Antikythera held his bayonet close while eyeing the stationary Shalltear. The area had already been scouted thoroughly, and countless drones were on patrol to ensure that no one trespassed during their fight against the defector. Now, the only thing left for them to do was wait for Lord Ainz to return with confirmation that the humans would not interfere with the tests.

  The pn for this particur event was rather simple: they would awaken Shalltear, get her to attack them, and slowly learn how the mind control effect worked. Lord Ainz had stated that it might be different here than in the Nine Realms, so everyone deemed it a necessity to conduct tests and see what those changes were.

  As a contingency, they had also been given World Items of their own. These would serve as a deterrent to the effects of other World Items and prevent another situation simir to Shalltear's. In Antikythera's case, he held A Dove Brings an Olive Branch, which would be quite useful should someone attack them during this time.

  Demiurge, Albedo, and Pandora's Actor stood around him, with the doppelg?nger even copying Lord Peroroncino's appearance to see if Shalltear could be awakened using her creator's voice. Unfortunately, nothing had happened so far, and everyone could only stare in discomfort as the eerie attempt went on.

  Antikythera didn't like the way the doppelg?nger wore the skin of Lord Peroroncino, but they had no choice.

  Everything was going well so far. That was the summary of the written report within the data packet Sakai had sent to him. The area guardian had been controlling drones left and right, upturning the entire forest for any signs of spying magic. Hana and Entoma had been working together to create anti-divination wards around the area as well, further boosted by Demiurge's scrolls.

  Preparing like this was part of Lord Bellriver's and Punitto Moe's 'PvP' guidebook, and it was so insanely extensive that a fool stupid enough to fall for the trap would quickly realize they had bitten off more than they could chew.

  "This feels oddly comforting." Antikythera turned to the other Guardians. "Don't you think so?"

  "Hm? What do you mean, Antikythera?" Albedo tilted her head, the underlying meaning behind the Automaton's words whizzing past her.

  "I mean that this is what our creators used to do—create traps and lure other Supreme Beings into them so that they could be killed." Antikythera chuckled. "This is the preparation that Lord Bellriver talks about in his book about 'PvP,' no?"

  "It is." Albedo's lips bloomed into a genuine smile. "I am gd that their legacy is not in vain and that we are continuing it under their name."

  "Now, anyone who dares to come here will experience the trap that has killed countless Supreme Beings during the height of Ainz Ooal Gown." Demiurge chuckled. He had a sinister grin as he fixed his gsses. "I cannot wait to see their faces when they realize they have been bested by a superior strategy their feeble minds cannot even fathom."

  Antikythera nodded. Lord Bellriver was simply that superior in terms of strategy. And though Antikythera's feeble mind could not even begin to understand the depths of the Supreme One's ideas—even if he was built for war, mind and all—he still believed he at least had a fraction of Lord Bellriver's strategic greatness.

  Albedo pressed her finger against her temple and turned to the rest of them. "Mare has dispatched adventurers who came with Lord Ainz's persona. I suggested to him that we use the fools as part of our testing, to check if they can fight against a braindead version of Shalltear or even be able to wound her."

  "Why did humans come with Lord Ainz? His friends?" Antikythera tilted his head.

  "I do not believe this to be the case, as Mare told me they wanted to reveal to E-Rantel the truth behind Momon." Albedo growled. "They are nothing more than gnats who will annoy us to the end if we show them mercy."

  "Then we don't." Demiurge shook his head as if what he said was obvious, and it was. "It won't be long before Lord Ainz comes here, so we better get things started." He grabbed a few spell scrolls from his inventory. "Perhaps our guests can act as b rats for these votile spell scrolls? I'm confident I have fixed the issue regarding an organism's reaction to receiving a sudden surge of highly concentrated mana, and they shouldn't explode—just become feral."

  "That would be counterproductive to the test, nein?" Pandora's Actor joined the fray. "Shalltear is feral, so our baseline does not make sense if we want to learn what it is like for weaker individuals to fight someone of her level but with a handicap."

  "Entoma and the other maids will take their pce. We continue with our original pns," Albedo rebuked.

  "That is a good idea, yes!" Pandora's Actor saluted. "Good thinking, my lovely dy!"

  "Thank you, Pandora's Actor." Albedo smiled gently, then turned behind her and directed the smile toward Lord Ainz. "Everything is ready, Lord Ainz."

  "Then let's get this started." The Overlord wasted no time and moved behind Cocytus. "Shalltear is powerful, so we cannot rex even if we know she is not thinking right. Make sure that the tests we are doing will not result in the death of any other Guardian."

  Antikythera nodded along with everyone else. Albedo stepped forward and faced the four bound adventurers by Mare's feet. "Did you heal them?"

  Mare nodded meekly.

  Shouts of panic emerged from the four adventurers. They started to fil, but they couldn't break out. Antikythera inspected them. They weren’t all that powerful—their gear felt weak, the enchanted items in their possession were ckluster, and they didn't have many enchanted items to begin with.

  Demiurge grabbed the scrolls Solution handed him and opened one. The front faced the four adventurers, who, upon being touched by the red light emanating from the now-burning parchment, began to convulse.

  "No explosion," Antikythera complimented, to the smile of the Archfiend. "Have you figured out how martial arts affect the human body?"

  "Some of it, yes," Demiurge confirmed. "I have already submitted a report to Albedo if you are curious to learn more about it."

  When the scroll burned completely, Demiurge moved on to the remaining ones until the four adventurers were nothing more than beasts. And yet, despite all the boosts the scrolls had given them, they still could not break out of Mare's binds.

  "Pathetic." Albedo sneered at the sight. "They're this weak?"

  "I suppose so." Antikythera shook his head in disappointment. "Well, let's start the testing. I am not expecting much from them, but we should still glean how feral Shalltear is under this state."

  "Mhmm." Albedo threw the four adventurers and used a spell to free them.

  Beside Antikythera, Pandora's Actor turned into Peroroncino for the first part of the test. Once the vampire awakened, they would see if Shalltear was lucid enough to respond to the sight of her creator.

  The four humans attacked Shalltear, and crity came to her eyes. She looked around, growling. One man was pierced by the Spuit Lance she was holding before the vampire stopped when she saw Pandora's Actor.

  "L-Lord Peroroncino?"

  Antikythera met eyes with Albedo and Demiurge. She was lucid. The mind control did not cause her to be feral?

  "This is different," Lord Ainz muttered. "Or maybe that's just because no one is like this back in YGGDRASIL?" Antikythera caught the Overlord going silent, deep in thought.

  "Shalltear!" The act started, the stage was set! "What are you doing?!"

  "LEAVE!" Instead of answering, Shalltear struck the three remaining humans attacking her with a rge swing of her nce. All of them died, even though they only met the blunt end of the weapon. How fragile. Shalltear grabbed her head. "I-I don't know!"

  Antikythera began to channel [Heavy Ordinance] upon Albedo's signal—now to check if her defenses were the same as before.

  "Why do I hate you?!" The Guardian of the Third and Second Floor was now kneeling, her eyes filled with tears as she tried to pull on her own hair and failed. She screamed as she tried to make sense of her situation.

  "Antikythera, attack her."

  Lord Ainz commanded, and as his weapon, the Automaton obliged.