So originally, I had a whole ass chapter planned where the gang raided a dungeon and continued the quest from the last chapter. But I honestly cannot make it interesting enough or have much of a desire to finish it, so I am just going to continue with a time skip! I will post what I had for the chapter at the end of this one as a canon omake. Also, it is not even a contest in who won the poll. The winners won by a landslide.
I was originally going to write a Nazarick invasion chapter and maybe a few fillers, but I cannot really think of too much to do so this chapter is taking place after Nazarick was conquered and Merlin along with the rest of the guild are creating their NPCs. Hope you all enjoy!
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"Hey everyone~" Merlin sing songed as he entered the guild meeting room. The meeting room belonging to the newly acquired guild base they had conquered a few weeks prior. Nazarick.
"Hey Merlin/Sup Merlin/Succuboi" were the responses he received. Ulbert being the one to call out Succuboi.
"How was your day today?" The ever nice and chivalrous Touch-Me asked him as he took a seat next to him and across from Momonga on the other end of the large white round table with red chairs.
Merlin sighed as he sat down "Some guy decided to break into my car last night and smash the window."
"Oh no! Was anything taken?" Chagama asked with worry.
"Nope" Merlin popped the P "rummaged through but didn't grab anything."
"Truly despicable" Touch-Me huffed.
"You sound like an old man Touch" Lucifer joked. Lucifer was around for a while, but his appearance resembles that of a typical angel, with a halo above his head, wearing white robes with holy symbols. However, his actual body seems more decayed with a deformed face, and just one angel wing that looks demonic.
"Ha! Of course he does. He is an old fart" Ulbert snickered along with a few other members.
"As sorry as I am to hear that" Punitto Moe started "Can we get to why this meeting was called?" Punitto Moe's game avatar is composed entirely of a plant known as Death Vines. He also wears something like a priest robe over his frame. He was considered one of, if not the best strategist in the guild as he was deeply knowledgeable in PvP.
"Shouldn't our fearless leader do something about that?" Merlin said with a smug grin emoji.
"Uwahhh… would you stop calling me that?" Momonga seemed a bit embarrassed "plus I didn't call this meeting."
"Then who did?" Amanomahitotsu asked.
The meeting room doors then slammed open "Four score and four days ago I had a dream" the boisterous voice of a certain avian player filled the room.
"Was he waiting outside the room to enter at that moment?" Merlin tilted his head.
"Hush my fellow cultured individual."
"I wouldn't say I'm that 'cultured'…" Merlin muttered.
"Can you get to why you called this stupid meeting then?" Ulbert sounded irritated.
"If you would let me finish I will! Ahem!" Peroroncino then did a spin and jazz hands "NPCs!" A party popper sounded off behind him with a 'Yay!' Sound effect coming through.
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"That's it I'm out" Ulbert stood up.
"You're not gonna wait to hear what I have to say?"
"I don't really want to. So, no"
"Just humour him for a few minutes" Momonga sighed out.
"Fine" Ulbert huffed and sat down.
"I do wonder myself what it is you mean by NPCs" Touch-Me was curious.
"It better not be some hair brained scheme" Chagama said in a deep voice.
"Depends on how you view it" Peroroncino continued "So you know how this place has multiple floors right? And how there is the undead NPCs that spawn right?" He received nods all around "How about we make NPCs to guard each floor? I got this idea for a loli vampire and her-"
"Brother. We do not need to hear the specifics about that" Chagama cut him off before he started a rant.
"The point has merit though" Tabula commented "I've actually had ideas myself."
Belriver nodded "It would be helpful for if someone raids us. Weren't we even talking about adding more floors anyway?"
"We were talking about that yeah" Moe supplied.
"That shit takes up a lot of data. Especially if we add more floors" Ulbert made a good point "especially if it's all level one hundred NPCs."
"We can always pitch in to buy more space" Merlin suggested.
"Its not like its infinite. And who gets to decide on who gets to make level one hundred NPCs? We have more than a dozen members and will likely get more" Ulbert.
"Good point" Momonga interjected "But then again, coding NPCs is difficult when it comes to minor details. Plus, I'm sure not everyone is going to want to grind for weeks on getting materials for them when there are more things to focus on. Like how we were talking about our guild weapon."
"Regardless it is a good idea" Merlin adopted a thinking pose "We are more role players than anything else so why don't we all pitch in for a few really strong ones that'll be the main line of defence and smaller lower levelled teams and whatever else anyone else wants to do for aesthetics or something."
"I can agree with that" Takemikazuchi spoke up "I have an idea for a cool glass canon warrior."
"Does everyone else agree with what's been said?" Momonga asked and received nods all around. "Good. We can deal with expansions as we need but for now, we could brainstorm on some NPC ideas."
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A few days later in the throne room
After multiple ideas were thrown around, some shot down and others approved, a few guild members were within the throne room. The room itself is an in-progress piece of work. A wide, high room, enough for several hundred people, with a high ceiling and surrounding walls that were white, with golden decorations as highlights. Hanging from the ceiling were numerous chandeliers made of precious stones. Numerous flags emblazoned with different symbols, each for one of the members, hung from flagpoles embedded into the walls. A massive throne being at one end of the room, reserved for the guild leader, Momonga. So far, the only people in the room at the moment were Momonga, Ulbert, Merlin, Chagama, Touch-Me, Peroroncino, Takemikazuchi and Tabula as the rest of the guild was either offline or grabbing materials. Momonga was working closely with Peroroncino while everyone else worked alone.
'Hmm… now what exactly do I wanna make? It has to fit the theme of the guild in some form… so maybe a demon? No that's too generic. I think Ulbert was going to do something like that, and Tabula was planning on a succubus… so what if I did some form of dark or altered human? Something that's been corrupted from the light? That would be cool actually.'
Merlin then called out "can you guys think of some famous heroic people?"
"For what reason?" Touch-Me asked from a digital console he had in front of him.
"I was thinking that my NPCs could be some form of an altered hero from the past. That way it could fit our guild theme without being too generic."
"Hmm…" Touch-Me hummed "the most chivalrous I can think of would be none other than King Arthur!"
"Good idea!" Merlin said with a happy emoji.
"Ooo! Ooo!" Peroroncino raised his hand like a kid.
"You don't have to raise your hand you know…" Momonga said quietly.
"What is your suggestion my good sir?" Merlin acknowledged.
"Didn't King Arthur have a brother or sister or something?"
"Wasn't it Morgan?" Ulbert answered.
"Meh" Merlin shrugged "I'm not a history buff."
"Morgan was a witch, right?" Momonga asked "we don't have an insane amount of caster NPCs…"
"We do have a lot of casters in the guild though" Chagama mentioned.
"Morgan was a powerful enchantress who is generally seen as the sister of the king" Tabula gave the brief history.
"I'll make it work" Merlin shrugged and opened up a console.
"You should make the king a girl" Peroroncino added in.
"Why would I do that?"
"Because it would be funny. No one would really expect it and it adds a fun little twist."
"I can agree with that" Tabula added.
"Of course, you would you Gap Moe loving fuck" Ulbert chuckled.
"Language!" Touch-Me called out.
"Did he just say 'language'?" Ulbert asked as everyone else chuckled.
"Well, I guess I'm going to have to grind to get a dark and tainted holy sword with busted ass stats" Merlin sighed after writing some notes in his console and closing it. "Not to mention I'm going to have to grind for some armour materials, data crystals and all that stuff."
"I'm sure Amanomahitotsu wouldn't mind helping build all that" Chagama supplied "Plus Takemikazuchi is always making crazy swords."
"That is true"
"But before you go… would you mind helping me with my NPCs? I know you have Druid levels and I wanna make two elves… Plus you know a lot about the game…"
"Sure! Then after we can go grinding together for materials" Merlin sent a smile emoji.
"Don't go grinding on my sister!" Peroroncino called out.
"BROTHER!" Chagama's voice rang throughout all of Nazarick. What followed were the screams of agony as sister beat brother senseless.
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Congratulations!
For the forty second time, Merlin saw that message this week alone within a massive dark poison-soaked cave. A pile of gold and treasure strewn about the cave.
"For all that is good and holy… Give me my drop!" Merlin huffed.
"You should relax" Touch-Me spoke as he holstered his equipment.
"I've been grinding this stupid Fáfnir raid for three weeks and have done it more than a hundred times and still haven't gotten my dragon core!"
"Again" Momonga who was also there spoke "Why not do what Touch-Me is doing and make a dragonoid with a transformation."
"Because it won't fit the build I am trying to make. The point of the core is to act like a reactor. Making it so that it is difficult to run out of magical energy and that it can be used in bursts to create large power boosts." Merlin huffed as he scrolled through the loot.
"Still surprised you haven't gotten it yet" Yamaiko commented as she sorted through her own loot. Yamaiko being of the same race as Takemikazuchi but wore yellow priestly garbs with black outlines and a black waist cloth. Two massive gauntlets were on her fists for her weapon. She was a part of the clan Nine's Own Goal before it became the guild Ainz Ooal Gown.
"Some people don't have your luck muscle brain sensei" Merlin then lowered his head and closed his menu.
Yamaiko had an angry emoji appear by her head and was about to say something before she stopped.
"Yamaiko…" Merlin slowly turned with a crooked grin emoji. "Don't tell me it just dropped for you…"
"Umm… it didn't drop?"
"I know you're lying."
"Wha? No, I would never do that" she waved off.
"Then let me see."
"See what?"
"Your loot drops"
"There's no need for that" she slowly backed away.
"Yamaiko…" his voice started to sound crazy as he sauntered forward like a zombie. "Three weeks and I get nothing… 3 tries for you today and you get it… that hardly seems fair".
"Merlin calm down" Momonga got between them, with a panic emoji "I get the feeling. I really do. I'm sure she won't mind giving it to you. Right Yamaiko?"
"Y-yeah totally!"
"You will?" Merlin asked with a slight southern accent, to which he received a slow nod. "Well!" Merlin's mood did a complete one eighty "guess we're all good then." Merlin then approached her while Momonga went to join Touch-Me.
"I never thought Merlin could break like that…" Momonga commented to Touch-Me.
"I've seen him like that maybe once before…" Touch-Me responded. "He asked for my help a while ago just like this."
"Scary…"
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Really short for the main chapter but it has been a long time since I updated any stories. Plus, I want to fit what I had for the canon omake that was the continuation from last chapter. I may finish the chapter in a later omake. So let me know what y'all think about that. Anyways, on to the omake!
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"Alright fellas it's time to plan" Merlin placed his hands on the table he was sitting at. Currently he was in the guild base 'meeting room' which was basically a dining room with a long table. Currently sitting at the table was Merlin, Chagama, Peroroncino, Tabula, Nishikienrai, Momonga, Ulbert, and a newer face known as Bellriver. Bellriver being a magic knight type build with an avatar that was a large four-armed humanoid creature with red skin and wearing a blueish armour with bone protrusions. The skin on his body being covered in mouths of all things.
"What is there to even plan?" Nishiki spoke from across the table "We literally know nothing about where we're going."
"Gonna have to side with Nishiki on this one" Momonga commented.
"You didn't even scope the place out?" Ulbert asked.
"That's what we have Nishiki for when we get there" Merlin sent a smile emoji.
"We can't just send one guy to scope out the place of a 'crazy scientist' woman" Bellriver brought up.
"Merlin could go with him" Tabula offered a solution. "He's got a better use of spells than I do and has a multitude of spells and skills to help him escape if things go bad."
"I mean I guess that can work…" Bellriver mumbled with a thinking emoji. "But who's to say there aren't any sentries or familiars that'll spot us if we get too close?"
"It's not like you guys don't have ways of working around that" Peroroncino crossed his arms. "Plus, I can just survey from the air and keep an eye on the general area."
Bellriver sighed "This is either going to work or it isn't."
"Awe come on now" Chagama waved her 'hand' "have a little faith."
"I'll try" Bellriver sighed again.
"Could just blow the place up or something."
"Ulbert, you know we can't do that" Tabula drawled.
"Yeah yeah because it'll mess with your precious quest line lore, I get it."
"Plus, we could end up loosing potential loot" Momonga supplied.
"Can't forget about the hoarders and collectors either" Ulbert chuckled.
"I take pride in our greediness" Merlin sent a smug emoji.
"Says the literal embodiment."
"Come on now Ulbert, you know you love me."
"Love is a strong word, and I don't swing that way. Plus, I kind of hate you."
"As much as I'd love to continue this line of comedy" Merlin chuckled "It's best we get to work. We don't have our leader here to officially invite our friend here" he motioned to Peroroncino "But he's Chagama's brother and I trust him. So, let us get out there and get us some loot!"
Chagama let out a "Yeah!" while the rest just looked at each other and let out a slower less enthusiastic "Yeah."
"Don't think speeches are your thing" Bellriver chuckled.
"More of a Touch-Me or Momonga thing" Tabula snickered as well.
"Eh?" Momonga perked up "why me?"
"You have a talent for it" Nishiki shrugged.
"Guess I can't deny that" Merlin sighed jokingly with a frown emoji.
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After laughing at Momonga's embarrassment, the party of eight set out for the mini raid. They were all briefed on the small fight that took place between Merlin and the others against the grey creature. So, they were prepared to deal with specialized enemies. Currently they were around two kilometres away from the base in the mountains sitting in a forested tree line to avoid visual detection.
The only one not among them was Peroroncino because he was currently circling the area in attempts to get a 'lay of the land.'
"So, what do you see?" Tabula said over a chat line with Peroroncino and the party.
"Not much from up here" the avian player said back over the line. "Just a few golems and weird puppet/doll things guarding the entrance."
"Only one entrance?" Bellriver asked.
"From what I can tell. I circled around and did not see anything that stands out."
"We should not dismiss the idea of there being a secret exit or entrance. But it would be a waste of time for us to look for one right now" Nishiki hummed.
"I'd rather not spread ourselves too thin" Tabula addressed the group "While we dealt with that behemoth thing. It was in a wide-open area where it was at a disadvantage. In close quarters it could be a lot worse."
"Agreed" Bellriver nodded "Let's have Merlin and Nishiki scout ahead now."
"You ready?" Nishiki asked Merlin. All eyes looked to Merlin as a puff of fluff appeared on his shoulder which revealed itself to be Cath Palug.
"Yup. I will use this guy since he has anti divination skills which can keep me a little better hidden if he is on my shoulder."
"Good idea" Nishiki raised his hand in a 'jutsu' like fashion before turning invisible using [Perfect Unknowable]. The spell was not super rare, so Merlin cast his own [Perfect Unknowable] and followed Nishiki.
After passing the two-kilometre threshold nothing happened so the two pressed on until they reached the main area where the golems and such were. Peroroncino was not lying about the weird puppet mobs. They looked more like shiny mannequins that clicked as they moved. Merlin kept a decent distance away as golems and mannequins alike dropped as if their strings were cut. Once the last one fell and a few searches using silent casting were made. The two proceeded into the cave after sending a message to the party that it was safe to move towards the cave while the two scouted ahead. The first few meters into the cave seemed normal. The only thing out of the ordinary were similar mobs from before along the way. It was not until they were a good fifty or so meters in did the cave come to an abrupt end. Blocking their current path was a massive steel door that led further into the base.
"Well, that's a problem" Nishiki muttered while observing the door still under the effects of [Perfect Unknowable].
"Can you pick it or something?" Merlin asked while also observing the door.
"I have never seen a door like this in Yggdrasil. Usually, they are just large stone or metal doors with some sort of spell used to keep low level players out… but this is weird."
"How so?"
"Here take a look at this" Nishiki pinged a small pad next to the large door.
"Is that a keypad?"
"Looks like it. It doesn't look to be fully mechanical like modern day stuff…" Nishiki thought to himself for a moment before continuing "Unless this is a super special dungeon or it's the Devs hinting at something…"
"You think they would hint at an update through a dungeon like this? It seems too advanced to fit the fantasy theme."
"I got no clue" Nishiki sighed.
"Let me cast [Identify] on it" Merlin then touched the panel to figure out what it was. "It seems to be more magical than technical. It's telling me that it reads specific magic signals to allow access through the doors."
"That's it?" Nishiki questioned "Guess that means we'd need a specific magic signature to get in."
"And we don't have that" Merlin continued. "We could easily brute force the door but that would cause a whole heap of trouble."
"Let's head back and tell the others before we do anything. If we have to brute force it, I'd rather not run in their alone as fun as it would be."
With their conversation over, they met back up with the group a little off to the side of the cave entrance to plan. After a quick rundown of what the two saw.
"It really is odd…" Momonga hummed "we could get Ulbert to blast the door open but then the place would go on high alert…"
"You said it needs a specific signature, right?" Bellriver asked which he received a thumbs up from Merlin. "Can't you guys get that NPC guy?"
"That would be assuming he's still 'registered' in the system" Tabula supplied.
"Sounds like too much assuming and a time waster to me" Peroroncino added.
"Wouldn't this place go on alert if we left anyway?" Chagama questioned.
"That does make sense yeah…" Bellriver hummed.
"Ahhhh! For crying out loud!" Ulbert shouted out "Let's just blast the doors to get their attention and have Mr. Ninja and prissy boy sneak in or some shit."
"That's actually not a bad idea" Merlin said then sent a smile emoji "I knew there was a thought behind those destruction filled eyes."
All he received back was a hand gesture that was censored out with a blur.
"What if they don't come out though? They could stay inside and be more alert" Momonga brought up.
"Then we just bust it down, let em flow out and get those two to sneak in and get a better lay out" Ulbert pointed back to Merlin and Nishiki.
"It's not a bad idea" Peroroncino shrugged.
"I say we go for it!" Chagama exclaimed "I'll be in front of everyone and take whatever damage I can" Everyone sent a thumbs up emoji.
"Guess that settles it" Merlin sent a smile emoji. "Take it away goat boy" he chuckled while trying to moonwalk, as best as he could in a game avatar, away.
"And you get out of here incuboy."
"Ooooo shots fired" Merlin disappeared with [Perfect Unknowable], followed by Nishiki.
A few chuckles were heard as Ulbert held his hand out "[Maximize Magic: Stream of Lava]!" Ulbert called out as a literal stream of lava shot from a magic circle in his hand and rocketed towards the door inside the cave.
Now normally you would not want to use something like [Stream of Lava] to burst open a door. But an explosion in this case could collapse the cave. And Ulbert was the most destructive caster in the clan along with having the best magical damage out there. Not to mention the doors were made of metal.
A large thud and splash were heard followed by the sounds of sirens.
"Bring it on!" Ulbert shouted out.
"Don't get too ahead of yourself" Momonga said while summoning a handful of undead ranging from skeletons to zombie type animals.
"We probably should've prepared a little bit more" Bellriver slowly drew a red katana like blade.
"Don't worry about it we got this" Peroroncino gave a thumbs up before floating into the sky and drawing his bow.
Not so soon after those words, a large screech was heard from within the cave before something burst out. It was the same type of creature like the gray monster but more of the avian variety. It was a mix of gray and orange with flames jutting out of its head, wings, and chest.
"That's the same kind of gray on that creature we fought before" Tabula noticed.
"Well, must be recently made if the skin hasn't fully converted" Chagama readied herself.
The avian creature did not start attacking immediately as a roar was heard from within the cave. What emerged was an exceptionally large Chimera that was in a similar situation to the avian creature as it had splotches of gray all over its fur. Following the chimera out was a hoard of mobs. More golems and weird puppet mobs.
"At least there's only two big guys, right?" Peroroncino chuckled.
"Don't jinx it" Tabula prepared a spell "Now let's get to work."
"Right!" Everyone shouted out.
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The sounds of explosions could be heard within the distance as the two concealed players made it further into the cave.
"Things are getting pretty lively out there, eh?" Merlin joked.
"Shh… even though we have [perfect unknowable] activated, try to stay quiet."
"Every party needs a pooper I guess…" Merlin whispered, garnering a sideways glance in response. Sure [perfect unknowable] masked all your sounds and traces of your presence, plus the fact that they were invisible, it is still possible to be detected by something with high detection skills. Although that is what Cath Palug was for.
Eventually the two players came across an opening and the cave floors began to smooth out until it was flat. Shortly after that, there was a large doorway which led into the lab. It is what you would expect of a lab visually. Mostly blinding white with smooth concrete floors, machines, automatic doors, various tools, and crates. The only thing that was out of place, was the slight red flashing of the alarm.
'Damn. This really might be a sneak peak for a DLC' Merlin thought to himself.
Shortly after that thought, the two players saw more of the marionette monsters rushing out of a side room and sprinting in a line towards the exit, running right past the two players. Nishiki looked back at Merlin who gave a thumbs up and the two proceeded forwards.
Both players saw plenty of strange things throughout this laboratory that tickled their fancy. Rooms full of mechanical body parts, rooms full of test tubes and floating parts, storage rooms with equipment and so much more. Tabula would just die on the spot from the new influx of 'modern' lore and the fact that he was obsessed with Alchemy.
'Wouldn't be surprised if he made NPCs based on alchemy or something' Merlin chuckled to himself.
But the two elected to ignore them as they had a job to do, exploring could be left to after they beat the crazy scientist lady.
Which that opportunity would come sooner than expected as when they were moving down a particular hallway, the alarm intensified and a slot in the ground behind them opened. A solid metal door slamming up into the ceiling preventing them from backtracking. Followed by another door in front of them slowly starting to rise.
"Shit! We can't get trapped here! Run!" Nishiki yelled out.
"No because I was just gonna back up and take a nap here."
"Don't sass me and run!" Nishiki took off into a sprint and hopped over the little bit of the door that was rising.
"Can't take a joke can you…" Merlin muttered before also starting to run.
The two continued to sprint down the hallway for a minute, doors slamming behind them each time they passed it. Even having to run right or left as corridors were slowly closing, pushing them towards a certain area. They continued running for a few minutes until they entered a large room with the last door slamming shut behind them.
"Shit now what?!" Nishiki cursed aloud.
"I'm just surprised we were seen" Merlin shrugged. "Perfect unknowable and the anti divination that my little friend here provides."
Before Nishiki could respond, a set of blinding lights shot to life and illuminated the dark room with blinding light.
"Son of a bitch" Merlin rubbed his eyes "like a flash bang."
"To think my spineless husband would send the likes of you here!" A voice rung out from all around the empty room. The wall on the opposite side of the room shifted to reveal a window that was looking down upon them. It was as if they were in a testing room while being observed like rats in a cage. The shadowy figure of a woman in a lab coat gazed down upon them.
"That must be the crazy scientist" Nishiki muttered while slowly drawing his dagger.
A few dialogue options then popped up in front of the two players.
"How did you notice us?"
"Who are you?"
"You and your crazy ways end today!"
"Little lacking in the dialogue department" Merlin muttered before speaking one of the dialogue options. "How did you notice us?"
"Ha! You think a scientist like me wouldn't know when someone is in my own territory? Do not make me laugh!"
"So, a forced encounter that you couldn't stealth past if you wanted to" Nishiki's avatar sweat dropped before responding with the next option. "Who are you?"
"I am the one you've been looking for" the scientist responded "I do not seek the destruction of the world. Nor do I seek eternal glory. I simply want to advance the world through my science! Experiment on creatures by enhancing their strengths. And to unlock the secrets of the future through Wraagar!"
"So, the stuff about time travel was true…" Merlin muttered.
"Never heard of Wraagar before" Nishiki put a hand to his chin before shrugging "Probably just some auto generated name."
"Guess there's only one option left" Merlin took a big breath "You and your crazy ways end today!" he said in an extravagant manner.
The room then began to shake.
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And that is all I have for the omake so far. It certainly starts off strong but maybe in the future I will finish it. Hopefully I will update soon!