Chapter 451: Fear of the Unknown
Nazarick, fifth basement floor.
The fifth underground level of Nazarick is an extremely cold area created based on the concept of a glacier.
Icebergs emitting icy blue light stand like tombstones on the endless white land. White snow falls from the sky covered with thick clouds, dancing in the cold wind that blows through the ice and contains cold water vapor.
The icy forest visible in the distance is completely covered with snow, like a giant hidden under a pure cloak. Just by looking at it, you can feel the cold.
At this moment, Ainz and Albedo were walking on the icy road, their clothes fluttering violently in the biting cold wind.
Because both of them have good attribute resistance, this cold wind will not cause any harm to them.
After walking for a while, a tall and majestic western-style building appeared in front of them.
In this cold world of ice and snow, only this building exudes a strange atmosphere, like a witch's cottage in a storybook, full of the feeling of a fairy tale world.
However, there is a layer of ice on the surface of the building, giving people a cold and uncomfortable atmosphere. Its name is Ice Prison, and anyone who is an enemy of Nazarick will be imprisoned here.
Ainz arrived in front of the western-style building and silently pushed open the icy door. Even though the surface was covered with a thick layer of ice, the door still opened easily.
The moment the door was opened, a chill quickly rushed into the room, which was even colder than the extreme cold outside.
On the other side of the door was a quiet, dark passage that led all the way into the cell.
The remnants of the Sunlight Scripture who had been enemies of Ainz in Carne Village were also imprisoned here and were being guarded by torturer Nerost Painkiller.
As he recalled all this, Ainz slowly took steps and continued walking inside.
After walking for a while, Ainz looked at Albedo beside him and said, "Albedo, we are almost at your sister's room. Are you ready?"
"I am ready, Master Ainz."
Albedo nodded and stretched out her hand towards the wall. The next moment, a white transparent arm stretched out from the wall and placed a doll in Albedo's hand.
It was a baby doll, about the same size as a baby.
However, although it is called a baby, it is actually much more disgusting. Its limbs are twisted as if it was born like this, and its big, rolling eyes are like those of the dolls in horror movies, lifeless and without eyelids.
Ainz frowned as he looked at this baby doll that could only be seen in horror movies. He took it and looked towards the end of the passage.
At the end of the passage, there is a huge mural centered on the door, which shows a loving mother holding a baby.
Perhaps because of its age, the painted murals have weathered and fallen off, becoming a horrible sight.
Especially where the baby was, only something resembling wreckage was left.
This is where Albedo's sister is. Thinking of this, Ainz slowly pushed the door open.
Woo woo woo…
As the door slid open silently, the sound of a baby crying could be heard.
Not one or two, nor an echoing sound.
It was a sound made up of dozens or hundreds of cries merged into one. If an ordinary person heard it, they would probably run away in terror the moment they heard it.
However, Ainz, who had experienced this before, did not show any fear, although he was unable to do so.
As the door was completely opened, the scene inside was completely revealed. There was no baby in the room.
But the crying is real.
It was an invisible baby, and in the center surrounded by the sound of the baby's crying, there was only a cradle, and next to the cradle there was a woman gently rocking the cradle.
Even when someone entered the room, the woman in black mourning clothes remained silent and just rocked the cradle by herself.
Like some scary character named Zhen, the woman's face was covered by her long, jet-black hair.
The next moment, the woman who was still rocking the cradle suddenly became motionless as if frozen.
Then she slowly reached into the cradle and gently took out the baby inside. Upon closer inspection, she found that it was not a real baby, but a baby doll.
A twisted baby puppet.
The puppet's large, lifeless eyes looked in Ainz's direction. Its already twisted body twisted even further as the woman exerted more and more force.
“No! No! No…!”
The murmur gradually turned into a roar, and the woman suddenly tore the baby doll in her hand into pieces, then staggered to her feet.
"My child! My child! My...!"
Along with the sound of gnashing teeth, the crying sounds coming from all around became louder and louder, and the source of the sound finally appeared.
From the walls and floors of the room, a flesh mass that looked like a translucent baby slid out. The squirming flesh mass that resembled a baby was a monster close to level 20, named Carrion Child.
As the sound of crying echoed in the empty room, the black-haired woman took out a pair of large scissors from somewhere and held them tightly in her hands.
His sharp eyes glared at the intruder from among his messy hair.
"My child! My child! You took my child away!!"
The cuckoo's blood-soaked wail sounded, and the black-haired woman shed tears of blood as she stared at the person who came at the door.
In an instant, the woman in black mourning clothes rushed towards Ainz and Albedo at the door with boundless murderous intent, leaving a long trail of blood on the ground.
“My child!!”
The black-haired woman stabbed at Ainz with a pair of large scissors in her hand, but Ainz, who already knew the procedure, did not panic, but instead held the doll forward.
“Your child is here.”
Looking at the doll handed to her, the woman's movements froze immediately as if she had pressed a stop button. Then she put away the scissors and slowly took the doll.
"Be good, be good..."
The black-haired woman hugged the doll lovingly , then walked back carefully and placed the doll back into the cradle before looking at the person who came again.
"Mr. Momonga, and my lovely sister, are you all right?"
Ainz nodded gently. “ Long time no see , Nigredo.”
After going through this process again, Ainz's originally silent heart became uncomfortable again, and he thought of his former companions again.
My former guildmate said that a new character had been created, so I asked him and other guildmates to go and see it, and everyone screamed in fright.
The embarrassing scenes at that time have now become nostalgic memories.
"Sister, long time no see."
Albedo at the side also nodded with a smile. She and Nigret were both NPCs created by the player Emerald Record, so they were sisters in the setting.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Seeing that Nigret had regained consciousness, Ainz continued, “You didn’t come to the throne room at that time, so you didn’t know. I’m not Momonga now. I’ve changed my name to Ainz Ooal Gown. From now on, just call me Ainz.”
“As you command, Master Ainz.”
Nigredo bowed again, then slowly raised her head and pushed aside her long hair that completely covered her face, revealing a terrifying and distorted face.
It was a face with no skin and exposed muscles, no lips but pale teeth, no eyelids but sparkling eyes. The teeth or eyes would be quite beautiful if viewed alone, but the overall look was just terrifying.
He looked like a character from a horror movie. Even Ainz, who regarded NPCs as his friends’ children, felt a little uncomfortable looking at this face.
But he never forgot the purpose of coming here.
"So Nigredo, I'm here to ask for your help. Can you lend me a hand with your abilities?"
"My ability?" Nigret twitched her muscles and revealed a terrifying smile: "Is it about living things? Or about inanimate objects?"
"It should be considered a living being. I've made it clear that the target is Narberal Gamma from the Pleiades."
"I see."
Niguled did not ask any questions, she simply followed the orders of the Supreme Being.
Although she is confined in the Frozen Prison, she is actually a high-level NPC of the highest rank and a magic caster.
Her job structure was to specialize in the investigation department, which was used to gather intelligence, so Ainz came here to ask her to help find Narberal.
Because she was a full-time investigator, Nicoled quickly found the person she was looking for.
Of course, it was also because the other party did not use anti-detection magic to cover it up.
"Crystal Screen."
As the magic was activated, a crystal screen emerged, and at the same time a slightly depressing space appeared on the screen.
"Amazing! He captured the target with a fixed point. You are indeed a specialized magic caster."
Ainz praised the gradually clearing image, and the image on the screen also became completely clear.
It was a bright space, but a closer look revealed that the space was very small and cramped, only more than ten cubic meters.
In that space, Ainz thought he would see Narberal trapped, but in fact, Narberal was not imprisoned and seemed to be quite free.
Next to Narberal was another figure, a figure wearing a black robe. The figure seemed to be hidden in the shadows and the face could not be seen clearly.
Just as Ainz was wondering who the person was and why he was with Narberal, the mysterious man with his face covered by shadows suddenly turned his head and looked in the direction of the "crystal screen".
“You’re looking at me, right? Ainz Ooal Gown, or rather, Suzuki Satoru!”
A second after the voice sounded, the light in Ainz’s eye sockets instantly grew stronger and larger.
How! How is it possible!
The moment he heard the figure across from him calling out his name, Ainz felt an incredible surge of anxiety and panic. It was the fear of having his identity revealed.
At that moment, the embarrassed Ainz shouted, "Close it quickly, Nigret!"
"Yes, as you command!"
Nicolede immediately turned off the detection magic, and the next moment, the crystal screen disappeared, and the dark figure instantly disappeared from her sight.
“Nigredo, Albedo! Be careful that they can detect this place!”
"Yes!" ×2
Nicoled immediately used anti-detection magic, and Albedo also picked up her weapon and stood next to Ainz. Ainz hurriedly used his own anti-detection magic and even raised his hand.
On one of his fingers, he was wearing a plain ring without any decoration.
The ring emitted a silver light and had three shooting stars engraved on it. Although it was not very impressive in appearance, the power contained in this ring was the strongest among all the rings Ainz owned.
Its name is the Meteor Ring, and it allows you to use the super-level magic "Wish upon a Star" three times without consuming any experience points. It is a super rare item.
This was the Gacha item that Ainz had obtained by gambling away his year-end bonus. He and another player were the only ones in the entire guild who had it, and it was an extremely rare item.
"Then, O Ring, listen to my wish!"
After chanting the words, Ainz anxiously shouted in his heart, “Increase the effectiveness of Nazarick’s anti-detection magic to 100%!”
As a complex magic circle emerged, a meteor spread out, pulling the aurora with it .
After doing all this, some time passed before Ainz slowly relaxed his tension, and Albedo also changed from her bent-down posture to her normal standing position.
“Damn it!”
After calming down, the emotion that emerged was intense anger. After becoming an undead, his strong emotions would be automatically suppressed, but even if they were suppressed, new anger would immediately surge up.
"Damn it! Why! Damn it!"
In the terrifying room, Ainz stomped his feet repeatedly, causing the broken stones on the floor to fly everywhere and the monsters around him to tremble in fear.
Seeing Ainz like this, Albedo said in panic, “A…Ainz-sama, please…please calm down…”
Hearing the fear in Albedo's voice, Ainz finally realized that he had acted in a way that was absolutely unbecoming of a master.
With the passive force of calmness, he quickly regained his composure and forcefully exhaled a non-existent breath, as if he wanted to completely exhale the rage burning in his heart and the fear concealed by the rage.
"…I'm sorry, I seem to have lost my mind a little. Just pretend you didn't notice my gaffe just now."
Albedo shook her head. “Don’t say that. But, I’m really grateful that Ainz-sama listened to my advice!”
“If Lord Ainz orders me to pretend I didn’t see anything, I will forget all about this. But that figure just now noticed our spying and called out Lord Ainz’s name. Is it because this incident displeased Lord Ainz?”
"If you agree, I will immediately organize a punitive team to find the enemy and bring him his head."
Hearing these words, Ainz’s calm mood became agitated again.
Albedo guessed right, but not completely. He was indeed panicked because the other party called out his name, but what he was afraid of was not the name Ainz Ooal Gown, but the name he had as a human, Suzuki Satoru!
He never said this name from beginning to end, but the other party called it out so easily, and even the tone was so sure.
A master once said that the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest fear is the unknown.
Although this statement refers to humans, it actually applies to any intelligent creature.
Not to mention Ainz, who was once a human. At this moment, Ainz felt the long-lost fear of the unknown.
