> Episode 8 - A Handful of Hope

> Foresight didn't realize this, but they had been teleported by a trap to the 6th floor of Nazarick, which was a colliseum surrounded by an extremely large forest. Golems made out of clay surrounded Foresight in the stands of the arena. They were animated by magical means and would follow orders robotically; they were treasured as guardians and labourers due to their lack of need for sleep and immunity to fatigue, but were quite pricey and difficult to create. As such, their presence was quite intimidating to the members of Foresight, who realized that the creature in front of them must be quite powerful and wealthy to create such a spectacle. They acted as members of the audience, thundering with applause after Aura finished her announcements.

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> Ainz was uncharacteristically upset. He had gone along with Demiurge's plan to trick individuals into invading Nazarick for certain mysterious reasons, but ultimately he had strong reservations with the idea of letting a bunch of people waltz in and make off with the stuff he and his guildmates had worked so hard to find and create, or damage the tomb or any of its servants. He had no room in his heart for empathy for any of them... though, it was not as if he could produce any in the first place after having been transformed into an undead creature. His plan was to give Foresight an honorable warriors death, dueling them in the arena, and would give them no opportunity to explain themselves. He had, after all, verified what their intentions were already (using his guise of Momon), and didn't want to allow himself to be tricked or deceived by their self-serving lies. They were here to steal his things, like a mugger who preyed on the weak out of self-interest, and they ended up getting far more than they bargained for; fundamentally, they were getting what they deserved. They were looking for a sucker, an easy mark, and they got something far more dangerous than they expected; the strong prey upon the weak, and so have no right to complain when things backfire on them and they are preyed upon by those even stronger.

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> Arche felt quite guilty that her money troubles had driven them to this point, but the rest of the team wouldn't allow her to finish her thought or accept her apology; they had all made this decision together, and Arche wasn't to blame. Of course, Foresight did not want to die, and Hekkeran was something of a sly trickster. He was desperately trying to come up with some kind of plan to get him and his team out of the situation they were in, some kind of strategy; Arche could hypothetically cast [Fly] on all four of them, and they could escape via air, but the enemy clearly possessed teleportation magic and must have some kind of plan for dealing with them if they took to the skies. Ainz wouldn't listen to their protests and excuses, so Hekkeran tried to pull off a bluff out of desperation, claiming he had permission to enter the tomb; as it turns out, Ainz' was right to be wary of deceit, as Hekkeran's wild claim surprised him. Was it possible for them to have come in contact with his friends at some point? Ainz hadn't considered the possibility.

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> When Ainz let slip that he had friends, Hekkeran jumped on that opportunity, saying that he had been sent here with a message from them. He was a smooth talker, and Ainz, far from being an inhuman monster, seemed almost human in his reactions, one whose deepest fears could be manipulated and exploited; if that were the case, Hekkeran could pull off a bluff. Ainz was quite nervous and confused at this sudden turn of events, as was Aura; Albedo, on the other hand, was furious (more on that later). Of course, Ainz was cautious, and questioned Hekkeran carefully, and eventually exposed the holes in his wild lie of desperation; Hekkeran did not know that Ainz had once been named Momonga, not Ainz, and so Ainz knew that none of his guildmates had given him any kind of message for him. This bluff infuriated him even more, and he changed his mind; Foresight would not receive a warriors death, but would be crushed like maggots.

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> Ainz had a few goals with this 1v4 fight: first, he wanted to show the assembled guardians the value of coordinated teamwork; several of them were up in the VIP seats up above, and might learn from observing how the assembled workers cooperated efficiently and effectively to fight Ainz despite the overwhelming disparity in their capabilities. Second, he wanted to test his martial prowess to see if he could take on strong opponents in the New World, even if he were caught in a vulnerable position where his magic and equipment were not available for some reason. Thirdly, he wanted to see if he could gain XP; he was fighting with a considerable handicap, and he was also wearing a piece of equipment that would reduce his stats and increase his XP gain. Despite being the max level, could he not gain experience in warrior classes, for instance? He had been practicing and training for some time now as a warrior, and he was curious if his swordplay had improved. And lastly, he wanted to take out some of his frustration and annoyance at the cretins who had invaded Nazarick.

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> The duel began. Hekkeran could tell that Ainz was an amateur swordsman; his blows struck with a power that was so mighty it would kill him in an instant, but his technique was sloppy and his stance was full of holes. As such, Hekkeran could compete with him on even ground, evading his swings with the support of Roberdyck who had buffed him with [Lesser Dexterity], a spell to raise his dexterity and agility. Arche attempted to strike Ainz with her magic from range with a basic [Magic Arrow] spell, but the magic fissled out harmlessly thanks to Ainz' High Tier Magical Immunity; Imina also fired magically enchanted arrows which were blunt-tipped and would be effective against skeletons, but Ainz dodged them easily. Hekkeran was forced to repeatedly use [Twin Blade Strike] to keep Ainz on defense, but of course this was physically exhausting for him. Arche resorted instead to some crowd control spells, using bright flashes of light to blind Ainz; Roberdyck and Arche continued buffing Hekkeran with [Lesser Strength], [Protection from Evil], and [Reinforce Armor] to boost his offense and defensive abilities, and eventually he had all the buffs they had available active on him. Foresight could keep Ainz at bay because Ainz could not land a decisive killing blow against Hekkeran; Imina and Arche would use some kind of spell to foil his attempt, forcing him to block or evade and giving Hekkeran the opportunity to reset the fight. They could seemlessly work together like this without any explicit communication because they had been a team for so long, and they knew their responsibilities.

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> Ainz quickly grew tired of the charade he was putting on. He was of course a magic caster, not a swordsman, and discarded his weapons, which disappeared when he released them from his grip. He didn't actually need to block their attacks or dodge them, but it wouldn't make for very good practice if he didn't set such limitations on himself. Hekkeran and Arche were the first to catch on to the fact that he might be a magic caster, but Arche's ability had not allowed her to detect his magical ability nor the tiers of spell he had access to. Ainz had been wearing a false data ring, which blocked attempts at divination or detection. Once he noticed their confusion, he removed it - and the stress and terror of seeing his true magical power caused Arche to repeatedly throw up, and wail in desperation. She was so afraid that Roberdyck was forced to cast a spell to immunize her to fear, and her reaction put the rest of Foresight on edge. Ainz was a terrifying monster, and as he stepped towards Foresight, he imbued his hand with a spell called Touch of Undeath, which could inflict status-effects on targets he touched. It was one of the stronger touch attacks in YGGDRASIL, capable of causing all manner of negative status effects, and he could control when the effect itself was released.

>Считает свою хату святым местом

>Приглашу свиней, пускай нагадят, что там

>Ряяя! Вас никто не звал! Как-вы смеете грабить то, что я выставил чтобы жадность подогреть?