"[Grasp Heart]" Ainz squeezed his hand, feeling something burst in his palm.
Then, the knight in front of him fell to the ground without a sound.
Looking down, he could see the life energy leaving the body.
He was dead.
Hum… I felt no resistance coming from him. Was a 9th-tier spell too strong for an opening? I can't even measure his strength with that.
[Grasp Heart] was a 9th-tier instant death spell and one of his specialties. He liked it because even if the instant death effect was resisted, the target would still be paralyzed for a second, giving him time to react.
"WARGHH!" The other knight saw his companion dying in front of him and screamed, before running away, dropping his sword in the process.
The man seemed frantic, but Ainz could only think one thing as he looked at him.
He is slow. Even slower than me.
As an arcane magic caster who focused on necromantic magic, Ainz was very weak physically when compared to other level 100 beings, so for a knight, who should belong to a warrior class, to be even slower than him could only mean that he was hopelessly weak.
Boring.
"Sebas, go and bring him to me." He spoke to the masked butler behind him, who quickly moved to intercept the knight.
As he did, Insectoid monsters continued to move from the [Gate] until there were 8 of them surrounding him and the girls.
These were Eight-Edge Assassins, insectoid ninja monsters who would help to guard him through this outing.
Even as they were surrounded by these monsters, the two girls showed no reaction to their presence, for they were incapable of seeing through their invisibility, nor could they hear their silent movements.
Ainz, on the other hand, could see them as clearly as he could see Sebas returning with the knight in hand. This was because of his [Arcane Vision], there were very few things that could hide from his sight, so a simple invisibility was no problem at all.
Sebas was sporting his usual butler uniform, but he had made him wear a mask and painted his hair red to conceal his identity.
This was done with the future in mind.
In all of Nazarick, there were few NPCs who could, at the same time, pass as humans and were strong enough for him to consider giving them missions in the outside world. Among these, Sebas was one of the best, so he wanted to save his identity for such a future.
Ainz, on the other hand, had one of the worst possible appearances for interacting with humans. He still didn't know how the people of this world viewed the undead, but his time as the Demon Lord made him pessimistic about it. As such, he chose to cover his whole body and pretend to be a mysterious magic caster.
"Here, Ainz-sama." Sebas placed the knight in front of him, putting a hand on his shoulder to keep him from moving.
Ainz looked at the man, who was now trembling in fear.
"There's no need for concern, Harold. Your life is not in danger. At least for now." He reassured the man.
"H-How d-do you know my name?" Harold trembled even more, which amused him quite a bit.
There was something hilarious about a man who was happily killing hunting children suddenly finding himself as the prey and trembling in fear.
He would not say to the man that he could see his name with [Eye of Discernement], nor that he was a bit surprised to learn that he could not see his level.
Initially, he thought that these men might be of a higher level than his own, and that was why he couldn't see their level, but this quick demonstration seemed to imply that it had more to do with the fact that they were not his subordinates.
New tests would need to be made to confirm his suspicion.
"It doesn't matter how I know. I don't even need your cooperation, to be honest. [Dominate]." He cast a spell, and Harold immediately stopped trembling, his eyes turned vacant, and his face lost all expression.
[Dominate] allowed him to completely control the target's will for as long as the spell was maintained. It was a stronger version of [Charm Person].
"Tell me, who you and the other knights are, how many of you are here, why are you here, and how do the others compare to you when it comes to strength?"
Like a puppet, Harold began to recall everything he knew.
He said his full name and that he was part of the 63rd company of the Theocracy, composed of 50 knights on horseback.
According to him, this company was entrusted with the mission of destroying a few villages while posing as knights of the Baharuth Empire, but he didn't know why they were ordered to do so.
Lastly, and in Ainz's opinion, most importantly, he said that all the other knights were of comparable strength to himself.
"I see." Ainz digested the information for a moment.
He couldn't trust this information 100% because under this spell, the person would only say things as he saw them. If he was mistaken about something, there was no way for him to know.
That being said, he thought the information should be pretty reliable in this case.
"Now enter this portal." He ordered and sent a [Message] to Demiurge, telling him to take Harold for interrogation and to prepare, for others would soon come to join him.
The [Gate] closed as soon as Harold passed through it, leaving Ainz with Sebas, the Eight-Edge Assassins, and the two sisters.
Enri and Nemu Emmot, huh?
"Let me take a look at you." Ainz squatted in front of the two sisters and looked at them through the gaps in his mask.
They were very young, only a teenager and a child, and, as far as he could see, they had no battle training.
The older sister suddenly hugged her sister protectively.
"Ha!" He laughed at the gesture. It was so meaningless and at the same time so courageous. So human.
"You fear that I might harm your little sister?"
Enri didn't respond, but he could see in her eyes that he was right.
"That's a good instinct to have. It seems that you not only have good taste, but also a good head on your shoulders. I like it." He found it fun to interact with someone who wasn't hopelessly loyal to him for the first time in a while.
He loved the NPCs, but he also wanted to create new connections with different people. His centuries os loneliness left him starved for social interactions, and he couldn't quite admit this to the NPCs; they idolized him as a Supreme Ruler, so he didn't want to destroy that image for now.
Officially, this outing of his was for information gathering, but he was also genuinely curious about this New World.
He felt a sense of adventure brewing inside of him, begging him to explore this whole world. Re-Estize Kingdom, Baharuth Empire, and Slane Theocracy, these were all new locations for him to explore.
He then grabbed Enri's wrist as gently as he could.
"It seems you hurt your wrist and your back in this attack. Let's fix that."
Then wisps of light made their way from his hand to her wrist, before circulating on her body, and focusing mainly on her back.
In just a moment, her wounds closed, leaving no trace behind.
"Huh? No way!" Enri felt the changes on her body and touched her wrist and back to check for wounds, but found none.
"Ha ha," Ainz gave a satisfied laugh.
"You're healed, little girl; there's no need to be surprised." He then tossed two horns to her.
"These are Horns of the Goblin General. If you blow on them, little monsters called goblins will appear and protect you two. Use them well." He patiently explained to her how to use the items.
"Well, as for us, I think it's time to go. [Create Middle-tier Undead- Death Knight." Ainz moved his hand, and a dark mist left his body, moving through the air before settling in the corpse of the Knight he had killed.
Oh! This is new.
The body melted into a black goo that grew larger and larger, then he felt a connection forming between him and this black mass, and as he visualized the undead he wanted to create, the black goo began to take shape.
In no time, a figure appeared in front of him. Standing at a staggering 2.30m, the figure was clad in black spiked armor, bringing a tower shield in its left hand and a rippled sword in its right.
"UOHHHHHH!" The Death Knight roared as soon as it was born, scaring the two sisters once again and making the younger one cry.
"Shut up!" Seeing this, Ainz couldn't help but become annoyed.
The Death Knight immediately went silent.
"Good. Now, go to the village and save the people there while keeping the knights in check. Try not to kill anyone."
Ainz didn't doubt the Death Knight's ability to understand his orders. Summons were granted some knowledge by their summoners so they could better execute commands. Because of that, this Death Knight already knew what he meant by village, villagers, and knights.
"We were delayed for long enough. Now let's go, Sebas." With a last look at the Enmot sisters, Ainz began to make his way towards the village. There were many experiments to be conducted and a lot to learn.
"Hum. Thank you!"
"Thank you!"
The voices of the two sisters followed them as they made their way.