ALL NOVEL 39. Shalltear’s Bliss
Shalltear PoV
"~Very well. I will complete this task at the earliest and wash away my other self's sins. Wait for the good news~."
Shalltear replied in a delighted voice to the tense succubus. She had just finished monitoring the three floors she was responsible for about 20 minutes back and was relaxing in her free time.
She also did not have any tasks appointed to her by Lady White like Demiurge or Albedo, so all she could do was to try and do her job as floor guardian properly.
Shalltear had been very depressed after she read the 'exploits' of her alternate self. Her stupidity and carelessness caused harm to an esteemed Supreme Being. Luckily, this was the sin of her alternate self, otherwise she might have been driven to commit suicide.
Despite this, she was understandably upset. It was very likely that Shalltear could have committed such a blunder in this multiverse as well, and the very thought of that pained her deeply.
Out of all the mistakes the denizens of Nazarick committed in the Overlord universe, hers was easily the most serious. To atone, she even asked Lady White to punish her but the only reply she got from the Supreme One was:
'You have not committed any mistakes yet. Just make sure you don't do this again.'
Hearing this response made Shalltear feel a mix of emotions. She was happy that Lady White had not lost hope in her just yet but also sad that she could not get rid of this feeling of guilt. Perhaps the guilt would only disappear once she completed an important task successfully.
Another emotion she felt was jealousy for her alternate self. Of course, she was not jealous of the sin the alter-shalltear committed. She was jealous that despite committing such a sin, Lord Momonga rewarded her by sitting on her.
She also wanted Lady White to do the same to her. She wanted to sink into the throes of pain and passion and experience all her hidden desires towards the Supreme One. Or perhaps, Lady White would like it the other way around and be dominated…? Heheh, cough.
That was off-topic, but such thoughts were constantly running through her mind. Shalltear knew that Albedo was also trying to compete with her for Lady White. Both of them had already started forming factions for this grand battle.
Naturally, the mistakes of the other Shalltear would cause her to be behind in this race. All the members of Nazarick worshipped the Supreme Beings, and hearing that a floor guardian was responsible for harming one of them was a sure-fire way to lose popularity and support. Albedo was also getting more important tasks.
While she was worried about lagging behind in this race, Shalltear was presented with a golden opportunity by none other than her greatest competitor. Albedo had somehow allowed for an intruder to enter Nazarick.
Shalltear was indeed a bit surprised that Albedo would commit such a mistake. She was well aware of the succubus's capabilities. Due to this foreknowledge, she was even more pleased that Albedo had also committed a mistake. They were on the same starting line now.
Albedo would likely have felt so bitter about asking her arch-rival for help and this fact would make her victory all the more sweeter. She would catch this intruder quickly and bring her back for questioning. Lady White would definitely be pleased as well.
The fact that this sorceress named Amora specialized in mind control-related magical abilities was the cherry on top. The alter-Shalltear committed the grave sin of attacking a Supreme Being due to mind control.
There would be no better opportunity than this to wash away her guilt and even win greater merit. She would completely redeem herself. She would be ahead of Albedo in this race. After all, Shalltear herself had not committed any mistakes just yet, while Albedo did.
Or at least she hoped things would go down this way. That said, she was not going to be overconfident this time. Screwing things up twice was out of the question.
Just because she had immunity to mind control and the Asgardian sorceress was not a powerful warrior, she would not let her guard down. She also could not let her blood frenzy take control and cause the intruder to die. It was best not to see any blood at all.
Shalltear had to limit her power just enough so that she could catch the worm that dared to enter the holy sanctum of the Supreme Beings without their permission without obliterating them.
It was a hard task for someone like her, but as she said earlier, she would definitely not waste this opportunity. She quickly put aside her parasol and equipped her armour, a legendary class item. Her face was the only part not obscured by the helmet.
She held the Spuit Lance, a divine class item given to her by her creator, in her hand. Shalltear wanted to rush to battle immediately using the gate spell which she uses to travel across floors, but Lady White had locked down all of Nazarick with intensive space magic.
The only option was to rush there by foot. Leaving her chambers and rushing towards the 6th floor, Shalltear did not have any worries about her floors as she knew that Albedo was keeping a tight watch on Nazarick right now. There were also other floor guardians and area guardians present who had likely been alerted by Albedo.
She could go battle freely without concerns. Lady White would be returning to Nazarick soon and Amora had to be caught before her arrival.
While Albedo told her about this Amora in the voice transmission, the fact remained that the exact abilities besides mind control and her fighting style were unknown to Shalltear.
Lord Momonga had taught her a lesson in the New World, that knowing everything about your enemy and deceiving them was crucial for battle. Unfortunately, she did not have the time to do this preparation.
That said, she did know from the briefing that Albedo and Demiurge gave to all of Nazarick that, Asgardians were self-proclaimed gods who had to be overthrown to clear up Lady White's path of multiversal conquest and that they were a warrior race.
Given her limited information, she could only engage in combat using the methods she was familiar with. She did not believe that this Amora had magical abilities enough to crush her despite her being more careful.
Adding on that all of Nazarick was there for backup in case anything went wrong, Shalltear let go of her concerns. Especially so, as the Colosseum came into view. Looking at the blonde haired woman dressed in green clothes, she said in a soft voice as a declaration:
"Welcome, miss intruder, to the 6th floor of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. It seems like I have something to rub in that little brat's face as well as make up for my other self's mistakes."
It could not be denied that Aura and Mare were also responsible for this incident, though to a very small degree, as they were accompanying Lady White. Albedo held most of the blame.
The lack of golems due to Albedo commissioning all of them to the operation of creating time sanctuaries without other defences in place just highlighted her neglect.
With all said and done, it was undeniable that Shalltear was the greatest winner in this whole incident.