Chapter 51: New World XIV
At the moment, Khajiit was standing before the remaining members of Zurrernorn. Xyris, Azrik, and the remaining core members were sitting at a long table. This table was placed in a large hall made of stones and was lit by magic torches.
Xyris took the head seat while Khajiit stood at the far end of the table.
"You certainly have changed, Khajiit," Xyris spoke while looking into the piercing purple eyes of Khajiit.
"I certainly have, but I can't say much for you. You're still stuck at the same level, Xyris."
Khajiit replied in a neutral tone.
"Now that the pleasantries are done let's cut to the chase. Khajiit, is what your master wrote true?" Xyris spoke with skepticism in his tone.
Khajiit cackled and spoke with pride in his tone.
"Everything written in that letter is true; my master does certainly have the means to provide you all ways to study Necromancy to its limits. All you have to do is swear your loyalty to him."
The members sitting at the table began to murmur amongst themselves. After a few seconds, Xyris spoke.
"I want to believe your claim, but actions speak louder than words, so I would like to meet with your master before making a decision."
Upon hearing these words, Khajiit's eyes ignited with a dangerous, unsettling glow for a fleeting moment.
'Who does he think he is? To request my master to come here and talk to him personally.'
"While I do agree with your opinion, unfortunately, I can't ask my esteemed master to come here and talk to lowlifes like you. So now, you only have two options: either join my master."
He raised his right hand.
"Or perish."
He raised his other hand.
"The choice is up to you, but remember this: I don't have much time to waste here, so make your decision quick."
He spoke while crossing his arms and moving toward an occupied chair.Updated from novelbIn.(c)om
The members of the cult began discussing the matter amongst themselves. They had already received information about the destruction of one of the bases near Re-Uroval. They all knew the difficulty of defeating an Elder Lich.
However, according to the information they received, Khajiit was able to kill him in one single blow. Also, he had one of the former members of the Black Scripture, Clementine, with him, and he was also a Night Lich. So, they all knew it was near impossible to defeat him; even their leader admitted that Khajiit was a more powerful Night Lich than him.
It was most likely due to the fact that Malachar converted him. It was the same concept that if a skilled Necromancer summoned an undead, the summoned undead would be more powerful than a naturally occurring one.
After discussing the pros and cons of the proposal, the unanimous decision was to submit to Malachar.
"We have decided to submit to your master, Khajiit."
Xyris spoke in a determined tone. Hearing their decision, Khajiit got up from his seat and took out a spell scroll.
A few days after Khajiit destroyed and subjugated some of the members of the cult in E-Uroval, Momonga gave him a few spell scrolls.
He threw the scroll into the air, and the scroll opened and burned, thus activating the spell.
Khajiit placed two fingers on one side of his head. The scroll contained the *Message* spell.
The members of the cult kept watching him with weird gazes.
'What is he doing?' Xyris thought to himself.
A few seconds later, he moved to one of the ends of the table and knelt. Clementine, who was also standing by the hall's doors, also walked beside Khajiit and knelt.
A few seconds later, a swirling purple portal opened beside them. All the members stood up from their seats. As the core members of Zurrernorn, they all were at least able to cast spells above 3rd-tier, and some of them even had talents geared toward magic.
Talents are a kind of innate ability that 1 in 200 people in the NW are born with. They're considered to be one of the powers in the NW, alongside Martial Arts, Wild Magic, and Runecraft that did not exist in Yggdrasil.
"This is impossible."
One of them, a woman with a distinct bulge in the chest area, voiced her confusion. She was the only female core member of the cult. Her name was Isoldra.
"What is?" Xyris asked the woman.
"That spell." She spoke in a trembling tone while shakily pointing toward the portal. She had the Talent known as 'Tier Sight' that allowed her to ascertain the tier of a spell.
The Talent was similar to the nature of 'All-Seeing Eyes,' which allowed its holder to see the magic power and tier of arcane magic users. In the original series, Arche and Fluder had this Talent.
"That is a 9th-tier spell." She spoke tremblingly.
'What! 9th-tier, even for me, that is impossible.'
Xyris spoke while looking down. Everyone knew about the Talent of Isoldra, and they trusted her.
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Everyone knew that they were powerless against someone who could cast 9th-tier spells.
'I wonder why someone this powerful needs our help. With his power, he could dominate the world without any problem.'
All the members kept gazing at the swirling purple portal, and after a few seconds, someone exited it.
Xyris spoke while accepting his doom. He knew that the Corpus of the Abyss had more than 3 Night Liches and supposedly someone who had transcended this level. Even with their entire cult, defeating them was a fluke. But he can't disagree with his new master just after pledging his loyalty.
The only silver lining he saw was that his master would be satisfied with their work and save them from certain doom.
Malachar turned toward the bowing Xyris.
"What do you think are your chances of success? Be realistic, Xyris."
He spoke in a deep tone. Xyris trembled hearing the deep tone. The reason was one of the Malachar's passive skills from his racial class 'Hell Lord' called Intimidation.
This allowed him to instill fear into his target if the target's level was lower than his.
"Less than 15%, lord Malachar. I am afraid even if the entire cult fought, it would be a lost battle."
Malachar hummed in response.
"A good observation on your part, but what would be the chances of success if you all were converted to Night Liches?"
Malachar spoke while keeping his gaze locked on Xyris.
"In that case, the chances of success will rise up to 80%. The only reason I'm not 100% certain of victory is because, according to some rumors, one of their members has transcended beyond a Night Lich. And we also have no information about her abilities."
"Interesting, very interesting. Someone was able to transcend past a Night Lich in this world."
Malachar was instructed by Ainz to keep on the lookout for talented people.
"I am fine with those odds; Khajiit and Clementine would also be fighting with you people. Also, I am not going to convert you to Night Liches just yet. You first have to prove your loyalty to me. However, I would provide you with some help during your invasion of the Corpus of the Abyss."
Saying this, he stood up from the chair and cast *Gate*, and a swirling purple portal opened.
"Your help will arrive in a few days, and you have a week to make a strategy for the attack."
He walked to the portal, but before entering it, he looked back toward Clementine and spoke.
"Khajiit, wait here for further orders, Clementine; follow me. I have something to discuss with you."
"I understand, lord Malachar."
Everyone spoke in tandem, and Clementine walked toward the portal. After she entered the portal, it vanished. Seeing that Malachar was gone, everyone stopped bowing.
All of them were gulping saliva; their faces were covered in sweat.
"That was something else."
Isoldra spoke while heaving deep breaths.
"Yeah, I felt like I would get crushed under his immense pressure."
Another of the members spoke.
"We really dodged a bullet there; I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if we were to go against him."
Azrik spoke in a trembling tone. Khajiit walked toward Xyris, who was deep in thought.
"You guys should rest for the day; we will discuss the strategy after getting the promised help from lord Malachar."
Everyone nodded and exited the hall.
~Scene Change~
"Raise your heads."
Momonga spoke in an overbearing tone while sitting on the Throne of the Kings.
"Lord!"
All the Floor Guardians and the Area Guardians were kneeling before him.
"I have called you all here for an important announcement."
As he spoke, he raised his finger toward one of the flags hanging from the pillars and cast a 7th-tier spell.
*Greater Break Item*
One of the flags vanished into motes of light. All the guardians were shocked seeing this.
"I have decided to change my name."
He got up from the throne and spread out his arms in both directions.
"From now on, my name is...."
To Be Continued...
A/N: How's the new writing format? Should I keep it or not?
