Chapter Two: First Encounter as Master of Death
"Oh, really? That's rich coming from you." Momonga said to the inferior life-form, scum of the Earth.
"Have you no dignity as a human being? Are you not the real monster EH?! These people are just merely CHILDREN, CHILDREN I tell you, and you are attacking them?! Disgraceful bastard, [Grasp Heart]."
He said in an angry and disappointed tone. Before the knight could even say anything, Momonga already cast his favorite 9th tier necromancer spell, [Grasp Heart] which allows him to grab and crush their opponent's heart, causing instant death to them. Even if the target resists, they instead become stupefied or stunned as a secondary effect. This is said by Momonga to be his favorite spell. A 3D image of what is unmistakably a heart appeared in his hand, and decided to crush it. The knight felt unbearable pain as he succumbed to his well deserved death. He felt an ever so slight tug of what's left of his psyche's existence in the back of his mind reminding him that he still has a smidge of humanity.
'Good thing my 9th tier spell work, because if it hadn't, I would grab the children and [Greater Teleportation] the hell out of this place.' he thought to himself while the rest of knights that saw the recent scene was scared shitless and ran off away from him, but Momonga was faster.
"Oh no you don't! [Dragon Lightning]!" As he cast the spell, a lightning bolt in the shape of a dragon spew out of his bony finger and killed the three knights that ran off.
"Pathetic, you can easily be one-shot by a mere 5th tier spell."
As he said that, he remembered the children, think of the children! He then turned around to face them, and saw them with fear and horrified expressions at the recent events. He then got near them, and was about to produce a Minor Healing Potion, but he quickly remembered that he had his new Job class. He then cast the spell [Heal] to the wounded child. The gash on her back was immediately sealed off and healed.
"Are you alright little one?" A deep baritone but gentle and caring voice came out of the Overlord. The two children were baffled of the recent turn of events. They really thought that they would be dead and killed by the undead monster after he has disposed of the knights, but instead of killing them, he expressed genuine concern to them. An undead helping people are utterly absurd in this world.
Before they could say anything else, another crack in reality appeared behind the Overlord, but this time, it was a very large portal. And out came from the portal a huge and monstrous humanoid figure made of what seemed to be fast, flowing water. Yup, this was Tsunami, and the children were scared even more.
"I have come, O Master." Tsunami said.
Momonga, seeing this reaction, he quickly said and reassured them.
"It is alright little ones, that right there-" while pointing to the humongous, imposing figure "-is Tsunami, a loyal servant of mine so you need not worry."
The two humans were speechless of the scene that took place right now. They had mixed emotions of fear and gratefulness. Grateful because they were saved, and fear because of the two monstrosities that stepped through a tear in reality that appeared out of thin air. One moment later, the older girl said in a very nervous tone.
"P-please don't h-hurt us, or at least sp-spare my little sister." When he heard these he made clear that their intentions were genuine. He made a light hearted chuckle and said.
"Do not worry, I just happen to see the horrible situation that this village is in so I decided to intervene. I will not cause harm to all of you villagers." The two sisters sighed in relief but still a little nervous of their savior. Momonga stood up and patted the children on their heads then went to the corpse of the one of the knights.
"[Create mid tier undead: Death Kni-]" as he was about to create an undead summon, he quickly remembered his Absolute Necromancer classes and decided to test it out instead.
"Ehem (fake cough) [Create high-tier undead: Grim Reaper Thanatos]!" When he invoked his spell, a dark fog made of extremely dense negative energy spew out from his hand and encapsulated the corpse.
The corpse spasmed and an X shaped wound opened from his chest and a dark lightning from the sky struck the corpse, creating a small shockwave. The corpse was wreathed with purple, unholy fire, and it started to crack. Dark violet light seeped through the cracks as if the negative energy inside could not be contained. Eventually, the corpse couldn't handle the pressure and burst, causing a small explosion of unholy light. A being that could only be described as an Angel of Death came out in place of the corpse. The skeletal summon was floating with its large Raven black, feathery wings with a wing span of 8 meters. Its skull had a torn and ominous cloak that radiated an aura of fear to its victims. The figures eyes were two flaming orbs that glowed a vibrant but dark violet color. It had dark bony armor with tattered dark robes on top of it, its chest was open and showed its rib cage, and the cherry on top is its weapon. It held a very large and intimidating scythe known as [Harvester of Life] that can deal immense damage to the living, even the undead too.
'Well, this didn't happen when I summoned undead in YGGDRASIL. At least that shows that the Absolute Necromancer class is confirmed, I didn't feel anything draining from me besides from mana.'
"I have come to heed thy call, O Master of Death. I shall hear and obey thy orders." The reaper said in a mysterious, raspy, and bone-chilling voice.
The two girls were awestruck as he summoned Thanatos, mean while, Tsunami was silently admiring the authority and power of his master. As Momonga heard and saw his badass and awesome looking summon, he was startled a bit but quickly regained his composure and thought. 'Wow, he was already badass enough in the game but real life takes it to a whole new level.' He spoke to the reaper and said.
'Well if Tsunami is sentient, then there's no reason he can't be.'
"Umu, I am pleased of your loyalty, Thanatos. Now then, I order you to execute the knights wearing this armor." He pointed to the other corpses. "Spare and protect the villagers as much as you can, now go."
"I hear and obey O Master of Death." After he said that, he flew through the trees with blinding speed to go to the village and slay forth the enemies of his master.
"Alright, what to do with the rest of these corpses... Hmmm... Aha! [Create mid-tier Undead: Death Knight]!" As he said the spell, the corpses immediately turned a dark mushy color and turned into a liquid sludge that is as dark as the night sky. Then the liquid quickly took form a humanoid figure. Then eventually, 3 Tall Death knights Came forth from the sludge of Undeath.
As Ainz saw this, he was definitely sure that what happened was new because this definitely didn't happen in YGGDRASIL when he summoned undead.
"Master of Death, we heed thy call." The Death knights said in Unison.
"I order you to accompany Thanatos in protecting villagers."
"We hear and obey." The Death Knights growled and left.
After they left, Momonga faced the two children again.
"Um, do you know what magic is, little ones?"
"Yes m-mister. A pharmacist friend of mine goes to this village to stay and collect some herbs. He can use magic." Said Enri.
"Alright, then this makes it easier to explain." After he responded, he began casting defensive spells.
"[Anti-Life Cocoon], [Wall of Protection against Arrows], you two should be safe if you stay in this barrier. Oh and also take this." He grabbed two Horns of the Goblin General, which was a trash Gachapon item so it was useless to him, to the little girl and she caught it.
"Blow on those horns and it will summon goblins to serve you and protect you in case you need any help. I'd like to help you people but I have other things to do. I'll be on my merry way now, I wish you luck." He walked away from the children and was followed by Tsunami. But before they could leave, Enri said to him.
"T-Thank you very much mister!" Momonga stopped and looked at the direction of the sisters again and said.
"Umu, it's alright, think nothing of it." He replied.
"Mister, I have a request. Please help our parents if you find them. I know I don't have anything but ple-" The girl said in a pleading tone but was interrupted by Ainz's famous cutting-in-the-middle-of-the-sentence hand moves.
"Umu, I'll help your parents out if I manage to encounter them."
"M-might we know of the name of our savior?" Enri mustered up the courage to ask the question.
"Ah yes, I haven't introduced myself, I apologize. Ehem My name is-" as he was about to say his name, he thought if it first.
'My friends might be here somewhere, so to help attract attention from them, I'll temporarily replace my name with the guild. Yes that's sounds about right.'
"Ainz Ooal Gown." He said in a regal and proud voice displaying absolute superiority and authority. After that cringey, from our perspective, attempt of getting people to be impressed, he went to the direction he ordered Thanatos to go to.
-•••-
Village Square
Captain Belius was really having a great time. Everything was going according to plan until a very unfortunate incident happened.
What to make of this event... Oh I don't know the fucking Angel of Death came here to save the villagers and claim their fuckin' lives Dognabit! The knights were slaying the escaping villagers and whatnot and bound villagers at the village square. Everyone was doing their sh*t until the uneventful happened.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH! THE ANGEL OF DEATH IS HERE TO CLAIM OUR FUCKIN' LIVES! RUN GODAMMIT!" A soldier exclaimed but got shortly decapitated by the figure. The figure that descended upon the land was the literal definition of "Grim Reaper", so everybody was terrified on its descent.
"O ye foolish and vile knights, mine Lord, the Master of Death, hath personally seen fit that ye are unworthy for thee to keep thine souls. Thy actions have displeased him and ye shall pay with thine lives. Thou shalt know despair in the name of mine Lord." The figure said in a grim tone befitting its visage. It let out a frightening aura that terrified the living crap out of everyone in the square, but the knights were the most affected. Before anybody could say anything and run off, the figure already flew past them with blinding speed, and with in the blink of an eye, 17 heads of knights have been separated from their bodies with the use of the creature's scythe.
"Ah! Protect me knights, be a shield for me so I can escape, I'm too rich and too important to die, all of you are just expendable trash!" The knight captain, Belius has said which displeased everyone, even the rest of his knight company.
"Foolish creature, everyone is equal in the eyes of death, now off with thy heads!" As the figure flew closer to kill him and the rest of the knights, he screamed and said.
"AHHHH! I'll give 200 gold! No, 500! 1,000 gold I'll do anything for you please let me live." The idiotic fool and sad excuse of a knight begged for mercy but of course he won't be getting any, and with in just a fraction of a second, his head was already rolling on the ground. To think that the vile creature had the audacity to bribe him, think about how foolish he was. Over half of the knight company were killed by Thanatos in less than 15 seconds.
The knights' faces fell in despair as the visage of death came near them.
"RAaHHHaahhHhAhhhHhhhHHH! Growled the Death Knight reinforcements who came to the scene just after Thanatos massacred half a legion of Knights. Hearing this and seeing three incarnations of Brutality from a far, the knights' faces fell rock bottom from despair. No, it didn't just end there, their expressions grabbed a shovel to dig themselves deeper in despair. Some just took their swords and accepted their fates.
While all this was happening, the villagers were scared and confused of these monstrosities and somewhat relieved that they were not getting killed. The Death Knights ran towards the Village square and protected the villagers.
The villagers were racking their brains on what the hell just happened right now but most of all they were grateful for being kept alive. Just after the Death Knights arrived and surrounded the village square along with the knights, two people, or actually, monstrosities were flying from the sky.
The first one was a massive, humanoid creature that was made of rushing water, and the second one was simple to describe. Death. A Luxuriously robed skeleton with ivory white colored bones, a Golden staff that has seven snake heads intertwined with each other and in each of the mouths were gems of probably impossible value and radiated an aura of a thousand human faces screaming in terror and agony, and 10 powerful looking rings in each of his fingers. To say the least, he looked like one NOT to be trifled with.
"Alright Thanatos, that's enough for now, I'll be taking care of things." Ainz said in a deep, commanding voice.
"If that is thy will, then I shall halt my actions."
He stopped the massacre and went to Ainz's side, closed his wings, then stood there to stay as a guard
"Very well, now then." He faced the knights which were shivering in fear as he looked at them with the two flaming orbs that serve as his eyes.
"Good morning to everyone here, my name is Ainz Ooal Gown. I am an undead magic caster. And you lot have two choices, escape, and die in the hands of my servants, or surrender to me." He said in an intimidating tone.
As the knights heard his words, some dropped their weapons and surrendered, some were brave fools who charged in to attack with all their strength but were later struck down by Thanatos, and the ones that tried to flee were mercilessly killed by the Death Knights and Tsunami's lesser water elementals which he summoned earlier, off-screen.
"Thanatos, gather all the corpses of the knights that you have killed, then bring them to me. Also, gather the villager's slain bodies. Make sure to separate them from the knights." The villagers had shocked and horrified on what they thought he would do to their brethren's corpses. Thanatos nodded in response, and gathered every corpse swiftly in just under 20 seconds. There were corpses of the knights in the place which Ainz has ordered, and then he cast a spell to make them undead servants.
"[Create mid-tier Undead: Corpse Guardian]!" As he said that, the bodies yet again turned into black sludge and transformed into really disturbing things. Out of the pile of corpses came 2 large, hulking, undead... abominations.
Massive skeletal beings made of 6 skulls and many rib cages, they have black, unholy flames on their backs, tattered, black robes and chains on their legs, a halberd on their left hands, and a huge right hand with a large spike impaled through the center of their palms. Abomination is an accurate description. Every living being that looked at Ainz's mind boggling spell, especially the knights that surrendered, went pale and very afraid. He then ordered the corpse guardians to secure the perimeter of the village and capture any intruders that might invade the area.
Then he turned to the villager's corpses. Everyone was scared that he might do the same to their beloved families' corpses. One villager, a man, cried and pleaded.
"NO! Please don't turn them into those things. I beg yo-" but before he could say anymore, Ainz had already cast his spell. All the villagers' faces were in despair but were surprised when the bodies glowed a white light instead of turning into sludge like the knights.
"Do not worry everyone. I have just cast [Absolute Cleanse] to remove negative energy from them to lessen the possibility of them turning undead. I am sorry for your losses." He bowed because he knew exactly what it was like to lose a loved one. He knew he could try and use his spell [Mass Resurrection] but refrained from doing so because he hadn't known if it was going to work as intended and might turn the villagers into dust or into oblivion because the nature of resurrection spells costs them levels and he didn't want to risk it. He also didn't want to show his hand just yet while having little to no information about the world.
Everyone was confused but also grateful for him.
"Now that the situation is settled, Tsunami, guard and attend to the prisoner knights' needs that have surrendered and we'll think of what to do with them later. We may possibly hand them to the authorities or turn them into my "human agents" or "subordinates", if the need for them arises." Tsunami bowed and moved on to carry out his orders. As the hopeless faced knights heard this, they didn't know what to make of their fates so they just followed the Water Elemental silently, knowing that protesting will not do them any good.
He then faced the villagers and they were pleading inside that they be given a greater fate than the knights, but nobody dared to speak a word to the undead being out of fear.
"I was just strolling by and saw the situation the village is in, so I decided to intervene because what they did was clearly wrong. And we're in this situation right now."
The villagers looked at Ainz muddled because of what the hell the undead has spoken. The village chief has mustered all his courage to go to the figure of absolute power.
He walked near him then instantly kowtowed to him. 'Eh? Why is he bowing to me? I just came here because I saw them in a desperate situation so decided to help them. Oh wait, I am undead so this is- alright I get it, stupid me.' he thought as he was confused but was enlightened of his stupidity shortly.
He then ordered him to stand up and said that there is no need for him to bow to him. Then Ainz asked him.
"Who are you, villager-san?" The villager was thankful and nervous but spoke.
"I am the village chief a-and If-if yo-you may permi-mit me to speak Ainz Ooal G-Gown-sama, are you not one of th-the u-undead, why have you saved us? Don't you have hatred for the living?" The villager said in a very nervous tone especially since his bodyguard, the Grim fucking Reaper, was on edge. As Ainz heard this, he gave out a light chuckle, he grabbed the shoulder of the village chief, which frightened him beyond measure, nearly faint, and took all his will power just to stand up, albeit shaking, and then answered him.
"Ah, I get that a lot. No chief-san, I do not bear hatred for the living, it's actually the opposite really. I'm rather neutral and have a good outlook for innocent living beings. Also, you need not address me with pleasantries such as "-sama", I am content on being called Ainz, or whatever you want, as long as it's not disrespectful." The villagers looked at him in a dumbfounded expression, and they were starting to question (silently of course) his intentions because, an undead caring for the living is basically unheard of. So he must have ulterior motives right? But if he wanted to turn them undead, he could've just done so.
So when Ainz noticed this, he formed some sort of excuse.
"A-and of course, I will be receiving compensation for my... help." He said wanting to give them a good impression of him despite being undead and not get suspicious of his intentions. The villagers calmed down a bit after he said that. Still, they were confused on what kind of "compensation" they would give him because if it was not their bodies for being turned into his undead servants, then what? The villager chief then said.
"Um Ainz-sa-dono-"As Ainz heard this, he thought 'Ah, guess it's alright getting addressed as that. '
"We are very grateful for everything you've done for us but it will take a bit of time to rebuild our buildings and we don't really have much money, so we are not sure how to compensate you on your help for us."
"Ah, do not worry about that, I am not in need of money right now. I could always melt my gold into a more compatible currency if it cannot be used in its current state. I'll also order my Death Knights and summon other undead to help you out on rebuilding the village so you may return to your normal activities once we're done here."
The villagers were grateful but still tensed about the 'help' they were getting because it was in the form of the literal manifestation of hatred. He then summoned skeletons to help out. The Death Knights stood right next to the villagers and said.
"We are now in your command, for our Master has willed it." The villagers made uncertain nods and went to their duties.
"Anyways, what I need is information. Information about everything you know about this world since I lack it." The chief understood what the undead magic caster meant but was still perplexed because he thought of why he would need such things and invited him to his humble abode where they talked and Ainz got ample information about the New World.
Ainz was confused when he asked the village chief about YGGDRASIL and knew nothing of it. It had made sense that he would be confused because of what Ainz had thought when he had made his first speculations about the New World. Having been transported in his YGGDRASIL avatar, with access to YGGDRASIL magic, items and skills, it would have only been logical to assume the world that he had been transported to would have been the same. However… None of the nations the Village Chief had known about were familiar to him in YGGDRASIL.
The domain they were currently in themselves on was called The Kingdom of Re-Estize, and it was ruled by the stereotypical old and wise king. And to complete the fantasy setting, it also had a golden-haired princess famous for her flawless beauty.
As for the rest of the nations, the Village Chief had not known much. Since Carne was a frontier village he had at least known the names of the two closest ones, but the political climate of both escaped him. To the south was the Slane Theocracy, the largest human nation and one that was built around the worship of the Six Gods, supposedly divine beings that saved the world a long time ago. The chief had not spoken too badly about it, but there was something about the name that had him slightly on edge.
To the east was the Baharuth Empire, a large nation which was ruled by a young Emperor who was famously called by his moniker, 'Bloody Emperor', though the chief didn't know the exact circumstances other than it involved killing nobles.
The Empire was Re-Estize's main rival, and the two nations regularly went to war and fought each other at the Katze plains south of Carne Village. It was basically a "no man's land" as it was filled to the brim with undead. In other words, there were no signs of the Nordic legends that had surrounded YGGDRASIL. The best that he could think of was that he was in the human world of Midgard and time had passed from the original setting, but even then none of the names made sense.
After having presented the villagers with one of the later gold coins used by the game, they had successfully weighed it as twice the weight of a normal gold coin. However, due to its foreign nature and the inability to check its legitimacy without damaging the coin, it looked as if using them would attract too much attention in the Kingdom. So he decided that if he ever lacked currency of this world, he would just make them bars of gold.
The last issue was… The lack of "common sense". The village chief was very familiar with a few of YGGDRASIL's game terms- Magic Caster, Demi-human, Magic Item, Race, and Class- these were accepted as part of normal life. However, the more universal terms for games were completely unknown to them. There was no HP and MP in this world to speak of, not that the chiefs knew of at any rate, whereas Ainz was capable of knowing where he stood at (it was more a mental reflex than an interface that tells him the values of his stats, however).
Many of the issues were capable of being addressed. -However, the lack of 'common sense' was unattainable through any means other than experience. If one lacked the understanding of the morals of this world as well as many other pieces of information others took for granted, then it was likely that they wouldn't be able to blend well in the world.
"Thank you village chief-san for giving me information about this place. Your time with me has been very valuable."
"Oh think absolutely nothing of it Ainz-dono. To be honest, we should be the one thanking you, since what you've done to us is really fair and unexpected for the undead to do. You could've exploited us and made use of our bodies for one of your spell things, but instead you treated us fairly, and I, no, we genuinely thank you for that. You know Ainz-dono, when we first saw you and heard your intentions to us, we really thought you were actually just another evil in this world, because, well you technically look like someone who could bend death to your will, and we're just going to be turned into corpses. But now I see that you are actually quite nice, though I'm still startled, and probably every other villager too, by your appearance. Sorry if that offends you." The chief said in grateful tone.
"Tuturu! Achievement Complete: Earn the trust of villagers", is what he will be hearing right now if this was still a game. Ainz reached out his hand for the village chief to grab it, and began shaking it. But when they were about to be done, they were interrupted by someone knocking the door of the house. The village chief quickly responded with a "come in!", and the door opened.
What was behind the door frightened the village chief a little but quickly recognized it as the Angel of Death that this, what seems to be a God-like being, referring to Ainz, has summoned. Thanatos, the Grim Reaper. He immediately went to one knee in front of Ainz. Ainz then ordered him to stand up.
"So Thanatos, what brings you here that requires of my attention?" Ainz asked him.
"Ainz-sama, I have found a legion of soldiers, thy art approximately 50 in number, led by two men in the front. Their armor is quite different from the knights that we have captured here but I have not discovered what their intentions are for coming to this place."
As he made his report known to Ainz, the Overlord was intrigued and interested in meeting them to know of their business here in the village.
"Umu, how long will it take for them to reach the village?" Ainz inquired.
"Judging from the speed of their mounts, they will most likely reach the village in about 30-40 minutes my Lord."
As Ainz heard the response of his loyal servant, he quickly looked at the village chief and nodded to him understanding his intentions. He then asked him if there was a place where all of the villagers can fit in and said that the warehouse should be big enough for the whole village to fit through due to their "slimmed" numbers and also because there was not really that many people in Carne to begin with.
(Gazef's POV)
"Hey, that village doesn't seem to be ransacked, let's check it out." Said the Vice-Warrior Captain.
"Alright, let's make sure their situation is safe, hopefully there are survivors." And with that, they went to the seemingly well kept village.
(Back to the Village Square)
Ainz, Thanatos, and the village chief went outside the village square to set out their orders. He ordered his Death Knights to guard them. Once the villagers were safe, the three figures stood in the middle of the village to meet these armored people. The legion of what looks like an army of light infantry appeared in their line of sight and waited patiently for their arrival. Once they appeared the one leading them went to the three figures. At first they were startled and raised their guard around the two figures, but eventually settled down after knowing that they didn't show any open hostility. The man in the front spoke to the village chief.
"Greetings, I am Gazef Stronoff, Warrior Captain of the Re-Estize kingdom sent by the crown to personally purge the Knights wearing the sigil of the Baharuth Empire that have been wreaking havoc in the village outskirts according to the reports of the scouts." Gazef asked the villager while cautiously eyeing the two imposing figures of Death behind the villager.
"Oh Warrior Captain, it's nice to see you personally coming to our humble little village to help us in our predicament, I am the village chief. But worry not Stronoff-sama, for we, or rather, they (while pointing at the undead) have already dealt with the situation earlier." Gazef was a bit surprised and disoriented of the response the village chief but quickly regained his composure and asked the villager chief.
"And, if it's not rude, might I ask who those behind you are?" As he asked the question the two undead stared at him with their fiery orbs that serve as their vision. The village chief was about to say something but was quickly interrupted by the figure of Death by putting his hand upon the chief's shoulder and spoke in a deep and melodious tone, unexpected of the undead.
"Chief-san, I'll personally take it from here." The villager nodded in approval while Gazef who was looking at the situation widened his eyes as the undead spoke and interacted with the village like they knew each other.
~End of Chapter 2-