Yggdrasil was a well-balanced game. Strong Classes or Strong Races had penalties to balance them. For instance, a Strong Race like True Vampire got a tremendous boost in physical abilities but also a penalty in the form of Blood Frenzy that made them incapable of wearing armor and limited their attack patterns. Even the game Strongest Classes like World Champion and World Disaster had restriction to limit their overpowering abilities. World Champion had a daily use limit of its powerful skills. World Disaster used a huge quantity of MP and its ultimate attack [Grand Catastrophe] required 60 percent of the user total MP thus making its use limited.

But in the same way, accomplishing an amazing feat deserved an equally outstanding reward. By defeating a World Disaster Class Boss, a player could acquire said Class. Another example was the incredible feat Ainz Ooal Gown accomplished by conquering the Great Tomb of Nazarick, a level 80+ Guild Base-Type Dungeon on their first try. The rewards? An extra 500 levels for their NPCs creation and a World Item.

It goes without saying that the act of defeating a World Enemy, one of the game's most powerful entities, provided the legion who accomplished it with powerful items, access to restricted and unique classes and one World Item at the very least. However this was back in the world of Yggdrasil. In this New World that is reality and not a game, things have changed drastically.

When Momonga opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the beautiful yet anguished face of a woman. She had vertically slit pupils like a snake. Her hair was dark and long falling at place covering her cheeks. She had ram-like horns protruding from her head. She was definitely not human. Nor an angel despite her angelic face. Her expression gradually shifted from anguish and worry to relief and joy. Soon, tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"Welcome back Momonga."

At those words, she said between sobs, Momonga's clouded mind became clear. He recalled the past circumstances and how he lost consciousness after they killed the dragon that attacked them. Then he took in his present setting: he was in his gear but he was on a bed, certainly in one of the room of the Fortress he created before losing consciousness, and Albedo was with him. But…

"Albedo, why are you naked?"

"Huh? I just thought it would be natural to keep you warm while you were asleep."

Natural? Are you kidding me? What kind of fetish are you into?

"Did I not do something right? Oh!" she exclaimed. Then seemed lost in thought for a moment. "I should have undressed you too Momonga? I wasn't sure that would be permissible but, what a terrible fault. Do permit me to remedy to that situation right away."

What a freak!

"No it's fine Albedo." He said in a hurry before she could act. "As an undead I'm immune to freezing anyway. More importantly how long have I been asleep? I suddenly lost consciousness after the fight. Can you tell me what happened afterward?"

"Gladly."

So, Albedo rushed to support the falling Momonga and led him inside the Fortress he had created. Then put him in bed. She then went outside to recover the dragon's body in case her master had any use for it and

"The corpse of that giant dragon was nowhere to be found. It certainly was dead and no one could have possibly stole it with the Primal Fire Elemental still around. It would have also required some time to recover it. So I believe the dragon body transformed into this." She handed Momonga a cylindrical object of about 50 cm. It was dark with inscriptions and symbols on it. The inscriptions were in a language he could not read or understand.

"I recovered it and went back immediately. Incidentally you have been unconscious for 45 days now."

"What? That long?" Momonga couldn't help but express his surprise. Then said surprise was abruptly suppressed again. At least that is still the same. When Momonga was assailed by that intense headache, new information where implanted on his mind. He had a more or less clear idea of what it was. To put it simply: an upgrade. His abilities and power had all seen a tremendous boost.

For starters, his stats had been upgraded. As a specialized necromancer, Momonga had low Agility, HP and Physical Attack and Defense, now they were comparable to those of a specialized melee-type character. Moreover, his passive skills had been upgraded. His Greater Physical Damage Immunity that nullified physical attacks up to level 60 now nullified attack up to level 80. His Magic Resistance could now nullify spells up to the 8th Tier meaning only Tier-Nine, Ten and Super-Tier spells could affect him regardless of the caster ability. His Dark Wisdom also seemed to have been upgraded as he could still learn up to 200 new spells if he had access to a caster's corpse. Finally his summons restrictions were all but lifted. He could create low tier undead without limit freely. As for middle tier undead he could create up to 20/day freely. He could create 12 high tier undead per day cost free and some summons like the Overlord Wiseman or the Grim Reaper Thanatos that required EXP to create no longer required it.

Momonga only knew one reason for such a boost in his power: the victory against the dragon. Meaning that it really was a World Enemy. Even if he knew little about this World, he had some certitudes.

1- This world had a connection to Yggdrasil. A player like himself and an NPC like Albedo could use the powers from Yggdrasil here without difficulty. It also had monsters and entities equivalent to Yggdrasil's World Enemies. So it had some of the game mechanisms.

2- The rules in this world were not exactly the same as in Yggdrasil, there were some slight divergences. He could directly wield his power without using a console. This made casting spells faster and more natural. Friendly fire was enabled meaning he and Albedo could harm each other if they were not careful. Also, he was embodying his in-game avatar. He was no longer controlling his avatar from his room in Japan but was now an undead Overlord and not a human. But he still had his memories, only his body had changed. And

3- He seemed to be able to gain new powers. Maybe it was just because the Enemy was classified as a World Enemy but Momonga's power had been boosted. He didn't sense that his level had increased but maybe it was the case. His character that only had a dream build was now strengthened. He hadn't gained warrior classes or warrior skills nor new mage classes but he may well be able to gain them.

4- Finally, he could die. This was real life. The dragon he fought alongside Albedo wasn't just a collection of data from developers but a living being. Momonga had seen the dragon fight desperately when the tables have been turned on him. That expression of despair he had sensed from the dragon wasn't anything a code could give life to. If entities like that, who could greatly reduce a defense specialized character like Albedo's HP, were in this World, he better take precautions not to be killed or get Albedo killed.

Speaking of which, how long does she plan on clinging to me?

While Momonga was contemplating his current state and summing up the knowledge he got so far, Albedo had wrapped her hands around him and was pressing her bosom against him. He was so focused that he only noticed now, prompting his emotion suppressing ability to activate.

After Momonga finally got her to leave the room and get dressed, he went to the Fortress hall and sat on a sofa. He had to decide what to do from here on out. He was heading north when they were attacked by that dragon coming precisely from that direction. Maybe there was more dragons like that one in that direction or it was returning to its lair somewhere else. But to be cautious, he better change course and head either East or West. Then he had to find a place suitable for a base of operation. After that maybe he would explore this world. Even back in Yggdrasil, Momonga was convinced that exploring the unknown was the correct way to play the game. He also had fond memories of adventuring with his friends. Even when they challenged that World Enemy and their entire guild was nearly destroyed, it was still a great adventure.

When the succubus returned in her pure white dress and sat in the sofa next to him, Momonga began explaining his future prospects.

"I plan to change our travel path from heading north to going East or West to avoid encountering an enemy of that dragon's caliber. Then we'll need a place suitable for a base. From there, we can start collecting information about this world and maybe explore it. Do you have any input to this plan?"

"Finding a base like a home Momonga?" she asked in an expecting tone.

"Well, you can call it that too. It's a place we can fall back to if we need to retreat via teleportation. In our fight with that dragon I was planning to retreat if we couldn't win but without a specific place to retreat to, we will be easily pursued even with teleportation."

Teleportation was a way to retreat but was only really effective if one could teleport to a safe place the enemy had no knowledge of. If he had to use greater teleportation in this world, he had no place he knew to teleport to. Thus, he would have to teleport to some distance within sight and the enemy would be able to pursue him if it could teleport too. If [Dimensional Lock] was cast on top of that, he would be forced to buy time to get out of the spell's range before teleporting. [Gate] could bypass that but he needed a specific space to connect the [Gate] with.

"Tell me Albedo, since our fight with that dragon did anything happen to you? Did you feel a side effect? Like your abilities have changed or something?"

"Nothing like that. I was just worried that you might not wake up and that I will have to mourn you while not having fulfilled my duties to you."

"Mm. About that Albedo. What are your feelings about me? How do you see me?"

"You are a Supreme Being, the one who stood at the top of the other Supreme Being. A great man who stayed behind when others were leaving and the man I love."

Whoa! Maybe I shouldn't have asked. What's up with the Supreme Being thing? Is that how the NPCs refer to me and my guildmates? Technically we created them, so they might consider us something ranked as God-like. But I wasn't standing at their top. Well I was the Guildmaster but my role in Ainz Ooal Gown wasn't to lead and make all decisions by myself. And she does love me huh? Shit! That must be because of what I changed before the shutdown. I should tell her that I messed up with her settings.

"Albedo, the feelings you have for me are not genuine. I changed your character to be that way. Tabula hadn't designed you to be in love with me."

Albedo seemed confuse by his statement.

"Then how was I originally designed to be?"

A bitch. He almost said what he had thought but managed to keep the truth to himself. Albedo seemed to interpret his silence for the answer.

"Then I'm fine as I am now. Even if you say it's not my genuine feelings, I am sure I'm better as I am now."

"Maybe. But Tabula is your creator. Wouldn't he be mad at me for changing the way he made you?"

"Certainly not. I think he would be happy for me and you Momonga. Like a father giving his daughter's hand in marriage."

Her last sentence wasn't very audible, but Momonga understood that Albedo was fine with her current personality. She wasn't mad at him and it didn't seem like she wanted to be returned to her previous way. He wasn't even sure if that would ever be feasible given that she was no longer an amass of data but a living being.

"Alright back to the subject. Let me know if anything happens to you. For my part, I seem to have received various boosts in stats and abilities. That's likely the reason why I lost consciousness for so long. So if you feel your consciousness waver, let me know and I'll take measures to protect you during that time."

"I will notify you of any change."

"Then what remains is this." Momonga held the strange cylindrical object Albedo had handed him. It seemed to be a drop of some sort from the dragon. But it was strange that it would drop just that. If this had been Yggdrasil, a boss would not only drop a single item like that but gold pieces and potions too.

[Appraise Any Magic Item] he cast. This spell would tell him what the item did and who made it, at least it worked that way in Yggdrasil. In this world it did too and worked even better. He got information he wouldn't have got with the spell back in the game.

This is interesting. Wild magic huh? So this is the magic system of this world.

What Momonga learned was that the item in his hands was a magic item but not one from Yggdrasil. It was a magic item created with the core or the soul of the being he had killed. And this being was the Dragon Emperor. So the item name was: Soul of the Dragon Emperor. The item was made using the magic system of this world, wild magic which differed from Yggdrasil's tier magic. The two systems were different in every way possible. Tier magic was powered by mana, MP while wild magic was powered by souls, the souls of sacrifices or part of one's own soul HP, and only beings of great power could use their HP to cast wild magic. More importantly, while he could never cast wild magic by himself, the item Momonga held could be used to store souls and cast spells. The spells were the ones the Dragon Emperor could cast but there was many and they were powerful. Each of the numerous inscriptions on the item seemed to be a particular spell. Momonga had yet to test them individually but he had a rough idea of what they did. All these information he got through his appraisal. The most powerful of them seemed to be {Ultimate Explosion}, a spell similar to the super tier spell [Fallen Down] but much more powerful than it. I required 80 of all the available souls and could be used once every 100 years, implying that one would need at least that time to replenish the expanded souls or HP. What the Dragon Emperor had used during their combat was a lesser version of that, {Explosion} and he would have likely won if they hadn't taken their best defensive measures.

Momonga shared what he had learned with Albedo and she seemed to be more interested when he gave an explanation about a certain wild magic spell than with the other spells so far. She was even less impressed to learn that some of them were more powerful than super-tier magic. Weird. He just thought but explained the rest to her. Now they were on the same page.

"We should be careful about some of them because they are equivalent to abilities from World Items I know. So if we enter combat with a powerful enemy, make sure to equip yours."

"Understood Momonga."

"All right, we are all set. Let's leave."

They went out of the Fortress and Momonga dispelled it. He put the Soul of the Dragon Emperor in storage and summoned a Soul Eater as a mount.

"Albedo do you have a mount you can summon?"

"Yes." And she called forth a level 100 bicorn. Then she hopped on its back.

"Alright we're heading east." Momonga's mount started moving but Albedo was immobile. "What's the matter Albedo?"

"Something is wrong with my bicorn. He doesn't seem to want to move."

"Hm. Let me check" Momonga used spells to detect the mount HP or if it had any status effect that made it immobile but all seemed fine. "All right dismount. I'll investigate later. You can ride a Soul Eater in the meantime."

Momonga summoned a second Soul Eater and Albedo rode it alongside him. Momonga was looking for an item in his storage until he finally found it. My storage is really a mess. He had invested money to have more storage space than usual, that wasn't unnatural in Yggdrasil, and most players did. But Momonga had stuffed all kinds of items in his. From wands and scrolls to potions and pieces of gear and armor. The majority of these were things he had no use of in fact. Like the Bottomless Pitcher of Water, healing potions and equipment only warrior classes could use. He retrieved his Yggdrasil Encyclopedia and flipped its pages to the one containing information about bicorns. Despite the pompous name of Encyclopedia, it only recorded the monsters appearance in image and the content of the myth in which the monster appeared, nothing about its stats or varieties of the monsters were revealed. Each player had to note down information he got from actual experience himself. The myth surrounding bicorns said that they couldn't be ridden by pure maidens, only impure females could. Meaning that Albedo was a virgin? Well it makes sense. Even if her character is that of a succubus, she is a NPC, she couldn't possibly have had sexual intercourse in the game. Yggdrasil wasn't a +18 rated game anyway.

"So do you known what the problem with my bicorn is?"

"Yes. Hm. How do I put it? Hm. It seems you can't ride it because you are a pure maiden. Only impure female can ride bicorns." He said. Hm. Why is she grinning? THAT CAN'T BE GOOD.

His prediction was right on the money.

"About that Momonga, could I hm trouble you to help me out?"

Nope! He almost said. But he couldn't do that. After all, he was the one who implanted those feelings in her. He couldn't deny her wish but couldn't outright accept them. I have no experience

"In this sort of things."

"What kind of things Momonga?" she asked playfully.

Oh shit! He had voiced part of his internal monologue.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Anyway, we don't have time for that now."

"So let me know when the time comes my beloved."

Euh, sorry? Did I just make some kind of promise right now?

He wanted to clarify the situation about how she had interpreted his words but couldn't. Albedo was all smiles and her mood was as bright as a sunny day of summer. He didn't want to darken her mood.

Guess I need to take responsibility for my mistake.

They rode the Soul Eaters until the summons expiration time. Momonga summoned new ones and they pursued their trip. Suddenly he recalled something he hadn't confirmed yet. Albedo, as a devil didn't need to sleep, had high stamina and didn't require substance but did that held true here as well? Momonga was fine as an undead, but was that the same for her as well? She hadn't shown any sign of fatigue, hunger or thirst but he had not asked either.

"Albedo, do you feel tired?"

"No at all. I can keep up like that for days."

Well that's true. She was still alive after I lost consciousness for 45 days. But

"You can still eat food and sleep right?"

"Yes. I can do it anytime even if I don't need to."

"Well, we will stop tonight and you will rest." Momonga said. Maybe it wasn't him but his human vestiges that felt so but he wasn't really comfortable with travelling non-stop. And given that Albedo could sleep and eat, he wanted her to do that. He had plenty of food and water he had no use for anyway.

By nighttime, they had reached a forest and had progressed quite a distance inside it. Momonga found a suitable spot and cast [Create Fortress]. Then he used his skill Undead Adjutant to create guards for the night. Normally the skill used experience points but now, he no longer needed experience points meaning he could summon more than one. But how many at the same time? He had yet to know. The skill summon lasted as long as the summoner wished or until they were killed but that was because it cost a lot of experience points, now that it was no longer the case, he would have to wait and see. He summoned a Grim Reaper Thanatos. The level 90 melee type undead appeared before him. It was as tall as Momonga and had a war scythe of the same length as his body. Momonga felt the link with the summon establish.

"Grim Reaper, I want you to stand guard."

"As you command Lord Momonga."

"Oh! Seems you understand and can reply. Good." His surprise was only natural. Back in the game summons were used for specific actions. One didn't have to voice instruction, just orders the summon and summons couldn't reply either. This time was different. The Grim Reaper took his position by one side of the Fortress double door.

Momonga used Undead Adjutant once more and was surprised to succeed. He summoned a level 90 magic caster type undead: an Overlord Wiseman. If Momonga hadn't focused his character build on his dream of being a master of death and hadn't specialized in instadeath magic, he would have gone for an Overlord Wiseman character build. Overlord Wiseman were masters of magic and wielded potent magic powers. They weren't elemental specialist like the Elemental Skull but had a wide range of magic spells they could use. He paired the Overlord Wiseman with the Grim Reaper on guard duty. When he tried to summon yet another entity via Undead Adjutant he couldn't. So two is the limit. Now let's see how long they last.

Momonga went inside and retrieved food for Albedo. She ate while he went to the second floor of the Fortress to lay on a bed. He couldn't sleep but still felt mental exhaustion and the act of laying down seemed to heal that exhaustion. Sometime later, he heard a small crack and looked toward the direction of his room's door. There stood Albedo. His bewilderment was suppressed but his surprise remained.

"May I come in Momonga?" asked the succubus in a charming tone.

"No." his voice had been louder than he had intended and he hurriedly explained himself. "I mean, there are plenty of other rooms here and on the 3rd Floor. Use one of those."

"But it would be more efficient to use just one. Moreover, I could better protect you if am close by in case of emergency. Plus…"

She kept finding more and more logical reasons to stay in the same room as him. She gave so much that he had stopped counting partway.

"Alright. Alright. You can sleep here. But not naked."

She hopped in the bed so fast that he wondered if she had teleported there. And so began a long, very long night. The succubus had closed her eyes and laid next to him attempting time and time again to wrap her body around his. Momonga even wondered if she was really asleep or doing so consciously while pretending to be asleep. He had to keep her at bay all the night. He wasn't able to sleep to begin with, but by the time the succubus woke up, he felt more exhausted than the day before.

They kept travelling through the forest and eventually came across a goblin encampment. Momonga wanted to converse and gain information from them but had no occasion to do so. The monsters attacked him on sight. He used this opportunity to test the goblins strength. They were all low, very low levels. Well it wasn't surprising given that they couldn't realize the difference in strength between them and Momonga's group. He instructed Albedo and his two summons to stay away and dealt with them alone. He started with [Grasp Heart] his favorite tier nine instadeath spell. Then lowered his magic tier to the fifth [Dragon Lightning]. Surprisingly, the spell took out 5 goblins that were coming at him in a straight line.

How boring. He thought. Was that dragon really exceptional? After fighting a monster that had broken Yggdrasil's level cap, Momonga's evaluation of this world and its resident's power level was high. But now that these goblins died from tier five spells he kind of felt let down. He decided to use a summon to see if anyone in the goblin settlement could take it out.

[Create Middle-Tier Undead: Death Warrior] a black fog oozed out of the air and recovered the corpse of a dead goblin. Huh! That's new. It uses a corpse? In Yggdrasil, his skill will create the creature out of thin air but now, it seemed to use a corpse. The goblin's body morphed then expanded and when it was done, a Death Warrior of 2 meters tall with two swords stood where the goblin corpse had been moments ago.

"Go and kill all the goblin in the vicinity. Let none escape." The Death Warrior roared and went to accomplish its task. Momonga used his skill again [Create Middle-Tier Undead: Death Knight] the same phenomenon happened and the Death Knight was created using a goblin's body.

[Create Low-Tier Undead: Skeleton Warrior] the fog appeared again and used a goblin body to summon the Skeleton Warrior. Momonga was more and more intrigued. Then he tried more experiments.

[Create High-Tier Undead: Death Emperor] once again the fog appeared, enveloped a goblin's corpse but dispersed and the corpse disappeared. So Middle-Tier is the maximum? Or is it because they are weak? And what is the difference between using a corpse and not using one? Can I still create undead without a corpse? There are still tree corpses. Let's see.

"Overlord Wiseman. Use the remaining corpses to create Death Knights."

The Overlord obeyed and the same phenomenon happened with all three corpses. Then Momonga used his skill again and this time, the undead he created appeared without the need for a corpse. Let's see what the differences are. If he could summon undead with a corpse and without one, there ought to be a difference in result between the two methods. Given that they were of the same strength, the difference laid elsewhere. He advanced with his party into the encampment. The Death Warrior he had sent had made short work of the 100 or so goblins. He again ordered his Overlord Wiseman to exhaust its daily use of Middle-Tier Undead Creation. Momonga did the same.

A few hours later, Momonga contemplated the results of his experiment. The sole Death Knight he had created without using a corpse was gone while the 20 undead he had created using corpses were still around. Even the Skeleton Warrior was still around way past its duration time. The Death Knights created by the Overlord Wiseman using corpses were still around too. So, if I use a corpse to create a Middle-Tier Undead, the creature won't disappear after the creation time is up. That was a great discovery and one more difference between the mechanisms of magic and skills in this world from the way it worked in Yggdrasil.

Momonga decided to put their trip on hold for now and use all the corpses to create undead. So they stayed there 2 days. Leaving on the 3rd day. Momonga's entourage now included himself, Albedo, the Grim Reaper Thanatos, the Overlord Wiseman and 110 middle-tier undead. 54 were Soul Eaters. Atop 50 of the Soul Eaters were 30 Death Knights and 20 Death Warriors. The six remaining members of their entourages were Death Cavaliers who were summoned with their own mounts as a set. They resumed their exploration and exited the forest without encountering anyone. Once out of the forest, they came across a subhuman settlement. It seemed to be a temporary one as there was no proper house but groups of them circled around fires. They were polishing wooden lances to make their heads pointier and sharper. When they spotted Momonga and his group, they seemed to be afraid and about to scatter around the place. Momonga couldn't afford to let those precious information sources get away. He took out the Soul of the Dragon Emperor and cast {Wall of the World} the dome like barrier extended in all direction with Momonga as the center. The subhumans that looked like goats walking on two legs, fled until they were stuck against the barrier. The Death Knights, Death Warriors, the Overlord Wiseman and the Grim Reaper then went to drag them back. Those who still had the will to fight died but most had lost all will to resist and were dragged to Momonga.

The subhumans were so afraid that they couldn't talk. Momonga had to use [Dominate] to extract information about his surrounding from them and [Control Amnesia] to get pictures of what they had seen recently. According to the subhumans whose species was bufolk, a dragon had appeared at the center of their settlement some time ago and proclaimed itself their new ruler. It had killed their strongest warriors. Not just those of bufolks but of various subhumans tribes nearby too. Then it ordered them to go hunt and bring back any riches they found. So the bufolk group here was tasked with hunting game in this part. Other groups were sent to attack and pillage human cities in the area. Momonga consulted Albedo about her thoughts on the matter, how they should proceed from there.

"We should crush that overgrown lizard who has the audacity to proclaim himself a ruler. Momonga is the sole ruler."

"So you think we should help the subhumans? This might be a good idea to get more information from them. Alright." Momonga thought of the best strategy to adopt. He wasn't sure of the dragon in this part power but wouldn't know from what the bufolks told him. So he decided to play it safe and send his army ahead to evaluate the dragon's level.

"Overlord Wiseman and Grim Reaper Thanatos, take the soldiers and go confront that dragon. Don't kill any subhuman who doesn't take hostile actions toward you. If possible, subdue the dragon without killing it. If he proves too strong for you, use the soldiers to buy time and retreat."

"Yes Lord Momonga." They exclaimed in unison.

Momonga explained what he was going to do to the bufolks. They were incredulous for the most part but that couldn't be helped. They had seen the dragon's strength and hadn't seen his nor that of his two strongest summons. Nonetheless, they agreed to show his army the way to the dragon's place.


The Overlord Wiseman and the Grim Reaper were in a great mood. They had yet to demonstrate their worth to their master. Well, the Overlord had used his power to create undead but that wasn't something exceptional. Now they had a mission to accomplish. They were both eager to show off the power their Lord had bestowed upon them.

"So how will we proceed?" asked the Overlord. The bufolk had informed them that they were nearing their destination.

"As you are a caster, I'll take command of the Death Knights and Death Warriors and go to the front. You can stay on the rear with the Soul Eaters and assist if the need arise." Incidentally, the Death Cavaliers had stayed with their Lord.

"Sounds good. Then if things goes the wrong way, retreat to my side and I'll teleport us."

"Got it."

Eventually, they reached a mountainous region and the bufolk told them that the dragon was at the summit. Half of the bufolk stayed behind and the other half went with the Overlord and the Grim Reaper. They would bear witness of the fight.

The Grim Reaper readied his scythe in anticipation once the dragon was in sight. It was a dragon with blue scales and a slim trunk. His length was about 30 meters even with his tail length. The Grim Reaper could close the distance between them in an instant but he choose not to. As a warrior, he could gauge his opponents' strength with accuracy if they were warriors too and he judged the dragon to be no treat to him. The Overlord Wiseman reached his position to address the dragon. The dragon seemed relaxed, confident that they were no threats to him and looking down on them from above.

"Dragon. We are here as messengers of Lord Momonga, the great Overlord. Submit to us and as mercy, your life will be spared as a servant of our Lord."

The dragon's reaction to their words was utter disbelief. He certainly didn't intend to submit to them despite the aura of power surrounding the Grim Reaper and the Overlord. Instead of a response, he opened his jaw and his bluish breath assaulted them. Well, not exactly. Before the breath had reached them, the Overlord had already cast [Wall of Skeleton]. The wall didn't crumble despite the attack. Once the breath attack was over, the Overlord cancelled his spell and the Grim Reaper went on the offensive.

He was in front of the bewildered dragon in an instant and used his scythe to cut off one the dragon's wings. He had to use brute force to severe it through the hard scales of the dragon but he was able to pull it off. Next he punched the dragon with his bare fist and the dragon hit the dirt of the ground. The Grim Reaper went to the dragon's left and cut its other wing successfully depriving it of his flight ability. He then brandished his scythe and put it against the dragon's throat. The scythe size was far smaller than the dragon's throat size but given the situation, the dragon was frightened by it.

"Any change of heart so far?" asked the Grim Reaper casually.

"Yes. Please don't kill me."

"Well we'll leave it at that but our Lord will make the final decision."

The fight was over in less than ten minutes. The bufolks present had trouble understanding what they had seen but once their shock was over, they hurriedly threw themselves on their knees in front of the Overlord and Grim Reaper. The two beings found it normal, but they thought it better for them to do so in front of their creator. The Overlord Wiseman cast [Message] and reported their success to their master, then opened a [Gate] for him to come. The six Death Cavaliers exited the [Gate] first and arrayed themselves to the sides. Then Albedo, atop a Soul Eater came next and finally, the Great Overlord stride out of the [Gate] on a Soul Eater. The Grim Reaper and the Overlord knelt before Momonga and they sensed the dragon behind them do the same. Given the dragon's size, he had to put his head on the ground or he would have still seemed to look down on their Lord.

"Thanks for your hard work. So the dragon submitted to us after a little show off?"

"Yes my Lord."

"[Discern Enemy]" they heard their Lord cast. "He seems to be level 50 or so. How did you estimate his level as the one who fought him?"

"He has the strength of a level 40 to 45 pure warrior but including his special abilities he might be an entity of level 50 at best I think."

"Thanks for your input. Now then" he turned to the dragon "What is your name?"

"I am Osiliad Munspiet."

"Any more information about yourself? Where you are from and why you are here?"

"Ah yes. I hail from further south of here, close to the sea, where the Blue Dragon Lord rules. I came in those parts to seek a territory for myself."

"Hm. Is that some kind of dragon behavior?"

"Indeed. We are allowed to live in our parents' territory until a certain age then we have to find our own."

"Is that so? Interesting. Now tell me, would you like to serve under me? I promise that you will be well treated and not restricted to this place. If you'd rather leave and wander the world on your own, you are free. You will not be harmed no matter your choice, so decide. First, let me restore you." Momonga took out a wand of healing and the dragon's wings that had been cut previously were restored.

Their surroundings went Oh! Including the healed dragon. Until he had been healed, he didn't seem to believe that he had much of a choice but serve Momonga, but now, he seemed to realize that he really had the choice. Just by looking at his face now, the Grim Reaper could tell that the dragon had genuine admiration and respect for his master.

So the dragon agreed to serve Momonga.

"Now, as you first assignation, I want you to rule over this region on my behalf. I still have to explore the world further. Before I settle definitely, you will rule over this area but do so as I would myself: with mercy and to benefit those under your protection. Do you understand?"

"Yes my Lord!"


Momonga was exhausted. He hadn't had much to do but acting as he felt befitted a superior was harder than he thought. Back on his working days, he saw his boss as someone who took it easy, giving instruction to others that had to do the work on his behalf. Now that he was the one who had to give orders, he understood that it was harder than it seemed. He had to give precise instruction so that his subordinates could understand his intentions clearly and carry them out without fail. He had to act as a dignified figure his subordinates could look up to and not let them down. He felt the weight of their admiring gazes on him while he spoke and he had to suppress the urge to run away. But it could still be worse.

Albedo was here to support him. After giving a rough idea of how he wanted the dragon to rule the various subhumans living in those parts, he had her take note of their particular need and then he could come up with a solution. He created low tier undead, mainly skeletons, to aid in manual labor. They would be used to develop the subhumans houses and increase the agricultural production of the species that were not carnivorous. He also left the undead soldiers under the command of the Grim Reaper Thanatos for security. He had created Elder Liches to be used if they needed to contact him via [Message] in case of emergency. This way, he had successfully created a base he could use.

Momonga, Albedo and the Overlord Wiseman left after things had settled. Momonga was eager to see the sea. On the earth of 2138, the sea was so polluted it was dangerous to go near it. From what he had heard from Blue Planet, the sea used to be blue and its water was salty.

They advanced in the territory ruled by Osiliad for months until they reached a big human city. There had been a few cities conquered by the dragon or the subhumans under him on their way but this one was way bigger. It was enclosed by an impressive looking wall, well much better than what he had seen so far. While Momonga and his party was advancing toward the city gates, they could sense some sort of commotion and agitation on the walls. They were shouting various things but Momonga was still far enough to not be able to make out what was said. Soon, the gates were closed. Momonga still couldn't understand what was happening but maintained his direction and approached the gates. He was a few meters from the gates when a volley of arrow flew toward him from the wall. The arrows all fell on the ground before him before they could hurt him.

Is that a way to welcome someone? Or have they never seen undead before? He had seen the subhumans reaction to him before, but he was accompanied by scary-looking undead that were visibly soldiers. So he thought they tried to distance themselves from hostile people rather than because of his appearance. Come to think of it, does undead exist here in the first place? He had seen various species of subhumans that existed in Yggdrasil but also monsters that were not present in the game. Maybe undead were absent from this world. I'll find out soon enough.

"Wha wha what do you want from us undead?" came a shout from the wall.

Seems like they know of undead. So they fear me because I'm undead? I can understand if this world only has mindless undead. But can't they tell me apart from these?

The one who had shouted seemed to be the nearby people's commander or some sort of superior. Momonga cast [Fly] and ascended to the man's height to speak with him. Arrows flew at him again but he ignored them entirely.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance. My name is Momonga. I'm on an exploration trip in those parts. I can assure that I mean you no harm."

The man face said that he was in utter disbelief.

"But you are an undead. Can that really be believed?"

"Oh! Have you encountered many undead before? How do they usually behave?"

"Huh!" the man was visibly surprised to be asked that. "Usually undead would attack any living on sight to kill them." The surrounding people were nodding in agreement.

"Is that why you attacked me on sight? But if I was that kind of undead and your attacks are ineffective against me, do you think we will be having that kind of conversation?"

The man appeared troubled. Momonga's reasoning was right. Even though they had tried to hurt him with arrows and stones, he hadn't retaliated yet. Understanding seemed to down on the man.

"If you understand then let us in. I'm just passing by. I wish to visit the city and gather some information about the surrounding before resuming my trip."

"Alright. Can you promise to not harm us?"

"That's only natural. As long as none of my companions or myself are harmed, that is."

"Thank you. Let us opens the gate for you."

"That will be appreciated. And who might you be?"

"Ah, yes. Sorry about that. I'm the chief of this city, the city of Brisgard. My name is Custov Edelgard."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Momonga as I stated earlier." Momonga extended his hand and Custov took it. At least handshakes exists in this world.

Momonga returned to his mount and advanced toward the now open gate. People with various weapons that seemed to have assembled were parting way for them to pass. Custov that had descended from the walls came to escort them to his house.

From what Momonga learned, the city of Brisgard was founded some 200 years ago by humans under the protection of a dragon lord. Nowadays, the dragon lord was nowhere nearby. He had likely flew off somewhere else. The city had built walls to protect its inhabitants from external treats. There was a lot of monsters nearby and subhumans further north. They had little contact with others. They knew there was a few cities in the north but they had never heard of any south of them. The few inhabitants who ventured too far from the city rarely returned. Momonga inquired about dragons. He learned that they were the most powerful being of the world and were revered by many. Among dragons, the most long lived and ancient known as Dragon Lords were the most powerful. The city of Brisgard believed in the Green Dragon Lord who had lived in the forest and protected humans from monsters. The forest where the Dragon Lord used to live was considered sacred and they only went there to pray for the dragon's protection.

"During my father's time, when the Dragon Lord was still around, the chief could personally meet the Dragon and ask for his protection if a threat appeared."

Momonga enquired about the various monsters in the area but didn't learn much. They knew about a few. Given that the monsters couldn't bypass the walls, they had not much trouble surviving as long as they were inside the city. They only leaved to tend to farms nearby the city.

Momonga and his party stayed in the city for 3 days before leaving. From what he saw and learned, magic and magic items were foreign to this world. Monsters had no magical attacks either. Only dragons, the most powerful entities of this world, possessed somehow magical attacks. Said attack was mainly their breath. He had heard that the Green Dragon Lord released a green breath attack. The dragon back in the subhumans settlements had a blue breath and the Dragon Emperor he had killed had a silver breath. So dragons breathes seemed to be some kind of elemental attack depending on their nature or element. Momonga also knew that even dragons couldn't cast tier magic. But they could use wild magic. This world level of civilization was also very primitive. The wall of the city wasn't very sturdy. The material used seemed to be mainly wood then mud covered on top of it. They used wood as a source of energy for cooking and lightning too.

Momonga resumed his trip, admiring the variety of landscapes he encountered. Each time he was awed by the beauty of nature, the clear blue sky by daytime and the starry sky at night. Even the changing seasons were delightful. His old guild mate Blue Planet had chosen its character name in reference to how earth was called: the Blue Planet. But in the earth of 2138 that nickname hardly held true. Seas and oceans were no longer blue and nature was all but absent. Even rain was toxic. He wished his comrade could see this world. He who attempted to reproduce scenes of nature on the 6th Floor of Nazarick, would no doubt have liked to be here.

Momonga's journey stayed mostly uneventful. Sometimes monsters would show up but they dispersed them with ease. Momonga even had opportunities to test his new improved agility and strength stats. But even with agility and physical attack and defense stats on par with specialized warrior classes, he sadly could not equip swords or warrior weapons. The rare times he encountered subhumans tribes, he had to either take a long time to reassure them that he was not hostile or kill them as they attacked him and his companions without so much as a warming. From information he got from the few subhumans he was able to converse with, the area was under the rule of the Blue Dragon Lord. Certainly the one Osiliad told him about.

They reached a forest one night. Momonga paused before they entered it. Created the fortress to rest for the night and sent in Eyeball corpses to explore the forest in advance. He wanted to avoid pointless fights with subhumans and monsters and progress faster to see the sea. Albedo was in a good mood and he was starting to get more relaxed around her. Since the first time she got permission to stay in the same room as him at night, she did so every night. It was to the point that Momonga felt more comfortable with her and could rest his mind at night even when her soft body was coiled around him. He didn't feel any physical sexual attraction toward her with this undead body of his, so that was probably why.

While he was receiving information from his High tier summons, one of them was destroyed. Interesting. Seems like I found a worthy opponent. During his exploration of this world so far, Momonga was a little bit disappointed. He admired the view, the landscapes variety but regarding combat and difficulty overcoming, there wasn't much. What made exploring the unknown really a worthy adventure was also encountering strong opponents and being able to fight and win against them. The fact that his stats had been improved was also a major factor. He wanted to amass experience points and see if he could break the level cap. He didn't sense that he had reached level 101 yet and he couldn't get much experience points fighting small fries like the goblins, ogres, barghests and the like he encountered even after years. His adventure wasn't very thrilling. He was even considering sparing with Albedo but that would be last resort. He didn't want to seem like a combat maniac like Warrior Takemikazuchi and others of his old guild mates.

He hadn't seen the one who one-shot the Eyeball Corpse clearly but he seemed gigantic in stature. His level must be higher than the Blue Dragon Lord that lived in the forest for him to be able detect and one-hit kill one of Momonga's High Tier Undead, albeit one of the weakest given its specialty. The Blue Dragon Lord wasn't able to detect the Eyeball Corpse even if he did seem to react to its presence.

The following day, when they departed, Momonga went straight in the direction where his summon had been defeated. It was on the opposite side of the forest from where the Dragon Lord lived. Some distance before his objective, he used [Remote Viewing] and found his opponent. It was a giant of at least 50 meters in height. His skin was green, he almost blended with his surroundings but was taller than most trees. The giant had his back against a mountain and had his eyes closed. He didn't seem to sense Momonga's magical eye.

Alright. He psyched himself. Time to go. But how should I proceed?

The main reason he came there was to fight the giant but he couldn't involve Albedo and the Overlord Wiseman. He just had to order the Overlord to stay behind but Albedo would be a different story. After some 20 minutes of argument, he was able to convince Albedo to stay behind albeit at certain conditions.

Geez. Now I feel like a married man. He recalled some of his guild mates sharing stories about their family life, about how they had arguments with their wives over trivial things. At the time, he couldn't really understand how they felt. Now he did. He felt like he could make use of an attentive ear.

When Momonga was within 500 meters from the giant, it slowly opened its eyes and rose to its feet's. Then it immediately took a fighting stance. Oh! Seems like it really is the one. He seems to sense that I'm a threat. Touch-Me or Warrior Takemikazuchi told him about warrior's instinct, a feeling you get when you sense enemies. It supposedly gives you an idea of your opponent's level of strength. It wasn't something implemented in Yggdrasil but rather a talent the player had, something equivalent to a magic caster's [Discern Enemy].

Momonga didn't use any spell to gauge his opponent's strength or level this time. He wanted to enjoy the unknown and discover the giant's skills first hand and adapt to it. If he found himself unable to win, he would simply retreat to Albedo and the Overlord Wiseman. He had already agreed to let Albedo join him if he wasn't back in an hour.

The giant swung down the trunk of a tree. Momonga didn't dodge and let the attack hit his right flank. He was sent flying quite some distance before he stabilized with [Fly] and regained his stance quickly. So, the enemy is over level 80 then.

[Create Greater Item]

Momonga was covered from head to toe in a full plate armor. He also held two gigantic swords. With that, he went on the offensive. He was barely able to parry the giant's tree trunk weapon with one of the sword, so he couldn't do any follow up attack. The swords clashed with the giant's weapon for some time before the tree started to dent. The ensuing clashes chipped away at it until it couldn't be properly used. The giant cast it aside and used his bare fists to fight. Momonga dodged the punches more easily and could get closer to the giant's unprotected torso. Now, the giant had to switch to defense and protect himself from the sword slashes. Momonga wasn't swinging efficiently, just imitating what he saw from warriors. Even so, the power behind each of his swing made up for his lack of technique and the giant was covered in deep cuts despite using his arms to parry the swords. The advantage had already shifted to him but after 15 minutes or so Momonga seemed to get even better. His slashes were more precise, the cut in the giant skin were deeper and he finally severed one of the giant's arms. Then he targeted its head. The giant put his remaining arm to protect its head only for it to get slashed. Following up with a swing of his second sword, Momonga cleanly severed the giant's head.

Is that how it feels like to level up? Right during the fight, Momonga sensed his focus get better, his technique with the sword get more skilled and precise. He had just imitated how warriors among his old guild mates swung their sword but couldn't get close to their precision. His movements lacked refinement and had a lot of excess. He sometimes couldn't do any follow up or dodged a little bit too late. Then suddenly, he became better. By focusing on himself, he could sense that he had warrior's levels now and some skills meaning: I did it! I broke the level cap!

What was impossible in Yggdrasil for any player was now possible. He just did it. Even the player who had used a World Item to turn himself into a World Enemy had stayed a level 100 World Enemy, only his stats and abilities had been greatly raised to match World Enemies strength. Momonga still had things to discover but learning that he could still progress was great news. After all, this world had World Enemy Class monsters. Being able to grow and match their power raised his rate of survival in case of encounter.

Back in the game, Momonga would just have to allocate his experience points and choose among the available classes or races but he could no longer choose. The levels he gained seemed to be allocated to actions he did while leveling up. He felt he had gained 2 or 3 levels just now. And they were allocated to fighter and fencer classes. Even those levels seemed random. Just from that fight he had gained 2 to 3 levels. If it had followed Yggdrasil's rules, he would need a huge amount of experience points to level up, after all, the higher one's level was, the higher experiences points one needed to level up.

Guess next I'll see if Albedo can level up too. Maybe the Overlord Wiseman can?

He returned to his companions or rather met them on his way back. Albedo was almost running at full speed with the Overlord trying to keep up with her.

"Seems like I worried you Albedo, sorry about that."

"It's fine Momonga. It's only natural that I would be worried about the one I love. I never intended to doubt your words but you have finished faster than what you said. As expected of you Momonga."

They returned together to the giant corpse.

"Wow. Really impressive Momonga." Commented Albedo upon seeing the dead giant. As a warrior herself, she could get a clear idea of the giant's strength just by seeing it.

"Indeed. I'm awed by your prowess my Lord. I already knew your magic was unrivalled but even your strength as a warrior is equally impressive." Added the Overlord Wiseman.

Momonga contemplated what to do with his opponent's body. He wanted to create an undead. But a High-tier undead would be a waste of this body. His opponent had been at least level 90 by his estimation fighting it, maybe higher. So it could sustain the creation of a level 70 high tier undead no problem but it would still be a waste. I'll try creating a level 90 undead then. But what should I create?

Momonga could use the skill Master of Dark Rites to strengthen his undead creation skill. By using up two of his daily uses of Create High Tier Undead instead of one, he could create a level 90 or so undead. He considered his options and choose to

[Create High Tier Undead: Eternal Death] the terrifying undead that came forth was a thief-type undead with a continuous passive ability called Aura of Death and Putrefaction, a mix of Momonga's instadeath ability Aura of Despair V and fear from Aura of Despair I. The damage dealt by this passive ability could be avoided by being equal or superior in level to the Eternal Death or having a countermeasure. Momonga instructed the undead to explore the entire forest they were in and report him of anyone who survived the undead ability. Momonga wasn't sure if the Blue Dragon Lord would survive but his objective was to find anyone who survived, meaning they were stronger or equal to the Eternal Death and have Albedo or the Overlord Wiseman fight them and see if they could level up. After that, he would have the Eternal Death turn off its passive ability and serve as a scout for his party given its stealth abilities.

Momonga and his party stayed near the mountain where the giant lived until the Eternal Death finished exploring the forest. As he had predicted, only the Dragon Lord survived. He had already discussed his aim with Albedo and the Overlord Wiseman, so they set off as soon as the undead finished his report heading for the Dragon's lair. Once near it Momonga spoke to Albedo.

"I'll leave it up to you first."

"Thanks for the honor Momonga. I'll live up to your trust and show you results you will be proud of."

"No need to get that worked up about it. It's an experiment. The results can't be seen before it's completed. Do your best Albedo."

"Yes!"

Really? She doesn't get it. Well at least she's motivated. Momonga wanted to confirm if she really couldn't level up but had a more or less clear idea of the answer already. If Albedo could level up from a fight, it would be from fighting the Dragon Emperor. While he had just received stats boost at the time, Momonga had had concrete proof that he could still progress while Albedo had none so far. But on the off chance that she needed to finish off an opponent before she could level up, he had to carry out that experiment.

The Blue Dragon Lord was an imposing figure. He had deep blue skin and tough looking scales. Albedo advanced toward the dragon without hesitation. Even the dragon seemed startled and failed to use its breath to assault her. She had engaged the dragon in close quarter way past the range at which the breath attack was effectively usable. The dragon was using its body weight to block and try to crush her but Albedo's defense was too perfect for that to happen. She was blocking the dragon's tail attacks and inflicting injury after injury to the dragon. Even the desperate blue breath the dragon released sometimes didn't slow her down much. The dragon seemed to start casting spells. Momonga and his undead subordinates were too far to make out what was being cast but the one on the frontline seemed to be fine. The effects seemed to be mostly offensive. First a pillar of blue flames engulfed Albedo for a few seconds before the fire was extinguished. Then Albedo's speed seemed to decrease for a moment before she regained her initial speed. Moreover, she was pushed back by a kind of invisible shock wave a few times but she quickly regained her stance and went back on the offensive each time.

After a fight that mostly tipped in her favor, Albedo emerged victorious. However, she seemed a bit sad. Seems like she couldn't level up then? As if sensing Momonga's thoughts, Albedo shook her head from left to right.

"Don't worry about it. It may not be a dead end. We have a lot of time to experiment."

Once the succubus had been reassured, Momonga used his skill again to create a nearly level 90 undead.

[Create High Tier Undead: Corpse Guardian] what appeared after the dragon's corpse had morphed was a hulking undead that resembled a fusion of multiple skeletons. Its upper torso comprised several rib cages and six skull heads. Its right shoulder had a spiked ossified pauldron. Its upper limbs were asymmetrical with the right hand being skinny while the left had a massive four fingered claw with a nail impaled at the center. It wore a tattered robe exposing its upper torso, while the bottom part was covered with multiple chains. This undead was a pure melee-type, one with a high DPS ratio and incredible agility belying its appearance. His offensive combat stats were on par with a specialized level 100 warrior but its defense was comparatively low. Its main equipment was a halberd. The Corpse Guardian was level 89 while the Eternal Death was only level 87.

Momonga along with the Overlord Wiseman spent the following days using up their daily uses of Middle-Tier undead creation skill to create undead with the corpses of those killed by the Eternal Death. At some point, he had created more than 300 while the Overlord himself had created at least 200. Will they even be useful? He wondered what to do with all those undead.

He was creating that many undead as soldiers that he may use if he had to slow down a powerful enemy or use them to see his opponent's abilities. He could sacrifice them to buy time and escape with Albedo but they still remained only Middle-tier undead, level 40 or so. Could they really be used now that he himself had transcended the level cap? Even before his abilities were boosted and he had leveled up past level 100, he could wipe out 500 middle-tier monsters with ease. So he was worried about their utility. There was already enough back in the subhumans hills for security.

He was still pondering the matter at nights and decided to seek advice from Albedo. After consultation with her, he decided to just store them and use them if the need arise. He couldn't just wander the world with an army. He sent the Eternal Death on a scout mission with the Overlord Wiseman. Until he found a suitable place, he positioned the undead in a deep isolated part of the forest.

He resumed his journey with Albedo and the Corpse Guardian in tow.