E-Rantel Escalation

I DO NOT OWN OVERLORD.

Had to break this chapter into two, since it is already like 12K words. Not sure if I found a good point to end this part. Will post the second part soon.

It was another slow day in the 'Broken Spear Inn'. The patrons were almost all regulars of the establishment: generally, men with the aura of slight danger around them. The windows were closed, and so the interior was somewhat dark. People who were used to the light outside would probably not be able to see their hands stretched out in front of their faces. However, the customers here were all used to navigating in the darkness or half-darkness, so they could see clearly with this meager amount of illumination.

The inside of the building was quite spacious. The first floor was a dining area, with a counter further within. That counter was backed by shelves that contained dozens of bottles of alcohol. The door beside the counter led to a kitchen.

In the far corner of that dining area sat a lone woman. She looked to be 20 years old or younger, she had untidy red hair that was trimmed short, her features weren't ugly or overly pretty and her eyes were sharp. Her beauty would be considered natural as she didn't wear makeup and her skin was tanned due to the exposure to the sun. Girl's name was Brita. She was an Iron Ranked Adventurer who was talented with the sword.

Indeed. Almost all the patrons of 'Broken Spear Inn' were adventurers of low-to-mid rank. Most of them were using this Inn not only as the place to get a good drink and share whatever scraps of information they had with their team and fellows, but also to scout out promising newbie adventurers. After all, this would be the place most copper plates would go when they just signed up with the local Guild.

Suddenly, a weird chill went through the adventurers of the Inn. It was an eerie thing, one person shuddered, then another, a wave of shudders went through whole Inn. Brita let out a breath, but she didn't see it become steam, the actual temperature in the room didn't change. Then came the heartbeat. Each of them started hearing their heartbeat become louder and faster. To Brita it was deafening. She felt as if some invisible hand was slowly strangling her. She could feel herself breath in and out great amounts of air, but she was still feeling her mind slowly slip. Darkness was slowly closing in, her eyes piratically closed.

Then, it all ended. She opened her eyes and saw everyone else in the Inn do the same.

"What the hell was that?" Someone asked. Brita was wondering the same thing.

The fortress city of E-Rantel was everything a fantasy novel reader would expect: high stone walls, vaguely medieval-looking buildings, impressive looking manors that belonged to local nobility and merchants, unimpressive looking hovels which were owned by everyone else, as well as no sign of modern plumbing, pavement or even basics of sanitary norms. It was six days after the supposed end of Yggdrasil.

Still, Momonga supposed, if one were to look at it as a place that was built before the advent of electricity, complex machinery, steam engines and even cement, this place looked positively grandiose. He could even understand why some Guilds decided to make castles and fortresses like this as their Bases, despite them being a horrible place to defend against foes who could fly, teleport and needed to merely cast a portal spell to draw reinforcements inside the defensive walls.

It was kind of nice to enter into the town and to see people milling around at the market square, looking at the wares, buying, selling and arguing over a price of every little thing. On the other side of the road one would see a line of taverns where one could find a drink, a bed, or even someone to share those two with. If Momonga was an average novel or manga protagonist a small kid would have bumped into him while trying to steal few coins for himself and his friends.

But Momonga was not an average novel protagonist. Which is why he was currently under the effect of [Mass Perfect Unknowable], several defense enhancing buffs, had multiple Wraiths and Ghosts acting as his perimeter guards and was ready to teleport away the moment he or his summons came under attack. He also already had scouted the city for any sign of powerful mobs or Players using few scrying methods he could use as well as his ghost-type undead to [Phase] or [Possess] through the guards and obstacles.

He already had an entire surveillance network around the whole city ready to inform him of any abnormalities. Of course, there was also a cost for his preparations. Unlike Yggdrasil, where he had a separate control scheme to order his summons around, he now commanded them using a small mental connection, almost like a string between him and his servants' minds.

When he only had Belius, he could manipulate the Death Knight like his own arm, perfectly limiting or directing his actions. When he was moving through the forest with his small army, he only needed to give one command, go forward, fight only if attacked. He of course sometimes redirected them, but it was just a single command to all the undead he or his summons controlled.

Now however, he had connection to Belius and the army that he left in the woods slightly away from the city gate, his own guards and a dozen lesser Wraiths and Ghosts he has spread all over the city points of interest. It was most likely inability of human 'Satoru' to comprehend the mental connections an Overlord like 'Momonga' could establish and maintain. He could control them, but he needed to pinpoint the string he had to pull. He was fairly sure the voice commands would have been easier to use, but under the [Perfect Unknowable] no one can hear you, not even your allies, not to mention that people would have noticed some sort of odd voice calling from nothingness to nothingness.

And so, Momonga went around the town, looking at the sights while he and his small guard were spreading an aura of death, decay and fear to all the unsuspecting people around them through their natural output of negative energy.

In the inner part of E-Rantel, behind the third ring of walls, an administrative heart of the city could be found. Multiple important buildings were located there including a VIP Villa where the Royal Family would live while in the city, several archives and libraries as well as massive Mansion.

This Mansion, while not as luxurious as the King's Villa, could be considered the location of the highest authority in the region. That is because E-Rantel, unlike most other cities on the Kingdom was not directly controlled by a feudal lord of some sort. It was owned by the King Rampossa directly and in his absence all the administrative power fell to the hands of the Mansion's owner – Mayor of E-Rantel, Panasolei Guruze Dale Rettenmaier.

Which is why this Mansion was currently visited by Gazef Stronoff himself.

"I'm telling you, Panasolei-dono, it is impossible for me and my Warrior-Troop to cover the whole region without the risk of being simply picked off one by one or some other villages being burned before we could respond."

The man Gazef was facing was not a pleasant looking one. If one wanted to be rude when describing the Mayor, first thing they would mention would be: fat — no, frankly speaking, the man was almost entirely made up of fat. His belly was rounded and flabby, and his chins were overflowing with adipose tissue. The excess of fat made Panasolei look like a bulldog. However, while this appearance could make one doubt the man's competence or military understanding, doing so would be a mistake.

"And I'm telling you, respected Warrior-Captain-dono, deploying soldiers to the villages would only send them to their deaths. We both know how skilled the Imperial Knights could be"

Such was the problem of utilizing militia-like unprofessional army. While lord's own retinue could generally be composed of highly skilled warriors, this unit would be rarely capable of acting in multiple locations due to their number, while unskilled peasant militias and green recruits could rarely be effective in the direct battle against the professional soldiers.

"There has to be some way of protecting this place, if we coul~" Gazef's sentence was interrupted when the both men heard a knocking on the door.

"Enter" called out Panasolei.

"Excuse me Stronoff-sama, Panasolei-sama, several messages have been delivered here, to the Manor, a few moments ago, all of them are marked 'Important' and are addressed to you, Panasolei-sama" Mayor's assistant called out from outside the office.

"From whom are the messages?"

"One from Adventurer's Guild, one from Magician's Guild, two from the City Guard and one from each temple of the Four Gods"

"…What is going on here?" Both men wondered at the same time.

At the same time, in the middle part of E-Rantel as similar meeting was conducted.

"So, it is the same on your side?" a powerful-looking middle-aged man asked. He had an aura of a mighty veteran about him. There was no doubt that he was an excellent warrior. His name was Ainzach Pluton, he was the Guildmaster of E-Rantel's Adventurer Guild.

"Yes, unexpected feeling of cold, followed by the overwhelming dread, no signs of poisons, illnesses or hallucinogens detected" the answer came from a very old woman, and both her face and hands were heavily wrinkled. Her hair, which reached to her eyebrows, was pure white. She was wearing work clothes which seemed green and smelt heavily of grass. Lizzie Bareare, the best herbalist/alchemist in E-Rantel.

This meeting was conducted between "civilians", but their combined influence could easily overcome the influence of any city officials, including the mayor. Here, the most powerful among those who lived in the second layer of the city met to discuss a series of similar events that have been reported or experienced by them. Adventurers, Magicians, Priests, Merchants and other patricians of E-Rantel were gathered here by a coincidence. While they set out on investigations separately, process of meeting same people and visiting same areas resulted in the joining of forces and information.

"I see, Theo, what have you found?" Ainzach addressed Theo Rakesheer, leader of the local Magician's Guild.

"We didn't detect any traces of magic in the affected areas" the skinny looking man answered. "Which makes this all more suspicious"

"How?" Someone of the people in the meeting couldn't help but ask.

"Well, you see, faint traces of magic are not that uncommon within our city. Normal utility spells leave them, as do most good potions, not to mention the enchanted items. Even without my fellow magic casters doing anything, there should be something" He took a breath to continue "But the areas are completely clean of them, someone must have used incredibly powerful concealment spell, or maybe a spell that would dissipate the traces."

"So, we can't use that method to make sure" Ainzach concluded. "Well then, we can now only guess what could have done this, considering the circumstances of our city, a High Wraith, or something of similar nature"

Unlike most cities, E-Rantel had a very massive graveyard. It is due to the clashes between Kingdom and the Empire. Every year, two armies would meet in a short battle and there would be casualties on both sides. If the bodies of people were not properly buried and they were not mourned the possibility of Undead rising was fairly high. Which is why the graveyard of E-Rantel was used to bury killed soldiers and to have services performed to make souls rest. Still, even then undead rose sometimes in the graveyard, forcing the city of wall it off and then for groups of city guard and adventurers to exterminate the undead before they could pose significant threat. However, a High Wraith could just go through the walls and its negative aura would inspire a feeling of fear and death into the people around it, like the one the one many have reported.

"A High Wraith is not an average weak undead that could rise just like that, nor can it use that kind of magic to remove the traces, someone must have summoned it" one of the Adventurers that joined the meeting said.

"Indeed, which means there is something wrong happening within the city, most likely the graveyard, where one could gather the energy of the dead and undead to power such a spell. I propose we petition the Mayor to allow us an investigation into that place." Ainzach said.

His proposal was met with a wave of approval from almost everyone present and the plans on who would join the investigation team were being drawn up. In all that activity, no one noticed a lone figure hurriedly slip from the room.

"What is this language? How the hell are they reading this?" Momonga was muttering under his breath. He managed to find a small library that belonged to the Magician Guild. While the building had some intrusion countermeasures, he managed to dispel several and slip in one of his summons. He then used as spell that allowed him to perceive world from its POV.

However, all the texts he picked up were written in letters he did not understand. Satoru knew Japanese and a bit of English, he could also distinguish several Asian written languages, if not understand them. But this was completely different.

What made this so bizarre was the fact that people spoke in Japanese. Yet somehow, they used a different alphabet for everything else.

Or… were they not talking in Japanese? That thought set off several alarm clocks in Momonga's mind. He had little proof anyone actually spoke Japanese. He had assumed they did since he was thinking in Japanese, but could he just know their language like how he knew his skill and how to use them?

Different languages were a thing in Yggdrasil. They were not actual languages, but a parameter of certain items, characters and abilities. For example, Momonga who had the ability [Speak Evil Tongues] could interact with certain NPCs which were meant to only speak in "Evil Tongues". Someone could circumvent this by using special magic items, just like Momonga could circumvent language barrier with his Magical Glasse~. Of course!

If one somehow could see through Momonga's [Perfect Unknowable] they could see him suddenly facepalm himself. This was because he could probably just read the unknown letters using one of his magical items, assuming enchantments worked the same way in this world.

Back in Yggdrasil, Momonga could interact with scrolls and books "written" in different languages thanks to the set of Magical Glasses which would automatically translate any written language. Of course, the actual text of the in-game books was in Japanese and the "Language" parameter of the book was meant to limit the accessibility of information inside.

This was done to add a bit more of mystery to the game, where player could find potentially important book, but could not actually use it, since it was written in some different Tongue. Same for some random NPCs which could point to some treasures, but only spoke one Tongue.

There was a problem however, he would need to manually read the texts since he only had one set of these and was unwilling to give them to a random weak summon.

"It seems I will have to spend a while here" Momonga muttered.

It was already evening when Nfirea Bareare closed his family laboratory, he had to do it alone since his grandmother was called to a meeting of sorts among E-Rantel's wealthier residents. Normally he would have stayed doing his work later, but today he had some other things to do. His grandmother Lizzie told him about a gossip that one of her friends heard while talking to the visiting soldiers. The gossip told that the Warrior-Captain Gazef Stronoff and his Warrior Troop has come to E-Rantel in order to counter the Baharuth Empire's Knights who were spotted burning down frontier villages.

There were no specifics in the gossip, so he didn't know which villages were gone and who survived. The thoughts of Carne Village and his dear friend, Enri Emmot filled him. Was she okay? Were they affected by the raids? If they were, how could he help them? He could propose Enri to move into E-Rantel and help around the shop.

These and similar thoughts were in his head during the whole day while he manned the potion shop and admittedly it affected his performance. Often, he caught himself spacing out deep in thought while worrying about the girl he had interest in. He had to check everything out by himself, or the thought would keep on torturing him forever.

However, before he could start planning a trip to Carne, he had to confirm the gossip. It would be foolish for him to show up there, only because someone heard something wrong and no attacks actually happened. So, as soon as the shop could be closed he planned to rush outside and go into the outer city layer, where he could find the barracks the Warrior Troop would occupy.

Alas, this was not meant to happen. Nfirea was so occupied by his thoughts and preparations that he completely missed how a slim figure came into his shop and casually sat down on the countertop. Only when he moved towards the door, Nfirea noticed it.

Before him sat a pretty, yet vaguely unsettling young woman. Her blonde hair swayed in the wind. She was wearing a cloak with what looked like a mesh armor of sorts underneath. He could see several blade handles sticking from under the cloak.

Surprised, Nfirea had to ask:

"…May, may I ask who you are?"

The woman simply smiled, but that smile looked even more malicious than her equipment.

"Yes~ my name is Clementine, you don't know me, but I know a fair bit about you~"

"A-ah, the shop is closed for today, please come tomorrow for any business"

"Hm? Ehehehe~ Well you see, my business here cannot be postponed. I came to kidnap you~ I need someone to use the spell which summons a biiiiiiig horde of undead, [Undeath Army], so could you be my magic item? Onee-chan's begging you~"

"Ah, well… I'm sorry then, [Acid Arrow]"

Nfirea was not a great combatant, despite being able to use 2nd Tier Magic. So, after hurling a spell at the girl, he rushed for exit.

However, before he reached the door, the woman was already there, still smiling as if nothing happened.

He felt an armored fist dig into his stomach. Breath was punched out of him in one instance. Nfirea kneeled from the pain. He felt Clementine put a hand under his chin and lift it. She was looking down on him with a cruel expression.

"I'm sorry I can't play with your more~ Khaji-chan says we have to accelerate our plans due to some circumstances~. Well, at least this means I can play with Gazef-chan now. That should be fun~"

With this words Clementine delivered a single fast punch to his temple. And Nfirea could see no more.

"It's already late evening huh…" Momonga muttered while walking down the street under the disguise of [Perfect Unknowable] once more.

It took Momonga many hours to dig through the Magician Guild's library. None of the books he saw were familiar to him and most were named in a manner that made it hard for him to distinguish if the text was some sort of biography of a renowned magic caster, a dissertation on a nature of magic, a detailed instruction on how some spell should be used or all of these combined.

Still, he managed to get some perspective on the Magical knowledge of this place. The tomes inside confirmed that they were using Yggdrasil's magic system. It seemed that the most widespread magic was of the 1st and 2nd Tier for the humans of these lands. 3rd to 5th Tiers were only used by very skilled or talented, with many being legendary heroes some of whom are considered the pinnacle that a human could achieve. And 6th tier was a mythical magic only the greatest mortal magic casters could use.

Anything beyond that was something from the legends and magical theories were discussing it as something that should be possible, when massive ceremonies are conducted by incredibly powerful magicians or maybe even gods.

That fact made Momonga feel very underwhelmed. He assumed that the knights and the mobs he met in the forest were just very weak beings who could only prey on the helpless peasants, but it seems now that most humans here were incredibly weak when compared to him.

What he noticed however, was the comparison in the power between a Magic caster and a Warrior with their competence measured in the spells and [Martial Arts] they could use.

Momonga didn't know what Martial Arts were meant here, but they could be the abilities he saw several beings perform in the Forest. He needed to find out the knowledge on these Martial Arts, but there was no Warrior's Guild here, if such thing existed at all.

Then, he sensed a presence near him.

Momonga turned towards the presence, it seemed like his [Undead Blessing], a skill that allowed him to perceive other undead, was triggered. What he saw was a Ghost.

Ghosts were type of low tier undead that like Wraiths relied on stealth and their ability to phase through walls. However, a Ghost was even worse combatant than the Wraith, with the latter one having better stats and abilities. Still, Ghosts were good scouts and could be used to manipulate mobs into infighting through their ability to [Possess].

Momonga also used them to scout out the city, now many guard were walking around possessed. He instructed his Ghosts to not interfere with the guards' activities and only to try to alert him through their mental link if something extraordinary was happening.

Which is why he found this Ghost wandering around wrong. Was his control slipping? Was there some limitation on how closely they would follow his orders?

Then he noticed in which direction the Ghost was floating. It was moving towards an unsuspecting couple that was a dozen meters away.

"No, stop, this will blow our cover" Momonga called out, but as all sounds, it was suppressed by his magic

The Ghost was moving in very close. Momonga started filtering through all of his mental connections, trying to pinpoint the string he needed to stop it.

The Ghost attacked. It targeted the man and started seeping the life energy from him. The female scream could be heard, but this was an unpopulated street which is why Momonga was using it.

Momonga saw the Ghost turn towards the woman. He did a mental equivalent of pulling all the strings he had with his summons and ordered [GET OVER HERE]. The Ghost disobeyed.

"It's not mine." The though hit Momonga like a train. He was so stunned that the sight of woman being drained of her life didn't affect him. He spent so much effort looking for strong people and concealing himself from the living, he completely disregarded the chance of weak (by his standards) undead.

Only when the dead woman dropped to the ground, did Momonga snap out and incinerated the Ghost with the remnants of its victims.

[Maximize Magic: Detect Undead] Momonga casted, could there be more of them walking around here, within the city?

There were. They auras told that they were weak, but they were many and with the average level of locals, they could overrun the locals. He brushed through whatever he managed to collect through his Ghost infiltrators and interrogation of the Knight Londes. The undead were not normal encounters for most people, in fact even those who patrolled the graveyard rarely fought them. The undead were most likely summoned. There could be necromancers in that part of the city. Momonga set off with [Fly]. He could not lose this chance to find out how necromancy here worked for the locals.

The Death Knight known as Belius was charging. His summoner has commanded [GET OVER HERE] and the anger he could feel through the link has reignited the burning wrath Death Knights usually felt during combat. The Master was inside the human city, so Belius calculated the fastest route through the city and its inhabitants. It seemed that he needed to assault the gates before the mortals had a chance to lock them. On a good note, it would also allow Belius' own slaves and Master's other servants a chance to fulfill their shared order.

Indeed, while mortals may think undead dull and evil creatures, that sentiment was not exactly right, they understood cooperation and more. Most undead were just as intelligent as their role was meant to be. Lower ranks may be only capable of low level cooperation, the likes of "you strike the left hand, I'll strike the right one", but the higher their power, their stats like intelligence was higher too. For a Death Knight like Belius, these stats made him at least as smart as an average human being. Of course, if he could talk, most humans would have found him a poor conversationalist, but when it came to sword fighting, he could easily be used as an instructor. So Belius was willing to put more effort if it allowed more of his fellow summons to successfully serve.

But back to Belius' charge. Momonga has stationed his small army slightly outside E-Rantel's northern gate, the one facing the Forest of Tob. They were concealed using the [Invisibility Cocoon], before the order to move was given to them. So, when they wanted to enter the city, the Norther Gate was an obvious choice.

When attacking a fortified position, one would normally desire a numerical superiority over the enemy. The guards and troops manning the northern wall and its gate were outnumbering the attacking undead. Normally the attack would be repulsed. But this was not a normal situation. In this world a talented and skilled individual could have a power to fight an entire army.

Each undead type in Momonga's army could take on at least half a dozen average Re-Estize soldiers, purely due to their stats and abilities. When one considers all the bonuses they received from being under Momonga's commands or summoned by him, this power difference would increase more. And a Death Knight alone could be considered a national threat to humans due to its power. There were only two other undead of the similar level to Belius as more powerful undead summoned by Momonga has dispelled over time, as did the ones not summoned with corpses.

But his strength alone was enough to punch through the Gate guards. They were unprepared to be attacked just like that, by a being on a level of adamantine adventurers. The clashes with Empire were happening far away at the Katze Plains and an attacking army would have been sighted miles away from towers or by small patrols. Few monsters within the Forest were stupid or strong enough to approach a human city just like that, driving the city guard into complacency. Which is why the gate guards only reacted after Belius crossed half the distance between forest edge and the wall. By the time someone rang the bell, he was already beheading one of the people inside the kill box within the gate.

When the soldiers on top of the walls and towers attempted to use bows against the oncoming undead, they were assaulted by Wraiths who could just fly through the obstacles. This way, wreathed in the scent of rot, the menacing mass of undead pressed in through the gate almost unopposed. It was not just Zombie Squires and Belius down there; there were also a few rarer and less well known to an average person undead — Plague Ghouls, Wicked Wights, several Undead Trolls, Ogres, few Wraiths and High Wraiths as well as Jack the Ripper and Corpse Collector. They were turned or summoned from bodies of any demi-human or heteromorphs that Momonga encountered on his track to E-Rantel.

Attacked with such a ferocity and surprise, the guards on the wall were routed while the ones on the ground were completely wiped out. However, now Belius and co. had to punch through the city inhabitants and the troops who were stationed at the outer layer of the city, to reach Momonga.

With a portion of the guard and adventurers distracted by the trouble with the undead advancing from the city graveyard, entire E-Rantel would essentially be under a pincer attack.

The bloodbath would inevitably commence.

By the time Momonga reached the graveyard, the guards who were manning the graveyard entrance were already routed by a Necrosome Giant who broke through the doors. The undead were spreading through the city, killing civilians left and right. But Momonga overlooked them, he could take care of this later, not to mention the guards managed to sound the bell probably alerting the other soldiers. Momonga did hear another bell being sounded somewhere near the outer wall of the city, most likely responding 'We got your message'.

Considering how weak these undead were, the soldiers would take care of this, the knights he faced at the ruined village were decent. Momonga could not verify this, as his previous outburst called all his High Wraiths and Ghosts to him, essentially tearing down the surveillance network he created. He also had a feeling this did something else too, but he wasn't sure what. He could take care of this later too, after he saw the local necromancers.

Stepping over the remnants of the gate and several of its defenders, Momonga proceeded inside the graveyard proper. He took a small stride though the fog covered area until he managed to reach the chapel at the heart of the graveyard. Several suspicious-looking fellows were standing in a circle in front of the chapel, apparently conducting some kind of ritual.

They all wore crude black robes which covered their entire bodies, and which varied in both texture and color. Their black head cloths hid their faces and only showed their eyes, while the wooden staves they carried had strange carvings on their ends. They were short, and by the way they carried themselves, they were probably all men.

The only exposed face belonged to the man in the middle, and he looked like he was undead. He was well-dressed and seemed to be concentrating on the black stone that he held in his hand. The wind carried whispered words to Momonga's non-existent ears. The voices in the air rose and fell in unison, and it sounded like some sort of chanting. However, it did not sound like a requiem to the dead, but more like some sort of dark ritual which blasphemed against the deceased.

"What is the meaning of this?" Momonga asked.

The gathered men were all staring in his general direction, but not at him. Momonga was surrounded by an entire swarm of Ghosts and High Wraiths, who were almost acting as a floating shield. The idea was: if he was attacked by a strong foe, he was sure they would be able to distract the enemy while Momonga ran. Now the men before him were all staring at the cloud of undead, while he himself was ignored.

Momonga decided to intimidate the group.

[Despair Aura I] "What is the meaning of all this?"

The men all shuddered. Some kneeled, while some turned to the bald man in the middle.

"Khajit-sama what is going on? Why the dark spirits are furious with us?"

The so-called Khajit, who was probably the highest-ranked of all the people present, was intensely staring at the black stone. And still everyone seemed to ignore Momonga.

Then Momonga realized he was yet again under the effects of [Perfect Unknowable]. These people only saw a swarm of his minions and couldn't hear his questions. With a slight embarrassment, he dispelled the charm and asked again.

"I was wondering what is going on here".

"Aiiiyeee!" With a wail, the rest of hooded men dropped to their knees and so did the Khajit.

Before Momonga could act another voice rang out through the graveyard.

"Say, Khaji-chan, you didn't mention that you already had help in your ritual~ If they knew you already had Elder Lich friends, the rest of our organization would have given you more resources and respect, I would imagine~ What is your name, Lich-san? It is impolite to avoid lady's questions~"

A woman in what looked like cloak and a set of bikini-like armor walked out from a nearby building. She had a set of what looked like stilettos and a Morningstar. Momonga wanted to protest that he was an Overlord, but he decided to make them underestimate him. He would just go away the moment he gets all the information from them. No need to leave too many fingerprints, even though he had no flesh on his fingers.

"My name is not important. What is important, what kind of ritual were you attempting? Your activities here have attracted my attention, I am greatly interested in what you have planned"

Finally, the Khajit-person lifted his head and answered.

"Yes, oh unliving one. I am Khajit of Zuranon. Me and my acolytes were meaning to summon an army of undead using the [Undeath Army] spell and turn this city into the realm of undeath. We used the combination of a powerful artefacts and a talented individual to accomplish this all. And with my Orb of Death we were planning to allow me to ascend to the real of unliving to become an Elder Lich just like yourself."

That was interesting to Momonga. In Yggdrasil, one had to use various items to change race, but this Orb of Death was unknown to him. Not to mention, this ritual could be interesting, he had used Book of the Dead to become Lich. While he was weary of these people, he decided to use [All Appraisal Magic Item].

The Orb of Death was an impressive name, and while it was hardly outstanding by his own standards, everything he saw in the Mage's Guild was even weaker. The Orb aided in controlling the undead, and it could cast several different necromantic spells every day, but those hardly appealed to Momonga. It also had the drawback of mentally dominating humans who held it, although Momonga was immune, as were some demihumans or heteromorphic creatures.

"What a curious item…" Things which intrigued him were the fact that it was an intelligent magic item and that it could manipulate the Negative Energy. It could be used as a med-kit for him, similarly to how he used the items that allowed him to cast [Greater Lethal].

"So, you planned to use the Negative Energy from the deaths an undead army would cause, collected by this orb?" After getting confirmation, Momonga decided to try something different.

"What if I had a way to generate a lot of Negative Energy for you."

Brita was stuck in the middle of a massacre. An undead army somehow broke into the outer layer of the city and was marching through the streets killing everything on their path. A horrible monster was leading it, slaughtering soldiers, adventurers and average folks left and right. Those who were killed by it rose as powerful zombies and continued the carnage.

What was worse, even the zombies seemed more powerful than an average human levy or guard and other undead were at least as strong as Silver Ranked adventurer, with many even seeming to be more powerful than that.

The leading monster, the one wearing a set of black armor and wielding a wicked looking sword and a massive shield was brushing even Mithril Level adventurers off like flies. She saw members of Kralgra, a Mithril Adventurer team lose a fight against that monster, several dead, wounded by the undead Warrior and then torn apart by its weaker minions. It seemed like the attacking dead didn't even take losses while taking the control of Northern District's outer layer and slaughtering almost everyone who didn't hole up in some building, raising them as zombies, thus increasing their numbers to at least hundreds if not thousands.

By that point the undead already had both the numbers and the power to proceed unopposed until they were halted by the second wall, that separated the civilian part of the city. Not that it helped much, she heard from one of the adventurers that rushed from the Guild to hold the Middle Wall's gate that the second layer was also attacked by the undead streaming from the graveyard.

"This can't be possible, this thing and the one with the green hair must be as strong as the Orichalcum, if not Adamantine Level!" someone shouted.

Right now, to her left she was witnessing the fight between the remaining members of Kralgra and the Undead Warrior, to her right the members of the Rainbow, another Mithril Ranked adventurer team were facing off a slick looking undead with Green hair and a burly looking undead with bandages and pustules all over its body. Brita didn't know this, but they were facing off a Death Knight, a Jack the Reaper and a Corpse Collector.

Previously they tried to attack this trio using their numbers, but the undead merely focused on slaughtering those who were weaker first, raising some as zombies and then using their numbers to overwhelm the attackers. Now they decided that the strongest would fight the powerful Trio, while weaker adventurers would face the rest of Undead army.

So far, they had little success. The oncoming waves of zombies were forcing them back one step at the time, while the more unique undead would pick them off if they were injured or too weak. She saw a magic caster be drained to death by the Wraiths, a swordsman first sliced in many places by the Greenhair and then torn apart by the much more powerful than normal Ghouls, one man from Rainbow was hit with what looked like a splash of puke or acid by the Bandaged undead and just rot in seconds.

Kralgra was not faring better, one of the members just got his arm sliced off and was bleeding on the ground, Cleric used up all of his mana and simply collapsed, only to be dragged away and stomped to death by several undead Trolls. Only the leader, Igvarge was still standing.

"Igvarge-san, we must withdraw, everyone is too strained, this line won't hold much longer!" Moknach, leader of the Rainbow was screaming.

"No, I almost got him! We can win this, it will be glorious! We well be heroes!" Igvarge was screaming with a what sounded like hysteria. The struggle went on. Several more on their side died and only a dozen or two of zombies have fallen on the side of unliving. Then Brita heard a squelching sound. When she looked over, understood what was happening. Igvarge was laying on the ground, covering his face, he seemed to be screaming something. When he looked in her direction, there was a massive slash where his eyes once were. Then the undead Warrior lowered its leg on the man's head.

His helmet deformed under the impact of the boot and the skull below caved in, while his already ruined eyeballs popped free of his head from the force of the tremendous impact. His head was thoroughly smashed, like a watermelon during a suikawari game at the beach in summer. Brita gagged.

"Retreat, all pull back to the gate!" Moknach bellowed. What was left of the defenders left the outer city and locked the gates behind them.

The outer part of E-Rantel was overrun.

Yup, Momonga blunders into attacking the city. Honestly, I think that would be just like him if he didn't go for adventurer route.
The fate works like that for him.