—Prologue—

In the year 2138 AD, there was a term: DMMO-RPG. That word was an acronym for Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. These games were played by connecting a dedicated console to the brain via a neuronal nano-interface — an intracerebral nanocomputer network, created from the fusion of cyber and nanotechnology. These were games that allowed one to enter a virtual world and experience it as though it were real life. And among the myriad DMMO-RPGs that thronged the market, one of them stood head and shoulders above the others:

Yggdrasil.

This game had been painstakingly developed and released twelve years ago, in 2126. Compared to other DMMO-RPGs of the time, Yggdrasil's selling point was 'player freedom'. It had over two thousand basic and advanced job classes. Every class had a maximum of fifteen levels, and so in order to reach the overall level cap of one hundred, one would need to take at least seven different classes. However, players could take as many classes as they wanted as long as they met each class's prerequisites. A player could even take a hundred classes at level one each, although that was very inefficient. As such, in this system, it was virtually impossible to make identical characters unless one was deliberately trying to do so. In addition, one could use various creator tools (sold separately) to fully customize one's armor, weaponry, flavor text, appearance, and other cosmetic settings. A vast playing field awaited its players. There were nine worlds in total: Asgard, Alfheim, Vanaheim, Nidavellir, Midgard, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Helheim, and Muspelheim. It boasted a massive world, numerous classes, and freely customizable appearances. These features ignited the creative spirits of its Japanese players and sparked what would later be known as a stylistic revolution. So popular was it that whenever the word DMMO-RPG was mentioned in Japan, listeners would immediately think of Yggdrasil.

—Still, all these were things of the past now.

Two days right before the game's shutdown, the Yggdrasil Development Team would release a surprise event. It was a surprise since there was only an hour to prepare for the said event and the surprise ended there and what comes next is the prelude towards the end.

But in one of the top 10 guilds— Ainz Ooal Gown, by the time it was released, the surprise was no more. It would be announced at least twenty days prior to the event, exclusively for them.

A gigantic table carved of gleaming black stone sat in the center of the room, surrounded by forty-one luxurious chairs.

However, most of those seats were empty. Once, every single place had been filled, but now only one was occupied.

A figure clothed in a magnificent black academic robe edged in violet and gold was seated in one of the chairs. The collar seemed excessively gaudy, but somehow it fit the overall design. However, the exposed head was a bare skull. Points of dark red light glowed in its large eye sockets, and behind that skull glowed a halo of black radiance. The mysterious figure was Momonga— an Overlord —the highest-ranked of those magic casters who had become undead in order to learn the most potent spells.

A system message appeared suddenly, it was one of those priority messages.

"A notification from Mimir huh?"

The Overlord — speaking at the moment — did not move his mouth. That was because even the most advanced DMMO-RPGs of the time still could not overcome the technological hurdle of properly modeling the changes on a character's face in response to emotions and speech.

The Overlord read the notification. It had been a long time since the last big event happened in Yggdrasil. The amazing game was gradually dying as if the great conflagration slowly vanished, turning to ashes and embers flying up above the skies of forgotten memories.

A kindling refused to die in Suzuki Satoru's heart. A big event might bring back the glory of Yggdrasil or what's left of it in the final hours of the game. Momonga felt excited, it would be a farewell event for Yggdrasil's end.

Momonga stood up in determination, he would enjoy the last hours of the game with the hope of easing up his heartache and loneliness.

"Might as well visit the Treasury. I hope I can participate in whatever this event will be."

The Treasury did not exist within the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick proper. It was designed to be very difficult to infiltrate.

Momonga touched and looked at a ring on his finger. It was the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown. The ring permitted its wearer to freely teleport throughout the Great Tomb of Nazarick. As he looked at the ring upon his skeletal finger, Momonga nodded, as though in approval of the ring as one of the symbols of his glorious guild. He activated the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown and vanished completely without a trace.

The Overlord left what was known as the Round Table Room.

After teleporting, he was now in the Treasury, the first thing Momonga saw was countless lights glittering in the air, like stars in the sky. The ceiling was so high that one would have to strain to see its heights, and its walls were so broad that they exceeded the range of one's vision. The vast room they defined was filled with dazzling treasures. In the center of the room was a heaping pile of gold coins and gems, so immense that it resembled a mountain range. Even the amount which could be seen to be counted was but a tiny fraction of the actual sum. In addition, there were masterfully made works of art buried in the mountain of gold.

A quick glance revealed a golden mug, a scepter encrusted with all manner of gemstones, a golden pitcher, an animal pelt which emitted a star-like radiance, an exquisitely woven tapestry made with threads of silver, a platinum-colored ocarina, a fan made of rainbow-colored feathers, a mask made from dragon scales, and many, many more. Needless to say, they were but the tip of the iceberg. There were hundreds more of such articles buried within that mountainous heap of riches.

Momonga looked around.

There were shelves everywhere, piled all the way up to the ceiling, and the treasures there were more eye-catching than the fields of gold. There was a wand socketed with philosopher stones, a pair of hihiirokane gauntlets inlaid with garnets, a small silver ring adorned with red diamonds, an obsidian statue carved in the shape of a cat, a purple amethyst shield, a miniature altar with countless small black pearls embedded all over it, a belt with imperial topazes sewn into its material, a chess set whose pieces were all topped in different gemstones, a statuette of a fairy carved from a single piece of emerald, a black cloak that was decorated with countless small gemstones, a drinking horn made from a unicorn's horn, a golden dais that held a crystal ball, a peony made from some crystal material which scattered light in all the colors of the rainbow, a rose blossom which had been masterfully carved from a star ruby, a tapestry which depicted a soaring white dragon, a crown of adamantite which held an enormous diamond, a couple of silvery censer that were encrusted in gemstones, a mated pair of a male and female tiger statuettes, carved from ruby and sapphire respectively, cufflinks which looked like flames and which had fire opals set into them, an intricately carved cigar case made of rosewood, a jacket made of some golden beast's pelt, a dozen plates made of apoitakara, anklets decorated with gemstones of four colors, a grimoire whose cover was made of demantoids, a human-sized statue of a woman which had been carved from gold, and so on.

This was but a fraction of the wonders therein. In addition, there were many mirrors of black topaz, a gigantic adamantite statue of a warrior, a pillar covered in mysterious runes, a gigantic alexandrite which one would need both arms to fully embrace, as well as blue crystals that were the size of a man.

"Sixty percent huh… these treasures might not be tidied up."

The numberless treasures gave Momonga the expression which was that there was simply no place to put them.

"[Fly]"

Momonga took off. It was then that he noticed a faint purple poisonous gas hanging in the air with a purple radiance though it did not surprise him.

'Blood of Jormungandr.'

The air in the Treasury was toxic. Anyone without poison immunity or items granting it will die within three steps.

Momonga crossed the mountain range of gold with the [Fly] spell and then he came to the door on the other side. No, was it right to call it a door? It was more of a bottomless black shadow in the shape of a door, affixed to a wall. As he arrived before this painting-like door, Momonga fell into thought.

"The Armory huh?"

This was a door that required a certain password to open. Perhaps one could force it open with magic or rogue skills, but Momonga did not know spells like that, nor did he have such skills. Thus, he had to speak the password—

"Hm, I forgot it."

That was only to be expected.

There were so many such gimmicks in Nazarick that he would probably only be able to remember a password if it was one he used frequently. However, given that he did not come to the Treasury often, he does not remember the password to this door. He had only come here when paying for the upkeep costs of Nazarick with the money he had earned, and that had been years ago. Since he could not remember the password, Momonga spoke a master password:

"All glory to Ainz Ooal Gown."

In response, the jet-black door displayed a series of words:

'Ascendit a terra in coelum, iterumque descendit in terram, et recipit vim superiorum et inferiorum.'

"Tabula Smaragdina-san really was a perfectionist."

Momonga thought of one of the people who had designed the tricks and traps used by Ainz Ooal Gown. He had a hand in designing about twenty percent of the smaller mechanisms throughout the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. His abnormally intricate designs consumed much of Nazarick's free data capacity, which caused the other members to complain about being unable to indulge themselves. Thus, he took responsibility for his actions and paid for many cash items to expand said data capacity.

Ainz studied the words which appeared. This must be a hint for the password, but what could it mean? He racked his brains, taking his time to plumb the depths of his mind for the answer.

Soon enough, Ainz finally found the password, which slumbered within his memories.

"It should be — By this means you shall acquire the glory of the whole world, / And so you shall drive away all shadows and blindness — am I correct?"

As though in response to Momonga's question, the shadow door collapsed into a single point. Soon, the shadow was gone, leaving a fist-sized sphere of blackness floating in the air.

Now that the shadow had vanished, one could see into the tunnel that had been left behind. This was an orderly place, completely unlike the previous area. The best way to describe it would be something like a display from a museum. The dimly lit room was very long and stretched ever inward. The ceiling was about five meters above the ground, a height that was clearly not designed with humans in mind, while it was about ten meters from one wall to the other. The ground was made of tightly fitting, shiny black stone blocks, and it looked like a single gigantic stone slab. Neat rows of countless weapons were arrayed on the walls of Momonga's left and right, making an impressive display.

"I'm going in."

Momonga entered the Armory. What awaited him were broadswords, greatswords, estocs, flamberges, scimitars, patas, shotels, kukris, claymores, short swords, sword breakers.

Of course, swords were not the only weapons here. There were one-handed axes, two-handed axes, one-handed bludgeons, javelins, bows, crossbows.

Just the types alone were almost uncountable. In addition, there were many unrealistic weapons here that stretched the definition of actually being called weapons. Those were the kind that could not possibly be sheathed, or which were more decorative than useful, and so on.

No, these weapons were in the majority. Almost none of them were made of anything as ordinary as mere steel. There was a sword with a blade of blue crystal, a pure-white sword with gold inlays and engravings, a black sword with purple runes along its body, and even a bow that seemed to have been strung with pure light.

Then there were other weapons that looked dangerous even at a glance. There was a two-handed ax whose blade constantly dripped fresh blood. Tormented faces appeared and vanished on the black metal of a gigantic mace. There was a lance that resembled human hands clasping together. And then there were many more weapons like these, in amounts which defied easy counting.

One could guess that most of them were magic weapons, but the exact effect each of them had was a mystery. One might be able to guess at the purpose of a sword whose blade flickered like a flame, but it was impossible to know the abilities of a sword whose blade looked like a whip and which wriggled like a centipede.

Momonga looked at these weapons on either side as he silently walked through the Armory. Before long — about a hundred meters and thousands of weapons later — he reached his destination, which was a rectangular room.

It might have been used to receive guests since there was a table and a sofa set in the middle of the otherwise empty room. There were other passages visible to the left and right which looked similar to the one through which Momonga had entered.

There was only one route that led further on, in contrast to the way they had entered. The atmosphere of that way was also dramatically different. If the previous room had been like a museum, then the next one was like a tomb. The height of the room was about the same as the previous one, but the dim interior extended further in. It was hard to tell due to the angles, but it looked like there was a large niche set into the wall, with something placed within it.

Momonga turned and looked around passages, on one of them, he saw an entity. That being had a bizarre appearance.

Its face was flat, with no nose or other facial features. Its mouth and eyes were replaced by three empty holes. There were no eyeballs, teeth, or a tongue; just three black holes which looked like they had been drawn on by a child with a black marker. The pink, egg-like head was smooth and shiny, without a single hair to mar its surface.

This strange character was a Greater Doppelganger.

His name was Pandora's Actor, and he was a level one hundred NPC personally designed by Momonga and placed in charge of the Treasury. His talents lay in disguise, and he could copy forty-five separate forms and even their abilities — though only at eighty percent of the original's potency.

His hat bore the crest of Ainz Ooal Gown, while the uniform he wore was very similar to the uniforms used by Neo-Nazi elite guards during the Euro-Arcology Wars twenty years ago.

After forcefully clicking his heels together, he raised his right hand to his cap in a grossly overacted salute.

His clothes were one thing, but why did he have to overreact even on a salute? No, Momonga knew the answer to that. He was the creator of Pandora's Actor; in other words, his every move and gesture existed because Momonga thought they were stylish. Thus, he had happily worked them into the character design.

"Argh, this is really..."

In the past, he had thought of military uniforms as being very cool, and he believed that actors ought to be dramatic, but watching someone with such showy motions was—

"Ahh. How lame."

Those quiet words slipped free of Momonga's heart, he whispered so softly that he was afraid anybody could hear him. This was his black history of Pandora's Actor.

'Why did I design him with such an appearance? I used to think this sort of thing was so cool. No, actually, I still think his uniform is kind of cool'

He reached his hand out and touched an invisible menu, opening a page that only guild members could see. Then, he selected an option from several choices. Several notifications appeared with one of them marked with the highest priority.

"I want to know what it is at least."

Momonga had no high expectations for the event. He was only hoping it would be at least a good enough event for everyone or for him at least to enjoy the last moments of Yggdrasil. He was a bit excited after all.

Momonga placed his thumb on his chin and looked at his creation.

If enemy players could penetrate this deeply into the tomb, they would be able to handily defeat most of the NPCs and the defending guild members of Ainz Ooal Gown. However, no player had ever made it this far, so he had been waiting here for orders. Without orders, all he could do was wait for a chance to be of use except for guarding and managing all the guild's numberless treasures.

He knew it was foolish to feel pity for NPCs. They were nothing more than a collection of electronic data, and the closest they could come to real emotion was a very skilled set of AI routines.

Even the fact that NPCs had no emotions, Suzuki Satoru felt a kinship with his creation, being left alone marveling at the glories of the guild in loneliness.

"Follow me."

The Doppelganger immediately stood in attention and gave an exaggerated salute towards his creator in response to the command. Momonga cringed internally, dismissing his embarrassment, he immediately walked towards a door followed by Pandora's Actor and beyond the door was the Mausoleum Hallway. He would visit the residence of his creation. He proceeded with purpose and hope with Pandora's Actor in tow. He wanted to know about the event immediately. Though he had a sad thought in his mind.

"The end of my adventures had begun!"