Disclaimer: I don't own Overlord or Dungeons & Dragons

The Greater Apotheosis of Ainz Ooal Gown

Book : Skelkor War

Chapter 7: Necrofex Threat

Beta:


After playing their part in the victory at Dearr, Neia and her lieutenant, the Momon Renner, were now leading an army that had split off from the main force to liberate the Eastern city of Narvaar. It was a long journey to the distant city and after a week of travel from Dearr, she was only about halfway to the city, passing through a plethora of small villages and large sprawling farming estates. Apparently, all the local Dragons had abandoned the countryside however and left the remaining slaves there leaderless. Many had thus welcomed them as liberators and what little resistance they faced were disorganized at best.

They were mid-march and Neia was writing the sermon for her next service inside the relative comfort of her command Hippo when Renner stiffened as she was reviewing the reports from their scouts.

Neia looked over at her and the Momon used a hand signal to indicate she was receiving a Message even as she accepted the telepathic communication.

Wonder what's it about? Neia thought idly as she looked at the other woman curiously. Nothing we've encountered so far has been important enough to warrant using a Message.

As the Momon continued speaking telepathically with whoever was on the other end, Neia couldn't help but feel exasperation at her adjutant's attire creep up on her for the umpteenth time. Here they were on campaign and all the other woman ever wore were elaborate ball gowns complete with corseted bodices and voluminous skirts. She knew Renner was undead and thus could tolerate things better than the Human she appeared to be most of the time, but surely wearing something like that and engaging in half the things they needed to do while on the march must be incredibly uncomfortable. Momons' human forms were anatomically functional after all. But whenever Neia brought the matter up, Renner just smiled coyly and deflected her concerns.

"So what is it?" Neia asked the moment Renner seemed done.

"One of our scouting parties just ran into a column of refugees." Renner told her with a frown. "And based on some of the details they were able to identify from passive observation, they're from Narvaar."

Neia blinked in surprise. "You're sure?"

"Reasonably." Renner nodded. "I told the scouts to approach cautiously and get confirmation but even without it I'm sure."

"What in the Nine Hells happened in Narvaar then? Did the Dragons turn the people out?"

Renner shrugged. "We'll just have to wait to hear what the refugees have to say."

Neia nodded even as an uneasy feeling settled in her stomach. Somehow she was sure that she wouldn't like what the refugees told them.


A day later and their column had stopped as they began to process and help the river of refugees flowing towards them from Narvaar and its surrounds. Neia had been at the forefront of these efforts to tend to these poor people and it was after hours of such work that she entered the command tent and with a brief survey of its occupants quickly zeroed in on Renner.

"What have you learned?" Neia demanded from the Momon, her anger running hot after she'd seen the dire conditions many of the poor refugees were in.

The blonde in the impractical dress looked up from her tablet computer and nodded in greeting before quickly diving into a report.

"Based on the compiled accounts we've collected from the refugees, Narvaar has been razed to the ground by a horde of Anaxim like automatons that suddenly swarmed across the mountains from Fallen Tymanchebar last week."

"I heard as much while tending to them. But Anaxim? The refugees just described their attackers as metallic monsters to me."

Renner fiddled with her computer for a moment before turning it around to show her a pair of golem-like metallic monsters, one with a vaguely bestial shape and the other a humanoid one, that was a conglomerate of metallic parts jutting with too many cutting implements and rusted surfaces.

"These is an Anaxim." Renner said pointing to the image on her computer's screen. "They are elementals native to the Glaur Barrens of Gontal."

"Native to Gontal?" Neia asked with her eyes narrowed. "We're on the far side of the continent from Gontal!"

"Which is one of the reasons we're mostly sure they're not Anaxims."

"One of the reasons?"

Renner nods and toggled her computer's display. "This is a recreation of the description of one of these psuedo-Anaxims that a refugee provided us. What do you notice?"

"Is that a corpse embedded inside?" Neia asked with shock as she noticed the desiccated remains of what looked like a Dragonborn inside a crystal sarcophagus of some kind at the heart of the vaguely hound like monster of twisted metal, stone and other random debris.

"Yes, my Lady." Renner nodded. "Between that and its non-metallic components we can conclude with near certainty that this isn't a Anaxim. What it is though we don't know."

"We do," Neia countered. "They're hurting the people we seek to liberate. That makes them our enemy. Full stop."

"As you say, my Lady." Renner said with a nod. "Though if they are our enemy, perhaps I can interest you in why they attacked Narvarr?"

Neia waved her hand for her to continue.

"As you can see," Renner gestured back to the recreation of one of these unknown monstrosities. "These things require dead bodies. We are thus reasonably sure they raided Narvaar-"

"To use its inhabitants as raw materials to grow their numbers."

"Yes, my Lady. But there's more." Renner said as she rotated the image of the recreation of the metallic monster and zoomed in on the symbol of a blank scroll emblazoned onto the thing's left flank.

"Is that what I think it is?" Neia asked, as her blood began to boil with rage.

"It is the symbol of the god Oghma." Renner said, confirming Neia's suspicion. "We do not know how but it seems he is connected to these monsters."

"I don't care about the how." Neia said with a growl. "We are the instruments of a divine will. Of a greater god than Oghma will ever be. We will not be stopped by these monstrosities. Ready the troops to move out, we're hunting these things down."

"And the refugees?"

"Message Felmid and request sanctuary there for them. It should be forthcoming. Once they're sent through, we march."

"And what will you be doing in the meantime, Lady Neia?" Renner asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"I will be doing my duty as a Paladin of Ainz Ooal Gown and tend to the innocents. I leave the rest to you."

Renner offered her a curtsy that Neia absently acknowledged with a nod before heading out towards the hospital tents.

I'll make whoever hurt these innocent people pay. No matter what god I offend in the process.


The Skeleton Bert Saxer floated inside the magical sarcophagus of his personal Necrofex and watched through a feed sent to him from one of his scout Hounds as it showed a column of armored vehicles moving across the countryside towards his position inside the ruins of the city of Narvaar.

"So they come at last." The abnormal Skeleton said to himself. "I have two days at best before they reach here. That's plenty of time! Plenty of time to arrange a fitting welcome for these poor, deluded dummkopfs!"

He burst into insane laughter at that, his mind coming up with all the ways he would torment these fools who followed the monster known as Ainz Ooal Gown.

A monster that had taken everything from me! A wondering fragment of Bert's mind thought even as the majority of its focus went into planning a reception for the dark god's followers. And as it did, the painfully vivid memory of how he had lost everything surfaced unbidden.

It had been a normal day for Saxer at first. He had just finished breakfast with his wife and two children in their tiny but comfortable apartment in the Berlin arcology and he was just preparing to leave for his job as one of the city's maintenance engineers when suddenly a flash of light consumed them all. There had been no time to react. No time at all. One second they were all normal and the next, he and his wife were Skeletons and their children were fused together into some undead abomination he had no name for. The horror must have shattered his mind for in the eternity that followed, he remembered nothing.

He only regained his sense of self when he found himself in a starfighter drifting in the void after the evil god's battle with the undead primordial Atropus. One of countless lost craft, Bert had been lucky. He had caught the attention of the Lord of Knowledge, Oghma. Said god had restored his freedom and with it the memories of his past life.

Bert had been beyond grateful. For while he had lost everything, the memory alone of what he'd had and his restored freedom were priceless. He thus profusely thanked the god and asked him what he wanted to repay this unasked for boon.

The god had simply told him to act on his own will and then transported him to the shattered remains of what he would learn was called Tymanchebar where using his mechanical knowledge and new knowledge granted to him by Lord Oghma to begin building an army. For he would need an army to do what he wanted. To exact his revenge on Ainz Ooal Gown for taking everything away from him.

"And soon, soon, I will have a chance to strike the first blow." Bert said with confidence before bursting once more into maniacal laughter.


They were still a day out from Narvaar where their scouts had confirmed that the pseudo-Anaxims were still busy looting the city's remains and building more of themselves when the command Hippo suddenly started rocking even as the sound of powerful explosions pierced through the armored personnel carrier's well protected chassis.

"What was that?" Neia demanded as she hurriedly abandoned the checking of her arrows and stowing them back into her quiver, turned to the tactical display where Renner was already trying to make sense of the incoming information.

"We're under attack." The Momon informed her with cool professionalism. "It's the pseudo-Anaxims. They were hiding under invisibility and obfuscation spells. Those explosions were artillery strikes, they were aimed at our own artillery. We've lost roughly 15% of them."

"And the rest?"

"Protected by barriers thrown up by our mages, the enemy shells don't seem to be able to get through those. The surviving artillery crews are deploying their weapons to provide counter battery fire as we speak."

"And these?" Neia asked, indicating to a swarm of red markers surging towards the edge of their lines even as their men rushed to form up in a defensive formations.

"The enemy's main force, I'd reckon."

Neia nodded and examined the situation quickly.

There's not much I can order the men to do on a tactical level that they aren't already doing. Neia reasoned. She was no tactical genius. Far from it. There was no smart moves she could order by looking at this display. So I can't help them from here.

"I'm going out." Neia declared as she moved towards the rear hatch of the Hippo. "Renner, you have tactical command."

"Yes, my Lady. Don't die out there."

Neia turned and shot her adjutant an amused grin. "I won't."


Outside was sheer chaos. The pseudo-Anaxims were wreaking havoc with their array of eerily familiar weapons. For like their own forces, they sported lasers and railguns instead of the more standard weapons of Toril. That alone was disconcerting enough but add to their element of surprise and they clearly had the upper hand as Neia's troops stood on the verge of total panic.

"Soldiers of Ainz Ooal Gown!" Neia shouted, triggering her Evangelist skills to allow her to be heard by all her men and for her words to burn themselves into their hearts. "Do not panic! Remember your training! Fight!"

Inspired by her power, the fear that had led to their confusion left her men and they begun to properly respond to the ambush. Helped along immensely, Neia was sure, by the steady stream of commands Renner was issuing from inside the command Hippo.

Her call to her soldiers had given away her position however and a flock of birds like pseudo-Anaxims braved the AA fire thrown up by the Sigurds to attempt an attack run at Neia.

The majority were torn to shreds well before they could unleash their payloads, but a lone falcon like monster with a wingspan of at least a dozen feet managed to weather the interlocking railgun fire where its fellows did not and unleashed a cluster of rockets at Neia. Unfazed, she just unslung Ultimate Shooting Star Super and used her Gatling Arrow skill to not only shoot down its rockets well outside the realm where she was in danger but also pepper the monster with enough arrows that it crashed to the ground as an inert wreck

"Hold the line! If we stand shoulder to shoulder, we can win this!" Neia shouted once more as she moved to the frontlines, lining up and taking any shot that she could at the enemy whilst making full use of her Monster Slaying Arrow and Explosive Arrow skills to down pseudo-Anaxims by the dozens.

The sight of which set the hearts of her men ablaze and made them fight harder. And by the time that Neia herself reached the front, the lines had stabilized. A no man's land having emerged between her troops and the prowling packs of the pseudo-Anaxims, both bestial and humanoid in appearance, where the two sides traded fire.

"Follow me!" Neia cried out to the troops at the section of the front she had reached. "Follow me and together we shall destroy these monsters!"

Her words were met with cheers but she doubted any of them realized how literal she was being. For as she strode past the ring of armored vehicles that now encircled their position, no one moved to stop or follow her. The troops just stared at her in stunned disbelief.

That won't last long. Neia thought as she raised her bow at the enemy who unlike her men were moving eagerly to attempt to kill her.

"Rain Arrow!" Neia incanted, activating her skill and showering the enemy with arrows as she fearlessly took her first step into the no man's land, killing dozens and stirring the brave men and women around her into action.

"Follow the Pope!" Someone yelled and soon a chorus of similar cries ran filled the air and her troops lunged forward.

Softened by Neia's skill, the enemy line could not withstand the counterattack and crumbled. It should have ended there, with her men exploiting the breach to surge into the enemy's rear lines.

However, the enemy had one last card to play.

"Servant of the evil god die!" A fanatical sounding voice roared as a massive vaguely humanoid colossus of twisted metal, stone and other miscellaneous debris including rather grimly bone that had a glowing crystal sarcophagus for a head landed just ahead of Neia thanks to the use of a jet pack built into its back.


I have her now! Bert thought to himself happily as he leveled the plasma cannon he'd built into the right arm of his Necrofex Colossus at the damned leader of the morons who served Ainz Ooal Gown. She was a young woman, barely out of her teenage years if at all, and before all that had befallen him, the blonde would have elicited sympathy from him but that man was gone. This täuschen had sold her soul to the monster that had taken everything from him and thus deserved to die.

It was not to be however, for even as his cannon was still charging the girl raised her bow and shot an arrow at his Colossus' right shoulder with a cry of Monster Slaying Arrow. As the arrow struck, Bert was stunned as a large explosion tore his Necrofex's right arm clean off his machine altogether.

He'd seen ample proof of the strength of the girl's skills of course, but he'd never imagined it was powerful enough to damage his Necrofex! The weapon he'd built to kill the dark god himself!

Even as he reeled from shock however and his Necrofex staggered back from the blow, the archer girl did not flinch. She did not press her attack however but turned to her troops who had been intimidated by his arrival and spoke with that supernatural charisma of hers.

"Go brave soldiers! Leave this one to me! Go destroy the rest of his vile ilk!"

"The only one vile here is you!" Bert cried out angrily as his machine regained its balance and he brought the large vulcan he'd installed into its left arm to bear. "Die! Foul worshiper of Ainz Ooal Gown!"

His bullets slammed harmlessly against a series of glowing magical barriers as the Wizards of the enemy shielded their leader from his barrage. He idly noticed the rest of her men had heeded her earlier call and were tearing into the flanks of his army but he had no time for such concerns. He could rebuild Necrofexes easily, the chance to kill a leader of Ainz Ooal Gown's followers was an opportunity that was hard to come by.

This dismissive thought had barely finished crossing his mind when he noted with alarm that the girl had disappeared.

"Ho-"

"You talk too much." The girl's voice said from Bert's right and he spun inside his control sarcophagus to see her crouched on his shoulder with an arrow aimed right at him. "Explosive Arrow!"

"No~!" Bert howled in defiance even as largely unnoticed by himself a pulling sensation aentered around where his navel had been in life reached a crescendo seconds before the explosion from the archer's arrow would have consumed him.


Thank Lord Ainz I chose to learn the Shadow Step skill instead of just upping my accuracy the last time I leveled up my Sniper job class. Neia thought as she used the skill to teleport away from the destruction of the colossal pseudo-Anaxim's head. A blow that as she watched the accursed thing topple over and became inert, had felled the monster.

Hopefully, there aren't any more of those big ones. Neia thought as she turned from the flaming wreck to search for more targets.

Finding a pack of the Hound type mechanical monsters, Neia briefly wondered on their strange behavior. Throughout the battle so far the enemy had behaved as a cohesive unit that suggested some kind of command structure. But now, the Hounds were as busy attacking each other as they her men trying to exterminate them.

I can ponder why that is later. For now, let's give our guys a helping hand.

"Arrow Rain!" Neia incanted, sending a shower of arrows at the pack that thinned it out a great deal.

"My Lady!" An Elder Lich called to her suddenly as it braved the fighting all around them to reach her. "Lady Neia!"

"Yes?" Neia asked, as he sent a Monster Slaying Arrow at a particularly large, lanky humanoid pseudo-Anaxim and taking it down.

"Lady Renner sent me here to tell you that the enemy have all gone feral."

"I can see that for myself." Neia said with a raised eyebrow, gesturing at a pair of the bull shaped mechanical beasts that were locking horns with each other even as her men shot at them. "And why couldn't she just contact me via Message?"

"She said she didn't want to distract you." The Elder Lich said with a shrug.

Guess he didn't buy it either.

"Knowing her she probably just wanted to pull me off the frontlines." Neia said with an exasperated sigh, knowing that her manipulative adjutant had succeeded there. While talking with the Elder Lich, the fighting had already shifted quite a ways from her position.

"But I'll play along, let's go back to the command Hippo."

"After you, my Lady." The undead said with a bow.

I'll never get used to this kinda deference.


"So those pseudo-Anaxims hit Qaragar too?" Lady Drau asked Lady Neia with a frown over a video link from her command center in Kaluth.

"Unfortunately," Lady Neia said with a frown. "We've barely swung north to head to the city and we're already picking up refugees reporting it."

"It seems that their leader hit both cities at the same time." Renner informed the leader of Lord Ainz's Chosen.

"Makes sense." Lady Drau said as she ran a hand over her chin consideringly. "Your scouts said they came over from Fallen Tymanchebar right?"

Lady Neia nodded.

"Then it makes sense for him to try to secure both Narvaar and Qarangar quickly. With them he'd hold the entire eastern part of the empire."

"Well, I'm not sure he hasn't succeeded there." Lady Neia said with a sigh. "I might've killed him and turned his creations feral but they've still overrun the whole region."

"Maybe but at least they're no longer an organized military threat. Just packs or individual roving monsters." Lady Drau countered. "That should make them at least somewhat more easy to manage."

"That is true, my Lady. But they pose a threat to all the villages and small communities in the region." Renner said, looking at Lady Neia carefully for whom she was acting as the mouthpiece on this occasion. "The security of which we need to guarantee."

Frankly, Renner thought they should just ignore all these insignificant settlements but Lady Neia was a bleeding heart and so as her loyal adjutant she had no choice but to play along.

"Call in the garrison forces from Felmid that were originally slated to be stationed in Narvaar and Qarangar." Lady Drau said with an irritated frown. "Have them handle it."

"Thanks Drau."

"No problem. Just move on Palendar as soon as you can. The Dragons are running scared and I don't want them to flee north and escape. Fimbrul has it's own problems, let's not add to it."

"Gotcha, Drau! I'll get my men moving double time." Lady Neia assured her fellow Chosen with a smile.

"You do that." Lady Drau said with a chuckle. "Now why don't you get started on that? I want to ask Renner a few questions about what she found out about these pseudo-Anaxims."

Lady Neia seemed surprised to be left out of the conversation, so Renner hastened to reassure her. "I'm simply repeating what I've already told you my Lady. Nothing more."

"Well, if that's all then fine." The divine archer said with a sigh of relief. "But you'll tell me if something new comes up?"

"Of course we will. Now get going."

Lady Neia still seemed a little reluctant, but nevertheless complied and headed off to start organizing the move to their new destination.

"So what is it that you insisted I not let Neia hear about, Renner?" Lady Drau after they were both sure her fellow Chosen had left.

"I did not say that she could not learn of it, Lady Drau. Merely that you should hear it first before deciding if she should."

"Semantics. What is this damning news that you've unearthed from analyzing the remains of the leader of these pseudo-Anaxims?"

"Firstly, and I've already informed Lady Neia of this, they are apparently called Necrofexes."

Lady Drau rolled her eyes. "Get to the point, would you?"

"Apologies my Lady." Renner said offering the Chosen a remorseful bow. "Force of habit."

"Yes, your reputation as a woman who cannot give a straight answer for anything precedes you, Renner. Even Fluder mentioned it."

Renner had the grace to wince. Developing such a reputation among her own kind was one thing, but to have the Chosen come to feel the same about her was disastrous.

"I'll restrain myself."

"Please do. Now what is it that is so damning?"

Renner took a quick look around to ensure there was no one eavesdropping, a necessary precaution even though she'd swept the comms area twice for bugs or spells that might spy on the conversation and it was guarded by undead bound to her directly. Only when she was sure the coast was clear did she answer the Lady Drau's question.

"The identity of the person behind these Necrofexes, my Lady. He is from Lord Ainz's Earth."

The Dragon blinked in shock for a moment. "How?"

"It appears the god Oghma intervened. Though I think it more likely he just copied a mind from that Earth rather than having actually transported his soul here to Realmspace like what happened with Lord Ainz's apotheosis. That seems more in line with the limited capabilities of a local god."

"Either way it makes whoever this is dangerous."

"He calls himself Bert Saxer and yes, he is dangerous. Setting aside any sensitive information of the Supreme One he might know from their Earth, from what my minions were able to uncover from his machine he's obsessed with destroying our Lord. While I doubt he'll ever come close, he is satisfied with attacking his servants such as ourselves and hurting him wherever possible."

"Making him a threat to our plans." Lady Drau noted. "Wait. You mentioned he's obsessed? How obsessed?"

"To the point of derangement."

"That works in our favor. We can spin whatever dangerous information he might have as the ravings of an insane mind. Doing so would eliminate much of his threat."

"You speak of him as if he's still alive."

"Oghma went to the trouble of creating him. Do you think he'd let him die so easily? Neia might've defeated him for now but I have a feeling he'll be back."

Renner frowned but nodded. She hadn't considered that. Her concern had been geared towards the leaking of Saxer's story and anything he might know about Lord Ainz's mortal life that might damage the Supreme One's reputation. If he was still alive, that was a whole new, bigger problem. A much bigger one.

"I suppose that's the best we can do."

"Besides hunt him down and destroy him, but we'll need to figure out where he is first. I'll inform Father of this, if he doesn't already know, and have him follow up-"

I already have. Lord Ainz's noble voice echoed into Renner's mind and by the look on Lady Drau's face hers as well. Oghma has claimed Saxer as his own. He is to be his champion, his Exarch against me. According to the rules set down by Lord Ao that limits what I can do to him. That said, Oghma has agreed to withdraw him from the board for the moment so ignore him for now.

"As you command Lord Ainz." Renner said quickly.

"So, I take it that you want us to focus on the liberation of Skelkor instead?"

Renner did not get the pleasure of hearing Lord Ainz's voice again.

"Father said yes by the way." Lady Drau said after a moment.

The Momon just nodded in disappointment. Hearing the Supreme One's voice was a great honor and she should be elated to have been gifted with the chance, but she couldn't help but wish she'd heard more of it.

"As for who and what Saxer is." Lady Drau said ignoring Renner's pout. "Tell Neia. This isn't something we should keep from her."

"As you command, my Lady."

"You did well to be discreet with this, Renner. Good job."

Renner returned the compliment with a smile and made her pleasantries before cutting the call on auto-pilot. She was too busy plotting how to break the secret of Saxer's identity to her commander. Once the feed had been disconnected, she began adjusting her face with her hands, pushing her muscles this way and that to try and shape it into the perfect mask of chastised and apologetic that she wanted.

It took a moment and a few glances into the hand mirror she always kept on her person but soon she was ready to effusively apologize to Lady Neia for keeping secrets from her and beg her forgiveness. Mentally smirking to herself for a job well done, she left the command tent in search of her commander with her mask firmly in place.

I'm sure she'll buy my act. Everyone always has.


Done!

Not too happy with this one. It felt clunky at points but I can't really think of how to fix it so I'm publishing it as is.

Now onto things to discuss from this chapter.

Why would Oghma create something like Saxer? Simple really. He is the Lord of Knowledge, so why would he deny himself the chance to learn something of Ainz Ooal Gown's homeworld? And having created a creature with a seething hatred for this new, dangerous primordial why not use him as his pawn against his interests?

As for why Saxer is such a pushover? It's because he was an overconfident fool. He doesn't realize just what Neia is. He thinks she's just a normal human who sold her soul to Ainz, not one of his avatars given her own independence. So he got owned because of it. Basically, he's like Zero just before he got killed by Sebas in canon!Overlord.

Why was Renner and Drau so worried about Saxer at the end there? Well, they're not so much worried that people realize Ainz was mortal. There are plenty of formerly mortal gods in Realmspace. What they are worried about is whether he knows anything potentially damaging about Ainz from when he was mortal. Which he doesn't, but they don't know that.

Lastly, the bit where Renner is messing around with her face to take on a particular expression she wants? That's a nod to a similar scene in the anime which was used to give us a glimpse at canon!Renner's true nature. I just added it here as a homage, not much else.

Well that's all this chapter folks so till next time qoştasw!