its not the full thing but i wanted to release something to celabrate this story reaching 1000 follows and 38000 veiews. Thankyou so much guys!
I spent far too long just trying to figure out which direction I wanted to take the relationship between Ainz and Raphtalia so this chapter is a bit... kind of all over the place with regards to that. I was trying to take it in the direction of a teacher and a student, but also a parallel of Satoru and Keno from the overlord side story. so i hope it comes across as that.
I'd like to apologise about my statement on the greed series from last chapter. I was wrong.
I don't own the Overlord(オーバーロードŌbārōdo?) Light novel, manga or anime series created by Kugane Maruyama.
I do not own the Rising of the shield hero (Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari) Light novel, manga or Anime series created by Aneko Yusagi
Thoughts "This is a thought."
Talking "Hey listen!"
Overlord spell [Fireball]
Shield hero spell {Zweite quick Aqua Slash}
Message ("This is a message.")
Replies to reviews
Setokayba2n
Oh definitely I've got something planned for our loveable Half-Tanuki that might make her early LN counterpart look like a toddler in terms of fighting strength. I'm still working on the details so nothing is set in stone as of yet.
Eu sunt Dracul 1
Thanks, that means a lot.
Zero Senpi
While it's a good idea, I don't think Ainz would do that. Dont worry ive got something planned for Nazarick.
MSDeus
Agreed if all of Nazarick showed up, Melromarch is screwed, but I'm not going to do that... ;) I mean can you imagine what would happen if say gargantua was brought to this world, it would be like what happened with the spirit tortoise. I have no doubt it could wipe out a country in an afternoon if ordered to do so.
Also I have the interaction between Biscus, the church and Ainz planned out too, well the basics anyway.
…
Thanks for the reviews guys
Overlord and the Shield
Chapter 4
Forest
When Ainz stepped out of the gate just within view of his fortress, a new notification appeared on his HUD.
Attention! Physical removal of item: !&%^#$* has not been completed.
Permission needed: An attempt to commune with item: !&%^#$* will be made, do you wish to continue?
Yes No
"Wait, what?!" He exclaimed in confusion. "What does that mean? It wants to talk to it, is that even possible? No, if even the possibility exists that I lose the stored strength it has built up over the past fifty two years; definitely not, I'm not risking it. The last time I used it, seven hundred players died instantly and that was only after two years..."
Attention! Permission has been denied, attempting to resolve through other means.
Notice: Unforeseen issues may persist as item: !&%^#$* stays equipped.
Attention! New critical system acquired. Item Merger now available.
"So that means it is giving me the option to do it manually, there is no further information on what it does, I can already sacrifice items to the shield like the health potion... ahhh."
Relenting and mostly wanting to test the effects of the newly acquired system, Ainz pulled a plain grey steel collar out of his inventory.
He looked at the collar briefly wondering if potentially losing one of these items would be worth it. They were mostly useless till now as no one originally from Nazarick could make proper use of them, the only ones who could were the people of the new world like the lizard men and Hamsuke, besides he had hundreds of these things sitting in the treasury. Ainz focused on the new icon at the bottom right of his HUD. A new sub menu opened up with two options.
…..
Collar of Spartacus
!&%^#$*
…..
After selecting the top most option, another notice asking for permission appeared in his view, he focused on yes and as soon as he agreed the collar began to turn into motes of purple light and drift towards the shields green gem.
Yet another notice appeared letting him know that the collar had been accepted and its effects were now party wide.
Normally the collar would be worn by those trying to level up quickly, giving the user a 1.5x exp multiplier at the cost of reduced attack and defence stats, both of these effects seemed to carry over as indicated by the small status arrows next to his name.
He wondered if it was possible to turn the effects off, having a constant debuff would get tiresome pretty quickly if he was faced with a strong enemy. He looked back down and focused on the icon, finding that the collar was blinking slowly on and off in a highlighted green.
Ainz focused on the words of the collar and found the same light the item made when entering the green gem at the center of the shield drifting out and back towards his opened hand re-materialising into a solid object, the moment it did raphtalia had stepped through the still open gate.
"S-s-sir i-is that for, u-um for me?" She asked nervously with eyes wide in thoughts of betrayal.
"No" he replied in a flat tone of voice. "I was conducting an experiment with my shield." he said, shaking the item on his forearm.
"O-oh, I see." she stuttered in relief.
keh~ keh~ keh~
"Hmm." Ainz reached into his inventory and pulled out a small glass vial full of a dull purple liquid "I want you to drink this, it's a healing potion, it should cure that cough and heal any injuries you have."
"I- it looks like poison."
"Just drink it, I have no objective in poisoning you, in fact it would serve as more of a detriment to me."
"Sir?" Raphtalia asked, taking the small vile out of the large dark armored hand.
"Yes?"
"What are you? Everything in my body is telling me to run away from you, why is that?"
"Do you know what the shield hero is?"
"Yes my mother and father told me stories about the waves and the heroes who came to stop them, before - before they died… Wait, are you saying you're one of the legendary Heroes?
"I am, but it was involuntary. I was taken from my world and family, then forced into being the shield hero, I think we're much alike in that aspect aren't we?"
"Mmh, yeah" she replied sadly, remembering all the things that happened after the first wave, the soldiers, that mean noble and Rifana. "But why am I so afraid of you then? I don't want to be… you've been so kind to me, but i-it's like you're wrong somehow."
"Hmm, I don't know the cause of that." He remarked in implied contemplation. "However I do have a theory if you would indulge me. One of my past friends once said that animals and by extension demi-humans such as yourself have the ability to sense things like natural disasters and dangerous events. You're likely having a reaction to me because I'm so much stronger than you are."
"Just how strong are you?"
"Do you see anything in your field of view? It should be up in the top left of your vision?"
She looked up then to the left awkwardly and shook her head. "No there's nothing there, why?"
"I see well that makes this a bit more difficult… how to explain this. Lets, for example, say you're level one in terms of overall strength and fighting ability, understand?"
"Um, I think so?"
"Good, now in terms of fighting strength I am level one hundred, I believe you are simply sensing the disparity between us. That is why your body is telling you to flee. It understands that it can't win." "Well that's at least what i'd tell you if i didn't want to keep the fact that I'm undead a secret."
"D-do you think I could get as strong as you one day?"
"It's possible but I'm unsure as to how the rules of this world work, would you like to help me figure them out?"
"Mh, hm yeah! But. um, you - you have to make sure you beat the waves, okay!"
"Those are acceptable terms, now drink that potion and we'll get started."
"Started on what?"
"Your training, that thrust earlier was pathetic." In response the girl made an offended expression and looked to the side while crossing her arms. After drinking the potion she quickly followed Ainz through the forest until they reached the open field that sat in front of it, several of the orange balls like the one she had killed earlier in the shop began to race at them seemingly unperturbed by the dark knight ahead of them.
Raphtalia noticed this and quickly hid behind Ainz legs in an attempt to become invisible. "I'll kill a few, you can take out the rest." the overlord said, holding out his hand in the direction of the approaching enemies.
[Fireball] he cast. The ball of flame shot out of his hand and made contact with some of the little monsters killing them. "Why are you waiting? Quickly, while they're stunned." He said looking down at the girl still gripping tight his armored leg.
"Oh, right." she exclaimed, pulling her dagger from its sheath and ran towards the enemies rolling around in confusion. She paused in front of one and looked at it before stabbing down, her hand on the pomal to add more force to the strike popping it instantly upon contact.
She quickly moved onto the next to do the same for each, when she was done Ainz walked up to her and pet her head lightly. "You did well, but why did you hesitate on the first one?"
"I felt sorry for it…" she replied nervously.
"Don't." he stated strictly. "Hesitating could get you killed. Some monsters feign being hurt to draw in unsuspecting victims, so if you get the chance, kill it quickly, never give them a chance to retaliate."
"Yes Sir…"
"Good, we will stay here for a while and level you up, after that we will move back into the forest for some stronger enemies."
"Okay." she exclaimed looking around the field until she locked onto something at the edge of her vision. "Whoa! What's that?" the girl asked in childish wonder while pointing at the smoking billowing thing in the field.
"That is… Let's get back to work."
But…" she retorted, spinning back around only to see the retreating form of… what should she call him? She knew his name - "Suzuki Satoru" - but she didn't feel it would be right to call him "Master". She wasn't a slave anymore.
He kind of reminded her of the old man that lived in her village when she was younger; he stayed away from people and got angry when they got near. She once asked her father who the old man was and why he was like that. He said that the old man fought in the war and that he lost people close to him. "Did he lose people too?"
"Are you coming." the black knight asked looking over his shoulder.
"Yes... Suzuki." she whispered in reply and quickly ran after him.
…
Their time on the plain lasted longer than Ainz expected. After a handful of hours Raphtalia had stated she was tired and hungry, so the two made their way back into the forest killing a few monsters as they did. When they reached Ainz' fortress he considered just giving her a ring of sustenance and be done with the issue but as Demiurge had worked out early on, the ring would actively interfere with the growth of children - Ainz was still not sure as to how the demon had figured that out - so as he was unsure as to how that fact would interfere with the way demi human bodies worked, he decided to leave it for now.
Currently, Ainz found himself staring at the readout before him in confusion. "This doesn't make any sense." he thought. "It's completely random, there's no pattern to it at all. I could say the first one was a fluke, but the four after that…"
"What's wrong?" the girl asked, looking up from her quick meal while her tail wagged in delight.
"Nothing too important, just a bit confused; the thing I would call resources - your health points, mana and stamina - are increasing at a rather erratic rate, the only thing that stayed consistent was the amount of exp to level up. Take your health for example, it was fifty six when you were level one, when you leveled up to level two it increased by thirty six points when you leveled up again to three it went up by twenty seven, on the next fifty two and on the one after that forty three."
"I think I get what you're saying, it means I'm getting stronger right?"
"Errh, yes." he replied flatly. "Once you're done eating we will begin moving again."
"Mmm." she hummed cheerfully and went back to eating her cooked fish.
The Overlord turned back to his shield, closed the status menu and continued to feed it the monster parts he had gathered on their way back into the forest. He had unlocked several shields so far that he had personally found useless - as an undead - like the mush shields that allowed for low level alchemy mixing and the cooking skills he got from the egg shields; for his recent companion on the other hand she seemed to appreciate the results.
"Ahhh, done. That was so good, thank you!" the girl exclaimed happily.
"It was no problem." He replied, waving away the thanks. He finished feeding the shield what items were still in his hand and quickly put the rest away into his dimensional storage got
Once the materials were safely secured Ainz got up from his seated position and made his way over to the door of the fortress. "Come here for a moment please." he asked.
"Ah, sure. What do you want me to do?"
"It's simple I'd like you to try and open this door, don't worry if you can't." In YGGDRASIL, anyone in the same party could open the door with a touch. In his world it worked differently, even if he considered them friendly they would not be able to pass through. And now in this world, since it has a party system he was curious as to how the door would judge the girl; would she be considered friendly or a neutral entity.
With an unsure "okay." she ran up to it and pushed maybe a little too hard. The door flung open and she landed face first on the hardwood floor. "Ouch." she announced flatly. "What happened?" she asked pushing up with water wobbling at the edge of her eyes.
"My apologies, I should have been a bit more specific as to how you should approach it. Normally the only one who can open this door is me, but with this world's party system it seems you can as well; that means it's at least similar enough to that system that the rules of it still apply."
"What are you talking about?" she asked, rubbing her sore nose.
"Nothing you need worry about. Lets go."
"But, wait - what was the point of it?"
He turned around and looked down to her position with a non-existent raised brow. "Do you not recall me asking you earlier if you wanted to help me find out how this world works. The thing I just asked you to do was an experiment to figure out how the party mechanics of this world work; thank you for that by the way it was very informative."
she looked up at him in mild disbelief. "You're not like the old man at all!"
"What?"
"It's nothing." she grumbled.
"I see…" he hummed, unsure of what she meant by him not being "like that old man". He could find out later once she was asleep, it would probably be the best time to scan her memories. Distracted by his thoughts he didn't realise he was moving at an accelerated pace.
Raphtalia quickly realised that he wasn't going to wait for her as his form started to disappear from sight. "Hey! Wait for me!" she cried out and ran after him.
…
By the time the two returned to base the light of the sun was threatening to depart from the world. Raphtalia was able to gain another few levels for a total of eight, the only reason she was able to achieve this in such a short time was because Ainz had merged the collar with the shield once the girl had reached level five.
He wanted to see if levels gained while under the effects of the collar would affect the stats gained from said levels but unfortunately there was no discernible difference. "It's still random."
"Su- Sir?"
"Yes?" he inquired, looking down at the girl beside him as they walked back towards the fortress.
"I'm feeling... kind of tired after training all day an- and…"
"Are you trying to ask for something? You don't need to be so nervous about it."
"Oh, yes Sir. I was wondering if there was a bed in that place that I can use?" She asked pointing towards the large structure that was peeking through the top of the tree line.
"I see. If you go inside and up the stairs on the right there should be several alcoves with beds within, you may pick one."
"Ah, thank you." She exclaimed as her eyes brightened slightly. When they reached the door she pushed it open - not too hard this time - and inside and up the stairs. Ainz followed at a steady pace behind her childish speed.
He found her rubbing her head against the white pillow of the bead furthest from the stairs. "It's so soft! What's this bed made out of?"
"Magic technically."
"Magic can do that?" the girl asked in wonder as she sat up.
"Mine can, I'm not so sure about this world's magic; I've yet to experience it - besides the ritual that summoned me here - so I am unsure as to its inner workings." "Though I hope to remedy that tonight."
"What Can you do with your magic?"
"A lot." he replied flatly and walked over to the girl. He reached into his inventory and pulled out a small necklace. It was made from a small clear gem with a well threaded piece of rope for its link.
"Take this." He commanded, she quickly took hold of it and looked at it with curiosity. "It is a [Pendant of Message], I will be going out tonight and won't be back until later so if you need me you can call me with this."
"But... How do I use it?"
"Hmm. First start by having it equipped. Then… I'm not sure if this will work but try making a mental picture of me and saying [message]."
She dropped the rope around her neck then tightly held onto the crystal, she closed her eyes and thought of the man she had trained with all day. "[Message]" she exclaimed.
("C- can you hear me?")
"C- can you hear me?
("Yes, but you are also speaking the word as well, try thinking about words and pushing them through the connection. This spell can be used to have a private conversations so make sure you differentiate between the two or there could be potential repercussions.")
"Sorry Su- Sir, let me try."
("..s th..s be..ter?")
("Close, but your words were choppy. We will continue later tomorrow.") [Sleep] Well.
"Yes, S- Sir." she stuttered in weariness.
"Good." he hummed and walked down stairs, leaving the girl to sleep in peace.
When he reached the middle of the room he changed from his Momon set to his divine set. He pointed his skeletal hand at the floor and said [Summon Demonic 5th: Shadow Demon]. A red magic circle appeared on the floor that spun briefly before disappearing in a red flash. In its place was a small orb of darkness quiverd in place.
"There is a girl on the level above this one, you are to guard her, contact me if anything odd happens... like spontaneous growth." Ainz commanded. It quiverd again and sped towards the stairs.
He summoned several more demons - ordering them to hide in his own shadow - and made his way to the door. He quickly cast [Perfect Unknowable] and walked outside into the moonlight night.
Once outside, about twenty meters from the fortress the Overlord looked up at the sky admiring the stars for a moment before he cast [fly] and took off in the direction of the bandit camp his hanzo had told him about the day before.
He flew for almost two minutes, passing over a village and a few small mountains until he reached an area that opened up to an expansive field past the greater forest. He paused mid air and waited for the hanzo to contact.
("My lord you will find this one directly below you!") the Hanzo exclaimed through the message.
("I see.") Ainz replied descending to the earth below. When he landed the invisible ninja blurred into existence next to him and revealed itself.
"Where are they? And what are their numbers." the overlord asked, dismissing his own invisibility and casting a small [Anti-Information Magic Wall] so they couldn't be observed by others.
"Yes my Lord. they are approximately two hundred twenty meters south from this location hidden within a small artificial cave system locked behind a thin iron metal door; they are fifteen in number with all of them being males."
"I see. Is there any among them that are unique, can use magic or are over the equivalent of level 60?"
"The answer is yes to both of your first two inquiries my lord, but none of them are over level 60. There is a man that is stronger than all of the others, he wields a low grade katana like sword. There is also a mage but from what this one has seen of his magic I would find it hard to give him such a title, at best he is a flint and steel."
"Interesting, so he is a fire mage then?"
"Y yes..." It stuttered.
"Ah my apologies that was a stupid question, please put it out of your mind."
"It is already done my lord. Do you require anything else from this one?"
"Yes. shadow demons, you are now under the command of this hanzo. Follow its orders as if they were my own." From the moonlit shadow that Ainz' figure cast on the ground several blots of darkness moved and raced into the hanzo's own.
"With these I want you to start observing priority targets such as the church, the king, the shadows and any other target you deem necessary. I leave it up to you, but make no mistake, this is to be purely an information gathering operation. Killing is off the table unless you ask for permission to do so. Also tell your brother to expand its search radius to the entire country of Melromarch, Am I understood?"
"Brother? Ah yes, As clear as crystal my lord. this one will ground itself to dust before we fail this task!"
"Very good, you may start immediately!" Ainz commanded, taking magnanimous pose number five.
"Yes!" it exclaimed and disappeared in a blur once more.
Ainz sighed and turned around to head in the direction of the cave. Hopefully this world's magic would be more useful than the wild magic of his world. After the Platinum Dragon lord died, his corps was taken to Nazarick where Ainz had used the one skill he had yet to use in the new word.
He had no use for the skill at first as it was thought that tier magic was the only magic system in that world, but when Pandora's Actor had his fight with the soul armor known as Riku just before the fall of the Re-Estize kingdom, wild magic was discovered and brought to the forefront of Nazariks attention.
The final and end result of this discovery was Ainz using the Overlord skill [Dark Wisdom] on the corps of the dragon lord and acquiring all the spells it was capable of, but, unfortunately the proper use of this magic was… not possible, he didn't have the soul mana required to cast them whatsoever.
Ainz stopped at the entrance of the cave just out of eye sight of the bandits within and cast [invisibility], his for shifted to that of absolute transparency
...
"Hey, Calvin did'ya hear that just now?"
"Na not a thing. Maybe someone should go check outside," the man exclaimed while looking at his fellow bandit.
"Whaddya look'n at me fer, go get that chicken shit Malcolm he'll do anythin you tel'em to."
"Yeah now that I think about it I guess he does hahah…" the man started to laugh but stopped at the midpoint between breaths falling face first; dead.
"Yo Calvin, ya right bud? What happened?" the dead man's friend asked, kneeling down to rock his fellow back and forth in an attempt to rouse him from is soulless slumber.
"He's dead." a Deep voice stated in absolute confidence.
The unnamed man looked up, swivelling his head back and forth in an attempt to find the voice's location. "Show yer'self ya bastard!" he yelled.
"Very well." the voice said flatly and revealed itself. He'd seen undead before like the zombies that spawned during the wave, yet this one was completely different on an entirely new level, he felt it like its existence was death itself.
"Holly! Wait isn't that?" He questioned looking down at the item on the skeleton's arm "Yer the shiel... gahh." the man grunted as the skeleton grabbed his face and lifted him up into the air. He attempted to scream for help but the thumb of the massive skeletal hand cupped his chin preventing him from doing so.
"I require your assistance, if you comply I will grant you mercy. Blink twice if you understand." The bandit didn't hesitate in doing so and the skeleton moved its thumb to just below the man's cheekbone allowing him to talk.
"Good. There is a man inside that can use fire magic, correct?" the skeleton asked.
"Yes, ya want Malcolm in the blue shirt! Go through the door behind me, down the tunnel, his bunk is the first on the right!" he exclaimed hurriedly, wondering why the guys on the other side of the door hadn't heard him.
"I see, and just in case are there any escape tunnels in this place?" The man didn't answer; he seemed to be rather reserved about that information, so Ainz began to squeeze only lightly at first until the pressure became unbearable.
"Yes! yes! There's one in the boss's room, now let me go!" the bandit exclaimed with beads of sweat rolling down his skin.
"Oh, you seem to be mistaken. I said I would grant you mercy not let you go." he replied ominously and stated to squeeze again. "Bu.. yer... the sh...ield her- Gahhhh!" Pop*
"I am Ainz Ooal Gown first." he stated, dropping the corps and shaking his hand free of the brain matter that had burst from the top of the nameless bandits head, he looked back down at the body thrusting out his hand and casting [Create Undead: Death Knight] on both the bodies within the cave.
The Overlord didn't wait for his summons to form before making his way further in. Once Ainz reached the iron door he wondered how he was going to handle this, multiple plans flashed through his mind before he made his decision.
[Widen Magic: Mass Hold Species] the spell immediately took effect and everyone within the cave stopped in their tracks, he felt one resisting - likely the stronger one - but in the end the bandit was unable to break free.
The next thing Ainz did was grab the top left corner of the iron door and pull, the door screeched and waned as it was pulled from the rocky frame it sat in. As expected there was a bolt lock holding it shut from the inside but the way in which the door was removed made its existence pointless.
The two bandits standing on the inside started to leak an aroma of urine as the door was removed behind them, they wanted to scream and run to leave this place and never return but they couldn't. It was simply impossible.
Finally with the door being removed entirely - bent and crumpled like a piece of discarded trash - the Overlord entered walking past the two bandits, down the rocky tunnel - passing a few more panicking bandits - and entered the first room on the right. Laying on one of the four bunks inside was a fairly average looking human with black hair and rough blue shirt.
"It is nice to meet you Malcolm." Ainz stated, picking up the small man in the same way he had done with the bandit before. "My name is Ainz Ooal Gown and I am the shield hero, you have chosen to aid me in my journey to save this world. Unfortunately, you are not personally needed. I only require your body. [Death] " the bandit didn't even have time to despair or ask why this was happening to him. He simply… Just... Died.
Ainz dropped the body of the bandit flat and set about doing what he was here for. "[Skill: Dark Wisdom]" At Ainz' behest a small black void spread beneath the corps stopping at a radius just big enough to swallow it entirely. As the body sank lower new knowledge filtered into the Overlords mind. Knowledge of the single spell this man knew and knowledge of how the system worked as a whole.
"I see, this is interesting at the very least." Ainz thought, walking back out into the tunnel to the bandits he had passed earlier. He stopped before a tall man with a mohawk in a black shirt and a growing wet spot on his purple pants.
Tears began to leak out of the man's eyes as ainz pointed a skeletal finger towards him {On my authority as the Shield Hero I order thee, decipher the laws of nature and cast a flame on my target, First flame}
Upon his cast a weak looking flame formed at the tip of his pointed finger which started to slowly drift towards the now crying man. When it finally came into contact with the man's face it instantly set his entire form alight.
"So it does scale with my magic attack stat as well as the shield attack stat. You have my thanks." he stated toward the silently squealing man. Ainz turned his form to look at the burning man's friend who was currently in a similar emotional state; eyes leaking tears of despair, wet pants stained with piss, it was obvious the man was scared out of his mind.
Ainz went to raise his hand once more to test the quick cast of the spell but stopped, instead he put his hand up to his temple and answered the message.
("...!")
("I see, Go sit on your bed and calm down. I will be back shortly.")
("...")
("No, just calm down i'll be back in a moment.")
("...")
("Good") he replied to the scared girl on the other end. He sighed again and walked past the man to the perceived center of the cave. He wanted to conduct some experiments on the rest of the bandits, especially the strong one yet the needs of an emotional child could be argued to be more important.
Thus he cast [Widen magic: Cry of the Banshee." an extremely loud wail of a woman echoed through the air emanating from Ainz carrying with it an instant death effect that killed everyone within the cave.
"I'll have to come back later and turn them all." he reasoned, walking toward the entrance of the cave. Once he reached the door he ordered the two death knights to stay put and kill anyone that attempted to enter.
Each of the knights gave a hollow grunt of understanding and stepped to the side, stiffened their forms in a statuesque manner. The overlord nodded, opened a [Gate] and changed back to his Momon set of armor before stepping through.
Well that's it for now let me know what you think and how i went about the relationship dynamics of Ainz and Raphtalia.
Also ive changed the name of the story to "The Ascendance of the Overlord and the Shield"
Can someone please tell me if say, for example, a hero was to consume an entire waves worth of exp without letting the other heroes gain any would that then give them the greed or glutony curse series and if so what would they do? The wiki is kind of usless when it comes to acctualy telling me what they do.
See you in the next one!
