Author's Note:

As always, I wish you good health. Let the world-building continue. Adieu!

-Zirmeister


Disclaimer:

This fanfiction is a crossover that directly takes characters and other source material from the two preexisting light novel series Overlord and Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken. Please go support the authors, artists and the other people who have worked on each of the respective works.


Upon closer inspection, it looked like the girl's mouth had turned into a snarl when she stared right back at them with an unmatched carefully eyed on her right hand that was gripping onto her peculiarly shaped lance weapon. He recognized it to be the "Spuit Lance," a fearsome Divine-class Weapon that Peroroncino granted her.

The very same weapon was soon dropped on the ground as her mouth turned into an "O" shape when she locked eyes with him.

"Hm? Who's that…? Huh? It's just a girl?"

"Yes, that is indeed a girl. And her clothing is as immaculate in design as yours, Ainz."

"Hm…? What's wrong with Sh—"

He was interrupted when Loki nudged him with a slightly nervous expression on his face.

Not wanting to stray off from the girl's appearance, Ainz barely turned his head to see what was going on with the God.

He saw that Loki was now floating in the air, his hands placing themselves on the Overlord's elongated crown that looked as though it was integrated with the undead's shoulders.

"Hey, this might just be me, but I think that child over there looks angry. No, wait…she looks excited? To begin with, her face is heavily reddened and she looks like she's breathing heavily, so maybe it's not that and she's just tired…? Oh well, it doesn't really matter how she's feeling. But who was she, again?"

"Hm? Ah—she goes by the name of Shalltear Bloodfallen. But perhaps she does not recognize me which is why she is still in her 'Bloody Valkyrie' form. Still, even if the rules of this world are different, I was honestly not expecting for people to be inside [ Small World ]."

It was around this time when Ainz started to hope that the Floor Guardian in front of him and his God-filled entourage was nothing short of a manifestation of his memories. Because if it was the other way around, then having to fight Shalltear who may be unable to recognize him in this dreamlike world could be a problem, even with his massively boosted abilities.

It was because he did not have the heart to fight one of his friends' creations.

Hahh…what do I do? Still though, [ Conjured Realm ] is something that I have to greatly look forward to in the future. Right now…I have to get closer and see if this is the real Shalltear or someone who is just a figment of my imagination.

"So this is new, even for you. Shalltear Bloodfallen, that girl has absolutely no shame in hiding her aura! Is she another one of the false Gods—"

"Hold your tongue, Loki," Hades interrupted. His voice was laced with a chilling calm that made even the trickster God's skin addle with goosebumps. "That is no ordinary vampire. She is one of the spawns of the Ainz Ooal Gown members—one of the 'Floor Guardians,' to be precise. If we had our primordial forms, then she would be no threat to you and I. However…"

Loki's shoulders drooped at the other God's implications.

"—Be at ease, you two. She is one of my friend's creations. While it is odd to see her out of her usual routine, as long as you two do not get within a certain distance of the entrance, we will not be attacked."

With a regal gait and straightened posture, Ainz calmly parted Loki and Hades away from their positions.

They in turn allowed the undead to command the front position, which was a terrible position for the average magic caster. They would have to be in the backlines in order to avoid direct confrontation with Shalltear, who was superior to him in melee combat.

But Ainz Ooal Gown was no average magic caster.

"N-not attacked? Isn't she supposed to serve you, Ainz? What's up with the caution that you're putting up now as though she could be a potential enemy? Plus if she happened to get her hands on Ultimate Skills as well, then I cannot simply share the same level of calm as you. It must be nice to be an undead for situations like these."

"If it is as you say, then so be it, Ainz. But Loki is justified to be as wary as I am. It is better to err on the side of caution and plan our next steps carefully. Though, to be frank with you…you are the only one that is truly capable of dealing with this vampiric menace."

"I understand. Please leave this matter to me, you two."

It took some time for Ainz to remember, but after using a handy skill called [ Thought Acceleration ], it did not take too long for him to dwell on a memory regarding specific dungeon mechanics.

Where the hell are the POP monsters? They should have been here anytime now. Does [ Conjured Realm ] not have the inability to implement mechanics? But then how is Shalltear here, let alone with such a surrealistic look on her?

There was also the "Ariadne System" that could not currently be validated, but for now Ainz put aside his worries and continued to gaze at Peroroncino's creation.

She's moving independently which means she is no longer following her guarding routines that were given to her by her creator. Does that mean she has a conscience and is no longer an NPC? But how? Is it due to the nature of Loki's skills? But I don't understand how it even works to begin with…

The undead mage was trying to make heads or tails out of this conundrum, but Hades simply scoffed in amusement towards his overthinking on the matter.

"—Ainz, I think I may have also been overthinking, but look at her face for yourself. She simply seems more than pleased to see you. I am unsure as to whether or not this Shalltear is the same person that you have once governed over, but we should not be brooding on future hypotheses for too long. Perhaps this is just a fitting reunion between a master and its servant and…I think we should move out of the way."

"Aha! You seem to have the right idea!"

The two nimbly jumped out of the way, leaving Ainz to turn left and right in a flustered manner. He did not know that he was currently in the blast zone that the two Gods had correctly anticipated.

"Eh? You guys, what're you doing? Why are you going back so far? I—"

Before Ainz could say something else, he felt a tremendous force hit his frontal rib cage. His boots skidded across the grassy plains below him, leaving behind a temporarily damaged earth.

Shit! I didn't expect her to move that fast. I need to prepare my spells and—huh? What the…

That force from earlier came in the form of Shalltear, who was now holding onto Ainz like a needy koala on a tree. Her crimson armor was gone too and was instead replaced with her usual dress up that Peroroncino set to be the default attire for her.

The undead mage was expecting to be eviscerated from the sheer blast, but his clothes were only ruffled at best. Still, it was mind numbing to see that the distance put between himself and the vampire was immediately closed in a span of a single second.

A second following the aftermath of the powerful blunt attack, Ainz garnered that he did not receive any damage from the initial impact. He certainly would have been hurt back in Yggdrasil, especially if it came from a level 100 NPC.

But with what Ainz has now, his current resistance and immunity skills started to make [ High-Tier Immunity ] look like an amateur magic caster's meager [ Protection ] spell. At least that was what Ainz thought when it felt as though someone threw a pillow at his face and only felt mild annoyance rather than actual pain.

Regardless, Ainz was not intending to take the hit head-on. He only went in front of his new compatriots, hoping that Shalltear would be able to recognize him.

The gamble was a success in the end, though he was still riddled with thoughts on how to prepare himself for possibilities that would have this situation gone the other way. These hypothetical scenarios would be depicting him being attacked from not only Shalltear, but the rest of the Floor Guardians who may or may not be inside the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.

After what felt like forever, Ainz slowly lowered his head. He stared at Shalltear's watery eyes with silent shock, not knowing how to respond to the vampire's emotional looks.

"—This, this is not a dream, is it, Momonga-sama? Please tell me that this is not just a foolish dream of mine…"

He was almost caught off-guard by the fluidity in Shalltear's voice, but maintained an indifferent look on his face.

Obviously he felt overjoyed that he was able to talk to the Floor Guardian without having to raise up arms against the vampire, but now he was considering having to play the role of someone who had watched over Nazarick as its ruler.

"Well…to begin with, this is—"

{Alert. Clean-up procedure has been completed. Sleep state of the individual "Ainz Ooal Gown" will end in five minutes. As a result, the individual will be removed from the constructed subspace. However, due to a merging between the magicule-filled constructs of both [ Small World ] and [ Conjured Realm ], [ Small World ] will not be deprecated from the current user. }

"—Hohh…? Impressive work, Loki. Thanks to your powers, Ainz was able to successfully recreate his homeland along with keeping a valuable asset from the Voice."

Usually Loki would be grinning out of malicious intent or when he had committed destructive shenanigans that he loved to perform in his old days. But now it was bearing a genuinely wide smile at seeing everything worked out.

"—Ha…ha-ha-ha! Is that so?! So even the Voice of the World cannot do anything about these changes! What a pathetic messenger of this world's Gods! But you cannot just give credits to me, for there was someone else who stepped up for this bold maneuver."

Both Loki and Hades gave fond stares at Ainz, who was standing incredibly still.

Right now the undead was making a mental fist pump in his head after hearing the Voice's announcement.

It was a huge gamble, but Ainz thought that if he were to personally make changes with the use of magic, it would somehow tie in with the spatial-based skill. This would then create some sort of link, thereby preventing the total dissolution of the space within.

While the three were relatively pleased to see their theory coming to fruition, there was someone else who was not showing happiness about this new development.

After Shalltear heard the Voice of the World make its decree, Ainz saw her mouth open and close like a koi fish. The undead simply closed the vampire's mouth with one of his bony fingers.

"It's alright, Shalltear. I am still trying to figure out these new surroundings, but I am glad to see that you are no longer just an NPC. Truly, I am more than happy. And do not worry about me leaving Nazarick. I will be able to return here, so do not fret about me disappearing very soon."

To confirm it, Ainz tried to repeat the same thought process as he had done earlier with [ Conjured Realm ], this time with his guild teleportation ring, the [ Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown ].

Sure enough, a similar tugging feeling had occurred, though he did not go too far since he would risk teleporting to the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick at a moment's notice. Ainz also thought it was better to be transported back to where he was outside of the guild base's floors for the sake of precaution.

On the other side, the pale girl's blood-red eyes were showing mixed signs of shock and gratefulness after Ainz promised to return back to Nazarick. Her tight grip lost a great deal of its strength when she began to feel her undead master's hands sift through her silver hair.

"Ai…nz-sama…hnn…"

"There, there… it is alright now."

Umu. Her breathing was ragged a few seconds ago, but now she managed to calm down immensely. Thank you Yamaiko-san for teaching me how to calm down hyperactive children. Speaking of which, when I look down at her like this, she does seem like that type of child. If only Peroroncino-san was here to see this.

It might have been his paternal instincts that he harbored for most of, if not all the NPCs in Nazarick coming out now, but he was not ashamed by this newly discovered overprotective parent personality of his.

For a moment, Ainz thought about trying to bring everyone out into the physical world, if that was even possible. But his mood soured when he remembered that he could not leave [ Small World ] himself after having already attempted to do so as soon as he was brought here.

When he did try to force his way out, he kept coming into contact with an invisible wall. It reminded him of trying to encroach upon a game's barrier that forbade people from exploring specific regions or simply preventing them from leaving the gameplay area. The barrier that was placed up by [ Conjured Realm ] and its physical contact with a mysterious border had further solidified the undead's assumptions.

Since there was a strong likelihood that [ Small World ] possessed a similar function to this, Ainz did not attempt to brute force his way out, as he wanted to be on the safe side of things. There were also other pressing matters at the time, so it was not in his main interest to pursue a potentially high-risk plan.

But now that the Voice had given the green light at him leaving this place, the idea of creating a "party" had at least resurfaced in his mind. If Hades and Loki had been given skills as well, then combined with him and Shalltear, Ainz had strong faith in the practical cohesion of his group.

But that idea had only lasted for a few seconds before it started quarreling with the contrasting idea of keeping everyone safe and sound in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. There was also the potential of other Floor Guardians along with the rest of the NPCs in Nazarick who were there if Shalltear was any indication. Meeting with them would be a paramount decision that slowly led Ainz to favor this other idea instead.

Firstly, I need to question the NPCs on how they arrived here. Shalltear here is already showing an extraordinary amount of realism that goes far beyond that of Yggdrasil coding, so I can safely assume that she indeed possesses a conscience and will of her own. I'll have to treat everyone more carefully from now on unless I endanger my relations with Nazarick's people.

The reason why Ainz did not ask Shalltear immediately about this is that he feared she would have reacted in a way that would make his heart crumble.

Knowing that time is running out fast, Ainz sped up his explanation, hoping that Shalltear would understand what he has to say. [ Thought Acceleration ] began to be quite the helpful boon as he even began to multi-task, his thoughts now riddled with jealousy of wanting to use this skill for his salaryman days.

"—But, I will not come back so soon until I confirm that my surroundings in the real world are safe. So please, as my first order to you, bring these two guests into the Ninth Floor for full introductions. They have pledged loyalty to me, so I can assure you that they are to be trusted. If they are there, have Albedo and Demiurge decide on how they should be ranked within Nazarick's hierarchy. If not…then I leave it to you until I return back."

Shalltear felt a vein pop up on her forehead after hearing about those two Floor Guardians. She admitted that she could not even hold a candle to the deep well of intellect that each of them held.

But then she felt an odd warmth in her chest when Ainz told her that she was at least worthy of being given the responsibility of being judge, jury and executioner — at least that was what she assumed her master had meant.

With only ten seconds left on the clock, Shalltear whispered back to Ainz, also realizing that there was not that much time left.

"Yes! It will be done, Ainz-sama! Er…may I ask you a foolish request before you leave, Ainz-sama?"

"What is it?"

"Can…can you hold me like this for a little longer? I don't know how long it's been, but—"

"Of course. There is no need to explain yourself any further, Shalltear."

Shalltear's lips quivered into a smile as she continued to hug Ainz, who returned the gesture in kind. Hades and Loki, being none the wiser, stood silently as to not interrupt this seemingly touching reunion between a master and their servant.

It stayed like this for some time until Ainz was teleported away. Unbeknownst to everyone, this would be the last action that the Voice of the World would carry out towards the undead.


Shalltear, seeing his master disappear within the blink of an eye, felt immensely saddened by the forceful departure. She wanted to stay in Ainz's embrace for a little longer even though she knew that would be asking too much for someone of her status.

For a while she found herself looking at the grass where the undead had made his imprints before coming back to her senses.

I…I still don't know where I am, but that was him. I felt Ainz-sama's presence! Hah—looks like I managed to one-up that gorilla in the end, after all. But did Ainz-sama always have that kind of strength though? It felt as though my body was being constricted by a boa, and for the first time I felt pain. N-not that I mind it, honestly.

Ah...wait! Yes, of course! How did I not consider it earlier? Perhaps this is Ainz-sama showing me that kind of foreplay while also demonstrating his clear superiority in strength! I must find a way to have him repeat this method towards me! Kukuku—

"—Pardon me, Lady Shalltear."

Shalltear's reddened face was nowhere to be seen when she snapped back from what was developing into one of her usual fantasies.

She tilted her head upwards and saw the two figures who had been accompanying Ainz the entire time. One of them was standing with a prim posture that the vampire respected a little.

She was confused when her eyes fell on the other person next to him, who was sitting crisscrossed in the air. She guessed that the person must have been using a levitation-based spell such as [ Fly ] in order to maintain a position such as that.

"—It seems that we have guests to welcome. Under Ainz-sama's orders, am I to direct you to our Ninth Floor, arinsu~ But first, may I ask what your names are before we depart to our destination?"

Her voice had been shaky when she said her first words to Lord Ainz in this unknown realm. She steeled herself in order to not lose face in front of Nazarick's new servants.

Meanwhile the silver-haired stranger stepped forward, making the vampire think that he would be the one to first introduce himself. That point was proven when he spoke up with an exuding charisma in his voice.

"Of course. You may refer to me as Hades. As Ainz-sama had stated back then, I am but a humble guest and servant of our lord and master."

The God of the Underworld remembered to attach honorifics since he thought it would be rude not to do so in front of a servant of Nazarick. He had surmised this potential outcome correctly when Shalltear had somewhat of an approving look on her face.

"I see…could it be that you are the same Hades who was once the ruler of the Underworld?"

"Yes, that is correct."

Shalltear felt the need to scoff at that status, but then she remembered two things.

One — she was to treat the Supreme One's guests with respect. At least that was what Lord Ainz was trying to say, but could not say the specifics due to obvious time constraints. She would not fail the first order being given to her lest would she be humiliated by her peers.

Two — not even the vampire was dumb enough to not know the influence of several Pantheons in the Nine Realms, especially Hades who was known to be the ruler of Helheim.

According to the Supreme Beings, he had served both as someone who gave people exclusive requests, and if needed, he could be someone who people could challenge as a formidable enemy. Due to Hades' affiliation with the undead, Shalltear had even felt a modicum of respect compared to the lazing person next to the God of the Underworld.

But above all that was her utter shock, seeing that he was now under the Supreme One's command.

I have heard from others that countless Gods lost their lives against the Supreme Beings, but those ones were referred to as "Players." Hades far outclasses those heathens, though the Supreme Beings are obviously superior to him in every single way. As…as expected of Ainz-sama—to even put the so-called king of the undead under his boot! Ah, if only I could be placed under his boot as well…

"This girl is weird," Loki muttered as both he and Hades grew slightly uncomfortable with the Victorian-dressed girl. She was becoming increasingly fidgety with her hands and legs, her face still remaining to be profusely blushing for some odd reason. "Let's just go check out what's in store for us, shall we? I am interested to see what these 'Floor Guardians' are truly capable of."

"Yes, I am also interested in how they fare out. But don't start picking a fight with them. I'd hate to see you leave blood marks inside our new abode, especially since we would have to make our first impressions."

"You think of me as a brute, don't you? This is why I can't hang out with people like you. Your wooden personality is just simply too off-putting."

Hades only rolled his eyes at Loki, who blew out a raspberry in front of him with exaggerated fashion.

He began making his way past the infatuated vampire, going into a beeline towards the Great Tomb's entrance. The God gave her a gentle pat on the head and said something along the lines of "we'll talk later" before making side-chatter with the God of Mischief who had forgotten to introduce himself.

When they were about to enter the First Floor, Hades remembered a crucial detail that he was supposed to give to Ainz, but was briefly distracted by the recent series of events.


Hades found it both interesting and concerning that the names of Gods from various differing Pantheons existed in this world. Though he no longer had the divinity of a God, he was still able to sense the presences, or rather the souls of his comrades, both inside and outside of his Greek Pantheon.

While some were terribly confused about their new well being, others took the initiative. Hades and Loki were such people, having already departed from their respective Pantheons in order to find out the truth behind Ainz Ooal Gown. Others had watched in curiosity, but many were simply straying in the endless void, not even trying to figure out as to why they were brought here.

It appeared that something connected all of them under irregular circumstances. Having this in mind, Hades followed the breadcrumbs that led him straight to the person that was none other than Momonga, the leader of Ainz Ooal Gown.

As expected, his appearance was slightly out of the ordinary, but it was no big deal to someone with Hades' status. What did give him small chills up his spine was the fact that the Gods were forced on a one-way destination towards the undead.

Why this person, out of all people? Was there something special about him that merited all of the Pantheons converging onto one, singular bridge?

Yggdrasil, otherwise known as the World Tree to Hades, was swarming with foreign entities labeled as "Players," something that Hades struggled to understand in its fundamental nature. But now there was only one such Player that Hades could feel a faint connection to, and that was Ainz Ooal Gown.

Other people had expressed their confusion before Hades departed to go search for the "false God." There was also Hel, Loki's daughter who was also greatly affiliated with undead, who had not immediately grabbed at the opportunity that the Voice of the World had provided them unlike him and Loki.

In actuality, Hel was pleading Loki that she should go first, justifying that she had a stronger connection to Ainz Ooal Gown, who was a powerful being of the undead.

There was this unsavory look on her face that made Loki realize she would be gunning for a position that did not just involve politics and warfare. Naturally, Loki had to deny her request, leaving his daughter in the state of a crying wreck as he went with Hades, someone that many Gods both feared and respected.

As for Hades, he could understand the hesitation of the other Gods as it would mean the relinquishment of their pride, but what he did not understand was that no one felt angry about stooping down to a level below their normal statuses.

It was better to say that they were simply interested in their present circumstances, but have not yet reached a general consensus that all of them should flock to the undead's powerful presence right now.

So with that in mind, it could be that they're biding their time. Or maybe, they know their time hasn't come yet. Perhaps I'm just grasping at straws here, but it could be Ainz's status as an undead that lured me and Hel, with the latter allowing me to take the initiative for the possible reason of watching what the outcome would be.

As to why Loki came with me, it might be due to his interest in Ainz's constant deceit towards other Players, both on the battlefield and in Helheim's geopolitical sphere. If not…then he is just bored.

But the underlying truth to all of there was a clear danger behind the Voice of the World and its power to grant anyone "Skills." Such boons should not be carelessly handed out to people, especially if they harbored ill will.

In addition, the Harvest Festival was merely a catalyst, responding to the user's will to transform their preexisting Unique Skills into that of Ultimate Skills. Supposedly, these Ultimate Skills would then create a link to the souls of Gods who expressed a strong desire to serve the one receiving said skills.

On a side note, Hades was not stupid and he could easily figure out the differences between the Voice of the World and the Harvest Festival. He could also see that, with the given facts at hand, Ainz Ooal Gown was perhaps the first person to have gone through both stages simultaneously.

As willpower was integral to one's gaining of Skills, then Hades could only surmise that Ainz was merely trying to preserve the powerbase that comprised the heteromorphic guild and the infamous Great Tomb of Nazarick.

In the end, only Hades and Loki allowed themselves to become suitable hosts for the new Ultimate Skills once the Voice of the World had caught wind of the peculiar entities also hailing from Yggdrasil. But since they did not bear a strong will like Ainz, this ended up creating an interesting dynamic between Ainz and the Gods.

Hades surmised that this was one of the reasons for acquiring easy access towards getting Skills of his own. He did have to give up a fair share of his independence by pleading complete and utter loyalty to Ainz, but he saw more benefits than detriments in this situation.

As to where they had to be, they could simply exist as pure manifestations of souls that communicated to Ainz through telepathy of the sorts. But both the two Gods who pledged their loyalty to Ainz found that to be relatively mundane. Seeing their new master up and close was the better choice if they wanted to better understand the Overlord and end up becoming useful advisors for the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.

Not everyone shared the optimistic views of Hades. Some thought that the God of the Underworld was sucking up to new authority while others scorned him for trying to jump the gun before them.

Still, every God that was brought to this new realm shared the same morbid curiosity on how the world of men would evolve over countless millennia. This situation was no different, and everyone started to form different degrees of expectations for Ainz Ooal Gown. They had even gone as far as to create hypothetical scenarios which included them helping Ainz and how it would move the undead to either a path of total destruction or one where he ruled with an iron fist over the world's global populace.

But deep down they knew that this realm and its global leaders would be shaken up by a terrible force, and to everyone's surprise, they would not be the ones who would play as much of a defined role compared to Ainz, who seemed to hold all the cards at this moment.

Having high proficiency in both leadership and warfare, Hades did not want to get in the way of the undead magic caster who would spearhead the advent of a new era. He was also among the few who subsequently learned, but did not dare to say it out loud regarding the true connection between Ainz and Yggdrasil's preexisting Pantheons.

Fufufu…it is indeed no wonder Loki went ahead of Hel in order to get on Ainz's good side. This is truly fascinating.

A faint sense of guilt then dwelled within Hades' mind.

He knew that Ainz was one of a kind, a dying breed that sought to preserve his beloved creations. He could understand that as he too felt passion for maintaining order in the Underworld.

Having the symbolic foundation of his own work suddenly being taken away from him would bring out an unknown fury from the God of the Underworld — something that was never seen from even his brothers, who had always pegged Hades to be always calm and collected.

Therefore it was not just Hades' morbid curiosity to see how Ainz would fare out in this world, nor was it his apparent lack of power that forced him to pledge allegiance to the Overlord.

No — it was that Hades, the once unrivaled king of the Underworld, understood that Ainz was a man of integrity, regardless of his ineptitude in some fields.

Therefore he found it suitable that he share some of his knowledge to the one who has now abandoned his humanity. Ainz would most likely be ruling over countless forces of undead as well, so it was only right for him, who held great amounts of knowledge in necromantic rituals, to play a critical role in the Overlord's rise to greatness.

When he would finish his work, Hades would not boast in the end that he was instrumental to the advent of the Overlord, but rather would take pride in the fact that he is a competent counselor who carefully watches over his children and helps them find meaning in the paths they walk on.

Whether or not they were forced to walk on the path of a ruler, Hades would be there to observe the changes in Ainz and give genuine advice whenever he needed it the most. It did not sit right with him to see such massive potential being wasted, after all.


Let us see where things head for this Overlord — no, "True Overlord." If he does not see himself as a worthy king, then I will change his perspective on such matters. But, at the same time, it would be better if I do not say anything about his lack of kingcraft in order to not erode his mental state. Some people simply just need a helping hand, for that is the vow I have taken in my oath of fealty.

Steadying himself with this newfound resolve, Hades entered the welcoming maw of the Great Tomb together with Loki, with a startled Shalltear following after them in due haste after having just woken up from her stupor.