She is OVERLORD

Seven

Shalltear the Vampiress hungered... of course, the Guardian of the first few floors ALWAYS hungered. It was a side effect of her vampirism.

"Another drink?" the bartender in the bar in the Tomb asked. The fancy bar was on the same floor as the Great Hall, and was beautifully decorated. It was originally intended just for the 41 Supreme Beings, but Kobayashi had generously opened it to all.

"One for me please!" Aura beamed, the elf settling in beside Elma.

"Shouldn't you be guarding your floor?" Shalltear complained.

"Same as you," Aura noted. She shrugged, "We have patrols and will have enough warning to get into position."

Shalltear grunted. Her creator and Aura's were brother and sister, and that rivalry extended to their creations. Neither tended to agree with the other unless they HAD too.

Aura gave her a sympathetic look, "You're bored, aren't you?"

Shalltear said piously in reply, "I am perfectly happy preforming my duties as the Supreme Beings intended."

Aura waited calmly.

"Okay, YES I'm bored," Shalltear finally admitted. "Albedo, Sebas and Yuri Alpha are getting to have all the fun!"

"Refill?" the bartender asked mildly.

"Please," both Shalltear and Aura got more drinks.

Aura sipped her drink, "Look on the bright side."

"Oh?" Shalltear asked.

"SOME fool will decide we're an invader, send forces and we'll have to deal with them," Aura grinned cheerfully.

Shalltear grinned back, "I can't wait."

The bartender sighed as both women burst into evil laughter...

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The party of adventurers and politicians reached the fortress city of Re-Estize in a few says of (relatively) slow travel. The Swords of Darkness party had gotten used to talking to the Empress... sort of.

"It's okay for us to collect the monster bounties?" Peter asked, walking beside Kobayashi.

"It's fine," Kobayashi waved it off, "it's not like I need them."

They had run into monsters three times on the trip and her, Sebas and Yuri Alpha had destroyed all the attackers. Sebas fought bare handed, while Yuri used metal gauntlets, and they smashed enemies easily. And all three were fast as hell.

"Miss Alpha, I was wondering, once we reach the city, if you would...," Lukrut started.

"No," the dignified Yuri Alpha said.

Brita sighed, "STOP HITTING ON HER, Lukrut."

"Indeed," Dyne nodded. Quietly he added, "You DO realize she can kill you with one hand, if you annoy her?"

"True love faces any danger!" Lukrut declared.

Yuri Alpha rolled her eyes.

The Swords had also found Kobayashi asking them a lot about Re-Estize, history and other things. She seemed especially fascinated by the Thirteen Great heroes and the Eight Greedy Kings.

They were coming up to the main gates, when Kobayashi frowned slightly.

"Master?" Sebas asked.

"There's a LOT of necromantic energy nearby," Kobayashi frowned, "like someone was doing a major working." She looked over at the mage and asked him, "Is this normal?"

Ninya blinked, "I'm not really sensitive to necromancy."

"There is a cemetary beside the city, but it's under guard," Peter noted, "is that...?"

Kobayashi shook her head, "Alone, it wouldn't be putting out that much energy." She seemed to make a snap decision and barked, "Sebas!"

"Yes master?" the dignified servant replied.

"Take the village chiefs into the city, protect them at all costs," Kobayashi ordered him. As he nodded she turned to Yuri, "We're going into the graveyard to investigate."

"Of course," Yuri nodded briskly.

"But.. there's no Guild request? And no one will pay you," Peter blinked.

"I find if you ignore warning signs like this," Kobayashi smiled at them faintly, "they come back to get you later."

Dyne nodded thoughtfully.

Peter hesitated a moment then said, "I'd like to come along." All the Swords of Darkness chimed in.

"Not me," Brita said quickly, "I'm just an average Steel Adventurer, I am NOT up to facing hordes of undead." She paused and volunteered, "I'll escort Mr Nfirea back into the city."

"Fair enough," Ninya conceded.

"I'm sorry I can't help," Nfirea added sheepishly.

"I don't know how bad this will be," Kobatashi noted, "though I'm hoping its a false alarm."

"We're coming," Dyne said, though they all looked a bit worried.

"Do not hinder the mistress," Yuri Alpha added.

Peter addressed Brita, "Tell the adventurers guild we're going into the cemetary. If it ends up being bad..."

"We'll be ready," Brita promised, watching as the group marched off.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

In a case of the worst luck ever, Clementine had been out scouting in the city as the group arrived. A guard that she had leverage on told her about the strange group's arrival, and that they were headed into the graveyard. With a curse, she hurried to shadow them, and to look for a chance to backstab the group...

The Adventurers she quickly decided were cannon fodder. She could kill any of them. (Tho she was impressed with how Peter talked the guards at the Cemetary Gate to let them by. He clearly had charm, at least.)

The two women tho... Clementine watched in shock as the one gauntlet wearing woman just grabbed and casually smashed undead. Bones from the shattered skeletons went flying as she crushed them with unhuman ease.

'How the hell..?' Clementine wondered. Even some of the freakishly powered types back at the Theocracy couldn't do that.

The tall, and eerily beautiful one was using a spear that literally crackled with unearthly energies. She was blasting away dozens of skeletons with a single wave. With the adventurer's help, the two might clear the whole cemetery of undead!

'Khajit and I had created a huge number of 'new' undead, but these may destroy them all. And can Khajit even fight off this group?' Clementine wondered.

(Clementine had already decided to desert her comrade. She was going to watch this play out, then get the hell out of here.)

They scythed their way through the cemetery, destroying hundreds of undead. Even the adventurer group succeeded in multiple kills. Eventually they reached the main tomb, that hid the passage into the underground base.

Khajit and his acolites were gathered, with Khajit holding the magic stone he had created. "HOW DARE YOU INTERFERE WITH MY WORK?!" Khajit cried out angrily.

'He's lost his wits,' Clementine realized. She couldn't blame him, he had been preparing for this ritual for years, but...

The leader-woman calmly faced him. "Cease your activities and leave, and we'll spare you," she said briskly.

Khajit just looked at her blankly. "Are you mocking me?" he had to ask.

"We have a meeting in the city," the woman shrugged, "we can't have it if your undead are attacking."

"YOU...," Khajit growled. He raised the orb, "Acolytes, attack them." He then summoned, "SKELETAL DRAGON!"

'He's using his trump card so quickly?' Clementine observed. Not that she could blame him, really. A Skeletal Dragon was hugely strong and, supposedly, invulnerable to magic...

"Alpha, Darkness, handle the acolytes. The necromancer and the dragon are mine," the tall woman ordered.

"Be careful," the adventurer leader added, "it's immune to magic."

"Interesting," the spear user said, then shot forward.

Clementine yelped in shock as the woman ripped an arm of the skeletal dragon right off, then punched it back nearly a mile.

"Ack!" Khajit yelped, raising the orb and summoning another Dragon, while repairing the first.

They fought awhile, the Adventurers rounding up the acolytes while the gauntleted woman kept Khajit busy. And the leader was clearly toying with the dragons, almost as if she was just testing them. Finally she struck her spear into the ground and began casting magic.

"Fool! Skeletal Dragons are immune to magic!" Khajit cackled.

"TWIN MAXIMIZE MAGIC! RAGING PHOENIX INFERNO!"

Clementine watched in stunned disbelief as the fire spell incinerated one dragon, then weakened a bit but still exploded the other into ash.

Khajit dropped to his knees, clearly broken by what he'd just seen. "How...?" he muttered.

As they rounded up the survivors, Clementine saw the leader looking towards where she hid... and the woman smiled and winked.

'SHE KNEW I WAS WATCHING?!' Clementine thought in horror. Using all her stealth skills, she slipped away, heading to the city where she'd grab a horse and flee.

To be continued...

Notes: There actually is a canon bar in the Tomb. Shalltear goes there to drown her sorrows after the mind control thing.

To those wondering why Ainz didn't sense anything coming into the city: he was focused on his 'adventurer' disguise. Also while he has some necromantic powers, he's primarily a sorcerer.