I had no intention of becoming some kind of hero who jumped into the middle of a battlefield just to block an attack.
This avatar of mine was nothing more than a surveillance drone with a leaking battery. If I tried to directly block the effects of a World Item, I would probably explode into digital dust within milliseconds.
In front of me, the old woman wearing a cheongsam began unfolding the artifact. The air around her distorted under the energy of something that defied every law of physics.
Shalltear, currently in Blood Frenzy, shot toward her like a blood-red bullet.
The light from the World Item erupted, defying every law of physics and magic in this world.
From my hiding spot behind the shadow of a massive oak tree, I watched that absolute energy shoot straight toward Shalltear, who was rampaging in Blood Frenzy.
There was no delay.
No chance to dodge.
The light struck the True Vampire head-on.
As a Record Administrator, I knew one absolute fact.
A World Item wasn't something that could be deflected, blocked, or hacked with ordinary magic. It carried the authority of the system itself.
If I tried to stop that light with this vulnerable [Omniscient Proxy] avatar, I would simply be vaporized into a pile of pixels.
But I didn't need to fight the World Item.
I only needed to exploit a weakness in its target.
『Downfall of Castle and Country』 could impose absolute control over its target's mind.
For a fraction of a second, that mind was being forcibly brought under someone else's control
"If I can't interfere with the weapon..." I whispered from beneath the gray hood of my avatar, "...I'll interfere with the data."
I had the complete records of Nazarick's NPCs stored within my memory.
Using that connection, I released a thin thread of magic from my avatar.
Directly into Shalltear's mental structure.
Skill Activation: Record Interference.
—Zzzt!
An excruciating pain tore through my avatar's consciousness.
My MP indicator plummeted so fast.
My shadowy body began flickering violently, overheating like a processor being forced to operate far beyond its maximum clock speed.
Inside Shalltear's mind, a data battle unfolded within mere milliseconds.
The command from the World Item entered perfectly.
Obey. Do not attack us.
Shalltear's primal instinct roared back.
Kill the intruders!
And at the same time, I inserted my emergency command.
Preserve your own consciousness!
I didn't erase the World Item's command.
I let it enter.
But I forced it into a brutal collision with her vampiric instincts and the instruction I had inserted. I created a fatal conflict inside her mental system.
The light of the World Item faded.
The weapon had successfully activated.
However, instead of becoming a silent puppet with empty eyes, Shalltear's body convulsed violently.
Her blood-red eyes spun wildly, flickering between clarity, absolute control, and pure madness.
The conflicting commands shattered her mental stability.
She hadn't become a perfect puppet. She had become a completely unstable mental anomaly.
"Y-YOU—!"
Shalltear screamed, her voice distorted as though two voices were speaking at once.
Before the mind control command could completely freeze her muscles, her corrupted aggression exploded.
She hurled the Purifying Javelin with the last of her brutal strength directly at the old woman who had activated the World Item.
BOOM!
"Kaire-sama!"
The Black Scripture Captain shouted in panic, rushing forward to block the attack with his shield.
But the projectile's destructive power was simply too great.
An explosion of holy light tore through their formation.
Kaire, the old woman, was thrown backward, fresh blood pouring from her mouth.
A severe wound gaped across her body.
Behind the shadows, my eyes widened in horror.
...Wait.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
My goal had only been to destabilize Shalltear's control so the Black Scripture wouldn't be able to take her.
I wasn't trying to trigger some half-baked berserk state like this!
I understood the YGGDRASIL system. But I'd forgotten one crucial detail.
In the New World, that system interacted with real souls and real emotions.
My interference had created a defective monster that was far more dangerous than I had anticipated.
Amid the ruined battlefield, the Black Scripture Captain supported Kaire's bloodied body.
"Did... did the World Item fail?!" the Captain shouted, staring in terror at Shalltear.
She stood completely still.
Yet her entire body trembled violently, like a bomb waiting to explode.
"No... cough!"
Kaire spat blood, her eyes widening in horror.
"The artifact worked perfectly...!"
She struggled to breathe.
"But her mind... when I tried to control her, there was something else in there! Something interfered with her consciousness from the outside!"
"Interfered from the outside?! Who?! Who could penetrate the authority of a World Item?!"
High-level paranoia immediately swept through the special forces of the Slane Theocracy.
They had no idea whether they were dealing with another Player, a Dragon Lord, or some unknown deity.
All they knew was that some terrifying entity had just been playing around inside their target's mind.
"Fall back! Get Kaire-sama out of here now!" the Captain ordered.
I couldn't care about them anymore.
My avatar was already on the verge of collapse.
I slowly stepped backward.
But the faint snap of a broken twig betrayed me.
Shalltear, still hunched over with her body convulsing, slowly turned her head.
Her half-dimmed red eyes, filled with static, stared straight through the darkness.
They locked onto the coordinates of my shadow.
She sensed me.
I immediately threw myself into the swirling emergency gate, the stealth gate, just before Shalltear let out a horrifying howl.
***
Inside the 8th Floor.
『Vault of Wisdom』.
—CRASH!!
My main body, a massive cloud of black mist, slammed into the marble floor.
Hundreds of books and scrolls orbiting around me scattered across the ground.
"Tawil?!"
Ra half-rose, his golden wings flapping in shock.
"Slither... Hey, all-knowing monster, what's wrong with you?!"
Apep, the massive black serpent, slithered closer with a wary expression.
The digital nausea and physical shock caused by the forced disconnection left me barely capable of thinking.
Before I could even steady my imaginary breathing, a telepathic message arrived from Aureole Omega.
『—Lord Tawil Balah. There was a four-second delay in your confirmation response to my data. Is there a problem with our intelligence network?』
Even my closest ally had already noticed the anomaly.
I forced myself back into the air and reorganized the orbiting scrolls with my still-trembling tentacles.
"I-I'm fine..."
I lied, forcing my voice to sound authoritative.
"Just... a slight memory defragmentation conflict inside my database. I'm processing an unusually massive amount of data sent by Aureole. Don't worry."
Ra and Apep exchanged glances.
But slowly, they returned to their positions in the darkness.
Inside the silence of my mind, I processed what had just happened.
I had successfully changed a canon event.
Kaire had been injured.
The Black Scripture had retreated. But the consequences were far beyond my calculations.
Shalltear was no longer in a passive state, simply waiting for instructions like the one Ainz encountered in the anime.
My interference, combined with the World Item's command and her own instincts, had destabilized her mind.
She was now an unpredictable wild variable, loose in the New World.
The canon map that had served as my absolute guide...
Had just been reduced to ashes.
From this moment onward, Nazarick's future had entered completely uncharted territory. And I was the one who had triggered the domino effect.
Hmmm I need to have a meeting with Ainz.
Everything is for Nazarick's glory.