[The moment the monster emerged from the purple mist, Firefly instinctively stepped in front of Stelle. But the next second, her wrist was grabbed by Stelle, who pulled her behind.]
["—Get back!"]
[The metal baseball bat whistled sharply through the air and smashed hard onto the monster's sharp tail spike. Amid the piercing metallic buzz, Stelle was flung away by the massive force. By the time she struggled to her feet, Firefly had already been wrapped by its tail and lifted up in front of it.]
[The cold, hard tail tightened around her waist. Firefly clenched her fists, her knuckles strained until they turned white. She seemed to be hesitating about doing something, but ultimately gave up.]
[Suddenly, the air around the monster rippled like waves. A faint blue light quietly emerged, like the trailing tail of a meteor. The light rapidly expanded into a huge circular array that enveloped the monster—]
[The circular array was so magnificent it made one want to hold their breath.]
[Countless fine light patterns intertwined into colorful designs, like the rose windows of an ancient church appearing in the void. The next second, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass, five giant purple crystal-like claws stretched out from the array and "bang" slammed the monster hard against the wall.]
["If one does not grasp the correct method…"]
[Not far away, a white-haired woman wearing a purple veil was elegantly sitting on a television. Her slender fingers were fiddling with a floating, shimmering card.]
["One cannot fully retreat… from the shadow of [Death]."]
——
Overlord.
Lizardmen, Green Claw Tribe.
"That purple woman can actually summon a demon's arm?"
As one of the very few females in the tribe skilled in multiple types of magic, Crusch, although she didn't understand very advanced magic principles, could roughly judge the quality and strength of spells.
That giant circular magic array had just unfolded with the monster at its center. The patterns on the array were complex and magnificent, looking dreamlike. But more importantly, the magic array wasn't just suppressing the monster—it was a passage to another world, revealing an insignificant corner of the sealed monster.
The woman seemed to need no chanting at all—or rather, no chanting movements were seen—but the magic she cast was flawless in both completion and precision.
Therefore, there was only one answer—
This woman must be a very dangerous demon summoner.
"Demon's arm… You mean she can summon powerhouses like the Supreme One to join the battle?" A taller black male lizardman beside her said.
"…Salus, isn't that a bit disrespectful?"
"Ah! Sorry!"
Ever since their lizardman tribe swore loyalty to the Supreme One, Crusch no longer dared to discuss any shortcomings of Lord Ainz in the tribe—although under his rule, the lizardman tribe had indeed become more prosperous, such disrespectful words… Who knew if there were monitors or spies in the tribe that they couldn't detect?
"What that woman summoned may not even be a demon. It could be something beyond demons—"
Beyond demons… The only thing Salus could currently think of was the Supreme One. But from Crusch's tone, it seemed what the purple woman summoned was even more powerful than the Supreme One.
But… that should be impossible, right?
He found it really hard to imagine.
"…Does something like that really exist?"
"Perhaps it doesn't exist on this continent, but in the cosmic civilizations outside the continent, it's not uncommon. Just like the Aeons and their Emanators."
"Ohhh, so does that mean the Supreme One's power—"
"Shh!"
Crusch seemed to anticipate her husband's dangerous next words and quickly interrupted.
"Salus, you can guess, but even if you guess it, please don't say it out loud."
Seemingly intimidated by his wife's rare serious gaze, a drop of cold sweat slowly slid down Salus's forehead. He nodded vigorously: "O-Okay!"
——
[The monster forcefully broke free from those crystal-like giant hands and returned to the center of the room.]
["You are…?" Firefly glanced at the elegant lady beside them.]
["Relax, little sister. I'm on your side." The woman covered her mouth and chuckled softly. "You can call me… [Memokeeper] Black Swan."]
[Black Swan freely manipulated the cards in her hand. With every slight movement, countless unnameable giant hands emerged from the ground and frantically attacked the monster.]
[But it was quite tanky… After continuously taking several rounds of Black Swan's firepower, it was still lively.]
["See you next time."]
[Black Swan elegantly drew out a card. The blue light suddenly contracted and transformed into a huge magic array that descended from the sky, directly covering the monster.]
[In an instant, the monster let out a piercing roar. Thousands of eyeballs rotated wildly, but its body was firmly pressed to the ground by an invisible force, as if desperately resisting some irresistible law.]
["Hurry and go." Black Swan lightly flicked her fingertip. A card formed a portal beside the two.]
[Firefly reacted quickly. She grabbed Stelle and dove inside, disappearing from the spot in the blink of an eye.]
——
Naruto.
"Memokeeper…"
Tsunade retracted her gaze from the sky screen in shock.
"So the Garden of Recollection is actually this powerful? It looks like she's using the cards in her hand to cast different 'jutsu.' The number of cards she has equals the number of methods she possesses."
"But she's from the Remembrance Path, right… I thought her attack methods would be making the opponent fall into memories or something…" Mei Terumi recalled when Stelle first entered the Simulated Universe and the Aeon of Remembrance first appeared. She had been hard-controlled by memories for dozens of seconds.
"Besides that, there's one thing that's very strange." Gaara suddenly spoke. "She's from the Garden of Recollection. Why did she help Stelle? There's no reason at all, right?"
In his view, those who could come to Penacony… aside from the relatively straightforward Miss Firefly, none seemed like good people.
Moreover, this Black Swan had openly shown her hand in front of others—
This woman's strength was unfathomable. She could casually suppress a monster that even Stelle couldn't handle… Even if she saved them, they had to remain extremely vigilant.
"Also, Black Swan seems to understand Penacony better than Stelle… Is this the authority of a Memokeeper? Or does she have her own way of gathering intelligence?"