Roaring Heroes Battle the Overlord (Ainz)

"Old man, what happened to this house?" EeDeChi brushed the snow off her head and stopped an elderly man dressed in a linen cotton jacket to ask.

"It caught fire last night. Luckily, it's snowing heavily now, and the cold weather helped. Only two or three rooms got burned, and the fire was put out," the old man tugged at EeDeChi's black coat, "Little girl, aren't you cold dressed so thin? You should wear more clothes."

After saying that, the old man walked off on his own, leaving EeDeChi staring at the low building in front of her.

This was Rigrit's secluded house. The Last Defender of the Way adventure team was supposed to leave the Re-Estize's capital today, and EeDeChi had hoped to visit the last of the Thirteen Heroes. But she found that Rigrit's room had already been reduced to a charred ruin. According to the sheriff, no one had died in the fire.

The legendary Thirteen Heroes, the 200-year-old Rigrit, had once again disappeared without a trace. Perhaps she was afraid of something, forced to vanish in this way, or maybe she simply wanted to escape the fame of the Thirteen Heroes and enjoy her later years in peace.

The low building was covered with the marks of smoke and soot. EeDeChi glanced back one last time and left with regret. She crossed through the snow-covered residential area and walked back to the street where the Last Defender of the Way adventure team's hired carriage was waiting. Her three teammates were still waiting for her.

To be precise, there was only one teammate left.

Sean Tachya and Stella Famillion had already submitted their resignation letters to return to Baharuth for a peaceful life. EeDeChi had reluctantly signed her agreement to the resignation forms.

Winter had fully settled in. Snow had been falling for three days and nights without stopping, and it showed no sign of letting up. The cold was biting, and the entire world was wrapped in silver.

According to the weather forecast provided by the Re-Estize's official, a person with the "weather foresight" Innate Talent, the heavy snow would last for another two days before it might clear up.

The coachman, wrapped in a thick cotton cloak, cracked his whip, and the spiked wheels of the carriage cut through the deep snow as the journey began. They were leaving the Re-Estize's capital today, heading toward the small town of Lepergan, just outside the capital.

In Lepergan, they would part ways. Sean and Stella were heading east to Baharuth, while Barrett and EeDeChi would take a teleportation circle to a southern border city before crossing the border into the Slane Theocracy to continue their uncertain adventures.

Lepergan was the location of the Re-Estize's largest teleportation hub. Generally, a nation's central teleportation array is built in its capital—like in Baharuth—so as to maximize economic and transportation benefits.

However, the Fifth King of Re-Estize, when constructing the teleportation array, had the foresight to build it in a small town far from the capital. This was his precaution against any potential noble rebellions. The king wisely chose this location, anticipating that any traitorous armies could use the array to teleport directly into the capital.

Inside the slightly bumpy carriage, the four adventurers sat facing each other.

Barrett handed EeDeChi a delicate box made of boxwood and said, "This is a farewell gift from Brain Unglaus. He asked me to give it to you. He said that if it weren't for his duties as the Warrior Captain, he would have joined you on your adventures."

"Oh, that coward still wants to adventure?" EeDeChi took the box, ripped off the red silk ribbon, and quickly opened it.

Inside were spherical chocolates—milky white, green, pitch black, with flavors like goat's milk and hazelnut, to name a few. EeDeChi picked one up, tossed it into her mouth, and then passed the box to the other three companions in the carriage. "It's pretty good. You guys should try some."

Barrett picked a chocolate ball and slowly chewed it. As he did, he couldn't help but remember the sincere look on Brain's face when he handed over the chocolates. Barrett couldn't help but feel a bit melancholic—Maybe Brain had really become a bit of a fool from all that sword practice, having been too focused on it.

...

The carriage traveled through the morning, and the coachman, sitting in front, spoke up:

"This damn weather, the snow just keeps coming, it's freezing. Folks, we've reached the main intersection of Lentwei Town. I've been driving this carriage for seven years, and the home-brewed malt beer at the 'Pine Lake' tavern in the town center is famous far and wide. Want to stop for a drink?"

The three adventurers in the carriage turned their gaze to EeDeChi. She exchanged glances with them, nodded, and said, "Alright, let's have a few drinks to warm up."

"Great! Coming right up!" The coachman cheerfully cracked his whip, and the carriage slowed to a stop.

The four of them climbed out of the carriage, and the biting wind, mixed with snow, hit them head-on. The cold air stabbed right into their necks. Except for EeDeChi, the other three tightly wrapped themselves in their coats.

They stood at a crossroad, a wide road covered in snow as far as the eye could see. Because of the blizzard, the streets were empty, with only the four of them and the coachman in sight. From beneath the snow-covered sign of the "Pine Lake" tavern, the sound of laughter and chatter pierced through the howling wind and snow.

EeDeChi took a deep breath and suddenly froze. She reached into her spatial ring and pulled out her giant sword. With a sharp swing, the snow on the ground was sent flying.

"What's going on?" Barrett huddled his neck, looking confused. Sean and Stella also stared at her in puzzlement.

EeDeChi didn't respond. She turned her head and scanned her surroundings. Her black pupils suddenly widened.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" For the first time, EeDeChi's voice carried an emotion: fear.

"Why are you drawing your sword, ma'am? Let's just head to the tavern." The coachman, his hands tucked into his sleeves, approached with a confused expression.

"No! Don't drink! It's too late! You need to leave, NOW!" EeDeChi swung her sword, sending a wave of snow flying. She glared at Barrett and the others, shouting, "Listen to me! RUN! SPLIT UP!"

Barrett, Sean, and Stella exchanged glances. It was the first time they had seen their leader so panicked. There was nothing here at the intersection but snow—what was she afraid of?

A series of thunderclaps exploded in Barrett's mind, and the eerie sense of "sixth sense" screamed in warning! Barrett looked around in panic. Though the crossroad was still empty, he knew that EeDeChi had sensed the presence of something terrifying—something they couldn't fight.

Barrett chose a direction and ran, fast as lightning. His figure quickly disappeared into the endless snowstorm.

Seeing Barrett flee, Sean and Stella also grabbed each other's hands and plunged into the whirling snow, heading off in the opposite direction down the crossroad.

"You," EeDeChi pointed at the coachman, "Go into the tavern and get everyone out. Evacuate them! Get as far as you can!"

"It's over," her expression suddenly turned sorrowful. "It's too late. They're here."

"Are you out of your mind?" The coachman stared at Sean and Stella, who were running for their lives like scared rabbits. "I'm not dealing with this. I'm going to drink. You guys can find me at the tavern when you come back later." With that, he ignored EeDeChi and walked straight into the "Pine Lake" tavern.

The street was eerily empty, and EeDeChi was left standing alone. She hung her head, dragging her giant sword behind her, each step heavy as if her legs were weighed down with hundreds of tons of bones, as if her back carried the sins of millions of lives.

The snowflakes drifted down like soft white goose feathers, falling gently, swirling and fluttering from the sky, covering the earth, blanketing the rooftops. The wagon tracks on the street were quickly buried, and everything around her was draped in a layer of white frost and snow.

The world was a blank canvas of white.

Suddenly, the snowflakes suspended in mid-air, frozen in place. The wind stopped its howling, and silence fell. It was as if the movie of snow falling had been paused, with flakes hanging motionless in the transparent air.

The space was locked, the sky ceased to breathe, and time itself stopped flowing.

EeDeChi reached up and plucked a hexagonal snowflake from the air. She studied the tiny, glistening crystals on its surface before crushing it in her hand.

Outside the "Pine Lake" tavern, a drunken patron pushed open the oak door and stumbled out. Reeking of alcohol, he staggered as he walked, and when he looked up, he saw the snowflakes suspended in mid-air. He muttered to himself, "Guess I really did drink too much."

He staggered his way out, his face colliding with a few snowflakes in midair. Grabbing one, he stuffed it into his mouth like a cookie and chewed it for a few seconds. With a surprised shout, he exclaimed, "I'm not drunk!"

He wobbled back into the tavern, shouting loudly, "Everyone, come out and see! It's a miracle! The snow is frozen in mid-air, it's not falling!"

Hearing his ramblings, more people poured out from the tavern. Even the tavern's waitresses ran outside, jumping into the suspended snowflakes, as if they were dancing in a swarm of white butterflies hanging mid-air. They were all laughing and hopping with excitement.

"This must be the work of some great wizard," someone murmured, stroking a snowflake.

Soon, they noticed a black-haired girl standing at the center of the crossroad. She wore thin black clothing, completely out of place in the freezing winter, and gripped a giant sword tightly in her hands. Her expression was one of sorrow.

They watched her, and she stared back at them. The crowd couldn't understand why, in the face of this rarest of spectacles, the girl wasn't happy or excited. Why was there only endless sadness in her eyes? She looked at the joyful crowd as if they were nothing more than a group of cold corpses.

They heard her whisper softly, "I'm sorry."

One person was about to ask the black-haired girl why her eyes held such pain, as if there were a wounded lion hidden deep in her pupils.

Before he could speak, his upper body crashed into the snow.

He propped himself up with his arms, turning his head to look back. There, he saw his own abdomen, his legs still standing, and the severed chunks of his body scattered across the snow.

They were the same people who had been cheering just moments ago—now, they were all lying in pools of blood. Fresh blood poured out, staining the once-immaculate earth crimson.

"Unwanted bystanders have been cleared away."

A cold, arrogant voice shattered the silence and the snowstorm. Wearing dark blue armor, black wings sprouting from her back, and twisted horns on her head, Albedo stepped through the snow, which barely reached her ankles. She walked toward EeDeChi, like a demon crawling out of the deepest pits of hell.

It was she who had, in that brief moment, "cleared" the crowd on the street.

Behind EeDeChi, the towering figure of Cocytus, the "Ruler of the Frozen Rivers," deactivated his invisibility magic. Clad in sharp-edged silver armor, his fearsome face mask revealed nothing, and his four arms each wielded deadly weapons. Two hands held a Naginata and the heavy halberd "Decapitation Fang," while the remaining two hands gripped the massive Tachi "God Slaying Emperor Blade."

At the top of the clock tower at the street corner, the vampire Shalltear, dressed in deep red armor and holding the Spuit Lance, stood up. Her blood-red eyes looked down from above, coldly watching EeDeChi at the center of the crossroad.

But this… was far from over.