Grand Foreigner (Chapters 1- 200)

Chapter 194

Scáthach tried to ignore Medusa, who was walking beside her. Walking side by side with that monster's Servant, ignoring her instinct screaming at her that the woman beside her could receive the command to remove the last obstacle to her Master's plans... was nerve wracking. If only she could figure out Ainz's end game, it would be much easier for her, there's no way that monster wasn't planning something nefarious, with Scáthach standing as his only obstacle in his way for...

Something.

Something evil and dark – not that Scáthach had ever questioned the specifics of the motivations of the creatures on the other side of the Lands of Shadows. She just killed every single last one of them.

Usually, her job in the Lands of Shadows was simple enough. She, spear in hand, protected the passage to Earth and killed those monsters who, after gathering their own powers, tried to break through with the goal of devouring humans, and turning Earth into Hell... At least that's what she guessed their motives for trying to break through to the land of the living was.

None of the dark creatures of the Lands of Shadows, which could not be described other than 'monsters', had ever been one to give away specifics of their plans in battle with Scáthach. But most of the creatures she had met along the way had acted roughly in that scenario.

Scáthach had seen what the creatures of darkness were capable of. She had seen the dark gods destroy entire nations, change the world to suit their desires, consuming heroes and artifacts created to their doom before. And how the monsters, with no regard for human life, brought terror and chaos to the world.

For example, Medusa, though an unfortunate creature at the beginning of her story, she, though not of her own volition, in the end became a monster and had to be stopped. When her curse consumed her, and she lost all reason, only her desire to bring destruction to the world was left.

In the end, she had to be killed by Perseus.

Medusa's story was tragic, but what happened is simply the natural course of the world – the monster was killed by a hero, there was nothing unnatural about it...

Except for the fact that Medusa herself was now alive, under the control of an even more powerful monster. As far as Scáthach herself, who trusted her intuition, could tell, she also had gained new powers that were out of Scáthach's own range of knowledge.

And this same Medusa, who had become a monster with new powers, was now serving as a supervisor over Scáthach herself, controlling her every move and obeying Ainz's will. At least, if the information she had received from Nobunaga during their 'communication' – if you could call it that – was right.

Scáthach could say that knowing that this Medusa was different from the one she knew, was an unpleasant factor. Scáthach was confident that she could win a fight against the previous Medusa, she even put her chances against her monstrous version as somewhat favorable. But this one? The lack of information, on both the new Medusa and Ainz, could make any move on her part tantamount to suicide.

What was the point of killing Medusa if Ainz could easily resurrect her? It might even be that Medusa was in fact now far stronger than Scáthach herself?

Besides, as much as it galls her to admit – Ainz hadn't done anything really horrible at the moment, like trying to destroy Human History or something like that... Which, however, didn't mean that he wouldn't try it in the future.

Powerful and ancient entities like Ainz could plan centuries in advance, capable of quietly and slowly subjugating minds and institutions of power instead of brute intervention. But still, Scáthach's inner sense of justice, inherited from her years training her neglectful apprentice, demanded that she recognize the fact that, so far, Ainz hadn't done anything unequivocally indicative of his monstrous nature.