"If there's nothing else, you may leave." The man's voice, who called himself Shadow, was calm, almost cold. He ignored the burning anger in Shalltear's eyes. "Go back and tell that alien species that human borders belong to our Dark Alliance. Tell them to keep to themselves and you NPCs in the future. If they dare to interfere with our actions next time, they will be mercilessly slaughtered!" Until the last word, a warning of murderous intent flashed in his black eyes, piercing like ice needles.
Hmph!
Shalltear's emotions, which had almost settled, exploded again. She angrily slapped away Solution Epsilon's restraining hand, and her dress instantly transformed into a set of bright red, winged battle armor, the emblem of her wrath and power as a Ruler of Nazarick.
"You lowly human! Let me test your strength to see how you dare speak such arrogant words!"
"Lady Shalltear!" Solution Epsilon immediately realized the situation was spiraling out of control, but by the time she tried to stop Shalltear, it was too late. The vampire ancestress was like an enraged bull. The wings of her armor didn't flutter, but she charged towards Shadow like an arrow loosed from a bow.
As expected of Nazarick's most brainless guardian, she fell into the trap so easily, Shadow thought, a small smile hidden in his heart. On the surface, however, he maintained the image of a cold and aloof god-man, and once again drew forth a wave of contempt, "You are a beast that can't even control your emotions. I truly don't know what idiot created you. You are so utterly foolish it's suffocating!"
[Magnificent Aquamarine Body]!
[Greater Teleportation]!
As magical light enveloped his body, Shadow's figure vanished from his spot. Shalltear's sudden lunge with her spear missed, piercing only empty air.
"Don't ever think of escaping!" Shalltear immediately realized what had happened and quickly locked onto the teleporting target, then activated her own [Greater Teleportation] to pursue. The scenery shifted. She successfully appeared in front of Shadow and thrust with her [Blood Sucking Lance], intending to pierce her opponent's heart!
[Shield of Vengeful Bones]!
A large number of white bones materialized out of thin air and quickly merged into a skeletal shield before Shadow. Shalltear's thrust shattered the entire shield at once, its fragments scattering.
"Weak defense!" Shalltear, who had easily destroyed her opponent's shield, glanced at the retreating Shadow and couldn't help but sneer with a hint of pride.
However, her opponent's response was, "Fool."
The fragments of the bone shield that Shalltear had just destroyed transformed unexpectedly, as if an invisible force connected the pieces, coiling around Shalltear's body while slowly forming illusory human figures.
"Ghosts!?"
Seven or eight vengeful spirits tightly clutched Shalltear's arms and legs, their writhing faces seemingly loudly accusing her of murder, rendering her unable to move for a moment!
Seizing this opportunity, Shadow raised the magic book in his hand, and as its pages turned, a magical effect was unleashed.
[Binding of the Ribs]!
As soon as Shalltear broke free from the control of the vengeful spirits, large, sharply barbed ribs immediately emerged from the ground and bit down firmly on her like a trap, their sharp front ends piercing deeply into her body. This magic belonged to necromancy, and usually could only be used by necromancy masters like Ainz Ooal Gown (formerly known as Flying Squirrel). Shadow's true body was a Faith-based caster and did not have the conditions to use this magic.
He could do this thanks to the [Ultimate Grimoire] in his hand.
The effect of the [Ultimate Grimoire] was that as long as the user consumed a magic scroll, a magic book, a magic sealing crystal, or any other magic storage item, they could record the magic stored within it into the grimoire. All recorded spells had one chance per day to be activated once, regardless of their original usage conditions and MP consumption. To explain it more vividly, this was a luxurious upgraded version of an unlimited magic item, except that it wasn't a consumable. There were more than 6,000 types of tiered magic and super-tier magic in Yggdrasil. This ultimate magic book certainly couldn't record all spells (it's worth noting that these were spells, not professional specific skills, as they couldn't be stored in props), but it still recorded about 3,000 types.
What kind of technical operation? I'll just hit you directly with firepower!
After [Binding of the Ribs], Shadow activated the Grimoire's effect again without pause, selecting a tenth-tier magic spell to prepare for an attack.
At this moment, Shalltear, bitten by the large ribs, suddenly broke free. [Rib Bind] was supposed to have a binding effect on the target for a certain period of time in addition to dealing damage, but Shalltear had absolute resistance to movement restriction, so the subsequent binding effect could be easily neutralized.
Damn it, if only I could use [God's Binding]! Shadow cursed inwardly, dodging Shalltear's attack while recalling his special skill from the Faith class. Similar to Ainz Ooal Gown's [Death End], [Divine Binding] was an ultimate move that could bypass movement resistance and forcefully prohibit enemy actions and spell releases. It would have been extremely useful in this situation.
[Dark Rupture]!
The magic activated instantly, and Shadow initially thought Shalltear would dodge or use a defensive skill to counter, but his guess was wrong.
"[Impure Impact Shield]!"
A wave of dark red, blood-like energy spread from the vampire's body, and the attacking energy of [Dark Rupture] vanished in an instant, like Snow White facing the blazing sun. [Impure Impact Shield] was Shalltear's powerful special skill, which had a dispelling effect and could neutralize enemy attack magic. Not only that, if used with other special skills, there would be unexpected effects, such as...
Boom!
Shadow felt like he had been hit by a truck and was thrown backward. Fortunately, he used [Fly] magic to stabilize his body, otherwise, he would have tumbled on the ground. However, after taking a blow like this, there was one problem he couldn't avoid.
[Teleportation]!
Though he couldn't see her, Shadow could vaguely discern through his perception that Shalltear had appeared behind him. The [Blood Sucking Lance] thrust with all its might, piercing precisely through his heart from behind.
At this moment, a layer of magical light appeared on Shadow's body. It was another spell he had cast at the beginning of the battle - [Glorious Aquamarine Body]. [Glorious Aquamarine Body] was a tenth-tier defensive spell. Its effect was to reduce piercing damage received by the user for the duration of the spell, or to end its duration instantly in exchange for full immunity to piercing damage.
The protective light layer shattered, and Shadow took this opportunity to activate [Teleportation] magic to distance himself from Shalltear.
"Hmph, enough playing around, beast!"
With a sneer, Shadow's black magic robe suddenly transformed into a white noble's shirt, and the golden dragon pattern on his chest glowed brightly. Shalltear inexplicably felt a strong sense of crisis, but before she could react, a golden dragon energy surged towards her with incredible speed and struck her!
A part of her mind went blank at this moment, and she realized what was happening. She gathered her remaining resolve and hurled an energy spear at Shadow!