A/N: A story idea that came to me from watching the Overlord series. Future Chapters may or may not include content from the light novels. This is based off of the anime adaptation.

It was a clear night, even though everything was coming to an end.

He glanced at the corner of his interface, at the in-game clock.

23:51:32

"Ugh..."

Less than ten minutes remained. Afterwards, his main source of entertainment would shut down. Then it'd be back to the daily grind.

Niwatori was a Security Guard outside of the game, so being up this late was possibly the stupidest thing he could do. Needless to say he was working the morning shift-Normally he'd be sound asleep as early as 9:30 PM. But this was a special occasion. He could stand to be dead tired at work at least once.

His job was neither good nor bad. It definitely paid the bills, and it paid well enough. It was leagues better than a desk job, that was for sure.

So Niwatori refocused on his mission. There wasn't really much he could do within 5 minutes...

Conducting a raid had no real meaning at this point. He was witnessing the final death throes of a game that could quite possibly never be replicated.

As the game was a a Dive MMO, the sensation of exploration was similar to being in the pilot seat of a vehicle. The vehicle being his character that he controlled in the game.

Perhaps he would see if he could sneak into one of the guild bases nearby.

That was one main regret. He'd never joined nor created a guild. Eleven years playing the game, and he'd never got involved with one. His justification was that he'd never had the time. Well, no use complainimg now.

6 minutes left.

He'd been traversing through the swamp for most of the time he'd been logged in today. He had been looking for one of the world ranked Guilds, guilds that had the top rankings, based around difficulty of raiding.

The closest guild he was near was the legendary Tomb of Nazarick.

The base started off as a spawn point for powerful undead until it was cleared in one try by a guild of heteromorph player characters.

Nine's Own Goal, he thinks they were called.

So here he was, stomping through the swamps. It seemed to forever be raining. Mud squelched under his greaves, which were the color of a rusted red, leaving footprints in his wake. The most notable feature of the swamp were the large trees and foliage scattered all around. Many of them contained harvest nodes, or areas to collect mixing ingredients for potions, dyes, and the like.

Niwatori stretched out a hand, perpindicular from his core, his fingers stretched forward as if preparing to chop an imaginary enemy.

A blade of energy burst forward from his hand and then concentrated itself. It surrounded his arm in the sillhouette of a longsword. He was quite proud of this skill of his. According to lore, it was a blade made of pure fighting spirit, a skill you could only learn in a hidden dungeon in Asgard.

Using his [Spirit Sword, he cut his way through the foliage, hoping he would reach the Tomb in time, assuming the map's information was even accurate.

After a couple tens of agonizing seconds, he finally came to a clearing, or what passed for a clearing in a swamp. Straight ahead was the entrance of what looked like a Greek Parthenon. The crest of the large steps were topped by a wide row of evenly spaced pillars, each column as wide as four players with the largest possible avatar sizes.

Lightning flashed across his vision, encouraging him to speed up his trek to the legendary guild base.

Two minutes in and he'd yet to be attacked by a single mob over level 30 inside the tomb. The gray walls of the first floor he'd entered contained some interesting architecture. Relief carvings and geometric patterns ran along the surface of the walls as if telling some story with an unintelligible language.

Granted, he was sure it was probably designed that way with the loose crowds on the current floor, but then again, there was about 3 to 4 minutes left until the game shutdown. He wouldn't be surprised if the whole place was abandoned. Maybe the monster spawn points got deactivated somehow.

Upon arriving to the first main door, his interface pinged him. Apparently there was a high level monster on the other side of it. Fortunately, he had not aggro'd it. He wasn't really in the mood to be fighting boss level enemies with such little time.

Instead of bothering to waste time fighting it, he simply activated [message] and set it's channel to shout.

"Anybody home?"

Niwatori waited next to the door, arms crossed. His best bet was to wait and see if anyone would respond. Going through the next door would only waste the few minutes he had left.

"Oh? A last attempt at a raid?"

Niwatori turned around, to be met by the sight of what looked to be an Undead Player.

Although Niwatori never met the leader of the tomb, he definitely recognized the divine gear he was wearing.

"What brings you to the Tomb of Nazarick?"

"I was just exploring, you know with the server shutdown-"

"Don't move, there's a trap there."

"..!" Niwatori froze as the Lich waved his hand almost lazily is if wiping something away. The floor in front of him glowed for a moment before returning to it's original coloration.

"Wasn't expecting traps on the last day," the warrior laughed, a smiling emoji materializing over his head.

"Haka," Niwatori greeted with a wave.

The Lich nodded, a waving emoji appearing. "Momonga," he returned. The Lich, Momonga, cocked his head to one side. "Your character..."

The warrior shrugged. "Yeah, I found out too late you could only have one character slot."

Yes, Niwatori's character was female, although it wasn't immediately apparent. The rusted-red armor he wore looked unisex, but the armor looked less dense in specific areas, showcasing telling curves on the character's figure. It was different enough to look odd on a male character.

"Hm? Oh yes, that too. I meant your racial class. I haven't seen many of them," Momonga clarified. He seemed to pause before deciding on something. He walked towards the door that the NPC was behind, a floating screen of text popping up in front of his outstretched hand. "Follow me."

Niwatori nodded, falling in step. "Yeah, another mistake of mine," he explained. "Not really a fan of it to be honest."

The large door was more like a sliding floor that parted ways, allowing entry. It was made of stone, containing engravings of sorts. A staircase was built into it, and they descended.

He'd been referring to his racial class, [Half Dead]. It, with one of his main Job classes [Berserker, made Haka into a formiddable DPS Tank, a hybrid of player that proves invaluable in many mmos, easily able to switch between soaking up damage and dishing out as much as possible.

"If I remember correctly, [Half Dead] has high defense but cannot regenerate HP very fast" Momonga said, closing the floating text box. Niwatori nodded, impressed by Momonga's game knowledge.

The gigantic door opened, allowing entry. The entryway was blocked by what looked like a teenage girl in flashy red armor. It looked like it was painted evenly all over with blood, leaving no open areas untouched.

If Niwatori wasn't alerted beforehand by his HUD of a nearby NPC, he would have thought it was a player.

"I've never seen an NPC with that level of detail!" he praised, he observed the character as the two of them walked past, the girl seeming to be observing him. With her modest smile revealing a small fang, it would look cute. Considering the environment he was walking in though, the expression came off as almost predatory looking.

Momonga chuckled, a genuine joy sounding over the headset. It almost looked out of place coming from such an intimidating looking Lich. Haka's player observed the walls, noticing that it was slightly getting brighter as they continued on. It was beginning to look less like a crypt and more like a residence. The gray stone walls were beginning to transition into what looked like elgantly crafted architecture, the likes of what you would find in a mansion.

"I'm sure Peroroncino would appreciate the compliment," he said. He sounded genuinely pleased at Niwatori's appreciation.

"Friend of yours?"

"...Yeah," Momonga replied, a sigh heard before his reply.

Was it a touchy subject? "Sorry."

"Huh?" Momonga seemed confused by his apology. "No, my apologies. I shouldn't be letting my attitude bother you. Especially with a complete stranger stopping by simply to chat."

Momonga was upset about something, but Niwatori wouldn't push the issue.

"Much appreciated. I'm not part of a guild, so I had been hoping to just find someone to network with, you know, in case another game came out or something."

"Hmm."

Momonga seemed to be mulling something over, before turning to face him.

"How about I show you our throne room?"

"Is that really okay?"

Momonga nodded as if having thought of that. "Why not? And you are technically a guest."

Momonga waved for Haka to follow him. He and Haka continued to talk about the game, things they liked about it and what they wished had been implented.

He had to admit, he appreciated the sudden appearance of a guest, even moreso that they were not a hostile party trying to raid the base. It was fortunate Momonga appeared when he did. While he couldn't judge Haka's combat ability against Shalltear, the first floor's guardian, she would have been assisted by hordes of spawned monsters. Even level 100's could not get past Shalltear without at least one raiding party.

Yes, while the throne room was a sacred area, he had been meaning to head that way anyway. Herohero had already logged off, so he would have been alone for the remaining couple of minutes.

He had also already equipped the Guild's weapon, the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. He would have kept it safely secured if he was expecting visitors.

All in all, he was confident that his guildmates wouldn't have minded the guest.

On the way to the throne room, he had the NPC butler, Sebas and the Pleiade combat maids, along with the other guardians follow him and his guest.

"Good grief, you guys must have had a graphic designer on board," came Haka's observation. The maids' attire looked more like armor of various styles with a maid uniform motif as opposed to vice-versa.

Momonga was absolutely beaming at this point. Even with the server shutting down, it was refreshing to be able to show off the guild that he and his friends created. At least that would be another memory for safekeeping.

"Even though I haven't known you long, I appreciate the company," Momonga stated once they reached the throne room.

Haka waved it off with a laugh.

The throne room was massive, befitting of a globally recognized guild. The ceiling was high up, making any who stepped inside feel small in comparison. Banners of the fourty-one members that made up the guild hung suspended from it.

Momonga sat down heavily on the throne, a sigh escaping from him.

Noticing the NPCs that had followed them, Momonga stretched his arm out toward them, his hand lowering.

"Kneel," Momonga gave the command, and the NPC's complied, dropping to one knee, hand over their heart.

Haka stood off to the side, somewhat behind the throne, whistling appreciatively. "This place is more like a fortress than a guild." He looked around, admiring the massive scale of the guild base.

"I see what you mean," Momonga grunted in agreement. The throne room itself was considered large enough to be it's own building. While observing the area, he belatedly realized there was an NPC standing directly next to the throne.

It was Albedo, a mild smile on her face.

"How long did it take to create NPC's like this," Haka commented, stepping closer to the winged woman.

"Most of the time went into flavor text, in backstories" Momonga answered honestly. Upon answering Haka, he noticed the weapon in Albedo's folded hands.

That's a World Item! What's Albedo doing with that as an equip?

Momonga almost snatched the weapon from the NPC, but thought better of it. It wouldn't be cool looking of him for him to snatch it in front of a guest. Besides, only one of the other guild members could have possibly equipped the Guardian Overseer with it...Maybe it was fine to leave it alone.

There was only a minute or two left on the server anyway.

"Hmm, I guess we can make you an honorary member, although it probably doesn't mean anything."

Haka laughed in good humor. "Sure why not." He crossed his arms, sighing. "I really hope a sequel comes out."

Momonga agreed. The both of them decided that they would use the same usernames in the hoped-for sequel.

Speaking of sequels...since the game was ending, Momonga decided to take a look at the settings on the NPCs. Momonga glanced to his side, examining Albedo standing at the side of his throne. It seemed as if she were watching him closely. Ignoring that observation for the moment, he activated the guild weapon.

The staff glowed momentarily of a red hue. Almost immediately, a floating window of text materialized in front of him.

"Let's see what Tabula wrote in here."