"My Lord, all members of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick have been eliminated by us. Do we need to bring their corpses back to the Holy City?"
"Oh, that was quick!"
Next to the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, Ainz raised an eyebrow after receiving Enri's message. After contemplating her suggestion for a moment, he replied, "Forget it. Just take the equipment from their bodies, and we'll farm them a few more times."
He intended to use resurrection magic to revive Demiurge and the others who had died in battle on the spot, then repeatedly kill them to help the lower-tier church members gain experience. The reason they hadn't done this before was that they couldn't capture their bodies like they could now, and Ainz couldn't directly revive Demiurge and send them back to Nazarick. Now that the space around the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick was sealed by him, he could buy time.
As for why he wasn't bringing Demiurge and the others' bodies back to the Holy City and then reviving them to be imprisoned there, as Enri suggested... Unless personnel capable of restraining these NPCs were specially arranged to guard them day and night, once their HP, MP, and special skills recovered, they could still commit suicide. Once they entered a state of death, a vacancy would appear in the Great Tomb's NPC management list, and Ainz could then use the guild's resurrection mechanism to help them 'escape' from prison.
Nabe, who was captured and imprisoned in the Holy City during the kingdom's turmoil, managed to escape from there this way. It would only cause the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick to lose more resources, so Ainz didn't bother.
Of course, if he used the effect of the [World Item: Downfall of Castle and Country], he could control one of the NPCs for a certain period of time. However, this time the 'prisoners' were Demiurge, Aura, and Mare—one male demon and two small dwarves—who weren't very appealing to Ainz.
Compared to them, Ainz had some ideas about the big guy in front of him. The church army had been continuously bombarding for about an hour, and the valley's area had increased by almost twofold. The exposed part of the Nazarick Tower was estimated to be close to the Sixth Floor. At the top of the destroyed tower, because the Fourth Floor had a huge underground lake and the Fifth Floor was a vast ice field, after these two floors were penetrated, the underground lake water flowed into the Fifth Floor, freezing due to the cold air and releasing a large amount of fog.
Although the fog was enough to obscure vision, a huge shadow could still be vaguely seen squatting in the center of the underground lake within the thick fog. It was a massive war machine without self-awareness—the Fourth Floor Guardian, the Gargantua Golem!
The effect of the [World Item: Downfall of Castle and Country] could completely control one target unit, and although the target was Gargantua, it could not evade this control. Gargantua's individual power was unrivaled in Nazarick. Even Shalltear, who was at the peak of strength among the Guardians, could not compete with it.
What moved Ainz the most was that this thing was a siege golem with special attacks against buildings. Using it to destroy the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick would likely be extremely effective!
"The only problem now is that Gargantua is usually in an inactive state and cannot move unless it is activated. If I use [Downfall of Castle and Country] to control it, can I ignore the need for an energy supply and activate it directly?"
"Hmm... let's give it a try."
With a thought, Ainz's upper garment changed, and a golden dragon pattern slowly emerged on his chest.
[Downfall of Castle and Country], activate!
The item's effect was activated, and a golden dragon radiated a dazzling light, soaring out of his upper garment and flying directly towards Gargantua in the distance.
"Damn it!"
"We can't let that person succeed!"
"Lord Ainz! Let's return to Nazarick immediately!"
Ainz and his group, who were monitoring the battlefield, were also shocked by Ainz's action. Albedo and the other Guardians couldn't help but exclaim, quickly pleading with Ainz. Ainz was equally worried, but he quickly reacted, raising his hand to signal for them to calm down. "Don't be reckless! Even if we rush back to Nazarick now, it's too late. Let's see what happens first."
As he finished speaking, the golden dragon on the monitoring screen entered Gargantua's body.
At the scene, as the item's effect was successfully activated, Ainz did feel a unique connection with Gargantua, similar to the relationship between a summoner and a summoned creature.
This must be the control chain, right?
Just like controlling a summoned creature, Ainz followed this sensation and issued an 'activate' command to Gargantua, but the next second... nothing happened?
Looking at Gargantua, who stood motionless like a stone statue, Ainz slightly frowned. Through the sensory link between them, he knew that Gargantua indeed had an 'urge to act' now, but its body seemed to be tightly bound by an indestructible chain, completely unable to break free.
"It seems it won't work..."
Ainz sighed at the sight. Since it was impossible, he didn't force it and ordered the commander of the church army around him, "All units, retreat!"
"Yes!"
The commander immediately used a message skill to notify every combat member to gather around him, and the chaotic magic bombardment on the battlefield ceased. Retreat was the right choice. Although the church army had five thousand members, an hour of continuous attacking had exhausted the magic of most of them. If the enemy from the Great Tomb were to rush out and counterattack at this moment, the consequences would be unimaginable.
If Ainz had not ordered a retreat, the commander would have had to advise him. Fortunately, that situation did not happen, and Ainz still considered their safety.
Even without magic, the basic attributes brought by high levels were still very impressive. Within five minutes of the retreat order being given, all members had completed their rendezvous. Subsequently, the command-type believers activated large-scale teleportation magic, and the church army disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Ainz remained behind. Before activating his teleportation magic, he took a deep look at the Nazarick Tower in the valley, a pleased smile curving on his lips. The effect of the [Downfall of Castle and Country] could be actively removed, but that didn't mean he had to. After all, there was no distance limit, so he might as well leave the control effect on Gargantua. This way, he could directly cripple one of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick's main combat forces.
If Ainz and the others chose to activate this giant to verify whether Gargantua was still under his control, it might be very interesting.