwind.
Moreover, her strange abilities were problematic... It seemed as if the principles of cause and effect themselves were going mad around the girl, her attacks seemed to have their own mind, deciding at random if they hurt the enemy or not. Sometimes, it would seem she was absolutely incapable of harming her opponents, other times, her blows would catch up with Archer or Assassin, as if space itself was curving around them, changing the trajectory of their movement, or the Servants' attacks themselves bypassed Rider, powerlessly breaking from her strange defense.
This battle was chao... real chaos. Archer couldn't even say for sure who was leading in this game, he had only to take Rider's defense into account, how his arrow had pierced the girl's flesh, and when he considered himself a winner, a new impossible attack forced the guy to go on a long-distance flight.
"Absolute Madness" Archer found Hassan's gaze. He continued to dance around Rider, not paying attention to her attacks, however, catching his gaze Archer was ready to swear that he thought absolutely the same thing as Archer himself.
"It definitely can't go on like this" although Hassan had no face, even his eyes behind his white bone mask were not visible - Archer saw these words as clearly as he saw the ongoing battle of the remaining Servants with their opponents.
Archer nodded slightly, then jumped away from the girl, then again, and again.
"Where are you going?" Rider's voice was simultaneously bloodthirsty, confused, curious, and perplexed, but Archer did not dare answer these words.
"I am the bone of my sword..." Archer's voice, for a second, made Rider stop.
"Oh," she only responded, instantly realizing the meaning of the spoken words and smiled, "You highly appreciated my strength, I am grateful."
"But..." the girl smirked, "You, it seems, have not yet understood who you are unlucky to fight against."
"Tarrasque!" the girl's voice instantly filled with power, and before Archer's Reality Marble could absorb the girl, the movement of magic suddenly stopped when the incredible force opposing her began to take shape in this world "O' Tragic Drake Who Knew Naught of Love!"
"Master is really something ..." Cu Chulainn shook his head, watching how calmly Ainz scattered spells of an incredible level from sky, "Looking at this, you begin to wonder. Does he really need us to fight?"
Without waiting for an answer, Caster shook his head, "Wonderful.. the works of Gods!"
"Don't you dare to ignore me!" the cry of a girl from behind Caster made him turn around slowly.
"Oh, so are you still alive?" with these words, Cu Chulainn sighed, looking at the wounded Bathory, or Carmilla, who was gasping for air, leaning on her staff.
Carmilla gave a low rumbled roar to these words, but she already realized that it was dangerous to follow her emotions in this fight. Despite the fact that Elizabeth used her Phantasm at the very beginning of the battle, she was still losing. There were several reasons for this.
First of all, her very Noble Phantasm. The Phantom Maiden was the embodiment of her legend about the murder of hundreds of innocent girls. This Phantasm got stronger the more the target was young, beautiful and feminine. Against an adult male, its effectiveness was low.
Of course, on the other hand, the effectiveness of this ability was that, by using such a Phantasm, Carmilla could regenerate some of her lost health, however, if the damage dealt by the Phantasm was minor, then the regeneration was also minor.
Of course, Cu Chulainn also did not represent the apogee of power, so Carmilla had a chance to win at the very beginning, having impaled his body on iron spikes inside the Phantom Maiden, but since he was reinforced by Ainz's incredible mana and created a protective rune before being completely stabbed, Cu Chulainn survived, which meant that Carmilla had no chance.
But for some reason she still fought.
Elizabeth could not understand why she still allowed to fight. Was her opponent playing with her? Or perhaps he could not kill her for some other reason?
Carmilla no longer had trump cards up her sleeve. Her Phantasm was her main ace, and if this ability was useless, then she no longer had the opportunity to attack.
And yet, a miracle or not, but Carmilla continued to fight.
The rune, which arose before Cu Chulainn, spewed fire at the gir, forcing her to escape from the blow in a quick jump.
"And you are very tenacious," the guy gave the compliment to the girl, but Carmilla could not hear anything in it but a sneer. The only reason why she was still alive was because her opponent did not use his Noble Phantasm. If he had put his trump card in the game like she did, she would have lost.
However, she did not know that that was false, much to Cu Chulainn's regret.
The use of the Wicker Man was his trump card, but in this battle it was useless. The resulting giant would have been an unstoppable power, but against such a brisk and quick goal as Carmilla, he would have looked like a man who irritably tries to catch a fly. One blow would be fatal - however, the giant would not have had the opportunity to deliver this blow.
The situation was not a stalemate, Cu Chulainn clearly waw winning this battle. However, his victory was not going to be a quick one, and the battle threatened to drag on much longer than any other battle of the other Servants around.
Fortunately or not, the appearance of spears from under the ground caught the combatants off guard.
Cu Chulainn managed to take only a step to the side before the wooden stake broke through his leg, and Carmilla, even though she had tremendous Dexterity, could not react to the stakes that emerged from nowhere. Whether this was because she was injured, or because she was distracted by the battle, it was not clear.
What was clear was that the spears that had arisen around her turned into a prison, holding the girl down for those few precious seconds that Cu Chulainn needed so much.
"Wicker Man!" the name of the Noble Phantasm rippled through reality like circles on water, causing Caster's Concentrated legend to manifest in reality. The giant's fiery body rose tens of meters above the battlefield. If someone compared the creature even to something like a dragon, then the Wicker Man would have been much more impressive. Although much weaker in reality.
Carmilla attempted to throw herself again to the side. However, sandwiched between the clutches of stakes, she turned out to be an easy target for the huge fire giant.
The burning giant caught the girl and lifted her from her arms, then he squeezed her in his hands, and then, in one continuous movement, threw her inside his own thorax, which opened like the hungry mouth of a beast.
A moment later, when the Assassin's black and red stain disappeared inside the creature's cage, the giant's fire flared up with renewed strength, and the yellowish orange flame shot up along the bars of the cage, absorbing Carmilla within it. For a second, the creature stopped, then, like an explosion, every particle of the body of the Wicker Man flashed with blinding fire.
Cu Chulainn even closed his eyes for a second, the fire from his Phantasm was so this bright, after which, he blinked several times, brushing away the tears that had formed in his eyes.
It was his weaker Noble Phantasm of the two, but nevertheless, it was not wise to underestimate its power.
Cu Chulainn blinked a few more times, regaining his sight, then grunted in satisfaction, watching the ashes of the burnt-out monster descend from the sky.
However, instantly his eyes were riveted to strange details.
On the place where his Noble Phantasm was just a second ago was a black sarcophagus. No, it was not black, it was just covered with fumes and soot to the point that it seemed completely black to an outsider. In fact, judging by the appearance of the sarcophagus, Cu Chulainn could guess that in fact it should have had the color of unpainted steel, since he could distinguish the outlines of the Phantom Maiden even at such a distance.
Slowly the steel sarcophagus opened, after which the sweeping chains carried forward what was inside.
The one that came out was none other than Carmilla.
"Oh, that's how it is..." Cu Chulainn instantly realized the gist of what happened - "I didn't know that she could use the Phantom Maiden to defend..."
Carmilla used her Phantom Maiden like a protective shield, hiding inside it when the Wicker Manbustling around her in the flames, after which, she emerged from the flames unscathed. Clever - Cu Chulainn could not object to this. But…
Carmilla's dress was torn, and there were several small bruises on her body, so it was impossible to call Carmilla unharmed. But there was not a single burn on her, which meant she was not injured by the Wicker Man. In other words, the only way for Carmilla to be wounded in such conditions was to be wounded by the Phantom Maiden herself.
The Phantom Maiden was not intended to be used as a defense, it was a tool for wounding and torture, and anyone who was inside her had to suffer, Carmilla was no exception. However, she was Carmilla, she was the famous Elizabeth of Bathory, who bathed in the blood of hundreds of innocent peasant women in order to maintain her beauty. Even if that was not true during her life, that was her Legend as the Servant. The blood of her enemies fed her, in other words, any victim of the Phantom Maiden gave her her strength. Even if this victim was herself.
Of the three parameters to increase the power of her Phantasm, Carmilla was subject to two, she was beautiful and feminine. Even Cu Chulainn, who did not fit not even one of these three parameters, could have easily died from Bathory's Phantasm, he experienced the whole disfiguring power of this damned instrument. He knew that if he were an ordinary person, he would have died instantly from the pain, before dying on stakes; therefore, it was almost impossible to assume what Bathory had experienced.
And yet she chose to go through this pain, to experience the same thing as the hundreds of her victims, instead of losing so easily Cu Chulainn.
Will to win' Caster bowed his head in respect.
Carmilla actually forced herself to go through torture, supporting herself with her own torment. However, this ability had two problems.
The first is that the efficiency of life support was not equal to one hundred percent, because of that, Carmilla was still forced to injure herself with her Noble Phantasm.
The second is that this Phantasm did not reduce the pain at all.
Therefore, in a moment after the chains of Phantasm lowered the girl to the ground, she rushed at Cu Chulainn with hatred tens of thousands of times more than all that she had experienced before.
However, in the instant when the girl was in front of Caster, something exploded under her feet, making her to jump aside.
No matter how strong her will to win was, Caster was not going to give up so easily.
Ainz hovered in the sky, watching the actions of Dracula with concealed apprehension.
The main purpose of passing the Blood Gardens was the battle with Cainabel, the most significant and powerful, the God of Vampires, but his lieutenants were more than able to fight a full-fledged player of the 100th level, and, as to be expected of game bosses, each of them had their own, uniquely disgusting abilities. Carmilla had monstrously strong AoE attacks, mind control, time stop, she constantly teleported, created clones, and could rise three times after her death. Konstantin was incredibly tenacious, he had the ability to regenerate three times the amount of damage he did with any attack. Dracula... Dracula was extremely unpleasant for his endless stream of summoned mobs, his ability to block any attack, his astral form, the poisonous aura, the passive weakening of each victim he attacked, and his Reality Slash. Even though he was not a full-fledged mage, he knew a few spells of the tenth rank, similar to Demiurge.
Therefore, Ainz prepared for battle. He prepared for the astral form of his opponent, for his weakening blows, for the powerful offensive magic and for the hordes of vampires endlessly emerging from nowhere.
But there were no such things.
At this, Ainz glanced at Dracula, suddenly frozen on the ground, and sent him a new column of fire.
A strange conjecture pierced the mind of the magician.
Was it possible that this Dracula... Was not The Dracula, like in the game?
Was it possible that this Dracula was weaker, or had a completely different set of abilities?
No, of course, Dracula used an ability a little earlier, which pierced Ainz with spikes from underneath, but Ainz simply felt that Dracula used some of his low-level abilities, such as those that all 100-level opponents have, but never use in a real battle, in order to test Ainz's resistance. Ainz, seeing that Dracula used his low-level ability to test the opponent's resistance, even found him an even more dangerous opponent, because he used a low-level spell, conserving even the insignificant mana that was the difference between a single casting of a low-level spell and a high-level one.
However, continuing to look at how Vlad continued to throw stakes at him, Ainz came to a strange conjecture.
"Is it possible?" Ainz thought "That he is just weak?"
Ainz would not call him unequivocally weak, he was fast enough that he did not think that he would manage to defeat him in melee combat. However, even if his parameters were high and his combat experience exceeded Ainz's experience, if he could not surpass all of Ainz's abilities, skills, spells and equipment, then he still remained too weak to fight with a level 100 opponent.
Spears arising from the ground distracted Ainz.
Wooden stakes covered the ground in all directions all the way to the horizon — the spikes arising from nowhere injured several of the Servants who were fighting around, but Ainz himself, who continued to float in the sky, was completely unaffected.
Of course, this happened because Ainz was currently floating at a height of several tens of meters, while the stakes themselves did not even reach five, but, even if Ainz were on the ground at that moment, Dracula's ability would still not hurt him No matter how many thousands of lances were sent at him, unless each of them had enough power to go through at least the first level of his protection, each of them will be powerless to harm his body.
However, Dracula probably did not think so. Although the fiery tornado instantly swallowed his body, inflicting more damage on him than he could inflict on Ainz with all the spears that had arisen, he rejoiced at the effect of his ability. Having lifted a finger to the sky, he pointed to the figure of the floating mage, after which each of the thousands of stakes instantly shut upwards like arrows, after which, gathering with hundreds of similar ones, they turned into a huge prickly serpent in a second, hundreds of stakes rushed into the mage with the speed of a bullet.
It was pointless.
If any other Servant were in place of Ainz, he would have been torn apart the instance the whirlwind of lances touched him. However, this same Servant could have easily died before, after being pierced by wooden stakes arising from nowhere.
For Ainz, three spears or three millions, it was meaningless. However, Ainz was not so sure about that at the moment.
Ainz was a creature of a different principle. What was natural for the rest was wild for him, and vice versa, so it was not easy to predict whether the damage from the wooden stakes would exceed the level of Ainz's physical nullification.
As an example, the zombies in the game were the weakest opponents. However, the existing Zombie Horde mob, which represented only a group of dozens of zombies, merged among themselves, was still a fiftieth level creature. It was still extremely weak, but still capable of easily destroying hundreds, even thousands, of first-level opponents. Much more than he should be able to, based on the logic of the lore.
Therefore, Ainz was not sure that Lancer's spears would not cause him damage. If each of the copies inflicted only a single damage, then none of them would even be able to rumple his shirt. If Lancer's ability somehow considered all attacking spears as a single weapon, then Ainz reasoned that the damage would exceed the threshold of protection his body had against abilities of this level.
However, this did not mean anything, Ainz still had more than one ability to reduce the power of attacks directed at him, with multiple that could completely prevent damage. In other words, even if Dracula's spears had crossed the threshold of Ainz's complete protection from attacks of a certain power, they still couldn't deal damage to him.
However, Ainz chose not to take risks and avoided the vortex approaching him by teleportation.
Having appeared at a new place, he stretched out his hand in order to continue attacking Dracula, but the whirlwind of copies forced him to teleport again.
"Hm" after leaving teleportation, Ainz was forced to leave again, evading a spear thrown by the vampire himself, and then again, moving away from the soaring whirlwind "So this is his plan? Even if he cannot hurt me, he plans to force me to move from place to place... "
This plan was not fundamentally bad - however, it was absolutely useless. All the spells that Ainz used up until this point did not go beyond the seventh rank,, in other words, his mana was practically full, even though the use of the flight somewhat reduced his mana regeneration rate. Of course, if he were a lower level player, or someone not so focused on magic, and therefore had less mana reserves regeneration rate, or if Ainz himself used stronger spells, then this plan would make sense. However, in the current environment, all that Dracula could achieve was reduce Ainz's ability to concentrate on the attack, and thus reduce his accuracy. Of course, this was a good decision in itself. However, even at best, it could only delay the inevitable loss.
But why, in that case, did he resort to such a decision, instead of using any of his trumps? Summoning his henchmen, or perhaps using a strong instant attack?
The idea that Vlad could have been just less powerful than Ainz had initially considered him to be quietly crept to Ainz's mind, but he drove it away. Such thoughts were the way to defeat. His friend, Punitto Moe always talked about this. Therefore, he was not going to give Dracula concessions.
Teleporting once again, instead of using a brief second of calm to attack Dracula, Ainz used a different spell.
"Summon Undead: Eighth" he instantly ordered, after which, a black fog appeared around him and descended to the ground. Ainz immediately left the swarm of stakes following him, but the black fog was in no hurry to disperse. Slowly, it began to take shape, outlining the contours of a humanoid figure, then refining into a human one, and, eventually, a man dressed in armor. A second later, a black mist that hugged him from all sides, burst, after which, the man was born. His long black hair contrasted with his bluish-pale skin, descending along his black armor to the waist. The cloak that flapped behind him was full of black and red flowers that painted a strange symbol that was impossible to discern at the second that he was standing motionless. However, the beauty of his armor could not hide the deformities of his body.
In place of gauntlets, only bare hands with long, broken claws came out from under the armor, his face resembled a long bat face, his mouth was full of sharp needle teeth lining the inside of his mouth and throat, and even going deeper inside, and black eyes with red pupils blazing with insane thirst and hatred.
A moment later, the "Lord of Vampires", obeying the instinctive desire of his summoner, broke into a run.
Magic Resistance: A+ (Case)
For a creature of Yggdrasil, this skill is not just mandatory, it is one of the nine basic parameters that determine the most basic characteristics of a player or creature. The very existence of any living creature without this skill is unthinkable . After all, without protection from magic, any character can easily become a puppet of any sensible mage.
In the world around Ainz, this truth is often questioned, although not completely. Despite the fact that the absence of Magical Resistance really is most often a death sentence in the case of collision with a really powerful magician, the majority of Servants did not have protection from magic, and only a small portion of them has protection potent enough for really strong magicians to take in consideration.
Due to this, and given that Ainz's spells were originally designed to fight creatures with a very high level of magic resistance, even the fact that someone from the Servants survived from the initial use of the "Explosion" is worthy of respect. The fact that Dracula - albeit reinforced by his summon, Master and existence within his Kingdom, was able to withstand several direct hits from Napalm is doubly worthy of respect.
Dracula was losing.
Avoiding attacks one after the other, Vlad understood that he was losing.
He had no opportunity to attack his opponent. All he could do was continue to throw useless spears into a soaring mage, who in turn just evaded them time after time, and then continue to run like a frightened mouse, feeling like each of the pillars of flame that kept coming from nowhere was melting his strength with his flesh.
He did not have the opportunity to use his trump cards. While the enemy was floating in the air, he was out of reach of Dracula's Kazikli Bey, which he could conjure according to his will in any place in his Kingdom. It would take him time and concentration in order to subdue the air around him, but if he even stopped for a second, he would get hit, and only two or three more direct hits would burn him completely. Moreover, even if he had subjugated the air to himself, this did not mean that his opponent would fall. In a strange way, the mage could escape his fate. He had already survived getting pierced with a dozen lances at the same time. It could be just a one-time trick, of course... But it could be something more.
And his opponent did not stop attacking. His attacks were exactly the same, as straightforward as possible, simple, and unmercifully strong. The fire arising with every word from his opponent licked tore flesh from the bones with the greed of a hungry beast, bringing with it the might and hatred of the primordial fire. Such magic was comparable to great magic - to the magic from the Age of the Gods. Even in the past, at a time when the gods walked the earth, such magic was not a bazaar trick, but a powerful ritual, magic available only to the strongest. Even if Dracula had fought the old Sumerian maiden, she would not have been able to use such magic more than ten times outside her territory. In her base, maybe she could reach fifty. But she was really strong, Vlad could not deny it, even if he did not want to admit it.
But his opponent continued to use spell behind spell as if such magic was, at best, a common occurrence for him. He was close to the designated fifty uses of such a spell, but unlike the witch, he was not in his territory. Even more, after fifty such spells, that witch would have been completely exhausted and would have had to leave the battlefield, while this mage, who continued to soar, seemed to not break a sweat, sending spell after spell at Dracula. And all that while he maintained his Fly spell. It was not a strong spell, many Servants could afford some sort of flight, but it was an extra waste of man, mana that was supposed to be used on spells, mana which seemed to be infinite in the body of Dracula's foe.
"What kind of monster is this?" Vlad asked himself a question and grinned. Not to downplay the irony of the greatest vampire calling someone a monster, but his opponent was truely much closer to a monster than to a man. Not every magi from the Age of the Gods could so calmly attack Vlad with this abundance of powerful spells, as if he was not at all concerned about his mana expenditure. Dracula tried to remember the name of someone who could attack over and over with magic of this caliber, but failed. His opponent used only three spells during the battle: fire, teleportation and flight. Vlad could not even imagine with whom he continued to fight - and at the same time, he was forced to reveal one of his main trump cards, his Kazikli Bey.
If it were not for his opponent's method of escaping from attacks and his excessive practicality in choosing the method of attack, Vlad would give him a respectful bow, as an equal. However, his enormous respect for his opponent was counterbalanced by his contempt for the tactics of his battle, because of that, all that the vampire could do was snort ardently, as if reluctantly recognizing that his enemy was still not weak.
Under normal conditions, even if Vlad faced such an adversary, his tactic would be to wait. He would wait out the attacks of his enemy, until he used all his strength - however, judging by the way his opponent continued to attack him, not caring about mana usage, Vlad understood that such tactics were useless. In other words…
Vlad was losing.
Dracula winced as if from a toothache, after which he glanced at his enemy, who continued to throw spells at him while floating in the sky.
Vlad still had four... No, five trump cards up his sleeve, although even the fact that he was ready to consider the fifth thing a trump card only showed how dangerous his opponent was, and how much his current summon changed him as a person.
One trump card, Kazikli Bey in his Kingdom was useless - and therefore the second trump card was useless too. There were three left, although under different conditions he would rather throw himself to stray dogs to be eaten than decide to use the last one, which was probably the strongest. So now he had only two.
And again, one was useless under current conditions, but another one ...
Vlad made a leap back, dodging the column of fire, then looked at the figure floating in the air.
If Vlad had the ability to neutralize the attacks of his enemy, he would rely on this ability. According to his theory, if the mage was able to neutralize his Kazikli Bey again, then there was no reason for him to rise into the air, evading further attacks of an ability not dangerous to him.
For Ainz, his thoughts were the opposite. No matter how much protections he uses against his enemy's ability, they will always fall short from absolute protection. This made him take his opponent seriously, which turned his battle into an endless race with an imaginary opponent, who could somehow outsmart any of his defenses or countermeasures at any time. Because Ainz took his opponent seriously, there was no such thing as "excessiveness" or "overkill". He could easily walk through the crowds of zombies, if he knew that they were weak, but when confronted with the Servant, who, by definition, was judged by his mind as "the pinnacle of power", Ainz took Dracula seriously. If he decided to prepare for a battle with a Servant who had fire magic, he would equipe himself with fire protection gear, use fire protection spells, protection against magic, protection against breaking through fire resistance, protection from breaking through protection from magic, anti-magic, anti-magic against penetration of protection, protection against penetration of anti-magic, anti-magic against anti-magic, and protection against protection from anti-magic ...
In other words, despite the fact that Vlad's attacks consisted of ordinary stakes, which could not harm the Ainz's body, despite the fact that the individual strength of each spear was below the threshold needed to cause damage to the mage, despite the fact that the physical resistance of the necromancer was able to cope with attacks much stronger, despite the fact that, as a creature made from bones, Ainz was particularly strongly protected from Vlad's piercing attacks, he nevertheless took to the air, protecting himself from Lancer's attacks even further. Moreover, he was ready to use at least five different spells aimed at defending against Lancer's attacks, all he needed to use them was for Dracula to demonstrate something that went beyond his assumptions. For Ainz, endless preparation and defense against all possible attack variants was a power.
For Vlad this was evidence of weakness. The king does not run away from those who are weaker than him, such were the thought of the legendary Dracula. If he was stronger than an advancing army, he would destroy it, proudly striding forward, ready to meet tens of thousands of enemies at a time. If he was stronger, then for him there was no such thing as "reinsurance", he would never have decided to retreat and then destroy the enemy from a safe distance. In this regard, he was infinitely different from Ainz.
In other words, in the actions of Ainz, who rose into the air, he saw not a demonstration of tactical wits, which means strength, but rather fear of getting attacked, and therefore weakness. For Vlad, such a retreat meant only one thing: The fact that his opponent was not as invulnerable to attacks as it seemed. That his Kazikli Bey, even if it didn't work the first time, was still not too weak to hurt - or kill - the mage. So in this trump card there was a meaning.
Avoiding another spell that exploded with a flower of fire at the spot where he was, Vlad stopped for a second. All that he could stand now was three direct hits of a spell of a similar level. However, in order to win, he was forced to perform such a gambit.
Fire sprang up around the vampire, burning his flesh. In the end, his face melted like a candle, his left hand burned to the ground, but he still stayed.
Concentrating on the power that had betrayed him before, Lancer appealed to the full power of his Noble Phantasm.
"Kazikli Bey!" and with these words a million lances launched out of the ground.
A million lances is still a million lances, it was hard to argue with that statement. Instantly, the stakes lashed from the earth to the very horizon, knocking away parts of the earth like horrifying, twisted trees, raising defeated enemies into the air, like an offering to the bloodthirsty gods of the sky.
Most of the Servants managed to respond to such a sudden occurrence - Arthuria's instincts forced her to disappear in a meaningless jump into the sky, Serenity's reaction was such that she used the rising stake as a platform for a new jump, even Medusa was able to escape from the blow of the legendary vampire. Some could not get away from the blows of the emerging stakes - Jeanne, who had barely stood up from the ground, managed only to move slightly from the impact trajectory, allowing the tip of the emerging lance to scratch her body, and Lancelot, devoured by his hatred, did not even notice how a certain peak pierced his body, impaling it as if on a pin, continuing his attack, breaking down the stakes emerging from nowhere as if they were splinters. However, no one was able to completely avoid the actions of the Dracula.
Except for one single girl.
Archer stepped aside, but this did not save him completely - even though a spear arising from the ground did not pierce him - the light surrounding him allowed the guy to understand what would follow next.
The blow of white fire that emerged from nowhere was not particularly strong, the opponent of the two Servants was not a particularly powerful mage in terms of attack, and Archer had small, but still relevant defense against magic, because of which, such an attack was only slightly more for him than a small flick, but nevertheless, Archer was extremely annoyed that he could not in any way evade such a spell, no matter what he tried.
At the same time, the girl who held the staff in her hands, more like a huge cudgel, did not even budge when the vampire stakes pierced the ground next to her. Not a single spear even scratched her, on the contrary, a thorn that emerged from the ground stood as an unexpected obstacle in front of the Assassin who appeared on the girl's side, and immediately retreated into the shadows.
It happened over and over again. Randomly, some of the Servants' attacks were simply interrupted without hitting their target. The blades in the Hassan's hands deviated from their course, passing in a centimeter from the girl's body, while Archer's arrows broke on her light robe, as if on a stone wall. However, this was not because of the girl's actions, nor because of the incompetence of the Servants the attacking her. The attacks broke down quite by accident. With equal probability, a shot from Archer hand would either fail, crashing powerlessly into an invisible shield around the girl, or hit her, causing the girl to step back. Equally likely, the strongest of Assassin's attacks would either powerlessly slide over Rider's skin, or leave huge wounds on the opponent's body. What kind of attack will be successful, and which will fai, it was quite by random, as random as Rider's own attacks.
Swinging her staff, Rider hit the ground under Assassin's legs, cracking it with in half, but Hassan easily walked out from under the blow, sweeping his blade on the girl's arm. This time Hassan's attack was successful, a red wound band appeared on the opponent's arm. However Hassan himself was wounded before, during a seemingly awkward movement, the girl was able to send Assassin flying with an unexpected blow.
Archer launched several arrows at the girl, after which, with blades he summoned in his hands, he rushed after her. Two arrows broke down powerlessly, as soon as they hit the girl's body, but one entered Rider's belly. However, the following attacks by Archer also ended in nothing, several flashes that lit up in the air turned out to be beaten off by the girl's staff, who, having caught the moment, drove her fist into the solar plexus of the guy, sending him too on a short flight.
"You will know the might of the Catholic Church, infidel!" the girl grinned, after which, waving her cross like a cudgel, she sent Hassan, who was near her, flying yet again. Now she didn't look like herself at all, there was no trace of the former modest nun. The fist blows of the girl sent her opponents flying with each hit, as if a huge bull was fighting them, and the staff in her hands turned from a symbol of faith into a threatening cudgel, breaking bones more easily than anyone would have thought. The girl's hairstyle was disheveled, there were a few drops of blood on her face, and the smile on her lips showed that the girl enjoyed the battle with the joy of a berserker, who seized the fight. Perhaps her Master, the Dragon Witch, really influenced her. However, it would have been impossible to achieve such a level of joy from the massacre taking place if the girl didn't have the original predisposition to it.
"Is that all you can do?" mocking them, the nun went on the offensive, forcing both Servants to prepare for the strike. The girl was injured, her staff carried several deep chippings, several arrows stuck out of her body - but the girl continued to fight with the enthusiasm of a real fighter, "Come on, fight!"
Rider's blow split the stone on which Archer was now standing, but the girl's attack did not end there. Archer blocked the girl's blow with a blade that appeared in his hands, but a sharp kick, as if received from a drunken sailor in a pub fight, knocked him back.
'Which of us is even winning?!' was Archer's only thought. He and Hassan continued to attack the girl time after time, she was much more heavily wounded than either of them, but she clearly was not experiencing any particular problems. On the contrary, it seemed that she had entered the berserker's rage, becoming more dangerous the more her opponents wounded her. Magic, fists, staff, kicks.. all mixed up in a single mad whirlwind.
Moreover, her strange abilities were problematic... It seemed as if the principles of cause and effect themselves were going mad around the girl, her attacks seemed to have their own mind, deciding at random if they hurt the enemy or not. Sometimes, it would seem she was absolutely incapable of harming her opponents, other times, her blows would catch up with Archer or Assassin, as if space itself was curving around them, changing the trajectory of their movement, or the Servants' attacks themselves bypassed Rider, powerlessly breaking from her strange defense.
This battle was chao... real chaos. Archer couldn't even say for sure who was leading in this game, he had only to take Rider's defense into account, how his arrow had pierced the girl's flesh, and when he considered himself a winner, a new impossible attack forced the guy to go on a long-distance flight.
"Absolute Madness" Archer found Hassan's gaze. He continued to dance around Rider, not paying attention to her attacks, however, catching his gaze Archer was ready to swear that he thought absolutely the same thing as Archer himself.
"It definitely can't go on like this" although Hassan had no face, even his eyes behind his white bone mask were not visible - Archer saw these words as clearly as he saw the ongoing battle of the remaining Servants with their opponents.
Archer nodded slightly, then jumped away from the girl, then again, and again.
"Where are you going?" Rider's voice was simultaneously bloodthirsty, confused, curious, and perplexed, but Archer did not dare answer these words.
"I am the bone of my sword..." Archer's voice, for a second, made Rider stop.
"Oh," she only responded, instantly realizing the meaning of the spoken words and smiled, "You highly appreciated my strength, I am grateful."
"But..." the girl smirked, "You, it seems, have not yet understood who you are unlucky to fight against."
"Tarrasque!" the girl's voice instantly filled with power, and before Archer's Reality Marble could absorb the girl, the movement of magic suddenly stopped when the incredible force opposing her began to take shape in this world "O' Tragic Drake Who Knew Naught of Love!"
"Master is really something ..." Cu Chulainn shook his head, watching how calmly Ainz scattered spells of an incredible level from sky, "Looking at this, you begin to wonder. Does he really need us to fight?"
Without waiting for an answer, Caster shook his head, "Wonderful.. the works of Gods!"
"Don't you dare to ignore me!" the cry of a girl from behind Caster made him turn around slowly.
"Oh, so are you still alive?" with these words, Cu Chulainn sighed, looking at the wounded Bathory, or Carmilla, who was gasping for air, leaning on her staff.
Carmilla gave a low rumbled roar to these words, but she already realized that it was dangerous to follow her emotions in this fight. Despite the fact that Elizabeth used her Phantasm at the very beginning of the battle, she was still losing. There were several reasons for this.
First of all, her very Noble Phantasm. The Phantom Maiden was the embodiment of her legend about the murder of hundreds of innocent girls. This Phantasm got stronger the more the target was young, beautiful and feminine. Against an adult male, its effectiveness was low.
Of course, on the other hand, the effectiveness of this ability was that, by using such a Phantasm, Carmilla could regenerate some of her lost health, however, if the damage dealt by the Phantasm was minor, then the regeneration was also minor.
Of course, Cu Chulainn also did not represent the apogee of power, so Carmilla had a chance to win at the very beginning, having impaled his body on iron spikes inside the Phantom Maiden, but since he was reinforced by Ainz's incredible mana and created a protective rune before being completely stabbed, Cu Chulainn survived, which meant that Carmilla had no chance.
But for some reason she still fought.
Elizabeth could not understand why she still allowed to fight. Was her opponent playing with her? Or perhaps he could not kill her for some other reason?
Carmilla no longer had trump cards up her sleeve. Her Phantasm was her main ace, and if this ability was useless, then she no longer had the opportunity to attack.
And yet, a miracle or not, but Carmilla continued to fight.
The rune, which arose before Cu Chulainn, spewed fire at the gir, forcing her to escape from the blow in a quick jump.
"And you are very tenacious," the guy gave the compliment to the girl, but Carmilla could not hear anything in it but a sneer. The only reason why she was still alive was because her opponent did not use his Noble Phantasm. If he had put his trump card in the game like she did, she would have lost.
However, she did not know that that was false, much to Cu Chulainn's regret.
The use of the Wicker Man was his trump card, but in this battle it was useless. The resulting giant would have been an unstoppable power, but against such a brisk and quick goal as Carmilla, he would have looked like a man who irritably tries to catch a fly. One blow would be fatal - however, the giant would not have had the opportunity to deliver this blow.
The situation was not a stalemate, Cu Chulainn clearly waw winning this battle. However, his victory was not going to be a quick one, and the battle threatened to drag on much longer than any other battle of the other Servants around.
Fortunately or not, the appearance of spears from under the ground caught the combatants off guard.
Cu Chulainn managed to take only a step to the side before the wooden stake broke through his leg, and Carmilla, even though she had tremendous Dexterity, could not react to the stakes that emerged from nowhere. Whether this was because she was injured, or because she was distracted by the battle, it was not clear.
What was clear was that the spears that had arisen around her turned into a prison, holding the girl down for those few precious seconds that Cu Chulainn needed so much.
"Wicker Man!" the name of the Noble Phantasm rippled through reality like circles on water, causing Caster's Concentrated legend to manifest in reality. The giant's fiery body rose tens of meters above the battlefield. If someone compared the creature even to something like a dragon, then the Wicker Man would have been much more impressive. Although much weaker in reality.
Carmilla attempted to throw herself again to the side. However, sandwiched between the clutches of stakes, she turned out to be an easy target for the huge fire giant.
The burning giant caught the girl and lifted her from her arms, then he squeezed her in his hands, and then, in one continuous movement, threw her inside his own thorax, which opened like the hungry mouth of a beast.
A moment later, when the Assassin's black and red stain disappeared inside the creature's cage, the giant's fire flared up with renewed strength, and the yellowish orange flame shot up along the bars of the cage, absorbing Carmilla within it. For a second, the creature stopped, then, like an explosion, every particle of the body of the Wicker Man flashed with blinding fire.
Cu Chulainn even closed his eyes for a second, the fire from his Phantasm was so this bright, after which, he blinked several times, brushing away the tears that had formed in his eyes.
It was his weaker Noble Phantasm of the two, but nevertheless, it was not wise to underestimate its power.
Cu Chulainn blinked a few more times, regaining his sight, then grunted in satisfaction, watching the ashes of the burnt-out monster descend from the sky.
However, instantly his eyes were riveted to strange details.
On the place where his Noble Phantasm was just a second ago was a black sarcophagus. No, it was not black, it was just covered with fumes and soot to the point that it seemed completely black to an outsider. In fact, judging by the appearance of the sarcophagus, Cu Chulainn could guess that in fact it should have had the color of unpainted steel, since he could distinguish the outlines of the Phantom Maiden even at such a distance.
Slowly the steel sarcophagus opened, after which the sweeping chains carried forward what was inside.
The one that came out was none other than Carmilla.
"Oh, that's how it is..." Cu Chulainn instantly realized the gist of what happened - "I didn't know that she could use the Phantom Maiden to defend..."
Carmilla used her Phantom Maiden like a protective shield, hiding inside it when the Wicker Manbustling around her in the flames, after which, she emerged from the flames unscathed. Clever - Cu Chulainn could not object to this. But…
Carmilla's dress was torn, and there were several small bruises on her body, so it was impossible to call Carmilla unharmed. But there was not a single burn on her, which meant she was not injured by the Wicker Man. In other words, the only way for Carmilla to be wounded in such conditions was to be wounded by the Phantom Maiden herself.
The Phantom Maiden was not intended to be used as a defense, it was a tool for wounding and torture, and anyone who was inside her had to suffer, Carmilla was no exception. However, she was Carmilla, she was the famous Elizabeth of Bathory, who bathed in the blood of hundreds of innocent peasant women in order to maintain her beauty. Even if that was not true during her life, that was her Legend as the Servant. The blood of her enemies fed her, in other words, any victim of the Phantom Maiden gave her her strength. Even if this victim was herself.
Of the three parameters to increase the power of her Phantasm, Carmilla was subject to two, she was beautiful and feminine. Even Cu Chulainn, who did not fit not even one of these three parameters, could have easily died from Bathory's Phantasm, he experienced the whole disfiguring power of this damned instrument. He knew that if he were an ordinary person, he would have died instantly from the pain, before dying on stakes; therefore, it was almost impossible to assume what Bathory had experienced.
And yet she chose to go through this pain, to experience the same thing as the hundreds of her victims, instead of losing so easily Cu Chulainn.
Will to win' Caster bowed his head in respect.
Carmilla actually forced herself to go through torture, supporting herself with her own torment. However, this ability had two problems.
The first is that the efficiency of life support was not equal to one hundred percent, because of that, Carmilla was still forced to injure herself with her Noble Phantasm.
The second is that this Phantasm did not reduce the pain at all.
Therefore, in a moment after the chains of Phantasm lowered the girl to the ground, she rushed at Cu Chulainn with hatred tens of thousands of times more than all that she had experienced before.
However, in the instant when the girl was in front of Caster, something exploded under her feet, making her to jump aside.
No matter how strong her will to win was, Caster was not going to give up so easily.
Ainz hovered in the sky, watching the actions of Dracula with concealed apprehension.
The main purpose of passing the Blood Gardens was the battle with Cainabel, the most significant and powerful, the God of Vampires, but his lieutenants were more than able to fight a full-fledged player of the 100th level, and, as to be expected of game bosses, each of them had their own, uniquely disgusting abilities. Carmilla had monstrously strong AoE attacks, mind control, time stop, she constantly teleported, created clones, and could rise three times after her death. Konstantin was incredibly tenacious, he had the ability to regenerate three times the amount of damage he did with any attack. Dracula... Dracula was extremely unpleasant for his endless stream of summoned mobs, his ability to block any attack, his astral form, the poisonous aura, the passive weakening of each victim he attacked, and his Reality Slash. Even though he was not a full-fledged mage, he knew a few spells of the tenth rank, similar to Demiurge.
Therefore, Ainz prepared for battle. He prepared for the astral form of his opponent, for his weakening blows, for the powerful offensive magic and for the hordes of vampires endlessly emerging from nowhere.
But there were no such things.
At this, Ainz glanced at Dracula, suddenly frozen on the ground, and sent him a new column of fire.
A strange conjecture pierced the mind of the magician.
Was it possible that this Dracula... Was not The Dracula, like in the game?
Was it possible that this Dracula was weaker, or had a completely different set of abilities?
No, of course, Dracula used an ability a little earlier, which pierced Ainz with spikes from underneath, but Ainz simply felt that Dracula used some of his low-level abilities, such as those that all 100-level opponents have, but never use in a real battle, in order to test Ainz's resistance. Ainz, seeing that Dracula used his low-level ability to test the opponent's resistance, even found him an even more dangerous opponent, because he used a low-level spell, conserving even the insignificant mana that was the difference between a single casting of a low-level spell and a high-level one.
However, continuing to look at how Vlad continued to throw stakes at him, Ainz came to a strange conjecture.
"Is it possible?" Ainz thought "That he is just weak?"
Ainz would not call him unequivocally weak, he was fast enough that he did not think that he would manage to defeat him in melee combat. However, even if his parameters were high and his combat experience exceeded Ainz's experience, if he could not surpass all of Ainz's abilities, skills, spells and equipment, then he still remained too weak to fight with a level 100 opponent.
Spears arising from the ground distracted Ainz.
Wooden stakes covered the ground in all directions all the way to the horizon — the spikes arising from nowhere injured several of the Servants who were fighting around, but Ainz himself, who continued to float in the sky, was completely unaffected.
Of course, this happened because Ainz was currently floating at a height of several tens of meters, while the stakes themselves did not even reach five, but, even if Ainz were on the ground at that moment, Dracula's ability would still not hurt him No matter how many thousands of lances were sent at him, unless each of them had enough power to go through at least the first level of his protection, each of them will be powerless to harm his body.
However, Dracula probably did not think so. Although the fiery tornado instantly swallowed his body, inflicting more damage on him than he could inflict on Ainz with all the spears that had arisen, he rejoiced at the effect of his ability. Having lifted a finger to the sky, he pointed to the figure of the floating mage, after which each of the thousands of stakes instantly shut upwards like arrows, after which, gathering with hundreds of similar ones, they turned into a huge prickly serpent in a second, hundreds of stakes rushed into the mage with the speed of a bullet.
It was pointless.
If any other Servant were in place of Ainz, he would have been torn apart the instance the whirlwind of lances touched him. However, this same Servant could have easily died before, after being pierced by wooden stakes arising from nowhere.
For Ainz, three spears or three millions, it was meaningless. However, Ainz was not so sure about that at the moment.
Ainz was a creature of a different principle. What was natural for the rest was wild for him, and vice versa, so it was not easy to predict whether the damage from the wooden stakes would exceed the level of Ainz's physical nullification.
As an example, the zombies in the game were the weakest opponents. However, the existing Zombie Horde mob, which represented only a group of dozens of zombies, merged among themselves, was still a fiftieth level creature. It was still extremely weak, but still capable of easily destroying hundreds, even thousands, of first-level opponents. Much more than he should be able to, based on the logic of the lore.
Therefore, Ainz was not sure that Lancer's spears would not cause him damage. If each of the copies inflicted only a single damage, then none of them would even be able to rumple his shirt. If Lancer's ability somehow considered all attacking spears as a single weapon, then Ainz reasoned that the damage would exceed the threshold of protection his body had against abilities of this level.
However, this did not mean anything, Ainz still had more than one ability to reduce the power of attacks directed at him, with multiple that could completely prevent damage. In other words, even if Dracula's spears had crossed the threshold of Ainz's complete protection from attacks of a certain power, they still couldn't deal damage to him.
However, Ainz chose not to take risks and avoided the vortex approaching him by teleportation.
Having appeared at a new place, he stretched out his hand in order to continue attacking Dracula, but the whirlwind of copies forced him to teleport again.
"Hm" after leaving teleportation, Ainz was forced to leave again, evading a spear thrown by the vampire himself, and then again, moving away from the soaring whirlwind "So this is his plan? Even if he cannot hurt me, he plans to force me to move from place to place... "
This plan was not fundamentally bad - however, it was absolutely useless. All the spells that Ainz used up until this point did not go beyond the seventh rank,, in other words, his mana was practically full, even though the use of the flight somewhat reduced his mana regeneration rate. Of course, if he were a lower level player, or someone not so focused on magic, and therefore had less mana reserves regeneration rate, or if Ainz himself used stronger spells, then this plan would make sense. However, in the current environment, all that Dracula could achieve was reduce Ainz's ability to concentrate on the attack, and thus reduce his accuracy. Of course, this was a good decision in itself. However, even at best, it could only delay the inevitable loss.
But why, in that case, did he resort to such a decision, instead of using any of his trumps? Summoning his henchmen, or perhaps using a strong instant attack?
The idea that Vlad could have been just less powerful than Ainz had initially considered him to be quietly crept to Ainz's mind, but he drove it away. Such thoughts were the way to defeat. His friend, Punitto Moe always talked about this. Therefore, he was not going to give Dracula concessions.
Teleporting once again, instead of using a brief second of calm to attack Dracula, Ainz used a different spell.
"Summon Undead: Eighth" he instantly ordered, after which, a black fog appeared around him and descended to the ground. Ainz immediately left the swarm of stakes following him, but the black fog was in no hurry to disperse. Slowly, it began to take shape, outlining the contours of a humanoid figure, then refining into a human one, and, eventually, a man dressed in armor. A second later, a black mist that hugged him from all sides, burst, after which, the man was born. His long black hair contrasted with his bluish-pale skin, descending along his black armor to the waist. The cloak that flapped behind him was full of black and red flowers that painted a strange symbol that was impossible to discern at the second that he was standing motionless. However, the beauty of his armor could not hide the deformities of his body.
In place of gauntlets, only bare hands with long, broken claws came out from under the armor, his face resembled a long bat face, his mouth was full of sharp needle teeth lining the inside of his mouth and throat, and even going deeper inside, and black eyes with red pupils blazing with insane thirst and hatred.
A moment later, the "Lord of Vampires", obeying the instinctive desire of his summoner, broke into a run.
Magic Resistance: A+ (Case)
For a creature of Yggdrasil, this skill is not just mandatory, it is one of the nine basic parameters that determine the most basic characteristics of a player or creature. The very existence of any living creature without this skill is unthinkable . After all, without protection from magic, any character can easily become a puppet of any sensible mage.
In the world around Ainz, this truth is often questioned, although not completely. Despite the fact that the absence of Magical Resistance really is most often a death sentence in the case of collision with a really powerful magician, the majority of Servants did not have protection from magic, and only a small portion of them has protection potent enough for really strong magicians to take in consideration.
Due to this, and given that Ainz's spells were originally designed to fight creatures with a very high level of magic resistance, even the fact that someone from the Servants survived from the initial use of the "Explosion" is worthy of respect. The fact that Dracula - albeit reinforced by his summon, Master and existence within his Kingdom, was able to withstand several direct hits from Napalm is doubly worthy of respect.
