Chapter 25: Demiurge’s Plan

Atlas made it back to Ainz' meeting room, only to find the guardians gathered there. In there, he saw Albedo, The supposed Lady of Lord Ainz.

"Lady Albedo, Do you know where I may find Lord Ainz?" Atlas asked as he knelt down.

"Stand up, Ainz-sama and Narberal Gamma had left for E-Rantel. We have received word from Sebas that Tuareninya has been kidnapped, we will be travelling to E-Rantel to initiate the grand plan and retrieve the girl." Albedo spoke.

"Who would dare to kidnap a servant of Nazarick?!" Atlas asked in anger.

"Not a Servant yet, but she has been assured safety under Ainz-sama, allowing such buffoonery would be dishonourable to the Supreme One. The humans of Eight-Fingers took her." Albedo explained.

"...I have actually come here to report that I have grown the skeleton army to 21000 brothers, I will lead them to E-Rantel right now if you ask." Atlas announced.

"No, this will be a more discreet operation. Meet Demiurge at E-Rantel if you want to serve Ainz-sama."

"I will do so." Atlas spoke.

Atlas left the room after giving a bow to the guardians present, heading to the entrance of the tomb. As he left the tomb, Atlas got onto his horse and rode a fast as he could, moving through the plains at alarming speeds.

"Perhaps Lady Narberal will be at the meeting." Atlas said to himself.

"She is not the mission. I must remember to apologise later, nevertheless." He said again.

Atlas rode through a large stretch of land, getting extremely restless at the thought of being late for the meeting.

"GREATER SPEED BOOST!"

Atlas' horse moved at a pace which didn't seem to be visible to the naked eye, becoming a gust of wind and transporting Atlas to E-Rantel in less than an hour. As Atlas left the horse, he gave it a meal of souls, petting it for its service, and moving towards the meeting place.

After a brief navigation of rooftops, Atlas finally reached the meeting spot, finding Demiurge along with some other guardians.

"Oh, Atlas, I see you have finished your task, have you come to participate in the operation?" Demiurge asked.

"Yes, Lord Demiurge, I have come to bring death to those that have disrespected Lord Ainz!" Atlas announced.

"Very good, I have already explained the plan to everyone else. I will assign you to the military barracks of the city, make sure to cause as much destruction as possible so we can deal with the trash without worry." Demiurge instructed.

"I will do just that." Atlas spoke as he bowed.

"There seems to be a high value target there, a level 30 knight. It will not be any trouble for you, but be careful, the barracks seem to have become lively as of late. There may be yet another high value target there, of higher caliber."

Atlas acknowledged the statement and left the building without a further word.

"Such devotion, This is what a servant of Nazarick should strive to be like." Demiurge said to himself as he prepared to leave.

Atlas decided to use his flesh form for this task, using the Knight Of Grim to attract as much attention as possible. It would be Atlas' job to draw the city's defences to him, perhaps it will help him practice getting used to his boost in power.

As Atlas navigated the rooftops, he spotted the barracks in an alert state, with guards stationed at almost every corner. He crouched on the rooftop and scanned the area with his sight, noticing instantly where the main high value target was located. Atlas concluded that he must execute that target first to create the maximum amount of commotion.

Atlas dropped silently from the rooftop; straight onto an unsuspecting guard, killing him without a single sound. Atlas retrieved the guard's soul and raised him as a brother, all in the confines of the only secluded alleyway.

"Brother, I am the Eldest Brother, serve Nazarick well, and kill those humans stationed at the front gates." Atlas instructed.

"Yes, Eldest Brother."

The newly minted skeleton rushed toward the gates with its silvered armor and pike, easily killing the front guards. Atlas rushed silently through the gates, finding his way to the high value target.

FLOP

Atlas instantly dropped the target, causing the entire barracks to notice him.

"THE COMMANDER IS DEAD!!!"

The entirety of the barracks surrounded Atlas and his brother as they found him standing next to the corpse.

"Wait. This one is mine."

A towering figure with two short swords entered the scene, giving off a truely menacing aura. The aura was so powerful that Atlas started to feel fear, sensing the power of a level 60 warrior. Atlas' brother seemed repulsed by the power, shaking.

"Wait, Brother. This one is too powerful for you." Atlas said to the other skeleton.

Atlas stepped forward, drawing his sword and crossbow.

"Knight Of Grim? You certainly live up to the name! But you are very unlucky, the kingdom has hired me to defend the place. But I guess I can kill you, more fame for me!" The man laughed.

"Is all you care about fame? Even for a powerful creature such as you, you are still human." Atlas responded.

"I AM MAUL! AND I WILL KILL YOU!"

The man dashed forth and clashed his two swords against the skeleton's, launching a fast flurry of powerful strikes. Without giving Atlas a second to recover, the man stabbed Atlas in the right shin using a dagger.

"HAH! HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT? KNIGHT."

Atlas pulled the dagger out of his shin and let the wound bleed.

"...you really do not care about your life, I GUESS THIS WILL BE EASY!"

The man went into an offensive stance.

"Ability boost, Iron body, absolute counter, awareness, reaction."

The man rushed forth, clashing his blade with Atlas.

Atlas began to falter as his blade was too slow to parry the man, becoming weaker as each hit smashed his blade. The skeleton lost his crossbow as the man slashed his left arm, knocking his device to the ground.

"That was a tool given to me by Lady Narberal."

"You...you...HAVE DISGRACED IT!"

Atlas lunged forward with his blade as he launched a flurry of slashes.

"MARTIAL ART: WIND WALKER, ADAMANTINE BONES, REACTION, COMBAT REFLEX, FIELD!"

Atlas used a combination of martial arts to boost his defensive potential, making him much harder to hit.

"DAMMIT! I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU, KNIGHT!" Maul yelled.

"Execute."

A large gash appeared on Maul's left leg, running down to his foot.

"AAAAGGH!"

Atlas launched another attack while Maul was distracted, cutting through the latter's breastplate.

"ENOUGH! WALL OF FLAME! ICE RAIN!"

A large wall of red fire engulfed Atlas, followed by a rain of icicles which peppered the skeleton.

"HAHA! NO ONE CAN SURV-"

STAB

Atlas appeared from behind the man, burying his blade in the latter's chest.

"Take my sword, receive the blessing of life. A heart is but a concept, you won't need it anymore."

"Heart, something neither of us have now." Atlas joked in a grim tone.

"Ugh... damn... you..."

Atlas moved away from the corpse, wounded with many slashes, but still able to fight.

"Brother, have you killed the rest?" Atlas asked his brother.

"Yes, the soldiers are dead." He responded.

"Then our brotherhood shall never end." Atlas said as he absorbed most of the souls.

"Hmmph. This technique doesn't work anymore, my strength did not grow much, but my levels seem to have gotten higher after I killed that man."

"Brother, absorb some souls." Atlas spoke.

"Yes, Eldest Brother."

The two finished absorbing souls, leaving 200 soldiers dead at their feet.

"It is time."

Atlas drew his sword and thrusted it to the ground, causing negative energy to rupture through the area engulfing all of the corpses. With that action, the skeleton army grew to have a second corps.

Atlas then retrieved his crossbow, cleaning it with some cloth as he lead his army to do more damage.

Suddenly a beam of bright light appeared over yonder, covering much of the night sky. When he saw this, Atlas knew what was happening, his excitement was immeasurable.