As they touched down, Raazuka on the Colosseum floor and Death next to her sisters, a shadow spread across the ground, rose up out of it, and took on the shape of a door. As the Gate, for that is what it was, finished forming, a voice was heard.
"Oh? Am I the first?" It sounded younger than one might expect from the tone. Then, someone walked slowly through. Her whole body was wrapped in a soft-looking violet ball gown with a full, wide skirt. She covered up on top with a bolero cardigan featuring frills and ribbons. Add to all that her white fingerless lace gloves, and almost all her skin was hidden from view. Only her shapely face was visible, its almost waxy white skin exposed. Her long silver hair was gathered to one side and up so not a strand of it fell in her face. Her crimson eyes had a strangely jubilant look in them.
She was sixteen or possibly younger. There was still some child in her, and her beauty was borne of that mix of cuteness and adult attractiveness. One thing that was out of balance, however, was how big her chest was for her age.
"Teleportation is restricted in Nazarick for a reason! Don't just go using a gate! You entered the arena the normal way, so couldn't you have just kept walking, Shalltear?" An exasperated voice, full of hostility, sounded from the balcony. A moment later, Aura fell out of the air, pulling Mare along with her, skidding along until the girl that had just arrived, Shalltear Bloodfallen, was covered in a layer of dust.
Mare was trembling slightly. It was probably wise of him to be inching away from his sister. Shalltear was clearly quite angry, and yet she cast not insomuch as a single glance at the twins. Instead she stood squirming slightly under Raazuka's gaze.
"You reek," Aura muttered softly, adding that maybe her undead body rotting was to blame.
"Well, lord Raazuka doesn't seem to think so." Shalltear slipped her arms around Raazuka's neck to embrace him. He inhaled sharply and noticed that Shalltear did not, in fact, reek. She smelled pleasantly of perfume.
"Ahh, my master, the sole being I cannot conquer." Her wet tongue showed itself between her parted red lips. It moved over them as if it were its own separate animal. From her open mouth came sweet-smelling breath.
All of this would have been extremely becoming of a bewitchingly beautiful adult, but at her age, something was off. In the first place, she wasn't tall enough, so instead of embracing him, it just seemed like she was trying to hang from his neck. Despite all that, Raazuka was unaccustomed to attention from women and was plenty bewitched. He stated, still as a stone, as his mind repeated one thought over and over. Was her personality always like this?
He couldn't get the question out of his mind. But since the one who wrote her backstory was Peroroncino, it was entirely possible that this was just how she was. That guy loved X-rated games more than anything and had even adopted "Porn games are my life!" as his personal catchphrase. And that good-for-nothing had written the bio of Shalltear Bloodfallen. She was the guardian of levels one through three and a true vampire, as well as a little girl who'd been given a pile of porn video game character traits.
"I think that's quite enough…"
Shalltear responded to the low, hard voice and sneered at Aura. "Oh, hello, squirt. I didn't see you there."
Raazuka didn't feel like bothering to point out that they'd just been talking a moment ago. Ignoring Aura and her twitching, irritated expression, Shalltear addressed Mare.
"It must be hard for you to have such an odd elder sister. You should get some distance from her as soon as possible. If you don't, you might end up the same way!"
Mare's face went a sickly green sort of pale—he knew she was using him to pick a fight with his sister.
But Aura smiled. "Shut up, Miss Fake Boobs."
She'd dropped a bomb.
Shalltear's face went crimson with rage. "How'd you know?!"
"Ooh, she broke character," Raazuka said to himself. There was no sign of her forced elegant cool.
"One glance is enough to tell! Look how bizarrely poofy they are. How many layers of padding did you use?"
"Wahhh! Wahhh!" Shalltear flailed her hands as if to erase the words out of the air. Now she looked her age.
Meanwhile, Aura had an evil grin on her face. "If you use that much padding…I bet they must shift around when you run, huh?!"
"Ygghrk!" Shalltear emitted a strange noise, like a strangled cat, now that she was caught.
"Bull's-eye! Neh-heh-heh! Your boobs slip, so that's why you used a gate—so you could get here in a hurry without having to run!"
"Shut it, pip-squeak! You don't have any! I at least have a litt— I mean, I'm pretty big!" Shalltear frantically fired back, but Aura only grinned even more evilly. Shalltear took a step back as if she'd been shoved.
"I'm still only seventy-six! I've got plenty of time ahead of me! It must be tough being undead with no future. You don't grow!"
"Ugh," Shalltear groaned and retreated farther. She had no comeback for that, and it showed plainly on her face. Aura noted this and stretched her slit-like grin even farther.
"You should be satisfied with what you got—pft!"
"Now that you said it you can't take it back!"
Shalltear's gloved hands began to exude a shimmering black haze. Aura had her whips ready to intercept. Before the two of them stood a flustered Mare. Raazuka felt like he was watching a scene from the past and couldn't decide whether to stop them or not.
Peroroncino, who had created Shalltear, and BubblingTeapot, who had created Aura and Mare, were brother and sister. They used to have good-natured squabbles sometimes, like this. Raazuka almost felt he could see the shadows of his former guildmates fighting behind the two NPCs.
"WHAT A RACKET." Raazuka was basking in reminiscences of his old guildmates when the hard, twisted voice of something not human speaking human words stopped Aura and Shalltear's quarrel short.
Standing in the direction from which the voice came (who knew how long he'd been there) was a grotesque thing throwing a chill into the air. He looked like an eight-foot-tall bipedal insect. If there were such a thing as a combination of a demon mantis and an ant, it'd probably look like this. From his sturdy tail that was double his height and the rest of his body sprouted countless icicle-like spikes. His horizontally closing lower jaws were surely powerful enough to sever a human arm with no trouble.
Two of his arms carried a silver halberd and the other two held a horrifying yet excellently made mace giving off a sinister black aura and a broadsword so warped it seemed impossible for it to ever be sheathed.
He was wrapped in a chill that sparkled like diamond dust and his light blue exoskeleton was like armour. His back and shoulders bulged like icebergs.
This was the guardian of the fifth level, 'Sovereign of the Frozen River,' Cocytus. He struck the ground with the blade of his halberd and the earth around it slowly froze over.
"YOU AMUSE YOURSELVES TOO MUCH BEFORE A SUPREME BEING."
"She's being disrespectful to—"
"I'm just telling the truth—"
"Arrrrgh…"
Mare panicked as Shalltear and Aura glared at each other again, eyes fearsomely flashing. Raazuka was over it all by now and warned them both in a voice he made deep on purpose, "Shalltear, Aura, that's enough playing around for now."
Both of them jumped and then hung their heads in unison. "I'm sorry!"
He nodded to generously accept their apology and then turned to the newly arrived figure. "Cocytus."
"SUPREME ONE."
White breath escaped from between Cocytus's mandibles and in response came a cracking noise as if the moisture in the air were freezing solid. It was a biting cold, like that of the final winter. Just being near him was enough to cause all sorts of low-temperature status effects and physical damage, but Raazuka didn't feel a thing. Though really, there was no one present who didn't have some way to resist fire, chill, and acid attacks.
"Have you been terribly bored?"
"THERE CERTAINLY HASN'T BEEN MUCH GOING ON…" His mandibles clicked. It sounded like the threatening clicks of an angry hornet, but Raazuka chose to think he must be laughing.
"BUT THAT SAID, I HAVE THINGS TO DO, SO I CAN'T SAY I'VE BEEN BORED."
"Hm. Fair point. What do you do?"
"TRAINING SO THAT I MAY BE OF USE TO YOU AT ANY TIME."
Cocytus, not that it was apparent from the way he looked, was a warrior, both personality-wise and by design. Of those in the Great Tomb of Nazarick who used weapons, he had the highest attack power.
"I see… Well, thanks."
"HEARING THAT SINGLE WORD MAKES IT ALL WORTH IT. OH, IT SEEMS DEMIURGE AND ALBEDO HAVE ARRIVED."
Following Cocytus's line of sight, Raazuka saw two figures near the entrance of the arena. Albedo was in front. A man followed behind her as if in attendance. When they'd gotten closer, Albedo smiled and bowed deeply to Raazuka. The man also gave an elegant bow before speaking. "Sorry to keep you all waiting."
He was about six feet tall with skin the shade of a suntan. He had Asian features and his jet-black hair was slicked back. The eyes behind his round glasses were almost completely closed. He wore a three-piece suit with a necktie and had the air of a shrewd businessman or lawyer. Even though he presented himself as a gentleman, he couldn't hide his evil nature. Behind him stretched a silver-plated tail with six spines on the tip.
This man, scattering dark flickering flames, was "Creator of the Inferno"—Demiurge. He was the demon who commanded NPC defence operations and the guardian of the seventh level.
"This is everyone, then."
"Lord Raazuka, it seems we're still missing two." It was a voice that wormed its way into hearts and drew one in with its richness. All Demiurge's words came with a passive skill called Incantation of Influence. It was a power that caused the weakhearted who heard him to instantly become his puppets. That said, no one in the room was affected. It only worked on targets of level 60 and below, so all those present merely heard it as a particularly luscious voice and nothing more.
"Their presence is unnecessary. They've both been assigned to prioritise other tasks. We needn't interrupt them."
"If that's all right, then…"
"IT SEEMS MY COMRADE IS NOT HERE, EITHER…"
Aura and Shalltear stopped short. Even Albedo's smile froze.
"He's…only a guard for one part of one of my floors…"
"Y-yeah…"
Shalltear forced a smile and Aura chimed in while Albedo nodded.
"Ahh, the Prince of Fear? Well, we should probably notify the domain guardians as well. Please pass the information along to Crimson, Grant, and the others. I'll leave it up to each floor guardian."
There were two types of guardians in the Great Tomb of Nazarick. One was the type that all those before Raazuka now were, floor guardians who were each in charge of one or more levels. The other was domain guardians who guarded part of a level. Put simply, domain guardians worked under the floor guardians to protect one section of a level. Since there were so many of them, they were somewhat underappreciated, and in Nazarick the word 'guardian' generally indicated a floor guardian. Once everyone had indicated their understanding of Raazuka's order, Albedo spoke.
"Now, then, let us perform the ritual of allegiance."
The guardians all nodded, and before Raazuka could get a word in, they'd arranged themselves with Albedo in front and the other guardians lined up behind her. Their expressions were all stiffly ceremonious. Any hint of a jokey atmosphere had vanished. Shalltear, at the end of the line, took a step forward.
"Guardian of the First, Second, and Third Levels, Shalltear Bloodfallen. I salute and swear troth everlasting." She dropped to one knee and put a hand over her chest, bowing her head low. After Shalltear, Cocytus stepped forward.
"GUARDIAN OF THE FIFTH LEVEL, COCYTUS. I SALUTE AND SWEAR FEALTY."
He took the same humble posture as Shalltear and bowed to Raazuka. Next, the two dark elves stepped forward.
"Guardian of the Sixth Level, Aura Bella Fiora. I salute and swear my loyalty."
"G-Guardian of the same, Mare Bello Fiore. I salute and swear my loyalty."
As expected, they also got down on one knee and bowed their heads low. Shalltear, Cocytus, Aura, Mare. They were built differently, so there should have been some discrepancy in the size of their steps, but their kneeling positions formed a straight line.
Then Demiurge took a graceful step forward. "Guardian of the Seventh Level, Demiurge. I salute and swear loyalty, O Supreme One." Though his tone was cool, he made an extremely heartfelt bow without breaking his elegant demeanor. Finally, Albedo stepped forward.
"Captain of the floor guardians, Albedo. I bow before you, Austere One." Smiling faintly at Raazuka, she kneeled in the manner of the other guardians. But for Albedo, that wasn't the end. With her head bowed, she made her voice carry and gave her last report. "Excepting Guardian of the Fourth Level, Gargantua, and Guardian of the Eighth Level, Victim, the floor guardians have gathered to prostrate ourselves before you… Your orders, O Supreme One! We offer our complete devotion to you."
Being faced with their six bowed heads was practically enough to make anyone nervous, let alone him. The air was tense. Or maybe it was only Raazuka who felt on edge. I don't know what to do… Normal people probably never experience something like this even once in their lives. In the confusion, he accidentally activated some of his skills and emitted an aura throughout the area. A halo appeared behind him. Without even the composure to cancel them, he fought to remember everything he'd seen in movies or on TV to get an idea of how to conduct himself.
"You may be at ease." All of their heads rose together in so crisp a motion that he practically expected to hear a whoosh. It was so simultaneous that he wondered if they'd been practicing.
"Well, then… For starters, I appreciate you all gathering here."
"Please save your appreciation. We offer you not only our devotion, but our very selves. It is most natural that we should heed your call."
None of the other guardians tried to cut in. As captain, Albedo was truly their unified voice. Seeing all their earnest expressions turned his way, Raazuka felt the pressure to behave like a ruler getting to him. But that wasn't all. His orders would determine their future. He started to feel indecisive. The worry that the Great Tomb of Nazarick might collapse due to a decision he made flitted across his mind.
"Lord Raazuka, you seem irresolute. That is only natural. You must wonder whether it is even worth accepting our help." Her smile had vanished and a determined look tensed her features. "However, if you honour us with your orders, we the floor guardians will suffer any trials to carry them out with all our bodies and souls. We vow to serve in such a way as will bring no shame upon our Creators, the Forty-One Supreme Beings of Ainz Ooal Gown."
"We vow it!" The other floor guardians echoed Albedo in chorus. Their voices were filled with an unstoppable power—their loyalty was like a priceless diamond sneering at Raazuka for worrying they might betray him.
It was as if a cloth had fallen from his eyes, and a shiver went through him. He realised how wonderful the NPCs his guildmates had made really were. The radiance of Ainz Ooal Gown's glory days was here now. He was so happy to have the fruit of his guildmates' labor with him that his dignified expression broke. Of course, there were no major changes to his face, but the shifting of his face slowed slightly.
With no trace of his former anxiety, Raazuka spoke smoothly, like the superior being he knew himself to be.
"Wonderful, guardians. It is my firm belief as of this moment that you can understand my aims and are capable of accomplishing them without error." He surveyed their faces once more. "Now, then, there may be some points that are unclear, but I want you to listen carefully. It appears the Great Tomb of Nazarick has unexpectedly become involved in some sort of situation, and it's unclear how it happened."
The floor guardians' serious expressions didn't flinch.
"The cause is unclear, but we know that the Tomb has changed location. Is there anyone who saw any signs this might happen?"
Albedo gazed over her shoulder at the faces of each floor guardian. After reading their expressions, she said, "No, my apologies, but no one had any idea this would happen."
"Then I'd next like to hear from each floor guardian. Did anything strange happen on your levels recently?"
Now they spoke up individually for the first time.
"Nothing strange happened in the seventh level."
"Nor in the sixth."
"L-like my sister said."
"THE SAME GOES FOR FIVE."
"Nothing strange happened in the first, second, or third levels."
"Lord Raazuka, I would like to investigate the fourth and eighth levels immediately."
"Very well, I'll leave that up to you, Albedo, but take care in the eighth level. If something happened there, it's possible you may not be able to deal with it."
After Albedo deeply bowed in acknowledgment, Shalltear spoke.
"Then I'll investigate the surface."
"Oh, I already sent Sebas out to explore the surface."
Albedo had been there when he'd given the order, so she wasn't surprised, but the others couldn't hold their shock back from appearing on their faces. The Great Tomb of Nazarick had four NPCs with superior melee combat skills. Cocytus had the highest attack power when armed. Clad in heavy armour, Albedo had no equal when it came to guarding. Sebas was the best in a pure fight, and when he showed his true form, his total combat ability probably outstripped the previous two. Then, there was one who outstripped all three of them.
The guardians' shock must have been at the fact that Raazuka would send Sebas, who boasted no weaknesses and all manner of strengths in a head-on fight, out to do a task so simple as reconnaissance. They took this as a sign of how wary he was about the unusual situation they were in and the reality of the crisis began to sink in for them, too.
"Well, it's about time to wrap up, but—" Raazuka caught sight of Sebas jogging toward him. When he arrived, he slowly lowered himself to one knee like the others.
"Lord Raazuka, I apologise for my lateness."
"No matter. More importantly, what's it like out there?"
Sebas looked up and cast a momentary glance at the guardians.
"This is an emergency. It's only natural that we should inform the floor guardians."
"Yes, my lord. For a half-mile radius, it's all grassy plain. I could not confirm any man-made structures. I saw a number of small animals as one might expect to be living in such a place, but there were no humanoids or large life-forms."
"Are there small monsters?"
"No, the creatures did not appear to have any combat ability to speak of."
"Aha… And this grass, is it the sharp, stiff type that stabs you as you walk through it?"
"No, just plain meadow grass. There is nothing special about it."
"I see. A starry sky, then… Nice work, Sebas." Raazuka expressed his appreciation but felt a bit discouraged about how little information he'd been able to get.
Still, now he more or less knew that they were not in the world of Yggdrasil, although there remained the question of how he could use his in-game equipment and cast spells like usual.
It wasn't clear why they'd been teleported or where they'd ended up, but it seemed like they should raise Nazarick's alert level. They might be in someone else's territory. Suddenly taking up residence in someone else's territory without permission would surely invite anger. They'd be lucky if "anger" was as far as it went.
"Guardians. First, raise the alert level by one on each floor. There are too many unknowns right now, so don't let your guard down. Take any raiders alive. Capturing them without injury would be ideal. It goes without saying, but we don't want to complicate things while we're in this uncertain situation."
Everyone bowed together in understanding.
"Next, I'd like to hear about how things operate here. Albedo, how do you share security information among floors?"
In Yggdrasil, they'd just been NPCs operating according to their programs. There shouldn't have been any movement of information or mobs among floors.
"The security of each level is left up to the individual guardians, but we do have a system for sharing information, which Demiurge oversees."
Raazuka was slightly surprised but then nodded his head in satisfaction.
"Splendid. Defense Operations Coordinator Demiurge and Floor Guardian Captain Albedo, I trust you to work toward a more perfect system."
"Yes, my lord. To clarify, we can except levels eight, nine, and ten from the system?"
"Victim has eight covered, so that one is fine. Actually, I'm making eight off-limits. I take back the order I gave you earlier, Albedo. As a general rule, only those with my express permission will be allowed to enter the eighth level. Undo the seal that prohibits direct travel between the seventh and ninth levels, and let's have the security system cover the ninth and tenth levels as well."
"I-is that all right with you?" Albedo's astonishment was plain on her face.
Behind her, Demiurge's eyes opened wide, and he said what they were actually thinking. "You will permit lowly minions to enter the domain of the Supreme Ones? Is the situation so serious as that?"
Minions were the monsters that members of Ainz Ooal Gown did not create, the mobs that spawned automatically. Come to think of it, with very few exceptions, there were no minions in the ninth or tenth levels. Raazuka wasn't sure what to say. Albedo seemed to think those areas were some kind of holy ground, but the truth couldn't have been further from that. The reason there were no mobs assigned to the ninth level was simply that by the time a group of raiders broke through the eighth level where all the strongest monsters were, they figured they didn't have much chance of winning, so they decided they would just lurk in the Throne Room like proper villains.
"I have no problem with it. This is an emergency, so let's be on guard."
"Understood. I'll choose the very best, most noble minions for the job."
Raazuka nodded and turned to look at the twins.
"Is it possible to hide the Great Tomb of Nazarick somehow? I'm not sure if illusions alone will cut it and thinking about the energy required to maintain something like that gives me a headache."
Aura and Mare put their heads together. After a moment, it was Mare who spoke.
"I-it would be difficult to use magic if we need to hide all the parts that are aboveground… But maybe if we covered the walls with dirt and grew plants out of it…?"
"You intend to soil the walls of glorious Nazarick?" Albedo addressed Mare over her back. Her tone was sweet and gentle, but the emotions contained were confrontational. Mare's shoulders jerked. None of the other guardians spoke, but they all seemed to be in agreement with Albedo.
To Raazuka, however, her comments were unnecessary heckling. They weren't in a position to be concerned with such things.
"Albedo, don't interrupt. I'm talking with Mare."
"Ah, my apologies, Lord Raazuka!" She bowed low, her face frozen in fear. Sebas and the guardians' expressions instantly stiffened as well. Although the reprimand was directed at Albedo, they must have taken it personally.
From the sudden shift in mood, Raazuka realised he'd said too much and regretted it, but he continued his discussion with Mare.
"Is it possible to cover the walls with dirt and hide us?"
"Y-yes. That is, if you'll forgive me doing such a thing…"
"But if we were spotted from a distance, wouldn't a huge mound of dirt seem out of place…? Sebas, are there any hills in the area?"
"No, unfortunately it seems to be flat; however, I can't say for sure that I didn't overlook something due to its being nighttime."
"I see… But if we want to conceal our walls, Mare's plan is a brilliant one. What if we mounded up dirt in the area to create dummy hills?"
"In that case, we would stand out a little less."
"Okay. Mare and Aura, work together on that. Go ahead and take anything you need from the levels. We'll conceal the tall parts you can't cover later with illusions that work on anyone not from Nazarick."
"Y-yes, sir. Understood."
That was all Raazuka could come up with for the moment. He felt like he was probably missing a lot of things, but they could always discuss them later. It had only been a few hours since the crisis began.
"Okay, that's it for today. Everyone take a break and then begin your tasks. It's hard to tell when we'll be able to take it easy for a bit, so don't work too hard." The guardians bowed their heads in understanding. "Finally, there is something I would like to ask each of you. First, Shalltear: What kind of person do you see me as?"
"A concentration of beauty. You are truly the most beautiful person in this world. Jewels don't hold a candle to your fair body," Shalltear replied promptly. It was obvious from the unhesitating speed at which she responded that what she said was what she really thought.
"Cocytus?"
"YOU ARE STRONGER THAN ALL THE GUARDIANS AND TRULY FIT TO BE ABSOLUTE RULER OF THE GREAT TOMB OF NAZARICK."
"Aura?"
"You're merciful and exceedingly considerate."
"Mare?"
"I think you're s-super nice."
"Demiurge?"
"You are wise in judgment and always make use of your energy to get things done. And I think the word inscrutable describes you well."
"Sebas?"
"You were the leader of the Supreme Beings. And you are the merciful one who did not forsake us, but stayed."
"Last but not least, Albedo."
"You are he who holds the highest position among the Supreme Beings and our exalted master, as well as the man I love."
"I see. I think I have a sufficient understanding of everyone's thoughts now. I'm entrusting a part of the work my friends used to do to you. Strive to be ever loyal!" Raazuka teleported away as the guardians humbly bowed before him again.
The scenery changed at once from the arena to Lemegeton and its golems. Once he'd looked around to make sure no one was there, he heaved a sigh. "I'm exhausted…" He wasn't experiencing any physical fatigue, but he could feel the mental weariness weighing down his shoulders.
"Why do they all think so highly of me?" As he was listening to them talk he'd wanted to laugh and point out their error. "Ah-ha-ha-ha," he chuckled dryly and then shook his head—the looks on their faces and the mood in the room had told him they weren't joking.
They had been completely serious.