Six Tier Magic: [Gravity Torrent]!
"Super-Tier Magic: [Absolute Instant Death]!"
A terrifying blade of air, capable of tearing through space itself, swept over Shalltear. Instantly, her body and armor split in two, and a large amount of blood spurted from the grievous wound. In the final moments before her demise, the control effect of the [World Item: Downfall of Castle and Country] on Shalltear seemed to lift, and she returned to her normal consciousness.
"Ainz-sama..."
After a soft murmur, Shalltear collapsed to the ground with open eyes, and the light within them gradually faded as she stared at the figure beside her.
Hateful!
Ainz Ooal Gown clenched his bony palms. Rage and heartache filled his heart, and his body seemed to tremble slightly, uncontrollably. It had been just a simple intelligence-gathering mission, yet it had resulted in Shalltear being controlled by an enemy, even leading to the tragic situation where an NPC created by his own comrades had killed another.
This is undoubtedly a serious mistake on my part as a leader, Ainz thought. If the deceased Shalltear cannot be resurrected, or if she still cannot break free from her controlled state after being resurrected, I may never be able to forgive myself for the rest of my life.
"Peroroncino-san..." Thinking of Shalltear's creator and his former comrade in Yggdrasil, Ainz Ooal Gown suppressed his distress. He ordered Albedo and the others beside him, "Bring Shalltear back to the Throne Room. I want to try to revive her!"
Using regular resurrection magic would cause a level reduction, but Shalltear was a Guild NPC. As long as he used the resurrection system and paid a certain price in gold coins from Nazarick's treasury, she could be exempt from the level reduction penalty. The premise was that the resurrection effect in this New World was also effective for NPCs and players.
"Yes, Ainz-sama!" The guardians received the command with solemn expressions.
The group swiftly journeyed through the various levels of Nazarick and finally arrived at the Throne Room. Since the combat maids had been given instructions beforehand, the appropriate resurrection resources had already been prepared. Ainz Ooal Gown picked up the Guild Weapon he usually kept – the [Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown].
"Resurrection, Shalltear!"
The resurrection effect activated with intense anticipation. The gold coins piled throughout the hall rapidly dissolved into liquid, forming a golden river that all flowed to one spot. Shalltear's reassembled body was entirely covered by the golden solution. Under everyone's gaze, severed wounds reconnected, and her entire body was restored to its original state, as if no injury had ever existed.
"Albedo!" Ainz Ooal Gown immediately looked at Albedo beside him, a slight note of nervousness in his hoarse questioning voice.
At this moment, there was a sci-fi light screen in front of Albedo, displaying a list of all the NPCs in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. One column was empty, where Shalltear's name should have been written. Words began to appear on the screen, and the words 'Shalltear Bloodfallen' were printed again in the empty space, which made Albedo, who had been staring at the list, let out a sigh of relief. The name that had previously been black had turned back to white, meaning the mind-control effect on Shalltear had been removed.
"Ainz-sama, everything is fine now," Albedo smiled joyfully, relaying the news to everyone.
As everyone felt relieved, Shalltear, lying on the ground, opened her eyes. However, she was clearly a little confused as she looked at her surroundings.
"Shalltear!" Aura Bella Fiora, the Sixth Floor Guardian and elder sister of the dark elf twins, walked towards Shalltear angrily and immediately accused her, "Do you know what you've done?!"
"Huh!? Shorty, what nonsense are you talking about?" Although Shalltear didn't understand how she had suddenly returned to Nazarick, she instinctively retorted after hearing Aura's words. In truth, the relationship between the two could be traced back to their creators. Aura's creator, Peroroncino, and Shalltear's creator, Bukubukuchagama, were real-life siblings in Yggdrasil. Much like most siblings, Peroroncino was often teased or pressured by his sister in real life, so when creating Shalltear, he intentionally added some personal emotions so that Shalltear would want to play pranks on Aura from time to time. Aura's situation was similar, so she often bickered with Shalltear. However, their relationship was actually not bad, one could say very good; they just seemed to dislike each other on the surface. Therefore, Aura's reprimand to Shalltear was actually an expression of her deep concern.
After Aura, the other guardians also joined in delivering their lectures to Shalltear. After all, crimes like destroying the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick and betraying the Supreme Beings could not be easily forgiven.
After everyone's explanation, Shalltear also realized her mistake and immediately apologized to Ainz Ooal Gown.
"This matter cannot be entirely blamed on you, Shalltear." Knowing that Shalltear had completely lost her previous memories, and remembering that he too shared some responsibility, Ainz Ooal Gown comforted Shalltear and told her not to dwell on it too much. Then, he looked at Solution Epsilon who had just been brought back to Nazarick by the maids sent by Albedo.
"Solution Epsilon, tell me in detail what happened before. How did Shalltear fail?"
"Yes, Ainz-sama..." Solution Epsilon nodded seriously then explained what had happened in detail.
After hearing all the details, Ainz Ooal Gown pondered for a long time. As an Undead, Shalltear possessed absolute resistance to mind control. To his knowledge, the only items that could bypass this barrier and make the Super-Tier Magic [Wish Upon a Star] unable to release control were World Items. Since the existence of other players had been confirmed previously, the current appearance of a World Item was not unacceptable. And the original artifact stolen from The Slane Theocracy, [Downfall of Castle and Country], seemed to have a mind-controlling effect, so the item that controlled Shalltear should be this one.
In this case, the so-called 'gods' worshipped by The Slane Theocracy were most likely Yggdrasil Players like him. So were they still alive now? Although according to the information we had received so far, The Slane Theocracy's 'gods' had fallen into eternal slumber, they could not confirm whether they had truly perished. There was a possibility that they had secretly retired or were simply in hiding.
And since they possessed that World Item, perhaps The Slane Theocracy also had other World Items. If they wanted to take action against The Slane Theocracy in the future, they would have to be more careful.
The last thing he cared about was...
"Solution Epsilon, are you sure that person from the Dark Alliance said 'Trinity' at that time?"
"Yes, I am absolutely sure!" Ainz Ooal Gown once again confirmed the information with Solution Epsilon, and after receiving a positive reply, he fell silent again.
Seeing this, Albedo couldn't help but ask Ainz Ooal Gown, "Ainz-sama, what is Trinity?"
After Ainz Ooal Gown cleared his thoughts, he explained to Albedo and all the Guardians, "Trinity was a Player Guild in Yggdrasil like our Ainz Ooal Gown. Furthermore, its guild ranking was higher than our Ainz Ooal Gown at its peak. It was a very large Player Guild with a massive number of members."
According to what the Dark Alliance member said, the Trinity Guild might also have traveled to the New World like him, and that guild member... could it be him?