Riezel had no idea about Raven's complicated feelings and just looked at his blood-soaked body, at the tattered armor he wore, and then at the huge, menacing slice wound on his chest.
"It seems that without the protection of this armor, you're completely done for."
Riezel didn't hold back at all, throwing out a blunt remark with a calm voice.
He knew that Raven's current sorry state could likely be because of him since Flaming Thunder God had apparently broken Raven's Moniz and caused heavy damage to his body, which resulted in him having trouble dealing with even a few beetle monsters, nearly losing his life.
However, who could he blame for that?
"...I lost."
Raven spoke in a low voice, his face cold and stern.
Strictly speaking, even though the battle between them at the training field hadn't reached a conclusive end since the two had been interrupted during their final clash and brought here, Raven knew the result of that last clash, even if it hadn't been fully played out.
Just as Riezel clearly saw Raven swallowed by the golden lightning of the 'Flaming Thunder God' in the final moment, Raven also saw his final strike being completely nullified by Riezel.
Understanding this, Raven glanced subtly at the green jewel pendant hanging from Riezel's neck and fell silent.
"Oh? You're straightforward."
Riezel raised his eyebrows, feeling somewhat surprised at the once-strong-headed Sword Saint.
He had thought that considering how much Raven despised the idea of losing, the man would rise again and challenge him after this sharp, taunting situation, but who would have thought that this Guardian Sword Saint would unexpectedly admit his loss so straightforwardly?
"I'm not so incapable of accepting reality that I can't see the truth." Raven continued coldly. "I honestly can't accept it, but a loss is a loss. It's a fact that I'm not as powerful as you, so I'll just accept it."
Raven then glanced at Riezel.
"Why did you save me? Do you think taking my head as a defeated enemy should be something you do yourself? If that's the case, you can go ahead and do it now."
Even though Raven's tone was cold when he spoke, his face showed little bitterness.
It couldn't be helped.
As someone used to war, Raven was all too familiar with the law of the world where victors take all, so even after being defeated by Riezel, he didn't really feel any sense of resentment.
"Go ahead, you can cut off my head at any time."
Raven continued with a blank expression, but what he got was a detached reply from Riezel.
"I'm here to teach you a lesson, not take your life. Your life isn't as valuable as you think it is, so you don't need to go provoking me like that."
Riezel then stretched out a hand toward Raven.
For the current Riezel, the healing magic at his disposal was different from before since he didn't just have 'Dia Fratel' anymore.
In the world of Overlord, there were many magic spells that could heal, but because they typically worked by restoring vitality, not many people in the Great Tomb of Nazarick could wield them.
For undead beings like Ainz, using healing magic that granted vitality would not only fail to heal them but would actually cause harm, so he had never bothered to learn healing magic.
Naturally, the Great Tomb of Nazarick, filled with heteromorphic races, was the same, as very few NPCs there could wield healing magic, which meant they often had to rely on scrolls or magic items to heal rather than using magic themselves.
As a result, Riezel hadn't learned much healing magic from the NPCs in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, but nonetheless, even if it was limited, he had still learned a few useful healing magic spells.
1st-Tier Magic, Light Healing, could restore small amounts of stamina and heal minor injuries.
2nd-Tier Magic, Middle Healing, could restore a moderate amount of stamina and heal injuries to a greater degree.
3rd-Tier Magic, Heavy Recover, could restore a larger amount of stamina and heal more severe injuries.
In addition to these, Riezel also knew a magic spell that could heal injuries so effectively it might even be more powerful than Dia Fratel.
It was 6th-Tier Magic, Heal, which could restore massive amounts of stamina, heal almost all severe injuries, and even cure diseases and other negative debuffs—it was even powerful enough to regrow missing body parts.
Regrowing missing body parts was something Dia Fratel couldn't even do, so it was clear enough just how powerful Heal was. Naturally, while Heal's healing effect was stronger than Dia Fratel's, it wasn't as versatile or all-encompassing as Dia Fratel's.
Heal couldn't provide continuous healing, group healing, or even remove curses, so despite Heal being stronger, Dia Fratel still held a higher quality among the healing magic Riezel knew.
Of course, with Raven's current condition, Riezel didn't need to use Dia Fratel or Heal.
"Heavy Recover."
As Riezel cast this magic on Raven, a green light rose from his body.
"What's this...?"
Raven looked at his body in surprise, realizing that his wounds were healing, his stamina was returning, and the flow of vitality through his body was washing away the pain that had troubled him for quite some time, causing his condition to gradually improve.
It wasn't long before Raven stood up—though his appearance was still disheveled and pitiful, his complexion had improved greatly, and most of his wounds had healed, allowing him to once again radiate a powerful aura.
Seeing Raven's condition get better, Riezel spoke up.
"Do you know where we are?" Riezel asked calmly.
"No idea..." Raven replied, fell silent for a moment, and then gave Riezel a deep look. "At first, I thought this was underneath the training field, but there's no way the training field's underground would have Demon Beast Insects, so this can't be anywhere in Bessare."
"Demon Beast Insects?" Riezel quickly caught that term before glancing at the beetle monster corpses. "You're talking about these disgusting insects?"
"Yes." Raven nodded lightly. "They're called Demon Beast Insects, parasites of the legendary Underground Demon Beast Yarakulon."
"Underground Demon Beast Yarakulon?" Riezel was momentarily stunned, but then a flash of realization hit his mind.
He had heard this name before—no, more accurately, the original Riezel had heard it.
It was the name of a monster, one that was famous across the Akasha Continent, so famous that it could even be found in history books.
It was said that a long, long time ago, a monster with an incredibly terrifying size, considered the largest monster in the world, appeared on the Akasha Continent. Unlike other monsters that claimed territories in the wilderness, however, it had no fixed habitat but wandered across the world, its movements a mystery.
Normally, a monster of such immense size would attract attention wherever it went, and it would quickly be noticed, driven off, or even hunted down, but this monster was able to roam freely across the world without being discovered.
Why?
It was because it could move underground without causing any noticeable disturbances, as the earth was apparently like the ocean for it, allowing it to move through the ground like a fish swimming in the sea with ease and grace.
According to monster experts, its skin seemed to always be covered with a special layer of magical energy, which not only made the ground it touched soften like water but also blocked magical detection.
As a result, it could move freely underground without being noticed, and even when it reached the underground of a large city, no one would detect its presence. Because of this, it was called the Underground Demon Beast and was given its own unique name.
Even now, it still roamed various parts of the world, and occasionally, someone would catch a glimpse of it surfacing, which would become a hot topic of discussion in the area for a long time.
In other words—
"Are we inside Yarakulon's body?" Riezel muttered with a speechless expression.
"What? Inside?"
Raven, upon hearing Riezel's mutter, froze.
Needless to say, Raven didn't seem to realize that this wasn't just an ordinary cave but the inside of a living creature's body.
'Yarakulon's parasites, huh?'
Riezel, his eyes flickering, didn't explain anything to Raven but glanced around at the dead beetle monsters instead.
'Now that he mentioned it, these insects do resemble the evil pests from the rumors.'
Riezel remembered that there were two well-known stories about the Underground Demon Beast Yarakulon.
First, this largest monster would occasionally rise to the surface, swallowing an entire village or city in one gulp and leaving behind a strange, multicolored, muddy mess.
Second, wherever it went, swarms of highly aggressive insect monsters would appear.
Not only would these insect monsters destroy buildings and plants, but they would also attack living creatures. If left unchecked, even a small country could easily be devastated by them, as though it were struck by a locust swarm, turning it into a barren wasteland.
Because there were instances in history where small, weaker countries were wiped out by these insect monsters, many people in the Akasha Continent came to believe these creatures were nothing but evil pests.
After some research, a group of experts concluded that these insect monsters were likely parasites that had fallen off of Yarakulon since their magical energy flowed similarly to Yarakulon's surface magical energy, both of which could evade magical detection.
Because these stories had been passed down from ancient times and were well-known across the continent, even children had heard of them in books or from adults.
Sometimes, people would use Yarakulon's name to scare children, which was why someone like the original Riezel, a rural boy who hadn't seen much of the world, was so deeply impressed by the name of Underground Demon Beast Yarakulon.
If the beetle monsters in this place were indeed those evil pests from the rumors, also known as Demon Beast Insects from Raven's mouth, then Riezel was certain that he was now inside Yarakulon's body.
Of course, this also explained why this cave was so large because this was, after all, the world's largest monster, capable of swallowing a whole village or even a city in one go.
Needless to say, Riezel and Raven had been swallowed up by this so-called Underground Demon Beast Yarakulon. During their battle, it had clearly come to the underground of Bessare's training field and brought them both here.