The Grand Catastrophe

…

“Fucking run!” Gringham yelled.

There they were, running from a monstrous force. Seven Elder-Liches chased after them. Every couple of seconds, one or two would lash out with a fire ball. He huffed as he ran down the halls with his group behind him. He had never run so fast in his life.

One thing of note, was that he had a cleric in his party. The magic that he had had mostly not worked on them. Either that or it had done very little. As he ran, he kept trying to figure out where he had gone wrong. After all, he was a rather strong and smart man, he liked to think so. So why did he take this job?

He had nearly died several times already. This money just wasn’t worth it. If he made it out of this fight alive, he better get a couple platinum coins. He cackled in his mind. What was today even?

What felt like later, rather than sooner, he and his team came upon a door. There, in the middle of the hallway, on the right side of the hallway. He shortened his steps, and slowed down near the door.

Once he opened it and let his men in, he closed it as soon as he could. There he stood, waiting for a couple minutes to catch his breath. His men looked all around the place, trying to get their bearings in such a small place. He let out a tired sigh as he slumped to the earth under his feet.

Yet, after another second or two, the floor lit up in light as a magic circle flared to life. He screamed in, more annoyance than anything else, and teleported away with the rest of his group.

…

Momonga watched from her seat in the VIP of the stands. In her left hand, she held the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. In her right hand she held a wine glass. In it was a rather flavorful mead that she liked. It had been a rather nice day today. The party that showed some actual promise had stayed up on the surface, simply documenting things.

The one, down on the sands now, was the group called Heavy Masher. She didn’t think that the name was any good, though she named herself after a squirrel. She didn’t really think that she had any ground to stand on.

She looked down on them as they stepped into the arena. She smiled as she looked at them all. They weren’t all that strong, not even as strong as the group still on the surface. Yet, she felt that they would be adequate for this test that she had.

She flicked on one of the screens of the tomb management system. On it, she watched the different intruders prance about. The team Tenmu seemed to have gone down. The slaves that had belonged to the forgettable swordsman had surrendered to her people as well.

She flicked the feed over to something else. The team on the surface, Dragon Hunt. They all lay dead on the dirt. She frowned as she looked at them through the screen. Her mind thought back to her seeing them, and researching them.

She had hoped that they would have more promise. Though, it seemed to her that they had simply been lucky. The armor that the group wore had been made from a dragon that they had slain. It didn’t seem to be of high quality. So, when push came to shove, they died.

She sighed, and looked down at the sands of the arena once more. she counted them all. The leader was a frontliner, Gringham. She didn’t actually know the other’s names. There was a warrior, a thief, then an arcane magic caster, finally there was a cleric.

She looked at them all, and wondered what she would through at them. After all, they weren’t nearly strong enough to fight her. She also didn’t need to bother with putting up a front of being a much more extravagant version of herself.

This group would die here, after all. She smiled as she came up with an answer to her own question. Aura stood beside her. The little girl had a smile on her face as she rocked back and forth on her heels.

She hadn’t really gotten to act as a show host like she had in the past. Whenever players of lower levels would come by, she would have her animals attack them, and announce what was happening.

She hadn’t been able to do that, as of recently. So, she was rather happy now. the dark elf was happy, so happy that Momonga could tell that she was barely containing herself. She then spoke, in her motherly tone.

“Aura, could you get some of those Barghest that you trapped in the tomb? we can send them after these fools. After that, I’ll get you some Ice cream,” she explained.

Aura seemed to like this idea. After she gave Momonga a nod of her head, she jumped down to the ground arena. The Workers flinched back, and formed up into a group. Aura looked at them, then gave them twin Vs. Momonga smiled, the girl was doing rather well.

“Greetings foul Workers from the outside world. I am Aura Bella Fiora. Here we all are, on the sixth floor of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. Since you’ve been so kind as to come here, and since you’ve been rude enough to barge into our home, the least you could do is give us all some entertainment!” Aura exclaimed and raised her hands to the skybox.

There, out of portals that appeared in the sky, dropped some very cautious and frightened Barghest. The wolf-like creatures snapped and snarled as they looked around the place that they found themselves in.

Aura smiled as she nodded at the twelve of them, and then turned back to the Workers. Her smile seemed to creep them out. The lot of them took a step or two back. Then she yelled out once more, announcing Momonga’s watching.

“Well, you all should be rather thankful! Your dooms are currently, and have been chosen by our Goddess Momonga!” she said, and gestured to the VIP box.

The Workers looked over, and simply saw a leg crossed over the other in the dim light of the stars above them. She bounced her leg somewhat, making it look like she was only somewhat interested in their dooms.

It was then that one of the Barghest dashed forth, and attacked the leader of the party with one of its chains. The other monsters took this as the starting sound. Aura then jumped herself out of the area. Making her way to the VIP box, stood next to her master.

Momonga turned to Aura, and smiled as she pulled a bowl of ice cream from her inventory. Aura saw this, and grabbed it as she was given it. Momonga looked down at the people, who were fighting for their lives.

She hummed, wondering what to do with the people on the surface that were simply categorizing the things that they were finding. They weren’t even looting anything. She placed a finger on her lips as she moved the glass she was holding to her lips after. She thought that she might give them a message.

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