I sat at the throne while restlessly tapping my heels on the floor. My emotional suppression was working full time, and because of it, I managed to avoid the worst aspects of my uncontrolled rage. My anxiety was through the roof, however, and as an undead, there were hardly any effective spells to mitigate my stress levels.
"I want you all to file a comprehensive and detailed report about our enemies after this meeting. This is merely a collaboration of ideas or assessment."
I announced, and besides, the devil is in the fine print or details, after all. I want to read it all in my own time. Demiurge recorded the whole fight, and I want to strategize in peace later.
"Ainz-sama. I apologize for my failures. There is no excuse for my poor performance and lack of intelligence gathering skills." Pandora's Actor apologized.
He didn't bow deeply; he knew that the mission was accomplished, but he had some difficulties achieving the objective and had to go exert more considerable effort. He was apologizing for his inability to engage the enemy with the imposed limitations.
"Ainz-sama. Please. Do. Not. Be. Merciful. With. My. Punishment."
Cocytus said, groveling before me. I didn't like this sight. Why did everyone think I would punish them for the smallest things?
"Ainz- sama. I failed you, I can only pay you with my body."
Albedo muttered with tears of joy or regret. I couldn't tell which was which with her, and besides, I won't take her up on that offer, since it seemed more like a reward than a punishment. I learned my lessons from Shalltear.
"Achoo!" Shalltear sneezed.
Also, they all did nothing wrong. They all completed the mission with flying colors.
"Pandora's Actor. You did well, and that goes to you too, Albedo and Cocytus." I stood up, raising my voice and extending my right hand.
"All of you didn't fail. You have all provided crucial information against Nazarick's greatest enemies. Do not blame yourself for getting surprised. The sole purpose of that mission was to gather information."
The three guardians then looked up, their faces morphing into gratitude and worship instead of sullen defeat. They all did their jobs and excelled at them, but when their targets decided to bite back very hard and got hurt by it, they assumed they had done something wrong.
"Please, do not kneel. We have a problem to solve." I declared.
All three rose, somewhat negatively affected by the intelligence mission. While Albedo and Cocytus remained rigid yet loyal enforcers, Pandora's Actor alone retained his composure and mental flexibility.
"Now then, as for our enemies. Demiurge and I agreed that this red-haired knight, Reinhard van Astrea, is level one hundred in terms of strength and power. Do you all agree too?"
"I agree with caveats. He's a much stronger and challenging adversary than Riku Aganeia. Against Reinhard-knight, I've spent most of the battle on the defensive and creating space."
Pandora's Actor assessed, adjusting his necktie and straightening his posture.
"While I agree that Reinhard-knight is in the realm of a level one hundred. There are certain aspects of him, especially his strength and adaptive power, that go beyond level one hundred. If left unchecked, he has the potential to become a world enemy."
Pandora's Actor's assessment produced the kind of silence that no one wanted to experience — a world enemy in this threshold dimension. The idea was so absurd that both Albedo and Demiurge repulsively flinched.
"I do not agree. If anything, Reinhard van Astrea is a raid boss. He fits the criteria. The world enemy assessment is absurd but I understand where Pandora's Actor is coming from considering the face-to-face battle."
Demiurge countered politely with some sneer, providing a fair counter-assessment. Albedo nodded her head in agreement.
The red-haired knight was quite the surprise. I never expected that kind of power in here; all the more reason to increase our surveillance and be even more careful with our actions. "After Shalltear's mind-control incident, I should've been even more careful."
A mistake I shall rectify sooner rather than later.
"I agree. With. The. Raid Boss Assessment. That. Young. Knight. Broke. Through. My. Armor. And. While. My. Special. Attack. Killed. Him. It. Didn't. Stop. Him."
Cocytus said, then exhaling a mist of cold gusts from his face.
Cocytus seemed fired up and willing to fight that red-haired knight again. He gripped his halberd tightly, his whole carapace twitching with barely visible anticipation. I am not surprised; he had that warrior's pride after all.
"I have never directly fought him, but I agree with the assessment that he's a level one hundred and a raid boss, although his build was lacking. He made up for it via sheer destructive power and unusual abilities."
Albedo said, her facial expression turned grim and serious. Her words were laced with barely concealed seething abhorrence.
"That Reinhard knight. I still don't have a proper explanation for his abilities, but simply put. He had many passives that rendered most attacks null. Projectiles and mundane melees missed every time; below eight-tier magic barely had any effect; he grew stronger by the second; my passives and defensive spells barely mitigated his attacks."
Pandora's Actor added, placing his hand over his face and pondering deeply.
The original plan was for Pandora's Actor to handle Sung Jin Woo. Then Albedo would handle Reinhard van Astrea. Cocytus and Sebas would be on standby for timely intervention if needed.
"The original matchup would've been more disastrous. Pandora's Actor kept Reinhard at bay while Albedo did the same with Sung." I said candidly.
Albedo was smart and capable, but she was rigid and quite green to proper combat. Reinhard would have relentlessly attacked her, eventually piercing through her solid defenses. I looked at Albedo, and she blushed, swaying her figure left and right.
"The matchup had to change because the enemies selected their targets before you two could. I commend you all for being flexible and quite adaptive. Besides, the overall scope was accomplished. We now know more about our enemies than they know about us."
I declared that the guardians handled themselves well despite facing terribly powerful adversaries. They were all quiet for a moment. All the guardians present then screamed my name. As if I had said the most brilliant thing ever, when in reality, what I said was perfectly reasonable — something even the most basic tactician would come up with.
"AINZ SAMA! YOU TRULY ARE THE BEST OF US! WE SHALL DEDICATE OUR LIVES EVEN FURTHER TO ACQUIRE THE RESULTS THAT YOU SEEK!" Albedo said, and the rest agreed in unison. Seriously, all I said was some basic rationale.
They all really inflate things out of proportion. I did a single slicing wave of my left arm, a gesture for them to be silent, and they all stopped their cheering.
Ahem. "Now then, as for Reinhard-knight. Single target spells are the most effective, the instant activation ones. However, he may develop some resistances to a spell once he experiences it."
Pandora's actor continued.
"That Reinhard-knight doesn't have any mana either, for some reason. Some of the homunculus maids here have more magic potential than him. Also, that sword of his, it's safe to assume that it is a divine tier equipment with a super tier attack potential. Based on what we know, for now, I recommend a nuking or combined effort to deal with him properly."
"Or. Steal. That. Sword. From. Him." Cocytus announced. I am quite shocked. I thought he had that warrior's pride. A sneaky and clever counter — basic pilfering.
"He still has that resurrection. We do not have enough information to assume he's immune to higher-tier death spells. Also, to answer Cocytus' idea, he was doing well without that sword. That sword required some novel prerequisite to be activated or utilized."
Demiurge assessed, pressing his eyeglasses further, his diamond-like eyes gleamed. "Still, stealing that sword is a decent idea in principle."
"A fair assessment. However, I can safely say that he's extremely resistant to lower-tier instant-death spells and any eight-tier spells below. I do not recommend a conventional one-on-one against him nor a fight of attrition."
Pandora's Actor added while Albedo nodded, agreeing. Shalltear was beside me, taking notes. She was dutiful at least and she also managed to catch that lesser vampire she was hunting. Hellsing, was it?
"A two versus one at minimum is required." Pandora's Actor agreed, then provided additional information and a reasonable plan of action for the future.
The guardians were all in agreement. Reinhard van Astrea, what a terrifying opponent. But he wasn't my primary target. It was that bastard, Sung Jin-Woo. I promised the Pleiades that his death would be slow and excruciating.
"Now then, about that Sung Jin Woo. Demiurge and I also agree that he's level one hundred."
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