In the year 2138, there exists something called a 'DMMO-RPG.' An infamous escape for those who want to ignore the world around them in exchange for a fantastical universe.
Among the various DMMO-RPGs, one had stood above the rest, Yggdrasil.
And in this game-world, a group of nine that eventually grew to an impressive forty-one made its mark. With their unstoppable ambition, they clawed their way up the leaderboards and established an impenetrable guild base.
However, that was all in the past, now, it was all ending. And to meet the game's inevitable fate was an undead being of immeasurable power—the indisputable leader of the infamous guild, Ainz Ooal Gown.
Betraying his august appearance, the Overlord looked rather oafish as he greeted and sent off his friend. Said friend had complained about his lack of sleep and degrading physical health for the majority of the conversation.
Although he sent off his friend with a smile, it was all a facade, the distressed man couldn't help but exclaim, "Where and when exactly are we going to meet, huh?"
The Overlord pounded his fleshless hands on the table, "Don't fuck with me!"
Before the player could have a chance to vent any further, he received a notification that he hadn't expected to pop up in a million years…
*Logging In: Touch Me.*
A bright blue light signifying the appearance of a player shined in front of the Overlord. That glimmer was quickly replaced with the avatar of his long-time friend.
Dropping off all his items before his suspended leave, Touch Me's avatar was nothing more than a borderline nude insectoid creature.
"Hello Momonga… long time no see."
The undead immediately rose from his seat, his previous anger melting away in almost an instant, "Touch Me! It's been so long! Did you get my email? Do you want your armor back? What about all of your other gear? Here! I always carry a few Rings of Ainz Ooal Gown on me."
The insectoid rose his hand, "Momonga! Take it easy. No need to bombard me with questions."
"I… of course. Sorry Touch Me, I lost myself. So, how are you?"
Touch Me chuckled, "I could be doing better but I'm alright," he walked toward the center of the room where a gigantic circular table stood and pulled out a seat for himself.
"I just wanted to say goodbye and… talk."
Momonga beamed, "of course! What would you like to talk about?"
The insectoid allowed himself to release another chuckle before responding, "Well before anything, I'd like to apologize for not being active for so long."
"Please! I completely understand! We're all busy and struggling with IRL issues."
Touch me frowned, "always the kind and thoughtful Guild Master, huh?"
"W-wha?"
The insectoid pointed his finger at the undead, "I'm referring to the way you always say exactly what we want to hear. Always so kind. Always giving your best effort to prevent conflict. I bet you said the same thing to everyone else who dropped by?"
Momonga clammed up, not sure how to respond.
Touch Me took that as a sign to continue his spiel, "I always admired that about you… so calm despite the severity of a situation. Always able to lend a helping hand and prepared to brunt all of our emotional stress. That was one of the reasons why I delegated the position of Guild Master to you."
"Touch Me… why are you saying all of this? I don't deserve your flattery."
The IRL cop sighed, "it's not flattery, it's the truth," he paused before continuing, "it's because of that indisputable fact that I made sure to skip work to drop by one last time to give you some advice."
Momonga rose his hands in shock, "you don't need to do that for me! Skip work!? What if you get in trouble? Lose your job? You have a family!"
"Enough. I made my decision for good reason Momonga… please… just let me tell you something before I have to log off."
Still shocked, Momonga couldn't utter a response, rather, he just nodded his head, urging his friend to continue.
"Good… before I provide my words of advice, I want to tell you a little bit about my life. You know how I'm a cop right?"
Momonga nodded his head.
"Right, and you know how I always role-played as a dashing hero in-game? Always jumping into danger to save those in trouble? The weak?"
Once more, the Overlord shook his head in affirmation.
"Have you ever wondered why I did that? Especially when I'm a cop IRL? Why I fight for justice in Ygdrassil when I could just do so outside of it?"
Momonga shook his head from side to side since he genuinely didn't have an answer to that question.
"It's because… my ideals and reality rarely coincide together. As a cop, I wanted to bring justice and peace to the dumpster fire that our world ended up becoming. Fight criminals and save innocents. Yet… rather than fight crime, I stand aside and watch it happen in front of me. Not because I don't want to help, but because I can't."
Touch me slammed his hand onto the table, "because I'm the government's lapdog! A lapdog to a corrupt and evil system that lets crime run amok because the ones committing them are protected by the government or the corporations that run the damn governments!"
The insectoid wrapped his face with his carapace-covered hands, "do you know how it feels? How it feels to see some rich pretty boy who lived his entire life in a pretty greenhouse hundreds of miles from the ground pick whatever slum girl he likes and and and…"
Touch Me slouched, unable to support his own dilapidated body, "and watch…?"
"I'm no paragon of justice. Never was. Not to my wife, not to my kids, not to my corrupt coworkers, no one…"
"Except here… in Ygdrassil." Touch Me averted his attention to Momonga, looking him in the eyes, "I was a hero to everyone here. Protecting and saving everyone that I could. I even had the honor of saving you."
The insectoid broke eye contact and began holding his hands together, "I became addicted to it. The feeling… the power… the ability to save and protect people. That's why I played so often, why I dumped so much of my personal savings into this game."
It was sad to think about, but Momonga quickly realized how much that explanation made sense. Why else would a married man spend so much money on a video game? Money that should be saved for their child, especially in a world as insecure as theirs.
"I only stopped because I realized I had an addiction. A pathetic addiction to compensate for everything that I lacked in this cruel disgusting world. Just like those poor drug addicts on the streets or those rich hedonistic bastards up in their little ivory towers."
Touch Me sighed, "I wasn't lying to you when I said I had to leave to focus on my family. I was a bad father then, ignoring my kids to pursue my own desires and wishes."
You're not a bad father! Momonga thought, desperately wanting to scream out those exact words.
"I didn't tell you the real reason because I was embarrassed… but it wasn't until I got your email that I realized that I was being foolish. You deserved to hear the real reason why I left."
For the first time since his friend's speech began, Momonga muttered, "T-Touch Me…"
"But that's not the only reason why I came. I also wanted to give you a piece of advice before everything ends. Something I learned only after I got over my grief-ridden haze."
The Overlord leaned his head forward, wanting to hear the advice that Touch Me had been dangling over his head like a mistletoe.
"Those who do not save the weak cannot call themselves strong."
Momonga interrupted with a stutter, "t-that's it!?"
"I'm not finished." Touch Me continued, "those who cannot save the weak when they have the power to do so can never call themselves strong. A man with the strength but no moral compass to help those below themselves are just that, men with power. Despite everything they may say or all that they may do, they're not strong."
The insectoid paused before continuing, "however, those who cannot protect the weak because they don't have the power can't call themselves strong either. For they are weak, powerless, and cower in the face of adversity, just like me."
Touch Me suddenly rose from his seat with zeal, "but! The righteous men and women who stand despite their weakness! That stand against adversity with a noble heart is the true personification of strength! Because a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles!"
"I know that despite my weakness! I'm still a hero! I may not have the power, but I will always face everything in front of me with courage! Protecting those that I can with my limited power!"
Touch Me finished his brief yet passionate speech and sat back down on his chair. He averted his attention back to Momonga, "please… despite everything coming to an end. Remember my words, and keep them close to your heart. This world? This game? Yggdrasil? Is exactly that… a game. An escape from the truth sitting outside of our homes that we all want to ignore and cower from. Please Momonga, know that whether it's in this game or outside in the real world, you can be a hero. Even if you're weak."
The Overlord was silent, contemplating all of Touch Me's words. He found no fault in his advice. Perhaps that was why he never wanted to abandon Yggdrasil? Because of the power he felt, the power absent from his real life. Even if he would forcibly get booted out of the game, he would accept it with grace.
He'd be just like Touch Me, in that regard. Although it was embarrassing to admit, the inevitable shutdown of Yggdrasil had been a massive obstacle for him. There wasn't a single day that he didn't think about it, in a way, it was holding him down. Momonga would never abandon his unwavering loyalty to Nazarick and the memories he made on Yggdrasil, but he'd try his best to live with them. He'll face this obstacle of his with a brave face rather than cower. He'll earn Touch Me's respect, not as a friend or a Guild Master, but as a man with the strength to face adversity.
He'll be a hero! Strong!
After all, if all it meant to be a hero was to face the impossible with a smile, why couldn't he be one?
"I see… I'll hold your words close to my heart. I promise."
Touch Me nodded his head, satisfied with the response. He was secretly glad Ulbert wasn't here to provide his typical useless nihilistic views to taint his speech. "I'm sorry for unloading on you like this… I just wanted to leave something behind. Both as a thanks and a farewell."
"And it was very appreciated… will you be able to stay with me? Until the server ends?"
The insectoid deflated, "I'm afraid that I can't friend. Even now I can hear my phone ringing… probably the police chief wondering where I am. It's rung 4 times now."
Momonga flew from his seat, "what! Go on Touch Me! Get out of here! Don't risk your job for little old me! You seriously need to log off!"
Touch Me chuckled internally, maybe Momonga was adhering to his advice a little too well. He didn't sense even a smidge of disappointment in his voice. A sharp contrast to his voice when he said goodbye to HeroHero.
"Alright, Momonga. Goodbye, I wish you only the best, friend."
Momonga used his menu to have a smiley emoticon appear on top of his avatar as a final farewell, "goodbye… friend."
Touch Me produced a similar emoticon and logged off.
Once his friend left, silence reigned in the entire room. However, Momonga didn't feel nearly as lonely as he did before, despite the overbearing silence.
He wasn't afraid of getting forcefully logged off anymore, he'd face it with courage. But for now, he'll enjoy his last few moments the only way he knew how.
Given that there was only half a minute left until the shutdown because of his conversation with Touch Me, he avoided interacting with the NPCs.
With a wave of his hands, the Overlord teleported directly into the throne room and with a short trot, made it to his infamous throne, a world item the guild earned when they first conquered their guild base.
Momonga took a moment to admire Albedo's beauty, but it was exactly that, just a moment. He spent the majority of his last thirty seconds admiring the various flags in the throne room, thoughtlessly recounting every member of his guild.
"It was fun… it really was. At least I can face this shutdown with pride. Thank you Touch Me… at least I won't spend these final moments in tears."
Noticing that there was only a single second left, Momonga allowed a chuckle to escape his mouth, before he finally whispered, "goodbye, I'll miss all of you."
With that final proclamation, Momonga closed his eyes, waiting to be forcefully logged off.
A second passes, then another, then another… then another.
"...Huh?"
Momonga opened his eyes, he wasn't back in his room, no, he wasn't even in the throne room. Rather, he was still sitting atop his throne in the middle of a random forest.
"Huh!?"
—x—
Several weeks had passed, maybe? To be honest, Momonga wasn't entirely sure how much time had passed. How was he supposed to keep track of time when he was stuck roaming this massive forest?
He had used a spell to fly above the trees and scout the area, he had actually managed to find several villages somewhat near the forest that he spawned in. However, the last time he even came within eyeshot of a village, a random woman had seen him and screamed so loud that it spooked him. He had almost instantly flown back down under the forest foliage and tried his best to forget the entire experience.
On the bright side, he had managed to stuff the Throne of Kings into his inventory. Which was definitely a shock.
On the dark side of things, he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do. He had spent the past few weeks just experimenting and getting himself accustomed to his magic and the various items that were in his inventory. So far, everything was working just like it had in Yggdrasil.
The most damning discovery he made was that he was no longer in Yggdrasil, in fact, he wasn't even in a game anymore. Everything was simply too real to be a game, from his ability to smell to his sense of touch.
He wanted to be freaked out, he really did! But whenever a sting of panic came, it left just as quickly. He had concluded that his emotions were more than likely being oppressed because of his undead nature.
Which was definitely a boon, he didn't even want to think how he would be right now if he wasn't an Overlord. Probably having a panic attack while dying of dehydration.
Nonetheless, he had discovered a lot more than just his undead nature. After spending the better part of a week completely alone, so alone that there weren't even any animals within a mile of him. He made his next discovery. His passives were still active. So after a bout of calling himself an idiot, Momonga had disabled his passives and continued his exploration of the forest.
During his time-killing journey, he had come across a small village of goblins. It was there that he discovered that the locals didn't necessarily hold all that much love for the undead. He didn't even want to think about that whole ordeal and the way he lost control of his passives. Oh god… so much death just because he was an idiot!
However, all these discoveries were beneficial, or at least he thought so. As of now, Momonga was simply sitting down on the ground, leaning against a tree. He didn't know how long he had been there and he didn't necessarily care. After all, he was just admiring the view: the blue sky, the massive trees, the green grass, the vibrant sun, and the fresh air.
Something like this could only be a dream for someone like Suzuki Satoru, a simple unambitious salaryman. Maybe that was why he hadn't really formulated a plan for the future? Rather than preparing for the future and the various worries that came with it, he just wandered. Basking in the environment and experimenting with all of his abilities. Blue Planet would turn green with envy.
He definitely couldn't say that it was boring or uneventful, it was genuinely really fun! He had taken Touch Me's advice to heart and tackled the entire ordeal like a massive obstacle to overcome. He'd figure out why he was here eventually and plan accordingly, for now, he'd simply enjoy himself and avoid panicking.
Momonga's stint of peace was abruptly interrupted by an ear-screeching shriek. It sounded like it came from a woman.
Still sitting against a tree, Momonga leaned his head in the direction of the sound to better make out the scene. There were several footsteps, two of them were loud and heavy while the other footsteps were light.
The skeleton's mind went to work, and the scene of two women being chased by two heavy-set men invaded his mind.
At first, the entire ordeal had passed Momonga's mind in a rather nonchalant manner. He didn't necessarily feel an urge to help, nor did he even want to help. Perhaps it was because he was an undead? In the past few weeks, he had noticed his borderline sociopathic tendencies when it came to the life of other creatures. It was a concern but he tried his best to justify his thoughts.
But what should he do now? He was in a position to help someone, but he didn't even know if he could provide any help. What if the residents of this world were also level 100? What if the knights were killing them for a justifiable reason? Were they criminals? Were they carrying a disease?
Before Momonga could confirm his own musings to justify his passiveness, his memory of Touch Me had arisen.
Those who do not save the weak cannot call themselves strong.
Guilt swelled in Momonga, he had promised to listen to Touch Me's advice, yet here he was, hesitating to help those in need. He had promised to himself to be stronger and braver, to face the end of Yggdrasil with courage, yet here he was! Cowering!
Momonga slapped himself, this was exactly what he was talking about! He has to stop thinking like an unattached sociopath! People needed help and he could provide that help! I'm Suzuki Satoru damn it! I'm not a coward! Not anymore! I'm strong!
The Overlord stood up from his spot, now resolute and firm.
"But I can't just go in there exposed like this." Momonga glanced at his bare and fleshless hands. He knew how the locals would react to this appearance, he had to cover up if he didn't want to do more harm than good.
Although it was borderline idiotic to go into a conflict with little to no information with a build inferior to his main, he had to be thoughtful of this world's residents.
With the flourish of a level 100 magic caster, Momonga cast [Perfect Warrior] to convert all of his magic caster levels into an equivalent number of warrior levels. Following up that spell, he cast [Create Greater Item] to produce a set of black plate armor and a pair of twin great swords.
To finish everything off, the Overlord summoned a beautiful yet large red cape to wrap around his neck and flow behind his back.
Touch Me gave himself a scarf, but I think I'd like a big, flowy red cape… and my sword would have to be huge, just like Warrior Takemikazuchi. I could swing it around stylishly.
After properly crediting his beloved friends for the inspiration for his gear, Momonga broke into a mad sprint toward the screams at the edge of the forest. It didn't take more than a few seconds to get within spitting distance of the involved parties.
Momonga came to an abrupt stop in front of the running girls, the two villagers couldn't stop their sprint before slamming into the giant black warrior's body.
A brief sting of panic overwhelmed the blonde-haired village girl, fearful that this was where they would meet their end, at the hands of this massive warrior. However, before that fear could take root into a shriek, the black-plated warrior carefully moved her and her sister behind him rather protectively.
The knights had all but stopped their chase and instead stood their ground, making sure to keep a respectable distance between themselves and the warrior in front of them.
"What is your intention with these girls?" He bellowed. His voice sounded noble yet intimidating.
The leading knight scoffed, his initial surprise quickly getting replaced with his typical sneer, "we're here to kill every heretic in that village under the gaze of our gods. And you're in the way of official Baharuth Empire business."
"Baharuth Empire… huh?" The dark warrior responded.
The two knights went rigid, had the warrior in front of them seen through their lie that easily? How could he tell that they weren't from the Baharuth Empire!?
In truth, Momonga's response came from the simple fact that he had absolutely no idea what the Baharuth Empire even was.
The same knight visibly raised his sword, "fine! You saw through us bastard! What are you anyway? Some passing adventurer?" he paused, "well it doesn't even matter, we have information on all the adventurer teams in the Re-Estize Kingdom and no one of your description was ever described. That means you're either new or so insignificant that the Thousand League Astrologer didn't even deem you worthy enough to add to the list."
With that final proclamation, the man sprinted toward Momonga with his sword raised, hoping to deliver a blow to the dark warrior's head.
Momonga took note of his attack, primarily how slow it was. Almost like he was moving in slow motion, just waiting to deliver a blow of his own.
For the sake of curiosity, he allowed the man's attack to come close enough for him to truly gauge the strength behind the blow. However, rather than take the blow, he caught it with his hand.
"W-wha?"
"Hmph, you're weak. Thank goodness." Momonga muttered before increasing the strength of his grip and breaking the enchanted steel sword in half.
The knight fell on his ass while staring at the half-broken sword in his hands with a sense of disbelief and overwhelming fear.
"So you're fine chasing little girls around, but I'm too much to handle?" Momonga sneered in response to the knight's terror.
Recalling Touch Me's wise words, Momonga exclaimed without thinking, "Those who do not save the weak cannot call themselves strong."
The pair of knights stared at the large armored man in fear as he approached the downed man. Said man began begging and tried his best to crawl away from the beast of a man in front of him. He was unable to gather the strength to stand up and run away.
Calmly placing his plated hand on top of the fleeing man's head, Momonga began to increase the strength of his grip. The ear-screeching screams of the knight were heard throughout the forest as his helmet was slowly crushed under the massive hand of the dark hero. After a few seconds, Momonga eventually decided that this was enough to properly conclude his experiment on the strength of his [Perfect Warrior] build.
So with a dispassionate tug, Momonga removed the man's head from his body. Finally ending his annoying screeching.
"Now I have to deal with your little friend—"
Momonga stopped speaking once he noticed that the other warrior had all but fled the scene. He was still within eyeshot and he could easily reach him, but the children cowering behind him were of more importance.
The dark warrior turned his head to look at the children, "are you alright?"
"Y-yes I'm f-fine…" The oldest of the two muttered.
Momonga took notice of the wound on her back. Almost thoughtlessly, he pulled out a red potion from his inventory, pretending to pull it out from behind his cape. "Drink this… it'll heal you."
Having no reason to doubt his savior, the village girl graciously took the potion and drank it in one go. Almost in an instant, all of her wounds had healed. Much to the joy and shock of her little sister who began aggressively hugging her.
Good, Yggdrasil items work on the residents of this world. That's another theory put to rest.
"T-thank you!" both sisters gave the dark warrior a grateful bow.
"M-may we know the name of our savior!"
Momonga paused, wondering what his answer should be. His name should be something easily recognizable for any possible friends or allies that were also transported to this world. But it should also be inconspicuous so as to not arise suspicion.
"Momon. My name is Momon."
—x—
Episodic Memory of the First Few Months
Warning: A lot of tell and not show. You have been warned.
The next couple of months went by fast. The Overlord had adopted the alias of Momon and saved a village he only later learned was named Carne Village. Soon after, he met Gazef Stronoff, the Warrior Captain of the Re-Estize Kingdom, and saved him as well.
Although it was idiotic to face an army of magic casters and their summons for just one man, he couldn't leave Gazef to his untimely demise with a good conscious. Stronoff had reminded him too much of his friend Touch Me to do that.
After defeating their Dominion Authority, a mid-tier summon at best, those homicidal maniacs had all but surrendered. Which led to all of them getting detained and taken to the capital of the Re-Estize kingdom under the escort of Gazef Stronoff.
The Warrior Captain was thankful and left a good word for him at the adventurers guild in E-Rantel. Which definitely made the signup process easier. He didn't even need to sign anything, which was a relief since he didn't know how to write in this world's language.
After a kind farewell and a firm handshake, the two men gave each other their best wishes and Momon set out on his first adventure.
It was definitely eventful, having to escort a famous alchemist and destroying an entire tribe's worth of goblins and ogres. Making small talk with an adventurer group called Swords of Darkness and getting reminded of his old guildmates. He had responded in a rather volatile manner when Ninya, the young magic caster, had hinted at the idea that he would ever be able to replace his guildmates. The way he responded was a bit childish in retrospect, and he apologized to Ninya the next day.
His apology was almost instantly rejected, rather, the little magic caster was the one who apologized. Bowing his (A/N Ninya is a girl but Momonga doesn't know that) head and repeating the same heartfelt apology over and over, as if he had been rehearsing it for the entire night.
Despite his undead nature, Momon found the performance rather endearing. Although he was completely unqualified to give anyone advice, he departed a few quotes that he learned from Touch Me and gave Ninya a scroll with the [Message] spell as a sign of thanks. Informing the little boy that if he ever needed his help, he'd come running.
The rest of the mission was fairly uneventful, except for the goblins under Enri's command threatening them and the alchemist begging for one of his potions. He had given the alchemist a potion since it wasn't exactly any dirt off his shoulders.
Those familiar with Momonga might say that it was out of character for him to give something away like that due to his collective spirit. However, those healing potions didn't even work on him since he was undead and he had plenty of them in his inventory. It seemed like a fair trade in his mind, give up a useless potion for a professional business relationship. At least it seemed like a fair trade in his salaryman mind.
Following that awkward yet beneficial trade, he had tamed and befriended the Wise King of the Forest. She was a massive hamster… it took several seconds to get his emotions in order before he decided to duel the ferocious 'beast'.
Everyone else seemed fairly impressed though. Especially the villagers who had already been praising the very ground he walked on ever since he saved their village.
Once Nfirea was done collecting his medicinal herbs, they all returned to E-Rantel. Tasked with turning the mission in and registering his new pet, Hamsuke, he separated from the group. However, the minute he received a [Message] from the little boy he had befriended, Momon had all but broke through the adventurer guild building's wall and rushed to Ninya.
He wouldn't leave the little magic caster to die, not after hearing his cries of help over the [Message]. Cries of help that sounded fairly feminine.
Once he reached Nfiera's workshop, he all but pushed aside Lizzie Bareare who was blocking his path, and stormed up the stairs. He was greeted with the sight of Peter, Lukrut, and Dyne laying on the floor, motionless, and Ninya pinned to the wall.
Ninya was still alive, however, he was half naked and slowly getting tortured to death by a blond-haired woman. It was then that Momon realized that Ninya was actually a girl. Perhaps that's why she was kept alive, so the sick woman torturing her could have the pleasure of mocking her in her last moments.
Nevertheless, the look of hope in Ninya's eyes was like a gunshot signaling the start of a race, and Momon all but tackled the psychopath torturing her into the wall and away from Ninya.
Seeing his comrade's body flail through the room and become a mushed mess against the wall led the second perpetrator to flee. He was a bald pale-skinned magic caster that teleported out of the room with an unconscious Nfirea in his hands.
While admonishing his inability to set up anti-teleportation magic due to his use of [Perfect Warrior], Momon went to work saving Ninya and collected the weapons of the now dead blonde-haired woman.
Splashing Ninya with a potion, he had all but revived the little magic caster from the brink of death. The same couldn't be said of the remaining members of Swords of Darkness.
The remaining three members were turned into undead by that vile magic caster as a departing gift which led to Momon putting them down. He knew that he wouldn't have wasted an item on reviving them, despite his brief attachment to them, but them being turned into undead all but sealed their fate.
In her grief, Ninya had all but latched herself onto Momon and demanded that he take her with him to avenge her comrades. Seeing no reason to deny her, he brought Ninya along with him to confront the magic caster.
With the use of his items, he had determined the perpetrator's location quite easily. He was in the city's graveyard, and if the various other entities were anything to go by, he had accomplices and an army behind him.
The resulting battle consisted of Momon, with Ninya wrapped under his arm, on top of Hamsuke storming into the horde of undead, killing everything that came their way. Although Ninya had run out of most of her strength, she still tried her best to support, even yelling at the top of her lungs for the few adventurer teams that had shown up to follow them.
The brief thought of killing the adventurers tailing them to ensure that he received the most amount of recognition possible had passed his mind. But he pushed those thoughts aside, merely labeling them as a side effect of his undead nature.
With the aid of the city's adventurer teams and Momon's own overwhelming strength, they made it to the epicenter of the horde and finally confronted the mastermind behind everything. Khajiit Dale Bandantel.
The following clash was incredibly volatile, with both sides experiencing massive casualties. However, with Momon's presence, the adventurers managed to kill all the magic casters, except Khajiit himself.
It was only when Khafiit summoned two skeleton dragons that the adventurers began losing their resolve. Ninya herself shivered when the shadow of a dragon overshadowed her.
That was until Momon took a single step forward, allowing all of the adventurers to stare at his large broad back. All of them found a semblance of confidence and admiration upon staring at the hero.
When both skeleton dragons simultaneously charged their breath attack, Momon ordered everyone to stand behind him. The dark hero spun both his greatswords like a fan to shield everyone behind him from the breath attack.
It was an act of heroics that left nearly everyone in awe, something that would be sung in songs for centuries.
After brushing off the fire on his cape, Momon rushed to the two dragons and slew them. Their master soon followed them as Momon beheaded him before he could even beg for mercy. The dark warrior then saved Nfirea, silently disappointed at having to destroy the magic item to save him.
When all was said and done, Momon as well as all of the other adventurers reported the entire situation to the guild, and Momon was promoted to Orichalcum. He had also added Ninya to his party, both due to her talent and their relationship. He had chosen to name their group Darkness. In honor of the Swords of Darkness. The name definitely stuck and most had secretly praised Momon for choosing such a thoughtful name.
Ninya was one of those people, all but breaking down in tears when he chose the name inside the Adventurer's guild. She only stopped when Momon spat out another one of Touch Me's one-liners.
It was truly tiresome to try and emulate his friend Touch Me, however, he would be lying if he said that it was a bother. In fact, it was quite rewarding, both physically and mentally. And at the very least, it was entertaining, something to do instead of lounging around in the forest.
Things were quiet for the next few weeks, besides the constant influx of letters and words of appreciation from the citizenry. The missions had all but dried up due to his persistence to accept and complete so many of them.
It wasn't until he was ordered to escort a noble through a rather turbulent route and had to put down a Gigant Basilisk that his party was elevated to the rank of Adamantiite.
He allowed Ninya to get the killing blow for the sake of satiating his curiosity about how the inhabitants of this world leveled up. His experiment was able to bear fruit as Ninya had all but tripled in strength, learning a variety of second-tier spells as well as a single third-tier spell. He wasn't sure how her talent influenced this rapid growth but seeing her smile when she was able to cast her first third-tier spell gave Momon a warm feeling in his undead heart. It was like seeing your daughter show off their report card with pride. Or at least he thought it was like that, he didn't exactly have any experience with kids.
Nonetheless, his career as an adventurer was fairly unremarkable, at least in his eyes. The most challenging aspect of it was ensuring that he didn't do anything that would disappoint his guildmates.
With so much free time on his hands, he had often wondered what he would do if Nazarick had come with him to the New World. Where would his interests lay? What would his agenda be?
Those rhetorical questions were a bit silly to ask, he knew exactly where his interests would lay. He'd put Nazarick first before anything else, that would be his prerogative. Everything else would be irrelevant to Nazarick and its many denizens' happiness.
Touch Me's teachings would definitely still influence some of his actions, but he wasn't foolish enough to believe that all life was inherently equal. The life of one of his beloved friend's creations would always be more valuable than even a million of this world's denizens.
With that being said… Nazarick wasn't here with him. For all he knew, they had truly been erased from existence with the end of Yggdrasil. Even the thought of it still gave him an irrational amount of grief, despite his proclamation of facing the end of Yggdrasil with courage.
For all intents and purposes, he was alone. No real purpose except to uphold his promise to Touch Me and live a heroic life.
However, despite everything, he still held his head up high. His time as an adventurer and guiding Ninya allowed him to realize his new duty in this world. To uphold his friend's ideals and hold the memory of his friends close to his heart. Ensure that he never forgot them. Allow all of their teachings and world views to influence his new life.
End of Episodic Memory
(A/N I skimmed a majority of these events because it would mostly just be a recounting of the canon story. Which most of us have already read in other Dark Warrior–centric fanfics.)
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A/N: Ninya never got to apologize in canon for accidentally offending Momonga with her comment. Although Momonga had Nazarick at the forefront of his mind, I genuinely believe that Momonga would have been somewhat kinder if he heard her heartfelt apology. In this version where Momonga got sent to the New World by himself, I'd like to think that he would adopt a parental role. We already saw him do that with Keno in the Overlord Bonus Volume. (Which you should definitely read, honestly one of my favorite Overlord light novels, it's right next to Overlord LN 11 and LN 2 for me).
Also. I wasn't playing favorites when I let Ninya live but the other members of Swords of Darkness die. In canon, Peter, Lukrut, and Dyne are turned into undead while Ninya isn't. She's just tortured to death. Equally terrible way to go but still.