While Keno was about to finish setting up the campfire, Satoru started summoning his usual undead that he would summon when they would set up a camp in a potentially hostile area.
"[Summon High-Tier Undead: Eyeball Corpse]"
With that, a big ball of darkness materialized out of nowhere, it had an ever changing form, and it's surface was covered in countless eyes of different shapes, sizes and colors. It had stolen the different sets of eyes of it's victims and adorned itself with them...Or atleast that was what was written in the YGGDRASIL Lore of the summon.
While it was rather weak in combat, it was excellent for surveillance. In YGGDRASIL, it was considered the bane of all stealthy beings due to it's ability to seek out even high level players.
After ordering the summon to keep an eye..or eyes, out for any being in an area of 1 kilometer radius, Satoru turned to two figures who were clad in black armour with spikes, towering over even him, holding massive tower shields which made them an intimidating sight, these two figures were Death Knights, middle-tier undead who are typically used as meatshields.
They are close to Level 35 but their defense power is of the Level 40 while it's attack power is only of a Level 20 warrior. But the main reason that they are typically used as meatshields is, due to their ability to survive any one lethal hit and retain 1 HP afterwards and it's ability to draw in aggression from their adversaries.
As the undead had not been summoned from a corpse, they were only temporary summons, which would have to be replaced with another summon once its duration would have ended, to maintain the security around their camp for the night.
"Alright, an Eyeball Corpse to keep an eye out for any monsters or bandit, and two Death Knights for our emergency escape. Keno! Have you finished setting up the campfire?"
"Yeah, Satoru...AH!" came a sudden shriek from Keno, as she looked at the grotesque forms of the undead near Satoru.
"Satoru! I had told you to summon your undead away from me!" spoke Keno, while backing up to get away from the Death Knights.
"Oh come on, they just want to be friends with you" said the overlord, finding the reaction of the young girl to be quite amusing.
"See? They are so friendly" he said, while shaking hands with one of the Death Knights, where the other one was waving at Keno as per the mental orders from it's master. The scene would have been quite comical, if not for the rotten, hideous visages of the Death Knights.
"But still, please keep those things away from me"
He chuckled, "Alright alright, I won't spawn undead near you, unless it's absolutely necessary, happy now?"
"Umu"
"Now then, let's sit down" said Satoru as he gestured towards the tree log, which had been cut by him using an axe created by the spell [Create Greater Item].
Technically, Satoru could use spells like [Create Fortress] to make suitable accommodations for themselves, but that would really ruin the fun of adventuring, and that is overlooking the fact that a massive fortress would only draw in unnecessary attention to them.
As they sat on the log, near the campfire to warm up their naturally cold bodies. The two talked about the events of the day, the sceneries they had witnessed on their journey and Satoru wholeheartedly continuing his tale of 'The Great Raid', where Ainz Ooal Gown managed to defeat 1500 Players and NPCs, without them even breaching the 9th or the 10th floor of The Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.
At first, when Satoru had told her that 'The Great Raid' was attempted by 1500 beings, where the average one of them could rival even Satoru and the other members of Ainz Ooal Gown in terms of raw power, she was both shocked and yet again impressed by the sheer power of Ainz Ooal Gown, which managed to repel this raid.
But Keno knew that great power can only be used to it's fullest potential if the one who possess it is competent enough. And, while Satoru would always undersell himself as the leader of his guild, she could realize that out of any other member, Satoru was definitely the most suited to lead their guild.
Satoru is the best!
Tonight, he would be telling her about how the fighting took place in the 5th floor of The Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. And, whenever he would mention himself in his tale, she would immediately pay extra attention as not to miss any detail of her dear friend.
He's so coool! that was the only thing she would think about as she heard the exploits of her friend.
As time passed on, now there was little time left for the sunrise and Satoru had just finished the part of the story that he had planned to tell, leaving Keno with a cliffhanger, to which she pouted but accepted it nonetheless as she too could accept the fact that obsessing over a story would do no good to anyone's mind. Now, both of them had remained silent for some time which was a welcome change for them after talking for the whole night.
After a while, Satoru could not help but notice how Keno was occasionally sliding closer to him which continued until she was resting her head onto his arm, while he did not think bones made for the best article to rest on, he would certainly not deny her anything. As he wrapped his arm around her in a protective manner, which made Keno hold him even tighter than before, they continued the silence and enjoy each other's touch while it lasted.
I must protect her happiness at all costs! those were the only kinds of thoughts that came up in the overlord's mind.
Satoru did not know how had he come to care for the little vampire so much, he could have just parted ways from her when he had gathered sufficient information about this world and it's denizens but now, whenever he even thought of that notion, he would mentally shake his head to dispel such thoughts as if the very idea of leaving Keno was just...wrong for him. He did not even want to imagine such a scenario.
As the day got brighter and brighter which indicated the sunrise, the two welcomed yet another day where they would continue their travel, talk about more stupid stuff and possibly even find more members of Ainz Ooal Gown...though that possibility may be somewhat improbable.
Suvo was a humble traveler, who really liked to interact with passing travelers and what can he say?...He is a pretty sociable guy. He had been doing stuff like this since the age of 8 because his mother had apparently passed away before he had even opened his eyes for the first time and his father was a drunkard piece of shit so he had simply dealt with him when he started to get in his way.
His band of 9 men, including him, had been traveling from the south, looking for travelers to increase their victim counts, but they had only encountered a traveling couple recently, he now wished that he had refrained from killing the woman so early as they could have just taken more shots at her while waiting.
His men were properly equipped with swords, leather armour and he even had an assassin with a talent that boosted his stealth skills considerably, he was proud say that his band was most definitely the strongest bandit group on the entire continent, all because of his excellent leadership, and while he could probably have taken care of all the things himself, he would not deny his men to die for their glorious leader, if the situation called for it, besides it wouldn't hurt to have a few people less, so he could get an even bigger share.
He caressed the bracelet on his arm, that he had taken from another traveler, and what an idiot that guy was, he had the audacity to have Dragon Lords as his servants, but unlike Suvo, his words were backed up by nothing but a sad excuse for power. And when he started wearing the bracelet, all of Suvo's latent power had been awakened because of it. Ever since he had worn this bracelet, everything had become so simple, meaning that he had become ten-times..no, a hundred-times smarter than his previous self.
He didn't know such an idiot existed that even this item had failed to grant him intellect, but perhaps he was just unworthy of the item's power, unlike Suvo.
As he questioned that man regarding the bracelet, he had only learned of the magic item's name which was apparently the 'Bracelet of the Dummkopf'.
He did not know what 'Dummkopf' was, so he guessed that the item must have belonged to those gods that the people talked about. As in, only items of other gods were worthy enough for the next Supreme God of this world. Suvo liked the sound of that.
But for now, he had to wait for any travelers to come by and ambush them.
But the wait was cut short, as their assassin came back to report that two people, a robed guy and a young girl were approaching on a carriage. Suvo couldn't help but give away a wide grin to this news, something suitable for only the predator who had found yet another prey.
And, after reporting the arrival of their future victims, the assassin got into his position, where he could effectively slice off the head of the robed guy, if he tries to put up a fight, not that Suvo couldn't handle a threat but with a supreme intellect, laying a contingency plan was obvious.
As the two continued their journey towards Mt. Claritas while admiring the beauty of nature along the way. Keno could not help but look at the mountain in the distance which put any other mountains to shame with its height. While Satoru was thinking about potentially powerful creatures which are said to have taken these mountain ranges as their residence.
I have to be prepared to protect Keno if anything powerful shows up.
He had given Keno suitable gear for her build and items such as a sealing crustal with the spell [Greater Teleportation] for emergency escapes. Her security was of the topmost priority since she was very weak compared to him, so he would have to act as the front-liner and ideally, buy her enough time to escape using her crystal, so that he could be free to focus on his adversary.
As he looked at Keno, who was still staring at where the peak could be, he could barely manage to suppress the urge to patt her head as he did not want to interrupt her fantasies, which were probably about her as she would stand at summit of the mountain and look down at the world.
You really were true when you said about a child's smile being one of best healing remedies for the soul, Yamaiko.
But now that he thought about it and remembered how the behavior of most children of the 22nd century was. He felt his usual indifference towards those words come back.
That's right! How can those children be even compared to Keno?! as he glanced at Keno again, his thoughts continued.
Haah, she really is the cutest thing in the world.
With that, Satoru continued his thought process about the journey, from what he could estimate, they would reach the base of the mountain in about 3 more days of travel on carriage and the closer they get, the more the chance of getting attacked.
As he continued to develop more plans for possible attacks, Keno abruptly whispered:
"Some beings ahead, which are hidden on the sides, 8 of them, probably an ambush" came the low voice of Keno, while trying not to give herself away as she sensed the 8 figures up ahead with her vampiric senses.
Immediately, Satoru went into PK mode and sent an invisible High Wraiths to scout ahead while slowing down the Golem Horse a little and gave an almost imperceptible nod to Keno. Meanwhile, Keno prepared herself for the inevitable slaughter that would occur, which had happened far too many times to count in her two years of travel with Satoru.
He had silently used [Undead Slave Sight] on the summon so he was able to spot the 8 people. They were just some weak bandits who didn't have any equipment other than the basic on them. He really didn't know why these bandits decided to come to these regions where the chances of encountering monsters were higher than usual, it's not like that the travelers use these paths often either anyway.
Wait! The fact that they are so weak must be because they are trying to get us into a false sense of security and lower our guard...hmph, you are better than the average but I am onto you!
With that, he sent three more High Wraiths in three different directions to check for anyone following them but much to his surprise, he found no one in their vicinity.
Damn! How can I make such a rookie mistake! Of course, they would have abilities to hide themselves. I need to summon that.
Immediately, he used the spell [Create High-Tier Undead: Eyeball Corpse] to create an Eyeball Corpse inside the carriage and cast [Complete Invisibility] on it. With that, the undead quickly scouted the nearby regions in mere seconds, while it found no one else following them, it did however find that there were actually 9 bandits ahead of them.
So, that's really it huh? What a bunch of noobs!
Though, I will have to check on that 9th person, to remain hidden from a High Wraith and Keno's vampiric senses is not something that I can just ignore.
As the bandits up ahead weren't any threat to him, he cast various buffs on Keno and ordered the High Wraiths to protect Keno from any attacks, while the Eyeball Corpse would stay in the carriage for later use.
With the preparations completed, Satoru sped up the Golem Horse so that he could get over all of this quickly.
As Suvo spotted the carriage, he could not wait to get his hands on everything that this fool had, from the top quality horse to the small child seated next to him.
Kuku..She would definitely sell for a very good price.
When the carriage got close enough, they immediately surrounded it, 3 men(including Suvo) jumped infront of the carriage while 2 men on each side respectively with 1 guy for the back. And, what these two wouldn't even know that there was even an assassin completely hidden in the trees, ready to cut off the head of the robed guy at any moment.
"Oi Oi, nice stuff you got there, if you leave everything including that girl, I might even spare ya!"
As he shouted those words while all of them pointing their weapons and waiting for the panic from the two travelers, but he instead felt the air around him get cold and a strange feeling flooded his mind with shivers moving down his spine while his legs were about to give away.
The robed guy, presumed to be a magic caster, got off the carriage and the girl followed him. As he got closer to them, they instinctively took a few steps back, it was as if the man had grown to titanic proportions, his presence made them feel that they would just get devoured in his overwhelming presence.
He was so overwhelmed that he couldn't even decipher the feeling, but to the ones watching him, the look on his face simply gave it away and the look on his face was that of- Absolute, Unimaginable and Overpowering Fear.
"Keno, I would strongly suggest that we finally start making permanent Wraiths and-" while pointing at Suvo "-We can start with that guy" spoke the mysterious masked man, with his deep, majestic voice with words dripping with venom.
"No please Satoru! Just deal with them like you normally would, Please!" came the frantic voice of the young girl, clasping her hands together, but seemed her fear was not because the two were surrounded, instead her fear was because of horrible fates that would befell the bandits if she were to agree with the man.
"Haah!...Fine" sighed the overlord, as he gave up the argument knowing that it would get them nowhere.
Meanwhile, Suvo, after finally gathering enough courage to stand his ground against the mysterious magic caster, thought to himself:
No! I am the future Supreme God of this world! I won't be stopped by some pathetic magic caster. That's right, he is yet another stepping stone for me. All will bow down to me, including YOU!
With that, he lunged forward at the magic caster named Satoru to which the caster showed no reflexes to dodge the attack. His sword being aimed at the neck of the caster, with a single slash, it would be chopped off. But, his attack was interrupted by the words of the caster.
"[Acidball]" he said, and a ball of acid appeared behind the caster and struck at him with incredible speed, it burned away the flesh, muscles and even the bones, while the leader of the bandits could only scream at the top of his melting away lungs. Soon after, the screams died down, and the body was left into a puddle of melted flesh and blood.
And that was it for the bandit named Suvo.
Meanwhile all other men could only watch in horror at their leader, every single one of them were terrified out of their minds, some thought of pleading to the caster for mercy, some thought of running of away while some remembered all the decisions in their life which would now result in their death.
But all those thoughts were interrupted by the cold voice of the masked man who simply said:
"Kill them"
With just those two words, the bandits knew what would happen in a few moments, and those thoughts were proven correct as four ghost-like beings appeared out of nowhere and lunged at the bandits draining away their life force and leaving only husks of the men behind.
That piece of shit, He deserved the eternal suffering as an undead for even thinking of hurting my Keno!
But he couldn't relax yet, as the overlord knew that there was a 9th one and immediately, he had ordered the Eyeball Corpse that was in their carriage to find the last bandit, if he is even in their vicinity anymore.
After about 10 minutes of searching, he ordered the undead that was scouting the nearby region, to return to him as he concluded that the bandit was far gone and finding him isn't worth the effort anymore.
If that guy was as scared as the other bandits that he decided to run away, then he can''t possibly pose any threat to us.
Though he still was bitter of the fact that he didn't get to analyse his ability to be hidden from the wraiths and Keno.
Oh well, it couldn't be helped. he concluded in his mind, turning to Keno, who was checking the equipment and the items of the fallen bandits.
And then, he spotted, in the the puddle that was formerly the leader of the bandits, a bracelet which resonated with magic, which instantly triggered his loot goblin senses.
As he picked up the bracelet and took a proper look at it, he thought:
Wait! I remember this item! Though, I don't remember it's name, but I think it boosts Luck by like 40% or something. No wonder these guys made it here despite being so weak.
With that, he cast [All Appraisal Magic Item] on the bracelet to conduct an in-depth analysis on the item. As the spell took effect, all information about the item flooded his mind.
Bracelet of the Dummkopf? And wait, is that German?!
Suddenly, he remembered the NPC that he had created in the Treasury, where his clothes and personality were based off of his cringe past.
Well, he could probably tell me it's meaning...if only he was able to actually talk like a person.
Though, that was simply impossible for an NPC, and it's not Nazarick was here in this world either. But, it would certainly be interesting to see how things would turn out, if he was transported with Nazarick and it's denizens.
Well, it's just a mid-tier item, so into the inventory it goes then.
With that he chucked the bracelet into his inventory and said:
"Keno, have you checked all the bandits for anything interesting?"
"Yeah, I have, though they didn't have anything worth picking up"
"Alright then, hop on and let's get out of here" to which Keno nodded and got onto the driver's seat of the carriage.
And with no bandits crossing their way, the two continued their travel to Mt. Claritas.
{3 Days Later}
Finally, they stood near the base of the mountain, the temperature had probably gotten very low as they approached it, but the undead were not affected by cold and even if it got below the freezing point of water, it would not matter to them. As they looked upwards at the mountain, all they could see was snow, while the peak still remained unseen.
Reminds me of the time when Blue Planet would talk about the melted glaciers of that mountain region, what was it called again...Mt. Evest?
As he abandoned that line of thought, he turned to his lovely companion.
"I think it's finally time that we travel on foot from here" said the overlord to his companion.
"Yay! Finally we can start climbing it!" said Keno with an expression of utmost joy, but that expression quickly changed to one that of uncertainty. "But Satoru, you never told what we are going to do with our carriage?"
"Don't worry, I have an item to hide it" he said, while ruffling her hair.
"You really have an item or spell for anything, Satoru" to which, the overlord chuckled.
As they got off their carriage, Satoru gave the Golem Horse a mental command to revert back to it's item form and returned it to his inventory while taking out the item 'Wand of Hodur' to hide the carriage in the shadow realm.
Wand of Hodur, a High-Class item which could hide any object in the realm of shadows, it was particularly useful to hide permanent bases from mid level players, it was even used by players to bully the mid level players by hiding away golems in areas and then ambushing them with them. And the good thing about it was that it was a reusable item, but it had a cooldown of an hour before one could use it again.
Since, most of the denizens of this world weren't even comparable to a mid level player, this item could safely hide away their carriage.
As he used the wand on the carriage, it started to slowly sink away into the shadow of a tree near which it was parked.
"Now then, shall we, Keno?"
"Yup Yup! Let's go!" she said while raising her arms upwardly from the excitement.
While Satoru could just use [Fly] to get to the peak effectively, it would obviously ruin the fun of their adventure, so they would complete this journey with their own feet as per the words of Keno.
With that, Keno reached out for his hand and grabbed it like a child holding their parent's hand while crossing a road, he too held her hand and squeezed it. In the past, he had pointed it out that his bony hand could hurt her if she were to hold it so tightly but the girl had simply said that it could never hurt, if he was the one holding her.
At that time, he was so overwhelmed with emotions, that the [Emotional Suppression] had kicked in, but he did not let it stop him as he embraced the girl tightly and they had held each other for the rest of the night.
And with that, the two undead started their journey on foot.
{After a few minutes of the encounter between Satoru, Keno and the bandits}
A certain assassin was running for his dear life after witnessing the killing intent of that magic caster. He had a talent that improved his stealth and it seems that the gods were on his side this time, since that monster of a mage wasn't able to detect him.
Shit! Shit! Shit! Fighting that monster is certain death. Why did I even stick around with that idiot for some stupid bracelet?
He had heard the bracelet was a powerful magic item, and all this time he had simply stuck around to get a chance to steal the magic item. But it certainly wasn't worth it, if he had to fight that monster for it.
He had been running for some minutes, and thanks to his incredible speed as an assassin and endurance that he was probably about 2 kilometers away from them. He was probably safe from that caster from now on but his fear still lingered, he could not take any chances of encountering that monster ever again.
He kept running in the opposite direction of the caster, while his mind was repeating his thoughts of:
Damn being the best assassin! I will go far away from this place and live a good life as a farmer or something...yeah, that sounds good.
And just like that, a functional member of society was born from absolute terror.
What's up fellas, hope you liked this chapter. While I never underestimated the amount of work, a writer does but experiencing it for myself is certainly...different. But that won't stop me from continuing this. And also, I think I will take some more for the next one and deliver a long chapter instead. Thank you for reading this story and I will see you next time!
Good Day
PS: I spent like 20 minutes, trying to figure out a name for the leader of the bandits and I think I have a newfound respect for those authors who name like hundreds of OCs, even if they are absolute trash.