Part 4:

The Slane Theocracy's treasury was something that few in their lives could see and those who simply imagined what it was like would often fall short. This place, unlike the treasury in Re-Estize or the Baharuth Empire, was not the location where one stored solely the family fortune of the nation's rulers but instead the vault where the Theocracy kept the most sacred of relics, the items left behind by the Six Great Gods.

The treasury was a fairly ordinary stone room with oil lamps hanging from the wall that flickered with faint but numerous lights which illuminated the room aptly. Various altars and pedestals stood in this room, upon which were placed dozens of strange items and weapons that all radiated a dangerous and profound power.

Upon entering, one would see piles of gold coins that covered the room along with several golden items mixed in with the coins. If one would calculate the collective value of what everything that lay on the floor in this room, it was likely that their heads would spin. But to the Theocracy these items were worthless.

The real treasures were the ones that weren't lying around. The treasures that the Theocracy would gladly sacrifice all the gold in this room for to protect were the ones placed upon the various small and bigger altars. Those treasures were the items left behind by their gods and under no circumstance must ever be sold off. But even among those there were three items that were placed upon the biggest altar of them all that were revered and cherished more than any national treasure. The three great relics that held unimaginable power, one of which Archon currently held in his hand.

Archon was sweating bullets as he held the item in his grasp. In all his life he had only been to this place once right before the previous Archbishop of Death passed away in order to witness the greatness of the items that were left behind by the beings called the Six Gods.

Never in his entire life would he have guessed that right now in his hands…

He would hold the lives of countless creatures all over the world.

The item that was said to be capable of eradicating all evil by comparison was rather plain. Ahura Mazda looked like nothing more than an ordinary iron ring the size of two hands but it clearly emanated an unfathomable amount of magic power.

This item, like all the others that were left behind by the Six required an awakened godkin level of strength to activate, but Archon, like all archbishops was a godkin, if only a slumbering one.

Through the use of a certain magic item, it was possible for archbishops to use these items despite technically not being qualified and the only downside was that it drained Archon of his life energy as a price.

This was of little concern to him as the retribution for what he was about to do should be the same as dying a thousand deaths as far as Archon was concerned. Nonetheless, he had to continue with the ritual when the alternative meant that the entire human race was at risk of falling victim to the Sorcerer King's wrath.

"Yliana, forgive me for what I must do! I'm sure you and the others would object to me doing this even now even after everything that has happened."

Archon could feel something warm sliding down his cheek as he was lost in thought.

He thought back of how it had come to this. In his life, he had done his best to keep a calm composure and hold true to his beliefs. He had faced many temptations and difficult choices. Not the least of which was when he discovered his lifelong friend and fellow priest practicing necromancy. The toughest decision in his life had been when he reported him to the Firefly Scripture as was dictated. It turned out that his friend had joined the infamous cult known as Zuranon and therefore his capture had brought great appreciation and recognition to Archon. But in reality he hated that part of his past more than any other; every word of praise was like a knife stabbing him, every pat on the back like someone hitting him with a hammer. What did he care whether what he had done was seen as right? His friend's death certificate had been signed not by the soldiers that arrested him or by the judge that sentenced him or even by the executioner, but Archon.

The ultimate punchline of the joke that had been his life after that was when the Archbishop of Death appointed Archon as his successor due to his unwavering devotion to his faith. On that day, Archon could simply cry rivers as he realized the burden and turmoil that his actions had brought upon him.

As these dark thoughts ran through his head, Archon noticed how the relic began to glow even brighter and assumed that soon its power would activate and Ainz Ooal Gown would be no more along with all of the filth that served under him.

At the same time, a loud bang could be heard from the other side of the treasury. It sounded like the last door opening and then heavily slamming shut when someone entered.

Archon's heart beat skyrocketed as he heard the sound of footsteps nearing. The fact that there was no voice meant that it couldn't be Zesshi.

"Pardon the intrusion."

A dark voice echoed throughout the room as a black robed figure entered Archon's line of sight. An evil aura radiated from his body that seemed to cause the room temperature to drop with each step as he proceeded further in.

Archon looked at the figure with an icy chill as he tried to have his face stay as emotionless as possible even though terror ran through him like a current. The person that had entered the room was a black robed skeleton wearing an nefarious dark robe that matched his foul appearance and was outdone only by the crimson eyes that seemed to peer into Archon's soul from within the hollow sockets of where the skeleton's eyes once should have been.

Archon gulped as he spared no effort to conceal his fear whilst he spoke.

"I won't bother asking who the hell you are Ainz Ooal Gown, but I still have to ask… How the hell did you get past Zesshi?"

Ainz merely looked up at Archon and already his body felt like it was being stabbed by knives.

"You mean that little soldier outside? My subordinates will make short work of her."

Archon gulped but retained his pokerface as he addressed Ainz without a sign of fear.

"This ancient relic left to us by our real gods will wipe out both you and all your minions from this world in a blink."

Ainz said nothing as he merely stared at Archon and the white halo-like ring in Archon's hands for a moment, after which he once more began to approach Archon steadily as if he hadn't heard what the human had said.

"Stay away, you hear me! This item will protect our nation from you along with the rest of humanity! Do you know no fear to brazenly approach this power? Are you looking to die, Sorcerer King?"

Ainz finally halted and opened his mouth. Although it was impossible to tell for sure, it seemed for a moment as if he was almost mimicking a human sigh.

"That item won't activate."

Archon gulped as he almost staggered backwards from shock. Did this skeleton really know of their secret weapon, could he really be hundreds of years old from the time of the Six Great Gods, or even before that?

Too many questions flooded Archon's head to count, but right now one of them was still engraved too deeply in Archon's mind to keep silent about.

"You… what do you mean it won't activate?!"

Ainz merely shrugged his shoulders as he seemed to be reluctant about even having this conversation but in the end seemed to decide to humor Archon.

"That item, Ahura Mazda, is one of the twenty highest ranked items in existence. Its power is great to be sure, but naturally even an item as great as this one comes with drawbacks and conditions. For example, when activating one of the twenty you must wait fifteen minutes before the initial activation. I have been counting minutes since we destroyed the Black Scripture. The amount of time that has passed since then… is exactly fourteen minutes. Even if you activated it the moment we defeated your troops, you would still fall short of time to use it."

In YGGDRASIL the power of the twenty was something of a legend. Because they could only be activated once and had all kinds of troublesome effects it was extremely rare for one to use it. Even the highest ranked guilds would not dare to activate such an item rashly. The only ones who tried were fools who did not care about consequences and merely wanted to feel the immense power you had when using such an item, if only for a moment. A few disasters had occurred in YGGDRASIL because of players like that who would see their game burn just for momentary pleasure. Because of this, the developers had made a slight condition when activating one of the twenty.

When activating such an item, there was a fifteen minute wait time alongside a worldwide notice of the item's activation, location, and its power to all online players. This was to give the players a chance to stop some fool from messing up YGGDRASIL more than it already was thanks to the so-called "sh*tty developers". Thanks to this rule, it became impossible to carelessly activate one of the twenty without the backup of a guild or clan. It caused quite a ruckus amongst the part of the players that preferred to play solo rather than join a guild. Nonetheless, the condition was seen as an improvement and after its implementation, no reckless alterations of YGGDRASIL occurred again.

Archon stared at Ainz with wide eyes full of horror as he listened to his explanation. This item having the ability that it did, of course no one had ever dared to experiment or test out how long it took for it to activate in fear of accidentally causing a genocide. And yet this lich seemingly knew everything there was to know about their divine relic from merely a glance.

"You … you monster! Just how the hell can you claim to know these things?"

Archon had already completely lost his calm composed self as he shouted these words. Ainz on the other hand seemed incredibly bored with the situation. Initially he had planned all sorts of scenarios in case some higher level opponent was standing guard in the treasury but instead he only found one pitiful human and the treasure he was looking for before it could be activated. He should feel glad but instead felt nothing if not a slight relief that things had gone so well. And yet a lingering sense of loneliness dwelled within him. The fact that Ahura Mazda's last guard was nothing but a mere human proved that the players that had brought this item to this world were most definitely dead, or they would never have left this item here under any circumstances, not without a real form of protection at least.

"Even if I told you how I have this knowledge, you wouldn't understand or believe me. Considering that I'm in a bad mood right now, I recommend that you hand over that item and surrender yourself quietly lest you face a fate worse than death."

Archon could only stare blankly at this creature which had just made such a serious threat whilst maintaining a tone of absolute indifference. It was glaringly obvious that whether he lived or died, this instant would not affect the skeleton's mental state even the slightest.

Nonetheless…

"[Cure Moderate Wounds]!"

Archon shouted as he launched his spell towards Ainz. As an archbishop, he naturally possessed a certain level of divine magic that he could use for various purposes. Although it paled in comparison to most clerics and priests of the Theocracy, he still had skill comparable to gold ranked adventurers.

Even though he knew that this spell would likely have little to no effect on Ainz, he would still rather die than hand over the nation's final weapon without a fight.

As soon as the spell that he shot out neared Ainz, it trembled violently as it evaporated without a trace.

"A painful death it is then."

Ainz needed no further stimulation anymore to capture Archon alive and then hand him off to Neuronist like a wrapped up present. This human was clearly one of the highest ranked officials within this country and thus would have extensive knowledge regarding the items from YGGDRASIL along with the players that should have left them behind. He was simply too valuable to kill off directly but not in any way did Ainz mind getting the answers through torture.

Ainz, ignoring the continuing mediocre spells that Archon kept firing at him, walked on further into the treasury, not paying the slightest heed to his enemy as he kept observing both the World Class Item and the other items in the treasury.

Each one was vaguely familiar to Ainz as he recognized them as items for various classes and monster drops from YGGDRASIL. Some of them were less familiar but also gave off a less resplendent aura compared to the former. Ainz could guess that these were like Clementine's Stilettos which were artificially made in this world to mimic the real treasures. Soon, all of them would be added to Nazarick's vault or sold off to further solve the glaring financial problem that the upkeep of Nazarick provided.

Archon at this time kept violently shouting as he didn't cease firing his spells at Ainz. Even though every spell like the first one simply bounced off of him and then faded into nothingness, he still didn't relent. As he kept screaming harder than he had ever done before in his life, he kept praying in his heart that someone would come and save this nation. Even though the Six Great Gods had long since left this plain of existence, he still needed to believe that they would return, if only to stop this creature that could potentially wipe out everything that they had built.

Ainz had grown weary of dealing with weaklings like Archon. It wasn't even worth using teleportation or time-stop magic to incapacitate him. Instead simply releasing his aura would instill enough fear into an ordinary human's heart to completely paralyze them.

As easily as exhaling air, Ainz released his sealed dark aura from within him as it spread out throughout the room and caused the brilliant light of the divine relic and other artifacts to dim. As soon as Archon felt the terrifying aura sweep over him, he could no longer fire off any spells or even speak as his hairs stood on end and even breathing no longer came easily.

With all his might, he tried to move his body but to no avail. His body was frozen solid as the immense fear he felt from Ainz overwhelmed him both physically and mentally.

Seeing his prey had stopped resisting Ainz gave of the feeling of slightly smirking as he prepared to approach Archon and paralyze him completely with [Touch of the Undead] and then send him off to Nazarick.

If Ainz had teleported or used time-stop magic. If he hadn't decided to release his aura. If Ainz hadn't decided to come alone…

Things wouldn't have ended up the way they did.

But because of his carelessness everything unfolded as was destined to.

"Hmmm?"

Ainz suddenly stopped his advance as a strange feeling came over him. Although he had no idea why, he suddenly felt as if something was not quite right.

Not a moment later as this feeling ran through him the ground around him lit up and began to form a mysterious magic ten layered magic circle that continued to shine brighter and brighter whilst expanding in size and eventually stretching out to cover almost the entire floor of the treasury.

Ainz had only now realized that right now he was standing in the physical center of the room which to gamers in YGGDRASIL was known as 'The Black Spot'.

In YGGDRASIL, it was most common for traps to activate once a player or party entered the middle or the room in order for the trap to have the most chance of success. Thus, when one did not have scouts to seek and destroy these traps, it was common knowledge to under no circumstances stand in the middle of the room when exploring uncharted territory.

Ainz, of course, hadn't played YGGDRASIL for more than a year now and had completely become out of touch with most of the game-like aspects and rules of exploring in YGGDRASIL. A grave mistake since he had confirmed that items and spell from YGGDRASIL still existed in this world so it was not too farfetched to assume that traps could exist in this world too.

"Huh, this type of trap is not familiar; most likely another unique creation of this world. Well, no matter. [Teleportation]."

Ainz remained calm as he cast his spell, thinking that it would be enough to escape from the magic sigil only to find that its activation was instantly negated by one of the ten layers of the magic circle that seemed to glow brighter when he tried to teleport away.

Upon seeing this, Ainz became slightly unsettled as he watched his spell being rejected. He tried [Greater Teleportation] and even [Gate] to try and escape, but likewise it proved to be of no use as the layer shone brightly every time and kept denying any form of spatial magic.

"Don't tell me… Dimensional Lock?!"

Amongst all the spells that Ainz tried to think of, only one had the power to negate both low and high tier spatial magic. The exclusive anti-spatial spell that was reserved only for highest tier angels and demons: [Dimensional Lock].

Ainz became slightly nervous seeing what level of power was keeping him retrained. If it had been any less, he would have been able to escape but with the Dimensional Lock in place he would have to forcibly destroy the barrier if he wanted to get out.

It was at this moment that a second bright glow appeared. This time it came from the spot on the ceiling directly above Ainz's head as a second ten-layered magic circle appeared and likewise began to expand until it enveloped practically all of the ceiling's space.

Ainz didn't want to imagine what it was for as he activated another spell [Greater Break Barrier] in order to try and crack open the magic circle beneath his feet.

Like the previous time, one of the layers of the circle began to glow more brightly than the rest as it rejected any attempt of breaking the barrier.

A sick feeling now began to envelop Ainz as a deep frustration boiled from within him. Even though his passive would forcibly calm him down, he only needed to take a glance at the magic circle beneath his feet and his anger would once again well up.

Frustration turned to rage as Ainz began to violently slam his fist on the outlines of the cylinder shaped barrier whilst the glow above his head intensified. This naturally did little if anything at all to destroy the barrier.

Just as Ainz was about to attempt to fire a destruction spell in the hopes of smashing the barrier with brute force a cracking noise became audible above him.

Ainz looked up and the crimson light in his eyes began to flicker as he had difficulty believing what he saw.

The patch of the ceiling directly above his head was rapidly crumbling away revealing what was concealed behind it.

An enormous giant crystal gradually became visible from behind the ceiling wall. As more of the ceiling crumbled away the crystal began to glow more and more fiercely as soon it seemed like it would light up the entire treasury with an intense cyan color.

"This is…"

The crimson lights in Ainz's skull suddenly lit up brighter than ever as he stared at the magic crystal with a trace of fear in his hollow eyes. He could clearly see that the energy crystal was gathering power and would soon emit all of that power in a massive wave with him as the obvious target. Even Ainz wasn't sure whether he had enough resistance against it.

With his gear and stats he could even survive [Heaven's Downfall] once or perhaps twice if necessary but this wasn't YGGDRASIL; there was no telling whether this type of magic that he had never seen before would be resisted or not and how much of a punch it packed. But even faced with all this, what shocked Ainz was not the crystal.

As the magic markings on the ceiling were lit up thanks to the crystal so too were a set of symbols that clearly differed from the rest.

To any inhabitant of this world these markings would be strange and one would immediately assume that this was some dead language from ancient times. After all, with so many civilizations rising and falling through the centuries it would be surprising not to find any unfamiliar markings resembling a language. But to Ainz these markings were incredibly familiar, after all how could he not recognize them? These markings were kanji from his homeland of Japan.

What was the most amazing was the message that they spelled out that caused Ainz to blink his non-existent eyes.

"Sayonara, old friend…"

These words filled Ainz with both dread and dozens of questions as his attention quickly shifted back to the giant magic crystal which was now glowing with an almost blinding light and faintly began to make a buzzing sound that rapidly became louder and louder.

As all of this was happening Archon was standing in a petrified manner as he was having trouble comprehending what was happening for quite a while.

He thought all was lost when his entire body was frozen by Ainz's aura but then from nowhere a magic array that he had never heard of activated and ensnared the Sorcerer King with a spell formation completely unfamiliar to him.

Ever since he had heard about how the Six Great Gods had perished, he thought that praying was useless, but when he saw Ainz trapped, he could not think of any explanation other than the Gods having heard his prayers and activated one of the powers they had left behind. Realizing this, a faint smile could be seen on Archon's face as he roared from joy.

"Do you see, Ainz Ooal Gown? You who claim yourself powerful has yet to taste the extent of the power that is our nation's guardians who built and protected this land for generations wield! Now have a taste of the power that is wielded by the strongest! May the Six Great Gods' power eradicate all but your ashes!"

Ainz did not even hear Archon's rambling as he continued to study the magical formation beneath his feet and above his head. It was unlike anything that he had seen in YGGDRASIL but Ainz guessed that it must be a bundle of spells from YGGDRASIL that had been collectively woven into this new formation that had the shape of a ten layered magic circle. The question now was how Ainz could negate or evade the damage itself as escaping had proven impossible even to him.

Teleportation doesn't work and breaking the seal with magic would be too risky, but I wonder…

At this point, the crystal's buzzing was growing intensely loud and Archon's vision was completely blinded by the intensity of the light that now emitted from the crystal. The entire treasury shook as if an earthquake was running through it as the piles of gold crumbled and the various magic items fell off their pedestals and altars, crashing down on the ground they created a symphony of metallic echoes. Not that Archon could hear it as he had long since covered his eyes to prevent himself from going blind and he was completely incapable of hearing anything due to the deafening buzzing of the crystal earlier which had left a piercing ringing sound in his ears.

All of this was inconsequential to Archon as even blind and deaf he still felt an indescribable joy in his heart. When he thought of how much power that crystal radiated and how heavy the shockwave of energy had been, in his heart there was not a shred of doubt that by now Ainz was nothing more than a pile of ash.

Carefully, Archon slit open his eyes to test if the light from the crystal was still blinding his view, but found that the light had faded and suspected that the buzzing sound had ceased as well despite the ringing in his ears that made him all but deaf.

Finally, Archon raised his head and looked towards the place where Ainz Ooal Gown had stood only to see a smoldering pile of bones that lay on the floor. Smoke was still rising from it as the charred pieces of marrow were steadily crumbling as well as fragments of what looked to be a black cloth that reminded Archon of the umber robe that the Sorcerer King had been wearing.

Archon reverted his gaze back to the item in his hands. The glowing ring of light still continued to glow brighter and Archon could guess that it would soon activate. With Ainz Ooal Gown gone, he had bought the Theocracy a considerable amount of time. If one took into account the various monsters and abominations that served under the Sorcerer King, it would not be too farfetched to imagine that with their master gone they would start infighting which in turn gave the Theocracy a chance for retaliation. Although they had lost some of their finest assets, they still commanded a vast army of some of the finest holy knights in the human realm. Adding to the fact that they had moved away a portion of their treasures and items as a safeguard, and a hope ever so faint could be detected.

Archon deactivated the item and moved to the very back of the treasury where upon placing his hand on one of the wall's stones caused a hidden passage to appear.

Archon felt extremely elated. Now that Ainz was dead, he could simply follow this path out of the sanctum and out of the city. From there it would be an easy escape to the neighboring city where the other Archbishops were. From there, they could formulate their strategy further. Although the loss of this city and its treasures was great, it was still manageable compared to the situation that they would have been in if Ainz Ooal Gown was allowed to live.

A hidden doorway opened before Archon as a slight gust of wind blew from the passage behind it. Feeling the refreshing breeze on his face, Archon calmed down as he began walking through the door.

Only to find an ice cold voice calling to him from behind.

"So you did have a hidden passageway that you could use to escape. I was wondering where you would go even if I did die."

At this moment, Archon's body halted to a complete standstill. His body did not move the slightest bit as he simply stood in mid motion with a joyous expression still plastered on his face. Right now both he and the world around him had frozen. Naturally the one responsible for this… was none other than Ainz.

In YGGDRASIL there were a lot of rules and restrictions regarding magic and skills. A game with so much diversity and room to experiment would naturally consist of some discrepancies and overpowered abilities. Even though the developers tried their 'best' to keep the game at least reasonably balanced, it was hard to believe that they were completely sane when they started adding World Class Items and other completely ridiculous gimmicks to 'enrich' the gameplay experience. Was it any surprise that naturally a lot of bugs and loopholes in the magic and skill system took sometimes years to patch? One of these was exactly what Ainz had been aiming for.

[Dimensional Lock] was a powerful ability to be sure as it truly did cancel every form of spatial magic of those trapped in its range. Even cash items were useless to fix this or else YGGDRASIL would become too 'pay to play' reliant, even more so than it already was. But a simple solution existed for those ensnared in this spell's range. If spatial magic was useless, what about a spatial skill? In such a wide game with so many variations of monsters, it would be no surprise to see a monster that could teleport as part of a passive or a skill.

One such monster was exactly what Ainz had summoned to help him escape the trap. Its name was [Undying Hero], one of the few undead summons in the game with good karma. The lore stated that it was the spirit of a fallen hero that retained its sense of justice after death and now existed solely to sacrifice himself for the sake of others. And its passive was to switch locations with another creature before a spell or attack hit them. Because this was its passive, there was an extensive period in time where this tactic would be used by necromancers like Ainz to evade attacks when teleportation was impossible but about two years before the game's shutdown there was a patch that finally removed this gimmick from the game.

Even Ainz did not know whether or not the blast from the crystal would have killed him. His build specialized in magic and naturally was rather well off when it came to magic resistance. Combine this with the fact that he wore a full set of divine items and perhaps he never needed to fear this crystal's power in the first place. Nonetheless, the risk outweighed the logic so he had chosen to try something foolish rather than rely upon his gear and stats with a complete victory as a result.

Now he had all the time in the world to take down Archon, steal the item, and end all hopes of activating its power.

Counting down the seconds, Ainz approached the unmoving Archon as he activated [Touch of Undead] in his right hand, he approached Archon…

To Archon everything happened in a flash but in those few short moments while his emotions had changed from despair, without him ever knowing why he had fallen to the ground in a daze, along with him so did the hopes and dreams of the nation….

He couldn't understand…

Why did he want to sleep so badly….

"Ainz-sama!"

Ainz heard a strange set of shouts behind him and headed back to the treasury only to find Sebas and Demiurge staring at the remains of the Bone Martyr in a stunned manner. He could guess what was going through their heads as he called out to them.

"You two are too noisy, I'm over here."

Responding to his minions' heartfelt cries Ainz emerged from the back of the treasury seemingly unharmed.

Upon hearing their master's voice, the two instantly showed an expression of both indescribable joy and relief. Even Demiurge had momentarily allowed his emotions to get the better of him which was something that even Ainz couldn't help but find funny.

"Ainz-sama, forgive our outburst just now, we saw the bones and…"

Sebas seemed reluctant to finish the sentence and Ainz subtly chose not to press him or Demiurge further as there had been enough drama for one day.

"Well it's fine, the enemy had a slightly powerful trap in reserve but it wasn't enough to deter me from getting the item that I wanted. I trust you have subdued that strange girl."

Hearing this question, the usual sinister smirk that Demiurge wore returned to his face as he answered his master's inquiry.

"Indeed Ainz-sama, that female was a bit more trouble than we initially gave her credit for, but likewise she was no match for both Sebas and me at the same time. If anything, I am of the opinion that she will prove a far more interesting research subject. But only if it is OK with you that she is placed in my custody."

Ainz glanced at Demiurge and could detect a rare sense of excitement that Demiurge failed to conceal properly. It seemed that this creature was extremely fascinating to him that it could cause such a reaction from one of his most composed subjects.

"Hmm… fine then if you think that highly of her than I see no reason to deny you your request. But only if it is for Nazarick's sake."

"Naturally."

Ainz looked around as he took a closer look at the various treasures that lay on the ground. Even though they paled in comparison to the simplest of trinkets in Nazarick, they would still be quite useful to help sustain the Tomb's financial upkeep.

"Get some minions from Nazarick to come and collect everything in this underground place, from the treasures to the corpses; everything now belongs to Nazarick."

Demiurge and Sebas respectfully bowed and obeyed their master. Demiurge then left to carry out the various tasks he still had to do as well as restart his hybrid program. The mere thought of being given a new chance to rectify his earlier failure filled him with great joy and determination. Meanwhile, Sebas stayed next to his master who seemed to be intently staring at the dim magic crystal that was embedded in the ceiling.

"Ainz-sama, please forgive my impudence…"

Sebas hesitated to speak further as his master seemed to be in a particularly bad mood. To be honest, he hadn't seen his lord like this since Shalltear got brainwashed by the Black Scripture.

"It is fine Sebas, I was just thinking about some trivial things. Please finish saying what's on your mind."

Sebas could still feel that Ainz was still vexed and upset about something which made him hesitate whether or not he should speak as it could be quite a problem if his lord made an emotional decision but he chose to speak anyway as it was hardly conceivable that the cunning Ainz would be rash.

"Yes Ainz-sama, it's about the humans still in the city on the surface. What do you think that we should do about them?"

Ainz's thoughts wandered as he thought back on everything that had happened. All due to these humans' abuse of a World Class Item was he forced to kill one of his subordinates. Initially, he expected that it had been a player from YGGDRASIL but now found out that it was just a bunch of humans' arrogance that had caused him such grief and misery. When he thought back on all of this, an indescribable feeling swelled up within him. It was incomparable to simple rage but ran far deeper. At this moment, even his passive could not calm him down enough for the essence of this feeling to disappear.

"Sebas, gather all available guardians, the humans from the empire, the Pleiades and that idiot Lycan outside the city on the hill where we subdued the Black Scripture. I will show this nation what it means to soil the Name of Ainz Ooal Gown."

A dark tone was hidden in those words that made even Sebas slightly uneasy but nonetheless he bowed as he left to carry out his master's orders. Still, he could not help but shudder in horror as he thought about what his master had in store for the humans still hiding in the city.

…

…

…

Many kilometers Northwest of the Slane Theocracy's capital was what was known as the Wilderness. In this place, as much as the Sunlight Scripture and the Black Scripture had tried they could not eradicate the various clans of demi-humans and monsters that lived in these forests and mountains.

The trek through this area was one that even mithril adventurers dared not undertake without weeks or sometimes months of preparations. No roads to speak of existed in this place and thus obstructed what lay beyond.

If one kept travelling westwards for a long enough time, one might find that beyond this deathtrap lay an even more astounding spectacle.

The Great Wall of Roble.

The national border of the holy kingdom of Roble, marked by the legendary wall that they had constructed to separate themselves from the dangers that lay on the other side.

This kingdom, unlike Re-Estize and the Empire, preferred to stay away from both monsters and other human nations as it enjoyed an extremely isolationist lifestyle as a national policy. Like the Slane Theocracy, it still prayed to the original Six Great Gods instead of the four that the Empire and Re-Estize prayed to. Thus earning it the title of 'holy' kingdom. The church of the Six Gods was not split here like in the Slane Theocracy, but instead led by just one head priest who preached the words and values of the Six Gods as one.

This great nation once had ties with the Slane Theocracy, but due to limited communication and such a difficult terrain between them, it had cut those ties decades ago. Now it lived in harmony away from the worldly affairs and troubles on the other side of the wall as it traded only by ship and lived a sated life sustained by bountiful resources that the sea provided to it.

Off the coast of this great nation lay a small island no larger than a mid-sized human town. On this island only stood one stone castle with various giant statues of men and women encircling the structure as if to protect it from any trespassers who may try to invade this sacred ground.

This place was the ancestral crypt of the Roble royal family that had been built over four hundred years ago where the dead kings and queens were buried.

Only the royal family was allowed to set foot upon this land, and even then it was strictly when they had to carry the coffin of their deceased ruler to its final resting place.

Inside the crypt were numerous coffins each carved with magic symbols that were meant to make the soul of the deceased pass on peacefully. After all, an undead king coming back from the grave would be enough cause to send the entire nation into maddening grief. Most of these kings and queens had now turned to nothing more than skeletons as their corpses lay peacefully and unmoving as time went by.

And yet…

Beneath this sacred and calm place was another cave. Deep beneath the crypt in a place that was unreachable unless you forcibly dug down for at least a dozen meters. This place had no entrance or light and not a single sound could be heard. And yet this cave did not exist here naturally. If the crypt above was four hundred years old, then this cave was only half that.

In the cave's center was a mysterious object that likewise had only been here for two hundred years.

A dark Indigo crystal the size of a person stood in this cave. The dust had already covered it with many layers as its resplendence was nowhere to be found and in this darkness could easily be mistaken for just some large rock.

But it was on this day that something extraordinary happened.

"… I sense…"

An archaic voice rang out from within the crystal and yet at the same time it sounded like a person that only now had begun to awaken from his slumber.

"… I sense the light in the east… it has been swallowed by darkness!"

As soon as these words resounded from within the crystal, it caused an intense violet glow to shine from within revealing the damaged remains of a heteromorphic creature that seemed to be sealed within.

The crystal began to emit a surging wave of dark energy that seeped relentlessly from the crystal until it filled the entire cave with what looked like dark fog.

As the fog spread another strange occurrence took place within this cave.

Besides the crystal, there was only one other thing out of place in the cave. Namely, five sealed ceramic jars that lay in different corners of this unnatural crevice. Once the dark mist reached them, they began to tremble incessantly until cracks started appearing on their surface.

"Three hundred years ago when we came to this world we were given no purpose or rules to live by and simply lived our lives feasting on the flesh of this world's inhabitants!"

The archaic voice now seemed fully awake as the sound vibrations of its caused the cave to shake almost as much as the jars. Even the coffins in the crypt were slightly vibrating.

"Our arrogance and sense of superiority led to our downfall all those years ago, but now a new chance has appeared!"

As soon as these words finished echoing through the cave, the jars could not take the trembling any longer and burst apart.

From within the jars exploded a fountain of black sludge that spattered in every direction and left behind five small piles of muck.

"Before the Archfiend of Wisdom was defeated by that despicable human, he passed on his last secret that would ensure the survival of the demon race. One day hundreds of years from now, another force so great that it could blot out the sun might appear. If this force has evil karma then we can use this chance to ally ourselves with this power and eventually usurp the base of its strength as was dictated by the Archfiend."

The dark energy became more violent and began to corrode the ceiling of the cave, striving towards the surface. Eventually, the energy tore through the ceiling and began to create cracks in the floor of the crypt as the dark energy leaked into the resting place.

"Only a monster could have smothered the light of the east. If we can devour this force's power we could easily reclaim our former glory! In other words, do you think that you are allowed to keep sleeping?!"

As if responding to the crystal's criticism, the five pools of black sludge began to contort and fuse back the pieces of sludge that had been scattered upon explosion, eventually creating five figures that stood upright as they gazed towards the crystal. Not long after their bodies had been reformed, the black sludge suddenly began to evaporate into thin air only leaving behind traces of black smoke and the

figures that were hidden beneath the sludge. Now in place of five sludge figures stood five nude humanoid beings that at first glance would seem normal but upon closer inspection each had a clear trait that made it apparent they were far from human.

As soon as all the muck had evaporated from their bodies, they dropped to their knees and kowtowed six times in the direction of the crystal. Afterwards, a unanimous sound of five voices rang through the cave.

"This lowly vassal greets thee, o' great demon king!"

The crystal, or rather the creature inside it, didn't seem to care much for the heartfelt greeting of the five as its voice continued to boom.

"Prepare the ritual of unsealing and awaken any and all of our kin that may still lie dormant in this world, but beware that you don't reveal yourselves just yet! The time of our clan's revival is at hand, don't waste this opportunity!"

As the dark energy seeped further into the catacombs of the royal crypt the markings on the coffins began to glow as soon as the dark energy came near them, only to fade almost immediately due to the sheer power of the malicious energy.

Not much later did all the coffins begin to tremble once more. Only this time the coffins shook as if something wanted to break out from the coffins. Deep grunts were heard from within as the entire crypt had turned into a choir of wails that seemed to cry out in agony and fear. It was as if the occupants had sensed the presence of the creatures that had awakened from their slumber.

On the same day, five figures wearing burial clothing and hidden by invisibility magic flew out from the crypt and set forth in different directions. Today would be the day that marked the revival of their clan that once had rampaged throughout the continent with power far surpassing what mortals could imagine. Today the Demon Gods had risen once more.

Author's afterword:

50000 views! Not sure if that's considered good or bad but I'm still glad I got this much. Just a little more favorites and I have officially cracked top five with this story.

Curious how many actually believed Ainz was dead or even thought that it was possible! Anyways another chapter, now just one small chapter left plus an epilogue and we are DONE! No cliffhangers this time so plz no raging in the review section!

And as always.

Burn in hell Yen Press

And

GLORY TO AINZ OOAL GOWN