Chapter 29: Demons and Monsters

Scarlet jumped through the time rift as Hero followed behind her, he jumped into the hood of her jacket to not get separated from her. Scarlet was tracking down Queen once again, but something felt off. She wasn't picking up Queen's scent like she normally was, it likely meant that Queen was masking her scent but at the same time. Scarlet would've been able to pick up the scent of blood since Queen lost her arm. The Grimm girl was definitely going to make it her goal to find Queen, but all in all things weren't going as she planned.

Scarlet bit her nails as she cursed under her breath, she noticed different vortex tunnels open up in the time rift she was in. This was being caused by Kang of course, opening different time streams to different dimensions and worlds. But what caught Scarlet's attention was a magic summoning circle, one that had trapped her in a wall of blue light. Before she knew it she vanished along with Hero, both her and her cat companion disappeared without a trace.

The two suddenly appeared in the air above a kingdom. Hero poked his head out of Scarlet's hood as he looked around and then down at the ground below. "We're so high up, where even are we?"

"I don't have the slightest idea." Scarlet said as she sniffed the air. "I'm not picking up any familiar scents..." She scanned around not seeing anything familiar as she then sprouted her Nevermore wings and flew down to the ground, she landed on her feet as she would then tear her wings off as they disintegrated into ash.

Hero jumped out of her hood and landed on top of her head as he laid down. "No signs of Queen either huh?"

Scarlet didn't say anything as she kept her guard up, she gripped Black Rose and glanced around more. She then spotted the twins, Arua and Mare. The two dark elves had noticed her as Mare looked at his sister, they both nodded as they ran off away from the area Scarlet was at. The Grimm girl seemed suspicious of the two as she followed them.

"Those two seem suspicious." Hero mumbled. "I wonder if those two are working for Queen?"

Once again Scarlet didn't say anything to her furry companion as she followed the scent of the two siblings, her nose picked up their scent as she shoved and pushed people out of the way and continued to follow the scent.

"Come on hurry, she's on our tail." Arua said as she looked back at Mare and grabbed his hand before running off with him.

Mare yelped a little as his sister pulled him along. "I-I don't like this one bit. She just came flying out of the sky, what even is she?"

Arua wasn't too sure how to answer that, but she looked back seeing Scarlet gaining on their tail. "Quick this way." She quickly pulled herself and her brother into an alleyway, where they bumped into Shalltear.

The vampire looked at the two siblings with a puzzled look on her face, she would casually poke her head around the corner to see who they were running away from. Both her and Scarlet locked eyes as the vampire tilted her head, she could sense an evil aura flowing off of Scarlet the closer she was getting. Shalltear then moved away as she looked at Arua and Mare. "Okay, now I see who you two were running away from."

Both of the dark elves nodded their heads as they stayed quiet but at the same time, they slowly moved. Tiptoeing before Shalltear followed behind them, luckily for them Sebas was also in the village at the same time Scarlet had gone past the alleyway. The Grimm girl still had their scent, but didn't seem to be bothered by the fact they slipped away, once she had seen Sebas not far from her, she came to a complete stop. They both locked eyes with each other for a long moment before the silence broke, a group of fishermen ran through the village and tripped over their own feet as one knelt down in front of Sebas.

"T-The water..... the water, it's eating the fish!" The fisherman said as he gripped onto Sebas' suit. "We witnessed it with our own eyes!"

Scarlet and Hero both looked at the man like he was crazy. Sebas would gently brush the man's hands off of him as he looked down at the fisherman, the fisherman was terrified and the other men who came in with him were also scared.

"You say the water is alive? Don't be preposterous!" A knight laughed from behind Scarlet as he looked at the scared man. "The water isn't alive, it's just water." He laughed again as Scarlet elbowed him in the gut, despite having armor on. Scarlet was able to crack the armor with her elbow, the knight gasped as he nearly vomited. "And who do you think you are little Missy?"

"Quiet boy." Scarlet said with a small hiss, she could tell that this knight was still young just by the way he was acting, plus his armor wasn't even combat ready for anything.

Sebas turned his head seeing this happen but didn't say much of what she did, he then looked back at the man before him. "Are you sure, there are many other creatures and animals in the water that eat fish."

The fisherman nodded as he was shaking but slowly gathered his thoughts before speaking. "We were grabbing up some fish with our fishing lines, and when we caught a big one and pulled it in. It started to dissolve like it was being eaten right as it came out of the water."

Scarlet took a moment to think it over at what was being said, she looked stumped and puzzled. There was no way there were Grimm in this universe, but at the same time she never really took into account that a flower Grimm that made peoples nightmares come true was real either, but she was proven wrong by that.

~~~

Sebas decided to go with the fishermen to their fishing spot as he watched the water pull and fish skeletons either rise up to the surface of the water or sink down, the water was clear enough to see the fish swim around. But this was definitely different, he rubbed his chin as he looked towards the fishermen. "I will let Lord Ainz know about this problem."

Scarlet overheard this as she looked down at her furry feline companion. "Looks like we'll need to do some digging as well, whomever this Ainz fellow is. I doubt he'd even know what a Grimm is, even if it is one."

Hero nodded his head as he followed Scarlet out of the kingdom, they were following the stream to where it would lead them to a bigger opened area, hopefully one that would hold the answers to this mysterious fish eating water mystery.

The further the two moved away from the kingdom, the more the stream was getting wider and rougher. Hero jumped up to Scarlet's jacket as he sat inside the hood of her jacket, to avoid slipping into the water. "The stream is getting a lot rougher and wider..." The path soon stopped as there was nothing but an opened river now that stretched for miles, almost making it look like an ocean. Scarlet's nose twitched as she sniffed the air a little bit, she could smell something up ahead of them.

Once Scarlet got closer, the more the smell intensified. Then out of nowhere, both her and Hero heard a roar of pain before there was a loud thud and splash. Scarlet slowly approached as she saw a corpse of a dead bear, what was left of it that was. The skeleton remains of the bear laid in the water, there must've been something in the water that the naked eye couldn't see.

"There must be something small in the water that the naked eye can't see." Hero said as he poked his head out from Scarlet's hood. "Even if we were able to figure it out, it might be getting bigger the more it eats. Which means that how much fish this thing ate and with the addition of the bear, it's no longer small."

Scarlet nodded as she knew what her feline friend was talking about. "You're right, meaning it must've had enough fill to morph into a creature to walk on land." She pointed towards the forest as she looked back at Hero. "It could've gone in there to find more prey."

Hero purred a little at how much thought process they had. "We should probably find a place to stay at, an inn or an adventurer's guild." His ear perked up and twitched as he heard a bellowing shriek and growl from the forest. "It seems like your hunch is right Scarlet, I think now's the best time for us to leave before we're next."

Scarlet didn't stick around any longer or for any other reasons, she sprouted her Nevermore wings and flew into the air. She flew away from the forest and river bay as she was no searching for another kingdom to land in.

"Do you think that this Ainz person is going to get wind of us?" Hero asked curiously as he stayed in Scarlet's hood as she flew through the air. "If those two dark elves and that butler guy work under him. Then it's possible that he might have more than just those three."

Scarlet didn't say much for the moment but agreed with her feline friend. "You're not wrong, there was a vampire before that guy showed up. I could just tell she was one, since she was using her umbrella to keep the sun from shining down on her, and the fact she had ghostly pale white skin. Not to mention she had those red eyes as well."

Hero was silent as he listened to what Scarlet was saying, he was very confused now about what kind of people Ainz had working under him. Even though they both haven't met Ainz yet.

Scarlet's nose twitched as she smelt something, "Seems like we got company." Right as she had said that, a tree log came flying towards the two. Scarlet moved out of the way as she glanced down seeing some Ogres and Trolls. "And looky here, a welcome party. Such a shame they didn't roll out the red carpet."

There indeed was a group of Ogres and Trolls below the two as it seemed like they had a small camp set up. Scarlet smirked as she flew down towards them, once she had landed on the ground. Hero jumped out of her hood and looked up at her.

"So, you're going to kill these creatures?" Hero asked as he kept his gaze up at her. "We might be able to use this camp for ourselves."

Scarlet licked her lips as she smirked. "You read my mind." She spun Black Rose around as she looked at the Ogres and Trolls. "Don't hold it against me, I just want to have some fun!" She rushed towards them as the Ogres and Trolls started to attack her.

~~~

Meanwhile in the tomb of Nazarick, Ainz sat in his throne as he looked at Sebas, Shalltear and the two siblings. The four of them were kneeling down in front of Ainz as Albedo stood next to him, the Succubus seemed furious for some reason.

"You didn't bother to get her name, nor did you think about bringing her in for questioning?" Albedo asked with her arms crossed.

Ainz raised his hand up. "That's enough Albedo, there's a much bigger task at hand then worrying about some girl who might be a threat to us" He stood up from his chair as he walked past the four. "So... if what is said is true, then there must be something in the water that is eating away at the fish and other creatures and animals that enter the water... But what? Something doesn't add up...."

"What do you want us to do my lord?" Sebas asked as he stood up and looked at Ainz. "We might have two threats against us that aren't the other kingdoms, of course we do rule over one kingdom. But our place here in Nazarick is our base of operations for the time being."

Ainz nodded his head a bit. "That is true Sebas." He turned around as he looked at everyone currently in the room. "It's settled then, we will split up. Half of us will remain here in Nazarick for any future updates, while the other half goes to each kingdom to find out more about this mystery that had unfolded today, and find out who that girl is as well."

"But lord Ainz... who will stay and who will go?" Shalltear asked curiously as she looked up at him."Maybe we should discuss them before proceeding?"

Ainz looked back at Shalltear as he already had an idea. "Oh? But I've already thought about it." He summoned Ginnungagap as Ainz held it in his hand. "The plan is simple. "Albedo, and I as well as Yuri and Narberal will go to the kingdom we currently rule. Sebas, Delta, Zeta, Solution Epsilon and Beta will go to the other kingdoms to find out more about this strange event. Shalltear, you and Demiurge and the rest of you will remain here in Nazarick and the outer villages we've currently helped previously."

"So you want us to check in on the Lizard people to see if they know something about this as well as the girl?" Demiurge asked as he adjusted his glasses. "Sounds fun."

Shalltear crossed her arms as she looked away. "I was hoping I'd get to cross paths with that girl, something about her seems.... how do I put it.... off." The vampire looked back at Ainz. "Call it a hunch, but I don't think she's a normal girl as we've said... something about her doesn't seem human."

"A humanoid creature perhaps." Cocytus said. "If that's what she is, then she must be working for someone or maybe she works alone... but as things stand, we don't know anything about this girl or what had happened."

"Indeed." Ainz said as he turned around. "Let us go, we don't have much time to waste..." With that said Ainz and his group left the Tomb of Nazarick while Sebas and his group also followed behind. "And one more thing." Ainz stopped. "If you happen to notice her anywhere else that isn't within the kingdoms, tell us."

"Understood lord Ainz." Demiurge said as he bowed down. "We will not fail you."