Overlord: When Human Meets Inhuman

Chapter 26: Disappeared without a trace

To be honest, I'd never thought I'd have befriended a guy like him. When he first came in to Nazarick he looked so miserable and sad, and in the space of a few months he showed everybody he had the guts to stand up for himself and to shut up the sharp toothed bitch! That's also probably the main reason why I admire him. Even though he went through SO MUCH shit, he's still standing! 

"Did you talk to Shalltear at all in the past month after…you know…she tried to seduce you?" I ask yawning. 
"What? Um…no, not at all! She hasn't given me one single thing to do this past month! It went by pretty quickly, since I've been occupying my mornings with you, and my afternoons either still with you, or with Tuare, or enjoying myself. I'd say this has been my best period in Nazarick so far!" Mark answers happily and starts spinning his sword up and down.

I'm glad he finally managed to get a break, since he looked like wasn't having a good time not long ago.

"Well, I'm glad! I told you you shouldn't have trusted Shalltear, and this month without her bothering you has been your happiest here so far!" I continue, joining my hands behind my head. Mark nods and winks at me, then he looks distractedly to his right and his expression suddenly changes: he saw something that terrorized him.
"Uh…kid?" 

He looks like he saw a ghost… 

"Th-that…" 
He points to somewhere in the woods and I see something moving. 
"Ah, it probably was just an animal!" I shout reassuringly and pat him on the back.
"My sixth sense is telling me it wasn't…let's find a place with no trees." 
He starts trotting to the nearest clearing in the woods, with me behind him. We end up in a very small open place with no trees, and a pretty tall rock wall in front of us. A few days of sunlight are shining down on us from the opening in the treetops above.
"Good. Now let's stay here for a while and try to…fuck…"
"What? What happened?" I ask, getting even more worried by his weird and unnatural behavior.

And his face spells pure terror again. What the hell is wrong with him?! 

"There it is…right there…it's coming…" 
As I look in the direction where Mark is pointing, I see a hooded figure with a very big rapier slowly walking towards us. 
"Boy, that doesn't look friendly to me…" I mutter, placing a hand on my scepter's handle. 
"It's…the guy from the dream…shit…be careful, alright?" He whispers and points his sword forward. He then gets in fighting stance, not taking his eyes off the suspicious figure for a second.
"Sure, but I think that's just a human pretending to-" 
"I have no idea what the hell that is, but that is NOT a human." He hisses, sprinting forward and charging the figure head on: the two start exchanging blows furiously, and they look to be somewhat evenly matched.

Alright, I should probably help. 

I rush in to help Mark and become invisible, then I start swinging my scepter at the mysterious son of a bitch, but he's really fast. He manages to dodge all of my blows, and all of Mark's, very elegantly. After a while of fighting, the guy throws a burst of holy energy at Mark, sending him flying back a few meters with a thud. 
"Shit. Regeneration." 
I block a strike from the guy's rapier and point a hand at Mark, seeing him slowly starting to get better. 

Thanks to my spell, of course!  

As soon as I see Mark is starting to get back up I turn my attention to my enemy again, but I realize I lost him: I them feel two hands lifting me up and throwing me in the air, and the last thing I see is the guy's rapier hitting me in the head. 

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"Ow…my head…what the hell happened…" 

Oh, I remember…there was a guy, with a rapier, and we had a fight, and… 
Boy, he sure did a number on me! 

I slowly sit up, massaging my head, and start looking around. I'm still where the fight happened, in the small clearing in the woods.

Phew, looks like I'm not dead!
Oh, right…where's Mark?! 

"Mark? Kid, you around here?" 

I use a healing spell on myself and I start feeling a bit better, even if my head still hurts a bit and I still feel a bit dizzy, then I start looking around for Mark a bit. I trace back my steps all the way to the usual starting point of our route, but nothing. Both the guy and Mark disappeared without leaving a trace. 
"Dammit…I didn't need this right now…" 
I look around for a big enough tree for a while, finding a very old and study looking oak. I quickly climb on its top and start looking at the woods around me, feeling a bit lost. 
"Well, shit."
I look at the treetops for a little bit, hoping to find something worth noting, but the forest is quite big and I eventually give up. I jump down from the old oak tree and let out a long sigh, cursing myself and whoever that guy was.
"I've got…oh shit I have to be back in 10 minutes! I'm dead!"
I run, run and run as fast as I can back to Nazarick, thinking that if I lost the kid I should at least come back on time and report to Lord Ainz. Fortunately, I manage to make it just in time in front of the throne room's entrance. 

Okay, let's recap. A normal patrol turned to a disaster. Mark is gone. My head hurts. This couldn't be any better. 

I slowly enter the throne room, walk all the way to Lord Ainz's throne and kneel down. 

Ah, I'm so screwed! I already fucked up once at Carne that one time, now I'm done for!

"Lupusregina, you're back. Where is your partner?" 

Heh, good question.

"Lord Ainz…you're not going to enjoy what I'm about to say." I say feeling very guilty. 
"What happened, Lupusregina?" Lord Ainz asks imperiously.

God, I feel him staring me down. Even if I don't see him, I feel his eyes cutting through me like a knife with butter.
Here we go. 

I explain everything that happened in the woods today thoroughly enough, up to the point where I got knocked out, then I stop. 

I'm genuinely terrified! 

"Then what, Lupusregina?"
I swallow, keeping my head down, and I take a deep breath.
"I woke up…and both Mark and the attacker were gone. Vanished, Lord Ainz, without a trace! I tried looking for him, but I had no luck. And now here I am. I failed you another time, Lord Ainz, I'm deeply sorry…I wasn't able to do my job and-" 
"I've heard enough. It will be your job to find him, alive or dead. And to bring his attacker to me. You will start your search immediately. That is all." 
Hearing Lord Ainz wanted to be kind with me, I lower my head even more and let out a sigh of relief.
"I won't fail you again, Lord Ainz." 
I head out of the throne room, keeping a poker face on, then as soon as I exit the room and close the doors behind me I feel an enormous surge of anger inside me. I let out a grunt and throw a punch at the wall, breathing slowly and heavily.
"I'll find you, kid, res assured. I'll also make that son of a bitch pay, whoever they are. And that...that's a promise."