In the year 2138 AD, there was a term: DMMO-RPG.
This word was an acronym for "Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game".
These games could be played by connecting a designed console to the brain via a neural nano-interface - an intracerebral network of nano-computers, created from the fusion of cyber and nano-technology.
They were games that let you enter a virtual world and experience it as if it were real life.
And among the myriad of DMMO-RPGs flooding the market, one was breaking down head and shoulders above the rest: YGGDRASIL.
This game was developed and released 12 years ago, in 2126.
Compared to other DMMO-RPGs of the time, YGGDRASIL's selling point was "player freedom".
It had over 2,000 basic and advanced job categories.
Each class had a maximum of 15 levels, and so to reach the overall level cap of 100, one had to complete at least 7 different classes. However, players could take as many classes as they wanted as long as they met the prerequisites for each class. A player could even take 100 courses at level 1 each, although this was very inefficient. As such, in this system it was virtually impossible to create identical characters unless you deliberately tried to do so.
Additionally, players use various creation tools (sold separately) to fully customize their armor, weaponry, flavor text, appearance, and other cosmetic settings.
A vast playing field awaited its players. There were nine worlds in total: Asgard, Alfheim, Vanaheim, Nidavellir, Midgard, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Helheim, and Muspelheim.
It boasted of a huge world, many classes, and freely customizable appearances.
These features ignited the creative spirit of its Japanese players and sparked what would later be called a stylistic revolution. It was so popular that whenever the word "DMMO-RPG*" was mentioned in Japan, listeners would immediately think of YGGDRASIL.
"Yet that was all a thing of the past now. "
A gigantic table carved from gleaming black stone sat in the center of the room, surrounded by 41 luxurious chairs.
However, most of these seats were empty.
Once every seat had been filled, but now only one seat was occupied.
One of the people seated was dressed in a beautiful black academic dress trimmed in purple and gold. The necklace looked overly garish, but somehow it fit the overall design.
However, the exposed head was a bare skull. Dark red points of light shone in its large eye sockets, and behind the skull shone a halo of black glow.
The person was an Overlord - the highest ranked of those magic casters who had become undead in order to learn the most powerful spells.
One might encounter these monsters in the most difficult dungeons. Overlords could use powerful spells of the highest levels of magic. However, they weren't gaming freaks, but gamers.
In YGGDRASIL, players could choose their character races from three major groups; humanoid, demi-human and heteromorph.
Humanoids were the base player type and included humans, dwarves, wood elves, and more. Demi-humans tended to be ugly, but possessed superior attributes to humanoids. Examples of demi-humans were goblins, beastmen, ogres, etc. Finally, heteromorph races had monstrous abilities, but while their stats were generally superior to those of other races, they also possessed various disadvantages. There were around 700 playable races in total, including advanced versions of those races.
Naturally, the Overlord was among the playable high-level heteromorph races.
The Overlord – who was speaking at the moment – didn't move his mouth. Indeed, even the most advanced DMMO-RPGs of the time still couldn't overcome the technological hurdle of correctly modeling changes to a character's face in response to emotion and speech.
"They didn't come."
The Overlord had been sitting at this huge table for over two hours, as he seemed to reach for someone's arrival. Or rather, he was hoping for someone to come. Looking down, the Overlord couldn't help but feel anger inside him.
"All of you...Are you kidding I hope?!"
He banged on the table, shouting.
The YGGDRASIL system registered this action as an attack and began the complex calculations of Momonga's unarmed attack strength versus the table's defensive strength to determine the final total damage dealt. In the end, the area Momonga had hit issued a single [0].
"It's the Great Tomb of Nazarick that we built together! How could you abandon it like that?!"
After screaming the words in his heart, only remorse remained.
"No, it's not true. They didn't give it up lightly, they just made the choice between reality and fantasy. There was nothing we could do about it. No one would betray the guild. Anyone who made this decision must have found it painful..."
Suddenly, he heard an alert and saw a name appear in the chat.
" Huh ? "
"I knew you would stay until the end."
Turning around, Momonga turned around and saw a woman with white hair. Nevertheless, despite her human face, no one could ignore her pair of horns, as well as his black wings, similar to those of a fallen angel.
" Ga ... Galadriel ? "
The demonic queen, Galadriel, member of Ainz Oal Gown was actually in front of him, as she touched a small statue with her fingertip.
"This place is exactly as I remember it."
Seeing her worrying about the appearance of the room, Momonga felt delighted to see one of her precious friends again. Nevertheless, recognizing the last member of his guild, who had ended up leaving the game, the Overlord couldn't help but say, with a reproachful tone.
"Yes, everything is exactly the same...as when you left six months ago."
Stopping moving, Galadriel remained motionless for a few moments. Finally, she declared.
"I managed...I managed to get a promotion! I managed to rise after years of hard work! Nevertheless...these past six months have been hell."
Gritting her teeth, she couldn't help but punch the statue and pulverized it. Being in a world where she could shout whatever she wanted, she roared.
"I'm the only woman who has a position as a senior manager...and that's why I'm the target of criticism! I'm forced to smile when the other leaders of the company make misogynistic jokes! I have to nod my head when others give me their responsibilities! And I have to grit my teeth when they point the finger at me for all the mistakes of others! But the worst thing is the lustful gaze of the boss, who makes it clear to me what he expects of me if I want to stay with the company."
Silent, Momonga finally sees her turn to him, as she declares.
"Momonga…do you really believe that, given the choice, I would have stopped having fun with you, to suffer?"
Immediately, her companion felt a wave of guilt wash over him as he lowered his gaze.
"So... Sorry."
Seeming to calm down a bit, Galadriel finally grabbed her seat and sank into it, as she declared.
"It's not your fault! It's just that...everyone thinks I look like I'm enjoying my promotion and happy about it."
There was silence in the room. Then suddenly the pair heard the alarm go off again and a third figure arrived.
It was an Elder Black Ooze, one of the strongest slime-type race. His appearance is merely a mass of a black, sticky substance. His tar-like surface roils and writhes continuously, never staying in one shape for more than a second.
" Hi ! "
" HEROHERO ! "
Looking around, the slime had no trouble seeing the strange atmosphere in the room, while the debris of the statue was still on the ground.
"Am I coming at a bad time?"
"No! Not at all." Momonga assured. " I'm happy to see you. "
The slime nodded. Then he looked around him, as if discovering the place.
"It's been so long ... "
"You stopped logging in after changing jobs IRL, so how long has it been...about 2 years?"
"Ah - that seems about right - wah, it's been so long... It's bad ! I've been working so much overtime lately that my sense of time is starting to get weird."
Immediately, the Overlord sensed that the slime's words lacked force, or perhaps one could say that they lacked energy. Not being the only one to realize this, Galadriel declared.
"You look tired."
"Does it show that much?"
Then, trying to smile, he ends up sighing.
"It's really bad, isn't it? My body...it's a mess. I haven't needed to see a doctor yet, but I'm almost there, it's really bad A lot of times I feel like running away from it all, but then I think about how I need the money to live, then I go back to work like a whipped slave."
The duo in front of him understood what he wanted.
"A lot of work..." Momonga said.
"Crap salaries..." Galadriel continued.
"And no consideration of our employers." Finished Herohero.
Then they started talking about their jobs, even if they spoke with a bit of reluctance.
Subordinates who didn't know how to report, communicate and discuss things, spreadsheets that changed from day to day, reprimands from superiors for not meeting various KPIs, working late every day until they unable to return home, gaining weight due to their irregular lifestyles, and the increasing amounts of medication they had to take each day.
Herohero and Galadriel's grievances erupted like a broken dam, and Momonga listened to them.
Many people would be reluctant to discuss reality in a virtual world. It was pretty normal that people wouldn't want to talk about their offline life in a game.
However, that was not the case for both of them.
The guild they belonged to - a group founded and managed by players - Ainz Ooal Gown, had two conditions that each of its members had to fulfill. The first was that everyone should be an integral part of society. The other was that they had to play heteromorphic characters.
Because of these rules, the topics they discussed often revolved around their work in the real world. Any guild member would answer these questions and as such the conversation between the two could be considered standard fare for the guild.
After about ten minutes, the torrent of words flowing from the two players was reduced to a trickle.
"Shitty life." Galadriel finished.
"I'm sorry for making you listen to my moans, Momonga ! I can't complain much via IRL."
The place corresponding to Herohero's head seemed to sway, as if bowing in apology. Thus, Momonga responded.
"Don't worry about it, my friend ! I put you online despite your being busy, so listening to your complaints is normal ! I'll listen to you, no matter how many you have."
Herohero seemed to have regained some of his old energy, and with a slightly more energetic laugh, he replied.
"Ah, I'm grateful, Momonga-san ! I'm glad I got to meet my two friends! In truth, I thought I wasn't meeting anyone."
Looking up, he asked.
"Did you really stay until the end?"
"I must admit that I left, six months ago." Galadriel confessed. "Momonga is the only one left."
"Like a true team leader." The black slime remarked.
Then he heaved another sigh.
"I'm sorry but I think it's time for me to log out."
Herohero's tentacle waved in the air, as if operating something. Indeed, he was operating a menu.
"You're right, it's getting quite late..." Momonga said, reluctantly.
"I'm sorry, Momonga-san."
Momonga sighed softly, as if he didn't want Herohero to feel regret in his heart.
"Well, if that's how it is, then that's too bad...time flies faster than you can see."
"I really wanted to stay with you until the end, but I'm about to fall asleep."
"Ah – well, you look rather tired. So, you should log off soon and rest."
"I'm so sorry...Momonga-san ! However, how long do you plan to stay, Guild Leader? "
"I intended to stay on until I was automatically logged out once the servers were shut down. Since it's still a long way off, maybe someone could drop by in the meantime."
"Is it so...again, I really didn't expect this place to be so well preserved."
At this moment, Momonga was grateful that he had no way to show his expressions. If he had, Herohero and Galadriel would have probably seen his face contort. Even then, his voice would betray what he really felt, so Momonga kept quiet, in order to suppress the feelings rising within him.
He had worked hard to maintain the guild precisely because he had built it together with everyone, but hearing words like these from one of his guild members had triggered a mixture of complicated emotions in his heart. . However, those feelings dispersed like mist as Herohero continued.
"Momonga-san, you had to maintain the guild as leader so that we could come back to it at any time ! Thank you very much."
"..it's because it was a guild built by everyone, so it's my job as guild master to get things done so members can come back anytime."
"So many good memories." Galadriel whispered.
"Yes. We had fun with the game because you were our guild master, Momonga-san... I hope when we meet again, it will be in YGGDRASIL II."
"I haven't heard anything about a second game... but like you said, I'd be happy if we could meet like this."
"I can't wait to be there! I'm having trouble staying awake...I think I'll log off first. I'm glad I got to meet you at the end. Good night."
"I was very happy to meet you too ! Good night."
A smiley appeared near Herohero's head. Since YGGDRASIL's characters couldn't express their emotions through their facial expressions, they used emoticons instead.
Momonga worked on his control interface and produced a similar smiley. Herohero's last words were "Let's meet somewhere. "
However, just as he was about to log off, the alarm went off again and a fourth name popped up in the chat.
"I hope I wasn't late." A man in white armor said.
Recognizing him, Galadriel couldn't help but feel her body shaking as she wanted to cry.
" Touch-me san. "
"Galadriel-san." The paladin greeted her, bowing to her.
Then he turned to his two other friends.
"Herohero! Momonga!"
"You... You came?" The Overlord wondered.
If Touch Me could have seen his true face, he would have seen Momonga's wide eyes.
"You really came."
"Yes...and I think I've done better than that."
" Huh ? "
"I saw the message you sent us and...I did everything I could to get the others together! And normally..."
Many alarm sounds were heard, while the number of chat participants increased in an instant.
" They are there. "
Rising from his seat, Momonga saw seven other people suddenly appear in the room.
" Guys ? "
"HI !" Said a birdman. "Galadriel-chan, I've missed you so much."
Giving him a simple smile, the demon rushed to the person next to him and hugged a pink slime.
"Bukubuku-chan!"
"Nice to see you." The slime assured her, while Peroroncino began to brood.
Then, suddenly, a huge hand slapped his back, while a real giant in armor, laughed with a hoarse voice.
"Good to see you again, loli fan." Takemikazuchi exclaimed.
"You destroyed my back."
For its part, a monster covered in vines and other vegetation began to walk around the room, while scrutinizing the same details of the decoration.
"Amazing! It's just like before."
"You had the same remark as me, Punitto Moe." Herohero assured him, approaching him.
Appearing last, a humanoid goat dropped into his seat, before dropping his hooves onto the table. Hearing the people around him, Ulbert declared.
"In all honesty, I never thought Ainz Ooal Gown could survive this long."
Then, glancing at Momonga, he noticed.
"So even losers like us can achieve great things that winners can't."
But before the Overlord could react, Touch-Me retorted.
"Tssss! Don't try to give yourself credit that isn't yours."
"I never attempted to." The goat growled. "It's my way of congratulating Momonga on his work! In all honesty, I didn't think I'd come, thinking that all of this was long gone already."
"Friends..." Momonga said.
" Momonga-san. "
Approaching him, a ninja and a tall person, with a face hidden under her hat, greeted him.
"We are happy to see you again."
"Nishikienrai! Yamaiko!"
Finally all turned towards him, the 10 members of the guild who had been able to come began to greet him.
"Glory to Momonga-san."
The overlord remained motionless. However, this didn't prevent his friends from hearing the sound of sobbing. Momonga's avatar was unable to cry, but that didn't stop the player from doing so in real life.
"Excuse me." He apologized. "Excuse me! I know I sound stupid! But…But I'm so glad to see you…one last time."
Hearing this, several of his friends couldn't help feeling guilty, while realizing that Momonga was perhaps the one who had suffered the most in recent years, while he had run after a chimera.
However, even though Ainz Ooal Gown had officially ceased to exist, he was happy to see them back. Suddenly, having an idea to celebrate the event, he got up from his seat, before shouting.
"I'm coming back! Don't leave."
Then, he wiggled his arms as he activated the menu, in order to teleport. Seeing him making awkward gestures, Touch-Me chuckled. Then he assured him.
"Momonga...we're staying, don't worry."
" Huh ? "
"Everyone I was able to bring promised to stay until the very end of YGGDRASIL."
Hearing this, Momonga turned to the other two people who were not part of this group.
"I swear it too." Galadriel assured.
For his part, more undecided, Herohero ends up sorry.
"I could only sleep for 3 hours! But too bad..."
Climbing onto the table, he began to scream.
"Might as well take advantage of these last moments and hold back the masters of this tomb for the last time."
"AYE!" Several voices assured.
Hearing this, Momonga seemed calmer and serenely activated the teleportation. Arriving in the throne room, he quickly made his way to a wall, where there was an ornately decorated magic staff.
Seven serpents coiled around the body of the staff, which resembled the kerukeion carried by Hermes Trismegistus. The snakes' mouths opened in agony, and each mouth held a gem of a different color. The handle was beautifully carved from crystal and shone with blue light.
Anyone could recognize this staff as a very high quality item, and it was a guild weapon unique to this guild. It could be called the symbol of Ainz Ooal Gown.
This staff, which should have been a treasure held by the guild master, was instead kept in this room as a decoration.
It was because there was nothing else that represented the guild like that.
Guild weapons were usually hidden in safe places and not used for their enormous powers as a guild would be disbanded if its associated guild weapon was destroyed. Even Ainz Ooal Gown, a guild that existed at the top of YGGDRASIL, was no exception to this.
It was the reason the weapon had been kept here, and Momonga had never touched it, despite the fact that it had been custom-made to complement his abilities.
Momonga reached out to bat, but stopped halfway. It was because at that moment - in the last minutes before YGGDRASIL finally closed down, he realized that soon the glorious memories he had made with his comrades would be lost forever, like tears under the rain. The confusion he felt about this made him hesitate as he struggled to make a decision.
However, thinking back to the words of the ten people waiting for him in the meeting room, Momonga finally made up his mind and grabbed the stick. Then he hastened to teleport. However, before doing so, he saw a person standing near the throne.
She was a beautiful woman who wore a pure white dress, and the slight smile on her face was that of a goddess. In stark contrast to her dress, her hair was a flowing, shiny jet black that reached down to her waist.
Although her golden irises and vertically slit pupils are somewhat odd, apart from these, she could easily be considered a world-class beauty. However, a pair of coiled horns grew out of the sides of her head. Additionally, a pair of black feathered wings emerged from her waist.
Maybe it was because of the horns, but her divine smile was like a mask that hid her true feelings.
She wore a gold necklace inspired by a cobweb, which extended from her shoulders to the top of her breasts.
Her slender wrists were covered with a pair of shiny silk gloves and in her hand she held a strange weapon that looked like some kind of wand. It was about 45cm long and a black orb hovered at its end, floating slightly in the air but maintaining its position at the end of the wand.
Her name, Momonga had not forgotten it yet. She was overseer of the ground guardians of the great underground tomb of Nazarick: Albedo. She was in charge of the eight NPC Floor Guardians. In other words, she was the highest ranked character in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.
Because of this, she was allowed to await orders in the throne room, deep within the tomb.
However, Momonga glared sharply at Albedo.
"I knew there was a world-class object here, but how come there are two here now?"
In YGGDRASIL, there were 200 ultimate items in the game, known as world-class items.
World-class items had unique abilities, and some of them upset the balance so much that they could even ask the developers to change the rules of the game. Of course, not all world-class items had such a insane power.
Even so, a player who owned even one world-class item would be catapulted to the highest echelons of YGGDRASIL fame.
Ainz Ooal Gown had 11 items like this, the most of any guild. Even that was far superior to any other guild. The guild in second place had only three of these items.
With the permission of the other guild members, Momonga was allowed to possess one of these ultimate items, and the rest of these world-class items were scattered across Nazarick. However, most of them were stored in the depths of the Treasury, defended by his Avataras.
The only reason Albedo could possess such a rare treasure like this without Momonga knowing was that the guild member who designed Albedo gave it to, since today was already the last day of the game, Momonga felt he had to respect the wishes of his comrade who had given the item to Albedo, and so he took no further action.
Momonga was in a hurry. However, seeing the creation of one of his friends who was not present, the overlord said.
" Tabula ... "
He looked openly at Albedo, before approaching her. He wanted to admire her...for the last time in his life.
"What kind of backstory was her designed with? »
All Momonga knew of her character was that she was the overseer of the Guardians, as well as the highest ranked NPC in Nazarick.
Driven by curiosity, Momonga opened a console and began scrolling through the details of Albedo's flavor text.
A stream of densely packed figures filled his vision. It was like reading an ancient epic poem. If he took the time to read it in detail, he would probably keep reading until the end of the game.
Momonga felt like she had stepped on a landmine. If he could move, he would be shaking now.
He wanted to berate himself for forgetting that Albedo's creator was obsessed with that sort of thing.
However, since he had already opened it, he had no choice but to drop his resistance and continue scrolling.
He didn't even skim the text for the important points. He simply scrolled down as fast as he could while looking at the title.
After skipping large swaths of text, Momonga's mind paused on the last line and froze.
" She's a slut too. "
He couldn't help but stare.
" Hey? What does that mean? "
A cry of disbelief escaped Momonga's nonexistent lips. He looked at the words several times, his eyes filled with suspicion, but in the end he couldn't find any other meaning to them. After several rounds of reflection, he could only arrived at the conclusion with which he had begun.
"A slut...which means she has excessive sexual desire?"
Each of the 41 guild members had designed their own NPCs, so he couldn't understand why anyone would want to treat their own designed NPCs that way. Maybe he would understand why after reading this long flavor text essay.
However, there were guild members who came up with these unconventional designs.
Albedo's creator, Tabula Smaragdina, was one such person.
" Ah, is that what they call gap moe? Tabula-san... still... Isn't a backstory like this too much?"
Momonga couldn't help thinking that. All NPCs created by everyone were a legacy of the guild. Designing the highest ranked NPC Albedo in this way made him think Tabula Smaragdina was beyond saving.
Would it be okay to change an NPC's backstory based on a personal decision? After thinking about it for some time, Momonga came to a conclusion.
"Should I change it? "
Currently, with the guild weapon in his possession, Momonga could be considered the master of the guild. It should be okay to wield the authority of the guild master that he had never used before.
Momonga's doubts vanished like fog, as he armed himself to right his guildmate's wrongs.
He extended the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown he was holding. Normally, it would take dev tools to change a character's backstory, but thanks to his guild master power, he could directly access and modify her settings. After a few actions on his console, the "bitch" line disappeared.
"Well, it should be like that."
Momonga thought a little more and looked at the gap in Albedo's blurb.
"That's a bit silly."
Although he laughed at himself, he still typed a few words on the console keyboard. The words formed a sentence.
" She loves Momonga. "
" Uwah, how embarrassing. "
Momonga covered his face with his palm. It was as if he conceived his ideal girlfriend with love events for himself, which embarrassed him so much that his heart started racing. Although he wanted to rewrite it again out of shame, he eventually changed his mind and decided not to. The game would end soon, after all, and his shame would go with it. Moreover, the sentence he added exactly matched the gap left by the deleted sentence. It would be a shame if he deleted it and left a blank space again.
"I think it's time for me to go."
However, looking around again, Ainz observed the throne room entirely. It was a perfect place to gather his companions. Nevertheless, he decided that their final moments would be where he left off. Because of this, Momonga walked away from Albedo and the throne, all while declaring.
"It's been a great adventure...but it's time for me to go too."
Then, walking towards the huge front door, he faced a man dressed as a butler, who seemed to be guarding the door to the room. Staring at him, as if he were a real person, Momonga told him.
"Sebas…even though I think this will be impossible for you…I would like to give you one last order."
Showing his staff, he tells him.
"When midnight strikes, go to the meeting hall and take it back here! I will be eternally grateful to you."
And finally, Ainz left the throne room.
Seeing him return to them, his companions were still present. Silent when they saw him, they couldn't help but giggle, understanding the reason for his teleportation.
"You did this to show us your greatness?" Asked Peroroncino. "
"It's not my greatness! Have you forgotten? This specter is the symbol of our guild! It is our most powerful weapon! Only some of us can control it.
Nodding her head, Galadriel then looks at the time before screaming.
"LET'S TOAST TO THE BEST LEADER WE CAN ASK FOR."
"OOOOOOHHHHH!" Then everyone pulls out their golden goblets which have been designed with a few diamonds on them.
Peroroncino, "To my closest friend and a wonderful leader."
Bukubukuchagama, "To onii-sama and best leader ever."
Yamaiko, "To Momonga-san, the best leader we could ask for."
Punitto Moe, "To our leader who led us all."
Nishikienrai, "To our leader, Momonga."
Takemikazuchi Warrior, "To Our Loyal Leader."
Galadriel, "To our leader, Praise at Momonga. »
Herohero, "To a good friend and leader I can never ask for."
Ulbert Alain Odle, " To my good friend and comrade. "
Touch me, "To our leader who led us to victory."
Momonga looks at his friends standing in front of him, he can't help but be very proud and he doesn't regret meeting them.
" I will cherish this moment for the rest of my life... "
"Thank you all. They all bow back.
Momonga toasts and everyone follows.
" GLOIRE A AINZ OOAL ROBE ! "
23:59:58
" It was a good trip, so let's start a new one. He closed his eyes and met the darkness.
00:00:00