Since the fight in the northern forest of E-Rantel over two months ago, Shalltear appeared before Riezel once again, and compared to before, there didn't seem to be any obvious changes in her.
Shalltear was still dressed in her usual elegant black evening dress, looking like an absolutely stunningly beautiful girl—the kind that could take anyone's breath away.
Unfortunately, this stunningly beautiful girl was now lying on an unusually large bed, with two completely naked Vampire Brides lying beside her, looking somewhat inappropriate in the eyes of normal people.
Shalltear's dress was indeed elegant, but it sadly looked a bit disheveled, likely because she had been in the same state as the Vampire Brides before Riezel barged in, appearing naked.
It was clearly because when she noticed someone had entered, she had put on her dress in a rush, making it somewhat disheveled. Given that she could instantly change equipment just like in YGGDRASIL, swapping clothes or equipment was something she could do in less than a second, so although looking a bit disheveled, thanks to that, she didn't appear in front of Riezel in an unsightly, naked state like the Vampire Brides.
Of course, in Riezel's eyes, Shalltear's current appearance, though not naked, still seemed quite unsightly.
It seemed that Shalltear herself was aware of this, which was why she appeared angry at having her less-than-decent side seen, her crimson eyes flashing with murderous intent as they fixed on Riezel, who stood in the doorway.
However, as soon as Shalltear looked at Riezel, her body froze.
"It's you?"
After carefully inspecting Riezel for a moment, Shalltear's pupils shrank before she quickly jumped off the bed.
""L-Lady Shalltear!""
Due to Shalltear's excessive movements, the Vampire Brides called out in alarm as the covers were completely overturned, exposing them in a much more unsightly manner right in front of Riezel.
However, Shalltear paid no attention to them and kept her gaze locked on Riezel.
"You're Riezel Brynhart?"
Hearing Shalltear ask with a tone filled with suspicion, Riezel raised an eyebrow, feeling a little surprised.
It couldn't be helped.
He was, after all, the one who had once cut off Shalltear's arm and fought her in the northern forest of E-Rantel.
Back then, Shalltear had hated him to the core, yet now, she didn't show even a hint of that hatred. Instead, it was as if she was seeing him for the first time, questioning him, which made him feel a bit strange.
'Could it be... she lost the memory of the time before and after she was mind-controlled?'
In the original work, Shalltear lost a few days of memory after being killed by Ainz and revived in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, forgetting everything about the mind control she had undergone.
Shalltear's current behavior made Riezel think back to that event.
In other words—
'She forgot about me?'
In that case, how could she still recognize his identity?
It didn't make sense.
Back when they had fought in the northern forest of E-Rantel, Shalltear hadn't recognized him at all until he gave her a hint, yet this time, she had forgotten him but somehow instantly knew his name as soon as she saw him.
'Did Ainz show her my picture or something?'
Snapping out of his pondering, Riezel met Shalltear's gaze and then spoke up.
"Looks like you know me, huh? Well, that makes things easier."
Riezel then stepped forward and entered the room, but in the next moment, as Shalltear coldly watched him in silence, she suddenly did something that surprised him.
*Whoosh!*
In an instant, Shalltear's entire outfit changed as her black dress was replaced by a full suit of crimson armor.
Needless to say, it was her formal battle equipment when she got serious—the one she had used to fight Ainz before, a legendary-class item.
At the same time, she gripped a strangely shaped, tubular long lance that had appeared out of thin air—it was none other than her only divine-class item, Spuit Lance.
"Oh?"
Riezel couldn't help but stop in his tracks, gazing at Shalltear, now fully armored, with a look of utter surprise.
Shalltear, on the other hand, ignored Riezel's surprise, unfurled white, swan-like wings from her back, and flew into the air.
"Riezel Brynhart, the only human that Lord Ainz fears, and someone Albedo and Demiurge specifically warned me to be cautious of..."
Shalltear spoke while looking down at Riezel from above.
"I see... so you're the one who broke in. No wonder the traps Lord Ainz set couldn't stop the intruders. If you're among them, it makes sense."
Needless to say, the current Shalltear was completely different from the first time they had met. Not only did she no longer look down on Riezel with disdain, but the earlier arrogance and superiority were also gone—what remained was only calmness and solemnity.
Such an attitude was completely different from the one she had in the northern forest of E-Rantel, so much so that Riezel couldn't help but feel it was unreal.
"Well, well, I didn't think you'd take me this seriously this time."
Snapping back to reality, Riezel responded and cast a scrutinizing glance at Shalltear.
What Riezel didn't know was that Shalltear's current attitude was due to her heart being filled with regret.
As Riezel had guessed, after being revived, Shalltear had indeed lost all memories from before and after being mind-controlled—completely forgetting everything, including Riezel and her own involvement in the mind-control incident.
However, after the fact, Shalltear learned the full story from her colleagues at the Great Tomb of Nazarick and realized how close she had come to betraying Nazarick, nearly raising her weapon against Ainz, the highest ruler of Nazarick.
Such a revelation shocked and appalled her since the intense regret she felt was so overwhelming.
It was only natural.
She had actually raised her hand against the Supreme Being she had sworn to serve, and as an undead, she had foolishly been mind-controlled by some inferior being, which was something that shouldn't have happened to her.
It was definitely a huge stain on her status as a Floor Guardian.
In the end, she spent a period of time in deep despair, drowning her sorrows in alcohol, proving how strong her regret was.
Ultimately, when she received a new mission from Ainz, she swore that no matter what happened, she would never again bring shame to the Great Tomb of Nazarick or the Floor Guardians.
From then on, she was unusually serious during the mission and no longer looked down on others as she had before but took meticulous care in preparing for everything.
Included in her preparations were gathering intelligence, collecting data, and investigating everything that could possibly be involved in the mission—every person, thing, and event was thoroughly examined and noted down in her notebook.
Among the things she had collected was information on Riezel, making her aware of everything about him, which was why she could instantly recognize him and arm herself immediately.
She knew Riezel was someone Ainz and the Floor Guardians treated with top priority and also knew that she had fought Riezel before in the northern forest of E-Rantel, but because she had lost her memory, she didn't remember it.
Additionally, Demiurge had reminded her just yesterday that Riezel might be coming to this hideout, which was why she had been prepared.
"You might interfere with Lord Ainz, interfere with Nazarick..." Shalltear said in an unusually calm tone. "Let me, Shalltear Bloodfallen, the Floor Guardian of the first to third floors of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, verify just how much of a threat you really are."
After making such a declaration, Shalltear didn't give Riezel a chance to speak and immediately extended her hand in his direction.
"Summon Monster 10th."
Once an extremely arrogant vampire, Shalltear, to Riezel's surprise, immediately cast 10th-Tier Magic from the beginning.
In an instant, a massive magic circle expanded across the floor of the room, summoning a terrifying monster into view.
It was a hellish-looking dog, massive in size, with three heads and eyes that burned as if on fire, its entire body glowing bright red and filling the room with an ominous aura.
"Cerberus?"
Riezel's gaze was immediately drawn to the ferocious magical beast.
Cerberus, a creature capable of controlling fire, adding fire-attribute damage to all its attacks, and with complete resistance to both fire and poison, was a highly powerful, large, high-tier monster.
In YGGDRASIL, it was a monster between Level 64 and 70, but in this world, it was a creature that existed only in legends.
*ROARRR!*
*ROARRR!*
*ROARRR!*
Roaring at Riezel, Cerberus's three heads each spewed flames like saliva before suddenly charging and leaping toward Riezel.
*Rumble—!*
With a rumbling sound, scorching flames were vomited from Cerberus's three mouths as it charged, forming a massive wave of fire that surged forward like a tidal wave.
Riezel was engulfed by the flames, completely disappearing into them, leaving no trace behind.
"Life Essence."
Observing from mid-air, Shalltear didn't show a triumphant smile but instead had her expression grow even more serious as she cast surveillance magic that allowed her to see the health points of others.
In this world, magic could be used to check an opponent's vitality, helping to determine their condition.
If their health points decreased, it meant they had taken damage or perhaps used some special skills that drained their vitality.
If their health points hit zero, they would be dead.
Shalltear's intent was clear—she wanted to know if Riezel had been harmed by Cerberus.
However, what Shalltear saw now was only a massive green light rising from the center of the flames, indicating that Riezel's health points were not only shockingly large but also showed no sign of weakening, proving that being engulfed in the flames of Cerberus hadn't left a single scratch on him.
'He can nullify fire-attribute attacks?'
As this thought flashed through Shalltear's mind, she immediately realized that Cerberus wouldn't have any effect when facing Riezel.
Cerberus was incredibly strong, easily at the level of Demon Gods in this world, where even the legendary Thirteen Heroes had to fight seriously to defeat one of them. If it were released in the Re-Estize Kingdom, it could turn the kingdom into scorched earth in a matter of days and destroy the entire nation.
Nevertheless, given that Cerberus specialized in fire-attribute attacks and since Riezel could nullify fire-attribute attacks, sending such a monster to deal with him would be a waste of time.
In that case—
"Summon Undead 10th."
Shalltear cast a new summoning magic, causing a magic circle to appear once again.
*ROARRR!*
*ROARRR!*
*ROARRR!*
At the same time, as Cerberus charged forward, just before it could enter the flames where Riezel was engulfed, it suddenly vanished in a burst of light particles.
Such a thing happened because, except for special summoning cases, summoning magic could usually only summon one monster per magic spell.
When a summoner cast another summoning magic, the effect of the previous summoning magic disappeared, and the summoned monster returned, being replaced by the new one. Only with advanced summoning magic or special skills could a summoner summon multiple monsters, though those monsters were usually weaker types.
For example, the Vampire Bats and Vampire Wolves that had appeared earlier before Riezel and his group were low-tier monsters summoned by Shalltear's special skill, which allowed the summoner to summon multiple monsters.
Regardless, both 'Summon Monster 10th' and 'Summon Undead 10th' were not meant for summoning low-tier monsters but for summoning high-tier monsters ranging from Level 64 to 70, which, according to the standard of the world of Danmachi, were equivalent to Level 5 monsters.
In other words, high-tier monsters like them couldn't be repeatedly summoned with summoning magic unless it was Super-Tier Magic.
Unfortunately, as an NPC, Shalltear couldn't learn Super-Tier Magic, so the highest-tier magic she could use was 10th-Tier Magic.
As a result, when she cast the new summoning magic, the summoning of Cerberus ended, causing it to vanish and be replaced by a new monster.
Upon closer inspection, the new monster was a knight emanating a black aura, surrounded by swirling black mist, wielding a lance, and riding a black horse, fully armored except for the lack of a head.
"Go! Dullahan!"
At Shalltear's command, the high-tier undead named Dullahan surged with a dark, black aura, charging toward the raging sea of flames.
Dullahan, a Level 69 high-tier undead, was a terrifying monster that specialized in close combat. Although it had no other abilities, its attacks had a random chance of triggering an instant death effect when they hit an enemy.
Even though it was difficult to trigger the instant death effect against opponents higher in level, once activated, even a Level 100 enemy could be killed in a single strike.
Now, this terrifying monster raised its lance high, charged into the raging sea of flames, and aimed its weapon at a figure in the center of the flames before thrusting forward.
Just then—
"Greater Rejection."
A calm voice rang out before an invisible wave of magical energy suddenly erupted from the figure in the heart of the flames, like an unseen shockwave, slamming into Dullahan's body.
"..."
Dullahan, struck by the invisible wave of magical energy, couldn't even let out a scream as, under the influence of this invisible magical energy, it seemed as if the world itself had rejected it, causing it to vanish without a trace.
"Tch..."
Seeing the scene, Shalltear clicked her tongue in annoyance.
At the same moment, the sea of flames finally dissipated, revealing Riezel's figure as he slowly emerged from it.
"Wanna test my strength?"
Riezel calmly lifted his gaze and looked at Shalltear as he threw out the question.
"Then stop sending your summons to probe me. Come at me yourself, vampire."