"[Create Low-tier Undead: Bone Vulture x 16]"
Pandora's Actor felt something leave through his bony fingers before settling on the goblin corpses scattered on the ground.
The bodies then dissolved into black sludge before coalescing into skeletal birds, each 1 meter tall.
These were Bone Vultures, level 20 undead with no special skill other than flying silently, which was the reason he chose to create them.
[Go now.]
Upon hearing his order, the Bone Vultures took flight, each heading in a different direction.
[Continue with the cleaning.]
With another order, he moved aside, and large creatures, each at least 3 meters tall, made of raw pulsating red muscle with no skin, began to move around while carrying goblin corpses, piling them on the spot he had just been standing.
These were Bloodmeat Hulks, level 15 undead creatures with powerful bodies and regeneration, but no other redeeming features.
With this, it shouldn't be long before I finish going through the spots marked on the map.
Pandora's Actor looked at the embodiment of Aura's efforts for the last few days.
This was a copy of the map detailing the areas Aura visited. There were notes on the local geography and plants, but he focused mainly on the demihuman tribes and monsters listed in each region.
His mission was to steal a world item, and if possible, capture the members of the Black Scripture, both things that he was confident in accomplishing as long as he located them.
And that was the problem.
Nazarick had been constantly expanding its reach ever since they were transported to this place, but he expected that it would still take months, if not years, to completely encompass this forest and the surrounding cities.
So right now, his job was as much surveillance as it was deducing the possible routes the group would take on their little trip.
Since they are transporting a valuable item, I don't think they'll want to cross any of the demihuman tribes in this region. They also want to find an undead dragon, which removes all inhabited settlements from the equation. That leaves…
He marked 10 possible paths and decided to focus on them while leaving the rest of the surveillance to the undead he was creating.
Although, since this map was hastily made, it can't be blindly trusted.
He looked at the goblin corpses piled at the center of the camp.
When he chose to make this place his base, he hadn't expected it to be a sacred ground for a goblin tribe.
The tribe had foolishly attacked them and had been quickly eliminated, but it still felt like a blemish on his performance, which bothered him.
He couldn't make mistakes while wearing this face.
Mistakes could be made in his daily life, but now he was wearing the face of his brilliant creator, and he couldn't bear to bring shame on his name.
A wise leader, a brilliant strategist, a kind soul, a loving master, many were the descriptions given by his colleagues when asked about who the man called Ainz Ooal Gown was, and he had taken all of them into consideration, fusing them with his own understanding to craft the persona that he now inhabited.
Blasphemous as it might be, Pandora's Actor felt that as he tried to emulate his creator, he grew a little closer to him, which filled him with joy.
Crack!
A noise nearby took him out of his thoughts, and he quickly turned to look, finding Emilia, the human his master entrusted to him for this mission.
What is she doing here?
Her role only starts once I locate the Black Scripture.
As the lover of one of its members, this woman could be very useful in luring them to an appropriate place, but this had to be done carefully.
The people in this region had an irrational distrust of the spell [Message], which made using it inconvenient, so he would need to direct her into a little play when the time came.
Didn't I instruct her to be in her tent? What happened?
Emilia stood there, trembling in the wind, not taking the initiative to approach him, only occasionally glancing at the biggest tent in the camp.
There was fear in her eyes.
Oh, so she's afraid of Shalltear. That makes sense.
From what he had heard, this woman spent a few days in Shalltear's castle, and if what he had heard from Eris was to be believed, it shouldn't have been a pleasant experience.
She must have been frightened by Shalltear's outbursts.
His colleague had been in a very bad mood ever since they left Nazarick, no doubt about it, thanks to her promise with their master that forced her to restrain her sexual urges.
To him, dealing with her was just a headache, but for this girl, it should be terrifying.
What would Ainz-sama do in this situation?
He only pondered the question for a moment before choosing his course of action.
Approaching Emilia with measured but powerful steps, Pandora's Actor pointed his hand in her direction.
"[Fire's Blessing]"
An ethereal fire flew from his hand, landing on Emilia, who looked panicked for a moment as the flames moved through her skin before settling into her body.
"Warm!" Feeling the changes in her body, she exclaimed.
"It's a sign that the spell is working properly."
[Fire's Blessing] was a 6th-level spell that provided temporary immunity to natural cold and resistance to those from a magical source.
Using a 6th-tier spell for such a minor inconvenience might seem wasteful, but he thought that this was how his master would act in such a situation.
In his opinion, this showcased his master's dominion over magic.
"Thank you, Ainz-sama." Emilia bowed to him in gratitude, confusing him with his master, something that put him in a good mood.
"I am not Ainz-sama, but just one of his creations, Pandora's Actor."
He removed his transformation for a moment to show her his true form, and in that instant, all of the undead moving through the camp stopped in place, moving again only after he took his creator's form once again.
This didn't surprise him anymore, as his master's ability to create permanent undead had been carefully researched ever since he returned from Carne, and as someone who could take his form, Pandora's Actor had been present through most of it.
That was how they discovered that the undead he created while transformed in his master could only function while he maintained the form, freezing in place as soon as the transformation was undone.
"Hum… Can I ask you a question?"
The human girl hesitated for a while before asking him.
"Go ahead."
"When you say that you were created by Ainz-sama, what does that mean? Is he your father? Like, before he became an undead?"
"What?"
Ainz-sama, my father?
The idea sounded so absurd that it had never occurred to him.
His creator, much like the other Supreme Beings, was an individual with a lofty status and a godly nature very far removed from his lowly stature, to such a degree that the idea of putting himself in such a close and intimate position, as a son, felt almost sacrilegious.
He wanted to reject this perspective, but the insidious idea felt oh so incredibly tempting that a hidden, little, flickering ember of hope that this was how his creator thought about him kindled in his heart.
But answering the human girl, no, Emilia, had to come first.
He couldn't disgrace himself.
Not while using this form.
"If you're asking whether I'm the offspring of Ainz-sama, then the answer is no. Ainz-sama and the other Supreme Beings created us using powers that are only known and accessible to them."
Pandora's Actor, much like every citizen of Nazarick, knew intimately that they were not equals to the Supreme Beings.
They were servants, inferior to them on an existential level.
"I wasn't born but was created already the way I am at the moment. Our lives, our power, and our personalities were all bestowed upon us by the Supreme Beings, and as such, serving them is our only purpose in life."
Seeing the confused expression on Emilia's face, he continued.
"Let me put it this way. When you summon an angel with one of your spells, can't you order it to do anything, even go to its death? In such a situation, does the angel hesitate or refuse to follow this order?"
"No…"
"Well, for us it is much the same. If Ainz-sama orders us to die, we'll die; if he orders us to slaughter a village, it will be destroyed; if he orders us to save it, it'll be saved; and if he orders us to conquer this world, we'll do it, all without hesitation."
He then looked in the direction of the tent where Shalltear was surely tormenting her Vampire Brides in annoyance over having to restrain her sexual urges, and decided that Ainz-sama would certainly give advice in this situation.
"I understand that you feel afraid of Shalltear, but since Ainz-sama ordered us to keep you safe during this mission, she won't do anything to harm you and will even protect you if needed. As for the future, it'll depend on how you perform here; try to do your best to stay on Ainz-sama's good side, and you'll have a good life."
"Ah… okay! Thank you, Ain- Pandora's Actor-sama!"
"You are welcome."
Feeling satisfied with his performance, Pandora's Actor turned his attention to his duties.
But only five minutes later, he received a signal from one of his undead.
[Undead Slave Sight]
After casting the spell, Pandora's Actor felt his vision split and saw what one of his Bone Vultures was seeing.
Somewhere not far away from where they were, a group of rough-looking men was carrying crates in their hands and dragging beaten-up women with them to what looked like a hideout.
These look like bandits.
[Shalltear.]
He quickly cast [Message], directing it at his colleague.
[What is it?]
Her annoyed voice reverberated in his mind.
[I found a group of bandits, so go do your job.]
***
Crack!
"Arghhhh!"
The nauseating sound of bones breaking mingled with a scream of despair, filling the cave and certainly alerting those inside.
Shit!
Why are they so fragile?
Shalltear looked at the man crying on the ground with his arm twisted at an unnatural angle and couldn't help but complain.
Well, it doesn't seem fatal, so it should be fine, right?
"Make him shut up; his voice is annoying me."
"Yes, Shalltear-sama!"
Her Vampire Brides quickly used [Charm Eyes] to make the man quiet down.
"Hey, why are you hurting my buddy?"
Behind them followed the other captured humans, who, because of their charmed condition, treated the Vampire Brides as their friends.
One Death Priest quickly reached the man with the twisted arm and applied healing magic to him.
These were handed to her by Pandora's Actor just in case.
Does he think I'm that unreliable?
She wanted to refuse, but in the end, she swallowed her pride and accepted.
There was too much on the line for this mission, and she feared failing to meet her master's expectations.
Thinking of her master made the urges come back, and she felt a hot, wet sensation coming from her underwear.
Then, a sword pierced her head, going through her skull.
She didn't feel pain and took no damage, as an attack of this level couldn't bypass her physical attack immunity.
"Got you now, bitch!"
The man who had just pierced her head started celebrating.
But his happiness only lasted a second before his arm was ripped from his body by her bare hands.
"ARGHHHH!"
Seeing him scream in pain filled her with glee, almost making up for her annoyance at being interrupted while thinking of her master.
The blood coming from the man's torn arm didn't fall to the ground but floated above her head, forming a sphere that rotated on its own.
Feeling the blood on her hands, Shalltear felt excited.
This was fun, very fun.
She wanted to do it again, tearing these pathetic humans limb from limb, bathing in their blood, savoring their despair.
This beautiful picture seemed almost perfect; the only missing part was her master beside her.
Oh, to do it with him in the middle of the carnage would be so perfect!
Wait.
She felt like she was forgetting something.
"Arghhh"
The man's screams were getting weaker by the second.
Shit!
"Death Priest, heal him now!"
She yelled at the undead, and it did as ordered.
The dying man's arm grew back at the same time as the severed limb on the ground disappeared.
"Phew!"
Seeing that she still hadn't failed, Shalltear sighed in relief.
She grabbed the sword piercing her head, which immediately rotted in her hand.
Humph, piece of junk.
One of her classes, Cursed Knight, had a penalty that made it impossible for her to yield weak weapons.
If she tried, they would rot in her hands, much like this sword.
"A Vampire? What are you doing here?"
Suddenly, a man with blue hair showed up, blocking her path forward.
He appeared to be in his early to mid-30s and had a very unkempt appearance.
For some reason that escaped her, he seemed confident in his ability to face her.
"Fighting to get on my master's bed."
Nevertheless, she answered.
"What?"
The man spouted some more nonsense, but she wasn't interested, quickly dealing with him before she continued walking into the hideout.
Her thoughts were completely consumed by what she would do once she returned and saw Ainz again.