Chapter 12
Yggdrasil, 2 weeks before the servers' shutdown
"You sure about this, Momonga-san?"
"Yes, it's been at least 2 months since they all quit the game. They've all got problems IRL or something, anyway everyone gave me their entire gear and told me I could even sell it… though nobody's gonna pay a lot or at all right now, but I'd never do that. Definitely seems like they're not coming back…"
"I'm sorry about that, Momonga-san. I know how much those guys mean to you… but when life gets in the way, there's nothing you can do. Besides, in a couple weeks it's all gonna be over…"
"I know that, Oshikuru-san, but at best they'll reply to me after one week and all they can say is — sorry, I wish it could be like the good old days but work, but the wife, bla, bla, bla! — as if they couldn't spare just five minutes to login every once in a while and have some fun. I care about them, I care about this guild, I gave it all of me and they just don't want to be a part of it anymore!
So they don't get a say in this.
I am the only one left in Ainz Ooal Gown, I am the Guildmaster, so I'll decide. You've always wanted to join for the last few years, I know that. You're a good friend, both in-game when you fought for us during the Eight Guild Alliance assault and IRL, hell you're the only person out there I hang around at all. So you deserve a place at the table, so much more than my old friends who don't give a shit about it anymore.
My best memories are in this place and you've become my best friend. I see no reason why you shouldn't be a part of it.
"Look, I'm not complaining, actually I'm really happy about it, but if the others coming back at least on the very last day and find out about this, it's gonna be a very bitter homecoming…"
Momonga raised his skeletal right hand's fingers one by one.
"1st: I don't care anymore.
2nd: they all quit the game, you didn't.
3rd: they barely keep in touch, you and I have fun together almost every day.
4th: it's not like I'm spitting on them. I still cherish my old friends, even if it's disappointing how much they've changed.
5th: I do hope they come back on the last day, it'll be fun and they can't kill you since I have all their stuff!"
"Hmm, I guess you're right. And I must say in all these years I've grown really curious about how Nazarick looks like. Based on the outside, I'm sure it'll make my place look like a troll's cave!"
Oshikuru chuckled as glancing around.
The ground level of the Great Tomb was a familiar sight to him at this point, having visited it a few times times. The perfectly cut dark grass was 200 meters wide in all directions. It was enclosed by 6 meter tall round walls surrounding the tomb, with two entrances being the front and back gates. No matter how much he'd try to find one, there seemed to be no pattern to Nazarick's tombstones. There were lots of splendid statues of goddesses and angels dotting around the cemetery. There were four crypts by the cardinal points, while a large mausoleum stood right in the middle. It had Nazarick's entrance, perpetually defended by eight 10 meter tall armor-wearing statues.
Beyond that gray threshold, Oshikuru had never been and he was as eager as a child to go explore the Great Tomb.
"Let's go now, Oshikuru-san. Before you become a member of Ainz Ooal Gown, I shall give you a full tour of my humble abode!"
Yo, I'm really excited.
"Just don't make me fall into all your traps!"
"Nah, just a couple!"
Both laughed and walked into the impregnable Great Tomb of Nazarick.
The First Floor consisted mostly of gray bricks crossed by multiple corridors, most being dead ends, on which opened several empty rooms. Everything was shrouded by a greenish mist which made Oshikuru feel like home.
"I'm sure I would have already triggered about a thousand traps. And also got lost without a spell to lead the way," said the Arch Devil as he and the Overlord arrived at the 1st Floor's end.
"Oh, that's a magic gate right there by the staircase… so the floors of the Great Tomb are not physically connected, and I already sensed a World Protection as soon as I entered the building. Clever bastards you are!" He chuckled.
Momonga couldn't smile with his skull-face, but Oshikuru was certain he was nonetheless.
"Aye. What else can you guess?"
"100% sure it changes, it'd be a waste if you guys didn't make an ever-moving maze out of the 1st floor to slow down most people already. And you probably use low level undead mobs or anything else which is easily replaced without paying any fee. Also, it'd make absolutely no sense to use the area closest to the entrance full of artwork, since many used to attack the building and it'd be a pain to see nice things get broken every other week."
"Indeed, you got it right. Besides, I've seen your Little Hell and while it's much smaller than Nazarick it's really nice and impossible to find, now I know how you managed to escape from all the people you pissed off, including some of my folks…
Anyway, in the Great Tomb all of the undead can heal by negative energy, in addition to being unaffected by insta-death and mental attacks as well. The negative energy spreads across all the floors by just 1 point and reduces the area effects on positive energy, while still allowing recovery magic.
On this level there are several traps and in my opinion the most useful ones are those which force teleportation since they can divide a party while Nazarick is warded to block teleportation magic into or within itself except for those very same areas, unless you're wearing a Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown. Still, you can't use it to teleport everywhere safely, but I'll show you later.
We have many others are all over the place, from traps that blind people and some that poison the air. We also got plenty of good old trapdoors which open on the floor leading to chambers packed with annoying creatures such as the Undead Door Imitators, Dog Zombies, Plague Bombers, Ghosts, Carrion Babies, Skeleton Centipedes, Ghouls, Wraiths and all kinds of Undead Beasts…
As you correctly guessed, in the maze walls can change and we can release POP mobs of thousands of Skeletons, be they Warriors, Archers, Mages or Riders.
But there was no reason to call upon them now, such low level monsters are not something I could brag about.
I wanna see your face when we open the Black Capsule, hehehe. If I push you in there, will you be mad? Might be a little too much, I'll just show it to you.
Nothing too impressive so far, but from now on prepare to be amazed!"
"Yeah, show me what you're hiding down here, you never told me anything about it, save your NPC who blocked the invasion, basically all by itself.
That was one devious move, I'm proud of you guys. Fooling the game rules and the shitty devs, not to mention all raiders, was simply amazing!"
"Victim's way down below, but no spoilers. Be patient!
Now, here it is the 2nd Floor."
Right beyond the threshold lay a deep crevasse crossed by the shabbiest rope bridge ever. The derelict thing's ropes were as thin as a hair in several points, it looked like a feather could break it all down. Most wood boards were rotten through and those which weren't had fallen off already, either broken or due to the ropes' knots going loose.
Oshikuru glanced below and waved a hand to the countless corpses at the bottom of the precipice.
"Let me guess, Momon-san.
If someone crosses the bridge, it breaks apart once you're halfway and the corpses wake up swarming everyone who falls off, while if someone tries to jump or fly to the other side he'll be hit by I don't know how many traps in mid-air, plus being surrounded by Bone Vultures, Elemental Skulls etc.
Am I wrong?"
"Nope, you're quite right. But the bridge will hold both of us since I gave you already a Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown. In addition to those you already mentioned, being 500 Bone Vultures and 5 Elemental Skulls, we also have 10 Skeletal and Zombie Dragons, in addition to two dozens liches as flying undead, while down there - he pointed below the bridge they were now somehow safely crossing - are now resting exactly 2.000 trash Zombie Goblins and 1.000 Squire Zombies, the tougher 500 Heavy Skeleton Warriors and 250 Corpse Collectors, then 100 Death Knights commanded by 5 Crypt Lords, 50 Zombie Trolls, 25 Blood Meat Hulks, 10 High Wraiths, 10 Deadman Strugglers, 5 Jack The Rippers and, icing on the cake, one Greater Graveyard and one Eternal Death.
Some call it the Well of the Dead, others the Zombie Pit, but my suggestion was Tokyo's Sewers. Kukuku!"
Oshikuru burst laughing as hearing the last denomination, but at the end he bitterly thought: Not so funny, actually. That place stinks and I really don't want to know what's down there…
Beyond the deep, dark and wide abyss it appeared catacombs pretty similar to the ones on the 1st floor, but even darker. Among the empty burial chambers were wandering around dozens of lesser vampires lazily flapping the wings of their bat forms.
As the two friends kept on walking in total darkness through which both of the players could see with zero effort, they came to a black elliptical dome right in the middle of a large square.
Curious, Oshikuru asked: "Yo, what's in there, Momonga-san?"
The Guildmaster barely refrained from unleashing an evil laughter. "Oh, right— he said feigning innocence —it's actually quite nice. Just touch the dome and it'll open up."
As Oshikuru's eyes visualised hundreds of cockroaches crawling out of the now open dome, he loudly cursed and carelessly jumped up, crashing into the brick ceiling with his head.
Momonga laughed hard at Oshikuru, now floating in mid-air as he dared not be on the floor together with all those bugs. He kept glancing at them, unwilling to actually watch the insects but also fearing they might somehow approach him.
"Okay, you got me good. Now make them go away or I swear I'll burn all of the place down to ashes!"
There were cockroaches of all different shapes and sizes, one crawling on top of the other. The smallest roaches were only the size of a fingertip while the biggest ones were over a meter long. The dome's ceiling was also covered by cockroaches which now crawled across the otherwise empty square. If normal sized players fell into the sea of cockroaches still in the pit they would be waist deep in it. The disgusting room was almost a hundred meters long, over sixty wide and about thirty meters deep.
Emerging from within the cockroaches pit was Area Guardian Kyouhukou. It was a true cockroach king, having a golden crown on his head among the antennas, wearing a stainless cape that resembled Touch Me's, and holding a short golden staff. The elegant insect druid was certainly not the most powerful creature within Nazarick, but being able to scare the shit out of Oshikuru himself it was clear how effective it could be.
First of all it could manipulate the size of his own form from smallest to largest, thanks to his Minimal class. Also, Kyouhukou could summon and control up to 100.000 cockroaches at a time. While doing so in the open at daylight would be seen from afar and earn him several well aimed AoE spells, in the obscurity of an enclosed area such as the Black Capsule, Kyouhukou managed to use the sea of cockroaches creating waves which would surround the unlucky players from all sides to consume them. Weapons were completely useless in dealing with a swarm of tiny insects like cockroaches as it would mostly be hit and miss. The victims would turn out drowned in the sea of cockroaches to the point they had to log off being out of options unless they had extremely high physical stats or powerful AoE spells / skills, but most players simply logged off due to the disgusting situation as nobody enjoyed having cockroaches all over and INTO their body, not even a digital one.
Kyouhukou's Black Capsule had a devious trap that targeted all characters with a female exterior who entered the square, forcibly teleporting them inside the roach pit. Even during the Eight Guilds Alliance Siege that place played a very important part as all women ending up in there logged out after screaming.
The Area Guardian obeyed the still laughing Guildmaster and all cockroaches returned to the capsule which closed itself soon afterwards. With the little yet terrifying creatures out of the way, Oshikuru relaxed and laughed it off as they restarted going through Nazarick.
Crossing the next section of catacombs, they found an increasing number of increasingly more powerful vampiric creatures: Vampire Wolves, Elder Vampire Bats and, last but not least, stunning Vampire Brides. The latter were standing by a seemingly haunted graveyard, among dead trees and broken coffins.
Not too far behind, Oshikuru's cursed eye could already see the portal leading down to the third floor, but his gaze focused on the large, isolated cript right in the middle of the cemetery.
"This is the residence of the 1st, 2nd and 3d Floor Guardian. One among the most powerful and most beautiful NPCs in the Great Tomb!"
Hearing the leader of the Supreme Beings speak about her that way rocked Shalltear's world. The True Vampire would have jumped out of her house, but as usual her lore was kept in check by the game's guidelines. She was forced to stay put into her home where Momonga-sama entered shortly afterwards.
The Grave Vault of Adipocere seemed to have nothing to do with what the samurai had seen so far in Nazarick.
Pinkish marble gracefully dominated the exterior and the interior as well. As Oshikuru entered the crypt, he immediately realised who had crafted the whole place.
"The feathered pervert," murmured the demon samurai shaking his head and the helmet with it.
"How dare you insult my creator! I'll rip you apart and drink your blood!
Who is this… oh? he's bearing a Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown, but he's not a Supreme Being… or is he?
A demon… could this be a new aspect of Lord Ulbert Alaine Odle? well, whoever he is, he oughta be more respectful to my Peroroncino-sama!
But why did Momonga-sama introduce me to him? could he be a new Supreme Being? the others are not coming back from the other world, even my Peroroncino-sama has disappeared, I haven't seen him in two months… sigh… sob… Peroroncino-sama, what have I done to make you leave me…
Shalltear dried up her non existent tears.
At least Momonga-sama has never abandoned us and now he's here with who must be an esteemed guest.
I hope he stays, even if he is not polite.
Momonga-sama seems very happy right now!"
"As you so quickly acknowledged, this one here has been created by my friend Peroroncino…"
Oshikuru weakly smiled. What a lolicon. Although he did a really good job, especially with the dresses. But how can a man who isn't gae be able to make a beautiful dress?
"… but Shalltear Bloodfallen is not just the prettiest girl in Nazarick…"
Waaaa! Momonga-sama really likes me! Oh, Momonga-sama, I love you so much! Hihihi, the leader of the Supreme Beings will marry me! in your face, old hag!
Deep below, a white dressed figure narrowed her yellow eyes.
I feel a great disturbance in the force.
"… for she is also ranked as the third most powerful out of all NPCs!"
"Oh, I see. As usual, looks can be deceiving. How strong you truly are, behind that pretty little face?"
Being questioned in such a way, the NPC was unable to reply, but Oshikuru's question was rhetorical anyway.
"Well, she's not at your level. Not that anyone is, in the whole of Yggdrasil. But she's definitely strong enough to defeat anyone in Ainz Ooal Gown save Touch Me, Ulbert and maybe Takemikazuchi…"
"Seriously? could I spar with her a little bit then?"
"Absolutely not. You're not hurting one of my friends' creations!"
"Oh, come on, I'm not gonna lift a finger on her, I just want to see if she can catch up with my speed."
"She can't. Nobody can and you know that. Besides, have you lost your sense of justice? Fighting against a lady? Really?"
"I'm a samurai, not a simp. If I have to, I'll strike anyone who dares to oppose me. Have you not heard the story of Luna Chaser?"
"Ah, yes you told me about her. I'd say you went a little bit too far, but after all she was against us, so she deserved it. All those who joined the Great Siege to Nazarick deserve what happened to them. Besides, thanks again for helping us that day, it was really nice of you even if in the end we'd have won anyway."
"Ah, enough with that, it was a long time ago.
Well, if I can't fight this young lady, let's get going. This place is nice, but I'm no lolicon, I like them big ti—"
"Oh, shut up! Follow me."
Shalltear Bloodfallen curtsied to the man who had oh so evidently admitted to love her and to the demonic visitor as they exited the temple to lust built by Peroroncino.
"I guess that was the last obstacle before the Third Floor."
Said Oshikuru as they walked across the cursed graveyard.
"Pretty much, just some vampires now. Actually, most invasion attempts were blocked by Shalltear as in her domain she's even more powerful…"
"Ah, you made it a sort of arena-mode with Floor Guardians? That would make them almost as powerful as World Enemies, nice thinking. Must have been so expensive though."
"Yeah, but it was definitely worth it. Thanks to that, nobody had ever made it to Victim before the Eight Guilds Alliance so they didn't know what was coming for them."
"Why did they never try again after that though? I mean, I'm a lone wolf and I know little of alliance dynamics, but if they had attacked again with a better plan…"
"We, and by we I mean Ancient One and Punitto Moe, made sure it wouldn't happen again. Anyway, gathering so many different people is never easy."
"I guess."
The two players had already entered the Third Floor and Oshikuru gaped at the sheer amount of undead that occupied these Catacombs, a bit murky and with a few large caves. Among the countless corridors, now even thinner and more tortuous, were walking lots of nasty patrol officers.
Then Oshikuru gazed at the obscure dome high up above him and carefully looked around in the large building, 100 m in diameter, to which all corridors led. The man hoped this wasn't a larger version of the Black Capsule.
I swear if I see just one more bug I'm gonna incinerate it no matter what…
Uh, but this is an army of riders!
Well, no matter how many are there, they could never stop me, but I see why most invasion attempts failed before the next floor: after having to deal with a powerful enemy like that Shalltear, one would expect a little time to take a break, but this 3rd floor is way harder than the first and second combined, if you don't count the Floor Guardian herself.
In awe, Oshikuru asked: "Momonga-san, how many undead are on this level?"
Yes! He sounds impressed already and we're just at the Third Floor! Though it was inevitable, his base is so little as he spent all of hus resources to get data crystals.
I'm glad I studied before inviting him over. I didn't remember much before, I'd have had to make stuff up.
And we'll see how he reacts to what's just out of the Windowless Underground Chapel, kukuku.
"Ah, we may have exaggerated here, but it's better not to slack off when being on the blacklist of about 90% Yggdrasil players. Anyway, we have 50 teams all consisting of a Death Knight, a Death Warrior, a Death Priest, a Death Wizard, a Death Assassin, a High Wraith, a Heavy Skeleton Warrior, an Elder Lich and a Night Lich each.
Then you might have noticed that there are 5 stealth teams formed by a Tobi Kato, a Hanzo, a Kashin Koji, a Fuuma and a Shadow Demon."
"Yeah, I noticed the ninjas. They can be extremely dangerous, I imagine you had some of them tailing certain targets and killing them right when they least expected it!"
"That's exactly what we did.
While these patrol each and every corridor acting like scouts, the Windowless Underground Chapel hosts some cavalry forces: 20 Pale Riders mounting Soul Eaters and 20 Death Cavaliers on those undead unicorns. Behind them, as you can see, there are a Grim Reaper Thanatos, an Overlord Wiseman, an Overlord General and a Overlord Cronos Master. Many invasions were stopped here after Shalltear had dealt them lots of damage, PKing most party members way more often than not.
Anyway, let's keep moving, there's still one little last thing before the 4th floor."
Something more? I'm starting to pity those fools who entered Nazarick.
I mean, World Champions would be fine and also raiding parties of min maxed level 100 players, unless they got unlucky with some traps, but those without at least legendary class full gear would have been utterly destroyed already.
And there's still seven floors left!
The two left the obscurity of the Windowless Underground Chapel to walk on a huge square full of elite undead squadrons, their weapons and armour bathed in a grim greenish aura exuding from all over the place but the ceiling.
The devious bastards have been a little too obvious here. There must be tons of traps up there.
That's exactly what all the invaders who had reached that point had thought. Actually, the devious bastards had not placed a single trap on the ceiling as sometimes the best way to get in someone's head is making him think he has outsmarted you a little bit.
"Now, this is a true, proud army of undead the likes of which you'll never get to see anywhere else!"
"Seriously, Momonga-san?"
"Yes!
"Nazarick Old Guarders, all ten thousand of them gathered here. They are the ones with elaborate breastplates and armed with all sorts of weapons.
Then we have Nazarick Elder Guarders, also numbering ten thousand in total, armed with buckler and sword while covered in tougher armour.
And last but not least, actually the best ones, the Nazarick Master Guarders. As you can imagine, they're the ones equipped with a shiny, golden, full-body armor, holding those lustrous spears and draped in those fresh red capes.
All three armed forces bear enchanted weapons and armour, of course. They're undoubtedly the most potent native POP monsters."
The last sentence let Oshikuru jaw dropping.
So much magic equipment…
Makes me wonder what else they have down here. Also, I don't think the original dungeon looked like this, even if these enhanced skeletons belong in here.
Oshikuru whistled his admiration as they advanced among the ranks of the undead soldiers who were standing perfectly still.
"Quite the sight. Anyway, I bet you guys have changed this place's layout, haven't you?"
"Oh, yes. Though acttually, what you've seen so far wasn't so different. It's what lays beyond the 5th floor that was almost completely reshaped."
"I'm even more curious then!"
And so they went to the 4th level.
Oshikuru noticed the floors were getting larger and larger as they were going down, but kept it for himself. Also, he had something way more interesting to think about.
A crystal clear lake in the middle of a peaceful green meadow? It is nice, but who do they think they're fooling? This smells fishy and I'm not talking about the lake.
Hehehe, so funny. I'm not just the King of Hell, but the King of Puns too!"
This time the demon samurai didn't bother to ask a question as he wanted to find out on his own what secret the 4th Floor was keeping. Oshikuru grabbed a full fist of earth in each of his eight strong hands and tossed them all right into the water, expecting a monster to get out of it.
Surprise me!
He wasn't disappointed.
The surface was broken by two fists the size of which astonished the man who was soon after obscured due to the shade cast by the enormous stone golem.
"Amazing! How long did it take to create something this big?"
"Absolutely nothing, we got it as a reward. Also, it automatically respawns for free."
"Damn. Then you gotta let me destroy it!"
"I knew you would.
Have fun with it, that's the only thing down here I'll let you fight against!"
"Thank you! Now back off a little and watch this!"
"Sure, but give me the ring first. It's not going to fight someone bearing Ainz Ooal Gown's symbol."
"Ah, makes sense. There you go!"
And the King of Hell tossed the Ring of AOG to the guildmaster.
Then, he immediately asked:
"Care to give the signal?"
"You just suit up, then I'll order it to kill you."
"To kill me? Oh no, what am I gonna do now!"
He faked a scared tone, then chuckled.
The Overlord mentally frowned.
"I know you're good, but be careful. If he catches you with one punch even you might be done for!"
Oshikuru's smile widened.
"Wanna bet?"
"Say what?"
"You heard me.
If I can't stop a punch from this big guy without getting destroyed or thrown to the moon, I'll owe you a favour. If I do, you'll owe me one.
Whatcha say?"
"You know what? Fine. You are strong, but there's just no way you can resist one punch from Gargantua. I've seen World Enemies being trashed by it!"
"Oh, Gargantua, so that's the name. Fitting!"
Oshikuru turned to the golem now standing on the lakeshore.
"Gargantua suits you, big man. Careful though: the bigger you are, the harder you fall!"
Having said that, the demon grabbed some items from his inventory. First off, he changed armour, putting on the Devourer's Dragonscale. Then he wore the King Kong Gauntlets and Tidal Gauntlets, the Cane Sword and Infinity Edge.
"I'm ready, Momonga-san!"
"Good!"
Then, mentally, the Guildmaster ordered Gargantua to kill the man who now was his best friend.
Faster than expected for such a huge golem, a fist fully capable to cleave a mountain was unleashed on the eight-armed demon. Oshikuru felt the blow on the way to hit him would be as hard as a World Break, if not even more.
Shit, this pile of rock is more powerful than I expected.
He could have escaped, being much faster than the opponent. But no way the samurai would lose the bet and most importantly not keep his word.
So he didn't move and didn't attack first either. He just stood there, waiting for the gigantic fist to reach him. But in meantime he activated all skills enhancing physical stats.
Once Gargantua was about to land the hit, Oshikuru punched as well, putting all of his might in the desperate counterattack.
The shockwave released by six "little" fist clashing against an enormous one obliterated everything in its path, causing the ground to crumble and the grass to be thrown off.
Momonga himself stumbled.
But Oshikuru didn't budge.
He smiled, but the emotionless golem kept applying pressure.
"Oh no you don't!"
And he hastily, furiously flapped his powerful black wings. The demon samurai slipped away while Gargantua's fist devastatingly slammed into the ground like an asteroid falling out from the sky. Indeed it did form a deep, fuming crater, but Oshikuru was far away from that.
The dark creature hastily sprung forward, right between the legs of his titanic enemy, then he started running on the surface of the lake thanks to the Tidal Gauntlets' passive skill [Walk on Water]. Then, he used an active skill.
"[Great Wave off Kanagawa]!"
As he yelled, it rose a tidal wave which made Gargantua look like a little toy before crushing down on him. The golem managed to stand its ground, proving once again an incredible strength.
But Oshikuru's plan wasn't to make it fall.
As soon as Gargantua was struck and enveloped by the immense wave, the samurai used the Cane Sword and the water froze.
Fully encased in a box of ice larger than itself, the huge golem seemed to be incapacitated.
"Nice, and you've even won the bet, but if you think that's gonna stop it…"
Cracks started spreading across the ice, proving right Momonga's words.
"I saw that coming a long way."
The Overlord of Death turned his gaze from the mountain-sized golem to the not so little demon who now wielded the One Hundred Tons Hammer with all arms but two, those holding the odachi which started glowing and humming. Oshikuru jumped up to the ceiling before flying down to his opponent who struggled to break free.
As soon as Gargantua tore away the frost that caged its body, a black dot hit him on the head, fast and hard.
The golem was almost indestructible: Oshikuru's migthy bludgeoning weapon only formed little cracks on the powerful construct.
But it was unbalanced and hit on its top while slippery ice and mud covered the ground: as a result Gargantua ruinously fell backwards, louder than a thousand thunders.
Gotcha, bitch!
Satisfied, the World Champion shouted:
"Told you so, pile of rubble. The bigger you are, the harder you fall!"
But it wasn't over yet. Not knowing the meaning of fatigue or pain, Gargantua stood up and reared back both its fists to deal a double blow which nothing in Yggdrasil could hope to survive unscathed.
But the very same could be said about Oshikuru's incoming attack. And he had started loading it up far sooner.
"[World Cut]!"
A vertical shining golden wave of energy following an edge sharper than any blade was released and it sliced the golem in two perfect halves.
Both stood up for a moment, then fell down in opposite directions. The whole floor shook while Oshikuru somersaulted before landing on the ground as well. But he did it as delicately as a feather would.
Momonga stared at the perfectly cut remains of Gargantua.
He was returned to reality by the sound of Oshikuru snapping his fingers.
The Overlord of Death thoughtfully stared at the cheerful King of Hell.
"I'm glad you picked our side. Had you been against us…"
The demon samurai spoke with zero hesitation.
"As if I'd ever choose to support those envious haters over the only ones with the guts to be a heteromorph-only guild right in the human suprematists' face!
Besides, from what you've told me, not even I could have escaped from the effects of Victim's death!"
Although, knowing what it would do, I guess I could come up with a plan to prevent that. But who cares, now I'm about to become a member of AOG. If anything, I should be worrying about someone managing to do that. Oh well, who cares. The game's almost over and almost nobody's still playing.
"Right, but what I meant is I'm happy you're my friend, Oshikuru-san."
Oshikuru widely smiled.
"So am I, Momonga-san, so am I.
Now, what's next?"
"Quite the inhospitable place. But I bet you'll like its guardian even more than Gargantua."
"You mean I can fight that too?"
"No, you crazy battle maniac! I just mean you'll really like it."
"Hmm, ok. I trust you."
And they left behind the broken golem.
"So, there's nothing besides Gargantua on this floor? I'm almost disappointed!"
Oshikuru laughed while Momonga somehow managed to roll the flickering red flames that made up for eyes.
Once again they crossed a teleportation gate on a wide, elegant staircase and safely reached the other side.
Over there lay the 5th Floor, a completely different world, the so-called Glacier.
Dark clouds were circling overhead, moved by strong winds which tossed hail and snow against the visitors. A barren wasteland covered in deep snow and dotted with huge icebergs opened up in front of Oshikuru and Momonga. Both had were not affected by cold weather, but walking in the deep snow would slow them down anyway, so the players started to float as moving forward.
After zigzagging among blue icy pillars and packs of 20 Wraiths each, led by a High Wraith, the blizzard suddenly stopped and in the now free sky it appeared a beautiful aurora. The strip of colourful lights sinuously stretched up to a large building before disappearing as fast as it had showed up. It was a rare event and both players couldn't get their eyes off of it, while a lone wandering Albino Penguin, one of many low level ice-type monsters living around there, didn't even look up to the magical phenomenon.
While Oshikuru murmured about how amazing northern lights were, Momonga explained that there used to be an area penalty that caused [Mass Slow] and inflicted ice-type damage, but it was turned off to save maintenance costs.
Then they focused on the now close fairytale castle surrounded by high cliffs and a frozen forest through which wandered Wraiths just like those which had already been seen roaming around all over the 5th Floor.
Inside the Frozen Prison, haunted by several Ghosts and Carrion Babies, were hidden many devious traps installed by Tabula Smaragdina who also placed in there many of his beloved horror-themed creations, such as a set of three little pictures depicting a decapitated girl.
The ice-cold castle was divided into two sections.
Above the ground level it was protected by Area Guardian Nigredo, living in a room whose entrance had been disguised by the painting of a loving mother cuddling her newborn baby.
Though expecting a bad surprise, Oshikuru barely refrained from not reaching for his weapons while Momonga tossed a doll into a crazy bitch's arms to calm her down.
"Tabula really went overboard with this!"
"Yeah, I know. The first time he showed us, all guild members who didn't get a panic attack tried to kill her."
"Which group did you belong to?"
"I don't remember…"
Nigredo had long smooth raven black hair falling down from her head, partially obscuring her skinless face. From the exposed muscles emerged only a pair of brightly shining blue eyes with no eyelids, and pearly teeth with no lips. In her right hand she held a pair of large, sharp, perpetually blood dripping scissors.
Her grotesque appearance was matched by an insanity lore that made her mercilessly attack all visitors: it was the only NPC in all Nazarick that would attack even guild members, unless she was given a baby-doll like the one Momonga hurriedly threw at her.
Once calmed down, Nigredo was an extremely important resource for AOG as the most powerful NPC for remote information gathering, surveillance and anti-surveillance, being a level 100 caster highly specialised in scrying magic.
The scariest thing is a beautiful creature turned into a monster.
"Well, nothing can startle me anymore today!"
How very wrong you are, fufufu.
Thought Momonga as showing the way to the cells below.
The underground level was defended by an even more gruesome creature, the Area Guardian Neuronist Painkiller. Her appearance was that of a grey bloating corpse with tentacles sprouting from her face, all covered in makeup, just like her long, sharp nails were heavily polished. She wore a black leather outfit akin to a dominatrix.
It all made Oshikuru want to puke.
The only thing he liked about Neuronist was her being in charge of torturing prisoners and extracting information from them, since it reminded him of the Pain Lord. While the former was helped by Torturers, the latter had Imps to give him extra hands.
While Oshikuru was discussing with Momonga about torture, the vain lore of the brain eater was put to work.
Ara ara, what a wise, muscular demon we have here with the Guildmaster.
He must be a new Supreme Being and I'll make sure he falls into my arms. After all, I'm the most attractive woman in Nazarick!
While Nigredo was the guild's sentinel, Neuronist was Ainz Ooal Gown's official torturer and worked in the Room of Truth aka "Pain is not to tell". Needless to say the place was filled with plenty of horrendous torture equipment, which the two players left behind while the Area Guardian mentally blowed them a kiss.
The Overlord and the Arch Devil exited the building even colder than the frozen glacier all around it, now beaten by a new snowstorm.
Not far from the Frozen Prison they started spotting huge, heavily armed bugs unfazed by the harsh conditions. The 50 Beetle Swordmasters were patrolling the final stretch of the Glacier, up to a sort of long, tunnel-like igloo.
Hmm, I don't like where this is going…
"So, the one I should like lives in there? if it's another Black Capsule I'm going to melt it down with a [Vermilion Nova], I'm warning you!"
"Easy now Oshikuru-san, I wasn't joking. You'll enjoy this."
"Humpf. Hope so."
"Oh, come on. This is nothing of the sort, it's Snowball Earth."
Bah! Seems like an overturned vespiary to me.
If a swarm of those angry flying devilish little things comes out, I'll burn it.
But a completely unexpected kind of creatures appeared above and before the visitors, exiting by six floating round pillars of blue ice. Pale bluish-white skin, almost transparent, long raven black hair and pure white long-sleeved kimonos covered the ensemble of floating women.
Uh, Frost Virgins. Exactly what I needed to cool down my hothead. Hehehe!
While the powerful level 82 creatures curtsied in front of the Supreme Beings, they kept walking until entering the Snowball Earth which would led to the 6th Floor's portal. Just like all those on a level with a Floor Guardian, it could not be crossed by invaders until they killed the said guardian.
The one of the 5th Floor resided in the oddly shaped building, its walls, ceiling and furniture all made out of ice. It was designed by Warrior Takemikazuchi as training grounds for indoor fighting: he and his NPC sparred in there countless times.
But. Not. Anymore. Master. Am. I. So. Weak. You. Decided. To. Abandon. Me? Thought the depressed Cocytus.
But he brightened up as two creatures bearing the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown did enter his home.
Of. Course. Momonga-sama. The. Leader. Of. The. Supreme. Beings. The. One. Who. Stayed. But. Who. Is. This. One? A. New. Supreme. Being?…
As he curiously watched the huge eight-armed winged black demon, Cocytus suddenly remembered the words spoken by its creator long ago.
"Never forget, Cocytus. There is one who managed to defeat Touch-san while I still haven't. It is Oshikuru, a demon so fast I could barely see his many arms beating the shit out of a World Champion. I hate him for being a selfish prick, but I respect him. He is the best fighter in Yggdrasil."
So this is him, thought Cocytus excitedly releasing his Frost Breath.
Gripping harder the halberd with two hands, he hoped to have a chance to witness the power of the one described by his creator as the strongest of the strongest. Sizing up the demon already, Cocytus started wondering how to fight him.
"What's this? did Touch Me try to make a copy of my demon form? A practice for fighting against me while planning his vengeance?"
"Nope. The 5th Floor Guardian was created by Warrior Takemikazuchi. He's the Swordmaster NPC of Nazarick and has been around far before you showed up knocking on our front door.
His name's Cocytus anyway."
"Hmm, I see. Well, Takemikazuchi did one hell of a job with him!"
Hearing this, Cocytus almost twitched his tail out of pride.
It seemed like a mix between a praying mantis and an ant. Despite having a 2.5 meters height, Cocytus was half a meter shorter than the King of Hell, though it also had a thick tail twice as long. The bipedal insect was covered in sharp icicles-like spikes and had a strong ant-like jaw, while his six deep blue eyes reminded those of a mantis. His shoulders and back bore protrusions that looked like little icebergs. Besides the long halberd he was already holding, a mace was hanging from the side of Takemikazuchi's legacy to Ainz Ooal Gown.
But the most astonishing part was the pale blue, hardened bone armor oozing out the aura of a proud warrior spirit.
Oshikuru stared at Momonga.
"You sure he and I can't have a friendly spar? I promise I'll go easy on him."
"No."
"Pleeease!"
"I said no!"
"Aahh, what a pain in the ass, always killing my vibes."
As the demon grumbled and crossed all of his eight arms, Momonga sighed.
"If you switch back to normal, then I will allow this. But do not fight as hard as you did against Gargantua!"
"Of course not, you told me the golem was a special case since it costs nothing to respawn him. I swear I won't cut Cocytus in half."
"You better not!"
Then the Guildmaster turned to the excited Vermin Lord and ordered him to fight against the visitor without holding back.
In the meantime, most of Oshikuru's arms disappeared while his skin from the darkest tone went to sickly pale. Still, none among the present had any doubt about who was going to win.
However, Cocytus now had twice as many arms, two still holding the halberd, one bearing a shied and the last wielding a katana he had already seen. The demon samurai could not possibly remember the weapons of all the people he had mercilessly defeated, but he didn't forget a single piece of equipment bore by a World Champion.
I'm not sure if a NPC can understand me, but…
"Oi, Cocytus, I've already faced that blade. It belonged to your creator who gave it to Touch Me when we dueled. Takemikazuchi Style Eight has already drawn my blood, show me if you can repeat that!"
Another frosty breath was released by Cocytus, so concentrated yet so excited to fight such a powerful warrior.
The Overlord was quick to give the signal and the Vermin Lord, despite being so eager, kept a defensive posture.
Wise choice, against me. And if I attack someone with two more limbs I'll be forced to take a hit… that is, if he's fast enough!
Now wielding the usual Cutter I and Cutter II, he charged without activating any skills, counting merely on his high stats and experience for the time being.
Oshikuru had his swords and feet dance faster than anything the NPC had ever seen. Still, despite the unexpected strength of all the vicious attacks coming in from every direction, Cocytus managed to parry each blow thanks to his four arms and the combat abilities learned from his creator. Also, Nazarick's deadly swordsmaster NPC had extremely high physical stats.
After a little more than a minute, Oshikuru suddenly jumped back, interrupting the wave of attacks. "Good, I have warmed up. Let's get serious now!"
Still activating no skills, he ran straight forward, both swords diagonally raised, heavy footfalls cracking the ice below. Then, just five steps away from his wary rival, he released [Celestial Lord's Cape]. Cocytus didn't know what to expect, but reacted by activating an [Ice Pillar] below Oshikuru's feet.
But he was no longer there: the obstacle rose up from the ground when the cursed human was right upon the vermin lord.
Cutter I instantly flashed to the opponent's right shoulder. Seeing it would not be blocked, Oshikuru slightly twisted his wrist so that the katana would hit by the flat instead of the edge. As a result, instead of cutting off two of Cocytus' arms, he dealt bludgeoning damage strong enough to cast the adversary down
into the ground, shattering it too.
"Curse you, Oshikuru! what the hell happened to the not fighting hard?!"
"Don't start complaining! I didn't used the pointy end, he'll get back up with no problem. Right, Cocytus?"
The NPC proved him right, jumping out of the hole and unleashing a flurry of attacks with all weapons. Trying to bash with the shield, slash with the electric sword, pierce with the halberd and smash with the mace, Cocytus proved his unrelenting strength and deep fighting knowledge.
Still, he landed zero hits, for the demon samurai dodged them all.
Growing restless to cut the opponent, the insect warlord started activating his skills one after the other, combining magic and physical attacks. He boosted himself with [Self Enhancement], then Oshikuru ducked to prevent his [Cutting Wind] from reaching the neck, jumped to the left to dodge a salvage of sharp [Piercing Icicles] and stepped back to avoid [Razor Edge].
The samurai actually wasn't afraid of being injured, being protected by a World Champion Class Armour, but considering it as a mock duel, he had to prove the principle that he couldn't be hit at all.
Far from giving up, the four-armed warrior kept attacking until he had only his trump card left. Still unable to hit the seemingly one-eyed samurai, he finally stopped trying and stood still, waiting for the rival to come at him. Hoping to be able to catch Oshikuru off guard, Cocytus simply stepped back and waited.
"Well, those were four exciting minutes. You're great, Cocytus, no doubt there. You'd have sliced open more than 99% of all Yggdrasil players!
Unfortunately, I belong to that little less than 1% which has enough speed and the right experience to handle close fights.
Now, I'm going to end this nice duel. [Demonic Haste]!"
His Frost Breath under control, Cocytus activated [Acalantha] immediately afterwards, but Oshikuru was nowhere to be seen.
Until he noticed a blade was pressing on the front of his neck and another on the back part.
Incredible. And this is not even his peak, since a demonic form is so much better than a human's…
While thinking that, the 5th Floor Guardian dropped all of his weapons and serenely accepted defeat.
Both Supreme Beings praised his performance, not as an empty gesture, but because they had truly seen a great demonstration which would have led to the demise of most players, including Momonga himself.
Then both left the honourable warrior happier than they had found him. After the last few steps on the ice floor, those two reached the teleportation point to reach the floor below.
"So, what's next? After the ice will there be fire?"
"No, in the 6th Floor there's everything but fire. Actually, it's probably the best place in all of Nazarick. Before you ask, yes there are lots of powerful creatures and no, you can't fight them. You won't raise your swords until you're back out of Nazarick."
Oshikuru pouted internally and mumbled something unintelligible.
Momonga chuckled a little before realising something.
"Oh, get back to your demon form though. You may be wearing a Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown, but everything inside the Great Tomb hates humans, better not to risk getting yourself hurt."
"Ok."
And he changed back as he thought I actually wish they'd try, so I could still have some fun. Never mind, this place is unbelievable, I'm happy I can finally see Nazarick and be a part of Ainz Ooal Gown!
Both stepped forward to go and see the other half of Nazarick.