Starting from Ainz Ooal Gown, simultaneously traveling through time

Chapter 216 The Person You Must Save on the Type-Moon Set

Deep beneath the Matou family's residence lies a deliberately forgotten, desolate place, where the sun never shines, only the dim yellow candlelight flickers in the damp air, casting shadowy figures that crawl and slither across the walls.

This is an insect burrow, an insect burrow so large it's terrifying.

The ceiling was covered with worms, the walls were covered with layers of beetles, and hundreds of millions of crawling insects, flying insects and larvae were churning, intertwining and eating each other in the humus on the ground.

They made a rustling, soft sound, like countless tiny needles scraping against the eardrum.

The air was filled with a pungent, sweet, and nauseating smell of decay, mixed with the dampness of the soil and the stench of dead insects.

An ordinary person would develop trypophobia after just one glance, let alone stay there for even a second longer.

This wormhole is like a giant Gu poison.

Insects reproduce within it, cannibalize their own kind, reproduce again, and cannibalize again, in an endless cycle that has continued for hundreds of years.

Beside the insect burrow, there was a small patch of ground barely free of insects, where two people stood: an old man and a young girl.

The old man's name was Jian Tong Li Yan.

His eyes were sunken, his skin was dry like a weathered mummy, and his hunched body looked like a demon crawling out of hell. He exuded a putrid aura and didn't seem like a living person, but more like a moving corpse.

At this moment, he was staring intently at the young girl beside him with eyes that seemed to devour him with greed.

The girl's name is Matou Sakura.

Five years old this year, with soft brown hair hanging down to her shoulders, and a round face that still carries the innocence and naivety unique to children.

She was wearing a simple little dress and should have been playing in the garden at home, not standing in this basement littered with insect corpses.

At this moment, her body was trembling violently, her small hands were tightly gripping the hem of her skirt, and her eyes were filled with tears of terror. She didn't understand at all why her grandfather had brought her to such a place.

"Sakura." Matou Ryouken spoke, his voice hoarse, like rusty iron scraping against each other. He forced a smile, but it wasn't a comforting smile; it was more like the grinning of a demon from hell. "Go down. This is your fate."

Sakura Matou trembled, her voice choked with sobs, "Grandpa... Grandpa, what... what place is this? Why... why did we come here?"

Matou Ryouken still smiled, a smile that appeared particularly sinister in the candlelight. "Sakura, your father entrusted you to me so that you would inherit the Matou family's magical crest. However, your magical attribute is [Imaginary Number], which is incompatible with the [Water] attribute inherited by our Matou family. Moreover, magical crests have strict requirements regarding bloodline and physique. You are not yet of pure Matou blood, so certain physical modifications must be made to allow you to inherit it smoothly."

"Body—body modification?" Matou Sakura's voice trembled even more violently.

"Yes." Matou Ryouken extended a withered finger, pointing to the churning insect burrow. "These insects I've been raising are the medium used to modify your bloodline. Go and come into contact with them quickly. The modification process will be a little painful, but Grandpa believes that a good girl like Sakura can endure it, right?"

Sakura Matou followed his finger and looked in that direction. In that insect burrow, countless insects were wriggling, some plump, some covered in fine hairs, some with reflective shells, and some with trembling wings.

She imagined herself being crawled all over by those insects, burrowing into her body, tearing at her, and transforming her body—a bone-chilling cold shot from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.

Her legs buckled, and she knelt down before Matou Ryokonomiyaki, tears streaming down her face. "No—no—"

Grandpa, I don't want to inherit the Magic Crest anymore. Give it to that blue-haired brother, I just want to be a normal person—okay?

Matou Reigen's smile slowly froze. His face darkened, and his already ferocious expression became even more terrifying, like a demon about to unleash its fury. "Sakura," his tone turned hostile, "you mean, you don't want to inherit the Magic Crest, but instead want to hand it over to that brat Matou Shinji?"

"Yes—yes, Grandpa, I—"

"If Shinji had even one percent of your talent, Grandpa wouldn't be unable to consider it," Matou Ryouken interrupted her, his voice as cold as ice. "But Shinji has absolutely no talent to become a magician."

Sakura Matou was stunned. Born into a family of magi, yet lacking the aptitude of a magi? How could that be?

The lifeline she had so painstakingly grasped, the reason for "giving it to her brother," was thus severed. Her lips moved, as if she wanted to say something.

Sure enough, Matou Reiken continued, "Sakura, you have exceptional talent. As long as you can withstand the body modification, you will definitely become the best mother body—no, the best heir—of the Matou family. Be good, go and undergo the modification, don't make things difficult for your grandfather."

Sakura didn't understand the word "mother." But she could sense the malice in Matou Ryūken's words. She suddenly stood up and turned to run away. "No! I don't want to!"

However, this is the magic workshop that Matou Ryogen has run for hundreds of years. Every brick, every tile, every speck of dust is imbued with his magic. This underground space is the domain under his strongest control; no one can resist him here—unless the other party is not human at all.

Sakura is clearly still a person. And, she's just a five-year-old child.

She had just run to the first step of the stairs leading to the ground when a dense swarm of black flying ants suddenly emerged from beneath her feet.

They surged out from under Matou Ryouken's feet like a tide, quickly catching up with her and enveloping her limbs and body.

The flying ants clung tightly to her skin, forming a living shackle. Hundreds or even thousands of wings flapped simultaneously, emitting a teeth-grinding buzz, forcibly dragging her back.

Sakura looked down and saw that her arms and legs were covered with flying ants. Their tiny legs crawled on her skin, and their tentacles swayed in front of her eyes.

She felt a chill run down her spine and her whole body turn ice-cold, as if she had fallen into an ice cellar. She couldn't help but let out a sharp scream: "Ah!" The flying ants dragged her back to where she was and threw her back next to Matou Reigen.

Matou Ryouken smiled again, a smile that appeared even more sinister in the candlelight. "Sakura, you've been naughty. Looks like Grandpa will have to take matters into his own hands and send you for re-education."

He waved his hand, and the flying ants dragged Sakura slowly toward the insect nest.

The insect burrow was getting closer. The wriggling, bristle-covered, slimy insects were right in front of me.

Dozens of bold insects had already crawled up her legs, and the icy touch gave her goosebumps.

She saw the scenes of cannibalism in the insect nest, and the insects crawling over the corpses of their companions. She was about to become one of them—no, to become part of their nest.

Sakura's tears streamed down her face like a broken string of pearls. She pleaded desperately, "Grandpa, I'll do anything you ask. Please, let me go, don't push me inside!"

Matou Ryouken smiled and shook his head: "Can you do everything? Grandpa doesn't need you to do anything else, just accept the body modification. Don't worry, only the first few times will be uncomfortable. As long as you can endure it, you won't feel pain afterward."

Hearing this, Sakura's last glimmer of hope shattered. She looked up at the empty ceiling and shouted with all her might, "Dad! Mom! Sister! Please come and save me! I want to go home!"

"Sakura," Matou Ryouken's voice was eerily calm, "your parents handed you over to me themselves, and they won't come to save you."

These words were like a knife, piercing Sakura's heart. She was utterly desperate; the insects had already crawled up her waist, and some were even burrowing into her collar.

She stopped struggling, stopped crying out, and silently shed tears, her lips moving slightly as she whispered in a voice only she could hear: "Whoever it is—please save me—"

At that moment, no one could hear her plea.

However, something other than humans heard it.

A drop of blood.

A drop of golden blood.

The blood, like molten gold, radiated a blazing light, appearing out of thin air and dripping precisely onto Matou Sakura's forehead.

Golden blood seeped into her skin and merged into her veins.

Sakura's body trembled violently.

Then she quieted down. She closed her eyes.

Matou Ryouken was slightly taken aback, not knowing what had happened. He was about to step forward to check when Sakura opened her eyes the next second.

Those were no longer the brown, innocent, fearful eyes of a child, but pupils as if cast in gold.

Golden light poured out from his eye sockets, illuminating the entire dim basement. His pupils were vertical, like the eyes of a dragon, or the eyes of a god.

Golden Eyes coldly stared at Matou Ryouken, his gaze devoid of anger, fear, or pleading, only displaying a superior calm that looked down upon ants.

It was as if she wasn't a five-year-old girl standing by the insect cave, but a deity sitting high in the heavens.

Matou Ryuken's smile froze completely.

He felt an unprecedented sense of oppression emanating from that small body, a power far beyond his comprehension.

Under the gaze of those golden eyes, the ancient monster, who had lived for hundreds of years, felt a long-lost, deep-seated fear.

"You—you're not Sakura—"