She opened the sky-blue eyes that belonged to Myobu and found herself unsure of what to do. She wanted to say goodbye and had sixteen hours to do it in, but she didn't even know where to start. There was just so much she wanted to commit to memory that she was afraid she'd forget half of it along the way.
She tapped a finger against the arm of the large quartz throne she sat in and thought about what might be most efficient time-wise. "Might as well just work my way up, I suppose. I'm already on the bottom level. It'll be nice to explore everything closely."
The tenth floor wasn't just the throne hall, though it was a rather large part of it. There was a lot to see, even before you left the throne hall itself. The throne was a magnificent piece of black quartz that stretched far above her head and shared the coveted title of World Item. Albedo, the succubus NPC designed by Tabula Smaragdina, stood to the side of throne. Albedo was, perhaps, the most beautiful of her treasures on this floor.
The immaculate marble floor seemed to take that as a challenge as it reflected the light of the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling in a captivating manner. Most intricate of all were the large golden doors that led into the Lemegeton. One door had a carving of a beautiful goddess while the other had a hideous demon; they were so detailed they almost looked like they could step right out of the doors like a more intricate golem than the Clavicula Salomonis.
The Clavicula Salomonis were 67 golems of high quality that rested in the Lemegeton, which was a dome-shaped hall on the other side of those doors. Aside from the demon-shaped golems, there were four crystal lamps that spawned high-ranked elemental beasts when an enemy got close. If an intruder were unlucky enough to activate those all at once, it would undoubtedly be a party wipe.
Partway between the Lemegeton and the Pleiades' room was the door to the library, Ashurbanipal, which was headed by Titus Annaeus Secundus. It was also guarded by five Overlords, each over level 75. Ulbert had defended the use of valuable NPC points by stating that the library would contain valuable magic scrolls that Titus could duplicate with the right materials. That had sounded valuable, so she put it out of mind and didn't bother him more.
Toward the steps leading up to the next floor was the room of the Pleiades Six Stars. The battle-maids who lived there were lower leveled than the Floor Guardians, but they weren't intended to be a last line of defense anyway. They were merely there to slow and weaken the invaders, allowing time for the guildmates of Nazarick to gather in the throne room. That was a just-in-case measure, though, as the Lemegeton would prove deadly enough to a tired party that had just fought through 9 difficult floors to get to them.
And if they somehow survived the Lemegeton and made it into the throne hall with no guild members present? There was still Albedo, who had the highest defense. Myobu decided to make it even more unfair - considering Tabula had given Albedo a World Item that caused massive AOE damage - and had designed a Priestess Kitsune, Nenko, who could cast the highest healing spells – including resurrection – to back up the leader of the Floor Guardians.
Even worse was the Assassin Kitsune, Yako, that waited in the blind spot made from opening the door to the Round Table room. If the invaders thought they'd finally gotten the Guild Weapon and could relax, they'd find themselves dead before they could even get close. The thought of their rage and grief had made her grin madly for hours.
Oh, but that wasn't even the worst in the essence of sheer unfairness. There was a reason the largest coalition of guilds and Mercenary NPCs never made it past the 8th floor. It was a deadly combination of Victim, whose sacrifice caused a large-scale paralysis effect that couldn't be resisted, and Rubedo. Rubedo was possibly the strongest NPC in the Great Tomb of Nazaric. Myobu would've placed her bets on Rubedo had Touch Me challenged the NPC to a one-on-one duel in the arena.
Considering many people thought of Touch Me as one of the strongest PVP players, that was saying something.
She would've given anything to see Victim and Rubedo in action that day. So many people had cursed them on the message boards and she loved their frustration. They deserved to be crushed like insects if they were going to invade her home.
Oh, wait, that would be an insult to insects. They had some insect NPCs here who did good work.
Myobu gave a silent apology to said NPCs for the comparison, especially the battle-maid Entoma. That girl was adorable…so long as she had the mask bug acting as a face.
"Still better than some other people I could name," Myobu muttered. She was stood before the Pleiades and Sebas Tian, having wandered over here as she thought.
She looked them up and down and gave a wistful sigh. "It's such a shame you didn't get to prove yourselves. Maybe I can set something up in the colosseum for you to show off."
Just as she was turning to head toward the stairs, she was hit by a thought. It was not a nice one, but it so very tempting. She touched the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown and said, "[Destination: Round Table]."
There it was, floating and slowly rotating in it's niche behind the table large enough to fit forty-one players. The Guild Item of Ainz Ooal Gown was a staff made with Momonga in mind. It was a twisted golden masterpiece with seven serpents crowning the top, each with a powerful jewel in their mouths. It had been a collaborative effort that took years to make, even with all forty-one members working on the project. The majority of that time was spent solely on finding the jewels that had been drops from some of the strongest monsters. It didn't help at all that the particular drop only had a 10% chance of showing after you killed said boss-level monsters.
It was the strongest weapon they had. Ulbert hypothesized the power to be nearly equal to that of a World Item, which had made them all very proud.
Unfortunately, a guild was dissolved if their Guild Item was destroyed, so it never actually left its protected enclosure.
Well, until now that is. You needed the Guild Item to have access to certain things – things like the character sheets of NPCs you didn't personally make.
It was her right, wasn't it? They had all left Nazarick. The NPCs were hers now. She could shape them how she saw fit. If any of their previous members returned for a last huzzah and got offended and pushy, she could just kick them out of the guild.
They had left all these treasures to her. There wouldn't be any take-backs.
With the powerful Guild Item in hand, Myobu gave a farewell to her NPC assassin and swayed back into the throne room.
"Hello, Albedo," she nearly crooned. "I just need to do something really quick. You won't feel a thing, I promise."
Using the staff, she was able to open Albedo's character sheet with the [Edit] option available. The wall of text that popped up in her face was somewhat intimidating, but she had time and was good at skim reading.
It was only at the bottom did she really have a problem with Tabula's backstory.
She frowned and deleted that part about Albedo being a "slut". Sure, Albedo was a succubus, but Tabula didn't have to go that far. There was a difference between liking sex and throwing yourself at anyone with the parts you preferred.
"Alright, let's make that better for you," she said.
[Enjoys sex and is confident in her sexuality; however, she doesn't let it get in the way of her work.]
Myobu nodded to herself and then went to put in the edit she had bothering getting the staff to make.
[If given the choice to serve Tabula Smaragdina or Myobu, she would choose Myobu without hesitation.]
If Tabula did make his way here and go off with Albedo somewhere, at least Myobu could pretend that it was against Albedo's will…Myobu paused for a moment and wondered if she was perhaps taking her role-playing and projecting a little too far but shrugged it off. This made her feel better about this whole affair. Why deny herself happiness?
"Who cares if it's petty," she mused to herself. She clicked the [Save] option and hummed in contentment as she closed Albedo's character sheet.
She had about, oh, 15 and a half hours left. She should have enough time to alter the other Floor and Area Guardians' character backstories. If she was quick about it, she could probably tour the other floors as well. So long as she was quick about it. She wanted to make sure she got all of them.
She couldn't quite explain in words why this was so important, not without sounding insane.
She was the only one here though, so who cared?
"Next is Titus, Sebas and the Pleiades. Working up is Rubedo and Victim, followed by Demiurge, Aura, Mare, Cocytus, Neuronist, Nigredo, Shalltear, Kyoukukou, and Pandora's Actor."
There might've been more that she was forgetting, but those were the more interesting ones. She was pretty sure there was some sort of dog-zombie-maid somewhere? Pest-something? Well, that one wasn't really important. She was in charge of the homunculus maids, and those were all level 1. She had bigger fish to play with.
"Onward!" she cheered, a brittle smile on her face.
/
The 9th floor didn't actually have an official Floor Guardian, though her Kitsune Assassin kept a keen eye on the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. The Round Table was a bit strange in that while it was on the 9th floor technically, but was only accessible by a teleport panel hidden in the throne hall.
Which meant that the rest of the floor didn't really need watching and was passed over for the more lethal security measures. To put it plainly, the 9th floor was more of a luxury floor than anything else. Momonga had called it the Royal Suite, and it reflected the name.
Every member had their own set of rooms. There was a bar run by a strange-looking mushroom humanoid. Not far from said bar was the "staff canteen", which was even stranger than the mushroom man. Momonga really had been into roleplaying at the time and he put a lot of time with Peroroncino, Whitebrim, Herohero, and Coup de Grace to make things just right.
The staff canteen had nothing on the manicure salon and the spa resort. Firstly, the homunculus maids' race had in-game lore stating how much more they ate compared to others. But the salon and spa? Players were very limited in what sensory input they could receive, so a hot bath was out. There was absolutely no point to getting a manicure. She didn't even get those IRL, why would she sit back for a virtual one?
It was weird, but it was their lovechild and they'd put a lot of work into it, so she had just sighed and commiserated with Ulbert. He was sensible at least.
She almost regretted that the invading players had been stopped at the 8th floor and hadn't gotten to see the 9th. The confused and paranoid looks on their faces would have been priceless.
/
The 8th floor's theme was "wilderness". It did a really good job fitting the theme, that was for sure. She had to use a high tier life-detect to even find Victim, much less the container Rubedo was sealed in when inactive.
If she had to describe Victim in one word, it would be unsettling. He was literally a fetus with sticks stuck into its back for "wings" and a glowing halo shining over his head. The name its creator gave it just made it worse. Sure, it related to its function as a sacrifice, but looking at a monster fetus and hearing its name is Victim is off-putting. She'd been uncomfortable on the 8th floor for a while before Ulbert had teased her into desensitizing herself to it.
It took time, but she'd eventually gotten used to it. Just like she got used to calling her friend "Ulbert" and hearing his voice come out of a goat's head.
She shook her head sharply and opened Victim's backstory.
Like most of the others, she didn't see anything she really needed or wanted to edit out of his backstory. It took a while wracking her memory to recall who Victim's creator was so she could input what she decided to call the "Loyalty Code".
Whereas Victim needed little interference, Rubedo needed a lot. When she held the staff over her place of rest and called up her character sheet, she saw quite a few upsetting things.
Rubedo was one bad day from rebelling, according to Tabula. That was a line she fervently erased, not wanting to allow even the idea that another person might betray her. It wasn't real - Rubedo couldn't have that "bad day" – but she didn't like seeing the text there.
[While Rubedo can occasionally suffer mood swings, she honestly does her best not to hurt her fellow compatriots or Guild Master Myobu. If forced to choose between serving Tabula Smaragdina or Myobu, she would choose Myobu with no hesitation.]
Myobu stepped back after saving the edit and took a deep breath.
"Of course, you'd choose the strongest one to be a hairsbreadth from betrayal, you drama-loving idiot."
She shook her head and used her ring to transport her to one of her favorite floors.
/
The 7th floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick was a work of love by her favorite guild partner, Ulbert Alain Odle. It was interesting watching the how the light of the fires and lava danced across the smoke that whirled along the craggy ceiling like eddies. It was also rather interesting that any intruder stepping foot inside would immediately suffer fire damage from the sheer heat. It was also something Ulbert utilized in his plans for the floor.
It was amazing watching him work. He tailored his NPCs to make the most out of their environment. The lava slime in the lava river was particularly inspired. The ruins that covered the place looked as if demons had come and desecrated temples of gods, which fit the NPCs he made. Despite looking empty and barren, it had everything his chosen Floor Guardian needed to defend Nazarick.
Said Floor Guardian was named Demiurge. He wore pressed suits, had slicked-back hair, a metal tail, and glasses that hid jewels in place of eyes. Ulbert described him as one of the smartest of the Floor Guardians and their tactician in times of trouble. He was a level one hundred arch-devil.
Myobu was instantly smitten. Ulbert wasn't stupid and caught on very quickly. He found it hilarious and she had to beg him not to tell the others.
Fortunately, Ulbert decided to take is as a point of pride in himself and his creation instead of calling her disgusting or weird for being so fascinated by an image that couldn't return her feelings.
That was about six years ago. Ulbert was gone, but her fascination wasn't. She felt relieved that she still had him, that Ulbert hadn't deleted him or something.
She still had the Floor Guardians. She still had Demiurge. She wanted to keep him – them.
She wanted to open his character profile and add the code she'd been putting in the others so she could ease that nagging itch in the back of her head, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.
It was Demiurge. How could she even…
She looked down at his kneeling form and instead praised him for his hard work. She paused for a moment, then resolutely activated the ring to go to the next floor.
/
The 6th floor was her second favorite. It was jungle themed and therefore home to a large forest. Within that forest was a very large tree that played home to the two dark elves Bukubukuchagama had made. They were Aura Bella Fiora and Mare Bello Fiore, who shared the position of Floor Guardian. The elves were young by their race's standards and appeared to be in their very early teens. Aura was a beast tamer and ranger, whereas Mare was gifted with magic.
Physically, Bukubukuchagama had each twin dress as the other gender, which put Mare in a rather cute skirt. Each also had heterochromia; Aura's left eye was blue while her right eye was green. Her younger brother's eyes were the mirror opposite. Frankly, they were both absolutely adorable.
Aside from the jungle they called their home, there was also a roman colosseum. It was used to trap intruders and force them to fight either summons or Aura's tamed beasts. After the guild won two dragons from the lottery and gave them to the twins, the "tournaments" got even more entertaining. And if the intruders won? They had Mare to deal with and he always carried a World Item that vastly increased his power.
Perhaps the most beautiful aspect was the false sky created by Blue Planet. Its stars matched the chart and the day/night cycle perfectly to Tokyo's.
Myobu shook her head, breaking herself away from her memories to look for the two children instead. She found them in a VIP stand in the Amphitheatrum – or the colosseum – and ignored their prostrated forms in favor of their character sheets.
She only found a serious fault in Mare, one which was very familiar to her when she was in her darker moods.
Being a shy and introverted bookworm isn't a problem, but sleeping all day can be.
There is one sentence you don't want to hear from a loved one, and it's this: "I want to sleep and never wake up."
Her shaking hands altered the text.
[He enjoys sleeping in when he can due to how late he stays up when riveted with a new book.]
The "Loyalty Code" was added next and she solemnly thanked them for their time before teleporting to the next floor.
/
The 5th floor is Cocytus' to protect and, much like the 7th floor, it also has a damage over time effect. In other ways, it's the complete opposite. While Demiurge's floor does fire damage, Cocytus' does ice damage and slows intruders. Demiurge's floor looks like some sort of hellscape, but the 5th floor is a land of winter.
Numerous icebergs fill the landscape while dark clouds and snow blot out the sky. While Demiurge appears to live in a broken temple, Cocytus lives in what they call the Snowball Earth. It's a white dome with six large crystals surrounding it.
The Frozen Prison also resides here, though there was little use for it in the game. Few of them were sadistic enough to abduct other players, toss them in the cells, and then kill them over and over until they either quit or lost all their levels. Wraith monsters guard it, as if such a place would be a target of interest.
Within the Frozen Prison are two additional rooms; the Room of Truth belongs to Neuronist Painkill while the Room of Nigredo obviously belongs to Nigredo. The Room of Truth exists solely for role play, as torturing other players using the Neuronist's equipment is impossible.
Putting aside the rather disturbing prison, the 5th floor is rather beautiful to look at in its own way. It'll never match up to the 7th and 6th in her heart, but it's a very close runner up.
"Now, where's Cocytus? Would he be in his room or patrolling?" she wondered aloud. "Ah – there!"
Cocytus was indeed patrolling, but knelt down when she stood in front of him.
"You're doing very well," she told him absentmindedly as she checked his character sheet.
Nothing in particular she'd like to change, aside from adding her "Loyalty Code". She was quick to do so before bidding the giant ice insectoid a good evening and making her way to the second floor.
There was little point in vising the fourth, as it was ruled by a powerful, but simple-minded golem. As for the third floor, it was ruled by Shalltear Bloodfallen, who also ruled the first and second floors. Considering her rooms were in the second floor, it was a good a guess as any. If she couldn't find Shalltear, she could probably locate Kyouhukou before looking on the other two floors.
/
Shalltear's domain were the Catacombs. They consisted of burial chambers and an underground chapel, both of which are populated by undead. Aside from those, there was also the Black Capsule and the Grave Vault of Adipocere, where Kyouhukou and Shalltear lived respectively.
These were the floors Myobu liked the least. She was not a large fan of the undead shambling around and Kyouhukou took longer to get used to than even Victim. She wasn't a fan of roaches and probably never would be. She could tolerate and use him when she needed to – she just preferred others. If a mission needed a bug, Entoma was fantastic help and a lot easier on the eyes as well.
Despite being her least favorite, they had a sort of old-school horror vibe that made her nostalgic.
Nostalgia aside, finding Shalltear was much easier than she had even hoped. She had gotten directions from a Vampire Bride to the shoddy rope bridge and caught the young-looking Floor Guardian before the could reach the other side.
Shalltear curtseyed. Her new amulet's obsidian charm gleamed in the light of Myobu's [Hovering Light] spell.
"Right," she began. "Good job today, Shalltear. I just have to finish a little something before you go."
A quick movement brought up the vampire's character sheet, which had almost as long an entry as Albedo. As she sped-read material, what she was reading finally sunk in. Myobu froze as Peroroncino's perversion came to light. She wished she could bleach her eyes and erase her memories.
'Dear god. Peroroncino, what the hell?!' she yelled internally. 'Erase, erase, erase. Oh, god! Nope!'
This was like finding someone else's porn stash. At least Peroroncino wasn't here to walk in on her messing around with this.
It took another five minutes of frantic editing until she was finally satisfied with Shalltear's data and dismissed her. Once Shalltear was out of sight, Myobu allowed herself to slump against the wall.
"I did not need to know that about him," she said, eyes still wide with horror.
She shivered and rubbed her arms. Quick steps – almost jogging, really – in the direction of the roach king NPC was better than thinking of what she'd just read.
/
Part of why she really disliked seeing Kyouhukou was because it wasn't just him in the room. It was a whole host of smaller roaches he had as familiars. These could supposedly burrow in an opponent's skin, eating them from the inside. Game-wise, this translated into a mix of bleeding and poison damage over time. If enough of his roaches got inside someone, it could end up in a game over for that player.
The only way out of the room was through teleportation, which made it an excellent trap. The room itself was small, so there were few fire spells that would actually prove useful in driving the roaches off. This made Kyouhukou's domain a horrifying trap for the unsuspecting. Especially if that person had a phobia for darkness, enclosed spaces, or bugs in general. It was more of a horror show than the Catacombs area proper.
Even though she wasn't an enemy, it was still slightly nerve-wracking to see the walls move. She spent as little time as she could manipulating his code before she teleported to her office.
Seeing she was alone, she allowed herself a full-body shudder.
/
She was glad she left Pandora's Actor for last. The treasurer, Momonga's creation, had a hilarious backstory in his character sheet.
Had Momonga really written this? It wasn't Luci-Fer?
Pandora's Actor had great stats and skills that made him not only incredibly powerful, but also incredibly flexible. That was to be expected of Momonga. Pandora's Actor's personality, however, was way over the top. If Momonga knew she was reading this, his face would be red with mortification. She'd bet all their gold on it.
She snorted before editing in her "Loyalty Code" and saving it into his character sheet. She regally stood up and gave a shallow nod to her fellow shape-shifter.
"You've done excellently in your position as treasurer thus far. Everything seems in place. [Pandora's Actor: Walk with Me]. I wish to tour my collection."
The attractively-uniformed humanoid saluted. The holes that replaced his eyes in his blank face looked straight into hers and waited. When she walked to the locked treasury door, he followed closely behind, as NPCs were programmed to do.
She didn't stop until she reached a wall that looked like dark glass. "[Guild Master Password Override]" she said with the Staff pointed at the glass.
The glass disappeared as if it never was, allowing her into the inner treasury. It was here that powerful divine and world class items were saved. It also contained a project of Momonga's she hadn't been able to bring herself to tear down.
It was the guild mausoleum. He had wanted to save their equipment in case they ever came back. She supposed there was a small chance they might've if they knew, but they never came to find out. She had told Momonga that keeping these on display when they weren't wanted would only hurt him. If he didn't want to sell them – which was a good because it would've given an advantage to the enemy – than the least he could do was put the equipment in chests so he wouldn't have to see it every time he came down.
But Momonga insisted, so she bowed her head and let them stay.
Were they part of why Momonga left? Had these displays help whittle away at his soul? Was this what was different between them? Momonga spent a lot more time in the mausoleum than she did.
The thought tempted her to destroy it, but she took a deep breath and calmed herself. What was done was done. She should just relax and enjoy the little time she had left.
With this in mind she looked to the corner display to see the count-down. She still had about ten hours left. There was one more think she could do, but she wanted to save that for last. What could she possibly do to take up ten hours?
Well, hadn't she wanted to take Sebas and the Pleiades out for a test drive? The colosseum should do well. She could summon lots of monsters of different levels and let them have a go at it. Maybe she should invite Albedo too. Between the [Alarm Talisman] and the other Floor Guardians, she could afford to let their Head get some exercise. Maybe she should bring Pandora's Actor as well. Only someone with the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown would be able to actually get to said treasury, so it should be fine to let him out.
Yes, that sounded like a great idea.
/
Almost ten hours can pass pretty fast if you're having fun and are in complete denial as to the passage of time.
Who knew that the Pleiades were so versatile in their skills, especially when working together! The werewolf form, the cyborg sharpshooter, the sneaky slime, the master of various insect skills, that superb control over magic, and the expertise with melee weapons. It was such a pleasure to watch. It was even more of a pleasure to push them near to their breaking point so she could see them work at their upmost potential.
And Sebas? He was a power all his own. The dragonoid was a very strong monk with an overall resistance to magic, which made for some really interesting moves. How had she overlooked him?
This was so exciting!
Yet those last minutes counting down were draining that excitement. She allowed herself a moment of weakness before standing straight and role-playing the Lady her character had become. She was the ruler of Nazarick and intended to play the part until the very end.
She would make up for the absence of the others.
"[Pandora's Actor, Albedo, Sebas, Pleiades: Go to Throne Room.]
The NPCs bowed at the waist and left.
"[Throw Voice - Aura, Mare: Go to Throne Room]"
She could see the distant forms of the two dark elves disappearing, heading to the lower floors to complete her order.
She pressed her ring and traveled to the golem's room to order it to guard the first floor. Then she traveled to the following floors to gather the rest of the floor guardians, leaving Shalltear for last so the golem had enough time to take her place.
When she activated her ring with the throne room in mind, she materialled before the Throne of Kings and sat herself as regally as she could manage. The NPCs kneeled before the throne in an act of reverence.
"We shall wait for Shalltear. Please remain in your positions," she said without issuing an [Order]. They would stay kneeling in front of her by default until she told them to rise.
It did not take much longer before Shalltear joined the others in kneeling before her. Good, now they could continue this. There was so little time.
Myobu slowly folded her hands in her lap and began her carefully rehearsed speech.
"My dear Floor Guardians, I am glad you made it here so quickly. I have grave news to share with you all. After all your loyal service, you deserve to know this truth which had been hidden from you by the All-Father. You might not know him, but he is the man that has been taking care of Yggdrasil. He has not announced a successor, but has hinted at the great likelihood that no one will take up his current burden.
"The reason this is so important is because his support is what allows Yggdrasil to live and thrive. Without his care, Yggdrasil will rot and die, taking everything with it. As far as I know, this includes Nazarick and everyone within it.
"I have decided to remain with you, unable to imagine a life without all of you. You are as much a treasure to me as Nazarick itself, which I consider my true home. I would say that you and Nazarick are even greater to me than all the World Items my guild has collected.
"I can't bring myself to follow the other Supreme Beings. Not if I can't bring you all with me."
She took a deep breath at looked intently at their blank faces. It hurt, but she could imagine.
"If my soul loses sight of you in the afterlife, know that I will never forget you. I will always hold you, my dearest treasures, close to my heart."
She reluctantly looks at the timer in the corner of her vision.
"We have less than a minute left until the All-Father drops Yggdrasil."
She meets each of their emotion-less eyes again and says, "I love every single one of you. I always will."
[23:59:50]
"Do not be afraid," she says.
Grief threatens to overcome her mask as the Lady of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, but she holds onto her composure.
[24:00:00]
[00:00:01]
She looks at the timer in disbelief.
[00:00:07]
"My Lady?" she hears, and looks down.
A number of concerned faces from kneeling subjects look back at her.
"Are you alright?"
/
A/N: Poor darlings, your Lady feels a little lost. Lend a hand?
I hope you enjoyed this. I've gone with no sleep for more than 24 hours, so if you spot any grammatical error, please let me know.
Sorry if this seems like it doesn't have enough action. I wanted to show you what Nazarick appears to me and her feelings regarding both them and the people who left. I also wanted to show how deeply she's gotten herself into the role-playing act.