Kazuma adjusted his position as he sat at the far back of a hummer which Hajime had apparently created. Many of the other group members were arranged in either the front seat (Hajime, Myu, Yue, Kaori) or were all shocked in the back (Tio, Shea, Shizuku, and Naofumi's group). The only one who actually seemed to have a problem with the arrangement was the small bird child resting between Naofumi and Raphtalia, though she just seemed to be pouting about not getting to pull the Hummer like it was a wagon.
Sure he learned their names, and got to chat with them a bit, but they were just as weird as the trio he had forged with Subaru and Kumoko.
"How much longer Papa?" Myu asked as she grabbed onto his shoulder. "A couple days, give or take. Don't worry princess." Hajime replied while patting the girl with his normal hand. It didn't take a genius to see that she already had him wrapped around her small and adorable finger.
"So you said there was more people from other worlds, not just the ones present?" Tio asked him. "Yep. My world already had people who had taken the chance and been transported there upon their deaths in my old world." Kazuma replied. "Chance." Naofumi clarified, his jaw clenching. "We got a choice to go or not, pretty sure that makes our world an exception rather than the norm." Kazuma rattled off.
He could feel the stares of not just Naofumi, but also Kaori and Shizuku. Hajime wasn't staring, but he could swear that steam was rising from his ears. "Choice?" Shizuku asked. "It was either go to Heaven, Take a gamble and be reincarnated in the old world, or get a sweet OP tool and do battle against the Demon King and his forces in mine." Kazuma clarified.
"You don't see your old world as your's?" Hajime spoke up in a some what quiet tone. "I died in my old world, the whole reason I was given the choice is because there was nothing left to do for my old life." Kazuma replied. "You didn't...-" "Kill myself, no, nothing like that. I died from shock after I slipped onto a street with an approaching vehicle. Never felt it hit me either." Kazuma interrupted Kaori's question. Kaori seemed to breath in relief, as Yue turned to face him.
"You said that you were given an OP... tool, where is it?" She asked in genuine curiosity. "Ah, well... you see." Kazuma started, rubbing the back of his neck. "You lost it?" Naofumi deadpanned. "No. The tool I had chosen just happened to be the Goddess pitching the offer to me." Kazuma said, suddenly lurching forward as Hajime slammed on the brakes.
"Goddess?" he half shouted, holding Myu close to him as the Hummer finally stopped. "Yep, instead of some OP weapon I chose a Goddess. Only for her to backstab me the moment she found one of the others that had accepted the offer." Kazuma stated while resting his arms to the sides. "Betrayed?" Hajime was now glaring him down. "Got cut clean in half, can't really see it since I got splattered. But the reason I'm undead... is because I was so angry with it that I came back after she left me for that fool with a sword." Kazuma said, staring back at Hajime.
He was now getting odd looks of sympathy from the others. "Eh, don't look at me like that. I'm still following the offer given, just doing it differently." he said, trying to wave them off. "How many times have you died?" Kaori asked cautiously. "That, well, between my pre-isekai death, my betrayal death, and some others. Maybe Five or Six times. I don't really count." Kazuma answered calmly.
"Let's, change the subject back to the other worlds." It was the weasel girl, Rifana who suggested it. "Yeah." many of the others murmured as Hajime put his foot back on the throttle. "So, how did you meet some of the others?" Shea asked nervously.
The Hummer ride quickly became awkward, Kazuma's open honesty about it and the cautious nature of the others doing little good to break ice.
Subaru hummed some old anime opening he had somehow remembered despite everything that had happened. Yuika was humming along, rather terribly but she was a baby so he wouldn't blame her. He was making good progress, just a couple more days and he may reach a port city.
Now since this was Kumoko's world, he could access her teleportation points and get right back to Tempest. But he didn't know where most of them were, and most of the ones he knew of were several countries south of his current location. So he was going to catch a boat, either travel all the way to Axel, or sail to the nearest point he knew of.
Either method required a boat.
A twig snapped beneath him as he just continued walking. His current bag had gotten much lighter over the past few days, the food slowly being gobbled up by the two of them. He had run into several monster on his journey, but Invisible Providence made quick work of them. The journey was definitely stressing his muscles far worse than anything before his torture in the dungeon.
"Oi kid, hand over what you got." a random bandit said as he raised a sword. Many others followed from the sides of the trail. 'Pretty cliche, not gonna lie.' Subaru thought as he put one arm over Yuika and pulled out his broken sword in the other. The bandits laughed at the sight of it. "Let me pass and I may be merciful." Subaru said, taking a note from Kazuma's book.
"Or what? all you got is a stub." One of the other bandits said. Subaru just smirked; "Invisble Providence, Cor Leonis." he said calmly as he felt power shift through him. The bandits had started rushing him, only to stop as their Huds flashed red. "I've spent a while experimenting with something, might as well test it out." Subaru muttered as the bandits felt something being taken.
"Cor Leonis, Fifth Shift, Transfer of Prosperity." Subaru spoke out the powers name as he held his broken sword in a familiar stance. "You, you stole my skill." One of the bandits muttered as he held his sword sloppily. "And I can do more, if you want me to show you." Subaru said as his eye gleamed.
The bandits looked to one another, then dropped their weapons and fled in terror. Subaru breathed a sigh of relief before catching himself as he leaned down, using the Fifth Stance taking far more concentration than he expected. "Least I got something from it." Subaru muttered as he felt the newly aquired Swordsmanship, Fearless, and Healing Magic skills settle in. Subaru laughed as Yuika just looked up at him.
"Looks like Gluttony isn't the only thief type ability." Subaru muttered as he pat Yuika on the head. Invisible Providence quickly got to work, picking up the now discarded weapons as he walked past them. Stuffing them in his bag as he continued down the trail
The world had changed, and he was changing with it.
If there was one way Kumoko would describe the being in front of her.
It would be Misleading.
The being known as Ainz Ooal Gown, the Skeletal Overlord Dubbed Momonga, wasn't all that terrifying once you get to know him. She sat across from him in one of the village homes, a tea tray resting on the table between the two. 'So then we got sucked in and I lost him. Now I can't teleport back.' Kumoko finished summarizing the long tale to him, from the moment she awoke as a Spider, to meeting Subaru and Kazuma, and her rather strange experience of traveling through a wave.
'Like seriously, I could of sworn I saw some woman in a black kimono when I was being pulled through.' Kumoko continued as Ainz just hummed and listened to her. "Certainly a wild story." he replied in monotone fashion. Kumoko had to resist the urge to groan as all undead seemed capable of suppressing their emotions with a simple skill.
'Yeah, so could you tell me where I am?' Kumoko asked as she took a sip of tea. "You're in Carne Village, part of the Sorcerer's kingdom." Ainz replied. 'Sorcerer's Kingdom?' Kumoko asked. "My Kingdom." Ainz said calmly. Kumoko shifted uncomfortably as he continued staring at her.
'Ah. If I may ask a question?' She asked nervously. "Go ahead." Ainz said calmly. 'Why can't I teleport away?' She asked. Ainz seemed to sigh, how he could she would never know, before he looked her right in the eye. "Carne Village is overtop my home, anything within ten kilometers of my home can't teleport in or out without a special item. Consider it a gift that I'm telling you this." Ainz said. 'What, but...' Kumoko racked her brain to think of a response.
"However, you said that you were part of a group working to fight against these Waves of Calamity. Since these have been troubling my kingdom, I will aid you in your endeavor." Ainz said calmly. 'Wait... really?' Kumoko asked, rather stunned.
'Thank god she bought it. I can't even expand past one little village since I know little about this world, and Nazarick had been the only real defense against those waves so far. I can't just lose everything to a bunch of storm.' Momonga thought as Kumoko just smiled. 'Its also a good thing she can't read my mind, even though her telepathy can reach me.' he continued think before he heard Kumoko's stomach rumble.
'You'll really put your full support into this?' Kumoko asked. 'I have nothing else to do.'/ "Yes." Ainz answered as he thought about it. "Though, let me take you out of range, then we can talk with the rest of the group." Ainz said as he held up his hand and one of his rings glowed with power. The two quickly teleporting outside of the Anti-teleportation defense Ainz had created for the village and Nazarick.
Kazuma just watched as Myu and the bird child (Filo he had heard) messed around with a deck of cards he had with him. "I still don't get it." Filo said as she stared blankly at the cards. "These are your summons and items, you can only use three cards per turn which can be placing down your summons or using the items to modify the either your own summons or the opposing summons." Kazuma re-explained the rules.
Yue, Kaori, Shea, Rifana, and Keel just watched as he explained it once again. "What did you even based these off of?" Kaori asked, knowing he had made a children's card game. "Several things, created rules based on other deck building games, wrote some new ones, designed a lot of summons and items off of stuff in the world I went to." Kazuma replied as Myu started her turn.
Kaori just groaned, she and the others had been left to make sure Kazuma didn't cause any trouble while the rest went out hunting. But now he's corrupting the innocent Myu and Filo with deck building games and she can't do anything. "Do you have other decks like this?" Yue asked as she inspected the rest of Kazuma's deck.
"Of course, I initially created the game, but a friend I had met helped expand it even further with Meta decks and new series which we called the Second Wave Heromon series." Kazuma said rather proudly. "This, is how you've been making money?" Rifana asked. "No, it's just one of many." Kazuma replied as Filo played her three cards.
"What else have you done to make money?" Shea asked. "Well, we've been making things from our world and selling them. I'm currently rich enough to compete with Merchants Guilds since the Nobels are paying tooth and Nail for our wares." Kazuma humble bragged. 'We can't let Naofumi/Hajime Know about this.' was the collaborative thought of the girls. "Tooth and Nail?" Rifana clarified. "A lot of commonplace items such as furniture, condiments, and media are considered high class materials by the nobels around here. They pay high for even the simplest of things." Kazuma replied as Myu struck back with her next play.
'Definitely not letting them know.' Was the collective thought of the women.
"Alright, we're back. Caught a Wave monster so there's no risk from eating it." they heard Naofumi should. They all turned to see he, Raphtalia, and Shizuku hauling a large snake over their shoulders. Hajime and Tio had a group of large falcon monsters strung up one a stick. Filo and Myu quickly lost interest in the gams as they ran to the two boys.
The women realized that they were now too late as the two girls told their "fathers" all about the card games and some of Kazuma's bragging. They could only watch as Naofumi's eyes seemed to flash with gold coins while Hajime gained an unnerving smirk.
Kazuma had just awakened their inner Merchants.
"Stupid Waves." Subaru lamented as he used Invisible Providence to strangle a heavily Armored Snapping Turtle. The air above was a deep crimson color as a sign that a Red Storm, Wave of Calamity, was raging on. Subaru had wandered in right at the middle of it, stuck watching as Adventurers and local Demons fought off the Monsters while he weaved away from the seeking clouds.
As for some godforsaken reason the Waves were seeking him out.
A large lizard man with a visible health bar above its head charged him. His recently aquired Appraisal Skill telling him that it was the waves boss, The Interdimensional Lizard Warlord. It hefted a massive axe and leveled the wedge with his neck. He ducked under the swing, using Invisible Providence to twist out of range as the shockwave from the axe swing broke the ground around them. "El Minya." he should while firing off purple crystals at the Wave boss.
The attack barely chipped away at its health, forcing him to strike with Invisible Providence. The hands struck forth, forzing the lizard man back as it tried to block an attack which it could not see. He pulled the arms back, letting the monster flail about wildly.
Then he aimed them, and struck out both of the creature's eyes. It roared in pain and dropped its axe, bringing its hands to cover it's now empty eye sockets.
He was then forced on the defensive as a volley of arrows interrupted their battle. He shielded Yuika with his body, and shielded his body with Invisible Providence. Numerous arrows struck the wave boss, causing it to let out more roars of pain. "Come on," "Bring it down." he could here yelling. He turned to see a young man, far too young for a place like this, rush in and stab the Wave Boss with a sword.
It only took another chip off of its dwindle health bar. The Boss turned, roaring in anger as it raised its fists towards the boy. "No you don't, Invisible Providence Ten Handed Strike." Subaru said as Ten hands all struck the same spot at once as hard as possible. The Boss' back arched as a sickening crack echoed forth, the spine breaking from the force of the hit.
The kid took his sword in hand and brought it down on the Boss' neck, decapitating it. He turned to Subaru and smiled; "You saved my life. Thank you." he said. "Ah, no problem. I'm just a guy passing through." Subaru said as his Appraisal looked over the boy. He almost froze as he saw the name Julius, but stopped as the full name of Julius Zagan Analeit.
"Still, if it wasn't for you then I wouldn't have been capable of striking it down." Julius said in homest thanks. Subaru looked down at the young boy, the Hero of this world according to his Skills. "Besides that, what's a boy your age doing here?" Subaru asked. "Ah, well, you see, I'm the Hero. I was on a trip with my father when the Monster Storm struck and I had to Help." The boy said in a half anxious tone.
Subaru just shook his head. The boy in front of him reminding him of Reinhardt far more than he liked. Yuika whined, having uncovered her eyes as the Wave finally left. He gently patted her on the head as she tried to cuddle closer to him. "But come on, the locals want to celebrate the victory." Julius said to him. 'Definitely better than the other Julius.' Subaru surmised as he followed after the boy.
The local Demons and the present human army seemed to relax, actually cheering at their victory over the Wave. Subaru following the Young Hero Julius as The last of the red sky dissapeared. 'At least I didn't get sucked in this time.' Subaru pondered as he looked to the sky one last time.
Kumoko teleported Ainz to Tempest, and found it still calm as ever. Some folks freaked out at the Random appearance of the Archne and OP skeleton, but most were just used to the weirdness. 'Now come on, I know the guy who runs this place, and some of the people who live here.' Kumoko said as she gestured to follow.
Ainz simply took in his surroundings, almost cracking a smile if it wasn't for his Undead self. 'This, is the kind of place I want the Sorcerer Kingdom to be.' He pondered as he looked all around. "Kumoko!" They heard a voice shouted. The two of them turned to see Wiz rushing towards them, Sophia in her arms. "Kumoko, have you seen Subaru?" She asked quickly. Kumoko seemed to pause, then she shook her head.
"Excuse me ma'am." Ainz spoke up as Wiz turned to him. She seemed to look him over for a second before her eyes widened. "Kumoko, what have you been up too?" She asked the spider girl. 'Uhhh...' Kumoko started. "Don't bother, Rimurus calling a meeting and he wants you present, you can bring the Overlord too." She said while grabbing Kumoko with her free hand. Ainz just sweat dropped as he followd after them.
"Of course another one had to strike." Kazuma lamented as the Hummer made yet another sharp turn. The sky around them had gone red and monsters were dropping left and right. Hajime had given Kaori the wheel and was now hanging out the left side door, firing both revolvers at any incoming monster. Naofumi was hanging onto the roof with Filo, using defensive skills and Wind Magic to fend off any Hajime couldn't get. Many of the other passengers were either using magic or Hajime's weapons to fend off the monsters all around.
A flurry of missiles shot out from the Hummer's sides as a swarm of bat monsters tried to get close. An Armadillo Monster was shot dead before it could try to stop the car. Kazuma quickly grabbed one of his throwing knives and tossed it with Snipe, nailing a random bat monster that had avoided the missiles.
"Oi, Kazuma." he heard Hajime speak up as he slunk back into the Hummer to reload. "Yes, I'm Kazuma." Kazuma replied. "You said we can travel through the waves right?" he said. "Yeah... Wait." Kazuma replied, quickly realizing what Hajime was going to do. Some of the other passengers realized it as well, but it was too late
He took the wheel back from Kaori and drove the Hummer right towards the eye of the storm. The Boss Monster, A Bear/Gorilla/Lion hybrid of some kind stood between them and the rift. He felt Naofumi's magic enchant the vehicle itself as Hajime gunned it. A massive turret popped out of the Hood and opened fire on the boss monster. The rounds tore into it as the Vehicle struck it.
The sheer force of the collsion carried them both through the rift, many of the passengers screaming as it did so.
Subaru just watched as the monster in front of him limped forward. One of the mages in the human group had been kind enough to teleport closer to his destination. He was now a days walk from one of Kumoko's teleportation point.
Only for that day to be ruined as yet another wave appeared. It seemed that different locations had different cycles of wave attacks. He was just unlucky to be faced with waves with hardly a day between them.
Invisible Providence held many of the monsters at bay. His broken sword slixing any who got past it. Yuika had now tucked her head into his collar, not wanting to face such horror again.
He saw the wave Boss, An massive Crocodile with jagged spikes and a lizard like build, called a Zill Beast. 'That is a bootleg of a bootleg Godzilla.' Subaru thought as the beast got closer. He let Invisible Providence tear through the current array of beasts in front of him while more appeared from his sides.
His brow was covered in sweat as one hundred hands surrounded him for the fight of his life. The beast roared at the challenge in front of him. Subaru let out a battle cry as the hands rushed forwards.
Only for something massive to slam into the Wave boss from above.
He could only watched as an equally massive creature was smashed over top the Monster. A... Hummer slammed into its stomach while its occupants screamed. Both monsters dieing from the sheer force of the impact.
A young man on top of some sort of large bird landed nearby. Then someone fell right in front of him. "Ka... Kazuma?" He asked in disbelief. "Yes- Groan- I'm Kazuma." Kazuma said as he looked up. "Subaru, how are you here?" he half shouted while pulling himself up.
Subaru just watched, looking back to see some guy with a metal arm helping an ensemble of Demi Humans out of the now wrecked Hummer. He looked a bit to the right too see the guy get off the bird, and the bird turn into a little blonde girl with wings. He turned back to Kazuma. "I could ask you the same question?" he replied.