A/n after two-ish weeks it's done I have completely rewritten the chapter.
For those of you new to the story expect a tale of misery and death most writers don't wish to tell.
Expect to hate me by the end of this as I drag favorite characters through the mud and leave none spared from my wrath.
Not even Momonga himself.
So let us begin.
CHAPTER 1
And so an era ends.
23:59:55
23:59:56
23:59:57
23:59:58
23:59:59
00:00:00
"Huh?"
Opening his eyes he could tell deep down something had gone seriously wrong just now. The grand hall its walls lined with old flags turned painful memories was suddenly devoid of life as only Momonga himself remained still seated upon his onyx throne.
"What the... Where the hell are the NPCs?"
Gaze wandering from corner to corner of the long hall his mind raced to explain the drastic change occurring before his eyes.
"Holy shit! I think they forgot to log me out!"
Yggdrasil was unique in its vast gameplay and player freedom and although unlike any others it shared many key similarities. The similarity blaring like an alarm at the moment was the dive console wired straight into his spinal cord.
That and the fact death by game console while rare wasn't unheard of.
Panic slowly began to set in as he tried to open the various menus and screens. Each one only bringing further fear and frustration as nothing happened.
"{Message} GM" no response.
"{Message} GM" no response.
"{Message} GM" no response.
He was running out of options and fast. Standing from the (Throne of Kings) he took two deep breaths and silently prayed this would work.
"I'M BEING HELD AGAINST MY WILL! I HAVE WORK SOON!"
Yelling the phrase as loud as he could manage he felt a ping of regret as he remembered the broken and worn-out voice of HeroHero. The phrase while demeaning to use was still one of the few lifelines games like Yggdrasil had. Forcing the game to pull any player who even pretended to be stuck lest they felt corporate wrath.
But still, nothing happened.
All at once, his ever-growing panic vanished as he started to collapse to the small staircase below the throne. Confused but thankful for the sudden moment of clarity he tried to think of any last resort.
"If can't use my menus to log out and the emergency function is broken what else is there? Come on think, Think Damn it!"
Straining twelve years' worth of memories he dug for any time he or his friends had accidentally disconnected from the game. And aside from the time, TouchMe's wife turned off his internet nothing came to mind.
Shifting his weight he tried to ignore the constant discomfort from sitting on the hard stairs leading to the throne.
"Wait a second, what the hell just happened?"
Pushing his body as hard as he could against the annoying sensation his mild discomfort gradually turned to slight pain or was it? Either way, he shouldn't have felt anything.
"The dive gear is supposed to limit my sense of touch, isn't it? But if I can feel something as insignificant as discomfort then..."
As a thought began to blossom into his mind the fear and panic of his mind being fried by his system was swiftly replaced by a much more terrifying concept.
Standing he swallowed and made his resolve, a single look around the long room brought even more fear should his theory be proven true.
"I can't do this here not with so many memories."
Looking down at one of his ring-covered hands brought a moment of relief from his ordeal, the sight of a sliver ring set with a large ruby-like gem meant not everything was lost.
The ring of Ainz Ooal Gown, a magic item the allowed its wearer to freely teleport inside the tomb despite its many restrictions.
Offering his other hand a glance he realized he'd forgotten his most prized possession in his panic, gripped as tight as it could be held, the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, his guild's strongest weapon.
Clenched onto the two prized objects he brought forth his memory of the place he used to spar and train with his friends.
And vanished from the throne room leaving only motes of fading light.
"So not even the golem audience is still here, damn, just what the hell is happening to our home!"
His voice echoed through the rows and rows of empty seats, a grand arena circled him so ornate even the ancient Romans would be proud of it.
This was the sixth floor of Nazarick, the colosseum as was its official name. A dense forest full of unique plants, lush gardens, and in the center a massive arena.
The perfect place to test any new abilities.
Except he wouldn't be testing anything new, or so he hoped anyway. Right now he was about to test a glitch from the early days of Yggdrasil.
And deep down he wanted to beg the shitty developers that it still functioned how he remembered.
Yggdrasil was a massive game full of realistic graphics, interesting lore, and nearly full player freedom. With so much to see and explore it boggled the mind how a game with so much data had so few bugs.
The truth of the matter wasn't a lack of issues but rather the fact that each one was so well hidden they were harder to find than the strongest of world items.
But they were Ainz Ooal Gown and just like how they possessed eleven world items, so too did they possess a few glitches and tricks.
Grip growing ever stronger he couldn't help the fond gaze as he looked upon the seven-headed snake that made up the staff's top. His guild's weapon it quite literally held them together as its destruction would not only disband them it would forever ruin the years of work he and his friend had done.
Like a candle being blown out his fond memories vanished as his thoughts returned to the matter at hand.
"This is my last option if this doesn't work I'm well and truly fucked regardless of what I do."
He hesitated as he raised the staff to cast a spell, one of the only glitches his guild had ever discovered it was patched almost immediately after being found, an angry mod telling them to never attempt it again.
Through the months of effort it took to make and test the guild weapon they had found that if the staff summoned something and those brought forth summoned as well, the last creatures to be made would not be included in any friendly fire.
To any veteran MMO player, this could be considered the most useless glitch ever discovered and downright harmful even to most meta gamers. To Momonga, his guild mates, and the fact that he played an undead necromancer, it was a gold mine.
That is until the mods showed up threatening to ban them the instant they ever tried to use it again. After all, being able to heal nonstop for an hour kind of broke the game and even Momonga couldn't justify its use.
More than once.
If he did get banned he would forever mourn the loss of his character, but the servers would be deleted anyway and he could care less right now.
Seeing as how he could die if they shut down while he was still inside.
Determination fortified he raised the staff and uttered the mental command to cast the first spell.
Exploding from the arena's center with the heat and force of an erupting volcano, a swirling ball of flame appeared and began rapidly changing shape.
With a massive torso closer resembling a tree and arms to match the intimidating horned yet familiar skull of an Evil Lord of Wrath stared at Momonga silently awaiting its next orders.
Level eighty-four, the imposing demon was one of many fire-based monsters the staff could summon, and though there were stronger ones he could call upon such as primal elementals, only the Lord of Wrath could summon creatures of other classes and races.
It could even summon angels, as odd as that was.
The demon's signature abilities included a single free use of any spell eighth tier or lower, a summoned copy of itself although lacking its own abilities, and being able to summon an army of low-tier demons.
Preparations done Momonga readied himself for the task ahead of him if it worked he would have an interesting story to tell tomorrow at work, if it didn't...
He tried not to think about it failing.
Realizing any further delays would only endanger him he ordered the Evil Lord Wrath to use its ability. Ordering it to cast a spell Momonga himself was quite fond of the demon in turn raised its hand.
And in a voice befitting the incarnation of hatred it uttered two things "{Soul Bought Miracle}, {Army of Undeath}."
Surprise by the odd lifelike nature of the demon's voice was replaced by the familiar sight of hundreds of undead filling the empty arena, among them two dozen elder liches, exactly what Momonga wanted.
Each one level thirty the ability to summon lower tier undead was natural to them.
Ready to cast the last spell he hesitated.
"Maybe I should just wait, is not like they wouldn't know I'm still in here. I mean how bad could the shutdown be for all I know I'm about to be logged out any second now."
"AHH SCREW IT!"
In unison two dozen Elder Litches raised their arms a cacophony of gravely voices filling the air "{Summon undead Fourth}."
Fear gripped Momonga as the choir of undeath resounded around the arena and unwilling to see the final result he quickly shut his eyes.
Nervous fear wracked his body as his eyes clenched ever tighter a full minute passing before a calming wave washed over him and he dared to peak at his ultimate fate.
Eyes inching open what Momonga saw stopped every thought in his mind as standing before him were nearly a hundred wraiths.
His plan had failed.
It took so long for Momonga to come to terms with his dire situation that the timer for his summons finished leaving only Momonga and the silent sand around him.
"This is it, right? It failed I'm gonna die aren't I, any minute now the servers will be unplugged and my brain fried."
The panicked emotions he'd felt had long since gone the way of his summons, now leaving only a void as he came to terms with his impending death.
He wasn't scared, not really anyway, not since the only relatives who'd mourn him would be his long-dead parents. No, what he felt wasn't even sadness, what he felt was regret, regret that in the end, his closest friends would never even realize he had died alone in the great tomb.
Awaiting their eventual return right until his bitter end.
And so his last options exhausted he awaited the end his thoughts filled with pleasant memories of the many great times he and his friends had all once had deep in this tomb.
"Ha, tomb, fitting name for the place I'm going to die in.
Goodbye, everyone, it was... fun."
And so he waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Watching the small clock in the corner of his vision
seconds became minutes.
Minutes became hours.
And before long he'd spent three hours awaiting an end that never came.
"Things keep getting weirder and weirder the longer I watch them happen! Did they just delay the shutdown and never tell us or something?"
Sand and gravel falling as he stood he now had a choice to make. With his menus gone and the Gm's not responding his only options would be to either wait it out and pray he was forcibly logged out when the servers shut down for real. Or he could roam around trying to find other players and hope any group would be noticed by the devs and saved.
"Well seeing as how I almost broke down just waiting a few hours I should probably look around soon."
Vanishing in a puff of magical particles he disappeared from the sixth floor.
Reappearing at the bottom of a massive staircase.
While he'd called the fine decoration and architecture before a tomb, only now did the word seem to fit as with every step upward he passed ancient cracked stone entangled in vines and moss. The all too familiar stench of bones and mildew wafted past him as a set of tall double doors soon loomed over him.
The entrance to the tomb, A massive mausoleum surrounded by a graveyard and a tall wall of cracked marble circling the entire complex.
And just outside this tomb fit for any undead ruler a swamp so poisonous any player under level forty would die in less than a minute.
Except there was no swap with its deadly purple gasses nor the familiar mid-tier undead roaming the wasteland they had called home. No, what awaited just past the walls visible even from the mausoleum itself was a never-ending plain of grass.
Illuminated by the faint moonlight Momonga couldn't believe his eyes as not only was he looking at grass, unlike anything he'd seen before. The vast night sky above him shined so brightly he had to squint just to make out the millions of twinkling stars hanging overhead.
"W-What the hell!? Why are they so... Real?"
Of course, he had seen stars in photographs before more so when he recalled all the times BluePlanet went on one of his usual rants about pollution. But to see stars just so. . . clearly was unthinkable as even through the years of work only a vague copy could be made.
Not even the developers had perfected it.
The sight like a gem-filled chest awed Momonga so much he never realized as he gently floated upward subconsciously drawing ever closer to the beautiful sight.
"So this is what you meant, I guess I finally believe you."
The sentiment of days past broke his fixation and he began scanning the vast field of rolling hills and gently swaying grass. His Dark vision piercing the mass of shadow that night gave way to, revealing a landscape untouched by man never having seen the horrors of the twenty-second-century pollution.
Looking down to the tomb below Momonga's mind was filled with the bittersweet memory that while it remained beside him not one of its inhabitants had made the journey alongside him.
"Look at it, so calm, so pristine,
so-
so-
Alone."
It really was with no NPCs to guard it, originally containing close to one thousand of them it now stood empty and silent.
"I can't abandon it, no, I won't abandon it. Nazarick is the home we built together with our sweat and blood, what would everyone say if I left it wide open like this?
But how do I protect it in a state like this? Oh, PunitoMoe give me strength, what would you do in my place?"
Descending from the sky he had time to think as the tomb grounds neared.
While certainly not optimal, no it was a downright stupid idea but he'd be damned if he left his home so vulnerable.
And so the moment he touched the gentle grass, two balls of viscous black ooze formed beside him. Growing and contorting to match their true form what stood beside him were two beings of pure violence.
Skeletal faces topped a three-meter tall pillar of black rusted metal, their left side a tower shield just as tall, the right side a sword long enough to split a bus in half.
These were death knights.
But just as fast as they appeared they dashed away from the tomb, Momonga losing sight of them a minute later.
"There, now I can watch the tomb while my summons scout for other players, it shouldn't take too long.
I mean they do stick out being the only undead for miles."
The morning's sunlight broke the horizon long before his summons reported any players.
Or anything for that matter. Absolutely Nothing.
It wasn't long before the whole of the tomb's surface was coated in the golden daylight of a new morning. But with the vanishing darkness so too did his summons run out their timers. Leaving just Momonga and the windswept grass to fill the silence.
"No, this can't be..."
Momonga snapped up from his relaxed position, something about his situation felt familiar.
Too familiar.
Realization washed over him alongside overwhelming dread, the tomb's location, the lack of mobs, and the fact not one of the NPCs had come with all screamed at his instincts.
This was identical to how he and his friends would raid other guilds.
"Shit.
SHIT!
SHIT!"
Running from the spot he made for the tomb, he knew he had seconds at most if he was right.
In one well-practiced motion, he turned and faced the wall surrounding the tomb. And like a second sun had risen the courtyard was painted in light as a magic circle appeared.
Ten meters wide and disappearing into the clouds was a series of concentric circles filled with runes, ancient texts, and whatever other strange symbols the devs had thought of at the time.
Momonga pulled a small hourglass from his inventory and smashed it in his palm, the item vanishing in a puff of blue particles.
Scanning the empty fields of grass he waited, it would be any moment that the enemy attacked him and he would counter, hard.
The towering magic circles were a beacon for players, a warning that the strongest of magics was being cast.
And that a defenseless mage was just standing there waiting for the cast timer. Which Momonga just negated entirely.
Watching for the slightest movement to signal the battle's start was nerve-wracking. More so when he considered the possibility of thief classes that could bypass his {Arcane Sight} passive.
The plan he had was an old one but it worked well against most players regardless of how experienced they were.
Showing off a flashy long timed spell like this would scare any inexperienced players giving him plenty of time to cast buffs for the fight ahead.
Those who did know of the small hourglass item wouldn't be any better off, however. They would know he could cast the moment he spotted them and wouldn't hesitate to attack, taking the massive hit.
And so he waited. Would it be a newer player, who never sought out PvP? Or would it be a veteran player killer well versed in stopping their enemy long before they could retaliate?
The fact no one had shown themselves all but guaranteed a veteran and Momonga couldn't help but curse under his breath that he was caught so unaware.
. . .
But nothing happened.
'Could I have been wrong? Someone should have attacked Roy now, this whole situation reeks of forced teleportation.
One of the twenty perhaps?'
The twenty were the strongest of magic items each doing feats akin to hacking the game itself, for one to be used just to move him and his base was unlikely.
Then again they did have a lot of enemies even as the game was ending.
"Wait just a second, they wouldn't.
Haa, of course, they would do something so petty.
To use a world item and one of the twenty, just to get the last laugh is just childish."
Not wanting to waste one of the four super tier spells he got a day he cast the only spell he had that wouldn't level a mountain.
"{Creation}"
As one the tower of glowing magic circles burst into a pillar of light surrounding the whole of Nazarick's surface. And instantly hills began rising around the tomb blocking Momonga's view of the landscape around him.
"Now that the tomb is hidden I can figure out the bigger issue.
This isn't Helheim, so where the hell am I!"
Sighing deeply he turned and teleported back to the ninth floor.
Roughly ten kilometers away.
Stretching long and hard a girl slowly rose from her bed, long golden falling down her side as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
Clink.
Pulling the simple blanket aside she rose from the bed quickly dressing as the early morning light peaked through the window in her room.
Clink.
Looking over her simple outfit she checked for any new tears or rips she would have to mend later, and smiled when nothing was out of place.
Clink.
Walking to her door she stopped her hand at the handle.
"What in the world is that noise?"
Walking over to the window she threw open the shutters, only to hold back a scream as she saw her neighbor's house on fire.
Alongside most of the village.
A jolt of panic ran through her as she tore open her door and ran to the main room finding her mother cradling her younger sister as they cowered behind the dining table.
"Mom!
Nemu!
What's going on?!"
Her mother turned to reply with a look of relief overtaking her fear only to be startled by the front door bursting open and slamming shut just as quickly.
Taking three tries to lock it she almost didn't notice the pool of blood forming under his arm, a large gash splitting open his bicep.
"Dad your hurt! What's going on out there?!"
Without a word he ran the dining table a began to push it against the door, following suit she grabbed two chairs and wedged them alongside the table.
Slumping against the simple barricade her father groaned and clutched his arm.
"Soldiers are attacking killing all they see, I escaped in the initial panic."
A gasp came from her mother as she rushed to his side wrapping his wound in a strip of cloth.
"S-soldiers? What should we do?"
Looking up her father stared at her.
"We hide for now. And when things die down we run for the forest. Enri and Nemu still know the forest they can guide us out the other side."
Enri could only nod her head at her father's declaration.
She did know the forest and fairly well at that, spending every other day picking fruits and herbs helped with that. She prayed her sense of direction wouldn't do her wrong under the dire circumstances.
Her mother looked ready to protest at the idea of her daughters doing such a dangerous thing, but her words failed before they left her mouth a single sound quieting the room.
Clink.
"Over here! The blood leads here!"
Enri went pale.
Voices, angry voices, just outside the door.
Crash!
The barricade shook as the door was pounded on, it wouldn't last long.
Crack!
The door was splintering now its hinges slowly tearing from the frame as each crash against it announced just how little time they had.
The shouting outside had become unintelligible as the bang on the door grew in strength each time.
Boom!
Like a bolt of lightning two silvery figures burst into the room followed by a shower of splinters.
Forced to cover her face Enri could only hear the commotion as the soldier burst into the room. A stinging sensation crept up her arm not a second later as the peppering of wood fragments bit deep into her flesh.
Splattering blood over the floor as she whipped down her arm, she expected to see the worst, her family dead and a sword headed towards her neck but what she saw was much more surprising.
Her father swayed back and forth a sword in hand as the two soldiers lay dead on the floor, her families only kitchen knife sticking out of one man's neck.
"RUN!"
Enri didn't know when she'd left the house only that she had, and fast, running faster than she'd ever before she passed scene after scene each one could only be described as one thing.
Hell
Entire homes reduced to ash as their occupants lie disemboweled just beside them, children missing limbs their small frames unable to survive a single strike.
'She was Nemu's age. . .'
No! She couldn't think like that!
Not now.
Glancing behind a sigh of relief escaped her as she saw her sister still clutched tightly in her mother's arms.
What she didn't see was her father.
Her mother followed her gaze immediately when Enri stopped dead and spun in place back towards their home.
Thirty meters away she could see four figures, one dressed in dark brown leathers and three bright shiny men each one glaring in the morning sun.
Her father was swinging his stolen sword with everything he had every strike met with a resounding clang they could all hear.
She almost ran to him, she did, but the sight of her father desperately fending off three much stronger foes told her she'd only betray his sacrifice, and so she ran.
Followed by her teary-eyed mother they ran, the sounds of the fighting and chaos slowly vanishing behind them as they drew nearer to the forest's edge.
But one sound suddenly overwhelmed the rest.
Shlick.
Thud.
"Mama!"
Nemu's cry only brought fear, fear that as Enri slowly turned became despair, and then everything shattered. Falling to her knees still clutching to her youngest daughter Enri's mother was drenched in blood from the waist down, an arrowhead poking right through her stomach.
What broke Enri wasn't the fatal wound on her mother, no what destroyed what little she had left was the way her mother smiled as she held out Nemu.
"Take her, take her, and run.
If it's you two you can make it.
Go!"
It was over, her family was gone.
NO! Not yet she still had her sister and by the gods at least she would live, at any cost!
Again she ran her lungs burned and her legs ached but yet she ran.
Every step was one closer to safety, each meter another chance to escape the nightmare behind them.
But exhaustion was creeping ever closer.
"Catch her you fools! It is but a village girl how could she possibly outrun a trained soldier!"
The shout behind her was expected, the moment she ran from her bleeding mother she could hear them growing ever closer.
Dodging branches as she ran was hard but she had to escape the flurry of arrows that would fill her the moment she slowed.
Jumping over a fallen log a pain unlike any she'd ever felt shot through her leg but she continued to run.
Even as the sound of clinking metal armor came ever closer still she ran.
And ran.
And ran.
Until she couldn't anymore, searing pain shot down her back as sword met flesh its razor edge just barely passing beyond her clothes and into her back.
And down she fell turning mid-air praying the fall wouldn't hurt her sister.
'Please help us, anyone please I beg you.
DON'T LET MY SISTER DIE!'
But as the red-coated sword passed through her neck she could only hope that despite her own death her sister should somehow survive.
Nigun Grid Luin was a proud man, and why shouldn't he be? Here he was commander of one of the most elite units within the Slane Theocracy undertaking a mission that could save humankind.
Of course, it was mostly saving them from themselves but the semantics mattered little. It was a far better fate to be cut down by a soldier chosen by the gods than any of the other filth that roamed outside the Theocracies grasp.
Although if he was permitted to a smidgen of discontent, it would be how needlessly complex the current mission was.
Fake an attack on the kingdom disguised as imperial soldiers to lure out a single man, kill him then use the loss in strength to incite a war and consume the country that remained in the aftermath.
They were quite literally a people chosen by the gods these heathens should have bowed their heads and begged to be a part of the Theocracy the moment he had arrived. But orders were orders and far be it for him to question a cardinal's direct command and hey at least he could have a little fun saving the souls of these godless heathens.
"Commander Nigun a party of soldiers bearing the kingdom's flag is approaching the village."
"Good round everyone up."
Despite his annoyance at the mission's complexity he couldn't help but admire just how well thought out it was.
He was to find and kill the strongest soldier the Re Estize kingdom had, Gazef Stronoff, a man of common birth he was elevated to the king's personal bodyguard after proving his strength in a nationwide tournament.
Attacking village after village leaving only a few survivors each, would not only force this man straight to Nigun but each peasant left alive would no doubt force Gazef to reduce his men to protect them back to safety.
Nigun wanted to laugh at the man's stupidity, who would risk themselves for such weak nothings.
He turned from his thought as his men surrounded him.
"Alert the soldiers! Leave none standing in the village, here we will see just how powerful that man truly thinks he is!"
A round of cheers echoed throughout.
A man slowly lowered a chard piece of lumber covering a burnt doll beneath.
"Haa, to think they would go to such lengths, is the Empire's hatred truly this strong."
Standing from the wreckage he turned to the awaiting soldier.
"Have you found anything yet?"
The soldier's eyes were layered with bags nearly black in color, this was the twelfth village they'd found.
"Yes captain, two survivors have been found we've already begun treating their wounds. What should we do next sir?"
Gazef had to think, dare he send more men to protect these wounded souls and risk a weakened offensive, or should he abandon them to fate and reserve the group's strength?
He shook his head, what would the king say if he told him he'd abandoned his subjects?
"Send two men alongside and rush them to E Rantel."
"Sir, I know it's not my place but are you sure that is wise we've already lost half our men, and by now most agree this a trap by the nobles."
"Yes of that I'm sure, but still I refuse to allow a single citizen to die when we could have easily saved them. Alert the vice-captain of my decision, and tell the others to round up.
No more can be done here."
It was aggravating to be so helpless, each village had been identical, the fires just dying out as a scene of carnage awaited them. Whoever was doing this was toying with him, only ever leaving a few wounded survivors, too few to protect themselves but always just capable enough to still be worth saving.
Worse yet was each survivor's story, telling of an elite band of imperial soldiers rushing in and leaving a trail of blood behind. And here he was only a hundred men and without his usual equipment, but now it was fifty men each one exhausted from days of non-stop travel.
'Damn those traitorous nobles, they must've made an agreement with the empire to strip me from the king's side like this.'
They were the ones who'd mentioned the attacks, they were the ones who demanded he fight personally, and they had forced the king to send him with so little help.
He could only hope the king would be safe while he was away.
It took moments for the remaining men to gear up and head onward, it wasn't as though they had much in the way of supplies to pack up anyway.
It would be hours before the next village even with their horses, but with that, he prayed the men could rest even a little for what he knew to lie ahead. It was only a matter of time now that he was certain, each village growing ever closer to the border, no doubt the final showdown.
What little time they had would hardly be considered restful as the path became more and more forested. But even that quickly came to an end as over the horizon one of the scouts came bounding at them.
"Commander! The village ahead is still under attack if we hurry we may yet stop them!"
This was it the finale that would end this needless slaughter.
Raising his fist high above he need only say one word.
"FORWARD!"
With a cry in unison that would startle even a dragon they each spurred their horses rushing forward ready to end this once and for all.
Pushing past the ever surrounding forest they created a small hill as black smoke billowed in the distance. As the village came in sight they could finally see the bastards who'd done such horrors, still burning homes were the unmistakable soldiers of the Empire.
As one they rushed into the village swords and bows drawn, steel ready to meet steel.
But there was hesitation as the combatants drew ever closer.
During the journey, Gazef and his men had seen what they thought the worst humans could do to one another, but what greeted them as they finally reached the fated enemy was a sight that would haunt them.
Gathered in the town's center were bodies nearly a hundred of them, each one a scene that spoke of atrocity.
Men skinned as they crawled in the dirt to escape, desperation still clinging to their lifeless faces.
Bodies tied to poles and set alight, the charcoals still glowing red beneath them.
But what Gazef saw last caused even him to hesitate in shock, children of all ages dead, each one filled with arrows like a pin cushion.
Unfortunately, he knew what happened when you hesitated during combat, and so did the mass of archers hidden among the buildings still standing.
Even worse was that this allowed more men to appear, everyone holding a child in front.
Nigun grinned from ear to ear, to think his plan would work so marvelously that even Gazef Stronoff himself would be left in such a state.
He was surrounded and unable to even raise his sword among all those hostages if only he knew what fate awaited them all.
"Angels, ADVANCE!"
Gazef could be considered a pinnacle of strength, matching or beating even adamantite level adventurers, but in the face of so many innocent hostages, he was powerless.
He wanted to leap forward, activate his martial arts and behead each one of these villains, but he knew the second his sword tasted blood most of these children would die.
He saw no other option, and as he threw his sword to the side he prayed this would work.
"There that is what you wish for yes? Now I hand those children they have done nothing to deserve such a fate!"
His proclamation was only met with laughter.
"You don't seem to understand! I don't care for them or you!
NOW!"
In an instant, two dozen white feathered figures rushed at his men from over the nearby roofs.
'Angels?'
Gazef started to reach for his sword only to be met by a yelp from one of the children, a single drop of blood trickling down their neck.
It was a massacre, his men were outmatched in every way as they fought to the death with the holy monsters.
It only took seconds for his men to dwindle to nothing as he just watched his every move drawing blades ever closer to the children.
His hands were tied and no matter what he just couldn't bring himself to endanger those children more than they already were.
And as his last man fell so too did he collapse to his knees a primal roar escaping him, louder than even the chaos of the battle around him.
He thought it over his life ended as a part of some scheme he'd never uncover, and as angels drew near their golden swords still caked in his men's blood he turned as a cry sounded out.
A little girl's head was falling from her shoulders, she couldn't have been more than six.
He saw red.
He went for his sword, he would have made it too.
But he never noticed Nigun's approach nor did he notice as an enchanted dagger slid across his throat.
Killing him instantly.
And as the soldiers fled, their task complete.
Carne burned, not a soul alive to tell about it.
The Ninth Floor of Nazarick Momonga's Room.
Momonga sat behind a pitch black desk, made of solid obsidian one would think it so dark it almost looped back and began to shine.
In hand was a simple-looking quill pen furiously writing into a small booklet bound in black leather.
"Day two, to any who read this, my name is Suzuki Satoru, or rather it was. Until recently I was a simple salaryman who played the Dmmo Yggdrasil, however for some reason when the game's servers were supposed to be shut down I instead found myself trapped in my avatar.
Within my guild base yet devoid of any of its NPC's I've been transported to another world.
And while I have yet to be attacked I fear that with no way to replenish its previous forces it is only a matter of time before my home is destroyed."
"Umu"
Closing the book he returned it to his inventory, he knew how unlikely it was anyone would ever read the thing but at least he could try and document some of his time here.
"Now then what to do regarding the defenses?"
After rigorous searching Momonga had confirmed what he feared, not a soul remained to protect Nazarick.
Thankfully he'd found that every single trap was still functional, even though the ones utilizing pop monsters were now useless.
But what this meant for Nazarick and Ainz Ooal Gown as a whole was that while quite much lost, not all was.
The defenses could be rebuilt. . .
But he didn't want to.
"THEY WERE SO HARD TO GET!"
His only option for meaningful defense would be mercenary monsters, monsters summoned not through mana or experience but gold.
And as a bonus they were permanent.
The only problem?
They were some of the rarest drops in Yggdrasil.
Now he'd have to probably use all of them just to regain a fraction of Nazarick's former glory.
He made sure his trip back to the surface took as long as possible.
One step left to go he stopped, he loathed using the two scrolls he had taken from Ashurbanipal, Nazarick's library.
Black adult dragons, any solo player's worst nightmare.
Dragons were the strongest race of enemies in all of Yggdrasil the developers making it well known just how fond they were of the mythical beings.
The black dragon in particular was one players loathed the most, however.
Through a unique combo attack, many would consider them the strongest of any monster why? Because through a combination of continuous poison strong enough for even high-level undead players, as well as a potent healing effect.
The odd combo would cause players to become soft locked stuck in a loop of healing and damage that prevented everything but movement.
The only way to fight these level eighty-five nightmares would be for a team to gang up on it taking turns drawing its attention.
Maybe that's why Momonga didn't want to use the only two scrolls they'd ever gotten.
But now wasn't the time to hesitate, not with a legacy on the line.
So with two flashes of blue light, the rare scrolls vanished into puffs of smoke particles, each one growing in size until at last two towering figures stood over Momonga.
'Are they bowing to me?
No, they likely just have to look down.'
The twin dragons could easily handle any opponent and with two Momonga was confident it would take a team of at least three max-level players just to fight them.
Now that Nazarick had protection outside of his summons every few hours he was now free to do the one thing he'd wanted to do ever since his arrival.
Explore!
Yes, he had scouted the immediate area but looking through a death knight's eyes with {Undead Slave Sight} just didn't feel right when he could be doing it himself.
Recalling just one such area he activated a spell, and after feeling his mana drain a swirling black vortex appeared.
Dark and foreboding he was glad the paid cosmetic stayed even in this new world.
The {Gate} spell the highest tier of teleportation magic whisked him away from the courtyard of Nazarick, and as though it was always there he took one step forward now facing a dark forest.
Hesitation was expected when he tried to take the first step into the sea of branches, neither he nor his undead scouts had possessed a single ranger level. Consequently, anything higher level than Momonga's death knights would easily hide from one.
With a deep breath, he didn't need he took the first step.
And passed the threshold into a new world.
A gentle walk through the woods, honestly he felt he needed nothing more to combat the ever-present stress of managing Nazarick alone.
Although it should have helped a single fact tapped at the back of his skull every minute he grew deeper into the forest.
He was being watched.
It was subtle but he could notice the telltale signs around him, leaves being rustled the moment he turns his head, branches snapping in time with his footsteps, birds scattering behind him, and to top it all his PvP instincts were going mad.
"Death to you who enters my home.
Leave now or die where you stand undead."
A voice echoing through the woods around him only confirmed his thoughts.
'It was inevitable I suppose, time to test the native's strength.'
It came like a bullet, a blur of motion he noticed in the corner of his eye, how fast it really was he couldn't tell nor would he test it. Jumping to the side with practiced ease he let off a retaliatory spell a burst of flame consuming a portion of the forest in an instant as {Napalm} exploded against a tree.
Another blur this time right ahead, he readied to jump away and cast a buff mid-air, except it was slow?
Slow to the point of genuine confusion was it a feint?
Had the first attack only lulled him into a sense of surprise because it was behind him?
It dragged towards him at a snail's pace and he could finally look at just what careened at him.
'Is this a snake's tail?'
Dark green and scaly it certainly looked like a snake but to use itself in such an attack was unheard of in Yggdrasil, despite the many strange enemies the game possessed.
He had to test a theory.
"{Time Stop}."
The world went grey as the tail stopped in place.
"So not immune to time, so it is lower than level eighty. But for such a slow attack, around level sixty perhaps?"
Walking past the tail he followed the odd appendage into the wooded area its owner hid.
And all rational thought stopped as facing him was a massive ball of fur and whiskers.
It was a giant hamster.
To think a giant hamster had managed to almost hit him, if any of his guild mates heard about such a thing he'd never live it down.
Canceling the {Time Stop} he stood beside the animal ready to question just what the hell it was the moment time resumed.
But that's not what happened.
The instant time resumed the hamster fell forward and its tail fell to the ground.
The thing was dead.
"D-did it just die from my despair aura?"
Momonga slapped his hand to his face, how could he have forgotten such a simple thing?
Despair aura a passive ability that inflicted various negative status effects on anything that came close to him. The strongest of these effects of which Momonga normally kept active at all times was a small chance to instantly kill anything not outright immune.
"I can't believe it, the first thing I find that can talk and I kill it accidentally!"
Quickly disabling the passive he resumed his journey all the while swearing that the next animal that spoke to him he promised he wouldn't kill.
The trek through the woods quickly resumed its original peaceful atmosphere with even the birds resuming their gentle songs around the forest. All the while Momonga became ever increasingly worried, he was lost, and while he could teleport away it would do little in the way of his goals.
"I should not have killed that damn hamster, at least it could have given me directions or something!"
He was even considering the use of tenth-tier location spells just to find the other side of this sea of leaves.
A simple dirt road however stopped him just as he readied to cast {Blessing of Titania}. The road continued for well over an hour bending and weaving past trees and small streams all the while.
Before long dirt road, barely more than a path of crushed leaves turned into an actual path, one still made of paved dirt but now it looked far more intentional.
The first signs of civilization quickly followed behind as the occasional tree stump or the singular wooden sign passed him by as the path went on.
Momonga stopped not long after passing the sign, and although it was completely unreadable it did tell him one very important thing.
He had almost walked into a town looking like the avatar of death himself.
Options to hide one's physical appearance were quite abundant in Yggdrasil especially when heteromorph players tended to be hunted like dogs in the street.
So like many undead players Momonga always carried at least one way to hide his undead nature.
In his case, Momonga always had two, the first a simple illusion spell that did little more than create a weak image, and the second was what he now pulled from his inventory.
A red and green mask and a pair of metal gauntlets, simple yes but far too effective when paired with Momonga's paranoid play style.
Satisfied with the guise he moved on towards the unknown town, still always on the lookout for yet another giant hamster ready to attack him.
It was well over an hour before he spotted the first people of this new world.
Although much to his disappointment the young woman and child beside her were very dead, or so he assumed the kid was lying there decapitated and all.
Momonga couldn't help but stare at the two corpses, the child most of all. Black and blue from what was clearly a beating he had to wonder as he stood at the murdered pair.
'Why don't I feel bad about this?'
Sure he had seen corpses before on his way to work even those of children but even so desensitized he still couldn't bare to let his gaze linger on them. So why now could he stare at something he surely couldn't stomach before so casually, as though they didn't exist?
Lamenting the dead for but a moment he moved on growing ever closer to the village he sought, he would at least tell them about the corpses.
It wasn't long before the trees around him finally thinned out giving way to what he hoped would be the view of a bustling town full of life.
The clouds of billowing smoke, red-painted streets, and dozens of bodies lying where they'd been killed, quickly dismissed his thought of conversing with the world's natives.
Nearly every building had been scorched black as corpses lay piled high in various states of torture and pain. The town's center held the worst, however, a blood bath quite literally as over a hundred corpses lay dead.
The newly formed crimson lake was so deep it threatened to crest over the top of Momonga's boots, each step slowed as the blood deepened the further he went.
There dead center piled high atop a mound of armored corpses was a headless man his sword the only thing holding him up.
The sight should have troubled him more than anything had ever before but as he stood watching the carnage only two thoughts passed his mind.
'What happened here?
And should I loot the bodies?'
It was a morbid thought but with so little known about this new world, he had to hope at least one of the dead told of some reason for the attack on this village.
After only a few minutes of consideration, he began, starting first with the pile and slowly working out towards each of the few intact buildings.
The soldiers held nothing in the way of information, not even a simple diary was to be found. But empty building after empty building later he found something he could use, a single letter written in a language he couldn't read.
One translation item later and he wanted to scream, it had taken hours of searching bodies and homes only to find a love letter that held no useful info.
The sense that all had been for naught vanished as while pulling open yet another drawer he found just what he'd hoped for.
A map!
He would have to one day thank the recipient of that letter as while not a thing written in it told of the outside world a single line had mentioned the town mayor and where his house lay.
Returning to the looted corpses a small skip in his step he sighed in annoyance as the joy of his find was quickly sent away with a faint green glow.
He would have cursed the newly obtained emotional suppression but a sudden voice made him quite thankful.
"BY THE GODS WHAT HAS THIS MONSTER DONE!"
An explanation formed in seconds but from the way, the sudden troop of soldiers were drawing their weapons he figured it would be unlikely he could talk his way out of this.
At least he'd remembered to equip that mask. . .
'Where's my mask?'
Like a bolt of lightning, he realized his mistake, in translating the letter he'd found he had removed his mask in exchange for a pair of glasses that translated text.
And so there he stood, a towering undead mage in all its glory.
Acting on instinct he summoned three death knights to buy time for him to assess his opponents. But when three balls of black ichor fell to the ground and consumed the closest corpses he blanked.
Stock still he watched as the corpses vanished and in their places stood the three towering undead he'd meant to summon.
'What?'
Vice-captain of the strongest warriors in the kingdom he felt no situation would make him wary so long as the men's morale held.
But to arrive at the latest village attacked and find the captain alongside fifty of their strongest men dead was bad.
Worse yet was how an elder litch who with a wave of its hand turned the captain alongside two others into giant undead, was most likely the one responsible for the death of the captain in the first place.
This would be a fight he could never complete, and yet there he was still charging the undead that looked like they could snap his horse in two.
He and the men beside him likely felt the same but how could they stand idly by as this monster massacred village after village?
"FORWARD! MAKE THAT THING PAY FOR EVERY DEATH!"
His voice didn't waver, not a bit, but he was scared out of his mind more so than even when he trained against Gazef himself. A memory came to mind, one from his days long ago he would have chuckled if the situation wasn't so dire.
'Stand tall, I guarantee you'll stand side by side with me one day. After all, you among the rest show something even I fear I don't have. Bravery among the worst odds.'
His memory vanished as he watched the litch take its place behind the three monsters.
"Kill them all."
Something about it, the way it spoke the clothes it wore something, something primal nagged at his head screaming at him to run.
But he didn't.
"Three men break away! Report this to the king at once!
Everyone else by them time to flee!"
They moved like lightning, faster even than Gazef and his secret attack, of which he was certain.
The first strike was like thunder striking the earth a boom he'd never heard each strike cleaving men and horses in two.
"Circle them they can't strike behind!"
His orders caught fast as the men flanked the monsters, the litch nowhere to be seen he thanked the gods it hadn't stayed to fight itself.
Each strike his men made was met with a clang of metal and yet another boom as either a shield turned them to paste or a sword divided them in two, no progress had been made and they were losing men, fast.
"[Flow Acceleration] [Ability Boost] [Slashing Strike]!"
A glowing sword faster than he could even see struck against the side of one of the undead.
And with it, a crash of metal louder than he'd ever heard as the impossibly hard metal just barely gave way cutting into the rotting flesh below.
He was ecstatic for the brief moment that strike connected and actually did damage but joy vanished as his world began to spin.
Finally stopping he could see something odd.
'Is that my own back?'
Momonga was a little shocked at the death knights' fight, for one how did they use corpses, it was in the flavor text of the spell that it consumed the dead but never in the game had it done so.
The second thing was how a man with non-magical gear managed to damage a death knight at all.
Sure they weren't the strongest summon and even with all his bonuses they only amounted to around level fifty but still, they had high defenses well above their level.
So high nonenchanted weapons like the kind those knights were using should have done little more than piss off the undead.
Momonga was just glad the death knights had managed to kill him so quickly, and it looked like critical hits were still a thing even in this world.
With a sigh thankful he didn't test the man's strength on himself he dispelled {Perfect Unknowable} and teleported home.
All the while three undead continued to utter his last orders.
'Kill them all.'
Laid out over his desk was the map he'd found, a confusing thing but not so much as the coded ones all too common in Yggdrasil.
While it contained little in the way of text in any form it did have a few markings no doubt made by the original owner.
Circled in what he thought was charcoal was a small dot along one of the many crisscrossing roads the writing above reading Carne village. Not too far from that was a semi-large city called E Rantel, all of which belonged to a country called Re Estize.
To its borders were the Slane theocracy, and the Baharuth Empire, there were more nations besides those but none of which were labeled.
"So, where do I start?"
The Re Estize Capital.
King Ramposa the third was a man praised in his youth for his quick wit, cunning governance, and cold no-nonsense attitude towards his court.
To see him now sitting in a darkened room his head buried in his hands would have been quite the depressing sight.
The reason for his attitude?
A mistake, one unlike he'd ever made in all his many years of life, a blunder that some would call the beginning of the end of his reign.
In the ever-growing divide between the crown and the nobles under it he'd acquiesced to demand he thought no more than petty pride and pageantry.
To think a single decision would lead to the death of what may be his only friend and the strongest asset the kingdom had.
Reports of the attacks had led many to believe a preemptive strike by the Empire or perhaps criminal elements like eight fingers becoming too bold. And so Gazef Stronoff his personal guard was sent to discover the perpetrator and eliminate them.
Yet only three men returned telling of an elder litch strong enough to behead the captain and turn his body into some behemoth capable of killing well over fifty of their finest men.
Adventurers would be the only crutch he could lean on in this dire situation. He'd been told by his court that they thought this was some Empire plot to lure their army to Katze that much sooner but he had his doubts.
Sure their plans against the kingdom had long since been discovered but he could never tell of them in full. Not when corruption and traitors ran so deep they threatened to simply hand over his head in exchange for some good.
No, with the Empire bleeding his people of their harvest every year he couldn't afford to send anyone else but adventurers to deal with this latest headache.
Gesturing to an aide they came running over.
"Send a missive to the adventurers guild it should state as follows.
Dangerous undead spotted, many villages have already been laid to waste, reward for extermination one hundred platinum coins."
The aide stopped his pen with a small gasp.
"Your majesty, if I may be so bold, are you sure it is wide to offer so much money?
I'm aware of the threat but could we not simply draw it away to the Empire perhaps?"
"No, for what it has done I fear left alone it would only spread death to the kingdom as a whole."
The aide nodded and left.
Ramposa couldn't even hope, not now, not when what may have been their last hope had already died.
A red hooded figure dashed through the crowd, each step moving them further into the sea of people never once slowing down despite the many around them.
Glancing up they breathed a sigh of relief when the familiar sign bearing a sword and shield appeared overhead.
The adventurers guild.
Flowing in and out like the water from a river each one carried more equipment than even the Empires army could manage.
The reason for the chaos?
Something they didn't want to think about.
Entering the building proved to be much harder than the streets outside as unlike the street, not a soul could move, and if the crowd couldn't nor could they.
'Damn I didn't want to waste the mana'
"{Fly}"
Rising from the crowded floor they quickly spotted a bright red hand waving harder than a dog's tail at seeing its owner.
"Yo shorty over here!"
Gliding over they quickly plopped down into their preferred spot at the booth.
The pile of muscle and metal to their left blocked almost all of the noise from the crowded tavern of the guild hall.
"So boss you found anything about that request yet?"
A mug of ale slammed down splattering the table.
"Oi, you really don't know yet shorty? I'd figured you of all people would've known by morning what happened."
A bright silver gauntlet was held up in between the two.
"Don't start this you two it's already loud enough with all these people here.
EvilEye do you know anything or should I fill you in?"
EvilEye sighed she had guessed as to what really happened but none of those could be shared here.
"Go ahead I guess."
Her boss retreated her hand with a look of mild concern. No doubt from her sudden lack of intel, she rarely didn't know what happened around town.
"Well to start the king has put up a request, for any rank adventurers, adamantite to coppers. It says there were some attacks on villages a while ago, undead, no survivors.
Aside from that, I'm not sure Tia and Tina are looking into more now."
EvilEye knew about that much at least but she didn't say so out of respect for Lakyus.
Looking over to the meat sack beside her she sighed. Was it all going to happen again?
No, Lakyus, Tia, Tina, and even Gagaran, we're her sisters she'd be damned if she lost even one more family member to the undead.
Someone sitting beside her broke her from her thoughts of the past and the fears that came with it.
"New info doesn't look good."
"The request is super hard may not survive it."
Tia and Tina had somehow snuck in and sat down never attracting more than EvilEye's attention.
Lakyus shook her head trying to downplay the scare she'd received from the twins appearing out of nowhere.
"I swear I'm gonna tie a bell to you two."
"Oh, no evil boss is gonna turn us into her pets."
"Quickly sister defend yourself."
Despite the teasing phrase (and Lakyus' blushing), neither twin moved a muscle as they spoke.
"J-just tell us what you learned already."
A small nose tap from Tina and they all knew to keep quiet.
"{Silence}"
"Thanks, EvilEye."
"Jobs gonna be really bad rumors around the castle are scary."
"Scarier than evil boss, people saying Gazef Stronoff has been missing for a while."
"Princess recommended us to the king."
Like some kind of divine providence, a familiar face appeared beside the table.
Blonde hair and golden eyes he stood dressed in bright white armor that seemed to glow even in the dimly lit tavern.
"Well if it ain't cherry boy!
How about some fun, a round or two real quick whaddya say?"
The young man just stood there as his face slowly turned cherry red.
Not wanting to delay Lakyus quickly changed the topic.
"Hello Climb I assume this is about the request the king put out?"
"Yes her majesty wished to speak to you, she hopes the five of you would better hear the story from her than any rumors."
As soon as he'd arrived he turned and started to leave never saying any of his usual pleasantries. But as he turned he collided with a figure taking several steps back.
There stood Tina somehow free from the booth hands on her hips glaring at the young man.
"What do you know."
Climb certainly considered the ladies of Blue Rose to be close friends but the way Tina stared at him sent a shiver down his spine he had never felt before.
"Her majesty expected this and wanted to inform you all of a report from the mages guild.
According to an expert on undead from the guild, he believes the undead to be something called a death knight."
EvilEye didn't register the words as they left her mouth.
"What did you say?"
Nor did she register nearly flipping the table leaping over Gagaran and grabbing Climb by the collar.
And Climb certainly didn't register what EvilEye had said either, at least until she drew even closer to his face.
"T-they c-called it a death knight."
"Shit"
That's all EvilEye said as she dropped the terrified boy and dejectedly walked back to her spot in the booth never taking her eyes off of the floor.
If what they said proved true and gods did she hope it didn't she would have to fight harder than ever before to prevent any harm to her sisters.
"Yo earth to Shorty you good?"
"No this is bad, a death knight is something I don't think we should fight."
Surprise was expected from most what wasn't was the laughter that followed.
"You hear that boss?
Shorty here is scared to fight some undead!"
Oh, she was gonna kill her.
Renner Theiere Chardelon Ryle Vaiself the third daughter of the king of Re Estize, a young woman hailed for her beauty, revolutionary reforms, and love for the common people.
If you were to imagine what said woman looked like keeping in mind she'd yet to even celebrate her sixteenth birthday, You would picture a kind-faced smile that seemed to glow with innocence and purity.
So to see her reflection in the mirror more akin to that of a serial killer who'd just finished off their hundredth victim would shock anyone to the core.
Placing a hand on her cheek her face began to twist and contort in ways that would make most question whether she was truly human. In just seconds her visage went from an aura of hatred and malcontent into the flowery and pure image everyone expected of her.
A knock on her chamber door alerted her to the latest guests she'd called out to from within the gilded cage that was her room.
"Your highness, it is Climb I've brought Blue Rose as you requested.
May we enter?"
She double-checked that her facade remained tightly in place before calling out her response.
"You may."
Pushing open the wooden door her vision was blinded as the first to step through gleamed like he was the sun itself.
Oh her darling Climb, how she longed for the day he would be hers.
"Hello, again your highness I hope you've been doing well since we last talked."
The voice of her friend interrupted her thoughts of Climb.
Dressed in a bright blue gown that flowed just above her ankles, her golden blonde hair tied neatly into a bun, and to top it all a small scarf of silk wrapped around her neck. Lakyus of Blue Rose was a true picture of noble beauty and to see the two figures standing so close would make gossip rage through the castle.
But the people behind her would surely prevent any form of gossip.
Like a wall of iron came Gagaran, fully armored in her signature red adamantite gear and her war hammer slung loosely over her shoulder. Behind her the twin assassins Tia and Tina each one said to be a master of their craft and so skilled they could kill the king and none would be the wiser.
And lastly came the masked mage EvilEye, her past just as cloudy as her true strength, the only thing known about her was how quickly she could reduce you to ash.
A small tap to Renner's nose and the door was quickly shut as every wall glowed with magic circles.
"Thank you EvilEye, far too many nosy maids these days ready to scribble down the tiniest details."
"No, it's fine can we get to the part about why you summoned us here?"
Pulling back a chair and sitting Renner's face shifted to one much more serious.
"As you all know my father has sent out a request to the adventurers guild however the truth of the matter behind it is far worse than we can let on.
So while I trust each and every one of you, you as well Climb, not a word of this may leave this room."
That had their attention.
"So let me begin, Gazef Stronoff is dead."
Twenty minutes of shocked questioning later and Renner had managed to relay the entirety of the story. Right up to the three survivors of the warrior band barely making it back to the capital alive.
To call Blue Rose shocked would be an understatement, each one looked ready to pounce on the young princess if it meant just a few more words.
EvilEye much more so than those around her.
"Are you sure that description is correct?
I mean could they have just been scared and fled before properly identifying those undead?"
A red gauntlet on her shoulder finally calmed the mage.
"Calm it shorty I'm more worried about that strange litch, more so if it could behead the Gazef Stronoff.
A round of silent nods was the only response as each one remembered the captain's death.
The silent mourning was suddenly broken by a clap from Renner.
"I understand if you don't wish to undertake such a daunting task but I should let you know my father has offered quite the large reward for destroying these undead."
Lakyus stood from her chair a look of absolute resolve across her face.
She'd never back down not with so many already dead, not with her friends already being taken, and certainly not when she could do something so few others could.
"I'm going to fight, as for my sister I could never force them to lay down their lives but still I hope each one would be ready to protect the innocent people who live in this kingdom."
Tia and Tina stepped from the wall and each pulled a dagger seemingly from nowhere.
"Where ever evil boss goes."
"We will follow right behind her."
Gagaran let out a hearty laugh as she heaved the war hammer off her shoulder, every movement as though the massive thing weighed nothing.
"Like hell, I'd miss out on the fight of a lifetime."
EvilEye had to think, something had felt wrong with the situation ever since the chaos in the guild hall earlier that day. While it didn't remind her of years past something about the way three of the legendary undead appeared at once sent a shiver down her spine.
Could this be related to that awful day so long ago?
No, damn that, damn whatever force thought it could just waltz into her home and try to take everything she's worked so hard to keep.
"I'll kill all those damn things myself if I have to."
Resolve was strong among them all they all had their secrets and their pasts, Renner wasn't one to pry as long as whatever she needed got done.
Oh, but that did remind her to ice the cake so to speak.
"I forgot to mention the reward stated was one hundred platinum, each."
"WHAT!"
A Dark path somewhere outside E Rantel
The shadows moved ever so slightly as a figure stood bathed in moonlight.
Thwack!
From the bushes came a sliver of shining metal that embedded itself into the figure dropping it to the ground no sound could even escape before death took it.
Or retook it she should say.
Jumping from her hiding spot she ran from bush to bush never allowing even a fragment of herself to catch the faint light of the full moon.
'FUCK FUCK FUCK!'
That nosy bitch was following her and she could tell as the faint sensation of being magically watched slowly grew with each second she remained in this damn forest.
Jumping off the ground she quickly grabbed hold of a branch and heaved herself effortlessly into the canopies around her.
Her name was Clementine and as she patted the spoils of her abrupt retirement she could contain the ever-growing smirk that cleaved her face in two.
If only she could escape the ever-watching eyes of Kami Miako that much sooner.
On the run after stealing a relic of the gods and killing its user one would usually expect a swift death. Not Clementine for unlike most she was different, special, a peak of humankind trained since birth to fight the Theocracies enemies.
Although the process of actually escaping the capital had been far easier than she'd hoped truly fleeing the near omnipotent eyes of the black scripture was much harder.
She should know she used to be its third strongest member, that's also why she knew the one chasing her through the forest would never give up.
Not when that bitch Thousand League Astrologer only needed to sit in her room and use some artifact to watch her hundreds of kilometers away.
The invisible gaze however was her least concern right now, immediately her concern was the hundreds of zombies that had somehow taken over the forest. Each one of whom threatened to delay her meeting even more.
Of course, even a thousand of the undead would never be able to kill her but for her to kill them and escape it would take hours, time she really didn't have.
So here she was running like the wind from shadow to shadow never stopping for more than a second at a time as another blade flew from her cloak.
Leaping back to the ground her stiletto passed clean through a skull right before the rotting throat below it could cry out for more undead to swarm her.
The decision to silence the zombie proved to be the wrong one as the feeling of being watched grew ever closer, not wanting to chance it she dove for the first bush she could.
Rolling to the other side of the bush the sensation vanished leaving her alone on a simple dirt path.
'Huh a village would be easier to hide in, and I could always have some fun with the locals.'
The watchful eye of the Theocracy had been evaded for now but she doubted it would buy her more than a few minutes at best. Right now she needed cover of any kind, hell at this point she'd settle for an outhouse if it meant hiding from her pursuer for the rest of the night.
She didn't know a lot about the powerful relic Thousand League Astrologer used but she did know a single flaw in the device, one that had complicated many a mission before, it couldn't look indoors.
So after what felt like an eternity she rushed for the first building she came across making sure not a thing was out of place on the outside of the small home.
She couldn't be watched indoors but that didn't mean they wouldn't notice a house that had suddenly been burglarized.
Letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding she promptly fell to her knees.
Sure she was probably one of if not the strongest humans in the world but that didn't mean she didn't have her limits and running full speed nonstop for almost two days drained her.
Not to mention how many martial arts she had to use back in the capital just to escape.
So with no immediate danger, she finally let the specter of sleep wash over her drawing in the darkness around her.
Even with the nightmares that came from the much-needed sleep not once did she lower her guard.
Not even when her thoughts drifted to her idiot brother.
And that's why in less than a second she was on her feet both stilettos drawn and ready to strike at whoever dared to interrupt her slumber.
Diving to the side she narrowly avoided a shower of splinters as something burst into the room.
It was fast, REALLY FAST.
Faster than even she was and that was something no one should have been able to beat, not unless?
"FUCK DID THEY SEND THAT GODKIN BITCH!"
Oh, how she would have loved to put that smug cunt in her place, to finally fight each one knowing failure would mean death.
But the rotting skull that turned to her quickly destroyed her hopes of a rematch.
"[Flow Acceleration] [ Greater Ability Boost] [Gale Acceleration]!"
Activating her martial arts she dove from the building right as a massive sword swung cleaving what little remained of the debris into little more than sawdust.
What the hell was she facing?
Never before had she faced an undead that could move with such speed and strength not even during her training days in the Katze plains.
Ducking low to avoid an overhead swing she rushed forward ready to meet the gap it provided.
CLANG!
Not even a scratch resounded from her sped-up strike like a church bell it only bounced off harmlessly ringing into the night.
The telltale sign she was being watched returned not seconds later, like a pin being poked to her neck she had to redouble her focus to avoid a smash from the undead's shield.
'Damn just what I needed, a fucking pincer attack!'
Jumping over the swing of the sword she quickly rolled forward just as a cloud of dirt filled the space she occupied.
She was losing, not by a lot but she was already tired, and trying to fight only made things worse.
But as if divine providence she felt the divination slowly fade from her, only to watch as the towering undead stopped dead in place.
Not one to waste an opportunity to flee an unwinnable fight she dove back for the forest.
Uttering a small thank you for the bastards of the Theocracy just as she vanished from sight.
Stepping from the swirling mass that was his {Gate} spell Momonga looked around what little remained of Carne village.
'Has this place grown even more desolate?'
The rising sun illuminated his target for today's mission, standing stock still in the middle of town its head craned to look straight up.
One of the three death knights he'd summoned the other day.
No matter its strange behavior, no right now Momonga had a much bigger question in mind. How in the hell was a summon still standing after so long?
Letting one of his daily {Create Middle Undead} activate he watched as the familiar blob of thick dark liquid fell to the ground quickly becoming identical to the one standing a few meters away.
Staring at the two he sighed.
'This'll take a while.'
Boredom quickly became his biggest threat as he awaited his test's conclusion.
Sure he could go look around the village, see what changed and all, but he doubted a village with no villagers was likely to have done more than rot slightly more.
After two hours of boring pacing, the familiar sensation of his latest summon reaching its end told him that his test had concluded.
And just as expected his newest death knight crumbled into dust just as the timer reached its end.
So what had happened to make this one stay for so long after its timer had ended?
A jolt of recognition snapped him from the sky watching summon. He could feel as though two strings were tied to his waist leading into the forest.
'The other two death knights? But what was so different from those three that let them become permanent?'
Then he noticed it all around him, not one of the corpses from the other day remained.
Blood was still dried and cracking everywhere he looked but with no corpses to be seen it only left a mystery for the record books.
That had to be it!
Corpses had somehow been consumed like a catalyst allowing this amazing new development.
He had to test his new theory if it proved true gone would be the days of using up the rare and sentimental mercenary scrolls. Sending a mental command to the death knights in the forest he ordered them to bring any remaining corpses from the surrounding homes and ruble.
If he was remembering the flavor text from the game correctly then even charred bones could be used to bring forth undead life.
His memory proved right when not an hour later seventeen death knights were staring at him from neatly aligned rows. All of his daily casts of {Summon Middle Undead} had been used and alongside those he'd created, he now had a small army that could slow even a level eighty player.
Casting a {Gate} back to Nazarick he ordered the newly formed squad to march through.
Only to hear a sound that sent dread down his spine.
CRACK!
Like spider webs, a series of lines began to run through the sky as though it was made of glass.
Someone had just tried to use divination magic on him.
Quickly following behind the last death knight he couldn't help the light chuckle that left him as the portal closed behind him.
"I hope they enjoy the {Triplet Maximized Nuclear Blast} that little peep show cost them."
Kami Miako
The black scripture, an elite unit of the strongest humans in the world quite literally breed and trained since birth there was next to nothing they couldn't fight.
Even stopping the resurgence of the occasional dragon lord when such a situation came to their attention.
And as it so happened that was why Thousand League Astrologer was staring so intently at her god-given gift.
An unknown relic once used by the gods themselves it allowed her to gaze at an individual half the world away, so long as they weren't inside a building she could always watch them.
Originally she was tasked to chase down the whereabouts of a rouge scripture member.
Having stolen an artifact they fled the capital under cover of darkness, meaning only she could find them. And she almost did catching them right in the center of some village by the Re Estize kingdom.
But here she saw a horror told only in the records of the gods.
An undead said to be unkillable by all but those on par with the legendary heroes of old.
Beside this monster among monsters?
Something so powerful that not even the divine relic she currently used could pierce the shadow that enveloped them.
So here she was with the leader of all the scriptures behind her desperately pouring all her mana into the relic as he watched on in horror.
Finally, right as she was nearing her limits the shadows began to part giving way to light.
A light that grew brighter.
And brighter.
And brighter.
Until all she could see was herself being thrown back by the cardinal as her world grew searingly hot.
And all became white.
Nazarick
It would be a Long road to recovery but the glory of Nazarick would be returned.
For Ainz Ooal Gown would never fall.