Disclaimer: This work is purely fictional. Sections have been rewritten to avoid plagiarism with fan translations and the official Light Novel series of Overlord. Overlord, the Light Novel translation is licensed by Yen Press. Please consider purchasing a copy of Overlord to support the author.
Volume 1-The Warrior and the Host
The dark night of Helheim was all that the party could see. They were adventurers; fresh off the hook of training, having defeated several gods with the assistance of other similarly leveled adventurers. They were here because they had received a request from the jobs board.
The request was odd. "Investigate the undead ruins", the description read. Normally, large ruins were involved with large campaigns or lootings. However, this time, it seemed there was nothing of the sort. Their leader, a knight adorned in adamantite-red armor, had decided that this must be a lower-tiered dungeon.
Their assumptions were not wrong as the seeker returned. Only meager death knights and armored skeletons were seen. In a moment's time, they broke through the cover of the wicked forest and found themselves before a large Parthenon-shaped structure. In front of the Parthenon was a swarm of undead.
"No need for a plan here. Attack!" The knight raised his sword in confidence, seeing only cannon fodder.
The adventurers each gave their own battle cry as they charged. The assassin disappeared from vision, reappearing seconds later in an attack that destroyed several skeletons. The gargantuan man, their tank, leaped into the air and performed a devastating slam attack purchased from his [Dreadnought] class.
At the same time, a man in white armor armed with a stave, their cleric, twirled his staff and the skeletons were purified in holy light. The wizard of their group similarly held a staff, but on top of it sat an eye-shaped gem that opened its gaze, disintegrating a wave of undead.
As their leader ducked under a slash from a death knight, the assassin strode behind it and the undead was no more. Not a second later, however, it was walking once again. The seeker, surprised, cast [Discern Enemy]. He breathed in relief finding that the undead only had a single hit-point left. He dismissed the revival as a special skill.
Just as they were about to challenge the rest of the undead, a thundering clap could be heard and dust kicked up all around them. The seeker and assassin were first to react, having skills that would allow them to see through things that obscured their vision. However, they were no less shocked than the rest of their team when the dust cleared.
In the place of their tank, there was a gigantic greatsword plunged into the ground. However, they could all see the health bar of their teammate disappear and the notification that announced his death.
"A-a single hit?" The knight breathed.
The witch cast [All Appraisal Magic Item], earning the team another shocked gasp.
"D-divine ranked?" She breathed, seeing the weapon's incredible stats.
"I'll go get it. Cover me!" The knight yelled. The team all obeyed, as they cast their buffs and formed a perimeter around their leader. However, that formation was broken without the tank.
Just as their leader was about to touch the sword, a black shadow loomed over him. He dismissed this as one of the poisonous clouds of YGGDRASIL, but that ignorance would cost him his life. Suddenly, a looming figure appeared by the sword. In a matter of milliseconds, it pulled the sword from the ground and bisected the knight. The adventurers all jumped to formation around the newly appeared warrior. He held two matching greatswords, each almost as tall as his gargantuan figure. A physical realization of the word "intimidating"...
"Tsk. Some low leveled filth attempting my dungeon..."
"L-low leveled?" The team turned to look at each other for help, but it was the cleric who spoke up.
"Listen up, guy. We're all level 75 here and even if we don't have a knight or proper tank, or even if you're higher level, we still outnumber you 5 to 1. Why don't you give up already, make everyone's job easier?"
Wrong answer.
The tall knight roared in laughter. "Such arrogance. I will have to put you in your place, then."
That was when the true slaughter began. With a speed barely conceived by any member of their team, the warrior dashed into the assassin. Despite having the highest speed and agility in her entire party, it did nothing to help with the pair of greatswords that chopped her in half. There was no warrior skill used, no incantation. There were only stats and that man's insane reaction rate, they realized.
The flame warrior was next. Despite his size and heavy armor, he was taken out with a single pair of swings from the greatswords. His body dissipated into vapor, only the clattering of his axe and a pouch of coins on the ground showing that there had been someone here before.
"Stay back!" The wizard roared, recasting her buffs and sending a torrent of destructive energy towards the enemy. She blinked as she saw that there were no hitmarkers in sight. The knight burst from the cloud of energy, ending her with one stroke of his sword.
A staff and a pouch of coins clattered to the ground.
The seeker only wished to escape now. Grabbing his fallen friend's dagger, he sent a torrent of knives and thrown skills towards the knight. The cleric, on the other hand, hissed as he once again tried to resurrect his teammates, finding no luck.
"Hoh, what fools. A simple cash item would have solved the problem. Do you young people really have somewhere to go that isn't YGGDRASIL?"
The remaining adventurers blanched. Was this guy for real?
"As I thought. Goodbye now." The knight muttered, throwing one of his swords towards the seeker, pinning his bodies to the ground and killing him instantaneously.
"Not even a real fight… I wish the weapons throwing aspect of [Olympian] wasn't so overpowered."
But then again, anything that would improve his chances of victory was welcomed.
He was cut off from his musings as he sighted the cleric dashing away, desperately mashing on the "logout" button. The countdown timer floated over his head, a bright "23" in golden letters.
Sighing, the warrior disappeared from sight and reappeared again beside his sword. Drawing it from the ground, he chucked the blade towards the cleric.
A pitch black obsidian table gleamed as it stood at the center of a huge chamber, surrounded by walls of gold-trimmed magnificence. If one were to just focus on one side of the room, they might even come to the conclusion that the room had windows, judging by the naturally bright colors. That would be a common mistake, however. The creator of these chambers was a master of lighting effects, who believed in true ambiance like his name would suggest.
The table itself was not to be scoffed at, either. It had the diameter of at least a whole house and was surrounded by forty-one crimson clothed throne-chairs, each scaled to a size which
suggested that they were not meant for a man.
On one of these seats sat a strange entity.
It was an oddly... surreal being, its figure giving the appearance of an extremely tall knight cut out in sharp armor, but its color was what gave it the difference. No glint or flash of metal could be seen anywhere on the entity; only darkness, and nothing else. It did not seem to be a shadow demon, however, as one could still roughly make out the dimensions of its armor.
The darkness that radiated from the being clung back to its owner, keeping its shape and forming the sharp edges of the knight armor. Its massive pauldrons could be called blades on their own, despite the shadows that would usually mean softness. Well, could this simply be a man clad in strange armor, you ask?
Its… no, his head was what truly threw out all perceptions that this was a human. Instead of a regularly shaped helmet, the headgear had two triangular armored growths extended at 60 degrees as if they were to contain a demon's horns. But his eyes; two right-angled triangles of an ominous glowing red; not glaring, just watching, were the centerpieces of the artwork.
"I see… So, herohero-san, will you be staying?"
The dark entity spoke with a surprisingly friendly voice, his head turning towards the only other filled chair in the pristine chamber.
"No… Sorry, Momonga-san, it's about time for me to log off. I'm about to fall asleep any time now. You know how it feels to wake up plugged into the console, right?"
The purplish-black goo raised a hand as if waving a melancholic goodbye. The mass of darkness nodded with a polite grunt, showing his sympathy.
"I really did want to stay with you until the end, though. But I really can't do this now. I've worn my body out too much."
The being, now identified as Herohero, waved his "limbs" again, this time disappointedly.
"I don't mind, to be honest. I'm sure work is more important than this." Momonga replied, breaking the awkward pause. He didn't know what it was, but the words came out with an unintended tone of hurt barely controlled within. The Elder Ooze, sensing this, panicked briefly and moved in to apologize.
"Don't feel too down. I'm glad, and I'm sure everyone else will be glad that you've kept such
good care of this place…"
Perhaps it was not the best apology, but Suzuki Satoru took it anyways. He didn't know this, but outside, in the real world, a lone tear had trickled its way out of the blue Dive headset. He agreed nonetheless, feeling nostalgic pride swelling within his chest.
"Putting that 100 physical attack power to good use, eh?" The Elder Ooze jeered.
For the first time in their whole (depressing) conversation, the two guildmates shared a small laugh, uncaring as to how corny or bad the joke was. Momonga envisioned in his mind a tall statue of darkness, blazing across the halls of Nazarick swiftly with a broom and rag in hand, leaving no corner untouched by the forces of cleanliness.
"Ah, this was good, guild leader-san. Are you staying until the end?" Herohero approached this time more casually and with a light spirit.
After a short, and to Momonga's disappointment, a rather meaningless conversation filled with praises from the Elder Ooze and Momonga explaining his duties as guild-master to take care of the tomb, the Elder Ooze raised a hand and tapped the space in front of him, drawing up the game's console.
"Well, this is it, Momonga-san. Let's keep in touch… maybe somewhere IRL, or perhaps in YGGDRASIL Mk. II."
Herohero's arm moved to a button at the bottom of the hologram...
[Herohero has logged out]
[You've been playing for more than 1.5 hours now. Don't forget to take a break!]
Momonga dismissed the notifications with a swipe of his hand.
The room was silent once more.
As meaningless as Herohero's visit was from an outsider perspective, for Momonga, it had been excellent. He got to vent some of his pent-up feelings about his former guildmates. The feelings of abandonment… it had never really developed into hate, but for anyone, having a friend's ear to vent on was the best a friend could do.
Not like he would know anything about friendship, Momonga's critical size scoffed.
As he stared upon the meeting room for what he felt like was probably the last time, the warrior thought of his guildmate Blue Planet. Such a… what a wonderful time that was, when the nature lover would spend hours upon hours perfecting the lighting effects of Nazarick, as well as the skies of the sixth floor…
Momonga shook his head, Blue Planet was last heard of to be doing professional graphic designs for advertisements and such. He was sure he had seen an ad with a similar theme to the sixth floor before, so he took those rumors as fact.
The knight stood from his seat slowly, pushing the chair back in. Before he could do so, however, a maid rushed into the room, pushing he and Herohero's seat back to their original positions with an impossible accuracy. And just like that, it was done. With a bow, the blonde vacated the room, leaving Momonga in awkward silence.
He followed a moment later, pushing the heavy doors open and stepping onto the red-carpeted palace-like halls of Nazarick. He turned his head back to the maid as he walked in the opposite direction towards the throne room.
"Thank you for your hard work, Sixth…"
He could have been hallucinating in his loneliness then, but at that moment, he swore he could hear the maid turn and look at him in surprise.
Maybe it happens when you say their names?
Momonga shrugged, continuing the walk.
[11:30:53]
With a stretch of his arms, Momonga moved into the throne room, his body easily pushing the grand doors open despite their gargantuan size. Leaving the defender golems behind him, he couldn't help but gasp in fascination at the throne room. He'd only seen this place a couple of times before, deciding to save the best for the last. He wanted this to be his last memory in YGGDRASIL. He wanted this to be special.
Approaching the throne with the swagger of a king, Momonga plopped himself onto the throne, finding some comfort despite not really feeling much due to the Dive system's lack of capability in mimicking the sense of touch. He rested the side of his head on his arm.
"[Appraisal Eye]..."
A large eyeball, the size of a large fist, with red, fleshy stems attached, materialized above his head and floated down to his side. The green eye hovered beside his own cutely.
Ah, his favorite pet… since the familiar was summoned through an item, it could easily be
respawned without penalty. Not only could it cast [All Appraisal Magic Item] among various other spells, it could also cast enemy scanning spells like [Discern Enemy] a limited number of times per day.
His own eyes caught hold of the beauty in white dress standing beside him, however.
"Albedo, was it? What were her settings again?"
He already knew the answer, but his curiosity had gotten the best of him yet. One could not simply deny the temptation to peek into a woman's profile.
"Wow, that's a lot of settings… Probably on the level of an actual person. Speaking of settings, didn't Tabula-San, the settings maniac make her? And… what is this? A world item? She's not supposed to have this!"
However, his mouth couldn't help but water slightly at the sight of Ginnungagap in Albedo's hands. The weapon was one of the two hundred world items that existed. It did not do as much damage as a well-built divine class weapon of the same design, but its main jewel laid within its ability to easily destroy any structures. He and Punitto Moe had discussed the tactical value of this siege weapon before, but they ultimately decided to only bring this for guild takedowns.
"I'm sure he won't mind if I take it? After all… you know what? Never mind. It's not like I'll have much time to test this out anyways."
He glanced at the white succubus's stoic face, who was armed with a peaceful smile that could charm anyone.
"Hehehe…" Momonga suddenly had an idea as he hurriedly scrolled down the list of settings.
She is also a slut.
She is also a
She is also
She is
She is in love
She is in love with Momonga.
"Uwah… so embarrassing." He basked fully in his stupidity, shaking his head in shame.
"Not like it's going to matter."
That's right, the character settings really meant nothing. "Settings" was just another word for backstory and did nothing to dictate the behaviors of the NPCs themselves. That would be the custom combat AI and behavioral AI menus. Momonga himself decked his own NPCs with what must have been several hundred emotes, each dramatic dances and gestures.
With a depressed sigh, Momonga called forward a floating screen, swiping away from the newsletter section and onto his character screen. There, at the center of it, was a tall knight who was the night itself. To the left of his player name, which was just below his feet, there was an obsidian black icon without features adorned with two horns on its head. He swiped through his various disguises, finding himself not in the mood for any of them.
With a disappointed feeling, he closed the screen with a swipe of his hand.
"Oh, I have an idea." A light bulb popped into existence over his head.
"[Biotic Armor: Mystify]!"
And with that, the cosmetic effects were disabled.
The "armor" of darkness loosened, gaining a dark purplish tone and vibrant set of gleam. His eyes stopped glowing, and tendrils of darkness swam. If one were to carefully look, they would be able to see the actual gleam of armor underneath the swimming tendrils of half-darkness. He was almost like a high level possessed armor… except that was not his chosen race.
"Well, this is it. I should really call over the NPCs now." Momonga muttered to himself.
He sat there, humming for a moment.
"Oh shit! How could I forget!"
With a startled leap, Momonga burst from his throne in a rush of surprising speed, pushing past NPCs in the halls of Nazarick. Within minutes, he found himself inside the meeting room again, this time with a strong heartbeat. Momonga felt his real self breathe heavily.
"Hoh… and here it is!"
At one of the sides of the meeting chamber, was a half-cylindrical opening. Within revealed a magnificent piece of artwork. The sword itself was a beauty beyond imagination; a blade, intricately carved with countless shifts in shape. Seven curves of masterful engravings, each depicting a serpent, raced down the sword with perfect symmetry. Every hole, every curve complemented the golden blade's beauty. An aura of death also radiated from its golden edge, starting out a dark red close to the sword and then changing to black, roughly tracing out the shape of the blade itself.
Its hilt, however, was the most breathtaking of all. Seven orbs of the purest jewels floated around it, perfectly arranged to surround the hilt. Momonga grasped the two-handed blade with both of his hands, despite the fact that he could easily wield it with one hand. He, however, just loved being reminded of "pulling the sword from the stone" scene from King Arthur.
With a faint click, the seven jewels flowed towards the hilt in perfect harmony, latching onto the sword's mechanisms. The sword's inner mechanisms rotated, not unlike a clockwork machine as its disk-like hilt collapsed towards the stabbing part of the blade, concealing the jewels and disguising the fact that it was a guild weapon.
The [Sword of Ainz Ooal Gown] was the masterpiece of all masterpieces, being the result of a whole year's worth of endless grinding by all of its forty-one members. The guildmates had played recklessly to craft this; using only the finest materials YGGDRASIL could offer. Some had spent their paid vacations to get this, some argued with their wives to make time, but in the end, it was worth it. It was the representation of the hardships and spirit of the entirety of Ainz Ooal Gown taken physical form, unlike Nazarick, which was mostly the result of the talented artists among them.
He lifted the blade as if drawing it from thin air. Then, he slashed downwards twice, drawing a gust of sharp wind and tracing an "x" in the air with the deathly aura the blade's tip left behind. Momonga chuckled, feeling empowered.
The guild weapon's sister blade was hidden within his inventory, but he didn't bring it out because it just felt cooler to have both of his hands stab the sword into the ground. Two large weapons, especially ones that looked different, did not look good on a person sitting on a throne if he held both of them.
"There's not much time left, huh? I suppose this will have to do, then."
His armored ring finger flashed for a moment and although there was no ring to be seen, any YGGDRASIL player could tell by its light that it was a guild ring working its magic as Momonga flashed to the throne room.
Taking seat once more, he opened up the master source and selected all of the Pleiades, including Sebas, who he felt was important, as the elderly man was Touch Me's creation. He typed in an order to have them all gather in the throne room.
"I hope they won't mind." He muttered to himself, guiltily sneaking a peek at Albedo. His instincts now scolded him to repair the mistake, but his brain noted the futility of such exercise.
Oh well, it looked like his conscience lost this time.
"What to do… what to do." Momonga felt an itch of restlessness, coupled with the uncomfortableness in sitting in a throne room alone and without another real person. He briefly thought of his mother, before shaking his head.
"Now's not the time."
Minutes later, just as Momonga was about to start swapping armor out of boredom, the battle maids, and Sebas opened the grand doors to the throne room, all walking with at the same pace in perfect single file; their motions polite yet robotic.
[12:48:32]
Just twelve minutes, huh.
Seeing all those NPCs, who were all the creations of his guildmates, he couldn't take it anymore. It made him think of the glory days. Of the good days. Days where he could mess around with all his friends, venting their frustrations onto the digital world and hunting down those blasted heteromorph exterminators.
With teeth gritted, he felt his real self's eyes moisten with tears. Why? Why couldn't they be here, just for the last time? Did they all abandon him? Even Touch, even Ulbert, did they all feel nothing as they abandon him? Hell anybody, even Luci fer; if anyone was here, he'd be glad!
Momonga took a deep breath.
His calls were still unanswered. He opened up his "social" tab again, nose stuffed and still panting from the tears and began scrolling. A small number of players on his friends list was still active, but most of these did not even reach the level of acquaintance anyways. More importantly, as he scrolled through the list, he noted the stark absence of any of his guildmates.
I should stop doing this. It's time for this to end. It was really fun while it lasted, everyone.
Leaning back against the throne, he peered up at the emblems hung onto the walls of the Lemegeton.
"Me. Touch Me. Herohero. Peroroncino. Bukubukuchagama. Tabula Smaragdina. Wizard Takemikazuchi. Variable Talisman. Genjiro-"
"B-bow" He sniffed, shaking his head.
The NPCs all fell to their knees.
[12:58:59]
I wonder if there'll be a post-game cutscene. Like the ones all MMORPGs have.
[12:59:10]
Would it show the highlights of my time here?
[12:59:30]
Or would it be a teaser for YGGDRASIL Mk. II?
[12:59:40]
I think it could be both.
[12:59:50]
But for some reason, I don't feel excitement at the thought of another game. Would I feel disappointed by what I find out about my guildmates? They all stopped playing, after all...
[12:59:59]
Alright, let's take a look at the cutscene, then I guess I'll leave. I have to wake up at 4 tomorrow.
[00:00:00]
…
YGG-WRD?
-WRD_True(11)
YGG-TOP?
-GD(8)
-WRCHP(2*2, 4*3, 7*8)
GD-MMBRS?
-MMBRS(1)
True
Executing…
[00:00:00]
[00:00:01]
[00:00:02]
[00:00:03]
Huh? Is this the cutscene?
Momonga was confused. He looked around the room, suddenly finding the graphics much clearer than before. The old animatedly vibrant graphics became much more… realistic, now with an incredible amount of detail in light and texture he could not have known before.
Is this the cutscene? If so, what are they trying to tell us? Did they make the graphics more realistic so emotional fans would have a better time switching back to reality? Or is this something else?
He stared down at his hand and made a few grasping motions.
Is that air I feel?
He then turned to instinctual memory, his right hand tapping thin air. Nothing happened.
Uwah… The console won't open!
Oh, now he was intrigued, albeit not in a good way. Moving his right hand again, he traced the familiar gestures for the settings menu. As if feeding on his dread, and, dare he admit it, his panic, neither panel nor screen came into view.
He tried everything. Report abuse, pause, inventory. Nothing seemed to be functional.
"The {GM Call} function isn't working either…" Momonga muttered, trailing the last word with worry. He raised a hand to stroke his chin and froze.
T-this… How?
He felt it. He felt all of it as he traced his head, feeling the misty tendrils of darkness crawl on his armored fingers. His senses were far more acute, too. He felt as if they could be amplified even further if he un-equipped his armor. As he looked towards his other hand, he realized that the throne's edge which he had been gripping so tightly applied actual pressure onto his hand. The smooth surface, the gold, the luxury. He could feel everything.
"Lord Momonga?" An angelic voice rang out.
He shifted in his seat in surprise, his senses immediately converging on the source of the voice.
He stared at the succubus long and hard, trying to discern anything. He held his breath, waiting, yet too afraid to confirm his suspicions himself.
"Lord Momonga?" Albedo spoke, this time with a cute tilt of her head. Momonga's brain lapsed.
"Lord Momonga! Is there something wrong?" The angelic demon cried out, moving closer to him; now right by his knee. A face of concern, genuine concern hung on her face.
As his eyes involuntarily moved down her body, Momonga's mind became a maelstrom of emotion. And as he was about to make a hasty retreat, he felt his back arch as a sharp pain stab its way into his neck. He heard the hissing of injectors and he felt hazy for a minute before his normal functions kicked back in. He breathed heavily, panting for air. Before he could freak out again, he noted something peculiar.
The expressions are all natural! Should I ask her to— No, what am I thinking? There's no way I could do that without freaking out. I have to try something else.
With bated breath, he leaned closer.
… And closer
… And closer
…Until he could feel the sound of her breath brush his ears. For some reason he couldn't divine, her breathing pattern had now become irregular.
He raised a palm and tenderly stroked Albedo's cheek, trailing his hand from eye level all the way to her neck. With an appalled expression, he could see that her face had heated up to the darkest shade of red and she squirmed in what looked like delight.
"Lord Momonga…" She breathed.
Holy shit, that would have counted as sexual harassment in YGGDRASIL. I know the system doesn't always detect that, but I deliberately made my motions very slowly. I can't be sure yet, but this can't be a new game. It would be a terrible marketing strategy.
Momonga knew his new theory would bite the dust if he groped someone and got suspended, but he just knew. He felt it. This was different.
"Ah…" Albedo smirked devilishly.
"So, Lord Momonga, what do you intend to do to me? Will you rava-"
The player choked internally, his eyeballs popped to the maximum as he realized that Sebas and the Pleiades were still in the room. He raised a hand to stop Albedo form continuing that line of thought and even though he didn't know what she meant by "ravage", he was sure it had no good will.
"W-we will discuss this at length… later." He coughed.
"My deepest apologies!" Albedo cried with conviction.
Um… Alright.
"Sebas?" He called out, though he was still deciding if it was okay to give orders.
Just do it, coward!
"My Lord?" The butler replied, raising his head. He was still kneeling.
"Gather some seekers and confirm the settings around the tomb. I leave whether or not scouting is necessary up to you." He calmly explained, remembering how Punitto Moe would speak when giving out orders or explaining battle plans.
"Contact me if there is anything important. I think I'll be assembling the guardians in an hour or so." He bullshitted, though he probably felt that it would be nice to meet the most important NPCs. Maybe he should do a tour around the tomb some time. He had not done so for quite a while now, since he spent most of his time managing the guild's finances, maintaining it and doing public raids in his [Enochian] disguise.
While YGGDRASIL was hard on its heteromorph players, players could use disguise cosmetics and cash items or racial abilities to prevent getting recognized as a heteromorph and then PKed. Doppelgängers were already a given, but races like demons could also assume human form. Sure, they might be seen through by seekers in a public group, but there were repercussions for quitting public raid groups and PKing your own teammate, so only the toxic try-hards would actually do so.
"As you wish, Supreme Being," Sebas spoke, not a trace of emotion on his face, though he was definitely alive.
Eh? Supreme Being? Is that one of the things Tabula put in the settings? But didn't Touch Me design him?
"O-okay. Pleiades, please guard the ninth floor against possible intruders."
"It will be done, my Lord!" They uniformly agreed.
The Pleiades each stood and bowed, leaving in a single line, though that line was no longer the perfect robotic column as it was previously. It felt much more pleasing to the eye, to be honest. Living beings (only technically, in the case of Yuri and Shizu) were much better than programs.
Let's review this… the NPCs came alive? And I am...
He could feel it. As faint and natural-feeling it was, he knew his body was different now. The enhanced senses, the constantly flowing darkness, and also his sixth sense, which tugged at him like a daughter would do to her father, telling him that there was a demon beside him.
I became my game avatar, huh?
He chuckled, earning a confused expression from Albedo.
So, if this is a new world, should I return to my old one? Let's ask Albedo. I believe Tabula set her up with a lot of intellect, as she is the guardian overseer.
"Albedo," He called, catching her attention. She probably sensed that he was going to ask a question, hence why she did not answer.
"Let's say… Hypothetically speaking, if you were transferred to another world, against your own will, would you return to your old one?" He managed to get out, nearly falling over his own words.
This is awkward. I can see why I didn't have any friends IRL.
"I wish to go to whatever world that my Lord, my beloved Momonga, resides in so I can serve him for eternity. Nothing shall stop me except the words of a Supreme Being." She answered automatically, almost like the words were written into her own settings. Well, it would have looked like that if there wasn't so much emotion when she said "Momonga".
That doesn't help at all! I really shouldn't have dirtied Tabula's NPC!
Momonga coughed, though it was very forced, raising a fist to his mouth, as if deep in thought.
"Umu. I see. Well then, gather all the floor guardians except Gargantua and Victim to the sixth floor. Something great has happened… I can feel it!" He spoke with fake enthusiasm, putting extra emphasis on what he hoped was the important words. He didn't give many presentations in the company he worked for, so he hoped his speechcraft was still somewhat good.
"Yes, my Lord!"
As the NPCs dispersed to do their tasks, the player gave a relieved sigh. It looked like the {Console} function was no more, but items? Those were probably still functional, judging by how he felt the power of the accessories flowing through himself and how the maid uniforms seemed harder than steel. Deciding not to arm himself, Momonga focused on the [Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown] and focused his thoughts on a location.
"Welcome to the floor which we guard, Lord Momonga!" The dark elf cheerily greeted, meeting the warrior with an enthusiastic smile.
"Greetings, Aura. Where's your brother?"
Aura blanched and after noticing the absence of her brother, however, her mood changed for the worse. Not wanting to cause any further trouble, Mare awkwardly jumped down from the VIP box, adjusting his skirt and trying not to kick up too much dust as he ran. Momonga had an amused smile as he viewed the twin crossdressers.
"Well, you two, sorry to intrude—"
"Nonsense, Lord Momonga! You are the master of this glorious dungeon; anyone would be honored by your presence!" Aura yelled, hands balled into fists.
"... I see. Well, there is thi—"
"Ooh! Ooh! Is that the sword only you, the leader of the Supreme Beings can wield, a sword of unparalleled power?"
"... Indeed…" Momonga sweated, after having just moved the sword from his inventory. He had played around with his personal storage in the arena entrance. He couldn't say that he had it nailed down just yet, but he felt using it regularly would just take some more experimentation and practice.
The [Sword of Ainz Ooal Gown] had no sheath to match its looks and power, the reason being mostly that if someone wanted to make a set with combination bonuses, sheathes and sheath-shields required at least 90% of the weapon's quality rating. Sure, something similar to [Avalon] for the guild weapon would massively increase his own power, but to do that, he would need seven more god-level items to craft it. This way, it was usually better to just beef up the sword as much as possible.
Dual links, on the other hand… Momonga stopped himself from thinking so much.
Momonga had spent the years where he was alone optimizing his build for solo play… After much testing, his final decision was to devote combat to abilities to defense in a roughly 5:4:3 ratio.
Back to the matter on hand, Momonga no longer felt the urge to brag about the weapon's functions. He was going to do it on instinct, but he didn't want to be interrupted again. He waited until the twins finished with their ramblings and spoke again.
"As you may know, this weapon has not seen much action. I wish to run some tests with it." He was conflicted as to whether or not to explain further like any good boss would do, but after seeing the twins' full belief in his wisdom, he felt it would be awkward to do so.
Wait, I'll have to act like a leader in front of them, right? Uwah… looks like I'm not off the hook of responsibility yet!
After realizing he was in a position he was neither prepared for nor had knowledge in, he sweated internally.
At least we'll find out if my skills can work.
The two dragon-kin marched with a cumbersome stride, both carrying bulky humanoid statues of metal, each adorned with a jewel on where their faces would be.
These were golems.
In YGGDRASIL, the golem was a playable heteromorphic race, but anyone with a good crafting skill could make golems as well, though they were just NPCs that could help in combat or carry things around. CZ2128, for example, was a mid-tier golem gunner/assassin hybrid.
As the two dragonkin set the golems down, Momonga couldn't help but sweat for the umpteenth time in a single day.
Uwah… that looks expensive!
The golems selected were around level 60, but they possessed numerous tanking skills equivalent to that of a level 70 monster. Their bodies, while not made out of any high tier prismatic ore, still valued in the hundred thousand range and that was ignoring the giant gems larger than human heads that served as their core.
Is it really okay to break them?
"The golems are ready, Lord Momonga!" Aura announced cheerfully, waving her hands to the two dragonkin servants, who hurriedly stepped back.
I can't just say I want different test subjects after those two brought the golems here. You'll have to forgive me, guildmates.
Momonga took a deep breath and his feet broke into a combat stance, surprising himself at the fluidity of his motions.
There's no longer a combat console, but if I focus on my instincts, I know what motions to make. Of course, I learned a bit about sword fighting IRL after I took the [Fighter] class, but this combat knowledge far surpasses anything taught on earth…
He almost moved his other hand to draw another sword, as usual for his class but resisted the urge. That wouldn't be needed here.
With a loud whistle from Aura, the golems sprang into motion, spreading out to two opposite directions.
A pincer attack? You won't get there in time.
As the golems approached, Momonga readied the guild weapon. With a signal of mana sent into the blade, the sword released the red gem, letting it roll down the blade until it fell into an opening on its length.
He smirked.
"[Red Dawn]!"
The fiery gem glowed in power, its red glow running down one of the serpents engraved into the blade. The wind began to billow around him, the air pulsing with crimson energy. With a horizontal slash too fast to see, a wave of red energy eclipsed everything in his sight, incinerating the golems within seconds. Swirls of dust were swept by the resulting winds, surely blowing back anything near its range.
Aura and Mare have their jaws unhinged, watching the scene with barely contained honor and pride for their master. Sure, defeating two level 60 golems with a single attack was nothing to be impressed with, but they had both felt the power of that sword. And to think he incinerated the golems without even making any craters, they thought. It was an exceptional showmanship of power control.
Indeed, they were almost correct. Momonga had aimed the power very carefully in order to only scorch the ground a little. Most structures in YGGDRASIL were indestructible, but he was pretty sure that this world had some actual physics to it. If he had been less careful of its function, he probably would have made a giant crater and there was no way he was paying for that.
Momonga felt the rushing of wind around him die down and took time to reflect. The attack he just used was an AOE divine class item skill, which was named [Red Dawn]. It eclipsed everything several hundred meters in front of the user with a red glow, but there was a height limit of around fifty meters. Anything with a lower than 40 physical defense rating would get rag-dolled by the wind caused by the energy, but that was if they weren't incinerated or blinded immediately. A powerful skill, but it could only be used so many times a day.
A powerful skill for average builds, at least. Any player with heat immunity, specializations in tanking, or a buffer specializing in defensive spells could take the attack head-on.
He had been sufficiently surprised when he first saw an attack like that, but to see it with a real pair of eyes, it was a completely different experience. When he stood in a pose after executing the skill, he was not doing so to look cool, but rather that he was completely in awe of its effects.
Slowly, he lowered the guild weapon, storing it back into his inventory.
"Well, I would usually be doing more, but it seems the blade is in perfect function. Now, I've called all the floor guardians here."
"Even… even Shalltear, Lord Momonga?"
"Indeed, Aura. I intend to put all the denizens of Nazarick to good use, now that a prime opportunity has arrived."
Aura and Mare shivered, sending maliciousness building within their master. "A-and what will this opportunity be, Lord Momonga?"
"I intend to have Sebas report this. You will be assigned to new tasks soon."
That was a good idea, Satoru thought. If he had to be a boss who had supposedly loyal subordinates, he needed to give them a certain amount of freedom in the outside world. One of the ways Satoru's company did this was helping fund YGGDRASIL's development, which helped employees relieve their stress in an otherwise polluted world with no future in sight.
Oh, that's right. The NPCs came to life. Momonga's mind still staggered at the possibilities of that. If he was still in Helheim, he would have liked to chat with Mephistopheles, one of his favorite NPCs. The demon had become almost a meme within the community, with his own fan artwork that Momonga had saved into his library.
"By the way, Mare. Is there anyone you can connect with [Message]? Any members of our guild? Anyone outside of Nazarick?"
Dammit, he was so stupid! Momonga wanted to slap himself in the face. He had gotten so wrapped up about the thought of getting trapped in a game world that he had forgotten about contacting other players or the GMs.
"A-ah, I am not worthy to be referred to as a member of the Supreme beings, Lord Momonga. Please forgive me for my worthlessness, but I- this one does not sense any Player entities outside of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.'
Momonga blinked. Was that a fourth wall break, or just how NPCs referred to players as? He hoped it would be the latter, judging by how Mare said "entities". On the other hand, this could be interesting. Perhaps all the other players were gathered at some kind of event after this happened. However…
He had to check for himself. Reaching into his inventory, he found and dusted the [Message Ring]. Holding his hand out, he willed for one of his rings to dissipate back into his inventory, the new ring replacing it.
This ring lets me use [Message] without any cost. I wonder if it'll work on NPCs?
[Message] was one of those spells that the devs let everyone have, just for convenience's sake. However, he wanted to try an item with an active skill again.
There was the chance that Mare's lack of findings was due to a divination barrier or the like and who knows, maybe Sebas was killed already. There was a world item capable of deceiving guild information systems, making it look like Sebas was still alive on the NPC list when in fact, he was dead. However, Momonga doubted those rouges would be organizing something like this.
After all, they had not attacked during the last hour of YGGDRASIL, so he assumed that was just his paranoia.
Like a lone seeker in the woods, the mana he realized dashed from side to side, leaving the ring. His instincts told him the channel for players, but it seemed that there were none. Curious, Momonga focused it on one of the NPCs.
My Lord? The voice of Sebas rang in his head.
It connected, he thought. How convenient.
"Sebas, how goes the outside world?"
There was a slight pause and Momonga's throat hitched.
How do I put this, my Lord… we are now on grass plains.
Momonga paused. While there were many plains in YGGDRASIL, the way Sebas said it told him that this wasn't familiar.
"Very well. Make your report on the sixth floor. Return with haste."
Understood, Lord Momonga!
Satoru sighed. He tried speaking like a medieval king, but he was not confident that it sounded right. The air was silent for several minutes, with the twins staring at him in apprehension and Momonga confused as to what to do.
"Mare and Aura, I will be gone to collect my thoughts now. Alert me with a [Message] spell when the guardians begin arriving."
"Understood, my Lord!"
Just as he was about to teleport away, his senses found a peculiar sound; one he knew too well. It was the sound of a [Gate] spell. His shoulders tensed at the thought of someone attacking Nazarick, but he remembered that the guardians would probably find it more convenient to just teleport.
"My my, am I the first one here?" A melodious voice rang out, its tone childish but far more malicious in nature. Momonga felt his insides chill a bit.
Shalltear Bloodfallen…
A formidable foe, Momonga mused. Hopefully, he would never have to fight her, because it would be a disrespect to her creator.
That said, how do the NPCs view us, who are technically their creators? This would make for an interesting book. As he brushed off such thoughts, he had another lightbulb pop over his head.
"You are here early, Shalltear."
The guardian bowed curtly, making Momonga both uncomfortable and ego-stroked at the same time.
Did I do something wrong? I just thought social people would greet others whenever possible.
It seemed his worry was all for naught, however, as Shalltear smiled in genuine delight.
"My deepest apologies, Lord Momonga. I just couldn't wait at the thought of seeing the one man I cannot rule above!"
He sweated internally. Why did his friends have to all make their female NPCs batshit insane?
"Very well, then, Shalltear. Let's wait for your fellow guardians to arrive."
He had originally planned to have a conversation with her to poke around the NPC's personality, but he had cowered away when the time came. And why did it smell like mint scented pads, of all things?
After a short-lived round of banter between Aura and Shalltear, the rest of the floor guardians began to gather. First was Cocytus, the insectoid Niflheim Knight. His guild member Wizard Takemikazuchi created him, as the sorcerer had originally planned to be a warrior, but he chose wrong on a whim, so he wanted to embody the traits that he wished for in a warrior into his NPC.
The damn sorcerer used to complain on a daily basis about how he wanted to be a noble warrior, Momonga recalled. But he was already mid-leveled as a caster when Nine's Own Goal (their original guild) formed, so he didn't want to bother his guildmates with respeccing. It was then that the player stuck with the world of magic instead. The man was ecstatic upon finding out about the [Perfect Warrior] spell but was dismayed after learning he could beat neither Touch Me nor Momonga, who were both World Champion grade fighters.
The spell was mostly for fun, to be honest. There were many similar abilities given out to players of every class, allowing them to curb stomp low-leveled enemies with as much fun factor as possible. [Killing Intent] passives were the head of such abilities, making weak-willed mobs drop dead or flee by just the presence of players. They were given to most races or classes. Undead, on the other hand, had basically no emotion, so they had different "funbilities", as he liked to call them.
Well, [Killing Intent] was useless against anything below level 60, so it really wasn't that useful. Of the last group of guardians who arrived, there was Demiurge, who walked beside Albedo. Momonga sixth sense flared at the presence of another demon, much like it had with Albedo.
Now, for the real question. Who would win if I was in a fight with Cocytus?
In the game, the answer would definitely be Momonga. He was a player; and even though NPCs were known for perfectly timing their attacks with incredible accuracy, Momonga was still a human with improvisational skills and planning. However, that wouldn't apply here. Perhaps Cocytus was a cut above him now in mental capacity.
Then it was high reason to let him stay loyal, Momonga shrugged.
What would he want? Gold? But would such a warrior really want that...
However, he had Cocytus beat in any stat parameter. Upon finding the secret [Symbiote] race, he didn't invest a terrible amount into special combat skills. Instead, he chose the passive and active abilities that would push his stats through the limit, winning him many battles. While diversity in skillset was a good thing, keeping what limited options you had always with you was by no means a bad thing.
If anyone asked him why he didn't use many special skills, the obvious answer would be…
Fun, of course. Momonga enjoyed the real touch of blades and movement of his body over hotkeying thousands of strange skills that were more magic than anything. And upon finding that he had an above average physical reaction speed, he was more than glad in choosing the [Champion] class, a class which relied heavily on physical prowess. He obtained this tier 2 class after leveling up [Fighter] to its maximum, 15.
This didn't mean he had no special skills, however. His Special stat was very high because he needed to improve his stat buff skills, but also because of one of his trump cards…
Enough with the bragging, Momonga decided. He had zoned out for a while as the guardians gave their "pledge of fidelity" and although he was not certain of what exactly that meant, he could piece it together, judging by what the guardians had each said.
"Now, Guardians. The Great Tomb of Nazarick has been transported to a different realm, no doubt caused by the meddling of those troublesome angels and gods. Sebas will give you a report of our situation." He turned to the old butler, who stood behind one of the arena pillars.
Well, old in a technical way. If you were to count the years in which they had lived, Momonga was at least four times as old as Sebas. He'd prepared this speech in advance when he thought of Seraphim and the other guilds that constantly harassed Ainz Ooal Gown. If only he'd been a magic caster— that way he'd have more measures to deal with those bastards.
He expected the NPCs to recognize Seraphim, but he received nothing in the way of that. He hissed, remembering those times where the enemy guilds poked at Nazarick. He would be powerless to stop many of their extremely advanced magical assaults, the highest tiers of divination and teleportation magic combined with the best items directly hopping over the tomb's defenses. By the time he'd made that lost money back and developed countermeasures, it was too late. Most of those guilds either quit entirely and were immediately raided or became extremely defensive as the game came to a close.
He stopped thinking about those things; time to deal with the matter at hand. He heard Sebas begin speaking.
"Thank you, my Lord. From what the Pleiades, Eight Edge, and I have gathered, the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick is now located in the middle of grass plains, with no animals or sentience in sight as far as our eyes can see. The grass itself is harmless and the skies are clear. There are insects, but they are just insects; they pose no threat to Nazarick."
"Is this place like Midgard?" Momonga inquired.
"Unlikely, my Lord. I fear your words earlier were correct. The grass and insects resemble those found all over the harmless areas of the Nine Realms, but they appear to be of different species. I would suggest having Mare or any of the druids we have to confirm this." Sebas calmly explained. The "different species" part piqued the interest of Demiurge, who appeared excited at the thought of such things.
"Is that so… Anything else, Sebas?"
"We spotted a forest not far from our location. If you would like, we can begin scouting immediately."
Momonga stroked his chin. If this world (assuming this was a different one) was anything like YGGDRASIL, he expected there to be many magic casters and warriors (the most popular options in the game). If that was the case, he would like to conceal the presence of the guild base immediately. However, he was completely in the dark here in terms of actual information.
And suddenly, he was very scared. Scared of the possibility of having to face off those with malicious intent. Scared of the loneliness. Scared of everything and the new burden that was placed on him.
"Do any of you guardians have a suggestion for concealing Nazarick?" Momonga spoke. The floor guardians all froze, ransacking their brains for potential ideas, but then immediately disposed of all of them due to fear of scolding from their master.
Unexpectedly, it was Mare who broke the silence.
"I-if I may, Lord Momonga, I can conceal the walls of Nazarick with dirt and disguise it as a hill."
"You dare suggest coating the walls of glorious Nazarick with dirt? Insolent child!" Albedo practically hissed.
"Silence, Albedo. Such steps may be necessary to ensure our safety. Honor means nothing if we are dead" Momonga reasoned.
"My deepest apologies, my Lord." Albedo apologized, her head now hung low in sincere emotion. If anyone were to look beyond that, however, they would see the smirk of a madman who had learned more about his prey.
"Plus, do not interrupt anyone while they are speaking." He rose his voice, earning a flinch from Aura.
Momonga panicked. The unintended attack towards Aura… the twins were loyal children, but he felt the twins could be easily manipulated, unlike Albedo or Sebas, who seemed to be fully loyal.
"Aura, have a Druid compare the native species of this world with our own. Mare, your suggestion is excellent… but I would like to hear some more. Demiurge?"
The fiend rose his head. "My Lord, it is an honor to have been given the chance to speak," The demon cleared his throat.
"While Mare's suggestion has merit, there exists measures for detecting seismic or conjuration magic, which Mare will no doubt be using. If we are in the territories of another kingdom, there may have been already such detection systems installed. Illusion magic, on the other hand, may be seen through, as we have no measure of the abilities of this "new world'. In either case, illusion magic should be used as there are areas we cannot cover with the earth. This way, the better choice are illusions. I feel it would be best to temporarily use illusion magic to conceal Nazarick while we perform a stealthy aerial survey of the area. This, of course, acts under the assumption that this world functions with laws similar to the Nine Realms. Aerial surveys are less likely to be detected…" The demon went on.
Momonga's brain farted. This really wasn't his job… Well, at least he was learning. It was apparent that Demiurge had him beat in intelligence, there was no doubt to that. Then the most obvious thing to do was to keep Demiurge loyal, lest he tries to take the throne for himself.
"Then we will do that. Does anyone else have a suggestion?" Momonga spoke.
The arena became silent again.
"Very well then, I have one last question for you guardians. What do you think of me?"
He turned to the vampire first. "Shalltear?"
"The strongest man in the world; the crystallization of power itself!" The True Vampire all but moaned.
"Cocytus?"
"The. Champion. Of. Champions. And. A. Most. Honorable. Warrior." The insectoid spoke, not concealing his emotions by the way his halberd impacted against the ground loudly.
"Demiurge?"
"The warrior who stands on top of the brutes of the world, as well as a wise and inscrutable leader. We are blessed to serve you, Supreme Being."
"Aura?"
"The most powerful person ever! No stronger will ever exist!"
"Mare?"
"A-a fearsome warrior. I pity the enemies of Nazarick."
"Sebas?"
"The only champion equal to my creator, Touch Me, as well as the only one of the Supreme Beings merciful enough to stay behind with us."
"And finally, Albedo?"
"The one Supreme Being who stands above the rest as their leader, and also the man I love…" The succubus spoke dreamily.
"...I see. I have taken your views into consideration. Now then, guardians, continue to serve me well!"
Ending his speech with an excited tone, Momonga flashed away. Finding some peace and quiet within one of the second-floor hallways.
"Why do they have such a high image of me?" He wailed.
"Let's see… the guardians all mentioned my power. Power, power, power… That's it! They respect me for my power. But isn't that a bad way of leadership? But aren't all of them set to be completely loyal to the guild?
"Ugh, so frustrating. I just don't know anything! But if there's one thing I'm sure of, is that I have their respect because I'm strong. That means I can't ever lose this strength…"
He drew the [Somas] from his inventory, swinging one of its blades in a downwards stroke too fast to observe. The area he stood in filled with a blast of wind, its pressure alone destroying the waves of skeletons that filled the corridor.
"Friendly fire is enabled too… that may work to my advantage or not. I have to keep this type of strength if I want to keep my head. For my sake and the guild's."
As he muttered those words, a new determination filled the player.
A/N:
The first chapter is done! The second will be out soon, I've already written it, just need to edit.
So, you might not have noticed, but things have already gone a lot differently for Momonga. I tried my best to make these things easy to find in the text, but in summary:
Everyone views him differently (I'll leave it to you to figure out in which ways)
Because of this, he interprets many things differently, with both beneficial and negative consequences.
-He's not an undead. There'll be consequences...
-He's ridiculously powerful, but he is not a magic caster. Think, where's his Despair Aura?
-His goals in the New World will be altered slightly. There will still be a kingdom, this I promise.
-You're mom gay lol
Yep, Momonga being kind of stupid isn't helping anyone here. Although he was eager to learn, he still sucked at ruling and most of his successes are either through overwhelming power, luck, or his genius NPCs (Demi and Albedo). He also is terrible at determining who is actually loyal to his cause.
Last note, I do apologize for rushing through things. I'd like to get this intro part over with soon. Momo needs to show off his pro skillz to the sunlight scripture. That's literally one of the two main things in Overlord; overwhelming MC power and also political drama.